|
More Than Curb Appeal: Turning Clubhouse Improvements Into Course Improvements
Over the past several months, members have seen noticeable changes around several of our golf clubhouses. Improvements were completed at Ponce de Leon earlier this year, followed by DeSoto in June and Isabella in July.
The results have certainly improved the appearance of these facilities, but these projects were never just about curb appeal. One of the primary goals was to simplify areas that required significant amounts of maintenance and redirect those resources where they can have a greater impact: on the golf courses themselves.
Maintaining clubhouse landscaping requires much more than occasionally trimming a few shrubs. These areas require mowing, trimming, blowing, weed control, irrigation maintenance, cleanup, seasonal work and, most importantly, staff time.
When we began looking closely at the resources being dedicated to these areas, the opportunity became pretty clear.
At Ponce de Leon, maintaining the clubhouse landscaping required two to three employees spending an average of six to eight hours each week. That represents approximately 12 to 24 labor hours every week devoted primarily to the clubhouse grounds.
At DeSoto, the commitment was even greater. One employee was spending time each day maintaining the clubhouse property. In effect, a significant portion of one employee’s work week was dedicated to an area outside of the golf course itself.
At Isabella, clubhouse landscaping typically required four employees for approximately six hours one day each week. That equals roughly 24 labor hours every week.
When you begin adding those numbers together, the importance of these projects becomes much clearer.
The improvements at these three facilities allow us to significantly reduce the manpower required to maintain clubhouse landscaping. Those hours don’t simply disappear from the operation. They can now be redirected toward greens, tees, fairways, bunkers, course cleanup and the many other details that directly affect the condition and presentation of our golf courses.
That is the real return on these projects.
With eight golf courses to maintain, our most valuable resource is our people. Every hour we can redirect away from unnecessarily labor-intensive areas gives our maintenance teams more opportunity to concentrate on the playing surfaces and areas our golfers experience every day.
This doesn’t mean clubhouse appearance is unimportant. Quite the opposite. The challenge is finding ways to create attractive, welcoming facilities that can also be maintained efficiently. The improvements at Ponce, DeSoto and Isabella were designed with both goals in mind.
These types of projects are also good examples of how smaller operational improvements can have a larger cumulative impact. Saving several labor hours in one location may not sound significant by itself. Multiply those savings across multiple facilities and across an entire golf season, however, and the amount of manpower we can redirect back onto our courses becomes substantial.
As we continue evaluating our golf facilities, we will look for similar opportunities to improve appearance, simplify maintenance and make the best possible use of our resources.
Members may first notice the new landscaping when they arrive at the clubhouse. What they may not immediately see is the bigger benefit taking place beyond the clubhouse: more of our maintenance team’s time being spent where we all want it spent, on the golf course.
| 
