8/15/2012 7:08 AM
Well I too am like David McCallum, I am an old timer at 52 years young. I still have 13 years to go so I better learn some more technology so I can compete with the young boys that know it all. Having just spent my 40th summer in the golf course maintenance business I have to comment on Jacob's perception of the old guys that have no technological experience and his thoughts about the young guys with the education and "professional experienc" taking the jobs that are being offered.
First off if you were to ask me what are the biggest changes I have seen in this industry during my career? No doubt it is technology and how we are using it today to manage our properties that we are working at. Every day we now use TDR meters to monitor moisture, we have radio controls of our irrigation system, we post to blogs, Twitter and Facebook from our smart phones. I look at soil temperature, moisture and salinity through my computer to monitor those conditions. With my Ipad I can be looking at the club's web cameras, post to my blog from the golf course, I can mix a load of chemicals in the chemical building while I am out on the golf course, I can roll over in bed to turn on/off the irrigation system if it is raining, I text message, email staff, get reminders for meetings, monitor our sewage lift station to see if it is working, I can look at my pump stations to see if they are running correctly, I manage my ftp site so our weather data can be uploaded to a satellite so irrigation controllers around our city can water correctly, I can access all of my data files while sitting in a Board meeting, I can manage invoices and budgets, I can access the web, I get reminded to go to a meeting, I can look at photos of disease, I can take a photo, and I can go on and on but I think the point is made. Technology is great and but it is only one tool. It still comes down to one simple thing. If you want to be in this business you have to use your tools smartly and to your best advantage. You have to know and use sound agronomic principles to keep your job. You have to know how to motivate staff and the best thing you better be able to do is to communicate.
I am surrounded by an excellent staff of 26 year old flat bellies who want to become superintendents and they will, once they are confident enough to put in their time and glean all of the information they can from us. They have 2 year degrees, they have 4 year degrees, they have worked PGA Championships, US Opens, Ryder Cups and local events. Why because I send them to these events to experience how they do it at these different places. They learn and I learn from them. Once you think you know it all it is time to get out of the business. I learn something new each and every day, all you have to do is pay attention and it is easier.
My whole point to all of this is that club's will make changes, they may hire the younger person or they may hired a seasoned veteran. I know a lot of great young people that are coming up in this industry and they will do well. You also can look at the ones that will fail and they are pretty easy to pick out. They want it all right away, they think they know it all, everything to them is disposable, they are poor communicators, and they don't know a heck of a lot about managing turf.
I was speaking to a very seasoned veteran at a high profile club the other day. He is on the way out and who knows who will replace him. But he told me it was scary to look at GCSAA's statistics on superintendents, only 4% of us are in the 60 – 65 age bracket, meaning not many of us retire from the business. I guess we dry up and blow away because we were not part of the technology age.