Quote:
Originally Posted by Rwirish
It’s not heavy usage, it’s El Niño.
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I partially agree. Many courses have heavy usage, it's not a huge factor. Yes, if a course is closed 6 months out of the year and gets about 20 rounds/ day with a huge maintenance staff and expert agronomists(Augusta National), conditions are pristine. But that is the exception. Many courses as I stated in a post just above have heavy play and good conditions.
El Nino has had some effect---just look at this week at PGA National. I've played that course half a dozen times and the rough was always twice as deep and thick as this year---grass needs sunshine to grow. But that's not the whole story either.
And neither of these explain the difference in conditions say between Glenview and Havana
My take is:
#1) We need expert agronomists and to pay expert golf course maintenance companies rather than lawn care companies. With over 1,000,000 rounds/year on champ courses and an average of say $60/round, the money is there. Just do the math: It takes about $500,000 to maintain 9 holes in excellent condition, we currently have 36 "9's" of champ golf, so that would be $18M out of $60M. Employees, full and part time, let's say the equivalent of 20 FTE's each on 13 courses (5 office workers, 3 managers, a pro, 3 starters 2 ambassadors=14 x 50% more hours than full time for weekends and long days) and a generous average of $20/hour= 13x20x2,000 hrsx$20/hr= $10.4M/year. Now were up to 28.4M out of the $60M in greens fees. Overhead for building maintenance, cart paths, parking lots, electricity, HVAC? No idea, but I would doubt more than $10M/year. Even if these assumptions are off, there is still $21.6M of play room. IMHO, this is very "doable"
#2. We need golfers, meaning ourselves, friends and neighbors without exception to take care of the courses. Fix more ball marks than you make. Fill an extra divot or 2. Rake a second set of footprints. If you have a CAP it is not carte blanche to drive anywhere you please.