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Doing more with less has become the new reality

Doing more with less may sound easier said than done, yet it has become the reality in today’s times and we have little choice but to comply with this new standard.

Our hand has been forced, and we simply must endeavour to accomplish everything we’ve done in the past—and perhaps more—while working with less. It might be a shrunken budget for equipment and materials or maybe a diminished labour force.

Whatever it is, we have to suck it up and move forward the best we can to provide our customers with a quality product with fewer tools available.

This is true in the turfgrass industry. In the golf business, which has been experiencing trying times over the past decade or so, there may be fewer memberships purchased at semi-private clubs, and the number of paid green fees is down significantly.

Clubs cannot continue to operate as they had before with generous monies allocated for equipment, fuel, materials and labour. The fat has had to be trimmed, and superintendents are finding themselves working with tighter budgets than they had years ago, back in “the good old days.” Golfers, however, expect the same course conditions they have always been provided. Superintendents are therefore pressed to come up with new and innovative ways to get the job done with fewer resources.

The same is true for sports turf managers. Their revenues are largely streamed from tax dollars, and elected officials are challenged every year to keep the tax burden down to a bare minimum. This means a little is trimmed from this department and that department, and parks and recreation departments are not immune to these cuts. If these municipal politicians wish to be re-elected, they will continue to make these cuts to gain favour among the masses.
Sports turf managers, therefore, will continue to feel the pinch in most years with perhaps one less employee in a given year or having to make do with older equipment for another season or two. It puts a strain on their operations which forces them to do more with less.

Doing more with less was the theme of The Chimera Group principal John Bladon’s presentation at the Ontario Turfgrass Symposium in February at the University of Guelph. He said there are ways this can be accomplished and noted these turfgrass managers have been rising to the occasion.

Read his thoughts on page 11.

An unrelated story, which appears on page 6, chronicles Toronto Golf Club superintendent Al Schwemler’s naturalization project of some years ago which introduced secondary rough fescues and accent fescues. This story, too, shows how more can be done with less. The naturalization has resulted in significantly less water required for the Colt course’s needs, and maintenance for these areas has also been reduced. The move has also made the course more aesthetically pleasing.