I played at a course that had a box with scorecards and pencils on the tee box of hole 2. I thought that was brilliant because that is exactly when you realize you forgot to pick up a scorecard when you go to write down your score from the first hole
As a head greenkeeper there are so many variables that can affect what goes on at a club. Things like hole painting adds more than a few seconds and actually spoil the fresh cups. Don’t know if you can DM here but HMU if you ever want to talk to a head greenkeeper for some open honesty about the profession
I used to do course maintenance as a summer job. We didn't paint the holes but tried white plastic inserts; the members hated those. Honestly I think the plain dirt above the cup looks just fine. You're right through, there are a ton of variables that affect what each individual course is able to do. It takes way more work to maintain a golf course than the average person realizes.
We paint the holes on the course where I work and it doesn’t affect the cups at all if you paint it before the cup is put in, it only puts a little paint on the outside of the cup that is never visible
I'm not remotely picky about what you guys do. I only have one request, if your course keeps seed bottles on carts to repair divots, could you make sure there is a place to exchange empty bottles for full ones in the event the cart barn guys haven't already done so.
Would love to see a stand alone video with you and a greenkeeper to see what goes into keeping a golf course. I think there’s way more to it than meets the eye.
It's a massive operation. Worked on a championship level course in college. It takes about 40 guys on the team to manage the day by day maintenance and it goes well beyond cutting the grass.
I would like to see guy and rick go to various golf course and work with the greenkeeping teams and both ends of the budget. To see how easy these things are to do within the working day of a greenkeeper and how have other areas would suffer from trying to please everyone
i work maintenance at a top 15 course in pa. picking up the clippings from cutting fairways is crazy expensive. we have big ride mowers for fairways. with 5 cutting units on each. the baskets to pick up the clippings are $500 per basket. and when you cut with the baskets you need at least 4 guys to follow the mowers around and empty them into a gator when they get full
a couple things I like: if the information board at the tee has a diagram of the hole. it doesn't have to be big or detailed, it's just nice to have a quick look and see the hole is this general shape, and there are hazards in these areas. also, as we all get older, having toilets at strategic locations takes a lot of pressure off the players. other side of the coin, St Andrews has an actual booklet they give you with the scorecard, and it made a wonderful souvenir, as well as a guide to the holes - but I still missed being able to glance at a picture of the hole on the information stand.
My home course is ridiculously beautiful. Love it so much! But the tee boxes....uneven. Ball above the feet, below the feet, etc... Never underestimate well done tee boxes!
When you have great flags ... sell them in the pro shop! Ideally include different hole numbers available for sale, at least the par 3s and reachable 5s. So many golfers collect great flags, and everyone will buy a flag to commemorate an ace or eagle. Flag sales can easily fund replacement flags.
I live in Thailand, one of the courses I play is a nice, reasonably well maintained layout but the bunkers are terrible, hard with no or very little compacted sand. Recently discovered the reason was that every time they filled them, the locals would come at night and steal the sand to use for construction projects!
This seems to be the general vibe from greenkeepers in this comment section, but the fact of the matter is, it's not about whether it's hard. That's the job. We don't pay $40-50+ per round to go tee off on a box that's half sand. With the money the course is making, if they can't hire enough workers to keep things nice, the course shouldn't be open. You don't have to be a greenkeeper to know that.
Unfortunately Rick doesn’t know what he’s talking about because he isn’t a Greenkeeper. He like many others fall in to the trap of thinking he knows it all. 99% of golf courses don’t box of fairway clippings. They just cut regularly with sharp units so they shouldn’t be noticeable if u can get a dryish cut in/not too long
@@bendygalve2330 that's not the point. 40-50+ is not a small chunk of change so people paying that deserve a certain standard. Saying "it's hard/time consuming" isn't a valid excuse either. That's like being McDonald's and no longer serving the big Mac because "it's too time consuming". If management can't keep a golf course the way a course should be kept then they should not be in business. It's just that simple. And because the greenkeepers are the ones getting butthurt I feel like I should add, my point isn't a dig at them. It's a dig at management. Management should be able to employ enough help and pay them a proper wage so that they can get these things done. If management can't afford to hire enough help to keep the course in good shape then maybe they should find another business venture.
Fair points lad I get you. But I think you’ve not really read or understood what myself and other Greenkeepers have said. Some points he made were fair and true. But some of the stuff he said was just plain nonsense.
A few big ones for me, most very simple and can be done quite cheaply: 1- A bucket of water near the 1st and 10th tee to wet your towel 2- Buckets of sand at par 3 tee boxes to refill divots containers 3- Cool tee markers that fit the theme/vibe (for lack of a better word) of the course. They don't have to be expensive or crazy, but the colored spheres are just blah 4- Yardages on sprinkler heads. This honestly could be done with a white sharpie for all I care, I just want to know how far I have in 5- Water jugs every few holes. Nothing worse than being thirsty and having to wait until the turn or you finish before you can get a drink again 6- If you have a course designed for carts with some longer drives between green and tee, have enough signs accurately pointing which way to the next hole 7- If you have a course designed for walking, have a bench or somewhere to sit near every tee box 8- Good looking scorecards. Just a white scorecard with the club's seal or logo on the outside is so much better than one loaded with ads and useless info 9- A quality course guide/yardage book. I know this one can be expensive, but it adds so much to the experience and can be a massive help if you've never played there
As a course manager this episode has proved to me how little golfers know about what goes into setting up a golf course, I would of thought it would of been easy enough to have done your homework before doing the episode. Maybe invite a greenkeeper along next time to answer the questions and give the listeners more of an insight into what it takes and actually educate golfers. A video about etiquette would be a good idea too covering the basics such as repairing pitchmarks, raking bunkers and replacing divots. This would improve the golf experience and the course.
A lot of it comes down to time, even if something takes 5 minutes, multiply that by 18 and you’ll see real quick why greenskeepers are slow to take on more maintenance items. Golfers who clean up after themselves on the tees, greens and bunkers make a significant difference in the efficiency of the greenskeepers.
On a blind approach shot, I like when courses have a bell to ring up by the green so the people behind know that it’s safe to hit. Blind shots without that can be dangerous.
For me its gotta be having nice yardage markers at 100 and 150 yards out. Its so frustrating at my local course we only have lines on the cart path, theres no poles or anything like that to help out with yardage.
@@Sarg3e Yeah let me spend more money on a range finder then I have for my whole set of clubs. Courses should have visable markers at each 50 yard increment starting at 100 yards away from the flag.
@@Sarg3e lol your such a troll. It literally ruins nothing about golf but adds tons of benefits. you probably dont care cuz you dont hit it in the middle of the fairway for it to matter
As someone who works at a golf course, the cutting fairways topic, it takes one to two more people per mower to pick up the clippings. For the courses that don’t have the man power, it’s just not viable.
@@alexgould763 Those attachments will fill up, requiring emptying, which increases the time to get the mowing done. Which in turn probably increases man power requirements.
@@viperarm04 A lot of courses are closed one day a week. Use that day as course maintenance like mowing. Also there's off hours. It's summer, courses closing at 6 and 7 and the sun stays up til near 9, have some grounds keepers come in late and take care of it in the evening. There's simple solutions to manpower issues.
@@theindooroutdoorsman 🤣 our tees get cut 3x per week. fairways 4x per week. greens every day plus rolling and verti cutting on top. rough takes 7 days to cut every hole. so i dont think the one day thing will work. our course you can sit and watch the grass grow
Yardage sticks in the fairways are so good and so easy. Gives you something to aim at, especially if it's your first time playing the hole. Just recently played a course that had 250 and 150 markers in the center of the fairway, very helpful
Send the club an email! I work at a course and just spent ~30 minutes today filling up our cart sand bottles. Usually if a player or member mentions something easy like that the'll have the outside crew take care of it when it's a little slow during the morning or evening.
A few years ago there were a group of us played at Ferndown Golf club. It chucked it down with rain for a good hour so we were delayed. When we returned out to the course, the greenkeeping staff were syringing the rain water out of the cups on the greens. Classy.
As a junior my friends and I were members of a council run course.. It wasn't kept in the best condition but the one thing that would irritate us was the holes not being clean cut and grass starting to grow inwards on the whole.. The hole ended up being smaller and liping out happened all the time. We ended up playing rounds with scissors that were bent./ curved and we would trim the holes ourselves!
Divot replacement soil/seed and scoop on the tee box. Makes a massive difference and helps green keepers hugely but so few golf clubs in my area have this available.
Not all courses have the funds or resources to do a lot of this stuff. My club is struggling with membership and money and we are not on our own in my local area. We have no professional and no shop. The upside is that the course is well maintained and the greens are as good as anywhere. To have a lot of what’s been suggested here is ok at some courses where fees are high and there’s loads of green staff. We have two green staff who do a terrific job basically looking after the greens and cutting fairways. I can’t believe we are on our own in this regard.
Tee boxes are often pitched to ensure proper drainage. on larger tee boxes the slope is typically able to be stretched out over a longer run, so it seems less noticeable than small domed over tee boxes, which are the worst to play from. Learned that from Tom Doak's book on golf course architecture
I think he's more talking about an even plane, not necessarily level one. Over time tees get hills and valleys to them, touching up greens with a bit of extra dirt during off season so they stop resembling a mountain range.
Benches……. every hole needs a bench. Not everyone is physical super fit, and a 30 second sit down very couple of holes does wonders for my bad knees. Also, we all play in some fantastic places and what’s better than sitting down and just admiring the beauty of the golf course.
Don’t forget under covid a lot of ball washers removed, not to touch flags etc. I would like a hole map as a guide for each hole. I play a couple of courses where it’s almost a maze to work out where next hole is. Litter bins at the tee should be a must, I hate how some people can carry a can or bottle of drink but cannot manage to carry said empty bottle in their bag. I hate litter at best of times but on the course AAARGH
I made this suggestion to my club recently. Mow a walkway from the tee box to the fairway. That way you don't have to walk to taller grass which can make you more tired over time and looks a bit more professional.
Again Head Greenkeeper myself, based in Oxfordshire. I agree with the other Course Managers / Heads below with their comments. From what I see around the UK the level of greenkeeping and presentation I see has actually gone up another level especially after what has hit the greenkeeping industry such as the likes of increase in disease, aftermath of covid, restriction on spending, increase in machinery cost and cost of machinery plus loads more. Also the loss of a lot many good greenkeepers in the last 2/3 years who have left the industry. I have 4 greenkeepers and 2 Gardeners looking after a 440 acre hotel complex. I think you two need to do a week of greenkeeping or even ask a greenkeeper ?
Another cool idea would be club head cleaner boxes wherever the ball cleaner stands are located. Club head cleaner boxes are basically bristles and some water, so they aren't very expensive, but I have only ever seen them attached to the side of some golf carts. Very handy when you want to clean your irons off quickly and easily.
@@danielkelly8756 Yes it's the same idea, but it's a box that is mounted (and bristles on two sides) so you just insert your club to clean it off and you're done. If you search for "Club Clean Kraft" you can see what it's like.
@@phidip2328 Sure but that's something else to pay for.. 18 holes, even just 9 of the 18, that's not cheap. Then there's the upkeep of them, making sure they're full of clean water, painted nicely, strimmed around etc. Most clubs here in the UK aren't like USA clubs with bigger teams of greenkeeping staff and budgets.
My cheap municipal course is missing a lot of these features, BUT one feature it does have is a clean up station at the end of the course. Good scrapers to clean the grass, mud and poop out of your cleats, and a hose for spraying your shores and the wheels of your push cart. I hate bringing that stuff into the boot of my car!
I worked for a couple years as a groundskeeper for a course here in Texas and all of these things, even the ones that seems hugely easy, are very time consuming. Even something as easy as changing towels and emptying trash can easily take an hour to an hour and a half depending on the size of the course, which granted doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re dealing with irrigation issues and need to mow before the day gets busy and a bunch of other major projects that have huge impacts on the course and are in many cases short handed, often severely, it makes doing the small things a lot harder. We actually did a lot of those little things, painted cups, trash and ball washers that were maintained well, but as someone who did it on a day after day basis, those things and cleaning the course of trash people just toss off the cart or blows out takes 3-4 hours to do it properly for one person covering all 18 holes. Little projects make a huge difference, but everyone adds up to not enough hours in the day at most places, so often decisions have to be made and often the things that get cut seem huge, but if you could be in the room for the discussion and know what the alternative was, often it’s a necessary evil brought on by intense understaffing and lack of funds
I caddy at course that a few years ago switched to rakes that have curled handles at end so ball can roll under the rake and less likely to effect the ball when entering or exiting the bunker. Course also has box with pencils, tees, ball markers, scorecards and tees on range, 1st tee and 10th tee.
Scorecard with a course map. Simple, easy and cheap to do. Woodhall Spa, the home of England Golf don't do it and they need to. Also a really good chipping area with bunkers.
A sign letting players know if the greens have just been punched or if there’s any construction going on. Played a course earlier this year that on one of the holes had construction of an irrigation system going on and there were multiple trenches dug straight across the width of the fairway
In the USA we have a lot of clubs that don't water tee boxes and it's like cement to put a tee in the ground. A lot of guys want foot scrapers on the ball washer. I like a club that has a water bucket and brush to clean your clubs after a round near the parking lot.
Rake rests! keeps the handle up off the ground, closer, cleaner, less likely for a ball to hit the rake, and ensures they're always put back in the same spot.
Oh and what the course needs.. a small bucket on each tee box that people can through their broken Tees into. Useful to collect tees but also can be used for lower woods or iron shots by others. Good for the world and the players who can’t find a small tee
One of my favorites which Ive seen recently is a club cleaner on the cart. It's just a container lines witb brushes and has water in it. It's so nice!! The tee boxes are a huge pep peeve with me too. No reason for them to not be perfect, it's not a drainage issue if they are built right.
Most green keepers are very busy as a member I think it’s my responsibility to supply my own tee pegs pitch repair tool and ball marker as for the flags I wish players would replace them correctly lots of times I have to put it straight
All of these things mentioned would be great to find on any course. If I had to choose, I'd say level tee boxes is my number one issue. I've been to plenty of courses with small/narrow tee boxes, and they slope off. The grass itself is usually pretty shotty too. This is really only on smaller municipal courses though. Nicer places will always have a nicely kept box.
I have actually wondered if the tee box slope at some courses is strategic ( probably for drainage?). I know I prefer a level tee box, but I'd be lying if I didn't favor teeing up my ball on a part of the tee box that would help me with my miss. So if I am hooking it that day and part of the box is sloped a little with the ball below my feet, that's where I'd tee it up or vice versa
@@ahastar1141 I live in the Chicago area in the U.S. Many municipal courses are done this way due to lack of funds to make them level. They pick a spot and cut it short. I get lack of funds. But it takes away from some fairly designed courses.
Direction to the next tee! I am a nomad golfer and play different courses throughout the year. Of the 80 or so that I have played in the last 10 years I suggest that less than 10 courses have guidence to the next tee box. With a couple of them using exit arrows on the score card map. #cheapfix
Was at a course recently that had amazing cart girls. They of course had great drinks and snacks available, but also for sale little things like balls, tees (were free), ball markers, sun screen, towels.
Actual bathrooms around the course. Map of the hole at each tee box. Ball washers WITH WATER IN THEM. Trash cans on every tee box, especially when blues/whites are far away from each other. Easy access to sand dispensers for people to actually use. Tees and ball markers at the first tee are a nice touch too.
Most make or break for me is friendly and informed pro shop staff. They make you feel welcome, let you know of any local rules in play, and really help to start the round off well. A nice to have, particularly at an unfamiliar course, is having the hole number on the tee markers. Often there will be a sign at the championship tees, which aren't always in play or even close to the tees that you're playing, and you are wasting time figuring out the correct tee box. Then if they point at the flag or the fairway I'm happy! Regarding the clippings on fairways, my course has a towed blower that they do a couple of laps of the fairway with. Makes a huge difference to roll out and rewards you for hitting the fairway. That said, not every club will have the resources to spend on removal of clippings.
Picking up of dry leaves in the Autumn/winter months. I play parkland courses and I lost my ball this past weekend when it rolled off the fairway and disappeared under some huge piles of leaves.
Personalised tee boxes to the golf course. Some courses have fancy tee box markers which are unique to them but it could be as easy as spray painting the name of the course and the hole number onto the tee box markers. It is the small details which make each course unique and feel like the employees/owner cares about the course.
There’s a course by me where the back tees are marked with little fake stacks of dynamite and it’s awesome. Probably cost them $100 to buy dowels and paint at the hardware store
This will probably be looked past, but I’m working with a group to help rehab our local golf course, and one of the things that we are seriously looking in to, is removing all bunkers on the course because of how expensive they are to rebuild and maintain. The current ones are extremely old and no drainage, the sand goes rock hard in no time, or filled with water. What’s the thoughts on courses with no sand bunkers, but instead grass bunkers, and tight cut fairways to slide off the greens?
Good suggestions all. I don't know how much of a problem it is these days but the courses I grew up on had a tendency to not keep the tee boxes tightly mown. They don't have to be putting green length but even a 3/4 inch of grass can screw up your tee shot especially on par threes where you're using an iron.
Definitely agree with Rick on the cleaning of the hole markers. It's so easy to do but if it doesn't get done it just makes it seem like the course doesn't take pride in it's appearance. It's tantamount going to a wedding or special occasion and not getting your dress shoes cleaned off and polished. It may seem like a minute detail but without it you look sloppy.
I regularly play a course in Essex and one in Hertfordshire (no names) and they both have the most horrendous bunkers. The first has bunkers with either no sand and a couple have GUR sprayed in them (for over a year) and the second has loads of stones it theirs, so now when I play I won’t play out of either, and your right about ball cleaners, neither eve4 have water in there’s.
I played at gleneagles Queens course last week. Before going to the tee we had at least 5 members of staff make sure we k ew where to go, free range balls. And when we got to thr first tee, the starter handed up free Tees, ball markers and a course guide. Just a nice touch.
This does sound so familiar. I play in a lot of open competitions and the standards vary unbelievably, surprisingly (or not) price of entry has little to no effect. The vast majority of golf clubs I believe forget what business they are in. They are in the leisure business competing for either members and or casual play. What you have said is very true and is in fact a disservice to members who do pay a substantial amount per year and to the casual players.
Coming from a maintenance man… most of these things mentioned will take an hour minimum on their own. Lots of times there is just not that much time to work on such small things.
Clear yardage markers, a diagram of the hole on the tee box or a map of the course on the back of the score card. Clear signage showing the way to the next tee so you know where to leave your bag/ trolley whilst putting.
We have bins on nearly every single hole and I always find beer bottles in the trees. Don’t just expect someone to pick it up and if the green-keeper doesn’t see it it could cause a serious injury or damage the mower.
I have a great course that i'm a member at, but yes, tee boxes are not level on every hole and the bunkers are horrendous. (due to the surrounding clay seeping in when it rains, I think they have terrible drainage.)
Courses around me, none of them have any yardage markers on the course. One place used to have a birdhouses at the 150yd out, on both sides of the fairway. I loved that idea. I would also like to have a place to wet my towels prior to a round. I dont want to use the locker room and have to walk through the clubhouse with a wet towel. Also just having sand/seed mix in the bottle on the carts, or at minimum on every tee box. I like to think more golfers dont repair divots on the fairways/rough if the general area seems neglected. Im in an area with very thick red clay, so with just a little inattentiveness grass can be stripped bare.
At my home course it is not nice at all but what I hate the most is the tee boxes are so bad when I go to a different course I get excited if it’s a flat tee box, the ones at my home course are never flat and have humps in the middle so the ball is either above or below your feet
here are some of mine: 1) yardage #s on all sprinkler heads. how hard is it to send 2 people out for a few hours to shoot everything with laser and print out labels, once? 2) yardage books always make a course feel more swanky 3) maintenance staff should be out early and not bugging people in the middle of the day. if they do they should at least stop all activity when golfers are through 4) proper tee time spacing, should be obvious 5) a little box of small tees or tee scraps on par 3s tee boxes 6) good signage on course as though people have never played there before.
One thing I like about Japanese courses are the wet towels to wipe down your shoes after you air blast your spikes. At every course the staff (in pit stop likeness) unloads your cart at the end of a round, wipes your clubs down and confirms you have none missing. They take care of every little thing and it makes it a pleasure to play here.
One thing that doesn't make nor break a course but i feel it's a really nice touch. At our course they have a Black, White, Yellow and Purple Tee boxes. Now, the slightest change from Red to Purple for the Ladies/Junior tee's i thought is a really nice idea and stood out to me
Ball mark repair tools on the first tee is a great idea to encourage people to fix their ball marks. My local course started doing that recently. I think picking up the grass clippings while mowing fairways is not feasible for most places. It would just add so much time with the person mowing having to constantly stop to empty the buckets of clippings. Most golf courses don't have the staff/resources to mow fairways every day, but every other day should be sufficient to keep the grass a reasonable length and the clippings not that noticeable.
At the dog track I play at if there's one thing I wish they would do is repave all the cart paths. They look like an armored regiment drove their tanks over them! Big bumps of asphalt sticking up - my son calls them "volcanoes", potholes everywhere, cracked and uneven surfaces, and so on. I'm sure it would cost them more than a few bucks, but it would make the trip around the course so much nicer.
Can you just imagine what it must be like at Augusta National, St. Andrew's, or Pebble Beach? It must be absolute perfection! I've never played these courses, and more than likely never will, but I can only imagine just how perfect they must be!
If you ever get the chance, get tickets to a practice round at The Masters. The grass is so perfect it almost looks like artificial turf. It's absolutely beautiful and worth the foot pain from walking the course.
As a junior at 12-14 year old, 30 years ago I got 20quid on my card to get up at 5am and rake 30odd bunkers and empty bin's on a Saturday morning... Wasn't allowed to play because I knew the pin positions 😡 I took a wedge and 2x titleist 90 ballatas to ping in at every green, had a ball in each pocket and a rake over my shoulder . I used to pinch my dad's Ram 'Tom Watson' 55* Cobalt, great days
Also remember that lots of golf courses have public footpaths or are on common land which can means courses get alot is thefts of items such as flags, rakes, benches, divot boxes, tee markers. It's a lost leader if those places have expensive items like I mentioned.
One thing that i guess is a little bit bigger but if you are a course that has a bit more of a budget and are weed wacking your markers, also do it on the edges of bunkers, it just looks so much nicer and avoids those awful edge of bunker sandy bits that are super awkward
On the 1st or 2nd hole of the 9 having a box of scorecards and pencils just in case you forgot it or they don't put it in the cart. Including the scorecard in the cart.
One thing rakes needs to have is also a fork to hold the rakeso they dont block the ball trickling into bunkers etc. But also so people like me who has a bad back doesn't have to lean down to pick up the rake
I played a country club in California, and they actually had tall tees in the carts. Absolutely LOVED it. Most players will bring their own tees so I'm guessing they only replaced the ones taken.
When It comes to bins I don't think there needs to be many on the course. Rubbish bins are a lot more maintenance than people think. Regular changing and more importantly, regular cleaning, takes a lot of time for workers. If you have managed to carry it out onto the course in your bag, you can carry it off the course in your bag just as easily.
My trick for getting the tee markers spot on is to lay down my bunker rake (handle pointing to target.......then two steps either side of the head, place markers
Grass clippings and ball washers are the two biggest musts at a course. I'd rather play from the rough all day then swing through clippings. The lack of cart paths or at least a path that doesn't look like it was pelted with asteroids. Some courses here don't have a linear progression to the next hole. Gotta drive around or double back to move foreword.
A quick web site search suggests Stick + flag rings + flag + flag top + ferrule + cup + cup ring = £40-£200 a hole, depending on quality (ie cheap plastic to aluminium tournament quality). More for posh flags
Where I live in canada we have had 2 greedy companies come in and buy many of the golf courses. They have let the condition and service of the courses become terrible. They also increased the prices and now charge for pre round range balls. Golf in Calgary has become a joke.
Water coolers, regularly refilled with ice throughout the day, on every 3-4 holes is a game changer. It’s terrible playing on a course where I can’t refill my water until after the turn, and it costs me $5 to get 2 bottles to do it.
listening to all the things you are talking about ? all but one are done at my club, Thetford Golf Club in Norfolk, its in the top 100 courses under £60 to play , only one thing is a tee box unlevel, , great content again
My local course has an awesome thing where 1 of the pair of tee markers is a broken tee bin. It's shaped like an ice-cream cone and has a graphic of a broken tee on the side, the other is just a white orb the size of a softball or so. A set of 18 of those is probably relatively inexpensive. It's a shame most of the teeboxes are all pretty uneven though and have been even since I've been playing there. It's SO annoying to be trying to hit driver off a tee with the ball above your feet slightly. Also there are 2 different landscapers that are members there, just that I know of! It would take someone literally 10 minutes with a bobcat to fix it. Or let me bring a steel rake and a shovel and I'd fix it for them. I can't believe nothing has been done especially since the greenskeeper and the owner both golf on the course regularly.
Tees often are misaligned on purpose by the course. I learned this a long time ago. ... To recognize this and align yourself to the intended target. I am very surprised that Rick didn't know this.
I work at a private golf and country club. We are so incredibly meticulous and details are important. We paint the inside of the holes and it makes such a difference appearance wise. It really is the little things
I once played a course which had a wooden stick painting white for o flag stick. Of course I assumed it was a marker post and flew miles over the back!
The flag poles that have a secondary flag that's supposed to indicate if the hole is front, back, middle - seems like the greenskeepers don't move those anymore when they move the hole. WAY too many times I have counted on those only to find I should have used one more club. I fix them as I play to help the golfers behind me.
One I would suggest is a buddy system at the club, so new members can be welcomed and have a friendly face to connect to and that buddy would show them how to repair pitch marks and rake bunkers correctly. Or even a course run for new members to show them how to do it. What you talk of is things in a perfect world where money and time is no object.
My local course never fills the water coolers on the course and some of the cooler holders are full of spider webs. Rinse the coolers and fill them with water everyday. No excuses.
I played at a course that had a box with scorecards and pencils on the tee box of hole 2. I thought that was brilliant because that is exactly when you realize you forgot to pick up a scorecard when you go to write down your score from the first hole
As a head greenkeeper there are so many variables that can affect what goes on at a club. Things like hole painting adds more than a few seconds and actually spoil the fresh cups. Don’t know if you can DM here but HMU if you ever want to talk to a head greenkeeper for some open honesty about the profession
I used to do course maintenance as a summer job. We didn't paint the holes but tried white plastic inserts; the members hated those. Honestly I think the plain dirt above the cup looks just fine. You're right through, there are a ton of variables that affect what each individual course is able to do. It takes way more work to maintain a golf course than the average person realizes.
We paint the holes on the course where I work and it doesn’t affect the cups at all if you paint it before the cup is put in, it only puts a little paint on the outside of the cup that is never visible
This is the problem, majority of golfers have not got a clue about what they actually want or what it would take to achieve
Would I be able to speak to you? I’m hoping to get a summer job on a golf course and then next year I am doing a green keeping course at college
I'm not remotely picky about what you guys do. I only have one request, if your course keeps seed bottles on carts to repair divots, could you make sure there is a place to exchange empty bottles for full ones in the event the cart barn guys haven't already done so.
Would love to see a stand alone video with you and a greenkeeper to see what goes into keeping a golf course. I think there’s way more to it than meets the eye.
It's a massive operation. Worked on a championship level course in college. It takes about 40 guys on the team to manage the day by day maintenance and it goes well beyond cutting the grass.
I would like to see guy and rick go to various golf course and work with the greenkeeping teams and both ends of the budget. To see how easy these things are to do within the working day of a greenkeeper and how have other areas would suffer from trying to please everyone
i work maintenance at a top 15 course in pa. picking up the clippings from cutting fairways is crazy expensive. we have big ride mowers for fairways. with 5 cutting units on each. the baskets to pick up the clippings are $500 per basket. and when you cut with the baskets you need at least 4 guys to follow the mowers around and empty them into a gator when they get full
a couple things I like: if the information board at the tee has a diagram of the hole. it doesn't have to be big or detailed, it's just nice to have a quick look and see the hole is this general shape, and there are hazards in these areas.
also, as we all get older, having toilets at strategic locations takes a lot of pressure off the players.
other side of the coin, St Andrews has an actual booklet they give you with the scorecard, and it made a wonderful souvenir, as well as a guide to the holes - but I still missed being able to glance at a picture of the hole on the information stand.
My home course is ridiculously beautiful. Love it so much! But the tee boxes....uneven. Ball above the feet, below the feet, etc... Never underestimate well done tee boxes!
A course I go to is the same way. I get uneven fairways and stuff but come on give us some level starts at least lol
Best gripe about courses. I'd rather have perfect tee boxes than perfect fairways. Lol
When you have great flags ... sell them in the pro shop! Ideally include different hole numbers available for sale, at least the par 3s and reachable 5s. So many golfers collect great flags, and everyone will buy a flag to commemorate an ace or eagle. Flag sales can easily fund replacement flags.
I live in Thailand, one of the courses I play is a nice, reasonably well maintained layout but the bunkers are terrible, hard with no or very little compacted sand. Recently discovered the reason was that every time they filled them, the locals would come at night and steal the sand to use for construction projects!
Use desert sand. Not as useful for construction.
Distance cards for flags on the driving range - HUGE help, and don't have to be that expensive.
Use your laser
A six panel yardage sign is like $600. They can definitely afford one.
@@theindooroutdoorsman $600??? They saw you coming.
As a greenkeeper I think Rick and guy need to spend a week as full time greenkeepers!!
This seems to be the general vibe from greenkeepers in this comment section, but the fact of the matter is, it's not about whether it's hard. That's the job. We don't pay $40-50+ per round to go tee off on a box that's half sand. With the money the course is making, if they can't hire enough workers to keep things nice, the course shouldn't be open.
You don't have to be a greenkeeper to know that.
If you don’t like a courses standards don’t pay 40-50 a round. Go somewhere else
Unfortunately Rick doesn’t know what he’s talking about because he isn’t a Greenkeeper. He like many others fall in to the trap of thinking he knows it all. 99% of golf courses don’t box of fairway clippings. They just cut regularly with sharp units so they shouldn’t be noticeable if u can get a dryish cut in/not too long
@@bendygalve2330 that's not the point. 40-50+ is not a small chunk of change so people paying that deserve a certain standard. Saying "it's hard/time consuming" isn't a valid excuse either. That's like being McDonald's and no longer serving the big Mac because "it's too time consuming". If management can't keep a golf course the way a course should be kept then they should not be in business. It's just that simple.
And because the greenkeepers are the ones getting butthurt I feel like I should add, my point isn't a dig at them. It's a dig at management. Management should be able to employ enough help and pay them a proper wage so that they can get these things done. If management can't afford to hire enough help to keep the course in good shape then maybe they should find another business venture.
Fair points lad I get you. But I think you’ve not really read or understood what myself and other Greenkeepers have said. Some points he made were fair and true. But some of the stuff he said was just plain nonsense.
Would have been a good idea to have a head Greenkeeper in on the podcast to let you guys know why these things are a challenge for most courses.
A few big ones for me, most very simple and can be done quite cheaply:
1- A bucket of water near the 1st and 10th tee to wet your towel
2- Buckets of sand at par 3 tee boxes to refill divots containers
3- Cool tee markers that fit the theme/vibe (for lack of a better word) of the course. They don't have to be expensive or crazy, but the colored spheres are just blah
4- Yardages on sprinkler heads. This honestly could be done with a white sharpie for all I care, I just want to know how far I have in
5- Water jugs every few holes. Nothing worse than being thirsty and having to wait until the turn or you finish before you can get a drink again
6- If you have a course designed for carts with some longer drives between green and tee, have enough signs accurately pointing which way to the next hole
7- If you have a course designed for walking, have a bench or somewhere to sit near every tee box
8- Good looking scorecards. Just a white scorecard with the club's seal or logo on the outside is so much better than one loaded with ads and useless info
9- A quality course guide/yardage book. I know this one can be expensive, but it adds so much to the experience and can be a massive help if you've never played there
As a course manager this episode has proved to me how little golfers know about what goes into setting up a golf course, I would of thought it would of been easy enough to have done your homework before doing the episode. Maybe invite a greenkeeper along next time to answer the questions and give the listeners more of an insight into what it takes and actually educate golfers.
A video about etiquette would be a good idea too covering the basics such as repairing pitchmarks, raking bunkers and replacing divots. This would improve the golf experience and the course.
Both great ideas. Can never have too much etiquette reinforcement!
A lot of it comes down to time, even if something takes 5 minutes, multiply that by 18 and you’ll see real quick why greenskeepers are slow to take on more maintenance items. Golfers who clean up after themselves on the tees, greens and bunkers make a significant difference in the efficiency of the greenskeepers.
On a blind approach shot, I like when courses have a bell to ring up by the green so the people behind know that it’s safe to hit. Blind shots without that can be dangerous.
For me its gotta be having nice yardage markers at 100 and 150 yards out. Its so frustrating at my local course we only have lines on the cart path, theres no poles or anything like that to help out with yardage.
100% agree. Not everyone has range finders and it's nice to have a marker as visual aid
It’s 2022, buy a range finder or one of those stupid watches
@@Sarg3e Yeah let me spend more money on a range finder then I have for my whole set of clubs. Courses should have visable markers at each 50 yard increment starting at 100 yards away from the flag.
@@austinsmith5593 ask Santa to bring you one this Christmas.
@@Sarg3e lol your such a troll. It literally ruins nothing about golf but adds tons of benefits. you probably dont care cuz you dont hit it in the middle of the fairway for it to matter
As someone who works at a golf course, the cutting fairways topic, it takes one to two more people per mower to pick up the clippings. For the courses that don’t have the man power, it’s just not viable.
There are attachments that pull behind mowers for picking up clippings
@@alexgould763 Those attachments will fill up, requiring emptying, which increases the time to get the mowing done. Which in turn probably increases man power requirements.
@@viperarm04 very true
@@viperarm04 A lot of courses are closed one day a week. Use that day as course maintenance like mowing.
Also there's off hours. It's summer, courses closing at 6 and 7 and the sun stays up til near 9, have some grounds keepers come in late and take care of it in the evening. There's simple solutions to manpower issues.
@@theindooroutdoorsman 🤣 our tees get cut 3x per week. fairways 4x per week. greens every day plus rolling and verti cutting on top. rough takes 7 days to cut every hole. so i dont think the one day thing will work. our course you can sit and watch the grass grow
Yardage sticks in the fairways are so good and so easy. Gives you something to aim at, especially if it's your first time playing the hole. Just recently played a course that had 250 and 150 markers in the center of the fairway, very helpful
My local golf course has sand buckets on the carts to fill your divets, but they're always empty The cart staff never refills them. I wish they would.
Send the club an email! I work at a course and just spent ~30 minutes today filling up our cart sand bottles. Usually if a player or member mentions something easy like that the'll have the outside crew take care of it when it's a little slow during the morning or evening.
A few years ago there were a group of us played at Ferndown Golf club. It chucked it down with rain for a good hour so we were delayed. When we returned out to the course, the greenkeeping staff were syringing the rain water out of the cups on the greens. Classy.
As a junior my friends and I were members of a council run course.. It wasn't kept in the best condition but the one thing that would irritate us was the holes not being clean cut and grass starting to grow inwards on the whole.. The hole ended up being smaller and liping out happened all the time. We ended up playing rounds with scissors that were bent./ curved and we would trim the holes ourselves!
Divot replacement soil/seed and scoop on the tee box. Makes a massive difference and helps green keepers hugely but so few golf clubs in my area have this available.
Because it’s not worth it. Unfortunately most human beings are lazy unlike yourself and id say about 5% would help out
Not all courses have the funds or resources to do a lot of this stuff. My club is struggling with membership and money and we are not on our own in my local area. We have no professional and no shop. The upside is that the course is well maintained and the greens are as good as anywhere. To have a lot of what’s been suggested here is ok at some courses where fees are high and there’s loads of green staff. We have two green staff who do a terrific job basically looking after the greens and cutting fairways. I can’t believe we are on our own in this regard.
Tee boxes are often pitched to ensure proper drainage. on larger tee boxes the slope is typically able to be stretched out over a longer run, so it seems less noticeable than small domed over tee boxes, which are the worst to play from. Learned that from Tom Doak's book on golf course architecture
I think he's more talking about an even plane, not necessarily level one. Over time tees get hills and valleys to them, touching up greens with a bit of extra dirt during off season so they stop resembling a mountain range.
Benches……. every hole needs a bench.
Not everyone is physical super fit, and a 30 second sit down very couple of holes does wonders for my bad knees. Also, we all play in some fantastic places and what’s better than sitting down and just admiring the beauty of the golf course.
Don’t forget under covid a lot of ball washers removed, not to touch flags etc.
I would like a hole map as a guide for each hole. I play a couple of courses where it’s almost a maze to work out where next hole is.
Litter bins at the tee should be a must, I hate how some people can carry a can or bottle of drink but cannot manage to carry said empty bottle in their bag. I hate litter at best of times but on the course AAARGH
That ball washer thing, rakes, pins etc was fucking ridiculous
@@sandersson2813 totally agree, and covid germs died very quickly on surfaces such as wood metal etc
@@guyr7351 Most of the lockdown measures, masks etc were total shit and demonstrably had no effect on transmission
@@sandersson2813 I know neighbours are dr’s one of them worked covid ward. Government made it up as went along hence backtracking in decisions
I made this suggestion to my club recently. Mow a walkway from the tee box to the fairway. That way you don't have to walk to taller grass which can make you more tired over time and looks a bit more professional.
Again Head Greenkeeper myself, based in Oxfordshire. I agree with the other Course Managers / Heads below with their comments. From what I see around the UK the level of greenkeeping and presentation I see has actually gone up another level especially after what has hit the greenkeeping industry such as the likes of increase in disease, aftermath of covid, restriction on spending, increase in machinery cost and cost of machinery plus loads more. Also the loss of a lot many good greenkeepers in the last 2/3 years who have left the industry.
I have 4 greenkeepers and 2 Gardeners looking after a 440 acre hotel complex. I think you two need to do a week of greenkeeping or even ask a greenkeeper ?
Another cool idea would be club head cleaner boxes wherever the ball cleaner stands are located. Club head cleaner boxes are basically bristles and some water, so they aren't very expensive, but I have only ever seen them attached to the side of some golf carts. Very handy when you want to clean your irons off quickly and easily.
GrooveIt Club Brush
@@danielkelly8756 Yes it's the same idea, but it's a box that is mounted (and bristles on two sides) so you just insert your club to clean it off and you're done. If you search for "Club Clean Kraft" you can see what it's like.
@@phidip2328 Sure but that's something else to pay for.. 18 holes, even just 9 of the 18, that's not cheap. Then there's the upkeep of them, making sure they're full of clean water, painted nicely, strimmed around etc. Most clubs here in the UK aren't like USA clubs with bigger teams of greenkeeping staff and budgets.
My cheap municipal course is missing a lot of these features, BUT one feature it does have is a clean up station at the end of the course. Good scrapers to clean the grass, mud and poop out of your cleats, and a hose for spraying your shores and the wheels of your push cart. I hate bringing that stuff into the boot of my car!
I worked for a couple years as a groundskeeper for a course here in Texas and all of these things, even the ones that seems hugely easy, are very time consuming. Even something as easy as changing towels and emptying trash can easily take an hour to an hour and a half depending on the size of the course, which granted doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re dealing with irrigation issues and need to mow before the day gets busy and a bunch of other major projects that have huge impacts on the course and are in many cases short handed, often severely, it makes doing the small things a lot harder. We actually did a lot of those little things, painted cups, trash and ball washers that were maintained well, but as someone who did it on a day after day basis, those things and cleaning the course of trash people just toss off the cart or blows out takes 3-4 hours to do it properly for one person covering all 18 holes. Little projects make a huge difference, but everyone adds up to not enough hours in the day at most places, so often decisions have to be made and often the things that get cut seem huge, but if you could be in the room for the discussion and know what the alternative was, often it’s a necessary evil brought on by intense understaffing and lack of funds
I caddy at course that a few years ago switched to rakes that have curled handles at end so ball can roll under the rake and less likely to effect the ball when entering or exiting the bunker. Course also has box with pencils, tees, ball markers, scorecards and tees on range, 1st tee and 10th tee.
Scorecard with a course map. Simple, easy and cheap to do. Woodhall Spa, the home of England Golf don't do it and they need to. Also a really good chipping area with bunkers.
A sign letting players know if the greens have just been punched or if there’s any construction going on. Played a course earlier this year that on one of the holes had construction of an irrigation system going on and there were multiple trenches dug straight across the width of the fairway
In the USA we have a lot of clubs that don't water tee boxes and it's like cement to put a tee in the ground. A lot of guys want foot scrapers on the ball washer. I like a club that has a water bucket and brush to clean your clubs after a round near the parking lot.
Rake rests! keeps the handle up off the ground, closer, cleaner, less likely for a ball to hit the rake, and ensures they're always put back in the same spot.
Oh and what the course needs.. a small bucket on each tee box that people can through their broken Tees into. Useful to collect tees but also can be used for lower woods or iron shots by others. Good for the world and the players who can’t find a small tee
Helps tidy up the tee box, and the tees left lying around knacker the mower blades.
One of my favorites which Ive seen recently is a club cleaner on the cart. It's just a container lines witb brushes and has water in it. It's so nice!!
The tee boxes are a huge pep peeve with me too. No reason for them to not be perfect, it's not a drainage issue if they are built right.
Most green keepers are very busy as a member I think it’s my responsibility to supply my own tee pegs pitch repair tool and ball marker as for the flags I wish players would replace them correctly lots of times I have to put it straight
All of these things mentioned would be great to find on any course. If I had to choose, I'd say level tee boxes is my number one issue. I've been to plenty of courses with small/narrow tee boxes, and they slope off. The grass itself is usually pretty shotty too. This is really only on smaller municipal courses though. Nicer places will always have a nicely kept box.
I have actually wondered if the tee box slope at some courses is strategic ( probably for drainage?). I know I prefer a level tee box, but I'd be lying if I didn't favor teeing up my ball on a part of the tee box that would help me with my miss. So if I am hooking it that day and part of the box is sloped a little with the ball below my feet, that's where I'd tee it up or vice versa
@@ahastar1141 I live in the Chicago area in the U.S. Many municipal courses are done this way due to lack of funds to make them level. They pick a spot and cut it short. I get lack of funds. But it takes away from some fairly designed courses.
Direction to the next tee!
I am a nomad golfer and play different courses throughout the year. Of the 80 or so that I have played in the last 10 years I suggest that less than 10 courses have guidence to the next tee box.
With a couple of them using exit arrows on the score card map.
#cheapfix
Was at a course recently that had amazing cart girls. They of course had great drinks and snacks available, but also for sale little things like balls, tees (were free), ball markers, sun screen, towels.
Actual bathrooms around the course. Map of the hole at each tee box. Ball washers WITH WATER IN THEM. Trash cans on every tee box, especially when blues/whites are far away from each other. Easy access to sand dispensers for people to actually use. Tees and ball markers at the first tee are a nice touch too.
One doing my head at my local atm is over hanging branches on the tee box that impede a certain shape or line off the tee.
Most make or break for me is friendly and informed pro shop staff. They make you feel welcome, let you know of any local rules in play, and really help to start the round off well.
A nice to have, particularly at an unfamiliar course, is having the hole number on the tee markers. Often there will be a sign at the championship tees, which aren't always in play or even close to the tees that you're playing, and you are wasting time figuring out the correct tee box. Then if they point at the flag or the fairway I'm happy!
Regarding the clippings on fairways, my course has a towed blower that they do a couple of laps of the fairway with. Makes a huge difference to roll out and rewards you for hitting the fairway. That said, not every club will have the resources to spend on removal of clippings.
Picking up of dry leaves in the Autumn/winter months. I play parkland courses and I lost my ball this past weekend when it rolled off the fairway and disappeared under some huge piles of leaves.
Personalised tee boxes to the golf course. Some courses have fancy tee box markers which are unique to them but it could be as easy as spray painting the name of the course and the hole number onto the tee box markers.
It is the small details which make each course unique and feel like the employees/owner cares about the course.
There’s a course by me where the back tees are marked with little fake stacks of dynamite and it’s awesome. Probably cost them $100 to buy dowels and paint at the hardware store
This will probably be looked past, but I’m working with a group to help rehab our local golf course, and one of the things that we are seriously looking in to, is removing all bunkers on the course because of how expensive they are to rebuild and maintain. The current ones are extremely old and no drainage, the sand goes rock hard in no time, or filled with water. What’s the thoughts on courses with no sand bunkers, but instead grass bunkers, and tight cut fairways to slide off the greens?
Good suggestions all. I don't know how much of a problem it is these days but the courses I grew up on had a tendency to not keep the tee boxes tightly mown. They don't have to be putting green length but even a 3/4 inch of grass can screw up your tee shot especially on par threes where you're using an iron.
Definitely agree with Rick on the cleaning of the hole markers. It's so easy to do but if it doesn't get done it just makes it seem like the course doesn't take pride in it's appearance. It's tantamount going to a wedding or special occasion and not getting your dress shoes cleaned off and polished. It may seem like a minute detail but without it you look sloppy.
I regularly play a course in Essex and one in Hertfordshire (no names) and they both have the most horrendous bunkers. The first has bunkers with either no sand and a couple have GUR sprayed in them (for over a year) and the second has loads of stones it theirs, so now when I play I won’t play out of either, and your right about ball cleaners, neither eve4 have water in there’s.
I played at gleneagles Queens course last week. Before going to the tee we had at least 5 members of staff make sure we k ew where to go, free range balls. And when we got to thr first tee, the starter handed up free Tees, ball markers and a course guide. Just a nice touch.
To be fair that is Gleneagles 🤣
This does sound so familiar. I play in a lot of open competitions and the standards vary unbelievably, surprisingly (or not) price of entry has little to no effect. The vast majority of golf clubs I believe forget what business they are in. They are in the leisure business competing for either members and or casual play. What you have said is very true and is in fact a disservice to members who do pay a substantial amount per year and to the casual players.
Coming from a maintenance man… most of these things mentioned will take an hour minimum on their own. Lots of times there is just not that much time to work on such small things.
Clear yardage markers, a diagram of the hole on the tee box or a map of the course on the back of the score card. Clear signage showing the way to the next tee so you know where to leave your bag/ trolley whilst putting.
We have bins on nearly every single hole and I always find beer bottles in the trees. Don’t just expect someone to pick it up and if the green-keeper doesn’t see it it could cause a serious injury or damage the mower.
I play a-lot of different muni courses in my area and its definitely the little things that help courses standout.
I have a great course that i'm a member at, but yes, tee boxes are not level on every hole and the bunkers are horrendous. (due to the surrounding clay seeping in when it rains, I think they have terrible drainage.)
Courses around me, none of them have any yardage markers on the course. One place used to have a birdhouses at the 150yd out, on both sides of the fairway. I loved that idea. I would also like to have a place to wet my towels prior to a round. I dont want to use the locker room and have to walk through the clubhouse with a wet towel. Also just having sand/seed mix in the bottle on the carts, or at minimum on every tee box. I like to think more golfers dont repair divots on the fairways/rough if the general area seems neglected. Im in an area with very thick red clay, so with just a little inattentiveness grass can be stripped bare.
At my home course it is not nice at all but what I hate the most is the tee boxes are so bad when I go to a different course I get excited if it’s a flat tee box, the ones at my home course are never flat and have humps in the middle so the ball is either above or below your feet
A lot of this stuff I didn't think of but now that I hear them all they make complete sense. Its just these small things that go a long way.
here are some of mine: 1) yardage #s on all sprinkler heads. how hard is it to send 2 people out for a few hours to shoot everything with laser and print out labels, once? 2) yardage books always make a course feel more swanky 3) maintenance staff should be out early and not bugging people in the middle of the day. if they do they should at least stop all activity when golfers are through 4) proper tee time spacing, should be obvious 5) a little box of small tees or tee scraps on par 3s tee boxes 6) good signage on course as though people have never played there before.
One thing I like about Japanese courses are the wet towels to wipe down your shoes after you air blast your spikes. At every course the staff (in pit stop likeness) unloads your cart at the end of a round, wipes your clubs down and confirms you have none missing. They take care of every little thing and it makes it a pleasure to play here.
A course I go to alot has club and ball cleaners on the carts it's a nice lil touch instead of each hole lol
One thing that doesn't make nor break a course but i feel it's a really nice touch. At our course they have a Black, White, Yellow and Purple Tee boxes. Now, the slightest change from Red to Purple for the Ladies/Junior tee's i thought is a really nice idea and stood out to me
Ball mark repair tools on the first tee is a great idea to encourage people to fix their ball marks. My local course started doing that recently. I think picking up the grass clippings while mowing fairways is not feasible for most places. It would just add so much time with the person mowing having to constantly stop to empty the buckets of clippings. Most golf courses don't have the staff/resources to mow fairways every day, but every other day should be sufficient to keep the grass a reasonable length and the clippings not that noticeable.
At the dog track I play at if there's one thing I wish they would do is repave all the cart paths. They look like an armored regiment drove their tanks over them! Big bumps of asphalt sticking up - my son calls them "volcanoes", potholes everywhere, cracked and uneven surfaces, and so on. I'm sure it would cost them more than a few bucks, but it would make the trip around the course so much nicer.
Can you just imagine what it must be like at Augusta National, St. Andrew's, or Pebble Beach? It must be absolute perfection! I've never played these courses, and more than likely never will, but I can only imagine just how perfect they must be!
If you ever get the chance, get tickets to a practice round at The Masters. The grass is so perfect it almost looks like artificial turf. It's absolutely beautiful and worth the foot pain from walking the course.
As a junior at 12-14 year old, 30 years ago I got 20quid on my card to get up at 5am and rake 30odd bunkers and empty bin's on a Saturday morning... Wasn't allowed to play because I knew the pin positions 😡 I took a wedge and 2x titleist 90 ballatas to ping in at every green, had a ball in each pocket and a rake over my shoulder . I used to pinch my dad's Ram 'Tom Watson' 55* Cobalt, great days
Yardages from more than 100/150/200. My old course has them on all the sprinkler heads from 250 in. Makes things very easy.
Also remember that lots of golf courses have public footpaths or are on common land which can means courses get alot is thefts of items such as flags, rakes, benches, divot boxes, tee markers. It's a lost leader if those places have expensive items like I mentioned.
One thing that i guess is a little bit bigger but if you are a course that has a bit more of a budget and are weed wacking your markers, also do it on the edges of bunkers, it just looks so much nicer and avoids those awful edge of bunker sandy bits that are super awkward
Painted above the cup, but not the little plastic rings some are using. They can cause issues where the dirt cushion wont.
On the 1st or 2nd hole of the 9 having a box of scorecards and pencils just in case you forgot it or they don't put it in the cart. Including the scorecard in the cart.
A nice touch at my local course is ball retrievers next to all the water hazards.
One thing rakes needs to have is also a fork to hold the rakeso they dont block the ball trickling into bunkers etc. But also so people like me who has a bad back doesn't have to lean down to pick up the rake
I played a country club in California, and they actually had tall tees in the carts. Absolutely LOVED it. Most players will bring their own tees so I'm guessing they only replaced the ones taken.
When It comes to bins I don't think there needs to be many on the course. Rubbish bins are a lot more maintenance than people think. Regular changing and more importantly, regular cleaning, takes a lot of time for workers.
If you have managed to carry it out onto the course in your bag, you can carry it off the course in your bag just as easily.
My trick for getting the tee markers spot on is to lay down my bunker rake (handle pointing to target.......then two steps either side of the head, place markers
One of my biggest things (and I’m no green keeper) is when the tee box is partially uneven, but the put the white and blue tees on the uneven part
Grass clippings and ball washers are the two biggest musts at a course. I'd rather play from the rough all day then swing through clippings. The lack of cart paths or at least a path that doesn't look like it was pelted with asteroids. Some courses here don't have a linear progression to the next hole. Gotta drive around or double back to move foreword.
A quick web site search suggests
Stick + flag rings + flag + flag top + ferrule + cup + cup ring = £40-£200 a hole, depending on quality (ie cheap plastic to aluminium tournament quality). More for posh flags
Where I live in canada we have had 2 greedy companies come in and buy many of the golf courses. They have let the condition and service of the courses become terrible. They also increased the prices and now charge for pre round range balls. Golf in Calgary has become a joke.
Water coolers, regularly refilled with ice throughout the day, on every 3-4 holes is a game changer. It’s terrible playing on a course where I can’t refill my water until after the turn, and it costs me $5 to get 2 bottles to do it.
listening to all the things you are talking about ? all but one are done at my club, Thetford Golf Club in Norfolk, its in the top 100 courses under £60 to play , only one thing is a tee box unlevel, , great content again
My local course has an awesome thing where 1 of the pair of tee markers is a broken tee bin. It's shaped like an ice-cream cone and has a graphic of a broken tee on the side, the other is just a white orb the size of a softball or so. A set of 18 of those is probably relatively inexpensive. It's a shame most of the teeboxes are all pretty uneven though and have been even since I've been playing there. It's SO annoying to be trying to hit driver off a tee with the ball above your feet slightly. Also there are 2 different landscapers that are members there, just that I know of! It would take someone literally 10 minutes with a bobcat to fix it. Or let me bring a steel rake and a shovel and I'd fix it for them. I can't believe nothing has been done especially since the greenskeeper and the owner both golf on the course regularly.
Clear signage to next hole. In factor any signage to next hole. Makes it difficult when travelling the different courses.
Played a course in myrtle beach in the states that had mimosas or bloody Mary's on the 1st tee. I think that should be mandatory 🤣🤣👍👍
level tee boxes are my favorite part of nice courses, especially on par 3's
Tees often are misaligned on purpose by the course. I learned this a long time ago. ... To recognize this and align yourself to the intended target. I am very surprised that Rick didn't know this.
I work at a private golf and country club. We are so incredibly meticulous and details are important. We paint the inside of the holes and it makes such a difference appearance wise. It really is the little things
A small bin with seed, next to each tee box. Especially on par 3's.
i know what u mean as i now work on a private golf course .... recently moving from a council course in Manchester area
Cheers Rick and Guy!
Sand buckets on the 2nd hole. Sometimes people forget the sand buckets and it be great to pick them up on the 2nd!
I once played a course which had a wooden stick painting white for o flag stick. Of course I assumed it was a marker post and flew miles over the back!
The flag poles that have a secondary flag that's supposed to indicate if the hole is front, back, middle - seems like the greenskeepers don't move those anymore when they move the hole. WAY too many times I have counted on those only to find I should have used one more club. I fix them as I play to help the golfers behind me.
A big one for me that can be a money-maker is have cold drinks in the pro-shop. That way I can buy a water or Gatorade when I’m paying greens fees.
One I would suggest is a buddy system at the club, so new members can be welcomed and have a friendly face to connect to and that buddy would show them how to repair pitch marks and rake bunkers correctly. Or even a course run for new members to show them how to do it. What you talk of is things in a perfect world where money and time is no object.
I have heard that painting the hole white was actually done so it would be easier to see on camera when you watch golf on TV.
that's literally what Guy said
@@dripsa …. So no need to waste time doing it for general play then😉😉
My local course never fills the water coolers on the course and some of the cooler holders are full of spider webs. Rinse the coolers and fill them with water everyday. No excuses.