Response
to the 2023 Highlands Country Club Survey
This past season, the
club membership participated in a survey that is conducted every third year. This survey is a good tool for department
leaders, like me, to gain valuable insight into the thoughts of the most
important dynamic of the Club, its membership.
Constructive criticism is always welcome because it allows me to know
where I am falling short in serving the membership it terms of the golf course. I also hope you know that comments and ideas are
always welcome, not just during the formal survey process. Call, email or stop me on the golf course because
your thoughts are very important to me and my operation.
After reading through the
comments, I’d like to take the time to address some of those that were directed
at the golf course. First, the
overwhelming majority of the comments were extremely positive. Every year, I go through a process of self-reflection
and goal setting for the coming season. My
primary objective is to always keep my foot on the gas, pushing forward to make
the golf course better than it was the year before. That is my nature and if that wasn’t
happening, I would be in a state of complacency and wouldn’t enjoy my job. I’m constantly learning new things based on
experience and trying new practices to achieve the goals I have for the golf
course. I love that about my job! No two days are identical, and I relish the
challenge of dealing with Mother Nature’s curve balls or the challenge that
comes with building a team that takes the same kind of passion and ownership of
the golf course that I do. It is such an
awesome job!
In reference to the survey,
there were one or two comments about the fairways being a wet in the morning. This is a very valid comment. Drainage is one thing golf courses can’t have
enough of. It’s an investment that
improves playability, allows cart traffic on fairways more regularly, allows
golfers to hit the ball farther and even saves resources when it comes to
maintenance. Over the past 20 years,
there’s no question that the golf course drains better than it ever has. There
are too many examples to list. But we aren’t
finished. We are continually working to
improve drainage through numerous methods.
It’s important to understand that HCC is built on heavy clay soils that
don’t drain well, particularly if you’re used to sandy soils that are found in
Florida and other places. Combine that
with a climate of 100-plus inches of rain per year! Even when we run irrigation cycles, the water
takes time to move down through these clay soils. In some areas of the golf course, we replaced
the clay soil below the surface with 6” of sand. This process is known as sand capping, and it
is an instant fix to any drainage problem.
I continually present this idea to the green committee and have since
added many areas to the golf course master plan. I sincerely hope that one day we recognize
the value and importance of sand capping and are able put this practice into
action. Fairways like #1, 3, 6, 9 etc.
would play incredibly different and much improved! The downside of this program is that it is expensive,
and it would take a serious financial commitment from the Club to start sand
capping individual fairways.
There were two or three comments
about the fairways being too ‘tight.’ This
means that some feel there isn’t enough grass or cushion between the golf ball and
soil below it, making it harder to hit a golf shot. Better players prefer tight lies because it
allows them to make direct contact with the golf ball whereas average golfers
would rather have a lie ‘teed up’ on fluffy grass. In the survey comments, one person suggested
it’s as easy as raising the height of cut by 1/8 of an inch. Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy. There are many factors that contribute to these
lies and then I’ll tell you what we are doing to improve the fairways. First, HCC fairways are comprised of a mix of
bentgrasses that have evolved over the 96 years of the Club’s life. Unfortunately,
these bentgrasses are old varieties that have very little upright growth. This means they grow laterally and tend to
lay on their side. Because of that,
raising the height of cut will do very little.
Shade also contributes to thin, leggy turf. The good news is, we’ve made huge improvements
with sunlight penetration through tree removal, and we’ve implemented several
new practices that have and will continue to improve fairways. First, we purchased a new fairway aerifier
that allows us to punch more holes per square foot than ever before. More disruption stimulates new, aggressive
growth, leading to denser turf. We’ve
also purchased equipment to inner-seed our fairways with new, upright growing
varieties of creeping Bentgrass. In
addition to that, I’ve made great changes to our fertility program on fairways. In 2023, I think the fairways played better
than ever before and we’ll continue building upon that! With the investment in the right equipment,
it’s exciting to see the improvement month after month and I assure you these
improvements will continue to be apparent to everyone as time goes on.
Speaking of sunlight, we
did have two comments regarding the removal of trees. Several years ago, we worked with a
consultant to study the amount of shade on our putting greens and other
surfaces. There were many areas that
struggled because the turf, a dense network of living plants, wasn’t receiving enough
sunlight. Since 1928 until about 2010,
Highlands CC was neglected in terms of keeping up with tree growth. Every year, trees are growing taller and
wider, negatively affecting the golf course. They block off lines of play that
Donald Ross intended, they out compete turf for resources like water and
sunlight and reduce air movement around putting greens. In short, the golf course was suffering. Working with a profession golf course
architect in conjunction to the shade study that was performed, we were able to
address most areas on the golf course.
Fortunately, most of that work is completed and now we are in a mode of maintaining
and trimming. Trees are an incredibly
important component of a golf course provided they are planted wisely. I completely appreciate why some might feel
that too many trees have been removed.
However, for the sake of the golf course, their removal was much needed to
create the playing conditions that the membership demands. Since removing many of these trees, our
pesticide use has sharply decreased. This is because the turf is drying out
faster in the morning and is overall healthier, allowing it to withstand the
pressures of various pests (fungus, insects, bacteria etc.). Environmentally,
tree removal has been a great benefit to the Club.
Moving on, green speed
was mentioned in a couple comments, particularly that the greens play too fast
for the average golfer. Green speed is
one of those topics that is very subjective.
What is too fast for some is not fast enough for others. It’s near impossible to please everyone in this
category. I developed a document called,
Golf Course Standards, that’s been approved by the Green
Committee. In the course standards
document, the desired green speed is 11 feet, measured using a stimpmeter. Very rarely do we deviate from that 11-foot measurement. The only exception to that is during the autumn
season, when cooler weather and low humidity causes the turf to tighten, resulting
in an increase in green speed. That said,
there are a few greens that are particularly difficult. Number 12 green is one such example. The master plan outlines changes to be made
to this green, as well as #14 green.
These greens renovation projects will more than likely be addressed during
the winter of 2024/2025.
Other comments critiqued
the use of the practice facility tee and the visible divots on the tee. It’s always been my goal to keep members
hitting off the turf as much as possible.
The only exception to this is when the tee is too wet and holiday weekends,
where the hitting stations are placed on the mats. The new ‘Turfhound’ brand mat system
is much improved compared to what we had prior. This makes hitting off the mats
a little bit more bearable. However,
most would agree that hitting from natural grass is far more desirable. It’s also my opinion that the tee itself is
made for use, not so much aesthetics. James
does a wonderful job maximizing the use of the tee and all the available grass
we have. It is also worth noting that
the use of the practice facility increases year after year, ever since the 2018
renovation. We created a desirable destination,
and the increased use is very apparent.
If the use continues at a steady rate, there may come a time where we must
move stations to mats for a day out of the week to take pressure off the
tee. However, even though our tee is
grossly undersized according to USGA standards, we aren’t to that point
yet. Please know that we are closely
monitoring that situation but according to the Green Committee approved course
standards document, the goal is to use natural turf as much as possible at the
practice facility.
The paragraphs above do a
nice job outlining those comments regarding the golf course in the survey. There were numerous general landscaping
suggestions and critiques as well, that I won’t get into specifically. Our goal with landscaping has always been to
have a very understated, simple look around entrances, buildings, and the
general campus. There are several areas
that need attention and we’ll be working with our consulting landscape
architect to address some of those concerns.
In the meantime, if you
have any thoughts or other concerns you’d like to share, I really want to hear
from you and listen to your suggestions.
My door is always open and I’m always available to talk by telephone or
by email. It is your comments that keep
us focused on what is most important. All
of us offer a different perspective and our experiences with the game of golf
shape those perspectives and the ideas we have of what makes for a great golf
course. In order to provide you with the best golf course conditions possible,
being open with your comments is most helpful.
Stay warm and I can’t wait to see you back in the mountains come springtime!