FEATURES
Sink Your Dollars into High-Priority Areas

by Nancy Riggs

Come out with a winning budget

PHOTO COURTESY OF ERWIN MCKONE. Erwin McKone and Dave Miloshoff look at the progress of an area returned to bluegrass by reducing a large fairway.

As the nation’s economy slowed, golf courses across the country faced similar issues of concern. Golf rounds slowed down, the cost of maintaining courses went up, and higher maintenance costs have spurred increases in greens fees at some courses, contributing to reduced rounds of golf. In response to the interest in golf waning somewhat from the boom of the 1980s and 1990s, the broader golf industry is looking for ways to improve the bottom line and continue to make golf affordable. Some manufacturers have redesigned fairway mowers to increase fuel efficiency, and some municipalities are leasing out their courses to private management.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DON FERRERI. At Seven Bridges Golf Club team member Salvador Sanchez mulches leaves with a Ransomes AR-250, which is normally used for mowing roughs, illustrating multiple uses of equipment.

Don Ferreri, Seven Bridges Golf Club, and Erwin McKone, Briar Ridge Country Club, have both held leadership positions within golf course superintendent organizations in the Chicagoland area. While the courses they are responsible for are significantly different, both represent top-notch playing conditions. Ferreri and McKone are focusing on ways to stretch their budgets while maintaining top-level playing conditions.

Doing more with less

Ferreri is general manager and superintendent at Seven Bridges Golf Club, Woodbridge, Ill. He has been at the municipally owned course since it opened in 1971. The 18-hole course boasts PennLinks greens, Penneagle tees and Penncross fairways.

“We’re a high-end course, and players expect our course to be in top condition,” Ferreri said. Keeping the course in top condition has been at the forefront of Ferreri’s priorities as the number of rounds has declined. “We started seeing the effects about eight years ago,” he said. “It started even before the current economic problems.” Operating with about 17 grounds staff when it opened, Seven Bridges now functions with about 11 grounds staff.

Although he operates with fewer staff members, Ferreri cited the stable staff makeup at Seven Bridges as a major advantage in maintaining the course. “Most of our staff members are seasoned veterans who come back to us. Some have returned for 10 or 12 years. Some are retired, but most have other jobs, as well. They work in custodial or other work in the winter. Our staff is at the top of training and don’t need direction. We have a lot of cohesion in a very steady team.”

“Stretching out the life expectancy of equipment can be a major area of savings,” Ferreri said. He noted that where a three-year life expectancy may be the norm, extra maintenance can provide seven or eight years of use for some equipment. Ferreri said that the staff tends to treat equipment well, often reducing the need for costly repairs that may result from misuse.

“We get the most mileage out of our equipment that we can,” he said, not only in the longevity of the piece of equipment, but also using it for multiple purposes. For example, mowers can be used to mulch leaves, allowing for easy leaf disposal.

Looking at what is actually needed on the course is another way to keep maintenance costs down, Ferreri said. “We’ve cut the number of spray applications and have gone to a curative approach,” he said. “We put in a new pump station this year. We replaced our Flowtronex with a new one of the same model. That was a necessity, but we didn’t upgrade our irrigation.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF DON FERRERI. Seven Bridges Golf Club is a high-end course, so players expect top conditions.

What affects the game

Erwin McKone, director of golf operations at Briar Ridge Country Club, Schererville, Ind., has been in the position six years, and Dave Miloshoff is superintendent. Northwest Indiana is part of Chicagoland and gets not only Chicago’s golf players, but also the lake-effect snow associated with the Windy City. The course is owned by a residential developer and has hosted extensive charity and corporate outings since opening in 1979.

The large property includes a buffer area that was heavily planted with trees between residential development and the golf course, and with maturity, requires extensive maintenance. While some areas of the course have been naturalized, McKone said, “There’s a real resistance on the part of homeowners to naturalizing this area.”

McKone is taking a philosophical look at golf in thinking about what really affects the game. He said, “I’m trying to take a critical look at the golf course from the players’ and superintendent’s viewpoints, trying to define those areas that do have an impact on what the golfer takes away and those areas that are noticed only by the superintendent. I’m trying to decipher what is of value, even if it’s subconsciously. I don’t have it figured out, but I think it’s important for golf.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF ERWIN MCKONE. While checking bluebird houses, Erwin McKone discusses the cost-saving benefits of increasing natural areas on the course.

With the number of golf outings falling off, keeping golf affordable has become more and more challenging. Charitable organizations are seeking ways to raise money that have less overhead, thus reducing the number of charitable events held, and corporations are tightening their budgets by sponsoring fewer corporate outings.

“In the past, we just did what we needed that was in the budget,” McKone said. “The changing economy has made me as a manager try to get a good handle on the value of the golfing experience. I’m now finding myself more carefully monitoring where we are with golf operations.”

McKone said, “We’re educating our employees to check to see if they’re in the proximity of other employees at break time. We’re sort of carpooling by leaving equipment in place, and we can save a great deal on fuel just by doing that.”

Combining jobs is another cost-saving feature that is being incorporated. “We’re being sure that when staff members go out on morning jobs, they can accomplish other jobs. We’re just combining jobs when possible,” he said.

McKone said, “We’re mapping areas of high priority—greens, tees and fairways—areas of high impact. We’re using growth regulators around trees, banks, tees and signs or other amenities, and we’re now renting some tools instead of buying.” To cut down on high-maintenance turf, McKone has reduced the size of larger fairways by about 2.5 acres. Additional areas of large fairways will be returned to bluegrass to save maintenance costs.

The changing economy has presented some opportunities in available labor. “We have a new labor pool of skilled labor from early buyouts, people retired from factories who want to continue working and enjoy golf. We try to make it a team activity. We have guys that really enjoy coming to work,” he said.

Looking at the future of golf, McKone noted it is important to make golf affordable and encourage opportunities to get close to nature as golf was intended to provide.

Nancy Riggs is a freelance writer and frequent contributor. She resides in Mt. Zion, Ill.