Better Conditions through Better Communications

We recently made an investment by purchasing walkie talkies or radios for each member of the agronomy staff and it is already showing benefits to our operation.  Our golf course is spread out over 600 acres of property.  Trying to track employees down to give them an instruction or calling or texting them on their personal phone, which I never felt was fair to use their minutes or data, was very frustrating, inefficient and and a tremendous waste of time.  In speaking with several of my mentors in the industry who have taken this step and experiencing this setup when I volunteer at East Lake Golf Club each year for the TOUR Championship it seemed like a great idea.

By providing each member of our team with their own radio it makes our entire operation more efficient.  We can give instructions or corrections in real time without having to stop what we are doing and go find them or hope they answer their phone or see the text they have been sent.  Employees can be redirected to areas of the course where they are needed easier, mechanical issues can be reported to our equipment technician quicker, if there is an irrigation leak, tree down, or any other major issue occurs on the course we can be notified immediately.  From a management standpoint, having each crew member with the same radios, on the same frequency means that instructions, good or bad, given to one employee are heard by all so the entire staff knows what we are trying to accomplish in our work.  The radios which were purchased from Smith Turf and Irrigation for $192.00 each (programmed and delivered) have already shown to be a benefit and wise investment.

For the golfers this investment in our operations will hopefully mean a safer and better quality of golf course.  As I said before our course covers a large amount of property, now each of our staff members will be equipped with the capability to call for assistance if there is an injury or a medical emergency to a guest on our course.  We will be able to work more efficiently and be able to contact each other to find gaps in play or know what is left to be done on the course so we can stay out of your way better.  I believe over time as we continue to work toward having the best golf course we can this investment will pay benefits over and over and over.