With Perry Weather, the club can give golfers a heads-up before storms arrive – and put weather alerts and all-clears right onto their players’ cart screens.
From the farthest parts of the Country Club of St. Albans, it can take about 12 minutes to get back by golf cart. PGA Head Professional Curtis Goss has that drive in mind when he sees clouds building to the west.
The Country Club of St. Albans sits within a mile of the Missouri River and about 30 minutes from the Mississippi River. That location makes for a beautiful property, but also sets the stage for some of the most unpredictable weather in the St. Louis area.
“These rivers throw some curveballs,” said Goss. “There are times when you look at the weather and we’re supposed to be clear. No rain, no storms. And you can literally look out the window and see things getting dark, building up to the west. And they move fast.”
The size of the property also raises the stakes. With 36 holes and plenty of large trees, the time it takes to reach shelter makes early communication a big part of the weather call. So with Perry Weather, Goss and his team can tell golfers what’s coming – and make the right call, every time.
“Safety is key,” Goss said. “Mother Nature never loses. We can’t change that. But we can make sure everybody is aware.”
Getting Ahead of the Storm
At St. Albans Country Club, the hardest stretch of weather runs from early June to mid-September – the time when members want to soak up the sun the most, and when storms are more likely to cause interruptions.
“There’s times where you look at the weather and we’re supposed to be clear, no rain, no storms, and literally you can just see out the window that things are getting dark,” says Goss. “They move fast.”
Goss and his team rely on Perry Weather to be informed of inclement conditions before they can cause an interruption to the course.
“In the old days, things would pop up and you didn’t have the ability to get a message out to your members and their guests,” Goss said. “Now we watch, we monitor, and we say, here’s what we’re looking at. We’re trying to be the ones to help alert members and guests early if there is some weather on the horizon.”
That early heads-up matters because golfers aren’t checking the radar mid-round. “As a golfer on the course, I’m probably not paying attention to my weather app,” says Goss.
He throws his hands up and smiles. “We’re not weather experts. We’re not weathermen. But we have some extra tools to help us.”
Weather Alerts Golfers Can’t Ignore
When weather does close in, the team at St. Albans is trained to move quickly. Golf professionals and the player services team drop what they’re doing, whether that’s invoices or a lesson, and head out for safety checks. They check the tee sheet for walkers, especially on the walkable Lewis and Clark course, and use cart shuttles to bring people in. “We know weather is coming, and safety is first and foremost,” Goss said.
The team also sends alerts right to the player’s carts, and can even help notify members ahead of a closure, too.
“We’re trying to be the ones to help alert members and guests early,” said Goss. “We’ll send out messages to the carts before anything happens with Perry Weather, we’ll watch, monitor and say, hey, this is what we’re looking at.”
This advanced notice is key for a location that has heavily-treed areas, high winds, and a 36-hole course, on which players could be anywhere.
“Technology makes things easier to get out there and get the point across that we need to stop play,” said Goss when asked about the Perry Weather and Pace Integration.
Goss saw the feature from the golfer’s side before St. Albans signed on. He was at another club, following his daughter’s PGA Junior League match, when a summer storm popped up. “It’s on the screen and I’m trying to punch the screen. It was my first interaction with it, and it wouldn’t go away,” he said. “I’m like, that’s actually a nice feature.” Not long after, St. Albans partnered with Perry Weather to help keep their members safe.
But it’s not just about screen alerts and cart messages. Multiple locations on the greens are equipped with an outdoor warning system that alerts in case of lightning and other weather hazards.
“We have six locations on property that the sirens can go off,” explains Goss. “We make it very clear to our membership and they respect it.”
Of course, every suspension of play ends with the same question – when is it safe to go back out?
Making a Confident Call About Return to Play
When it comes time to resume activities on the course, Perry Weather gives the team at St. Albans the tools they need to confidently make the right call. When a storm has passed, the team clears the alert from the carts so golfers get their GPS back. Staff drive the course to announce a five-minute warning, and three short siren blasts give the all clear.
They follow this approach even when the superintendent’s crew is out for the day. Goss is the first to say that golf professionals aren’t meteorologists, but even still, the decision to reopen the course often lands with his team.
“We’re not weather experts. We’re not weathermen,” Goss said. “But we do have some extra tools to help us.”
Because their calls set the tone for everyone’s round, it isn’t one the pros want to make on a guess.
“Some people may not want to hear that, but we know when we can,” Goss said. “It’s just another benefit for our team to feel like we can make the right calls, even if our superintendent staff isn’t on site.”
With Perry Weather, the team has real data from the property to back their decisions, from rainfall totals on each course to lightning that has moved safely out of range. When they give the all clear, they mean it.
The Bottom Line
For St. Albans, technology is just a part of it. The club’s previous weather provider was fine, Goss said, but issues tended to get overlooked. That doesn’t work when the job is keeping people safe outdoors next to a major river.
“We’re dealing with an outdoor sport, with a large Missouri River right next to us, and we need to be very proactive and make sure everybody’s safe,” Goss said. “From what we’re seeing so far, the customer service side of things has been key.”
For Goss, it’s personal too. He’s a PGA professional and also a parent whose daughter plays PGA Junior League. “I worry about safety,” he said. “The more we can be proactive and get it under wraps, the better we’re going to feel that our members and guests are safe here at the Country Club of St. Albans.”
