I feel attention to detail on a golf course is acquired and not a born trait. For the most part, H.S. and College kids, Interns, Assistants fresh out of College, Hispanic, and local neophyte workers don’t understand it because they have not been exposed. I know I did not have it when I was younger and I certainly didn’t have it after working one season on a golf course. It takes time, experience, and exposure to see every imperfection. Explaining detail jobs to employees requires lots of instruction, follow up, and time. It’s quick and simple to say go mow the rough. However, it takes time to explain and show the college kid how to pick the milk weed out of the Day Lilies, in the naturalized area, in front of 11 tee box, when he is thinking what time am I getting off work so I can meet my buddies for happy hour. Time is money. I’m not saying detail can not be done with a lower budget but priorities will differ. Grass is a living breathing thing and a club with limited resources must attend to the grass’s every need. I like comparing grass to Lance Armstrong. Even the strongest get sick and sometimes there is no solution but with hard work, research, the best medicine (not talking about doping), the best resources, and a little luck you can turn it around for the better.
Back to detail. A program that has worked for us is section management. We split the crew and property in 3rds. Each section has its on mini crew and within that crew each person is assigned a hole or two holes for detail jobs. Detail jobs are unlimited: picking up trash, straighten rope lines, divots, hand watering, edging, rake placement, weeds in bunkers, weeds in beds, bed lines, dead branches, bird s$@t on a bench, etc. Some of these jobs are done during morning jobs but most are done after. This has improved our time management and allows us to hold people accountable. It’s not perfect, there are some glitches and we tweak it every year. If the turf is stressed detail jobs will wait until tomorrow.