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Course Maintenance Obligation to Inform?

Jeff Spicoli said:
I disagree. When booking a tee time, all it takes from the pro shop is a simple, "Just so you know, our course is under repair right now" and explain what is going on. It is common courtesy and good business sense. If I booked a round and the course didn't tell me, I would be much less inclined to play there in the future and I would probably feel like I wasted my time and money by playing there in the first place.
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And what about for courses where you don’t have to call in to book a tee time? I can’t remember the last course I played that I couldn’t reserve online.


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emart2173 said:
And what about for courses where you don’t have to call in to book a tee time? I can’t remember the last course I played that I couldn’t reserve online.


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Golfnow in many cases will indicate while booking if the greens are being aerated. If you are booking through the course's website then it should be noted on the website. It can't be that hard to update.
 
Hell yes the course should either tell you or their website should mention it.


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MWard said:
I guess I just don’t understand why they were cutting them in the middle of the afternoon? That’s a definite 6am thing, so it’s ready for the day’s play. Even the muni courses get that right.
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Maybe where you are. On the couple of times a week my course in the sticks gets cut (and pins moved, etc.), it can be anytime during the day. I would be suprised if the grounds crew even starts work before 8 am. I am just happy if I only have to try not to hit anyone doing grounds work on 3 or less holes per round. And I almost never tee off prior to noon.
 
Jeff Spicoli said:
Golfnow in many cases will indicate while booking if the greens are being aerated. If you are booking through the course's website then it should be noted on the website. It can't be that hard to update.
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Some golf course operators are not organized well enough to know when exactly maintenance crews are doing particular work. Sometimes the work is dependent on receipt of materials or equipment, availability of particular crew employees, the weather etc... And it's not uncommon for pro shop staff to learn of maintenance crew activity only when the work is actually being performed.
I think it's good policy to always telephone a golf course ahead of time and ask the pro shop staff person what he/she knows about course conditions.
 
let me say that 1) playing golf with thp'ers is awesome regardless of the course conditions, and 2) it didn't matter what kind of conditions i played yesterday it would still have been a sh1tshow as my game has followed elvis right out of the building.

but yes, i think the course absolutely should have told us in advance when booking. golfnow has little icons to indicate conditions, probably because it's a real pain the ass to initiate refunds to dissatisfied customers. if calling, it should have been disclosed. the fairways were as high as the rough in many courses, and the greens were some the slowest i've played in recent memory.

in the end, it's still golf, and golf > most everything else i could (or should) have been doing on a wednesday.
 
Jeff Spicoli said:
Golfnow in many cases will indicate while booking if the greens are being aerated. If you are booking through the course's website then it should be noted on the website. It can't be that hard to update.
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Around hetecthe better courses havectheir maintenance schedule posted a few weeks in advance and they offer discounted rates which you can see both on their site, these same courses will even send emails if you’ve booked online with them in the past. Granted not all courses do that which again most golfers know around the time when greens get punched or that in fall courses like to overseed so if it’s been awhile since a golfers been to the course and they want to confirm just pick up the phone abd ask before booking.
 
echoing the general sentiment that not telling you of the conditions is a bit deceitful. this summer I had a course I play regularly swipe my card for a greens fee and then tell me when handing me a receipt that the greens had been punched. It left an absolutely horrible impression with me.
 
I think there is an obligation with any course and it seems no one does. I've started paying attention to the advertised rate at courses out of town or just away from my home course. If the rate is abnormally low, I call and there is usually some sort of maintenance occurring.
 
I think the course has absolutely got an obligation to inform the conditions and possible issues that may or may not be a problem or take away from the standard.


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JB said:
I called the course and asked this very thing after our round. I was informed that they always cut at 6am, but they had no cut for 4 straight days (in fairways) due to maintenance and they started with the back9 at 10am. Simply a schedule thing.
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Its not like rain would have caused an issue up there neither. Just strange
 
I think I would dispute the charge with my CC if they didn't agree to give a (at least partial) refund based on them not providing the experience they portray on their website.

I'm suprised, too, after reading their website that they say they're a "spikeless facility". Heck, IAW that, you can't even use soft spikes. All shoes gotta be spikeless? Might be the first time I've ever seen that.

Assuming, I'm looking at the right course.
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JB said:
Yesterday we got together with a couple of THPers and played a beautiful course called Fox Hollow. Always considered one of the best in the area just a fantastic layout. Upon arrival it said cart path only or drive in rough because of overseeding. The fairways for the front 9 were basically uncut for several days and the greens, while true were incredibly slow until we got to about hole 14. By slow I mean the grass looked like the fairways normally did, just uncut for several days.

When I booked the tee time, two days prior there was no notification about this. They put me down for our foursome and off we went. It didnt take away from the fun with the guys, but @c.a.eleric and @Mward and I were talking about course responsibility. Do you think they have an obligation to the golfer to notify at the time of booking?

This wasn't punched greens or fairways or anything obnoxious, but we booked to play a fantastic golf course and it definitely wasn't that.
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So what you’re saying is they #RollBackTheMower at Fox Chase?

Courses have the obligation to post conditions on the website or inform customers on the phone.

I usually ask Course conditions if I call by phone
 
Yes I think all courses should notify via all avenues of booking and offer a discount.
 
I'm of the opinion that any time a golf course isn't in "full standard conditions" that the booking customers should be notified. For all they know a group of guys has driven 3 hours just to play there.
I feel like in general golf courses are way too lax with this sort of thing. It's not even about value to me, it's about treating your customers with respect.
 
I definitely think courses should notify regarding major maintenance such as aerating greens or any part of the course really. But where do you draw the line between normal course maintenance or lack thereof due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a worker not showing up, or a piece of equipment (green mower) being down, etc. The other problem is that for a lot of courses the superintendent does not report to the GM and therefor communication between the two isn;t as good as it should be. Also, a lot of maintenance may not necessarily be scheduled but be done on an ad hoc basis to address a specific problem and dictated by the availability of supplies, equipment or people.

I'm not defending courses by any means but wondering how far the obligation for courses has to go. Do they have to inform that they've started cutting greens 1/16" longer now that winter is approaching, for example, and thus the greens will be slower than in season?
 
Phil75070 said:
I definitely think courses should notify regarding major maintenance such as aerating greens or any part of the course really. But where do you draw the line between normal course maintenance or lack thereof due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a worker not showing up, or a piece of equipment (green mower) being down, etc. The other problem is that for a lot of courses the superintendent does not report to the GM and therefor communication between the two isn;t as good as it should be. Also, a lot of maintenance may not necessarily be scheduled but be done on an ad hoc basis to address a specific problem and dictated by the availability of supplies, equipment or people.

I'm not defending courses by any means but wondering how far the obligation for courses has to go. Do they have to inform that they've started cutting greens 1/16" longer now that winter is approaching, for example, and thus the greens will be slower than in season?
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I think they should for sure let you know if they haven’t cut the greens in four days. Kinda sluggish, to say the least
 
They probably aren't obligated, per se, but they definitely should address the issue if they value their reputation. If a nice restaurant doesn't deliver in terms of service/quality, and doesn't at least acknowledge "hey sorry, we're off our game tonight", I'm not going back. Same deal for a golf course. If I can't expect to get what I pay for, then I just stop going there. If enough people feel that way, and word gets around (which happens faster now than ever), then there could be a serious impact to the course's business.
 
The worst is when you book a time and get to the course to find out there are a couple of temporary greens, for whatever reason. I can see it if they didn't mow the fairways due to rain but not letting one know about temp greens is just bad form.
 
Yes, of course they do (pun intended). I played a course once where the fairways were punched and we didn't know that until we got to the first fairway, Never went back. Penny wise and pound foolish.
 
Absolutely the course should give anyone the status of the course if it is anything but normal condition.
Otherwise it is the same as a bait and switch crime.
 
I think they should inform the golfers of the conditions. But they never do. And aren't required to. The reason they don't is probably to still sell the tee time. If someone found out ahead of time, they may reconsider playing there.
 
Absolutely I think they should. Matter of fact, the cynic in me believes that the reason they don't (when conditions are altered quite obviously), is so as not to negatively affect their bottom line for the day(s).

I personally take that as an intentional dupe and will therefore quite intentionally, avoid playing there again.

I know that sounds like I get upset, I really don't. I just make a mental note to write them off in the future.

No different than say, a lawn service only mowing most of the property or skipping the edging and cleanup yet charging full boat. Unacceptable.
 
I always told them when I knew, if they were calling in a tee time. Always put it on the website.

When checking them in I always made sure they knew we were aerating or whatever and made sure it was Ok before swiping their card or taking their money.

Just the right thing to do.
 
IMO, you should expect course maintenance this time of year. If it really mattered to you, a call to the pro shop could have been made.

Now if you called the pro shop and they didn't tell you or had a spot on their website to notify you of maintenance and didn't, then we'd have a problem.
 
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