u/Perfect-Progress3357

Hi everyone, just wondering what everyone does with staff at the end of the day. I've worked at 4 different golf courses and everyone seems to do it differently.

I've worked at clubs that have a firm 5am morning meeting with the full crew, everyone gets jobs assigned, and then at the end of the day everyone ends up back in the staff area 5–10 minutes before quitting time, shoots the shit, and lines up at the punch clock.

I will say, this is probably the most formal and structured system I've worked under. The one thing I don't love is when someone finishes their afternoon job 30–45 minutes early simply because the work naturally worked out that way, and now I have to come up with "busy work" just to keep them there until quitting time.

I've recently started at a club that gives the staff quite a bit more freedom. Everyone has their jobs assigned ahead of time, but some guys will choose to start 10–15 minutes early. Then, if they finish something like mowing fairways and only have 15–20 minutes left in the day, they'll just head home.

It's a much looser environment, but the staff seem to really like having some control over their day.

So I'm curious what everyone thinks about this.

Is there a problem with giving staff that kind of freedom as long as they don't abuse it?

Obviously, I don't mean guys just deciding they're done at 2:30 every day. I'm talking about someone legitimately finishing their assigned work, doing it to the expected standard, and having 10–20 minutes left in the day.

As long as the work is getting done, does it really matter if they're physically there until the exact end of their scheduled shift?

And for those of you who have taken over as a new superintendent, how would you handle a crew that has been given this freedom for years?

Would you leave it alone and manage the people who abuse it individually, or would you establish a more formal end-of-day routine for everyone?

I'm interested in hearing how other supers handle this. Especially if you've tried both systems and have a preference.

Hi everyone,

I have a question about fungicide strategy and I'm curious how other superintendents approach it. I'm sure there will be a lot of different opinions.

I'm a younger superintendent and recently took over a course with a pretty tight budget, so I have to be very careful about where I spend money on chemistry.

Here's my question:

Do you always pair a systemic fungicide with a contact fungicide whenever you spray?

I was brought up with that as a general rule. For example, if I was applying something like Banner MAXX (systemic), I would almost always include a contact fungicide like Medallion. That approach made sense, but it also adds a significant amount to the cost of each application.

At my previous courses, the budget allowed us to routinely tank-mix products, so I never really questioned it.

Now that I'm managing a much tighter budget, I'm wondering if that's still the best approach. Is it reasonable to save money by using a single product when disease pressure is low, or is consistently pairing a systemic with a contact worth the extra cost in terms of control and resistance management?

For those of you managing lower-budget courses:

• Do you routinely pair systemics and contacts?
• If not, when do you decide to use just one product?
• Where have you found the biggest opportunities to save money without sacrificing turf quality?

I'd really appreciate hearing how experienced supers balance disease control with a limited chemical budget.