Water coolers, ball washers, and coolers on the cart. Does your course have them?

Raiderboost

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Albatross 2024 Club
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Today I got a mass email sent from the ownership group of my home course. It was an update of what they are doing with Covid such as not allowing outside events such as tournaments, weddings, etc. and that they won't this year. It has the usual jargon of we want to put focus on our members and so forth. I find it funny because our overall course conditions, service, and satisfaction of members is down overall since they took ownership about 4 years ago. Here is a screen shot of a section of the email about not having water coolers or ball washers on the courses. We still don't have coolers on our carts. They actually gave us as our tournament gift for our member guest a Callaway soft shell cooler. I personally wish they would get ball washers and water coolers back on the course as I think it's just a good amenity to provide.
 
Forgot to attach pic.
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We have rakes and sand back buckets on carts back. Still no water jugs and foam in the cups and leave flag in.

In our club championship back in November, they allowed players to take the flag out if they wanted. The cup looked so strange w/o the flag it I left it in the whole time.
 
The course I play the most has the water coolers and ball washers back in place, but the other 2 courses I frequent do not. I don't mind the no ball washer, but the no water cooler becomes an accident waiting to happen in the summer with the heat. I always try and prepare by bringing plenty of water, but you never know if you're gonna run out or not.
 
I agree with their message and reasoning. I dont want to drink hose water anyway.
 
No coolers and ball washers on my home course last fall until closure, and no plans to add them right away this spring. No bunker rakes either.....
 
I agree with their message and reasoning. I dont want to drink hose water anyway.
I forgot to mention we still have no rakes or sand bottles either. We have major irrigation issues which in the summer means we have a leak or two on pretty much every single hole so your towel gets covered with mud. I agree I'm not a fan of hose water either but when it's 100 in the summer it's nice to have some available if needed.

I think the big problem I have with it is that they try to justify if when anyone at our club know it's just a cost savings. They have dwindled down our staff to the point where we they don't have any servers to check on people but instead we pretty much have to walk to the bar to order anything. The paragraph before this was just talking about how they want to focus on members.
 
We’ve discussed how I feel about this ownership group & none of that surprises me. Especially the tone & wording used.
What’s weird is another course I belong to, never pulled the rakes, ball washers or water stations.
 
yes to cart coolers and ball washers, everything normal except bottled water on course vs water jugs
 
I didn't see a cooler, water cooler or ball washer all season. I brought an extra rag towel and a small water bottle so I could clean the ProVs during play. Last time I played the course was offering your own personal bunker rake if you wanted to tote it around. There weren't many takers and the bunkers were a mess.
 
Cart coolers have stuck around at my club because they (along with the rest of the cart) are sanitized after every use. But rakes, ball washers and water coolers have been gone since last spring. I don't really care about rakes or ball washers, but I'm hoping the water coolers can make a return at some point this year, along with the ability to pull the flag.
 
I’m like others and haven’t seen a ball washer or water cooler since they were pulled. Don’t care about the ball washers but it’s hard to carry enough water during a walking round. It was nice to have a water cooler to refill the bottle I brought and not have to ration throughout the round to make sure my water lasted. I guess with just about everything in life, we’ll just have to adjust to a “new normal.”
 
I guess it's bring a few bottles of water because they're not giving you any water... but it's NOT a cost saving measure. Nope. Not cost cutting.:ROFLMAO:
 
I’m like others and haven’t seen a ball washer or water cooler since they were pulled. Don’t care about the ball washers but it’s hard to carry enough water during a walking round. It was nice to have a water cooler to refill the bottle I brought and not have to ration throughout the round to make sure my water lasted. I guess with just about everything in life, we’ll just have to adjust to a “new normal.”
Yeah that is for sure. That was my thing about the water coolers. Also for those times that you are coming in hot trying to make a tee time and don't have time to grab all the stuff you need. As for being a contact point for covid, I mean I guess it is but so is every door handle and those aren't getting constantly sanitized everytime. Just put a hand sanitizer bottle by the cooler and problem solved.
 
Water coolers & ball washers were removed for COVID. Still seeing the cart coolers filled with ice and usually two bottles of water.
 
We’ve discussed how I feel about this ownership group & none of that surprises me. Especially the tone & wording used.
What’s weird is another course I belong to, never pulled the rakes, ball washers or water stations.
Yeah they are going to get a rude awakening this summer when 73 of the houses in the neighborhood vote down to continue with the deed fee to the course. That will be $156 per month for each house that they lose out on. It will start the cascade that will go through the rest of the neighborhood as they come up over the next few years.
 
I am not in Texas so temperatures are different but my course is a walking course and there aren't many carts. There are no coolers or ball washers on the carts. We have a cooler with water out in the middle of the course that you can pick up water at on the 5th and 15th holes and a shack at the turn to get drinks and snacks as well as water/ice available at the first tee and the shack.

Frankly I don't see the need for a ball washer on the cart. I have never used them and a dampened towel works just as well. Regarding coolers I do get that if it is hot you need a fair amount of water. I figure on a warm day I drink at least 80 ounces of water on the course. Carrying all of that would be tough. However a cooler is just one more thing to clean/maintain. Will they still have ice available and water to fill your water bottle at the clubhouse?
 
I am not in Texas so temperatures are different but my course is a walking course and there aren't many carts. There are no coolers or ball washers on the carts. We have a cooler with water out in the middle of the course that you can pick up water at on the 5th and 15th holes and a shack at the turn to get drinks and snacks as well as water/ice available at the first tee and the shack.

Frankly I don't see the need for a ball washer on the cart. I have never used them and a dampened towel works just as well. Regarding coolers I do get that if it is hot you need a fair amount of water. I figure on a warm day I drink at least 80 ounces of water on the course. Carrying all of that would be tough. However a cooler is just one more thing to clean/maintain. Will they still have ice available and water to fill your water bottle at the clubhouse?
They do have a small machine that makes ice and dispenses water. The is on the outside patio by the range which you can hit at the turn. They also have a large ice machine down below if you have your own cooler. Though that was out for about a month this summer before they fixed it. The ice/water machine was down for about 2 months the year before before they finally replaced it with new one. It does go out intermittently for a few days a few times a year still.

We actually had a guy who usually does walk that walked this last summer on a really hot day. He took water to start and filled up at the turn but still ran out as they had no cart person running either for water or gatorade. After the round he had one vodka drink at one of the guys house (didn't drink during the round). He left in his golf cart and came to a concrete bridge we have that goes over a concrete culvert. It just has a 4 inch or so curb on each side with no rails. The dehydration I guess kicked in then and he went over that curb in his cart. It's a good 5-6 foot drop and he got banged up pretty good and was very lucky it wasn't much worse. It's dangerous not having plenty of water available when it's that hot.
 
They do have a small machine that makes ice and dispenses water. The is on the outside patio by the range which you can hit at the turn. They also have a large ice machine down below if you have your own cooler. Though that was out for about a month this summer before they fixed it. The ice/water machine was down for about 2 months the year before before they finally replaced it with new one. It does go out intermittently for a few days a few times a year still.

We actually had a guy who usually does walk that walked this last summer on a really hot day. He took water to start and filled up at the turn but still ran out as they had no cart person running either for water or gatorade. After the round he had one vodka drink at one of the guys house (didn't drink during the round). He left in his golf cart and came to a concrete bridge we have that goes over a concrete culvert. It just has a 4 inch or so curb on each side with no rails. The dehydration I guess kicked in then and he went over that curb in his cart. It's a good 5-6 foot drop and he got banged up pretty good and was very lucky it wasn't much worse. It's dangerous not having plenty of water available when it's that hot.
Yikes.
 
Our course never had water coolers on the course. They used to put 2 bottles of water per person in the cart cooler, but discontinued that for cost savings. The carts do have coolers and there's an ice machine outside the pro shop where you can fill them up, but you're on your own for drinks (which is fine with me). We do have a beverage cart out most days. This time of year I can get through a round fine with a 20 ounce insulated bottle of ice water, but during the summer I bring a 64 ounce growler jug of ice water and electrolyte mix - and usually go through the whole thing. There two restroom buildings on the course with sinks where you can refill your water bottle, wet your towel, etc.

Our old carts had ball washers, but the new fleet of carts they recently bought don't have them, and there have never been ball washers on the course. No rakes in the bunkers, but at least no foam/PVC in the cups. They discourage people from pulling the flagstick, but some people still do and they don't enforce anything about it. They recently started filling the sand bottles on the carts again, but people have gotten out of the habit of using them and it'll be interesting to see how long it takes before that changes.
 
My home course has ice chests available from the Clubhouse. Water coolers and rakes are in place. If you want your own cart, it’s a $10 up charge. Flagsticks can be pulled as of a couple of weeks ago. Masks are required in all indoor facilities (Pro shop, bar, etc.). Cart girls are masked but wearing of masks by players on the course is not required.
 
They do have a small machine that makes ice and dispenses water. The is on the outside patio by the range which you can hit at the turn. They also have a large ice machine down below if you have your own cooler. Though that was out for about a month this summer before they fixed it. The ice/water machine was down for about 2 months the year before before they finally replaced it with new one. It does go out intermittently for a few days a few times a year still.

We actually had a guy who usually does walk that walked this last summer on a really hot day. He took water to start and filled up at the turn but still ran out as they had no cart person running either for water or gatorade. After the round he had one vodka drink at one of the guys house (didn't drink during the round). He left in his golf cart and came to a concrete bridge we have that goes over a concrete culvert. It just has a 4 inch or so curb on each side with no rails. The dehydration I guess kicked in then and he went over that curb in his cart. It's a good 5-6 foot drop and he got banged up pretty good and was very lucky it wasn't much worse. It's dangerous not having plenty of water available when it's that hot.

I agree on the water issue. It was certainly an issue at some public courses I played that had no water on the course. I was forced to carry two water bottles and go to the car at the turn.
 
I am not in Texas so temperatures are different but my course is a walking course and there aren't many carts. There are no coolers or ball washers on the carts. We have a cooler with water out in the middle of the course that you can pick up water at on the 5th and 15th holes and a shack at the turn to get drinks and snacks as well as water/ice available at the first tee and the shack.

Frankly I don't see the need for a ball washer on the cart. I have never used them and a dampened towel works just as well. Regarding coolers I do get that if it is hot you need a fair amount of water. I figure on a warm day I drink at least 80 ounces of water on the course. Carrying all of that would be tough. However a cooler is just one more thing to clean/maintain. Will they still have ice available and water to fill your water bottle at the clubhouse?

As a guy that walks 90% of his rounds, in Texas year round, you can’t carry enough water. But since both mine & the OP’s course have the same ownership ( and know the guy that wrote that email personally) I can guarantee you that this isn’t a cost saving but a revenue generating avenue.
 
My course removed the water coolers on course and had trash bags over the ball washers. Sometime in the last month or two they removed the bags over the ball washers and started putting sand bottles back on the carts. I usually walk and grab a bottle by the first tee but they still haven’t filled that rack up yet. I hope they fill the coolers back up when it starts to get warm out again. Carrying around over a couple gallons of water isn’t fun.
 
We lost our water coolers on the course many years ago in Canada as the result of a couple of guys not doing their jobs at a water treatment plant. A lot of people got sick, a bunch died and the rest of us lost the privilege of having access to water as a result. So nothing really changed due to Covid for us in that regard.

The ball washers disappeared, but honestly I would have a hard time to remember the last time I ever used one. Between my wet towel or a bit of saliva the golf ball remains clean. Again, no real difference for me.

Rakes in bunkers - again, being the first group out in the morning usually means that our traps haven't been raked. We always lived by the "lift, rake and place" rule, so now we just use our feet to flatten the sand. I do wish other golfers would remember to push some sand around with their feet AFTER they've hit their shots, but I digress. These people probably don't repair their ball marks either.
 
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