[PA PLAYA]

Rangering is a thankless job. But it's probably one of the most important positions that a busy golf course has on the payroll.

One of the issues I commonly see (if a course even does have rangers or player's assistants) is many courses don't have the right people in place assisting the groups on the golf course. And predominantly because it's not exactly on the Forbes list of highly paid professions. That old saying of getting what you pay for comes to mind. If you're gonna stick a high school kid out on the golf course for $6/hr, who is only there for the free golf, you're not helping your situation. And the same goes for grumpy old men, they're not the most tolerable of people and typically have only one mode of communication -- direct. And when the shop calls on them to address a problem group, they're irked that they have to leave the comforts of a shade tree and actually do their jobs. I'm not insinuating that all high schoolers or older types are this way, just a majority of those that I have dealt with personally.

Rangering is not exactly a fun job, because it will require someone to address issues and resolve them. They're problem solvers. But when you have a ranger who is timid about approaching people, or doesn't have the courteous-yet-firm approach, then he's not fixing issues. He's actually fostering the problems. Above all else, you can't have someone who takes things personally running the show on the golf course.

We had major issues at our facility three years ago. We had two retired guys who would go find their favorite shade trees on the golf course and go hang out. We then replaced those guys with two high school students, who were too afraid of confronting people who were older than them. I questioned their selections well before hand, but they didn't want to hear it. And pace became such an issue that it started impacting our business.

I finally got the point across that we needed to be more selective of who we had in those positions. Maybe that meant paying that position more. Or maybe it just meant taking the time to find someone who appreciated the perks of working at a 4-star facility. And not only being more selective, but when we did find the right candidates, giving them sufficient training. And last but certainly not least, standing behind them when a confrontation occurs. Because they will happen. And ultimately -- their job is to keep the pace reasonable. When an unruly group challenges the ranger and tells him to bug off, that has to be addressed by the management. Because if it isn't, then the guy is wondering why they even have him out there to begin with.

Having the right people out on the course will not always guarantee that a problem will be solved. Most of the time, it will. But there are instances when management has to step in and get involved, or they run the risk of getting a very damaging reputation that has a direct impact on revenue. So in the end -- paying the right candidate a couple more bucks an hour to efficiently do the job can save a golf course thousands of dollars. It's an investment that they can't overlook.