Ryan,
Welcome to the group and thanks for your comments on Tennessee National. I played your fine course a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.
As a golf professional I can appreciate how many on the maintenance staff it takes to keep a golf course in it's best possible shape. Here at Idle Hour during the season, we keep 20 on our staff as well. I know you can appreciate the amount of work it takes to rise to the level of member expectation as well as maintaining design integrity. Sure, you could do with less and buy riding mowers for greens and tees but then what you get in the long run are greens and tees that resemble circles. A lot easier to use a sand pro in the bunkers but never beneficial. Certainly not what Ross designed here. Taking the time to walk mow greens, tees and approaches cannot be done with a staff of 10 or less. Hand raking all 125 bunkers takes time and man power as well. It's certainly not wasting money. Never a day goes by here where this staff isn't fully engaged in work and because of that, playing conditions here are second to none.
Great job at Tennessee National Ryan. Keep up the good work. Thanks for making a round of golf enjoyable.