Sunday, June 26, 2016

Chickens Coming Home to Roost.

As a general rule the season has been fairly mundane on my end with not very much to comment on.  We are well into the golf season and past all the negative comments regarding green speed and now into the judgment calls regarding unfair pin locations because of green speed....ironic.  There's probably a post lurking in that statement but that would make me proactive; obviously not the case this year.

A good thing as of late definitely relates to staff.  Aside from my core group of 4 guys, the Greens Team group composed of member volunteers has been a huge help in getting the course into summer condition.   Randy K. developed and fleshed out the idea last year and has been the driving force this year (go HERE) in recruiting and organizing.  I'll try to demonstrate how much those guys are helping out.  The daily basic maintenance at KGC is as follows:

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Holes 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Greens 1 1 4 3 3 3 3
Fwys 1 1 1 1 1
Rough 1 1 1 1 1 1
T/C 0.5 0.5 1
Roller 1 1 1 1 1 1
Bunkers 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
3100 1 1 1
Blower 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Spray/fert 1
Top Dress 1
Total Staff/day 8.5 7 11 7.5 11 9 8

If you read the chart vertically you will see how many staff members each task needs with a total amount of staff for each day at the bottom of the chart.  For example, on a typical Monday I need one person to change holes, one person to mow greens, one person to mow fairway, etc, etc, for a total of 7 staff.  Any day with a number greater than one means multiple staff performing that task.  Again, for example, I need only one person on Monday to mow greens since we are using the triplex but on Tuesday we are double cutting greens with the walk mowers so I need 4 staff.

The next chart identifies the people I've hired:


Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Mr. Scott 4 7 7 7 7
Garry 4 7 7 7 7
Neil 7 7 7 7 4
Liver 7 7 7 7 4
Horticulture "7 "7 "7 "7 "4
Kenny L 4 4 7 4
Jim E 7 4 4
F/T Stud -  "7 "7 "7 "7 "4
P/T Stud- Brock 4 7 4
Chantal 4
Peter L 4 4
David Mc 4 7 7
Darcy C 7 4 4
Ricky 4 4
Rick B 4 4 4
6 4 8 8 6 6 6
2.5 3 3 -0.5 5 3 2

More complicated to read but the take home point relates to the very bottom line.  Those numbers represent the difference between the required people needed to maintain the course vs the staff actually working at KGC.  So on typical Monday, again, I need according the first chart 8.5 people but according to the second chart I only have 6 staff working which means something isn't getting done.  Throw in an irrigation break, extra work either from projects or extraordinary maintenance and even less of the routine maintenance won't be getting done.

I was unable to fill two position (the Horticulture and Full-time student) with suitable people which exasperated the situation.  Luckily, 7 members showed up for training and are helping to make up the deficit staff wise


Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Mr. Scott 4 7 7 7 7
Garry 4 7 7 7 7
Neil 7 7 7 7 4
Liver 7 7 7 7 4
Horticulture "7 "7 "7 "7 "4
Kenny L 4 4 7 4
Jim E 7 4 4
F/T Stud -  "7 "7 "7 "7 "4
P/T Stud- Brock 4 7 4
Chantal 4
GreensTream 4 4 4 4
GreensTream 4 4
GreensTream 4
Darcy C 7 4 4
Peter L 4 4
David Mc 4 7 7
Ricky 4 4
Rick B 4 4 4
6 4 10 9 9 7 6
2.5 3 1 -1.5 2 2 2

If I take that second chart and add in the Greens Team to create a new chart, now Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday look a bit better; especially Wednesday. When there is a negative number highlighted in green it means I have extra staff for that day!!

The real point of describing how staffing relates to the present level of maintenance is my backhanded way of explaining why some routine or typical maintenance practices are being ignored or only partially attempted.  Even with 7 volunteers we still have too few people to maintain the course at a level that players may have enjoyed in the past.  Third party comments have left me with the impression that some of the more vocal members are disappointed with the existing course presentation. If you happen to be privy to any one persons rant please direct them to this particular post, or better yet directly to me since I can best explain the reason why particular situation may or may not exist as it relates to maintenance at KGC.