Golfdom, August 2010

Incidentally the mowing method hasnt slowed down greens at Traverse City where they still run at 10 to 104 feet thanks in part to daily rolling Like many private clubs Locust Hill has lost members and Slattery has had his maintenance budget cut as a result In 2009 the budget was whacked 11 percent from 875000 to 760000 But it was reduced only 4 percent this year With an aim to keep golfers expectations satisfied Slattery says the key is to cut maintenance tasks that most golfers wont notice For instance bunker maintenance has been reduced at Locust Hill but not to the point where golfers will complain about it The maintenance crew no longer rakes bunkers fully only where golfers have been And if a golfer hasnt been in a bunker it doesnt get raked We havent seen quality drop a lot Slattery says Slattery has also coached his staff to work as efficiently as possible If we can make it in house well make it he says If we can fix it in house well fix it in house Another key to appeasing golfers expectations is to educate them about whats going on at the golf course especially if it involves the maintenance budget Hammon is doing that at Traverse City When the clubs finance committee and board of directors approved Hammons 2010 budget in March Hammon made a list of everything that would be affected by the cuts and communicated them to the courses green committee My green committee appreciated knowing what to expect going into the season with our golf course conditions Hammon says noting that he also attended the April board of directors meeting and reported to them the same information so they were educated and prepared to answer members questions if needed Continued on page 26 Continued from page 23 IS INTERFACE FUNGICIDE A NON DMI ROTATIONAL PRODUCT YES There has been an increased interest in leasing says John Deere Credits Rhonda Flannery ILLUSTRATION BY ISTOCK INTERNATIONAL INC PHOTO COURTESY SYNGENTA Paul Danielson manager of financial marketing for The Toro Co said its not uncommon for courses to lease mowers which they can turn over every four or five years depending on the terms of the contract or to purchase aerifiers and tractors which are used less frequently and have a long life Rhonda Flannery John Deere Credits manager of product marketing development for golf and utility vehicles said the one question superintendents need to ask to assess their existing equipment approach is whether theyre meeting their replacement strategies For instance if their plan is to have new fairway mowers every four years but theyre not being turned over for five or six years a change needs to be made Instead of purchasing outright or a lease to own program it it might be better to lease the piece of equipment for the useful life defined by the golf course and replace it every four years According to Flannery the economy has produced a shift in the strategy some courses are following Were seeing increased interest in leasing and the primary reason for that is cashflow driven she said Troy Murray vice president of sales and business development for golf equipment in Textron Financials Captive Finance Group said once the trend among courses was that most wanted to purchase equipment In 2000 it moved toward leasing Murray said It reached a plateau two or three years ago The split of leasing versus leasing to buy is about a 50 50 divide across the United States with the average length of a lease at about 48 months