The equipment used to maintain golf courses is expensive, yet few employees or committee members understand what is involved in the care, purchase and management of the equipment fleet. Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles used an interesting approach to educate staff and club members on this important topic.
Superintendent Brian Sullivan put labels on various pieces of equipment that listed the following information:
- Purchase date
- Purchase price
- Expected life span
- Annual cost of preventive maintenance
- Normal annual repair cost
The educational effort accomplished several things. First, employees now have a better understanding of the cost of the equipment they are using. This has reduced the mishandling of equipment and careless mistakes. Second, golfers that see equipment on the course notice the labels and learn the financial details of managing various equipment items. Finally, it demonstrates that the staff takes the issue of managing the equipment fleet seriously.
Pat Gross (pgross@usga.org)
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