Forecaddies quicken the pace at Bear’s Best

DALLAS - Slow play on golf courses is not only an inconvenience for golfers, but can also be a revenue buster for golf courses. If players aren’t moving around the course in a timely fashion, it affects the number of groups a course can move through on a given day.

Slow play affects players’ perception of the course, and may be a leading factor in their decision not to return on another occasion. At a resort course, like Dallas-based ClubCorp’s Bear’s Best clubs in Atlanta and Las Vegas, where there are few regulars who know the course well, one would expect slow play to be a part of the package.

However, ClubCorp has found that an antiquated service instituted at the clubs has helped address this age-old problem. Through forecaddie programs, the courses have been able to maintain average round times that are more than a half-hour shorter than at other area clubs.

WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN

According to Adam Owen, general manager at Bear’s Best Las Vegas, the forecaddie program was initiated as a means of providing better service to the course’s customers by helping to familiarize them with an unfamiliar course.

“It’s always difficult when you go to a brand-new golf course that you’ve never played before, and you have forced carries where you don’t know how far you have to carry it or greens where you can’t really see the greeen, just the flagstick,” Owen said. “We’re able to help them out with yardage and with navigating around the course.”

The reduction in average round times was a pleasant side effect of the program, Owen said.

“For the last 14 or 15 months of our operation, we’ve been able to keep our average pace of play to four hours and 20 minutes, which for a resort round of golf is very quick,” he said. “Most average rounds in Las Vegas are around five hours.”

Owen said the caddies at his club attack pace of play before a round even begins by making sure groups arrive at the first tee five minutes prior to their tee time.

“The program ensures proper starting times, so they’re acting as not only starters but course marshals,” he said.

Owen said the club stresses the importance of maintaining a consistent pace of play to ensure that everyone can play the course in a timely fashion.

“On some of our spring days, we have 180 or 190 players, so pace of play is critical. That’s what we always try to stress is that we’re not only guaranteeing happiness with pace of play for the group on the tee, but also for the group 30 groups behind them,” he said.

Despite the high costs associated with the program, Owen said the benefits of offering the service far outweigh those costs.

“We are taking a severe hit on our cash flow as a result of offering this service because every one of our caddies is an employee of Bear’s Best. It is financially daunting for us to keep this program in place,” he said. “But we think it is a nice enough service that adds such an experience and adds a value to our green fee that it would be difficult to do without.”