Golfdom Report: 21 at last

“It couldn’t have worked any better for us,” he says. “We were able to manage the golf course almost better than we had in the past with more guys. Looking at my labor numbers, we came in at the end of this year about $185,000 less in labor than last year.”

The Club at Ravenna in Littleton, Colo., keeps its 11 crew members productive year-round with projects like bunker renovations, irrigation improvements and landscaping maintenance around the clubhouse. (Photo: Steve Datwyler)

Though more than half of our survey respondents reported that it was a difficult year for labor, more than a quarter of respondents said it was easy to keep a full crew.

“We didn’t give them a reason to find another job,” says Steve Datwyler, golf course superintendent at The Club at Ravenna in Littleton, Colo. “If you lay them off in the winter, you’re lucky to get them back.”

For the past five years, The Club at Ravenna has invested in keeping 11 staff members year-round by doing small- to medium-sized projects in-house. These have included irrigation improvements, renovating three greens, removing 2 acres of bunkers, building a 1-acre short-game facility and completing landscape work and a practice area expansion around the clubhouse.

Graph: Golfdom Staff

Datwyler says the club has more than tripled memberships (from 80 to 300) since the maintenance crew began these projects.

Going into 2021, Datwyler says he’s optimistic and thinks the crew will hit the ground running in the spring.

“I’m not anticipating challenges with labor,” he says. “I know that’s not what most people are going to face either. There are even departments within Ravenna where it’s a struggle. We were fortunate to build a strong team and we have a supportive club leadership that believes in keeping the team together.”

— A.H.

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