People who get into the golf industry usually do so from the grounds up, so to speak. Maybe they begin by cleaning golf carts or caddying. Maybe they start with simple tasks like mowing, pulling weeds, and watering flowers. However we started in this business, it’s likely we didn’t see golf as the huge a business it is—a $75 billion annual industry, to be exact. And what happens on the golf course maintenance crew directly affects how a club performs. Last year at the annual Golf Industry Show, attendees got a good sense of how we all play a part in the golf industry. We also learned about some effective business methods used by other industries. One such, called statistical process control (SPC), uses statistical methods to monitor and control a process to ensure that it operates at its full potential to produce a product. For example, if you own a restaurant, you have a limited amount of time from when an order comes in to when it’s plated and served. If you do not meet that time frame, you must evaluate your methods and change them to meet the necessary time.
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Although most golf courses do not use statistical methods to track their staffs’ efforts, what superintendents do every day is quality control. When you send out your greens mowers to mow greens, you have a pretty good idea how long it should take them to complete the job thoroughly. If the mowers come in too early, you might ask, “What did you miss?” Or, if they come in later than expected, you’ll ask why it took so long. This is a means of quality control.
Hinsdale Golf Club’s VIP program
A formal measure of quality control has been in place at the Hinsdale Golf Club since 2005. In 2003, there had been discussions about performing a complete bunker renovation. The project morphed into what would become a complete regrassing of the greens and newly built bunkers and tee complexes. The renovation project would close the course for the better part of nine months and bring with it a price tag of more than $1.5 million. In the past 100 years, this course had never seen a project of this magnitude. So, to ensure the perpetuity of the members’ investment, the Visual Improvement Program (VIP) was born.
Superintendent Bob Maibusch and the grounds chairman at that time, plus Chad Kempf with EPIC Creative, put together a comprehensive program that would standardize, rate, and communicate daily golf course tasks. They knew maintenance expectations would be exceptionally high after the renovation project, but there were no plans to increase the maintenance budget to account for the additional maintenance activities or the heightened expectations. The VIP would address that issue.
The first task in putting together the VIP plan was to create standards for 12 areas of maintenance. The management team worked together to develop written standards for each of the following areas:
• Greens mowing
• Tee and collar mowing
• Fairway mowing
• Bunker raking
• Cup and tee changing
• Banks and surrounds mowing
• Equipment care
• Maintenance facility care
• Lakes and ponds
• Landscaping
• Cart and footpaths
• Practice facility
These standards outlined the minimum expectations required to complete each task. In an effort to get everyone on board with the VIP, the team garnered input from the crew to help develop the standards. What better source of information than the people who do the task every day and may think of things you do not? Additionally, because our crew is mainly Hispanic, the standards were translated into Spanish. The written standards eliminated any misinterpretation or confusion as to the minimum expectations upon completion of the task and could also be used as a training tool for new employees.
Measuring success
Next, to make this program work, we needed a way in which to measure our level of success or failure. We used the standards to create a list of criteria. This list was used as a basis to measure on a scale of 1–10 how well each task was completed. Each member of the management team and some members from the grounds committee completed these ratings each week. The ratings were then compiled into a spreadsheet that tallied weekly averages. From these averages bar charts were created to show the level of maintenance accomplished for the 12 maintenance areas each week.
The ratings are the most important part of the program because they provide a measurement of how we are doing, and specifically if there is a particular item within a task that is not meeting expectations. These ratings also allow us to create a visual representation of our progress through the bar charts. Our goal the first year was to have continual improvement throughout the summer.
Buy in
With these tools in place, we brought the crew together to discuss VIP, how we planned to use it to increase our maintenance level, and to talk about our goals. Because this is a “visual” improvement process, we set up glass-encased poster boards on the wall where everyone on the crew could monitor the level of our progress, as well as anyone who came into the maintenance facility.
Additionally, we added photos to the poster boards. Pictures were taken of work completed correctly as well as incorrectly to emphasis our expectations. These created a simple, easy, and effective way of communicating to the crew what things needed correcting as well as things we did correctly. Also, simple phrases or graphics were added to clarify what the photo was showing. An effort to post new pictures weekly helped to keep the crew interested in our progress and sometimes gave crew members bragging rights or encouragement not to slack off.
Results and benefits
The program took a bit of training and adjustment on the part of the management team as well as the crew and members, but the results have been positive. The membership has noticed a difference in the level of maintenance we have been able to achieve. The program has also become an invaluable tool for the management staff for a number of reasons. First of all, it is an effective yet simple way to communicate to our staff members. They understand our expectations, and they can visually check if they have been able to maintain or exceed that level. It helps us to understand the areas in which we need to focus more attention. If we seem to struggle with a particular task rating, it’s easy to identify what we need to do to bring that rating up to the next level. It’s also a tool that can be used by the board of directors to identify areas to improve and what it would take to get there.
The renovation at Hinsdale Golf Club was a large undertaking, but putting the VIP in place beforehand was truly a success. Once golfers got back on the course, we knew expectations would be at their highest. This program allowed us to increase our maintenance standards more efficiently, effectively, and consistently without increasing the budget. Additionally, it has been an important tool for management to keep the level of maintenance high or to identify where additional efforts are needed. Having a way to measure our maintenance standards improved our quality, and the membership noticed.
This article first appeared in Golf Course Industry magazine.
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