r/Golfcoursemaintenance

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.

So I am curious, I've been at this course for 14 years, smoked every day wherever I may be, outside of course.

I know that there is a handbook and a policy but I have no idea what it may be. Either it is known that I have zero #ucks to give or there is no policy(I know there is one).🙂

Private 18 hole, mid Coast Maine.

So, what's the policy where you are?

Potentially getting a course maintenance job soon and I need to start looking at footwear for the new job. I do have wide feet so I'd like some suggestions on what y'all wear.

I own an L shaped property in Northern Colorado that is about 32 acres. It is currently just dry prairie grass other than a few acres that are landscaped around my home.

I live in a nice ranchette area where the minimum lot size is 5 acres. I own four 8 acre lots that are all continuous, basically an entire section of the neighborhood.

Anyways, I want to slowly create a golf course that me and my friends and neighbors could play on casually.

I want to start planting trees now, and I want to build a pond to irrigate with. The biggest problem is the only water available is well water. So I want to fill a large reservoir so I can eventually add large pumps so I can irrigate a fairway and green.

I would be okay investing maybe 50k/year for the next 20 years into this project. Do you think it’s doable?

I have an informal interview at a local course next week for a part-time greenskeeper position. What should I expect? I'm in my 30s and about as green as they come when it comes to turf care, but I'm definitely willing to put in the work and potentially make a good career out of this.

So I've been using this model for the past 3yrs. Last week pointed out to mechanic leaking fluid bottom left of the radiator, he said one of the fairway units(same powerplant as my unit) it has happened to 3x over the past 2yrs.

Anyways as we wait on parts from the Midwest we are getting a 4500D w/Smartpower as a demo, my question is, other than being larger anything else I need to be aware of?

Been maintaining rough at our course for the last 9 years. Supe also mentioned possibly changing from 3.5 inches to 3.75, not sure why, caution?

Mid coast Maine, private 18 hole.

Any Supers out there looking for a job?

How often are you guys greasing reel berrings. For instance we are a public course we use one triplex mower for all 18 holes and it gets used 5 times a week. I've heard some people say grease the reels every use. I've heard others say once a week what do you guys think?

Hello All,

Anybody have any experience of suggestions about a Cart-port for Cart outside.
My Cart is about 10 feet long and I am looking for a solution to attach the Cart-port to a concrete slab.

Thank you in advance for your input

Not necessarily anything huge or expensive. I’m curious about the little things courses do around the clubhouse, pro shop, restaurant, events, or even on the course that make you think, that actually makes things easier/better.

Could be technology, communication, signage, amenities, anything. What have you seen a course do really well?