What a New Golf Course Owner Should Not Do

"Think of a golf course as a three-masted sailing ship. It takes time to learn how the ship handles in winds and waves, and how it reacts with light and heavy cargos. An inexperienced captain might under or overreact until he gets the feel of how she handles. Take over a golf course the way you take over a big sailing ship. Observe, listen, and 'feel' before you act." Mike Kahn

Don't make promises to customers, employees, or suppliers
Don't buy anything you don't need - until you've been there long enough to be sure
Don't make negative remarks about the previous owner - remember, many people were loyal to the previous owner. Bad blood comments might lose customers.
Don't change the menu - yet. Watch what sells and what doesn't.
Don't change any fees or prices until you've completed a thorough study and know how your customers might react
Don't discount knowledge and advice from employees who have been there a while. Be open to suggestions from long-time employees - but carefully!
Don't change business hours. Customer habits were formed following original business hours. Instead, you might test new hours to see what happens.
Don't get trapped in meetings with groups - employees, members. Meetings with groups of customers will 'slay' you. Don't do it - especially if the bar has been open!

I've been around for many years in this business and I keep seeing the same mistakes, buyer after buyer. Even though they tell me they're committed to business the 'romance factor' always overcomes first-time golf course owners. I see it with decisions made in the first days or weeks of ownership.

I suggest doing nothing dramatic until you've been on the property for at least a month!

A golf course is a very complex property made up of thousands of components. It's a combination agricultural, recreational

, restaurant, retail merchandise, and service business (not to mention swimming pools, tennis courts, fitness centers, etc.). Unless it's a brand new golf course, certain habits and activities have settled in for each of these departments - some good, some bad. These will be basically customer, service, maintenance, and supply habits. You also need to become familiar with past business practices and maintenance habits. In my experience, the components of a golf course have settled into their own routines via a natural selective process - good and bad. I believe it takes sometimes a month or more to identify, understand, and become familiar with most (not all) of the behaviors of each component.

I highly recommend against making changes to any of the following until you have had reasonable time to study them:

STUDY: The Golf Course - greens (grasses), fairways (grasses), tee boxes (grasses), rough areas (grasses), sand bunkers, practice range, practice green, other practice facilities, drainage patterns and issues, irrigation system and issues, pest and infestation issues, machinery and equipment situation, maintenance facility, employees and employee behaviors.

HINT: Know your green speeds (Stimpmeter). Speeding up or slowing them down might stimulate your golf playing customers one way or another. It means raising or lowering cutting heights.

STUDY: The Clubhouse and Amenities - General Conditioning and Maintenance Procedures: player service areas, first (and tenth) tee location, pro shop, washrooms and locker rooms, club storage, offices, kitchen, food service areas, liquor serving and storage, storage areas and issues, furnishings and fixtures infrastructure supports (heating, air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, phones, cable TV), landscaping and staffing requirements.

HINT: Most older clubhouses probably need a good cleanup. Consider bringing in a cleaning company to do a thorough cleanup and make the place smell clean.

STUDY: Service and Fees - all fees and dues, menus and prices, retail merchandise, service habits, employee behaviors, quality efforts.

HINT: Be careful changing fees. Take your time, because fee decisions will have long-lasting results - good and bad. Consider testing different fees charged by running limited-time specials to learn what happens.

STUDY: Business Practices - point-of-sale systems, customer information, cash reporting and recording, member billing, marketing, supply and services relations, neighborhood relations, employee relations.

HINT: As an adviser to Point-of-sale (POS) developers, it is important that the system integrates all departments into one ledger. If the course has seperate POS systems - one for golf and one for food & beverage, it will save you a ton of money in bookkeeping expenses by upgrading to a fully intergrated POS system.

STUDY: Customers and Competition - customer base and behaviors, basic service behaviors, customer loyalty base, market service area, materially significant competitors.

HINT: Keep your eye on the competition. In this era of stiff competition for golf players, you want customers to choose to play your golf course. Your competitor wants the same thing. It's not always price either. There are many clever ways to win the customer.

CHANGES TO SERVICES AND PRICING CAN UNDERMINE VALUABLE LOYALTIES - BE VERY CAREFUL

Making changes to a golf course operation for the sake of change may do more harm than good to the business. Remember, we are all creatures of habit and even very small changes can be received in a negative way. Obviously, immediately raising prices won't cause a 'warm-and-fuzzy' customer relationship with the new owner. Neither will discontinuing services customers have come to expect and rely upon. However, there are a few improvements one can make customers recognize and appreciate - getting the relationship off in the right direction:

Fix Eyesores: You will see things around the property the previous owner has neglected, or hasn't seen in years (problems that 'disappear' in time if not fixed immediately). It may be a faded sign, a cracked window pane, a weedy bunker, a pothole on a cart path, or even a wobbling table in the grillroom. Fix them, because you need to make the repairs anyway.

Clean it up. Make it smell nice: Areas I find always need attention are the washrooms. You might improve a bad odor, spotlessly clean the commodes, or repaint the restrooms. Why? Believe-it-or-not, people notice improved cleanliness both conciously and unconciously. North Americans are clean freeks! Clean the place up --- and KEEP IT CLEAN!

Fix it! You're sure to find doors that don't properly close, dry ball washers, carts with poor brakes, or poor service behaviors.

Change the display: A complete makeover of the pro shop merchandise display will cause a pleasant reaction from customers - even stimulate sales.

Fixing Broken Items - Serves Two Purposes: I've seen new owners gain an immediate positive response by fixing long broken items somewhere around the property (visible, of course). It may be a bunker that wouldn't drain, or an annoying bump on a cart path. It serves two purposes: 1) improves customer relations; 2) it's a repair that needs to be done anyway.

Add Little Inexpensive Touches: It's an old tactic, but a touch of fresh paint, fresh flowers, or new beer glasses will be noticed by longtime customers. The previous owner must have had some level of goodwill (or there wouldn't have been any customers). Making changes that might insult the previous owner will also insult his/her loyal customers, which are now your customers.

Employee Behaviors: You will undoubtedly want to show your customers that as new owners you will improve service. Service comes from your employees. Keep in mind that asking employees to do more (work) than they did under the previous owner - unless a raise in pay comes with it - won't be very well received. Best to watch employees and learn who are the producers and who are not before planning changes in their work habits.

You really don't know what the business really needs until you've been in possession of the property for a reasonable time. I believe it takes up to three months to fully understand the 'personality' of the property, the market, and the customers you have. Except for the deferred maintenance items you identified during your diligence, you should sit tight before making any 'directional' business decisions, or making commitments to employees, suppliers, or services. Even deferred issues you may have planned might be delayed until you've had time to re-address them as the owner.

Don't trap yourself in meetings or forums with customers or employee groups. There can be a tendency to say and represent things to a large group of people that you'll regret later. As their new owner you want them to hear good things, but you shouldn't indicate any substantial commitments until you've learned to handle the 'ship' in all waters. This avoidance applies to members, employees, local clubs and associations, or any groups of more than three or four people.

NEVER TRAP YOURSELF IN A FORUM STYLE MEETING WHERE ALCOHOL HAS BEEN PRESENT!

NO GENERAL STAFF MEETINGS UNTIL YOU KNOW EACH EMPLOYEE. Don't hold general staff meetings until after you have met each of them individually (or discussed them with their department managers). Employees in service and maintenance areas often work closely together and 'talk' amongst themselves. When meeting their peers in groups they'll have more nerve than when meeting one-on-one with management. Expect questions about policies, privileges, and wages. That's when you are most likely to 'box' yourself with responses simply to satisfy the ears of an interest group.

One mistake I see too often is an owner making promises before having sufficient experience with the business and the golf course. Without familiarity with the property, the customer base, and the business for a reasonable time it is foolhardy to make promises without knowledge. Undelivered promises will come back to haunt ownership and become the seed for a cold war between customers, employees and ownership.

Focus on the Quality and 'Finish' of the Golf Course: You'll never go wrong by improving the quality and finish of the golf course. Focus on all the frequented playing areas - greens, tees, fairways, bunkers and roughs. Make it greener. Cut the roughs for higher handicap players. Start grooming the traps on Sundays (no one ever does and I hate that).

Don't Chicken Out: Too often new owners initially commit to improvements, wage increases, new equipment, etc., and back off when they don't see immediate results. I have never seen a golf course fail to attract its fair share of play with happy employees and a topnotch product. However, it takes time to turn out a great playing field and build that loyal customer base we all talk about. Grass takes time to grow. Customers take time to build. Giving up too soon will only cause disappointment and could result in a financial loss.

My Business: Helping new golf course owners is part of my business. By purchasing a golf course with us as your agent, you have true golf course management experience on your team.