Managers

25 Jun 2009 admin

100 Tips for Golf Managers Book “Coming Soon”

Photo by longhorndaveThe purpose of this book is to present to you thoughts and ideas on golf management in order to motivate, encourage and guide you in the industry.

Here are a few excerpts from the upcoming book.

• Golf management provides a great opportunity to learn and grow personally. Therefore, take advantage of this. You will be the same today as you will be in five years except for two things: the books you read and the people you meet.

Many golf club managers have earned their way to the top by actually doing many of the jobs that need to be done. Good golf management is rooted in meaningful experiences relating directly to the golf facility you are managing. One manager from the factory is worth ten from law school.

• Constantly challenge your employees to develop new skills. Ask them to put themselves into situations where they can grow personally and professionally. In other words, take your employees on a journey with a specific outcome.

• You don’t need to be an accountant, an agronomist, a lawyer or have a degree in marketing to manage a golf facility. You will, however, require people skills, know how to delegate and empower and be inquisitive and knowledgeable in many of these areas.

• Regular meetings with the entire staff are essential. Plan in advance for these. Proper planning prevents poor performance. Have a message and a goal in mind. Each meeting should begin with a follow-up of the results of the previous meeting. You can keep these meetings upbeat and even fun and still ensure that your objectives are achieved.

• Pay close attention to fostering a good relationship with the teaching professionals at your facility. They are unique ambassadors to the industry. Their ideas, input and suggestions can be very valuable to a successful operation. Always try to ensure their success.

• Members need to know that if there is an issue, you as the general manager, are going to face it. Anything can be solved as long as you are open to communication. Most things in golf management can be summarized in two words: Challenge, Response.

• Be a student of your industry; trends, competition and niche opportunities. If you are not continually learning about golf management, you won’t be in first place.

• When you happen to play golf with a member or guest, never allow yourself the opportunity to be judged negatively. A well-adjusted person is one who can play golf as if it were a game.

19 Jun 2009 admin

Golf Management Info Regarding Aerifying Greens

Photo by ShellVacationsHospitalityGolf greens are usually aerified with 3/8 inch hollow tines and 1 ½ inch spacing from hole to hole. These are some of the advantages and disadvantages of Aerifying golf greens:

Advantages:

• Relieves soil compaction • Allows deeper, faster penetration of water, air, fertilizer, and pesticides in the root zone. • Allows for the atmospheric release of toxic gases from the root zone. • Improves drainage, helping to dry out saturated soils and prevent the formation of puddles. • Improves water penetration into dry or hydrophobic soils. • Penetrates the soil layers that develop from topdressing with dissimilar materials. • Provides thatch control by stimulating the environmental conditions that promote healthy soil microorganism activity for thatch decomposition. • Increases rooting by constructing a medium more conducive to active root growth.

Disadvantages:

• Temporarily disrupts playing surface. • Increases turf surface desiccation as roots are exposed. • Produces coring holes that provide a better habitat for cutworms and other insect pests. As you can see, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for the long-term health of the green year round.

12 Jun 2009 admin

A Golf Management Primer on Golf Course Design

Photo by dMap Travel GuideBy Patrick White USGTF Contributing Writer, Middlesex, VT

Nature’s Intentions

It’s no insult to today’s golf course architects – who as a group are exceptionally talented and knowledgeable in the fields of art, science, and design – to point out that for all of the technology, financing and modern earth moving equipment at their disposal, they seldom are able to match Mother Nature when it comes to crafting golfing rounds. It’s the courses on the sandy, barren, Scottish linksland that have served, directly or indirectly as the inspiration for all golf course architecture. These layouts were built by wind, water and other natural forces, while grazing sheep and burrowing animals seeking shelter gave the layouts their character and provided ready made hazards.

History of Design

Still, even the most revered of these venues were improved by man. While golf has been played at St. Andrews since the 15th century, it was the imagination of golfers over several centuries that sought out routings to take the best advantage of the natural topography. And when the game advanced beyond what the site would allow, golfers didn’t hesitate to make changes. In 1764 at St. Andrews, four existing holes were combined to form two, resulting in an 18 hole course that would become the standard for the game. Later in the 1830’s, club maker and top golf professional Alan Robertson was commissioned to widen the fairways on the course and improve a green on the Road Hole – the first known putting surface to be designed by man. Bolstered by the experience, Robertson would go on to “design” other rudimentary courses in the British Isles, helping to lay the cornerstone of the golf architecture profession we know today. Robertson’s protégée’, Old Tom Morris continued the work on the St. Andrews course, and added further to the legitimacy of golf design by continuing to improve the Old Course and building the New Course at St. Andrews. Others, notably the Dunn and Park families of Mussel burgh, Scotland, began to hear the calling of course design and their work began to spread the game of golf throughout the British Isles and beyond.

Architecture Expands

It was during this expansion of the game that the practice of golf architecture truly came into its own. Faced with sites that lacked natural characteristics of the Scottish sea sides, architects were forced to do more to the land and rely less on Mother Nature. Most prominently, this transition took place in the Heathlands near London in the late 1800’s. There, course design pioneers such as Willie Park Jr., H.S. Colt and H.S. Fowler proved that, with some tree clearing, a bit of earth moving and a little imagination, inland sites could provide a satisfactory and even impressive environment for golf. Such adaptation and improvisation proved prescient, because around the same time golf was gaining popularity in the U.S. – where the landforms had little in common with the Scottish linksland. Among the earliest pioneers to build courses in North America was Scotsman Willie Davis, who laid out such seminal courses as Royal Montreal in Canada, the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island and Shinnecock Hills on Long Island. Others, mainly Scottish immigrants, were frequently contracted to construct courses, often on the estates of wealthy patrons new to the game. Beyond the few highly respected courses of the day, most of the earliest American golf architecture was rudimentary at best. In a recent book entitled “18 Stakes on a Sunday Afternoon,” golf architecture and historian Geoffrey Cornish documented the fast and furious nature by which many courses were “staked out” by Scottish transplants traveling through town. Some of these courses contained ridiculous 700 yard holes while others were just a mundane collection of greens and tees placed out on non-descript land. Even so, these rustic courses helped to spread the gospel of golf in this country. One of the figures to call for courses of greater design quality was Walter Travis, an Australian who came to this country and established himself as perhaps an amateur golfing champion, accomplished course designer and leading writer / editor on all topics golf. His work, along with a largely Scottish contingent, helped rectify the situation in the first decades of the twentieth century with scores of improved layouts.

Old Meets New

Ironically, if there was a father of golf architecture in America, it was Canadian-born Charles Blair Macdonald. Macdonald was among the first to intensively study the greatest golf holes of Europe and adapt (not to be confused with “copy”) them to sites in America. In 1907 he penned an essay setting forth the criteria by which a golf course could be evaluated, including such factors as soil, natural terrain, and quality of turf, as well as the length and variety of holes. His methods for judging one course against another represented an early precursor to the modern infatuation with course “rankings” that today seems to color any discussion of golf architecture. The essence of Macdonald’s approach can be found at The National Golf Links on Long Island, a collection of what he considered the world’s best golf holes. Among these specimens are interpretations of such holes s the Rhedan, Sahara and the Alps. Obviously, both at The National on other courses, the natural topography necessarily altered the holes slightly, sometimes allowing for new interpretations of the great holes considered even more impressive than the originals. Some setting in America, though a far cry from Scottish linksland, proved just as ideal for golf – albeit with more effort required to prepare them. When businessman and amateur golfer George Crump saw the sandy soils and natural movement of the land in the pine forests of southern New Jersey, he made it his life’s calling to design and build a golf course there. The result, Pine Valley Golf Club, is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest courses. With input from some of the world’s most accomplished architects of the day, Crump hewed out a course far different from those Scottish golfers were accustomed to. Pine Valley was one example of a new style of golf architecture that was emerging, dictated in many ways by the landforms available. In the place of open, hard, fast ground of Scotland that encouraged bump-and-run approaches came greens and fairways surrounded by trees, sand or water, many times requiring aerial approaches. Fortunately, equipment improvements at the time helped facilitate this type of shot making. And many American courses were less influenced by wind than their Scottish counterparts, again, allowing greater emphasis on higher shots. The 1920s proved to be a glamorous period for golf architecture in America – figures such as Donald Ross, A.W. Tillinghast, William Flynn, Seth Raynor and other were all active during this time. And with the national economy booming, there was increased financing available to purchase land and build courses. Still, even during this ere, architects were limited by a lack of mechanized earth moving equipment and were forced to mostly rely on the natural contours of the site. As Ross stated at the time, “God created golf holes. It is the duty of the architect to discover them.”

Technology Brings Innovation

In the middle of the century, as prime building sites became more scarce and heavy equipment more commonplace, golf architects found themselves moving beyond largely “discovering” and improving golf holes to, in many cases, actually constructing them. Around this time, Robert Trent Jones, a golf architect and born self-promoter, brought a new consciousness of course design to the golfing public and a new stature to the profession. His innovations went beyond marketing, however. Jones was a pioneer in the design of tee boxes and other course features to accommodate various golfing abilities. “It’s easy to set up a golf hole and golf course for the professionals in this manner. But setting it up for the professional, the average club member, the senior player and the woman player at the same time is another matter,” wrote Jones in his book, Golf’s Magnificent Challenge. “Flexibility in tee placement would seem to solve the problem, but it really doesn’t. Place the bunkers for strong players and sometimes women can’t get over them on the second shots. String multiple bunkers along the fairway’s edge and the women then are playing the better men. Often there is no total solution, no way to accommodate all classes of golfers. But the conscientious architect will devote careful attention to achieving the best possible compromise.”

4 Jun 2009 admin

Praise employee’s effectively.

Photo by rsepulveda A golf club manager’s most powerful tool is the ability to praise your staff effectively. “The sandwich technique,” in which you couple a piece of praise with an item of critique is a good way of getting the results that you want. For more information on “the sandwich technique” please refer to Golf Teaching Pro magazine, Summer edition at usgtf.com Try to be specific in your praise. A vague statement like “You’re doing a great job,” is less meaningful then a precise description such as “The pro shop has never looked better, keep up the good work.”

4 Jun 2009 admin

A good golf manager plans his week in 30 minutes.

Photo by chispita_666It is a well known fact that to manage a golf facility takes a certain amount of planning. Simply ask yourself these questions • What results do you want to see by the end of the week? Write them down and rank them according to importance. • What do you have to do to achieve your goals? List the necessary activities, and put them in sequence. • How much time will each activity require? To plan realistically, allow yourself more time than you think you will actually need. This gives you flexibility if unexpected problems develop. Take a look at your calendar and decide when you can accomplish each activity. Most people underestimate the power of a schedule, but you won’t get much accomplished in the golf management industry if you don’t schedule time to plan your week.

4 Jun 2009 admin

Tactics to boost morale

One of a golf club manager’s most important jobs is to keep spirits up in the work place. With stress levels sometimes high on busy days at golf facilities, this is not always easy to do. However, there are some strategies that a good golf manager can use. Liven up your memos. Find a book of one liner’s, and include a joke at the bottom of your memos. Take pictures! Every office has an aspiring photographer. Ask that person to take candid shots of employees, and add them “Humor Corner.” Bring your smile to work. You’ll be surprised at the difference it makes especially in the golf industry. If the manager consistently has an upbeat attitude, the staff will as well.

4 Jun 2009 admin

Managing with questions.

The art of golf management often involves asking questions, lots of them. Here are several questions to ask as you manage your facility. If you ask these questions as part of your routine, you’ll teach your staff that their opinions matter. • What caused complaints today? • What was misunderstood today? • What cost too much? • What was wasted? • What was too complicated? • What job involved too many people?

4 Jun 2009 admin

Wisdom of Golf Management

If you gathered 100 experienced golf managers together and asked for their advice, this is what you might hear. “No task is beneath you.” Don’t think you are above anything. Be the good example and pitch in — especially if the job is one that nobody wants to do. “Ask for Help.” If you think you’re in over you’re head, you probably are. Before it gets out of hand, ask someone for help — most people enjoy giving a hand. Besides saving yourself from embarrassment, you’ll make a friend and an ally. “When you don’t like someone, don’t let it show.” Especially if you outrank them. Never burn bridges or offend others as you move ahead. “When you are right, don’t gloat.” The only time you should ever use the phrase “I told you so” is if someone says to you: “You were right. I really could succeed at that project.”

8 May 2009 admin

Slice Solutions

by Bob Wyatt, Jr. USGTF Course Director, Port St. Lucie, Florida   According to a conversation I had with the late great USGTF teacher Babe Bellagamba, there are two foolproof ways to cure an over-the-top swing fault and a resulting pull slice shot. In this article, the first in a two part series, I talk about how swinging like legendary golfers Tommy Armour and Seve Ballesteros did during their heydays can put your student’s faulty swing back on track.   Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to observe the golf swings of thousands of amateur golfers. Wherever I am, without fail, I’ve noticed that the majority of high handicap players hit a pull-slice shot off the tee.   I’ve spoken to numerous USGTF/WGTF members about this common problem and most of you agree that the over-the-top move, along with the faulty cut-across-the-ball action occurring in the impact zone are the culprits. As for cures, two of the most original were explained to me by Babe Bellagamba, a great student of the game.   At Kissimmee Golf Club, in Florida, where Babe was based, he had a main teaching room with mirrors everywhere to “reflect” a student’s problem – even on the ceiling – and sequence photographs of great golfers on the walls of an adjacent room.   When it was a pull slice shot Babe needed to fix, he pointed to the techniques of three great players: Tommy Armour, Seve Ballesteros, and Ben Hogan.   “If you swing back like Seve and down and through like Armour, I guarantee the club will move correctly along an inside-square-inside path and the shot you hit will draw slightly from right to left,” Babe used to tell struggling students. “You will never hit a pull-slice,” Babe added.   It was Babe’s belief that common or traditional left-sided triggers, such as “Guide the club back in one piece with your left arm and shoulder,” together with the tip, “Pull the golf club down and through with your left hand,” actually did more harm than good. In fact, Babe believed these well meaning left-sided tips to be root causes of swinging the club outside the target line on the backswing then directing it across the target line in the hit-zone.   Babe was a big believer in right-sided golf over left-sided golf for right-handed players; feeling that the right-sided way is more natural, player-friendly, and better suited to golfers lacking the time to devote a few hours per week to practice. The next time you interview a new student and determine that his or her pull slice is likely being caused by left-sided triggers, follow this right-sided recipe in the style of the late Babe Bellagamba.   TIP 1: THE BACKSWING Like Seve did during his heyday, when he won three British Open championships (1979, 1984, 1988) and three Masters (1980, 1983), instruct the student to pull the club away from the ball gently with the right hand while, practically simultaneously, turning the right hip clockwise. This tip of Babe’s makes perfect sense when you consider that until Seve started visiting left-sided instructors in America he was a natural, powerfully accurate right-sided golfer who said this in his book Natural Golf.   “Using my strongest hand to start the swing enables me to more naturally and fluidly control the pace of the takeaway and keep the club traveling along the proper plane and arc all the way to the top of the backswing.”   TIP 2: THE DOWNSWING Drum home the following points made by legendary golfer Tommy Armour in his much overlooked book, How To Play Your Best Golf All The Time, an instructional text that was in Babe’s office library and one that stresses right-sided swingcontrol. Armour, known for hitting a high percentage of fairways and greens, won the 1927 U.S. Open, 1930 PGA, and 1931 British Open. So, as Babe used to suggest, have your problematic student listen to Armour’s words of wisdom.   “A swift moving right hand is the source of dynamic power,” said Armour.   “And with Hogan, Snead, and every other star, it is the right sided smash that accounts for masterly execution of the shots. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.   “The more you can get your hands ahead of the clubface in the downswing, the more power you can apply with the right hand.   “The late un-cocking of the wrists, or the delayed hit, causes a decided acceleration of right-hand action at the most effective period.”   “You don’t have to think about the right hand not coming in time to whip the ball terrifically; it will get there spontaneously.   This golf swing, and the varying opinions of what is the best method, and what cures work best for which faults, is fascinating. In fact, as if it were yesterday, I remember vividly the stimulating conversation I had with Babe Bellagamba, after telling him that from my observations of golfers around the world I determined that the majority of high handicap golfers swing over the top at the start of the downswing, cut across the ball in the impact zone, and hit a pull-slice shot.   “Bob, I confront this problem every day, and the first thing I and every other teacher should do is get the student to start swinging the club back along an inside path,” said Babe.   “And one of the best ways to do that is to have him copy the closed stance setup position of Ben Hogan.”   Babe pointed out that when looking at the drawings in Ben Hogan’s classic instructional book, Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, you can clearly see that Hogan’s right foot is dropped back, slightly farther away from the target line than the left foot. Look at the book and you’ll see Babe’s statement about Hogan’s closed stance is correct. This is even more profound when you consider that Babe told me he had read in a book or magazine that the drawings done by illustrator Anthony Ravielli were rendered from photographs of Hogan setting up and swinging. In short, each and every drawing, particularly the one clearly showing the closed stance setup on page 78 of the hardcover version of this superbly written instructional text, mirror or reflect Hogan’s actual positions. What’s even more profound, other that Hogan depending on what is commonly called a “hooker’s stance” to hit a controlled fade, is that Hogan and the book’s collaborator Herbert Warren Wind never addressed this feature of Hogan’s setup.   All this made sense to me when I recently re-read John Andrisani’s book, The Hogan Way. In this easy-to-follow instruction book, Andrisani says the following:   “This address position (closed) offsets the tendency Hogan had to swing the club back outside the target line during the backswing, owing to his very weak grip. The slightly closed stance position allowed Hogan to swing the club back along the target line, at the earliest stage of the takeaway, then slightly inside as he swung further back.”   So Babe was right. Although Hogan’s biggest fear was hitting a duck-hook, he also did likely fear swinging the club back on an outside path and likely, too, swinging across the target line on the downswing and hitting a pull slice. The closed stance obviously provided Hogan the comfort of knowing the club would not move outside the target line dramatically on the backswing and, instead, would be directed to the inside. This is precisely why Babe recommended pull-slice players set up closed.   “Bob, if there is one good thing the closed stance guarantees, it’s that the club will move to the inside on the backswing,” said Babe before adding this. “Therefore, a teacher who recommends this stance to a pull-slice hitter is halfway home in curing the student’s problem.”   According to Babe, the other shortcut to providing a remedy for the over-the-top pull-slice player involves the lower body. Again, Babe used Hogan as the model.   After reaching the top, Hogan actually moved his hips laterally initially then cleared them. Because he set up closed and swung the club back inside the target line, the lateral shift actually ensured that he start swinging out at the start of the downswing. In fact, I bet Hogan knew that if he felt blocked early in the downswing he was on the right track and could never hit across the ball.   Surely, Hogan also accepted that if, after making a lateral shift action, he failed to clear his hips, he would, indeed, hit a block. But, if he cleared his hips and kept his left wrist bowed, he would likely come into impact with the face ever so slightly open and hit a controlled power-fade. This is the shot Babe hit the best and the shot he successfully got former pull-slice hitters to hit.   All of this came together, and Babe was proved right, when I re-read two key lines in Hogan’s book.   “When the golfer is on this correct (less steeply inclined) downswing plane, he has to hit from the inside out.” When he hits from he inside out, he can get maximum strength into the swing and obtain maximum club-head speed.”   CONCLUSION: Only if you have a pull-slice hitting student set up closed, can he or she swing the club back inside the target line, and only if you have them trigger the downswing with a lateral move, can you be ensured of the student swinging out at the ball instead of across the target line and, too, hitting a super controlled power-fade – Hogan style – rather than a horrible pull-slice.

8 May 2009 admin

Teaching the LOB SHOT

By Bob Wyatt USGTF National Coordinator, Port St. Lucie, Florida   DEFINITION The “lob” shot, sometimes referred to as the flop shot, is a high-flying pitch shot which, upon landing, has very little if any roll. The lob can be used anywhere when this flight characteristic is required.   For example, a player might be just off the green by five or six yards, but a pot bunker stands in his/her way. Running the ball through is not an option due to the severity of the front lip of the bunker, and the pin is tucked only a few feet behind the bunker, giving the player no option but to put the ball into the air with a steep enough angle of flight to ensure a minimum degree of roll.   EXECUTION Opinions vary somewhat from one teacher to another as to what a player should key on when performing a lob pitch. Some say the use of a lot of hands and wrists is best; others suggest keeping the wristiness to a minimum! It’s no wonder so many students become confused and frustrated over this shot. What teachers do agree on almost across the board is the need for a long, unhurried swinging motion. Not a move creating a lot of speed, but one designed to send the ball up at a steep angle to provide the soft, controlled landing desired.   On a personal note, I firmly believe this shot needs to be controlled by the lead hand and arm. The lead arm is in position to create and retain the needed radius of the swing as well as control the speed of the motion. Being in front of the grip, the lead hand is also in position to prevent the club from twisting and turning during the swing. An open stance with the body weight slightly favoring the front foot is what I normally use and what I recommend to my students. One last key point: be aware of maintaining your spine angle as you strike the ball, and, if having trouble getting the ball up quickly, try keeping your spine angle into the finish even to the point of feeling you are leaning forward. This will help prevent the body from trying to tunnel under the ball.   CONCLUSION It’s certainly more advantageous to execute this shot with a lob wedge, however a sand wedge of 56° to 58° will do the job just fine in most cases. Good golfing!