Why is my course closed? There’s so much more to the decision than you think

You’ve woken to the message no golfer wants to see: ‘Course closed’. Maybe you’re cursing the manager and the greenkeepers – it’s another Saturday without golf. But even though those two words seem easy to throw out there, the decision to deny members and visitors play can actually be pretty complex. There are a lot of factors to take into account, says Broadstone’s general manager Ed Richardson.

Like clubs all over the country, the deluge of rain that’s seen layouts saturated throughout autumn and winter has rocked the Dorset heathland.

Making the choice to close the course, though, depends on a whole host of circumstances – some obvious and others you may never have considered.

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“The first port of call is health and safety – are there areas out there that you can’t walk on because you are going to end up sliding all over?” Richardson explains.

“Second, is the golf course passable? Are all your traffic routes passable without going through puddles, lakes, or standing water?

“If it passes that test, you are then into: how many greens are playable? How many greens haven’t got puddles or standing water on them and are going to suffer irreversible damage by having 100-odd golfers playing on them?

“We don’t tend to go on many temporary greens but what we may consider is ‘if most greens are playable, can we open the golf course but put the worst greens that are struggling on a temporary?’

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“If we are going to be open, can the course cope with 100 trolleys? We haven’t had a trolley ban this winter yet because we know so many modern golfers are reliant on them – from an injury point of view, or the simple fact they don’t own a carry bag.”

Richardson, along with course manager Paul Staples, will also look at what the weather’s going to do that day. “The last thing you want to do is open and then an hour later, when it pummels down with rain, immediately close it again,” he adds.

In that partnership, Richardson has the ultimate decision on whether the course is closed or not, but says he has never overruled Staples.

“We’ve always tried to reach a consensus of opinion,” he explains. “He is good enough to see it from my point of view and he knows I won’t lean on him – for want of a better word – too many times.

“If I start to lean on him a little bit, to make that 50/50 call in the direction I think is in the best interest of the wider club, he will go with that.

“He will also be brave enough to say, ‘There is no way it should be open today. It’s going to lead to too much damage.’ I will always respect and go with that.”

Richardson and Staples are in constant communication – speaking 25 times on the phone over 24 hours when the course was closed last Friday – and the club chief admits he religiously watches the weather forecasts every night to see what he might face the next day.

But, at this time of year, there’s another factor to consider – light.

“Paul can have an idea driving into work at 5.45am what it’s likely to be but he can’t actually see anything until 7.30am. Golfers want to be on the course at 7.50am and they’ve got a 20-minute journey.

“You’re often talking very small windows of making some quite difficult decisions – when you can’t actually see anything.

“We try and speak virtually every evening about what’s going to happen the following day.

“If it’s pretty cut and dried, he’ll make a decision at 6.30am without needing to speak to me. Sometimes it’s closed all day. Sometimes it’s closed and we’ll review it at such a time. If it’s a 50/50 call, or he’s not sure whether he should have a review or close it all day, he’ll pick up the phone to me and we’ll have a conversation.

“We have to be fairly quick. It can’t be ‘we’ll have a look in half an hour’, because golfers want to know what’s going on.

“If we’ve got a big competition on a Saturday, for example, I’ll often send an email to everyone on Friday explaining what the likely scenarios are, that they will receive an email from me by 7.15am telling them what’s going to happen. That communication is key.”

How has your club been affected by the rain? Let me know in the comments below or you can tweet me.