March has brought warm weather to the Southeast and plenty of USGA Course Consulting Service visits for the region’s agronomists. Rounds of golf remain high and many facilities have exceeded their round projections for the winter months. That’s good news. Interestingly, there is ongoing debate at many facilities about practices that began early in the pandemic which were viewed as temporary. A year later, decision-makers at facilities are not so sure they should be temporary. Perhaps golfer preferences have changed and maybe there’s an opportunity to improve operational efficiency. Without further ado, here are four items that may become the new normal – or not:
No bunker rakes
This is a surprising one, but many facilities report zero complaints with there being no bunker rakes on the course. Cleary, there are operational efficiencies associated with not having rakes on the course. Will they stay away or make a return in 2021?
Pool noodle in the hole
When the Rules of Golf were changed in 2019 so that there is no penalty if a ball played from the putting green hits an unattended flagstick in the hole, it created an issue because hole edges were being damaged when golfers tried to squeeze their hand alongside the flagstick to retrieve their ball. During the pandemic, many superintendents used sections of a swimming pool noodle to make the hole shallower and minimize physical contact between golfers and the hole liner or flagstick. In doing so, it greatly reduced damage to hole edges. Most golf courses have taken the pool noodles away, but damage to the hole edges is back and many golfers are finding themselves missing the pool noodles. Will they come back?
Fewer water coolers
Thousands of labor hours were reallocated on golf courses that removed water coolers. Golfers quickly figured out other options for hydration and many facilities experienced higher beverage sales. Is it time to say goodbye to water coolers on the course?
Single-rider carts
Last but not least, we come to single-rider carts. Golfers seem to love the single-rider experience and where pandemic restrictions have ended many are still requesting single carts, placing facilities in a bind. Do they charge more for a single-rider cart? How much should they charge? When should the new rates start? Superintendents are asking questions about the implications of doubling the amount of traffic when a foursome takes four carts, especially in light of the increased play at many facilities. With the pandemic ongoing, there is still plenty of uncertainty around this issue.
Some of these topics may evoke strong reactions, but the answers are not cut and dried. The challenges associated with the pandemic taught us many things and offered us a chance to do things differently going forward. Look at the results from “temporary” policies your course enacted over the past year, adopt what worked and move forward.
Southeast Region Agronomists:
Chris Hartwiger, director, USGA Course Consulting Service – chartwiger@usga.org
Steve Kammerer, Ph.D., senior consulting agronomist – skammerer@usga.org