Assistants Angle
By Nate Uselding

It Drives Me Crazy

What is it that gets you going? I mean, what really gets under your skin and makes you want to pull all your hair out? I'm talking about your pet peeves. During the course of the day or even week, there are things that go well and things that don't go so well. When things don't go well there are always things that annoy you and get on your nerves. What are those things? Sometimes they are day in and day out happenings and happen more frequently than we want. I am going to share with you my top three pet peeves and what I can do to try and settle myself and deal with these issues.

My number one pet peeve is employee tardiness. Being punctual in life is a necessity and I hate waiting on others because they can't make it to their destination on time. When I was in college, I fell into a laid-back mentality and went with the flow, being fashionably late was acceptable and I never had to be anywhere except for work. I made sure I was at work on time because other people were counting on me.

Why is it you can't get to work on time? Wake up five minutes earlier to ensure you make it to work on time. You don't want to show up right at the time you begin. Plan for road construction, traffic or any other obstacles that you may run into on your way to work and delay your arrival. Get to work early; then you can sit and relax before you start your day. Granted there are the occasional and uncontrollable times when you're late. It is when it becomes habitual when it really gets to be annoying. I make it a point to lead by example and show up to work on time. If my actions can prove to be influential to our team, then I've done my job.

Another way to get me going is by not going above and beyond the call of duty. There are only so many hours and so much we can do in a day, so why not make it the best? If you want to go through the day and only do what is asked from you, that's fine, but why not put icing on the cake and do something that will knock the socks off someone. When there are days you are overloaded with jobs and it seems like nothing is getting done, don't you wish your guys would multi-task? When raking bunkers, why not pick up a pile of debris or a broken branch as you travel around the course? Don't make someone else do a job you are capable of doing in passing. I give someone a "that a boy" and thank them when I catch them going above and beyond what was asked. While working with someone, I like to do at least one thing to show them how easy and timeless it may be to go out of your way.

A member at Dellwood Hills once paid an employee twenty dollars for returning a golf club. Next thing you know, head covers and golf clubs are showing up left and right. This is great, guys finally picking up around the course, but was it for the wrong reason? Rewards pay big dividends regardless how big or small they may be. On hot days, a pop goes a long way when you want to say thank you. Another example: one day a member called and informed us our water coolers ran dry on number six. As I returned the cooler to the hole, I stopped by the thirsty group, with cups in hand and personally gave them a drink of water. You should have seen their faces and how exited they were. Maybe it was because they were thirsty and saw water but I like to think it was my going out of my way to make them happy.

You know what else gets me, golfers driving carts. It is like they forget about everything else when they get on that cart. Rules, policies are all thrown out the window by the time they leave the pro shop. People are going to drive the shortest distance they can to their ball and it doesn't matter what is in their way. They will drive right up to the number one tee box, I mean right up to it where they are literally a step from it. Now look and see where the cart path is and they are only three steps away. Come on, you are telling me you can't walk that extra six feet?

 Sometimes I wish we had a curb on all our paths so they couldn't get off of them. I still like the idea of having a credit card machine on each cart so when you drive somewhere you are not supposed to be the cart shuts down. Then to reactivate the cart, you have to put in your credit card and it charges you a small finance charge. I think golfers would understand how important it is to keep carts out of certain areas. No more driving in those native areas, no driving within thirty feet of the green, it would be like herding the cattle. I am continually reminded of how much this bothers me every time we host an outside event. Why must you park so close to the tee box? Why can't you stay on the cart path? I have figured out how to somewhat corral our membership on a daily basis. It is the public golfer that I have to worry about. Strategically placing benches to cut off traffic from going up to the tee or placing cart blocks in their way when driving to the green help, but they will still drive where they want to.

These are only three of my pet peeves, I could think of more but they're all little things. In the big picture some of us say, this is nothing and wish these were all the things that may bother them. I know as I become a superintendent, the course and game will look a lot different than they do as an assistant and I will be coming up with new pet peeves as the job changes. If I set a good example to our team and membership, hopefully they will follow a good leader. Let your actions speak louder than your words.