Golfdom, January 2012

Bill Wall leans against a bulkhead being built this winter behind No 9 green at Deer Valley We have 25 tees averaging just under 4700 square feet One large tee was preferred to several small tees when possible to save mow time and for overall ease of maintenance w w w g o l f d o m c o m Golfdom 27 built for our larger outings and several detached garages serve as cold storage for equipment Its a far cry from some of my previous shops and clubhouses but the shop is functional the pro shop efficient and the food service profitable Maintaining the dream My maintenance philosophy is to keep it simple and just grow grass No PGRs and only contact fungicides We maintain the bluegrass fairways between 75 and 1 tees at 5 to 75 and greens at 12 to 14 We maintain rigid mowing schedules where greens are mowed daily tees fairways and primary rough every other day and far rough and trim work weekly or as needed Fairways are not sprayed with fungicides tees are sprayed as needed The genetic diversity of the fairways helps mask many of the disease issues we deal with For instance the Kentucky bluegrass will mask the brown patch and gray leaf spot issues on the ryegrass and the ryegrass will mask the summer patch on the bluegrass Greens are sprayed weekly with belowlabel rates of contact fungicides and fertilizer Annual nitrogen usage on the greens is between 1 to 2 pounds per 1000 ft2 and we aerify once a year Maybe most importantly we have successfully maintained the integrity of the turfgrass stand and kept the annual bluegrass population in check Im proud to be in our sixth full year of operation We do between 35000 and 40000 rounds of golf annually Our dollar per golfer is near the market average and expenses typically run 50 percent of revenue Our play consists of 33 percent discounted play through our own offers or third party advertisers 20 percent league play 10 percent outing and the remainder off the street The bulk of our play occurs between April and October Greens fees and carts account for 73 percent of our revenue outings 13 percent food and beverage 10 percent and merchandise 4 percent This format wont work for everyone But for a person or municipality with a suitable site this may offer a means to build a golf course or a format to operate it Again if a project could go from planning and permitting to opening for less than 2 million many projects certainly become more plausible All of these thoughts and theories could have just bounced around in my head forever if I had not met the owners Bob and Sally Stern They had a dream of owning a golf course and the courage to pursue their dream Both are savvy business people who are adamant in running an effective business Today I feel very fortunate to have been the one they trusted to build manage and maintain their dream Bill Wall is the general manager and superintendent of Deer Valley Golf Course in Hummelstown Pa He can be reached at bwallgcbwall@ yahoo com