The Pellucid Perspective - April 2013 - (Page 9)

GOLF COURSE AMENITIES Plumbing the depths of the on-course restroom issue By Harvey Silverman M y ears perk up when I hear people talk about toilets. It’s A few years ago a client in Arizona was faced with constant not because I have to use them more often as I get older, complaints about a lack of on-course facilities. Indeed, they had but because in a former life I worked in the plumbing a full-length 18 holes and an 18-hole executive course plus a distribution industry and bought and sold toilets by the truck- large practice facility. The only restrooms were in the clubhouse load. (From the useless knowledge file: You can put 400 standard and while centrally located, it was not conveniently located for two-piece toilets on a 40-foot semi-trailer). So my ears perked lots of customers. This course chose to install three “trailhead” up during this year’s Golf Industry Show in San Diego when composting units from Clivas Multrum that did not require eiDonna Orender and her Connect with Women group let golf ther potable water or a sewer connection. course owners know how vital having good on-course toilets is I saw and used one of the units during a visit a couple years to their ability to attract more women golfers. No porta-johns. ago. The foam-flush toilet looks like and offers a similar user Trees aren’t acceptable. They have to be toilets that presumably experience to a conventional flush toilet, while using only six flush, have seats, paper, and somewhere to wash hands. And so it ounces of water per use. A small computer regulates the mixis that I took it upon myself to research just what is available for ture of water and a compost compatible soap, creating a foam golf courses, and what the approximate costs blanket that carries the waste from the bowl might be to have them installed. down a standard four-inch plastic drain line Let’s start with the Let’s start with the painfully obvious, to the composting unit. The foam allows the painfully obvious, which has nothing to do with what runs drain-line to bend up to 45 degrees. Addidownhill or what bears do in the woods. tionally, a small solar powered fan kept the which has nothing The obvious is that for any golf facility to interior odorless. to do with what runs upgrade on-course rest facilities will take… Brian Berry of Clivas Multrum told me MONEY. How much money depends on downhill or what bears they install units at 6-8 courses a year. Not several factors, most notably whether permasurprisingly, “99% of the time the driving do in the woods. The factor is to make women golfers happy.” The nent installations are built hooked to available potable water and sewer; or if alternative obvious is that for any cost of the foam-flush toilet unit is around structures are installed that are ecologically $25,000. My client, who installed three, usmore efficient and likely less expensive, but golf facility to upgrade ing his own maintenance staff, estimated are significant upgrades over porta-johns. on-course rest facilities the total cost at around $100,000 including Let’s start with the higher-cost example labor, permits, and his own time researching will take…MONEY. of installing a permanent structure with wathe right solution. Not to be lost in this is a ter and sewer at a local muni course I play at survey we did a couple months after instalfrequently. When the course was rebuilt in lation. Yes, customers noticed and for the 2001, two permanent dual restroom strucmost part applauded the new additions to tures were erected, connected to city water and sewer. Both are the facility. But there were enough “you could have done betalong the same service lines at the “front” of the course, not ter” responses to conclude that no matter what is installed and far from the clubhouse but conveniently located and accessible where it/they are placed, you just cannot make everyone happy from several holes on both nines. Customers and most nota- short of installing Taj Mahal restrooms at every hole. bly women customers have complained that no restrooms are Another “eco-flush” provider is Green Flush Technologies. available at the “back” of the course. Considering the number They use a different system that uses one quart of water per of trees on the parkland-style layout, guys don’t seem to care. flush from a water holding tank. Their waste holding tank can I posed the question to my golf friend, a commercial plumb- accommodate up to 4000 uses and must be pumped, usually by ing company owner, “How much would it cost to place a dual, the same companies that maintain porta-johns. Green Flush permanent restroom at the ‘back’ of the course.” He surveyed Technologies units are pricier than Clivas Multrum’s, starting at the approximate distance to where he suspected he could trench $35,000. The pumping maintenance adds an additional expense to the sewer and potable water (the course uses well water for of about $120/month. irrigation that is untreated for human use), the cost of a prefabKen Earlywine of Green Flush Technologies conducted a ricated restroom building, fixtures and faucets, and gave me a small survey of golfers at a practice range. The sample size is (See Amenities on page 15) very ballpark figure of $250,000. www.PellucidCorp.com The Pellucid Perspective 9 http://WWW.PELLUCIDCORP.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - April 2013

The Pellucid Perspective - April 2013
Contents
Phoenix shifts municipal golf to General Fund subsidy
Filling the junior golf gap
One shot at a time
Plumbing the depths of the on-course restroom issue
Online golf store a solution for pro shop sales?
March golf weather impact: Hibernation mode for golf nationally
Military spending cuts threaten VA golf market
First phase of golf resort with Kidd-designed course in Oroville, CA up for approval
Nice guys finish last ... in Tax Court

The Pellucid Perspective - April 2013