Most Northern facilities breathe a sigh of relief come Labor Day. Weekday play trickles off, disease pressure begins to wane, the big end-of-season tournaments and outings are largely history, and golf tends to take a back seat to college football, the baseball playoffs and what’s left of professional hockey.
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Allow me to set an all-too-familiar scene. It’s 7:30 a.m. and the regular early bird Tuesday group shows up. This foursome’s total age falls somewhere between 250 and 300 years. (I’ll inject a little educational science here to remind you that the technical Latin term for this species of player is crankius oldum fartus.) They’re nursing their cups of McDonalds’ senior discount coffee – because God forbid they actually pay $1.00 for java at the course – and milling around the pro shop fingering merchandise they’ll never, ever buy. It’s a bit chilly, but they’re bundled up in their Local 301 Pipefitter’s Union coats or one of those stylish Member’s Only jackets that the wife picked up for a quarter at a garage sale.
These guys value owning the day’s first tee time more than they would winning the Nobel Prize for curing the common cold. Their goal is to race through 18 holes and be home in time to catch the rerun of the 1984 Bassmasters Classic on ESPN. In short, they’re raring to go.
Then, as they approach the starter to get going, they hear those two dreaded little words: frost delay.
It’s as if someone opened up the floodgates at Lake Bitchandmoan. The old coots aren't happy to be inconvenienced. At some point, one of them utters the phrase, “It’s just because of that @#%@% overprotective greenkeeper!”
The question is, Mr. Facility Manager/Owner, how do you handle the fearsome foursome when these circumstances arise?
I spoke with a number of folks here in the Cleveland area (where frost delays are possible on the Fourth of July) and here are a few tips for handling the challenge of communicating the necessary evil of a frost delay:
1. Get everyone on the same page. Make sure you don’t have an assistant pro or other up-front worker who says something like, “Yeah, it’s just our superintendent being bullheaded again.” Every employee should be ready to sing from the same song book during frost delay season.
2. Use simple tools such as the GCSAA’s fact sheets (http://www.gcsaa.org/resources/facts/frost.asp). The notion that they see the information in print helps them understand the issues. Consider having this fact sheet or another informational resource mounted on an easel-backed stand or laminated for the pro shop to use.
3. Communicate in advance. If you know frost is likely, why not let those regular players know the night before? Consider having a course conditions hotline with a recorded message to let players know about frost delays (or aerification or any other disruptive practice). One course even puts a simple sign at the entrance to the facility noting that frost delays are possible. The rule should be to eliminate unpleasant surprises whenever possible.
So, don’t let frost put a chill on your relationship with crusty customers during the cool, fall golf season. Plan in advance for the inevitable and communicate, communicate, communicate!