It is common to hear managers in an array of businesses talk
about needing more staff. More things would be possible, more tasks could be
completed and the overall product would improve. The same is true for golf
course maintenance. The more labor a course has the more tasks that can be accomplished
simultaneously. One might wonder: why does it take more people? Why can’t those
tasks still be accomplished by a small crew just working faster? The answer
lies in the length of time basic golf course maintenance tasks take to
complete.
The many jobs on a golf course generally take an extensive
time to complete. Courses vary in the jobs to be performed, equipment used for
those jobs, and timing of when tasks can and must take place. The Grounds
department at Bretton Woods tracks how long our tasks take in order to better
manage our time, increase efficiency, and improve overall productivity. It is
important for our planning purposes to understand the time requirements of each
job, and it can also shed light on our routines and procedures for golfers to
understand these time requirements as well.
Some of our regular maintenance tasks are listed below along
with the time for completion. We track the time of other things we do as well,
however they are far more fluid and may not be part of our daily maintenance.
The jobs below are performed daily or every other day throughout the season:
·
Mowing greens
o
1 person; 3.25-3.75 hours
·
Rolling greens
o
1 person; 3-3.5 hours
o
2 people; 2-2.5 hours
·
Mowing tees
o
1 person; 6-6.5 hours
o
2 people; 4-5 hours
·
Mowing approaches
o
1 person; 3.5-4 hours
o
2 people; 2.5-3 hours
·
Mowing fairways
o
1 person; 7-8 hours
o
2 people; 6-6.75 hours
·
Mowing rough
o
Golf course rough only
§
1 person; 8 hours of mowing over the course of 3
days
§
2 people; 8 hours of mowing over the course of
2-2.5 days
o
Extra rough (Tennis/soccer area, open areas near
entrance, large front field at entrance)
§
1 person; 8 hours of mowing over the course of
1.5 days
§
2 people; 6-7 hours
o
Rough around the greens
§
1 person; 8 hours of mowing over the course of 2
days
§
2 people; 6-6.5 hours
o
Rough around the tees
§
1 person; 8 hours of mowing over the course of
1.5 days
§
2 people; 6-6.5 hours
o
Intermediate rough around fairways
§
1 person; 3.5-4 hours
·
Changing cups
o
1 person; 2.5-3 hours
·
Raking bunkers
o
1 person; 4 hours
*In each instance, the
variability in time can be caused by the direction we mow, the order we follow,
how many golfers catch and delay the machine, or by the experience of the
operator.
Studying the time spent on each of these regular practices
illustrates why planning and execution can be critical for our team. Performing
a task that takes 4 hours leaves a staff member with only 4 hours left in their
day to accomplish anything else. If something goes wrong and the task now takes
4.5 or 5 hours, we become severely limited in what else that staff member may
be able to accomplish with the remaining hours in their day. Understanding
where labor hours are spent also gives insight into the importance of
prioritizing our assignments. Depending on the task, one staff member may only
complete 2 or 3 main jobs over their shift. We must make sure those are the 2-3
most important things that person should be working on.
Getting the most out of everyone every day is our goal. We
have to keep track of where time is spent in order to better perform all of our
regular jobs.
Etiquette Reminder of the Week
Golf carts must always remain on cart paths once past the
green and white posts, through the next tee complex. This is not weather
dependent!
See you on the course!
Joe
jvillegas@bwrc.org
No comments:
Post a Comment
Have a question or comment? Share it with Joe!