Golf Course Range Accessories – Page 3

John Rutecki from Metedeconk National discusses using RHI’s Range Yardage Tents with GRAA magazine!

September 7, 2012 by Joy Ball

Our friend, John Rutecki – the Head Pro at Metedeconk National, was recently interviewed for the “Best Practices” section of the Golf Range Association of America (GRAA) magazine. In it, he discussed the importance of using RHI’s Custom Yardage ‘Tents’ on his practice facility.

These are the tents he is talking about:

Here’s the text from the article, thanks John!

Use Custom Yardage Tents to Simulate Real Golf Shots

John Rutecki on the importance of using custom yardage tents to simulate real golf shots:

When you drive through the entrance of our club, the first thing that catches your eye is our impressive practice facility. The practice area altogether is 50 acres long, consisting of multiple driving range locations, an uneven lies area, a short game area and a putting green. Because I wanted to simulate actual golf play for our members, we decided to add our short game area. First, we modified one of the three target greens to allow for multiple chipping stations (all with various options to help simulate missing a green on the golf course). This helps with the player’s understanding of different slopes and lies while chipping. The next step was to use custom yardage tents on the short game area to mark different distances for chipping. These little tents sit on the ground and stand out when people are using this area. They have a stencil that displays the yardage mark and it flashes so that everyone can see this very easily. It’s something unique because most facilities don’t offer markers from 40, 60, and 80 yards out from the green. The yardage tents have become an attraction, and many members seem to like to make a game out of hitting to them while preparing for their round, or just during some practice time. I think having the ability to practice certain shots really helps with player development as well. It certainly adds to our already-impressive practice facility and gives players some food for thought while working on their short game.

John Rutecki on the business impact of using custom yardage tents to simulate real golf shots:

The yardage tents and the overall short game area have really enhanced the facility experience for both members and their guests. There aren’t many places where you can simulate shots from 10 yards to 130 yards from the pin, and we think it’s become integral in prepping yourself for actual golf shots that you would be taking on the course. My lesson business has been wonderful because I’m aided by the extravagant practice facility. These lessons make up roughly 25 percent of my business, whereas last year that number was only around 10 percent of my total business. The custom tents are relatively inexpensive and do not require any maintenance. An idea like this sends the message that you care about your member’s golf games, and it adds to the value and credibility of the club.

Starting to look like Fall is here…

August 24, 2012 by Joy Ball

Not sure if Fall is really here yet, but the temps have finally dropped from the 90’s to the 70’s and the fair is in town, so it feels like Fall is just around the corner. In addition to still pounding through Antigua displays, here are a few more projects we’ve had around the shop this week…

First up is a ‘Mini-Monument’ for Westchester Country Club in New York. They host a PGA Tour event, and wanted a large monument that they could put plaques on with the winner’s names, etc. We’ve been discussing a large 6′ tall monument with them, and they wanted to see a scaled down version to see how it’s going to look. At this point, we may change up the colors a little bit, but other than that – here is a little 2′ tall version.

Next we built a set of tee markers for the golf team at Santa Clara University. Hopefully, we’ll get to do the rest of the West Coast Conference… :)

Here’s a mammoth entry sign for the new Rock Creek – Idaho course. It might look like one of our standard signs, but this has a 3″ tube post and the sign itself is 3’x3′.

We did a couple practice range clock signs for the Philadelphia section of the PGA:

And a couple different tournament awards. First we have another local charity hosting an event for the Gleason Project. They asked for an award plaque similar to what we did on the earlier trophies. Then San Luis Obispo asked for some replicas of their tournament tee markers that were slightly modified so that they could be mounted on a wooden trophy base that they were building. Great idea!

Have a great weekend!

It’s time for the Olympics…

August 3, 2012 by Joy Ball

Congrats to all of the American athletes who are doing their best, and doing such a great job representing our country. In between watching the Games, here are a few of the things we’ve been working on lately.

First up are some great new range accessories for the new course at Rock Creek – Idaho. They wanted some simple, rustic, economical bag stands and a sand and seed bottle holder. I think this ‘tree’ design for the sand and seed turned out great.

We had a golf course designer ask for some custom miniflags for his personal putting green with the logos of some of the courses he’s worked on.

The folks in Dunlap, Iowa just keep selling corporate sponsorships for each hole on their course. What a great way to advertise your local businesses.

Here’s a large ‘Proxy” style sign. It’s similar to a giant proximity marker. The cards can slide in and out and have interchangeable messages. This one was for PGA West.

Here’s a trophy for Tetherow’s Celidh Ladies Member Guest. A ‘Celidh’ is an Irish word for a dance/party. I had to look it up…

Finally, here are some shots of some trophies we just finished for the Kinnickinnick Cup at Gozzer Ranch. These started out as smooth pieces of steel pipe, but Will managed to weld them up so they looked like old tree stumps. They look great. It takes a lot of skill to weld that ‘poorly’. :)

That’s it for now. Have a great weekend, and go Team USA!

It’s been a busy month!

June 29, 2012 by Joy Ball

Off to a great summer so far. Here are a few of the things that we finished up this week.

First up is a great set of practice facility accessories for the guys over at Tetherow. They ordered these clock signs, a complete set of yardage signs (20-70), and a hanging chalkboard for writing messages, etc. on.

Here are a set of KP signs for Salish Cliffs. They had a set of proximity markers to go with them (the KP signs and the prox mkrs make a great team together!), but they got boxed up before I was able to get pictures…

Still turning out trophies this year. Here are some gold and black ones for Leewood Country Club. This is a new gold color, with a great metallic look.

We did another couple holes worth of corporate sponsor tee markers for the great folks at Dunlap Golf Club. I think we’ve got 7 of their 18 holes covered so far…

Dos Lagos Golf Club had us do a couple custom signs for them. This sign goes on their 9th tee, and includes a phone number and has an insert where they can slide a menu in behind protective plexiglass. Players can look at the menu, call the number, and order food that will be ready when they make the turn. Great idea! (oops, just looked closer at the picture, looks like we had the wrong sign top on the wrong post. No problem, all of our signs/posts/stands are easily interchangeable so you can move them around your facility…)

Range Accessories, Tournament ideas and Tee Markers

June 21, 2012 by Joy Ball

Here are a few of the things from around the shop this week.

In addition to the Gleason Event trophies that I posted earlier, they asked for some small, polished aluminum desk pieces that they could give as gifts to volunteers and sponsors.

The Dunlap Golf Club in Dunlap, Iowa had a great idea and is selling corporate sponsorships for each hole on thier course. We are creating custom tee markers for each hole with their sponsor’s logo. We’ve done 4 different holes so far, here are the latest two.

Here are a couple range accessories for the folks over at Tumble Creek. This is a great new A-frame bag stand design that looks great and is cost-effective. They also wanted a custom water-bucket that their outside service guys could use to clean clubs from cart to cart.

It’s been a great summer so far, and it’s only getting busier! Let us know if we can help with any of your custom course needs!

It’s Member-Guest season!

May 31, 2012 by Joy Ball

In addition to some of the usual range signs, tee markers and other range accessories – it must be tournament season because we’ve been building a lot of trophies lately! It’s funny, apparently we’re not the only ones to really dig the copper color, as several of our recent trophies have all used it, too.

Up first, are some trophies we did for the Gleason Project charity event at Black Rock. Steve Gleason is a former NFL player, who grew up in the area. He is battling ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), and has a foundation to help raise support and awareness for this disease. Here is a picture of their logo, and then some of the trophies we built based on that logo. The splattered paint was a lot of fun (and a little messy!), but these are one of our favorite trophies to date…

Then we had Member-Guest trophies for Gozzer Ranch and Manito Country Club – a couple of our beautiful local courses.

And finally (at least for trophies), we know a Pro at Sundance who is a skilled woodworker. He was building some wooden awards, but wanted a large, heavy, cut steel logo that he could mount to top of a piece for the Wounded Warrior Project. We cut this out of 1/4″ steel. It’s a beast!

Then we have several different types of range signs. These signs for Gozzer Ranch use their rustic, Western look and have interchangeable numbers for laying out yardages on the practice range. This sign for Waccabuc Country Club allows them to let members know the daily hours for the range, and they got another sign with the staff names for in the Pro Shop. These small signs for Castle Pines let them stake out Practice Areas and Teaching Areas, etc. Scott Klemme at Centennial asked for an adjustable stand that he could use on the range during lessons to put his iPad, etc. on.

Finally we have these new a-frame style proximity markers for The River Course. They also ordered some of the ‘standard’ proximity markers, but these ones are intended for use on the green. The a-frame can be set over the hole, and then measure to the ball.

Tournament Signs and Trophies, Tee Markers and Range Yardage Signs!

May 11, 2012 by Joy Ball

Here’s a few of the things we finished off this week.

First, we ended up with some pretty sick trophies for Wykagyl Country Club. They have one of the most elaborate logos we’ve ever dealt with, and they helped us come up with a unique 3D presentation of it.

Another tournament accessory is this sign for Greenwich Country Club. It has stakes to secure it into the ground. The top swivels like a music stand, and the plexiglass protects two sheets of paper – one to announce tournament pairings, and the other to list starting hole assignments. This is a great looking accessory that should help speed up pre-tournament setup.

Here’s a couple sets of tee markers. One with the fishscaled aluminum look for Sandia Golf Club, and a set that just came off the waterjet for the Philadelphia PGA.

Finally, we have this unique range yardage sign for the Vintage Club. They provided a map of their practice range and we created this multi-layered ‘map’ of it. The greens are coated in chalkboard paint, and they will be able to record the day’s yardages at each location. The backside has a plexiglass protection for them to insert poster-sized announcements and banners.