Greetings Golfers,
Ben Hogan worked on his golf swing until he died. Of course people can tinker with their golf swing too much … but, that tinkering can lead to more understanding and more variety of golf shots.
You know that saying “If you’re not growing, you’re dying”. It’s probably true about most things. But, growth also has to be managed … it can’t be out of control.
Speaking of growth, it’s been a weird year for growing grass. Barry’s done a great job managing the growth and health of the turf. Rainy, hot, humid weather is far from ideal – that’s when diseases take hold and can be hard to stop. Golf courses all around the state have suffered, and very often it wasn’t anybody’s fault – just Mother Nature playing tricks. However, I’m not complaining … much of the country has had nightmarish weather … our’s has been fine in comparison.
Back to growth. We’re trying to grow as a golf operation – but that doesn’t mean bigger. I mean better. We like our size. But there’s always room for improvement. And that means tinkering with what we do. Does our tinkering always work? Probably not … but that’s the price for growing.
Our staff has to grow too. Not by adding more people … but by growing as individuals. A good sign of growth is patience. I just read a cool saying about patience: “Patience isn’t a virtue – it’s an achievement”. People overreact and freak out too easily. I’m not saying to be apathetic … I’m saying that people have to give situations a little time to settle.
If staff members aren’t growing … there’s either a problem with the culture or it’s a bad fit. Stagnant staff turns into a negative cancer. It’s fun to watch staff members grow – especially the youngsters. But, we oldsters need to keep growing too.
Hey, if Ben Hogan kept trying to get better and learn more into old age … we all can at any age. And not just at golf.
Cheers,
Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com