Reacting to golfers

By nearly all accounts, technology and television coverage have changed the game of golf. Players embrace new advances in equipment, and many jump on the bandwagon of the latest and greatest – especially whatever they see on television during a golf tournament. Improved clubs, balls, gloves and shoes have changed the way the game is played.

One of the most often questioned aspects of a course, including The Old Collier Club in Naples, Fla., is green speed.

Technological improvements will continue as long as each new product conforms to U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews standards  because there’s just too much money to be made for the manufacturers to ignore.

But it’s not just new technology that’s on superintendents’ minds. Etiquette, green speed and course conditions are a few of the areas in which the game has changed throughout the years. And superintendents have had to address these changes.

The perfect storm
Technology isn’t the only aspect of the game that has seen dramatic changes during the past few years. Without a doubt, television coverage of golf has changed players’ perceptions of course conditions. Often, players expect Augusta National conditions, even at their local municipal courses. These expectations are unrealistic.

At Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn., superintendent Matt Rostal deals with player demands by being up-front about course conditions.

Sure, with the right budget even a cattle field can look like Pebble Beach, but the truth is hardly anyone has a budget to reproduce the pristine courses highlighted each week on the PGA Tour.

The expectation that a course will be in so-called perfect condition on a daily basis is perhaps the greatest bane for superintendents. But, at the same time, it can keep superintendents on their toes, according to Matt Rostal, superintendent at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn.

“[That demand] challenges you to pay more attention and keep the golf course at those conditions,” Rostal says. “It’s easier for me because we’re only open about seven months a year compared with people down south who have to focus on that 12 months out of the year.”
However, at the same time, it can be challenging to meet every golfer’s expectations consistently.

“Everybody expects those tournament-type speeds day in and day out, and it’s harder for me to provide at an older country club,” Rostal says. “I’ve got old push-up greens with every kind of grass under the sun.”

The more perfect course conditions are the more likely small imperfections will stand out - like at The Old Collier Golf Club.

One of the most often questioned aspects of a course is green speed, according to Tim Hiers, superintendent at The Old Collier Golf Club in Naples, Fla. While most golfers are at least somewhat familiar with the Stimpmeter, few understand the true intention behind it, which creates unrealistic demands for green speed, Hiers says.

“Mr. Stimpson said the Stimpmeter was never meant to measure speed; it was only meant to measure consistency,” he says.

With golfers demanding faster speeds, it creates a bit of a Catch22 for superintendents and the club.

“Ironically, most of the golfers can’t putt at the green speeds that they’re asking for,” Hiers says.

And it’s not just greens. Many golfers expect consistent lies in bunkers, perfect fairways, perfect tees and even perfect roughs.

“A rough’s a rough, and a bunker’s a bunker, but somehow, golfers have come to expect that a bunker lie is going to be almost as good as a fairway lie,” Hiers says.

Rostal agrees.

“The big complaint we have here is our sand traps and hazards,” he says. “They’re more of a manicured surface than they’re a hazard. Everybody expects the perfect lie in there.”

While the complaints often come from a vocal minority of squeaky wheels, Hiers says listening to them is a must because they might pack their bags and move to a club across town.

“People today are more mobile and belong to more clubs,” he says. “They have more disposable income and time, so a lot of people look at everything superficially. It would be sort of like flying an airline and running into a bumpy flight, then making your judgment about that airline on one bumpy flight.”

Perfecting course conditions also carries with it a certain paradox – basically, the more perfect the conditions, the more a small imperfection will stand out.
“If you play a golf course that’s got 10,000 weeds a hole every day, you get used to the 10,000 weeds a hole,” Hiers says. “But if someone comes in and eradicates 99.9 percent of those weeds and takes it down to 10 weeds a hole, all of a sudden those 10 weeds stick out a lot more than the 10,000 did. The better you get, the easier it is to get pickier and notice something that’s not perfect. You run your risk level higher the more perfect you make the golf course.”

Pick up the pace
Slow play has become part of the modern game. Increased course traffic and a decline of etiquette have contributed to this. Another factor that can lead to slow play is, ironically, improved maintenance of greens.

At The Old Collier Golf Club, superintendent Tim Hiers says some golfers expect perfect bunkers, fairways and even roughs.

“I shoot for a 10 on the Stimpmeter every day, and I know that when it gets up to 11, the pace of play definitely slows down,” Rostal says.

Because Interlachen’s golf calendar is jam-packed for most of the seven months a year it’s open, slow rounds can negatively impact many players’ rounds any day.

“Pace of play factors into the player’s experience with a round,” Rostal says. “Here we try to post a round time of 3:45. When it’s busy, there’s a ranger moving people around and telling them they’re behind.”

Some suggestions for superintendents to deal with slow play include lowering the height of cut for roughs, slowing down greens and widening fairways, according to the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

Tournament setup
At one point, almost all courses will host some kind of tournament – ranging from the weekend four-ball to a PGA Tour event. Getting a course in shape for a tournament, particularly a professional one, can lead to this increased expectation for perfect conditions all the time. Rostal knows this well because Interlachen has hosted several top-tier events in its 95-year history – the most recent being the 2002 Solheim Cup matches. The club also will host the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open. This creates challenges for Rostal and his crew during setup and after the tournament.

“When you’re trying to get ready for all these events, you may have an off day when you don’t get to the bunkers or something like that,” he says.
“Afterward, players expect those conditions – they expect the course to be perfect every day, and it’s just impossible.”

Ball-mark repair
Another aspect of today’s game that can put a strain on superintendents’ patience and/or budget is the lack of ball-mark repair.

Watching the professionals on television, one will notice many of them repairing their ball marks by putting their repair tool into the ground and twisting.

However, as any superintendent knows, that’s not the proper way to repair a ball mark – in fact, it can cause more damage than the mark itself. But try telling that to the average weekend warrior who mimics everything he sees on television in the eternal quest to shave one or two strokes off his round. And that includes twisting the tool when he repairs ball marks.

The Golf Course Superintendents Association of Northern California would like to change that. In September 2002, the GCSANC began distributing ball-mark repair tools sheathed in a business card-sized folder. Printed on the folder are instructions for properly repairing ball marks, along with explanations about the dangers of improperly fixing them – which are often worse than an unrepaired mark.

“If repaired properly, the surface will restore more quickly to its original condition,” says Bob Lapic, superintendent at Orinda (Calif.) Golf Course and honorary president of the GCSANC. “Golfers with good turf etiquette improve the experience not only for themselves, but for those who follow.”

The GSCANC started the program as a means of highlighting its Ball Mark Repair Week, which began in the 1990s. During that week, superintendents promoted proper repair techniques at their courses. Lapic says the plan was for the week to be a one-time event, but it has evolved into an annual occurrence with more than 10,000 ball-mark repair tools distributed throughout Northern California.

Last August, the GCSANC joined with LinkUp2Golf’s player-development program. Through the program, the association provides its ball-mark repair tools to golfers who participate in clinics taught by the PGA and the LPGA professionals throughout Northern California.

This new alliance is aimed at nipping the problem in the bud by reaching out to players as they are introduced to golf, which Lapic says is the best time to reach them.

“There’s no better time for golfers to learn about ball-mark repair than when they are new to the game,” he says.

Communication is key
Communicating course conditions to golfers is a way to help shape golfers’ expectations. One way Rostal deals with player demands is to be up-front with them about course conditions daily. He can do this because Interlachen’s tee time reservation system is completely Web-based and runs through foretees.com. On Interlachen’s page, Rostal posts a daily briefing about green speeds, weather conditions and anything else that might affect a player’s outing.

Preparing a course, such as the Interlachen Country Club, in shape for a tournament can lead to golfers expecting perfect conditions.

“I update green speeds and course conditions each day so people who are coming in can check that and see where they are,” he says. “If green speed is 8, I’ll put them at 8 – I won’t lie about it.”

Honesty is the best policy for communication, he says.

“Even if you have something unforeseen happen – if you lose a green or a fairway or two – the best thing you can do is always just let everyone know what has happened and what you’re going to do about it,” he says.

The daily update also can be a helpful tool for inclement weather or for late in the season.

“Sometimes in the fall we’re just mulching leaves – we’ve got 2,000 trees here – and we don’t have time to do much of anything else, so I let golfers know that,” Rostal says. “I also update weather conditions and what it’s done to the course. I just want them to know what to expect when they get to the course.”
Additionally, using the Internet has been a great experience for Rostal because of the ability to post timely information.

“That’s one thing that’s better today is that everybody tries to communicate so much better, and there’s more efficient ways to do it,” he says.

Hiers also cites communication as the key to a good relationship between the maintenance staff and players.

“Part of good communications is consistent, constant communication that’s brief and to the point,” he says. “Nobody’s going to have the time to read long dissertations with words they don’t understand. If you’re constantly showing key people what’s going on, communicating ahead of time, that gives you the best chance.” GCN