A very useful manual that may have ‘slipped’ under the radar of golf clubs is the ‘Golf Course Maintenance Manual’. This was written by Laurence Pithie MG of Turf Master One Ltd, supported and produced by The English Golf Union and released for sale in 2009.
It is a comprehensive manual of systems, procedures, worksheets and varying items of data that will help clubs and in particular Course Managers to manage their golf courses in a professional and efficient manner.
It is not a manual about growing or maintaining fine turf, but the 28 sections included cover most aspects that will assist a Course Manager. It deals with the strategic organisation of managing the golf course, including a ‘generic’ policy document, daily course standards, the resources required, including manpower and equipment and then examples of benchmarking to measure that the process is being adhered to.
Other sections include a budgeting workbook and working ledger, capital expenditure examples, training worksheets, various work planning schedules, job descriptions, staff appraisals, inventories, fertiliser and chemical data, winter play guidelines, newsletter examples and various other ideas and course data that will help in managing the golf course and recording of information in a relatively simple format.
The purpose of the Manual, which comes complete with a disc for downloading worksheets, is to act as a reference workbook, assisting clubs and Course Managers in setting up systems that are user friendly without being overly time-consuming to complete and update.
It is a versatile working document that can easily be amended or adapted to suit any club, large or small. The Manual has also been adopted and translated into Dutch by the Dutch Golf Federation (NVG), having been launched at Kennemer GC last year. To date around 150 clubs in Holland have now taken this on board as well as numerous clubs in the UK.
The Maintenance Manual, complete with disc is available through the English Golf Union, Club Services at £150. Contact Carol Price or Paul Keeling at The EGU Tel: 01526 351818 or 01526 354500 to order a copy.
Laurence Pithie MG, Turf Master One www.turfmasterone.co.uk