5 minute read
Supe’s On
Rob Kick Superintendant Algonquin Golf Club
The 2020 season has certainly proven to be a challenge for the golf industry. The golf shop staff has been charged with finding unique ways to engage players while maintaining social distancing. This has undoubtedly been difficult when your round is supposed to begin by being seated two to a cart. Seven years ago when the Covid-19 outbreak began - my apologies - seven months ago when this virus took hold of the world - golf quickly became a safe haven for many. The need to be outside and engaged with friends and family in a social setting was paramount. People who were accustomed to playing several times a week may have found themselves adding a round or two to their schedule, while some took up the game for the first time. During the initial shelter-in-place order, Missouri courses were open for play. Quickly, rounds increased at many golf facilities, a good problem to have! Pool noodles in most cups and a lack of touch points on the course became the norm, as well as one person to a cart while enjoying your time on the course. For the majority of players dealing with it, a few unorthodox golf norms were not a problem, given the circumstances. However it became exceedingly clear that one player to a cart could be a potential problem. Obviously, with a finite amount of carts at each respective facility, the first step may have been to bring in some extras, especially on days where expected play would outpace the available carts. Golf shop staffs seamlessly handled this issue, as they do most issues, and carts were available for all. The second issue with extra carts was a little more hidden, and has been a topic of discussion within superintendent circles recently. That is, the issue of traffic! Superintendents and their staffs do a great job of providing exceptional playing surfaces under increasingly difficult environmental conditions around the St. Louis area. Each year it seems there is a different challenge. Excessive rain, drought conditions, too hot, too cold … you get the point. However, one thing doesn’t change as rapidly as the weather and that is traffic. Golf facilities tend to do similar rounds of golf each season. This number may go up or down depending on the weather, but even if a facility were to do 2,000 more rounds year over year, the increase to traffic would ultimately equate to, at most, about 1000 more carts on the property for the year. I think now it’s becoming clear the direction I’m going with this - .enter 2020. Rounds were up at many area courses, WAY up. This is a good problem to have. More players is a good sign and keeps the revenue stream fluid. Even during a pandemic with limited services, we would all agree keeping the facility use up is vital. Here’s the rub. Having one rider to a cart has presented some unforeseen issues with regards to course maintenance. Nothing necessarily catastrophic or world ending, but... We have some tired zoysia fairways in St. Louis, and many area fairways need a break from the action. Off season traffic on zoysia often can compound issues with fairways. For example, maybe your course of choice has several tree lined fairways and can become slightly thin as the season comes to anend. The shade may present a bit of an issue for the superintendent and staff for optimum zoysia performance. Most likely, you as a player may not even notice the issue, but I assure you, it is there. This year, like compound interest gone wrong, the problems may have been exacerbated by high cart usage. Many area courses have witnessed up to 175% increase in cart usage due to one simple fact everyone has been riding solo. Eight tires on a given hole have now become 16, and most of this extra traffic is focused into ingress and egress areas, creating excess wear and tear on the tender fall zoysia. Even the grass can’t escape the Covid. Look out your kitchen window tonight. Do you have a dog? Do you have a fence? Does your dog run back and forth up and down the fence line creating a thin bare trail in your yard? If you answer yes to these questions, think of what your yard would look like with another dog and a threelegged chicken running around back there. It wouldn’t be pretty. Moral of the story folks is that several area courses restrict
The Metropolitan September/October 2020 Cart traffic has been challenging during this unconventional year
Algonquin Golf Club was founded in 1899 and has been at its present location on Berry Rd. since 1903. It was redesigned by distinguished architect Brian Silva in the 1990s. Cart traffic has been heavy for clubs this year, but some still like to walk.
carts in the off-season. Some restrict carts on an as-needed basis, some restrict carts every day. Superintendents at each area course have to make tough decisions regarding the property they manage, none of them are taken lightly, and almost every decision is made with the balance of player experience and course conditioning in mind. The excessive wear and tear caused by the enormous increase in cart usage this year has given many area superintendents yet another challenge, and it comes in the form of a question. Do we reduce cart traffic during the off-season to allow zoysia some time to recover, so that it will again be green and lush and ready for the 2021 season? I suspect the answer may be a resounding “yes.” I would ask everyone reading to understand this… like this entire dumpster fire of a year has presented challenges in every aspect of our lives, it has caused problems in ways no one ever dreamed. Even our grasses have been affected. Should you find yourself on a property where carts are restricted on a beautiful unseasonably warm November day, especially during the off-season, please note this is similar to a vaccine or a least a method of treatment for our zoysia fairways. Well done fairways. You had an extremely busy year and deserve a little time off for all of you efforts.
Thanks for reading and continue to be safe and enjoy the great game of golf!
