Tournament Conditions - Why Only for Tournaments? .....Douglas Lowe, CGCS

I recently overheard a member's comment during his Member-Member round on the Irving Park course and it went a little something like "Why can't course conditions be like this more often?  If they were I would play here a lot more."

Of course, from a Superintendent's perspective there are a lot different things going on in a such a statement. Without reading too many things into it I most definitively agree that conditions are better during tournaments as compared to general play.  For that matter conditions are generally better on weekends than during weekdays. In fact our Conditioning Standards clearly spell out higher levels of conditioning for tournament play as compared to general play.  It should really surprise no one that such is the case.  While our major events are not groomed anywhere near the conditions of a PGA or USGA event the facilities that host those events, no matter how nice they are, all step it up a notch for all those big type of tournaments.  But at the club level, I think people not only expect better conditions during a significant event but I hope those same "higher" level of conditions are also what attracts certain golfers to play in those events.

Of course in the end it all boils down to resources and infrastructure.  As the member's comment was made during his round at Irving Park, the whole issue of infrastructure definitely comes into play.  This year everyone knows we have experienced unusually high amounts of rainfall and as such the Irving Park fairways have been extremely wet and at times almost unplayable.  The bunkers which are not built to today's standards have also experienced an inordinate number of washouts leaving them in poor shape more often than normal.  The newly renovated Farm course with all it's new infrastructure has fared much better but even the drainage on this course has shown the need for additional work to be done. Despite heavy rainfall early in the week prior to the Member-Member both courses had an opportunity to dry out by the time the weekend rolled around.  So, we can't take much credit for that.  Rather we were just grateful the rains held off Tuesday through Saturday morning, which allowed us to present the membership with a fairly dry and firm Irving Park course setup.

The second part of the equation is fairly straight forward.  Starting about 10 days prior to the event we begin ramping up overtime.  Maybe just a few extra hours a day the week prior but the week of the event we typically work 12 hour days.  All that overtime equates to about 600 hours of time and a half pay.  In addition to overtime for the regular staff we also hire temporary help.  For the Member-Member we brought in 3 men at each course.  That equated to an additional 240 hours of temp paid labor that comes at a premium.  Of course all this is budgeted every year and it only occurs to this extent for a few key events such as the Ladies and Men's Member-Guest, Member-Member and Club Championship.

So, if we ultimately spend anywhere from $7,500 to $15,000 extra to create improved tournament conditions per event what would it take to try and create those conditions every week, maybe just during certain seasons, or maybe just weekends?  The answer is pretty simple.  It just takes money but unfortunately a lot of it. Statements like the one mentioned in the beginning of this article are not perceived as negative but rather more along the lines of common sense.  Everyone enjoys playing golf under good conditions.  Most enjoy it even more under great conditions.  For me it all goes back to our Conditioning Standards that attempt to define member expectations in a measurable fashion.  Those same standards also help us define what type of budget is needed to meet those expectations. Once a budget and a new set of standards are approved each year we do everything possible to live up to those standards.

Today being the day before the first round of the Wyndham Championship, I am sure a lot of our members will be making a visit to Sedgefield.  Hopefully for Sedgefield, the tour players, tournament sponsors as well as all of Greensboro the course will be in immaculate condition.  But just imagine, even with all their volunteers, if we spend $10,000 for a Member-Member what is being spent for the Wyndham.  My guess is a lot more than an additional $10,000 goes into to course conditioning for those four days of golf?