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President's message |
Success, solutions
and comfort
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I would bet most of you have heard the old saying that “there is no ‘I’ in ‘team.’” If you played sports or participated in team competitions, some coach of yours probably stressed this old saying a few times. But it really holds true for golf course superintendents at the facilities where we work. Recognition and promotion are usually much easier to achieve when the golf facility is doing well.
Being a superintendent for 16 years and a general manager for the past four years has made it clear to me that teamwork goes a long way. My path to the general manager’s role at The Golf Club Star Ranch wasn’t really planned. At first, I questioned if I could even do the job, and then wondered if I wanted to do it.
However, my employer told me that I’d been preparing for the role for a long time by being involved at the facility level. He emphasized that attention to detail and follow-through is necessary to be a successful manager.
I found the GM job to be an interesting, educational and rewarding experience from the beginning, and if I had it to do over, I’d accept the job again in a heartbeat. Of course, each situation is different, and whom you work for and whom you are working with are the most important factors in making the right decisions.
I’ve always believed that you should be “part of the solution, not part of the problem,” and my employer made it clear that he agreed with me. My new role as GM emphasized being part of the solution, and it soon became clear my new role was a part of my evolving career.
Facility owners love success, solutions and comfort. The last item, comfort, often is overlooked. Being able to deliver a measure of comfort to your employer rests with the confidence and trust the employer has in you as a person and as a golf course superintendent.
Neither I nor GCSAA as an organization believes that the general manager’s role is any “better” than the golf course superintendent position. It’s merely a different path through the golf course business on which some have chosen to travel. Our association is prepared to provide the tools and resources necessary to any GCSAA member who has an interest in this particular career path.
I’m still vitally involved and interested in the maintenance program at Star Ranch. The surveys keep telling us that golfers often decide where to spend their time based on golf course conditions. This is surely both a compliment and a challenge to our profession. The golf facility needs great conditions but also must have great service, food and beverage and other amenities if it is to compete in the marketplace that golf has become in recent years. All these things combine to make up a “golf experience” that can turn ugly when one of them is less than acceptable.
The golf facility is truly a team in every sense of the word. Championships as well as bottom lines are won when the cohesive, educated, supporting and complementing team works together for common goals.
I’m fortunate to be involved with such a group now, and it makes getting up and going to work easy. I wish each of you the best at your facility during this last quarter of 2007.
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