10 More Reasons to Renovate Soon
11. Looking Back
Restorations are (or were) the rage. Should the History Channel have a “golf architecture” show? With most Golden Age courses now preserved, focus will shift to preserving Dick Wilson and Robert Trent Jones courses, then to…..dare I say it…… Jeffrey D. Brauer Courses?
12. Looking Forward
Preserving heritage is fine, to a point. However, one thing is certain about designing for the past……there’s not much future in it. Millennials won’t appreciate golf’s tradition like we do. The will play the game the way they want to, and design should accommodate, starting now. Think food trucks instead of dining rooms.
13. Rising Expectations
Modern golfers think they are guaranteed the rights to life, liberty, and the routine par. Roughs and bunkers must be as perfect as fairways. Public school curriculums are dumbed down less. The hazardless hazard trend won’t reverse any time soon. Better sand bunkers equals better Yelp reviews.
14. Lower Your Budget
In 1965 (and 1966, 67, 68……) my grandmother said, “It’s getting tougher every year, and pretty soon life will be impossible to survive.” We survived, but modern superintendents understand the sentiment. With stagnant budgets, and all possible in-house savings exhausted, the next step is renovating to help stabilize maintenance budgets by reducing and “right sizing” bunkers and turf areas.
15. Pay Some Bills
If your course has vacant land, sell it off for pocket development, and pay some bills, providing any necessary renovations don’t hurt golf quality. And for some, even if it does.
16. Only Perfect Practice Makes Perfect
Recently, the emergence of the upscale driving range has been a “thing,” first at private clubs, but increasingly, also at public courses. The New Age range allows replicating every shot found on the golf course, and every cocktail found in the bar.
17. Save the Turtles
Whether imposed by regulatory fiat or an in-house initiative, most renovations also foster sustainability, adding responsible turf choices, tree management plans, wildlife habitat creation, recycling, and energy audits to the mainstay focus of water consciousness.
18. Faster Turtles
We now statistically understand how to design for faster play, which pleases your bottom line, and gets more bottoms in your golf cart seats.
19. The 19th Hole – Save the ultimate endangered species – your golfers!
If your course was designed to sell real estate, and the lots have sold out, or it was designed to be a tough, “best new” course of 20XX”, and lost (or even won), but now caters to average golfers, the design might need some big-time re-thinking. “Form follows function, always.”
Paraphrasing an old song, “Golfers just want to have fun.” Somehow, fun got lost along with dozens of golf balls per round.
20. Or, as Jeff Foxworthy might say……
“If your tee sheets aren’t full, you might need to remodel.”