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Environomics 101
Five proven “chapters” to build your career, grow the game of golf and help save the planet.
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Visitors to Stone Mountain (Ga.) GC are greeted with a spectacular view of Stone Mountain. Photos courtesy of Anthony Williams |
Welcome to Environomics 101. Environomics is the oldest new thing in golf course management. It’s been around the golf industry since the time of Old Tom Morris.
Environomics has been called by many names, has been used to succeed even in difficult times, and is the synergy created by integrating cutting edge environmental stewardship into the latest economic theory. It’s a powerful golf business model because it protects assets, creates positive public relations and generates consistent profits.
I am a 21-year manager with Marriott Golf, currently in my second year at the Stone Mountain (Ga.) Golf Club. I have used environomic principles to serve 12 general managers, eight directors of golf and four owners. I’ve won awards for things ranging from finance to stewardship, including two national Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards and Marriott Golf’s highest grounds honor, Superintendent of the Year.
In my first year at Stone Mountain, we won three National Green Industry awards and finished the year $47,000 under budget in golf grounds. We exceeded our total golf profit budget by more than $80,000. We set records in associate satisfaction and leadership while remaining accident free. We also saw increases in customer satisfaction scores and hosted five industry events. We finished the 2006 campaign with a complete car path renovation project on our Stonemont course. It was a great start and left little doubt about the effectiveness of Environomics.
The following are five steps — or chapters — to maximize environomic principles to build your career, grow the game of golf and help save the planet.
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| A textbook example of Environomics: During the peak bloom of the yellow daisies, there was an upswing in golf rounds at Stone Mountain, reportedly just to see the daisies. |
Chapter 1 — An environmental plan
An environmental plan begins with an organization of resources and responsibility. It’s this early organization that will become the cornerstone of your future achievements.
To help you get started I will share my own trade secret — get help! You don’t have to reinvent the wheel or stand alone. Even before you have a written environmental plan you should begin building a “green team.” Enlist help from GCSAA, your staff, other superintendents, industry experts, teachers or civic groups. Developing an active “green team” will speed up the planning process and generate ideas and programs that may otherwise lay dormant.
My advice is to utilize Audubon International. Its detailed programs are created just for golf courses. The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary program for golf courses staff are some of the best in the business.
But if you decide to go it alone, here are some pointers. The environmental plan exists to cultivate great playing conditions while protecting your green space. Agronomics and cultural practices are integral parts of your environmental plan and will always affect the finances of the club. The plan’s core should contain the following items:
Site Assessment: Includes all property measurements — buildings, hardscapes, ornamental plantings, tees, greens, fairways, rough, bunkers, special features, types of turf, etc.
Water quality and conservation: Includes water quality testing sites and procedures, buffers, no-spray zones, a written best management practices for water conservation plans and any historical records.
Wildlife and habitat management: Record primary habitats, ongoing plant and wildlife inventories, case studies, nest box programs, feeders, birdbaths or other micro habitats.
Resource conservation: Ranges from recycling to low-flow toilets to share-the-ride programs that conserve fuel. Your local utility providers are a great source of ideas.
Agronomic and cultural practices: Includes everything from plant and turf selection, fertilization, aeration, verticutting, topdressing, etc. Document any program that helps ensure plant vigor and enhances playing conditions.
Integrated pest management (IPM): The goal of IPM is to protect your agronomic assets and playing conditions while seeking to reduce your chemical use. In our first year at Stone Mountain we saved more than $28,000 through a strong IPM program.
Education and outreach: This area can help grow your business and serve the community. A minimum program includes an environmental project/information center, property newsletter and community involvement, such as hosting tours for school groups or letting local scouts help keep nest box records. Start small but be consistently growing your outreach.
Chapter 2 — Creating the blueprint
Once you’ve successfully detailed your environmental plan, begin to integrate it into your property’s business plan. This Environomics “blueprint” is a fusion of your environmental plan and the property business plan.
A wise superintendent always knows the numbers. He or she knows how much is spent in each line item and can give a stunning critique of all items coded into this area. The Environomics blueprint requires the superintendent to master revenue numbers and a complete financial history. It’s necessary to become comfortable with all types of comparative reports. You may even create your own financial reports.
The Environomics blueprint is the superintendent’s ally in the protection of property resources. He knows that he is constantly being evaluated and thus remains on red alert to avoid negative financial results. I personally think green 352 days a year, but on the 13 days when our financials are released, my Environomics blueprint allows me to think black (profits), and our owners like the results. Never forget — it’s profit that defines the strength of any business.
Another tool within a successful Environomics blueprint is the case study. A case study not only proves your program’s environmental worth, but records the financial benefits as well. Be sure that your case studies are relevant to your overall plan and property vision. A good case study will always start with a premise, such as “nest boxes produce more birds,” “reducing water use by 10 percent will save money and water” or “planting Lantana in ornamental beds will increase butterfly populations.”
You will need to develop a system of record keeping for collecting information related to each case study. These systems include daily logs, chemical application records, irrigation/water use logs and white boards/calendars. We went one step further at Stone Mountain and developed special signage to mark our case studies. This helps protect those areas, and they have become great conversation and photo opportunities.
Some examples of areas that are currently marked with case study signage include an area for bat habitat research and a “no-spray” habitat area featuring yellow daisy and its ability to spread in natural settings. Our bat habitat case study features a series of nine bat boxes (three boxes featuring three different designs) that have been strategically placed near water and known flyways. This data will help prove the value of urban golf courses in providing habitat for the 18 species of bats in the Southeast.
The second of our marked case studies involves the yellow daisy, Helianthus porteri. The yellow daisy is the most famous wildflower in Stone Mountain Park and is the namesake of the annual Yellow Daisy Festival, one of the world’s largest arts and crafts festivals. Our case study involves the establishment of no-spray zones and traffic controls to increase the number of naturally occurring yellow daisies on the golf course. The first- year results were so positive that during the peek bloom we saw increases in golf rounds, reportedly just to see the daisies.
Well-executed case studies can help you make empowered decisions based on property-specific data.
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Signs identifying the environmental area involving the yellow daisies at Stone Mountain made golfers aware of the course’s environmental efforts. |
Chapter 3 — Continuing education
The third chapter of the Environomics textbook involves building your career by committing to continuing education and certification. You can’t stay current on the many areas of superintendentship without continuing education, and it’s hard to separate yourself from the pack without certification.
You need an education/certification plan. The basic philosophy of Environomics embraces organization and goal setting. Be sure that you set goals for yourself, your staff and the property. For instance, you may pursue CGCS status. You may also start working on specializations within the GCSAA Environmental Management Program (EMP). Set a stretch goal of joining the 39 people who have completed the entire EMP program, or list attending the Golf Industry Show as a personal goal.
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Randy McMichael, general manager; Anthony Williams, CGCS, CGM; and Patty Gomer, director of enginering, celebrate Marriott Golf’s 80th year by installing the course’s 80th bird box. |
Beyond personal goals, helping staff members become successful energizes your entire operation. Your horticulturist/landscapers can pursue Certified Grounds Manager or Certified Grounds Technician status (see www.pgms.org for information). You could have all of your senior staff certified in First Aid/CPR. In addition to these individual and group goals, it’s also important to set education/certification goals for the property. You could use your facility to host industry events such as GCSAA regional education seminars or chapter events.
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A blue heron at Stone Mountain Lake helps prove the stability of the local ecosystem. |
I believe the crown jewel of Environomic property certification is the Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary designation. I have organized three certification projects in the last two years, and the rewards are well worth the effort. (See www.audubonintl.org.)
Setting a standard of excellence through education/certification is a trademark of a successful Environomics program. In time you will stand out from the average as an eagle among sparrows. Remember that excellence is a habit and that education and certification are two proven ways to build your career.
Chapter 4 — Document progress
The fourth chapter of Environomics 101 involves documenting your progress. Experts agree that this begins with pictures. The more pictures you have, the better you can tell your story. If you don’t already have a quality digital camera, invest in one and learn how to use it.
Several types of photos reflect the value of an Environomic program. These include before-and-after shots, beauty shots, staff working, seasonal shots, unique features, storm damage, IPM issues (army worm eggs on pin flags), case-study photos and wildlife. (Wildlife photos are some of the most challenging to take, but environmentally, their presence proves the stability of the local avian/aquatic ecosystem.)
You’ll also need standardized log books and notes from your daily operations. My advice is to involve the entire staff in the documentation process. Delegate both log and photo duties to qualified staff. For example, allow your irrigation technician to document repairs both in the daily log and with digital photos.
After you gather your documents and photos, it’s imperative to develop a simple and organized filing system. Our system contains two four-tier filing cabinets, hanging file folders, various notebooks and logs, photo albums and a bookcase dedicated to case studies and certification projects. A great filing system allows you to quickly find specific data and easily prove the value of your program down to the smallest detail. Organizing this information allows you to easily participate in industry surveys such as those currently being conducted by The Environmental Institute for Golf.
Superintendents can truly raise their value by creatively documenting and distributing the scope of their work.
Chapter 5 — Be an ambassador
The final chapter of our Environomics text highlights becoming an ambassador of golf. Spread the gospel — golf is fun! Enjoy the game of golf and all of its storied traditions. Help create lasting memories of the game for players who experience your course.
My golf course is my pride and joy, but I have to show it in my actions each day. My entire staff is empowered to be ambassadors of golf. We want our customers to feel the joy and see the value. Environomics is about improving the quality of life for everything — from golfers to bluebirds and from sassafras trees to superintendents. We are living the “green dream” and it’s contagious.
One of the best ways to become an ambassador of golf is to volunteer. Volunteer to serve the GCSAA or an affiliated chapter through committee service, public speaking, event support, board service or writing articles. You also can serve your community by hosting property tours, sponsoring youth clinics (golf or agronomics), participating in government advocacy projects or by adopting a highway or Earth Day programs that show golf courses as valuable green space.
Also, getting to know the local media allows the press to spread the word about your course. At the Stone Mountain GC, we do this with our “Beyond the Property” program. This program tracks our public relations efforts on the grounds side of the golf operation. In 2006, through our friends in the press and our many Environomic projects, we generated 58 press items about our grounds operation. Through this work we earned our second Marriott Golf Crystal Achievement Award for Public Relations Excellence.
Another great way to be an ambassador of golf is to enter industry contests. There are many contests and awards that all add value to the quality of your program, but you can’t win if you don’t enter.
Environomics in its highest form is a way of life, and a master of Environomics is a true artist. A quote from St. Francis of Assisi says, “He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and head and heart is an artist.”
A successful superintendent is an artist. His work is as natural to him as breathing, and protecting Mother Earth while operating a successful golf business is his masterpiece. Environomics is to the superintendent what clay is in the potters’ hand. What will your masterpiece be? Painters paint and sculptors sculpt but superintendents are stewards over millions of interconnected organisms that make up some of the world’s most treasured green spaces.
Live green and prosper. Class dismissed.
Leo Feser Award candidate
This article is eligible for the 2008 Leo Feser Award, presented
annually since 1977 to the author of the best superintendent-written
article published in GCM during the previous year. Superintendents receive a $300 stipend for articles. Feser Award winners receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Golf Industry Show, where they are recognized. They also have their names engraved on a plaque permanently displayed at GCSAA headquarters.
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