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Breaking the glass wall

Teamwork from all sides of the industry means success for the facility and the superintendent.

Mike Hansen

During the first week on the job, Mike Hansen explained to his director of golf the finer points of bunker care. Photo by Brian Oar/Utahfairways.com

My name is Mike Hansen, co-founder and CEO of Golf Resource Group Inc. I’m also a Class A superintendent and a six-year GCSAA member.

Along with my partners, Andy Staples, president and golf course architect, and Alex Walton, chief operating officer, our company focuses on all aspects of golf course development. One area we offer is golf course maintenance. We currently maintain the golf course at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah, a Johnny Miller signature course that hosts the annual Champions Challenge.

With names like Nicklaus, Player, Stadler and Weir competing in the charity event, success is hinged on one clear rule: No glass wall.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a “glass wall” often separates the maintenance department from the clubhouse. You can’t see the wall, but it’s there. I would love to say it’s a simple problem easily resolved, but that would be a lie. I’m sharing my story of dealing with the wall — and of success and recognition — in the hope that others will be able to benefit from it.

I never thought I’d write an article for GCM. My inspiration was Steve Mona’s CEO’s Message, “It’s Time To Step Up,” in the September 2004 issue. The message was simple; quit waiting for recognition and go earn it. This sounds easy, but it’s not. It requires breaking down the glass wall at your facility and developing business relationships with all department heads. To do this, you must understand the past, present and the future state of the industry.

The past
Like most superintendents, I learned what the glass wall was all about early in my career. The old-school mentality of superintendents was that we were not respected and were not recognized for our efforts and talents. There was a lot of truth to that, but as more and more courses were built in the late 1980s and ’90s, golf began to change. When their course wasn’t the only one around, superintendents started to feel the pressure of industry competition.
I began my career during this time. I felt underappreciated and misunderstood. I also thought that the clubhouse staff was unable to connect with my world. I believed outlooks would change if they could understand what superintendents really do, but I was frustrated when I wasn’t asked to clubhouse meetings.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but forcing my way into these meetings was the first step in breaking through the glass wall. I had to develop relationships with many of the clubhouse staff members. In some situations it took those individuals becoming managers themselves for my input to matter.

Many of the clubhouse staff held the old-school opinion of the superintendent. But as my career progressed I began to gain the respect of the clubhouse staff. When I secured my first head superintendent position, the results of my communication efforts were apparent to me. So as I heard constant negatives about one thing or the other from many of my peers at the course, I scratched my head. How can these people be so far apart in how they see the operation?

My interest in the business of golf increased and it led naturally to higher education. I began taking college courses in the evenings. I concentrated mostly on business management, which really helped me understand the overall business model. But I also took technical courses through GCSAA. Combining this education with the job really helped me begin putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

As I shared information with golf professionals, I realized that many golf courses set policies and procedures for the entire company, regardless of the different ways in which the departments work. It’s fair to say my world is mostly blue collar and the clubhouse is mostly white collar. Many maintenance employees don’t care about free golf and don’t have the need for merchandise discounts. But these types of perks were policy for the entire company. This type of thinking is the beginning of the glass wall. It’s built from the major differences between departments. When one department doesn’t understand the other’s role, the glass wall begins to form.

We know that respect is earned, not given. Educating your department heads is the key to breaking down the wall. To do this, communication is essential.

The present
Golf is a business. The more superintendents understand about revenue, expenses and profit, the more effective they’ll be. The only place to begin learning about your particular facility is at the clubhouse. If a golfer is unhappy with service but loved the course, we all lose. The same is true with great service and a course that doesn’t meet the customer’s needs. Like it or not, the clubhouse and maintenance departments rely on each other. Instead of building glass walls, the future of golf will be about building synergies.

I often hear people compare course conditions. Amazingly, they usually forget to include one important variable: maintenance budgets. I’m not alone in wishing I had twice the budget I have. But in understanding profit we must first understand expenses. To increase your budget (expense), you must be able to present the opportunity cost. How will it increase the revenue? As a superintendent, you control the largest expense at the facility. I’m extremely proud of some of the courses I worked at early in my career. Considering the low budgets we had, the courses were in excellent shape. It all comes down to one word — value. Green fees of $17 may not get you Pebble Beach conditions, but a course can be profitable at those rates.

Understanding this will help create your vision of your department’s value. But your work isn’t done there. You must then share your vision with your staff. Effective communication is the key. My staff understands that we have jobs because of ball marks, divots and golf car traffic. If these problems didn’t exist, neither would our jobs. I am constantly reinforcing my vision, as it’s necessary in understanding our value.

I know what you’re thinking: “You don’t understand my situation!”

Actually, I’ve probably been in your situation. I’ve worked at public and private facilities. I’ve worked with extremely low and high budgets. I’ve reported to a general manager, pro, owner, you name it. I’ve also managed construction of new facilities and grow-ins. One thing has always stayed the same. A person or group is making decisions that are affected by my job results. Instead of just hoping that people notice what I’m doing, I attempt to make them understand. I develop a relationship and use it.

Many people misunderstand the benefits of these relationships. I won’t lie. I haven’t had much in common with some managers I’ve worked for. But I must be willing to experience new things to create these relationships. Listening to problems involving guest services, for example, has really helped me teach my staff about the customer’s importance. Customers are the fuel in our engine. So I demand customer appreciation from my staff.

I’m also able to explain how tough the clubhouse staff’s job is. Trying to keep the customer happy is no easy task. On the flip side, the clubhouse will begin to understand and appreciate what the maintenance staff does.

I’ve been at Thanksgiving Point GC for three years. In my first week on the job we edged a bunker to show the director of golf what they should look like. He loved it, and I explained that we should try to get them all done as soon as possible. We still have not made it through all of the bunkers — not because we’re slow, but because I was wrong. After my relationship with the golf director developed, we began to develop priorities. I realized that my priorities for the course were not the same as those of the majority of golfers. They pay the bills and their comments create our priorities.

My boss, Mark Whetzel, was highly interested in what we could do to help grow profit. As he began to learn how to manage our tasks, our relationship began to grow — and so, no glass wall. Mark had many ideas for the course but no idea of what those ideas would cost. Because we make these decisions together he is not doing my job; rather, he is supportive of my job. When the guests ask questions, the clubhouse speaks with one voice on our behalf. If I inform Mark of problems, we can work together to find solutions. If he finds out on his own and comes to me, my answers are just excuses.

The future
Steve Mona’s GCM column was also interesting to me from a golf-development perspective. I’ve spent more than five years building golf courses. Managing the construction process required dealing with some glass walls. Designers, developers and others can be difficult to understand. I touch on this because I believe the future of affordable golf will begin at construction. You can lower a maintenance budget, but you can’t lower the cost of construction after opening day.

A golf development requires many areas of expertise, including design, construction, marketing, maintenance and management. This only covers the golf course. Many times it also will involve real estate sales, which depend largely on the success of the golf course. In this situation the golf course is viewed by the development as an amenity, much like a park or swimming pool. Understanding this is key to creating the type of course that meets the development’s needs.
Golf Resource Group Inc. is built around this theory. I have two partners, Staples and Walton. Staples is a golf course architect. He has more than 10 years experience in designing golf courses around the world. But none of his experience involves the day-to-day management of existing golf courses. He has spent the last year learning about golf course operations to better prepare himself for future projects. His understanding of what takes place daily has changed his entire approach to development. He has been able to see first hand what our true objectives are while managing an active facility. In fact, he has spent a great deal of time working with our maintenance crew, which has dramatically changed his perspective of the superintendent’s role.
Walton has been involved in a wide variety of customer service-oriented businesses. I met him while he was managing Knolls Country Club in Lincoln, Neb. He has extensive restaurant experience and was involved with operations of a major airline. By the way, he mows fairways better than any employee we have.

The key to everything I’ve mentioned is communication. It’s the bridge to and from each area of the golf market. If you can access these areas, you can gain understanding of what we can do to answer the needs of the facility before it is too late.

Understanding each area of a business gives you the direction you need to succeed in today’s market. “If we build it, they will come,” no longer applies. Golfers are consumers and they now have a wide variety of courses to choose from. Free-market economy is taking over. The strong will survive, and you know the rest. As superintendents, we have a large role in making the business stronger. If we can focus our budgets on the market’s (golfers’) needs, we can capitalize on better profit margins. What does this mean? Job security!

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