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Needing Responce on Crew Size for owner

17 posts
  1. Virgil Range
    Virgil Range avatar
    0 posts
    3/18/2014 3:03 AM
    Needing responses to convince owner 4-5 people on an 18 hole course just wont get the job done.

    How many holes do you have and how many crew members, In season and out of season.

    Thanks,

    Virgil



  2. Steven Huffstutler
    Steven Huffstutler avatar
    11 posts
    3/18/2014 5:03 AM
    18 holes, year - round
    15 full time guys including mechanics, superintendents, spray tech and irrigation tech.
    3 part time seasonals



  3. Peter Bowman
    Peter Bowman avatar
    11 posts
    3/18/2014 6:03 AM
    Virgil Range said: Needing responses to convince owner 4-5 people on an 18 hole course just wont get the job done.

    How many holes do you have and how many crew members, In season and out of season.

    Thanks,

    Virgil


    Since you don't have a greens mower or a tee mower that's a couple guys less right there you don't need.



  4. Paul Double
    Paul Double avatar
    37 posts
    3/18/2014 6:03 AM
    We have 18 holes and we run a crew of 12, maybe 13 this year. We keep about 5 people over the winter.

    Paul L Double
    Director of Turfgrass Management
    Sugar Valley Golf Club
    Bellbrook, Ohio 453058



  5. Canedo Alberto J
    Canedo Alberto J avatar
    3/18/2014 7:03 AM
    9 hole facility with 4 full-time employees year round and 1 employee that works only on Saturdays. Includes Superintendent, mechanic and maintenance crew. Irrigation repairs are done by committee. Hand watering and all chemical and liquid fertilizing using the spray rig is done by the Superintendent. Wish I had more, but it is what it is and my staff gets her done.



  6. Jennifer Torres
    Jennifer Torres avatar
    2 posts
    3/18/2014 7:03 AM
    I work at an 18 hole public course. We carry a staff of 12 full-time employees including Superintendent, Assistant, and mechanic during the season and 3 additional part-timers. Just three of us work the entire year. Best of luck to you. They have to understand that in order to produce a quality product you have to have the crew to do it without killing them.



  7. Clay Putnam
    Clay Putnam avatar
    33 posts
    3/18/2014 7:03 AM
    Virgil,

    Its good to compare your course to the rest for, well, comparison purposes, but have you tried to ID all the normal and customary golf course tasks and assign a yearly hour total for each of the those tasks? You can then use that number as a baseline for the number of staff personnel needed at your course.

    Now, we know that this process will not be perfect. Some jobs may take longer than estimated and some jobs may not take as long. We also know that there is no way to predict every single task that will pop up. But this will give you a starting point which, more than likely, will be pretty accurate.



  8. Melvin Waldron
    Melvin Waldron avatar
    43 posts
    3/18/2014 7:03 AM
    I will be of no help, probably.

    18 hole municipal course. We have 3 full-time guys while sharing a mechanic with 2 other courses. I have a part time maintenance mechanic (24 hours per week), 2 to 3 other part time seasonal staff (20-24 hours per week), and if I'm lucky this year, 2 seasonal working 40 hours a week, and 1 person working up to 40 on landscape beds. I guess when adding up the hours we are looking at 8 staff members in season.

    Our 18 hole "championship course" has 6 FTE all season (might be 7), and they will have at least 6 seasonal workers going 40 hours a week. Add at least one person doing landscaping.

    Our other course is an 18 hole course, with a 9 hole lighted par 3. They have 5 all year around and at least 3 seasonal last year. I think they are adding 1 30 hour a week landscape person and maybe 2 more at 40 hours a week seasonal staff.

    I was at a course in northern Indiana where we had me, the mechanic, and one student working in the winter, and about 19 in mid-summer, but when we figured man hours because of the part time retired guys, and other variables (students working around their class schedule) we were at about 10. So I don't know if you could look at the part-time route as well? We used them for a lot of morning mowing before play and then they would leave when done.

    Mel

    Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO

  9. Mark Patterson
    Mark Patterson avatar
    0 posts
    3/18/2014 7:03 AM
    18 holes.....82 acres of irrigated turf
    4 maintenance employees, 1 FT mechanic and Me
    We get it done, but it's tough..................I could go on, but you know



  10. Curtis Nickerson
    Curtis Nickerson avatar
    0 posts
    3/18/2014 8:03 AM
    27 holes- florida year round play
    37 guys including everyone (Supt, asst, tech, asst tech, landscape, irrigationg etc)



  11. Toby Burkhart
    Toby Burkhart avatar
    0 posts
    3/18/2014 9:03 AM
    18 hole public course

    15 staff members-

    1 supt, 2 assist, 1 mechanic, 3 full timers, 3 -40 hour a week seasonals and 2- 25 hour per week seasonals.

    Hope this helps.

    Toby Burkhart
    Holiday Hills Resort and Golf Club
    Branson, MO



  12. Sandy Clark
    Sandy Clark avatar
    0 posts
    3/18/2014 9:03 AM
    You need to look at the workload required to maintain your property. How big are the greens, tees, fairways and roughs? How many bunkers do you have? What kind of maintenance is required around the property. No two compare equally. What is your disease, insect and weed pressure like. What are the expectations of the golfers and more importantly other than the almighty dollar, what are the expectations of the owners. How big of an equipment fleet should you have and do you take care of golf carts? Do you have landscape to take care of? It sounds like you need a major meeting with ownership to determine what this property is supposed to be. Based on what you have provided, it sounds like they have no expectations which makes your job a nightmare. How can you determine priorities if you have no clue what they expect?



  13. Joey Franco
    Joey Franco avatar
    0 posts
    3/18/2014 10:03 AM
    I think everyone has provided valid points (acreage, expectations & number of holes), but to really determine how many people in season or out of season is to implement time studies. For example based on the routing and acreage, how long does it take 1 person to mow greens. Another example is how long does it take 1 person to mow fairways? This might sound crazy to do, but I have had to do this smae thing at two other golf course to justify labor savings and needs. Once you go through the basics, mowing = greens, tees, fairways and roughs, then you could move on to the next.



  14. Richard Lavine
    Richard Lavine avatar
    3 posts
    3/18/2014 10:03 AM
    I'm with Sandy on this one. You've seen responses all over the place. Obviously you're expectations are way higher than your owners'. If he is content with a 'dog track' (no offense meant to the dog tracks out there), he is entitled to that. If he can turn a profit with maintenance at the very low end, more power to him. It's his course, and he is entitled to run it any way he chooses. I know you're just trying to raise the standards, and good for you. But he and his finances might not be capable of anything more. You might need to be prepared to move elsewhere where your talents can be better appreciated.



  15. John Borcher
    John Borcher avatar
    0 posts
    3/18/2014 4:03 PM
    27 hole facility with 9 new holes under construction.

    3 year round (super, assist, foreman)

    4-5 FT seasonal
    3 PT seasonal



  16. Keith Pegg
    Keith Pegg avatar
    0 posts
    3/18/2014 5:03 PM
    17 staff
    2 mechanics

    18 holes year round play (21 greens, hand mow)
    4 acres greens
    4 Acres Tees
    30 Acres FWY
    40 Acres Roughs
    40 Acres maintained forest land
    Full Drive Range 5 Acres

    Keith Pegg



  17. Virgil Range
    Virgil Range avatar
    0 posts
    3/19/2014 2:03 AM
    Thanks everyone. No matter how i look at it, its going to be tough. Keep my head high and do what I do and make the best of it. Im a very positive person and I have to stay that way.

    I only know 1 thing. Show up everyday and give it my all. Even if its its doing something with nothing. Sometimes the somethings are better than the nothings.

    Virgil



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