Round by Round

BY ROBERT WALSH In my humble opinion, a private community leadership’s most important job is fiscal responsibility with capital reserve management and allocation being the key to a community’s long term viability. Every spring we see new capital improvement projects starting around our community. Some are general maintenance issues and others are improvements to amenities that in “theory” should improve its experience, draw greater participation and reduce labor costs thus, in some cases, increase revenue which over time can pay for their expense. This year’s most ambitious project was the golf course greenside sand trap improvement project. Although our community golf course is the envy of most others, its sand traps had deteriorated over time to where they would fill with water, even after moderate rain, requiring countless hours of pumping and raking after each weather event. What was left was a soup consisting of rock, pebble, mud and at times even some sand. A plan was developed that “theorized” that properly built greenside sand traps would draw more members and increase play along with cart, membership and clubhouse revenue while reducing course labor costs. A plan was developed, bids reviewed and funds allocated with construction starting this past April. The ambitious project would entail removing all the sand, rock and dirt from 32 sand traps scattered over hundreds of acres of PFCCA property. Some 850 tons of material was excavated and trucked with specially equipped dump trucks to dump areas far from most of the sand trap sites. Each trap had old growth trap perimeter grass removed and then each was meticulously regraded and sculpted before 505 cubic yards of new top soil was layered on top to promote proper grass growth. Next, drainage trenches were dug at the bottom of each trap so that 3,000 linear feet of poly pipe could be installed so water could be gravity fed to a low point away from the traps. Once the pipe was installed, 380 tons of gravel was trucked back to the traps and dumped inside each trap to be spread, graded and compacted. Once compacted a polypropylene liner was sprayed onto the gravel and left to cure which would serve as a barrier between the new sand and the rock and dirt mixture below while allowing water to drain through it. Then 41,000 square feet of sod was transported to the traps, planted and trimmed. Only then could the 465 tons of new sand be transported to the traps for final installation. So did “theory” prove true? I am happy to report that even though 30 inches of rain fell during a three month period, hindering play during prime golf season, membership and revenue are both up year over year. Remarkably, budgeted expenses were down considerably even though staffing shortages due to an empty labor pool existed for the entire season. The verdict is in and properly draining sand traps led to less golf maintenance man hours which were redirected to mitigate the damaging effects of rain elsewhere on the course. Like most people, golfers vote with their money and the increase in membership and revenue confirms that the investment was responsibly made and will continue to pay future dividends. Thanks to all who initiated, planned, budgeted, appropriated and managed a project with so many moving parts…a true financial success story.