What you’d like to see in Marshals and on-course amenities

General Discussion
#1

I’m in charge of outdoor services at my course: marshals, cart barn, practice range. Our marshals’ duties are fairly limited - primarily pace of play monitoring and light maintenance (policing tee boxes, fixing ball marks, replacing rakes).

What things have you seen from marshals at various courses that make you think “I wish they did that at my course!”?

For example, I played a course where the marshals all carried extra divot repair mix. When they’d chat briefly with a group they made sure their sand bottles were full.

Management is currently very receptive to changes, so any suggestions will be considered. Many thanks!

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#2

I used to volunteer at nearby course where they had signs for the cart “Player Assistant” instead of “Marshal”. It’s a little thing, but being respectful, polite and even encouraging makes a big difference.
One story: as I pulled up I overheard one player, “Oh, sh*t, here comes the marshal”. I smiled, politely kept quiet as they all teed off, commented “Great shots! Anything I can help with?” (as I surreptitiously marked their PoP). “Great news, the hole is open; you can play fast as you want”. Overheard same player comment, “Gee, this is a nice course!”
It’s all about the players.

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#3

I think this is the right approach… have the cart filled with sand, tees, water bottles and maybe towels…

Basically be an ambassador for the course and not “policing” people…

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#4

My home course is city owned. No marshals, no starters, no Port-o-potties ( in the woods or hold it till the turn). Sometimes they put out water, but not always ( we play fully stocked with our own). City budget is a disaster, so not expecting much to change.

The trade-offs are pristine fairways and greens, challenging but fun course, and you can usually get a reasonable tee time.

I played at my friend’s club last summer and I must have looked like a hillbilly. All the range balls you want. Meticulously manicured course. Amenities including ice cold water and coolers of soft drinks at every hole. Lunch brought out to you on the course if desired, club and ball washing stations, high end carts, extra tees and moist towelettes, it was just spectacular.
My jaw was on the floor all day.

IF my course had marshals- extra water, scorecards/pencils, divot mix and most importantly, keeping the pace of play.

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#5

We actually do this, Fraser! I agree that Marshal can have negative connotations, and we stress friendly, positive interactions. Our PAs are instructed to be the ‘good cops’ when there are issues. Ask if golfers can ‘help us out’ by picking up the pace, and letting golf shop staff handle unruly or uncooperative folks.

Exactly, Craigers - this has been our approach ever since I came on board. My predecessor was a wonderful ambassador, and we thought this would be a great way to carry on his spirit.

Love your idea of sand and tees in the PA carts; not sure how water and towels might work with COVID, though. I’ll noodle on that one…

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#6

Pace of play actually being enforced is my number one. It’s a huge, huge problem, especially at public courses and 99% of the time I see marshals drive by knowing there’s an issue and saying nothing.

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#7

Let me know if you ever need a fourth @Mell1313; that sounds spectacular!

That’s a good trade off, IMO, though Marshals are generally unpaid and it would only cost the city a few rounds of golf each week. Our course puts a lot into the maintenance budget - and we’re pretty lean in other areas - but if there has to be an imbalance I’d prefer it that way, I think.

There’s a real issue @Bigdadenergy. In some cases Marshals aren’t, or don’t feel as if, they’re empowered to do anything. Also, many don’t want the confrontation even if it’s low-key and friendly. I’m not sure how to effectively address the second; I suppose by terminating those who can’t do what’s asked. I make it clear to all the Outside staff that the Shop has their backs, and to the Shop staff that the message needs to be consistent.

PoP keeps coming up. At courses where pace isn’t an issue even on a busy weekend, what measures have you seen that are most effective?

It’s my belief (no supporting data) that there’s no silver bullet - a combination of initiatives is needed. In addition to reinforcing training, I’m proposing putting PoP times on the scorecard. 0:15 for #1, 0:28 by #2, 0:40 by #3, etc. Add 2-3 PoP clocks to the course so they can check. The thought is with clear targets people will self-police to some degree, and Marshals will be able to point to a specific number if need be.

Any opinions on the effectiveness of this, or changes/additions?

#8

My friend rarely extends invitations to her club, she tends to play with her immediately family and/or husband. If she offered again I’d be there like a shot! I guess she doesn’t want the Great Unwashed to know how the other half lives? 🤷

I think POP clocks on the course would be a great visual “stimulant”.
Re: Marshals, the best ones I’ve seen are very no nonsense. Polite, but you can tell if you’re mucking about and he/she has to come back to your group, the encounter will be far less pleasant.

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#9

Yours sounds like a great course and they’re lucky to have you!

#10

I’ve played courses where they have PoP on the scorecard, but it’s self-policed. It at least creates an awareness.

At another course, the carts are GPS equipped, so they know where every cart is. If you’re dragging your feet, a warning message will appear on the GPS. Next step, a ranger will come out to politely ask you to pick up the pace. The final step is the Course Manager driving out to tell you that you’ve just played your last hole.

#11

Thanks! We’re always trying to improve and I’m fortunate to be part of a great team.

Sometimes that’s the most important thing: just keeping PoP in people’s minds. I don’t think anyone sets out to be a slow player. Both of these are pretty inexpensive and easy to implement.

What are your experiences with these as golfers? So many of us have personal GPS or rangefinders; do you find in-cart GPS to be helpful or add value? Does having them alter your perception of the course?

#12

I thought it added quite a bit of value. This particular system (maybe they all do?) had touch screen technology. This absolutely made it work for my. I could still “touch” on the GPS where I intended to hit my shots. It made shot planning and club selection more decisive and more accurate.

It made club selection, in general quicker an more accurate. I didn’t have to drive around the fairway looking for yardage markers, just touch the screen. Several greens were actually deeper than they visually appeared, so approach shot clubbing was aided on those holes.

Overall, the visual representation and information sped up play and took a lot of the guesswork/uncertainty out of play for me. Maybe from a course operator’s standpoint, the ability to communicate to specific carts would be of some value. The other user benefit was the system allowed golfers to communicate their “at the turn” food/beverage order so it would be ready as you came off #9. That may have leveled off kitchen workflow visibility and it definitely reduced waiting queue on #10.

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#13

I’d like to see the carts ahead & behind as well displayed on the cart gps. Not sure how to do technically, but some courses I’ve played managed it. I think it might (wink) aid PoP but mainly for safety reasons. On hilly courses you could tell when a ‘hidden’ cart is still in range.
Cart gps systems are a nice marketing perk but mainly used by course staff for PoP and to try to enforce ‘no-cart’ zones (many figured out reversing defeats the shutdowns, leading to further safety problems!). @ears20, if you’re considering cart gps system (or already have one), please be sure the no-cart zones are mapped correctly! Nothing more frustrating than warnings, cart shutdowns while cart is on the cart path! Had that happen.

#14

Yah, it’s definitely a discussion on multiple fronts. The system we’re considering has a transponder in every cart, so the positions are all displayed in both the carts (for the hole you’re on) and in the shop.

We don’t have many blind shots, but it’s sure nice to know when the group ahead has hit. It also shows distance to the carts ahead. This will help those groups that were 220 off the tee but are afraid they’ll hit into that group 250 down the fairway.

Geofencing is also a feature; the company says they come out to assist with that. It’s really hard to believe some of the places folks think it’s ok to drive a cart.

I like the two-way communication feature. Golfers can order food for the turn and report problems; staff can be more proactive with PoP, seeing things as they develop and not having to get the marshal from the other side of the course.

One argument against it is that so many people already have GPS. While true, it’s also an image enhancer.

I’m not sure I believe the claims about being able to get more rounds due to tracking, but I’ve run numbers that say it’s nearly break-even with other cost reductions. Management seems amenable; if I can get even anecdotal evidence of effectiveness and utility I think they’ll pull the trigger for next season.

#15

maybe add scorecards&pencils, sometimes one just forgets.

#16

Or the card blows off the cart, the eraser wears out…

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#17

One thing I forgot, some courses have pin locations, divide the green into, say 4 quadrants, something like that. Then the pin position is determined for the day, say position 3. Pin3 might be right front on #1, back left on #2, etc. They put a ‘pin sheet’ in the inside of the cart pairing display (that clear plastic thing just inside the windscreen).
Some courses take that a step further, matching the pin location in the gps: Front www, Middle xxx, Back yyy, Pin zzz.
Granted, it takes a round or two before players ‘trust’ the cart gps, but eventually they’ll abandon their own DME, faster play!

#18

I would love that!!!

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#19

A couple courses I play have laminated pin location identifier numbers - #1-#3 for front-middle-back pin combinations. The starter will tell you on the first hole what the Location Number of the day is. The golfer then figures out “ok, today, this pin on this hole is in the back”. Check back yardage on cart GPS - voila!

#20

Is that a marshall

No, it is a young woman

Selling refreshments

Shout out to the haiku thread

Edit: beverages has 4 syllables :woman_facepalming: