Assume they don’t know

More than 500 million rounds of golf were played in the United States for the third straight year in 2022. By comparison, 440 million rounds were played in 2019, according to the National Golf Foundation.

Our 2023 Numbers to Know survey, released last month, indicates 96 percent of your courses experienced a spike in play and activity over the last two years.

Golf course maintenance professionals lifted an industry that increased product utilization during a turbulent period. The collective industry effort to keep golf going and subsequently growing through a sudden pandemic is the most remarkable feat in American golf history.

Golf competes against concerts, festivals, road races, spectator sports, movies and other events for discretionary spending, and all are feverishly trying to regain their 2019 customer reach amid predictions of a looming recession. Golf appears better positioned to endure immediate economic struggles than many of its discretionary-spending competitors. An average 2023 projected capital improvement budget of $404,180, according to the Golf Course Industry survey published last month, suggests that owners, operators and investors are confident the current version of the golf market can withstand a sputtering economy — at least in the short term. The average projected capital improvement budget was $204,668 in 2021.

Why do any of the above numbers matter in a story about reaching customers who refuse to replace divots, don’t repair ball marks, fail to rake bunkers and treat the course as a giant outdoor trash receptacle?

Perspective first. Solutions second.

Golf is very fortunate — and, let’s face it, lucky — to be in a situation where griping about how customers treat the product exceeds concerns about recapturing its pre-pandemic customer base. Ask movie theater and bowling center owners and operators (assuming they’re still in business) if they are willing to exchange more holes in seat cushions and floor stains for equal or better utilization, revenue and profit than what they posted in 2019.

Unfortunately, increased play means the surfaces that turf teams work exhaustively to maintain are ripe for amplified signs of customer neglect. More unfilled divots, unrepaired ball marks, unraked bunkers and trash on turf are intended consequences of national course usage growing by more than 15 percent since 2019.

Before making any blanket statements about etiquette and respect for the course leaving the game, remember more people than ever are using many courses. That also means more people than ever are also filling divots, repairing ball marks, raking bunkers and placing trash in designated receptacles.

Do-gooders always far exceed neglecters. We’re wired, though, to notice trails of neglect. The bad stuff becomes especially annoying when there’s neither enough time nor available labor to fix human-created messes. Back-end fixes consume more human capital.

I’m going to attempt to help you on the front end. I make my living by communicating and this job affords the opportunity to visit between 50 and 100 courses each year. Conversations, on the road or via phone, number in the hundreds each year. I observe good, bad and non-existent course care communication strategies. Here are some front-end tactics to help turn at least a few course care neglecters into do-gooders.

Be patient

Handling neglect requires patience, especially with new golfers. Think about how you entered the game. Many of us were introduced to golf by a parent or grandparent. Guy Cipriano Jr. and Guy Cipriano Sr. were my two biggest golf influences. They taught Guy Cipriano III (me!) how to fix a divot and rake a bunker before they explained why double bogeys must be avoided and pars should be embraced. If I didn’t care for the course, I was done playing.

Put yourself in the position of a young adult who entered the game in 2020. Their way of life changed without warning. Nearly every gathering spot closed … except golf courses. Young adults came to the game by the hundreds of thousands, with the industry gaining a net increase of 800,000 new golfers from 2020 to ’21, according to the National Golf Foundation. But many of these golfers weren’t introduced to the game by a parent or grandparent. They were introduced to the game by friends, many of whom were also discovering the joys of golf for the first time.

Few activities are as intimidating for newbies as golf. You must swing the big clubs a certain way to advance the ball. You must then swing the mid-sized and shorter clubs a different way to finesse the ball. Different shots must be played for different grasses and heights of cut. And, in many cases, you must still dress and talk a certain way.

Golf overloads the mind with an endless stream of thoughts required for proper outcomes. Can you blame a newcomer for not immediately pondering course care? You don’t know what you don’t know, right? Course care should be lodged into every golfer’s mind. But how does it reach a golfer’s mind without a mentor or experienced player constantly by his or her side?

In 2020, I wrongly shouted at a millennial co-worker for not immediately replacing a divot. The co-worker was new to golf, having found the game when his beloved bowling centers closed in the early stages of the pandemic. The co-worker chunked a shot and was replaying in his mind what went wrong before heading to the cart. I raised my voice and pointed to the divot as he walked to the cart. I proceeded to aggressively repair the divot.

He insists he would have filled the divot before driving off. I believe him. Amazingly, we’re still friends. More important, he has stuck with the game.

I failed to put myself in a new golfer’s position and almost lost a friend because of my hotheaded actions. Losing patience with a golfer could cost your course a customer. In extreme cases, it might cost you a job or career.

Lean on technology

The golf industry underutilizes technology to communicate messages, especially those involving course care, to current or potential customers.

Do you have a digital course care communication strategy? Sounds cumbersome. But this front-end task can save significant back-end labor hours.

Your course likely has a website. But does it have a course care section? Items to include in one:

• A gentle introduction describing how customers can help the staff and fellow customers by doing a “few simple things” throughout their round
• An explanation of what happens to turf recovery times and the golfer experience when somebody neglects those “few simple things”
• One-paragraph descriptions on how to properly fill a divot, repair a ball mark and rake a bunker
• 45-second-or-less videos with the superintendent and golf pro demonstrating how to execute the above tasks
• A course map with trash receptacle locations
• Links to USGA Green Section and other third-party articles about course care

Video doesn’t need to be Hollywood quality. Shoot it on a phone. Have a script and rehearse it a few times. Be authentic and enthusiastic. You’re communicating this message to help a likely overworked team and improve customer satisfaction. The message won’t connect with customers if the on-camera personalities lack personality.

Annually review the course care section of your website. Something can always be written or said better upon reflection. Trust me on this.

The content you create can be used on your course’s social media feeds, in customer eblasts, and as pop-up reminders when somebody visits your course’s website or books a tee time. Content is a versatile commodity. Trust me on this, too.

Superintendents might want to consult colleagues when creating content. Involving your local GSCAA chapter in producing course care content could save busy people time and ensure consistent messaging reaches area golfers.

Bribe them

The average household income of a golfer exceeds $100,000. That doesn’t mean golfers decline free stuff.

Face-to-face instruction can be costly for beginning golfers. Repairing surfaces neglected by golfers can be costly for a golf facility. Offering a few free 30- to 45-minute golf instructional clinics each season led by your golf professional can reinforce course care messaging. The clinics should begin and end with course care messaging. Perhaps these clinics can be conducted on a hole or two. Neglect is more noticeable on the course than the range or practice green.

Superintendents can help themselves and their teams by making appearances during clinics and greeting golfers. If customers personally know you or members of your team, they are less apt to add to your workload.

Don’t be shy in praising golfers who are doing the right thing. See somebody filling multiple divots, repairing multiple ball marks and raking footmarks that aren’t their own? Say thanks and hand them a few balls from your cart.

Drinks, food and preferred tee times are other ways to a golfer’s head and heart. Organize bimonthly “Course Care Celebrations.” Attendees who spend an hour or two helping polish the course receive drink and food tickets, pro shop discounts or early tee time access. Make the celebrations fun. Play music in carts and send volunteers out in the groups. New friendships will be formed as the course gets polished.

Giving away logoed divot repair tools in the pro shop or near the first tee limits the excuse of golfers not having the right equipment to fix ball marks. Costs are minimal and can save your crew labor hours.

Reach the leaders

I was touring a venerable private club a few years ago and our little storytelling pack stopped on the 18th fairway as a group on the green putted out. As we waited, a multi-term club president grabbed the divot fill bottle from his cart and filled divots. His good deed inspired the rest of us to do the same thing.

Every social group has its leaders and. above all else, golf courses are social spots. Identify leaders of weekly leagues and turn them into your biggest advocates. Explain to them how neglecting course care negatively affects the course, staff and golfer experience.

Strong leaders regulate cohort behavior. Nobody wants to be shamed by social influencers in front of friends, colleagues, clients or fellow members.

Juniors are another group worth reaching via the multiplier effect. Find teenagers at your course who fire the lowest scores — nearly every course has that young bomber who makes birdies in bunches — and ask him or her to spread course care messages to peers. We were all teenagers once. We all know how easily many of them relent to peer pressure.

Maybe they’ll see the sign

A movement that emerged before the pandemic to limit course accessories accelerated when courses removed rakes, ball washers, signs and even trash cans throughout the spring and summer of 2020. Has the movement gone too far? Is it hurting your course care messaging?

Every facility must balance helping customers with presenting a product geared for their clientele. Courses that market themselves as “natural” with limited memberships are likely to limit accessories. Courses accessible to a wide range of golfers might need them to ensure golfers aren’t playing the wrong holes.

If your facility elected to keep rakes on the course, place enough near each bunker so golfers don’t begin a scavenger hunt to find one. A golfer being pressured by the group immediately behind him or her might view a one-minute, roundtrip trek to rake a bunker less important than keeping pace of play moving. Making it as easy as possible for as many players as possible to rake bunkers could be the difference between your crew raking bunkers four times a week instead of five.

Signs encouraging proper course care should be strategically placed and look presentable. Be clever with words. A sign describing how long it takes an unrepaired ball mark to recover is more effective than a generic “fix your ball marks.” Reverse psychology using phrases such as “Do you consider yourself a helpful person?” or “Do you respect your follow golfers?” are capable of resonating.

Insert signs and messages in high-visibility places and you won’t need too many. Spots to consider placing signage include:

• Bathroom walls
• Pro shop counters
• Second and 11th tees (the first and 10th tees already overload golfers)
• Practice tee, green and bunker
• The bar, halfway house, beverage cart and anywhere else drinks are purchased
• Inside carts
• Screens on carts with fleet management software

Transparency can also help reach golfers. Restaurant signs warning customers of longer server wait times or missing menu items due to “national labor and supply-chain issues” are becoming common. I have never seen a golf facility alert a customer of what might be lacking because of realities facing almost every business or industry. A reasonable person will understand your plight if you’re upfront about global factors affecting your operation.

Final thoughts

Convincing every golfer to protect the course is a futile pursuit. Some golfers will always remain knuckleheads. Forget about this group. Focus your energy and communication on the reasonable golfers — the vast majority of the 25 million Americans who play the game. But never assume they know everything you know.

Golfer behavior resembles the weather. It can’t be controlled and produces angst. A sound plan and a growth mindset toward implementing the plan will mitigate issues caused by neglecters.

Guy Cipriano is Golf Course Industry’s editor-in-chief.