Golf course/residential developments over 30 years old with more than one course and acres and acres of landscape need to be updated and upgraded every several years. Failure to do so results in declining real estate values, lower membership and higher cost to maintain the entire property. An overall Master Plan should be developed, budgeted, funded and implemented on an ongoing basis. Areas included but not limited to are as follows:
The Clubhouse
The Golf Courses
Irrigation
The Tennis Complex
The Pool Complex
The Main and Secondary Entrances
Roadways, walks and paths
Ponds, waterways and wells
Maintenance area and equipment
Tree and planting maintenance and renewal
Personnel

As new technologies are available that make one's experience more enjoyable and have been already implemented at other clubs and courses in the area, you must upgrade to show that you are on the cutting edge and care enough to produce the best possible playing surfaces and conditions.

 
For example, I have found that all Florida golf courses need to be redone every 7-10 years. New grasses and techniques are constantly being updated and upgraded, not to mention advances in golf course irrigation and maintenance equipment as well.

Some communities are as large 1000 acres and have over 1600 homes or residences. They employee hundreds of people, have spas, multiple restaurants and entertainment venues. The older communities represent a more difficult set of issues and problems, because of the age and size of the facilities and the length and expense of the laundry list of things that need to be done; not to mention the quality, competition and cost of the many great courses and communities in the area.

Making an effort - spending time and money throughout the life of the golf courses - while all intentions were and are good, the results are not always great. Plus, if you only work on one course, in a multi-course arrangement, in any given calendar year, could result in the other golf courses not being rebuilt or rehabbed under the same design and construction teams and conditions. This also makes for maintaining and playing the multiple courses inconsistent between them. A facility that is fortunate enough to have more than one golf course, should show, reveal and play consistently throughout the property. Care should be taken to have the same designer, construction manager, contractors, materials and superintendent in place for all course renovations and revisions. Courses have a tendency to take on the look and personality of the designer and the superintendent, depending on who they are, their philosophies and work ethic. The results could end up anywhere on the spectrum. The problem is you don't know until it's too late and the time, money and effort have been spent.

The golf course layouts can be different, but the look, feel and consistency should be equal all the way around. An example of this is that you wouldn't build a putting green or practice area(s)with a different type of grass or different contouring than what exists out on the course.

This also holds true for maintaining the golf courses. Heights of cut, course set up, bunker maintenance, aerification and topdressing should all be done on each of the golf courses on the same schedule and with the same frequency.

Care should also be taken that the superintendent should be fresh in his or her job. The courses should be thoroughly and completely checked daily. After many years in the same position, it can become easy and commonplace to let things run on automatic pilot. Corners get cut. Edges of greens and fairways start to creep in, bunker maintenance gets sloppy.

Also, a superintendent must be able to manage all construction and renovation projects as the owner's representative, with the ability to make field changes and corrections. The architect and his staff usually are not on the property 24/7/365. Every contractor, no matter what the project or his ability, needs that leadership. Besides, the superintendent must live with whatever changes the architect and contractor make: good, bad or indifferent.

It is said that "What makes a community so wonderful are its residents and members." While that is a great attribute and one that every development would be proud to have at the top of their list, most places also want to be able to say that their golf courses are pristine and consistent, that they have invested in making the courses tops in the area from a design, maintenance, beauty and playability standpoint.

Wouldn't it be great if each of the golf courses had 3 or 4 finishing holes that became as famous as the "Bear Den" or TPC Phoenix or Sawgrass holes: and that they are in top playing condition 24/7/365.

What you want to hear is "we have the greatest place on earth, it's beautiful and great to be out there playing". Ask how do High Ridge, Seminole, Grand Cypress, The Stadium Course, Bay Hill do it? Why not you, why not now? Put you on the map.

All championship tournament golf courses are supervised and maintained at a better, higher level than the next lower wrung of courses on the ladder. Not necessarily at a higher budget, except in a championship season. Winged Foot, Pebble Beach, Pine Valley, Shinnecock, National, Cypress, Olympic, Madinah, Oakland Hills are pristine during the season, every season, whether they are playing an Open or a PGA that season or not. Don't forget they play majors at any given course only once every ten years or so, but it's just as great the other years.

Keep in mind most superintendents at this level make a salary in the top 5% of the profession. But, even within that small margin of 5%, some are better managers than others because:
1) They see and fix things that others miss
2) They hire better quality assistants
3) They manage people and equipment better and smarter
4) While their budgets are about the same of other clubs, they manage it better and get a lot more bang for the buck
5) A superintendent should, daily, keep the courses in a condition that if the phone rang and he or she were told that a Tour stop was coming to play a tournament, all they would have to do is adjust the cutting heights on Greens, Tees, Fairways and Roughs - along with dealing with the setup of tents, stands and signs, etc.

It's time to do an independent study of the conditions of the golf courses, equipment, manpower and agronomy practices. Get down on paper where you're at, currently, where you want to be and the plan on how to get from here to there. Then roll out a budgeted five-year Master Plan.

All this speaks to sustainability, which now days is the key buzz word in golf. As golf courses age and as members get older or pass on, they and their family members don't want the financial obligation of a full membership and HOA fees associated with being there. How do you make a 40-year-old community compete with the newer sexy ones? You add, change, improve, grow the amenities and facilities to the best they can be. People must want to come to that community, not just because it has wonderful members and residents, but because it is the place to be that has everything and everything is in the best possible condition.

Mark Sosnowitz, ASLA, MG, EIGOA, GCSAA, NGCOA is the principal of Mark Eliot Design in Pawling, NY. He can be reached at msosnowitz@aol.com or 914 318-4476.