What can you do to make a difference?

[Mark_Fine]

Anyone spending any amount of time on this site must have some interest in GCA.  We all can learn a lot perusing through the various threads sifting out the good nuggets of information.  So how can each of us make a positive difference at our home course/club?  Here are a few thoughts to consider:

• Find out when the course was built and who designed it.
• See if there is any archival information about the course (sometimes the super has this kind of information or might help find it). What you are looking for is original plans, old photographs or articles, early aerials, any club histories,...
• Speaking of the super, introduce yourself and get to know him/her.
• Check to see if any kind of Master Plan or road map exists as to how the club/course will manage change going forward.
• Try to meet with any key decision makers to learn what their vision is for the golf course.
• Find out if the course/club is working with a golf architect.

Put to good use some of this knowledge you have learned.  I am sure many of you already are 

[mike_malone]

Check 6 times.

[Thomas Dai]

Find old photos of the course.
Go to the exact same spots and take photos of what things look like now.
Compare the then-vrs-now photos and show them to the membership and maintenance crew. Link all such photos onto the Clubs website for historical posterity. Take videos too, again for historical posterity and future comparison purposes. Keep back-ups somewhere safe and retrievable.
Repeat the exercise at regular intervals.
Atb

[SL_Solow]

Go on the internet.  In the 30's much of the country was surveyed from the air.  You may be able to find old aerials of your course if it is of golden age vintage. You can overlay it on a current map, or better still, a recent aerial

[Mike Sweeney]

Find and then support a Super who will support the evolution of your/the course.


The original architect is important, the restoration/renovation architect is also imperative, but the Superintendent is the one that presents the course on a daily basis.


With extreme bias, Doak, Coore/Crenshaw, and Hanse are all alive and are NOT "old dead guys". My Streamsong buddy post many beautiful pictures from early mornings from Florida. I have played with him where he literally could not hit shots because he had to "file" notes, and he was constantly updating "Mother Nature Challenges" that an architect cannot see because they are off to the next project.


Been hanging on here for many years, and our Supers get no love...

[Mark_Fine]

Mayday,
I know you have helped Rolling Green immensely.  I think others here could (and some have) done the same at their clubs/courses if they wanted to.


Thomas,
All great ideas!  Most golfers/members have little idea how much their golf course has changed over the years.


SL,
Yes there are lots of places to find old aerials.  I have as one example used the National Archives quite often.  It helps to have someone there who knows what to look for.  That can make all the difference. 


Mike,
I can't think of a single project where the super wasn't critical to the entire project (both before, during and after).  Sometimes changes have needed to be made as well but it is as you say, the super that will present and maintain the course on a daily basis.  He or she needs to buy into any course improvement project or you are wasting your time.