When we didn’t get any snow this Winter … I knew we were going to get some serious rain.

So, I thought it would be during April and May (which it was) … but it wouldn’t continue every day in June. Maybe every day is an exaggeration – but not much.

The fellow who hired me here in 1991 saw the rain policy very differently than I did. He believed that if you started the round you weren’t entitled to a rain check. I wanted a very liberal rain check policy. I wanted people to play golf.

This difference in attitude was in everything. We never saw eye-to-eye on anything … micro or macro. This is not intended to throw him under-the-bus. I’m eternally grateful that he hired me. This place and my family have been the loves of my life.

I think you might enjoy hearing some of our different views of running a golf course.

He used to hold up his watch and say to me that he “was going to get this place to run like a Swiss watch”. I would reply that the goal should be to keep the place relaxed and able to handle the constant problems of weather, things breaking and wearing out, and just the realities of dealing with the public. I felt we needed to be flexible and adaptive problem solvers.

Woah!!! He didn’t agree. He saw everything from top-down control. I wanted the staff to have the power to handle the ever-changing situations. Golf courses are not assembly lines.

But with his attitude, he saw everyone as just a cog in our “machine”. He talked about how in his experience in the theatre, that everyone knew each other’s lines and that “the spear-thrower could play the role of the star”. And that we should be able to do that with our staff of: Grounds Superintendent, Kitchen Manager, Bookkeeper, and Golf Pro.

Wow. I said that you should reward people for their strengths and not punish them for their weaknesses. I then laid-out a crazy example of what he was advocating:

Name                Present Role                  New Role                      Letter Grade

Tim                  Superintendent                Kitchen Manager                         F

Barb                  Kitchen Manager             Golf Pro                                    F

Kat                   Bookkeeper                    Superintendent                            F

Tom                  Golf Pro                        Bookkeeper                                F

People are different. We are not robots just to be trained as cogs in machines. He saw that attitude as “enlightened” … I saw it as cruel.

Well, cruel is wasting a round of golf. Please try to play if you made a reservation even if the weatherman predicted rain. They aren’t always right. And … we do all of this work so that you can play golf. The season is short … don’t waste it waiting for perfect weather. 

We’ll make it right. That’s why we do this.