Turf Maintenance Facility Design and Management (2009)

 

As any superintendent will tell you, the maintenance facility is the heart of golf course operations. The ‘shed’ can say a lot about a golf course, its superintendent and its workers, and a functional, organised facility not only improves workplace efficiencies but reduces costly downtime. Paramount in all of this too is the role of the turf technician.

In 2006 Australian Turfgrass Management ran an extensive feature on the construction and design of maintenance facilities, getting a number of superintendents from around Australia who had recently constructed a new facility to impart some advice for colleagues about to go down a similar line.

Of the many comments made, superintendents all had one key recommendation in common – do your research. Whether it was talking to fellow superintendents who had recently gone through the process, trawling the internet or scouring through books, sound research was imperative to making sure that the end result was a functional facility that would not only serve the club in the immediate future but 20-30 years down the line as well.

One such tool that superintendents may find handy is John Piersol and Harry Smith’s latest book titled ‘Turf Maintenance Facility Design and Management: A Guide to Shop Organization, Equipment, and Preventative Maintenance for Golf and Sports Facilities’. Aimed at turf technicians and turf managers alike, the 180+page hardcover book examines a range of proven techniques that will enable them to design, build and manage an efficient and safe turf maintenance facility or overhaul an existing facility. Calling on nearly 50 years’ combined experience, the authors look at how to develop and implement cost effective maintenance programmes to help maximise the performance of plant equipment.

The book begins by examining the role of the turf technician and the importance they play in the smooth running of golf course maintenance operations. The second chapter looks at maintenance facility and workshop design, covering key areas such as site selection, layouts and equipment storage areas. It also looks at how to remodel older facilities and emphasises the importance of taking into account the possibility of future expansion.

Following chapters deal with preventative maintenance strategies, reel technology, how to select tools for the workshop (which includes a handy list of ‘must have’ equipment) and diagnostic techniques to help isolate equipment problems. There are also later chapters on training equipment operators and filling the role of the turf equipment technician which as any superintendent who has had to undertake such a task can attest is a difficult assignment. (It is interesting to note that the authors lament a similar situation in the US with a shortage of skilled turf technicians coming through the ranks).

Although entirely black and white, the book has an extensive number of photos of actual maintenance facilities and equipment as well as drawings and concepts. The appendix contains a handy reference list of company websites, although many of these are US based websites and may not have pertinence here in Australasia. Likewise chapter nine also concentrates on workplace safety, although a lot of the regulations referenced pertain to US OSHA policy.