Golf Course Maintenance Tips: Equipment Costs, Scheduling & More

A sound golf maintenance plan can save you labor, equipment wear, and other expenses. Equipment costs can be a large part of the maintenance budget and can easily add up between overhead, upgrading outdated equipment, and storage costs.

Equipment Needed to Maintain a Golf Course

The cost of all of this equipment can add up. Renting tools and equipment can help reduce the costs associated with ownership by decreasing the costs of repair, part replacements, storage, and more.

How to Reduce Golf Course Maintenance Costs

Some of the easiest golf maintenance costs to reduce are as follows:

Support owned tools with golf course equipment rentals

A common approach to save money is to cut course improvements, turf maintenance equipment, and upgrade infrastructure. By renting turf maintenance, you can combat the wear and tear of equipment and avoid safety issues for staff and golfers alike.

Rented equipment also offers a much wider selection of tools. You can use top-of-the-line golf maintenance equipment without having to be concerned about upgrading outdated tools. Or, if your mowers do great for some roughs but not others, you may want to check out the upgraded version.

Prioritize roughs in the golf course maintenance plan

Roughs represent the largest area of maintained turf at most golf courses. Though typically not maintained intensively, the mowing and equipment costs associated with roughs can add up due to the sheer area.

Some golf course superintendents replace mown rough with naturalized or unmown rough in certain areas. The visual and strategic impacts of low-maintenance naturalized roughs can be beneficial — reduced mowing can generate significant cost savings. By renting mowers, your staff can be available for other tasks.

Schedule your mowing frequency carefully

Putting greens are the most frequently mowed area of golf courses. The associated costs are significant, so doing what you can to schedule putting green mowing will do wonders for your budget.

Triplex mower units can produce a quality of cut equivalent to that of walk-behind mowers. There will be considerable labor savings as well — a single staff member with a triplex can accomplish the same amount of work as several employees operating walk-behind mowers. By renting triplex mowers, it ensures the frequency will be properly planned due to the incremental cost.

Budget according to seasonal interest

It’s critical that the maintenance work you do is done right and at the right time. The last thing you need is an equipment failure, leaving your guests with unkept fairways or greens.

Before the grass turns from winter brown to spring green, take the steps to reduce maintenance and improve efficiency for the year ahead. Depending on where you’re managing a golf course, the maintenance costs may fluctuate due to weather conditions or consumer interest. It’s up to the golf course superintendent to be able to plan the entire year with just one budget. Building in enough wiggle room for unforeseen circumstances is imperative.

For example, if you’re managing a golf course in a Southwestern state, summer maintenance costs will rise and consumer prices will drop. This is due to the heat and dry air, especially during the months between May and August. Out of necessity, many courses in the Southwestern states removed maintained rough in peripheral areas to cut down on water usage and save money.

Not only will superintendents need to plan for high cost, they will need to lean on the shouldering months of April and September to make up for the deficit. October and November are typical months for course closures due to over seeding and aeration of golf courses. Throughout any month of the year, our team can help support your fleet of owned equipment with our available lawn and landscape tool rentals.