For years, Steve Jablonowski searched for a solution to drop water consumption at Crandon Golf at Key Biscayne in Miami.
He considered constructing a water treatment facility near the course, and even designated a plot of land for it, but figured out after almost four years that it fell short of the solution. Not long after that, he researched whether watering less turf could provide an answer to grab some more control over the irrigation. He was even ready to dive into charting the location of every golf cart for a month before realizing it would most likely “be a lot of snake winds” and show next to no value.
Jablonowski normally works with an annual water budget somewhere between $900,000 and $1.1 million at the 18-hole course — a figure as eyebrow-raising for him when he arrived in 2011 as region manager, golf and destinations, for Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces as it might be for you right now — but that figure is unsustainable for so many reasons. Water is a finite resource, of course. So is money, especially when it comes from taxpayers rather than club members.
He needed some sort of relief.
And then he talked with John Sanford about heat maps.
A past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, Sanford has designed or renovated more than 80 courses during a career well into its fourth decade. He is a veteran who has remained nimble, always learning about implementing new technologies. Heat maps are one of them.
RED - Proposed turf reduction areaes (21.37 acres) BLUE - Existing tidal impacted areas (9.44 acres) PURPLE - Combined turf reduction/tidal impacted areas (5.23 acres)
Sanford dived into heat maps — and the GPS trackers that help produce them — during the 2018 Golf Industry Show, when he talked with USGA representatives about their new Facility App. The app involves clipping a GPS tracker on every golfer who uses a course over a week or so. The tracker is then shipped back to the USGA, which analyzes the data in-house and turns around colored maps indicating what areas of a course are trafficked and, in contrast, which are not. More accurate than golf cart GPS and its plentiful aforementioned “snake winds,” they allow the data to sift into the crannies and rough. “A light bulb went off,” Sanford says. “I thought this would be a great way for us to hone in on where we really need grass and where we don’t need grass.”
In order to help Jablonowski finally trim Crandon Golf’s water bill, Sanford proposed repurposing 29 acres of turf, some of it near the course borders that often flood thanks to Key Biscayne, and most of it nostalgic Bermudagrass, a relic of another era of Florida course construction. Crandon Golf has been ranked the best municipal course in Florida and was attractive enough that Donald Trump attempted to wrangle a 99-year contract to manage the property in 2015, but like most courses, it is not perfect. Any potentially productive tool is worthy of consideration.
Jablonowski approved the use of the trackers, which he says cost a couple thousand dollars to rent — the equivalent of “about a day’s worth of water.” The decision, which Jablonowski calls a “no-brainer,” has yielded 177 tracks and more than 600,000 data points, according to Scott Mingay, director of product development for the USGA. Neither Jablonowski nor superintendent Robert Montesino, who handles those duties at all six county courses, say they recall a single player objecting to wearing a tracker.
“When we got the heat map,” Sanford says, “what was really cool about it is there were some areas where we had originally proposed to take turf out, but then we saw some traffic in those areas — not large areas, probably three or four small areas — and we saw we had to have turf in those areas because that was where people were hitting the ball.”
But thanks to the heat map analysis, Sanford identified plenty more areas originally off his almost-literal radar, bringing the total of proposed repurposed turf not to 29 acres but 42. The difference between those two proposals is equal to about one-tenth of the area of the whole course.
This is what data can do in 2019.
Data is not new, but the deep dives available for architects and superintendents are. Where once you were limited to, say, revenue per round, or round length, now you can investigate the analytics of any measurable metric. “Moneyball” is more than a Michael Lewis bestseller and an Oscar-nominated Brad Pitt passion project.
“We try to use data any way we can,” Sanford says. “In our business, it’s physical data. We always use what we call base information — topographic maps, vegetation maps — that’s our improvement plan we use to make decisions as golf course architects. That all comes from my background and my associate Dave Ferris’s background in landscape architecture. Data to us is information about what’s on the ground — soils, vegetation, topography and, in this case, traffic patterns. I would not call myself much of a data guy, but any time we can get empirical data, base information to help us make decisions, we’re gonna take advantage of that. … It’s kind of just a logical thing to do, you know?”
“We have to be salesmen going up to leadership,” Jablonowski says. “Leadership could be politicians, parks professionals, budget and finance folks up on the 20th floor of the building with no windows, and data is what you have to have to show them return on investment and why we’re doing this, to put it into terms that audience understands. Without data, you don’t have a chance.”
That data has already helped yield about $150,000 in savings, with a projected net reduction in annual water costs of about $350,000.
“This shows the importance of communication with the architects, with superintendents and with the professional group in the front office,” says Montesino, the superintendent. “Everybody has come together for this project, and we all have a great understanding of it. One of the main things was communicating what we were trying to do to all the golfers and everybody was on board. We didn’t get any negative feedback. It highlights what we can accomplish if we’re all on the same page.”
We have to be salesmEn going up to leadership. Leadership could be politicians, parks professionals, budget and finance folks up on the 20th floor of the building with no windows, and data is what you have to have to show them return on investment and why we’re doing this, to put it into terms that audience understands. Without data, you don’t have a chance.” – Steve Jablonowski
The more considerable savings might be realized when Jablonowski and Crandon Golf receive funding for the turf repurposing project that will transition those 42 acres of relatively untrafficked turf into crushed limestone, crushed aggregate and pine straw — improving aesthetics at the same time they improve the bottom line.
Those 42 acres of turf are still turf, though. Because the course is public and one of six owned by Miami-Dade County, challenges contrast those at a private course where boards and members call shots and determine budgets. Funding is, unfortunately, far from a sure thing.
“Public golf is not the easiest animal to take for a walk, but you can be successful if you collaborate and if you know what’s coming every year,” Jablonowski says. “It’s not rocket science but there are an awful lot of moving parts to what we do.” The proposal is one of a handful Jablonowski included for consideration in the 2019-20 county budget, which will total around $8 billion. “We’ve got to get to finance people and get them to authorize the plan,” he says. “We’ve put a nice proposal in place, showing savings over a five-year period, and we can pay for it. … At least we’re at the table.”
The total probable cost is a little more than $2.6 million, with a three-year implementation planned through 2021. “Let’s hope the county gives them the money,” Sanford says.
Because while we live in a world driven by data, cash is still king.
Matt LaWell is GCI’s managing editor.
The Evolution of the Practice Facility
Features - Spotlight
Golfers are spending more time and money honing their games. Anthony L. Williams, CGCS, CGM, explores a part of a course where technology and social possibilities are converging.
Lately I have been involved in a lot of discussions with other golf industry professionals about practice facilities and the golfer’s expectations for these facilities now and in the future. It is important to note that what we now know as practice facilities were once shadows of their current selves. Thirty years ago, we used terms like driving range or putting green and occasionally mentioned a practice bunker that was likely located at the side of driving range tee. The idea was to hit a quick bucket of balls and maybe roll a few putts and get on the course as quickly as possible. Those days are over.
We are now living in the age of the fully-appointed practice facility and savvy superintendents are raising the standard across the industry. Let’s look at some of the latest innovations in the evolution of the practice facility.
Technology has changed the way golfers play and practice
The epicenter of the need for the evolution from a simple driving range/putting green to a modern practice facility is technology. Expanding golf technology is the driving force behind changes in the average practice facility.
Do you need more proof? Picture (or Google search) a typical driving range from the 1980s. How many rangefinders do you see? Video swing and swing speed analysis stations? How about overhead and in-ground lighting, not to mention master-planned LED lighting? How many night golf events are on the calendar? What sort of irons and drivers do you see? Are the type of range balls you see still in use today? What does the average shot look like from a height and distance perspective?
“Technology enhancements that track shots for distance and accuracy are becoming more common every day,” says PGA Master Professional Tim Cusick, who was recently selected as one of the top 100 golf instructors in the country. “My hope is that all facilities can enjoy these types of systems in 10 years’ time.”
These changes have fueled the evolution of the practice facility. The changes are obvious and show no sign of slowing down or stopping. The successful Topgolf business model has tapped into the blend of technology and golf ethos in a unique practice environment, and successful clubs are eager to find their own answer to the successful practice facility equation. It is time to rethink what is possible.
Spacious practice areas with improved turf varieties are a customer demand at facilities of all levels.
Now that we have established the number of practice shots struck and the shear distance the golfer is hitting the ball has changed, we can also see the deep impact on the design and maintenance budget required to create the practice space.
Bigger tees, higher netting, more targets, defined hitting lanes, and designated chipping only and putting only areas are now expected at every level of a golf club. I have worked in the private, public and resort golf markets over the past 30 years, and while the end products and price points vary, the practice facility has become a value add at every level. Every designer and architect I spoke with told me they have never heard of a driving range tee project where the tee size was going to be reduced. In fact, most agreed that it was impossible to build a practice tee too big now and in the future.
It is also important to note that as we get new and improved turf varieties that recover quicker and pair them with even better agronomic programs (a great topic for another article) there is a limit to the number of shots that a natural grass tee can take and still hold the expected quality. Thus, some brave souls have integrated synthetic turf into their practice facilities. Technological advances in synthetic turf are proving a valued strategy in the modern practice facility. Many superintendents are using state-of-the-art synthetic turfs to take some of the pressure off the natural grass surfaces, especially in high-volume clubs. These new synthetics are more playable than earlier products, they can hold a tee, and are available in tee/fairway, rough and even green heights. When well designed and constructed, these modern additions are a great way to accommodate more play in less space.
Another regional use for these tees and greens, especially in the Transition Zone, is for frost delays or rain events that may temporarily close natural turf tees/greens. The synthetic tees/greens allow for a more weather-proof experience. I built my first synthetic tee 15 years ago and we just opened the latest version last month. The new synthetic materials are amazing, and our membership could not be happier with the addition. We have improved our practice areas by blending tradition and innovation, thinking outside the traditional tee box.
Practice areas provide space for a diversity of events that can help golf facilities generate interest among new audiences.
Social aspects of the modern practice facility are critical to success
The game of golf is also changing socially. It is an individual sport played in small groups, but now more than ever the golf club experience has an ever-increasing social expectation. It is even more important that a practice facility has a variety of social aspects and alternative uses that meet or exceed the golfer’s expectations.
Our natural grass practice tee, for example, will host more than a dozen large social events ranging from formal dinners to concerts and circus-style attractions this year. Beyond special events, every part of the practice facility must meet or exceed golfer/user expectation such as restroom facilities, which must be adequately designed, sized and clean. Food and beverage services must be available and be equal to the club’s food and beverage reputation. Hours of operation must be extended to allow early and late practice (time is a factor). This mandates quality lighting throughout the practice facility for both function and safety.
Junior programs must offer quality instruction and plenty of social engagement for the child and the parent. The Topgolf influence can once again be felt in this new level of expectation as every club evaluates how far to expand the practice facility as an added social space. Some new uses for the practice facility include mini-course layouts in the driving range floor, water features (for practice and aesthetics), multiple target greens that are visible from several hitting angles/locations, creative range/distance targets, practice areas designed for small, medium and large groups, and private teaching areas catering to specific golfer needs. Covered and heated hitting bays are also a must for the fair-weather golfer. Even irrigation and drainage must be maximized to allow more hours of operation so that facilities are not too wet or too dry but just right.
Bob Scott, ASIC President of Irrigation Consulting Services in Georgia says, “We are now actually making a game out of practicing the game and we must customize every design element to maximize resources and minimize disruptions.” That says it all.
Communication and crafting a master plan
How do we make sure that we make the most of our practice facility and that it continues to evolve with the times? The key is to communicate with all stakeholders to gather real feedback and develop a team of experts that can craft a master plan touching all issues impacting success.
Technology, agronomy, instruction, tracking, social areas, personal service, facilities and alternative uses are all born-first as ideas. Then they must be examined and tested to see if they have merit within the business model and then brought into reality with a sense of urgency.
“Our master plan process is heavy on communication at all levels,” says Steve Wolfard of W Golf Design. “Without that communication, it is possible that you will miss the mark and not create as many opportunities for it (the practice facility experience) to be great.” That sums up the evolution of the practice facility. Expectations have moved from good to great and we must deliver every time a range ball takes flight.
Putting it all in perspective
The greatest part about the golf industry is that the more it changes, the more it stays the same. The evolution of the practice facility is no different. Golf is a great game in part because it allows for a variety of players to find their swing and create memories as a single, foursome or a tournament champion.
The industry has developed a new and growing revenue stream within the practice facility. Superintendents are committed to crafting to new designs and programs to maximize this evolving part of our properties. We remain the keepers of the green (practice or primary). We often interact with more members on these practice areas than anywhere else on the property. As you make your rounds and your budgets this season, take a hard look at where your practice facility is, where it could be and then join the evolution.
Anthony L. Williams is the director of golf course maintenance and landscaping at the Four Seasons Resort Club Dallas at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas.
His Crop is Turf
Features - industry Q&A
Lessons from small-town beginnings helped Rick Tegtmeier land and keep his dream job at Des Moines Golf and Country Club.
Rick Tegtmeier held his first superintendent job before he could vote. To the benefit of hundreds of turf managers in Iowa and beyond, Tegtmeier has never lost the zest and resourcefulness he displayed as a 17-year-old making daily decisions leading a three-person crew at Rockford Golf & Country Club in Rockford, Iowa.
Shuttered because of another crop – “$7 corn took that course out,” Tegtmeier says – teenaged lessons absorbed at the 9-hole course shaped one of the Heartland’s heralded turf careers. Tegtmeier, the director of grounds at Des Moines Golf and Country Club, became the seventh superintendent inducted into the Iowa Golf Association Hall of Fame earlier this year. His 13-year run as Des Moines G&CC’s turf leader includes the renovation of all 36 Pete Dye-designed holes and hosting the 2017 Solheim Club, the biggest golf event staged in Iowa.
Before he arrived in Des Moines, the state’s capital and largest city, Tegtmeier spent a childhood in Rockford (pop. 825), a small northern Iowa town once known for its brick and tile factory. Part of Rockford’s social life revolved around the golf course, which operated under the guidance of charismatic greens committee chairman Ed Batty, a local banker who lured numerous teenagers into golf course maintenance. A few of the club’s young workers eventually became superintendents.
“Ed would say, ‘Hey, what are you going to do with your life? Did you know you can get into turfgrass management? Iowa State has a good program or Hawkeye Community College has a good program.’” Tegtmeier says. “He would help us get student loans by telling us where to apply. He encouraged us.”
Nearly every career decision Tegtmeier made after graduating from Hawkeye Community College pointed toward becoming Des Moines G&CC’s turf leader. The long-term ambition became a reality in 2006 when the club selected Tegtmeier to replace Bill Byers, who held the head superintendent position for 49 years. Tegtmeier worked under Byers for seven years in the 1980s.
Tegtmeier has spent the bulk of his 46-year turf career in Iowa, where he and his wife, Sherry, raised three children, Lynette, Nate and Eric. Nate is the superintendent of the Des Moines G&CC North Course. A superintendent with more instate connections than Tegtmeier might not exist. His network even includes two-time major champion and Iowa icon Zach Johnson.
A principle imparted by Byers, also an Iowa Golf Association Hall of Famer, helped Tegtmeier establish a connection with Johnson while he served as superintendent at Elmcrest Country Club, the Cedar Rapids course where Johnson learned the game.
“I asked Bill Byers one time, ‘What’s the key to staying in the business?’” Tegtmeier says. “He said, ‘Treat every young kid like you want to be treated because someday he will be president of the club. And if you piss him off early, he’s going to remember that when he’s president and you’ll be gone.’ You have to treat everybody with respect.”
Whether it’s a member of Des Moines G&CC’s 48-member agronomic team, a committee chair, a major champion or a young golfer, Tegtmeier makes everybody associated with the game feel valued. Thousands of golf enthusiasts can thank a banker for identifying this industry treasure.
How did you get involved with the industry?
I walked into the bank one day with my dad. I was 13 years old and Ed said, ‘Hey, we need some help laying sod. Do you want to come out and work?’ I must have been a good worker because the next summer he asked me back. We had a big rotary rough mower on a tractor that couldn’t get next to the trees. So I grabbed a lawnmower and a 5-gallon can of gas and went out and mowed around trees to get the grass down. I started weed eating and finally they started showing me how to mow greens, change cups, mow fairways, become a night waterman, etc.
What type of agriculture connections ran in your family?
My grandpa and his brothers were in agriculture. My grandpa sold the farm and he ended up running a local garden center. When I was a little kid, I would go to the grocery store and hang out with grandpa in the garden center. I always enjoyed listening to him talk to people about horticulture. That really spurred an interest in me early. In Rockford, you walked beans, you bailed hay, you did whatever around the ag community. I had uncles who raised chickens and we used to catch chickens. None of those things appealed to me as much as working on the golf course.
At what point did you realize golf course maintenance could become a career?
Probably when I was 16 or 17. (Former Hyperion Field Club superintendent) John Ausen was eight years ahead of me and I used to hear everything about John Ausen. He worked at Firestone Country Club, he worked at Field Club of Omaha. He was the go-to guy at the time for Ed. Ed would call John and ask, ‘What are you guys doing?’ And Ed would bring those ideas back. It just started to appeal to me. I wanted to somehow be outside. It just seemed like a natural fit. By the time I was a senior in high school, that was what I was going to do.
Do you still think there are kids in places like Rockford, Iowa, who want to go into this business?
I definitely think there are kids out there in agriculture that want to hear about alternative agriculture. We approached Bill Northey, our Secretary of Agriculture in Iowa, and he said, ‘You guys need to get more involved with FFA.’ We had a really big push at the state FFA convention. I don’t do this, but my son Nate does this, and Tim Van Loo, who maintains the football field at Jack Trice Stadium, are involved when they come Iowa State. They bring in 100 kids, they have a barbecue and they talk to them about alternative agriculture, whether that’s sports turf management or golf course management. They take them out to a local golf course and show them what they do there. We have met with FFA instructors. One of the things you can do in FFA is turfgrass management. A lot of people don’t know about that and that’s why it’s important to get into these schools and talk to these kids.
I have gone to the Des Moines schools and talked to the FFA program and told them about it. We say, ‘Hey, there’s a business here where you can still participate in agriculture.’ My crop is turf. My yield is grass clippings. It’s measured every day. We don’t get paid for grass clippings, but it’s the same concept. There’s definitely a spot out there for these young kids, especially in Iowa – if you can connect with them early because there are so many different technologies. You have to let them know there is technology involved in growing grass.
You have been very successful at integrating technology into your operation. What is the relationship between the crop you manage and technology?
When I went to Elmcrest Country Club in 1989, they had a computer. That was back when you would turn it on and it was MS-DOS. I thought you could turn it on and just start typing a letter. I quickly realized you can’t. Nothing bugs me more than to have something in my possession and I don’t know how to run in it. I kind of delved into the computer world, read books and taught myself how to run MS-DOS. Pretty soon I got involved with TurfByte, which was started by Duane Patton. That was a computer bulletin board at the time. I started to realize that you could use technology to communicate with other superintendents. I learned so much from guys like Jon Scott, Duane Patton and Garry Grigg. It didn’t matter what age you were. Oscar Miles was on there. Here I am, a young kid at 29 years old, and I’m talking to the ‘bigs’ in the turf world. That just evolved into more technology. To be honest, it’s all self-educated.
Rick Tegtmeier’s team hosted the 2017 Solheim Cup following the renovation of Des Moines Golf and Country Club’s 36 holes.
Do you now have younger superintendents, assistant superintendents or students reach out to you through technology?
A lot of people reach out to me on Twitter. Social media is the TurfByte that was out there 30 years ago. There are no ‘bigs’ out there. We are all the same. It’s just how much do you want to share with people. You learn something new every day. I just saw the other day where somebody made a nozzle to spray under your spray deck out of black gas pipe. I sent somebody out to buy black gas pipe so I can make one of these nozzles to clean out the decks under mowers. As long as people are willing to share what they do and are not intimidated by it, I think it’s great. It’s where you share something and people criticize people that it becomes a problem. You have to learn in the technology field that every golf course is different and what works for one person might not work for the other people, but don’t criticize them. You’re not walking in their shoes.
What did you learn from Bill Byers?
I interviewed with Bill first in 1980. I interviewed at Des Moines and a little 9-hole golf course called Urbandale Country Club the same day. I interviewed at Urbandale first and they offered me the job on the spot. I said, ‘I have to wait. I have to interview with Bill.’ I came to Des Moines Golf and I had never seen an operation like this. I walked into the shop and they had a central hoist. They had at the time what I thought was a lot of equipment coming from a 9-hole course and I was just overwhelmed. I basically said that in the interview and Bill didn’t hire me. I went to Urbandale, and while I worked really hard, I couldn’t get that out of my mind. Des Moines Golf is just where I had to be. I talked to other people and a local superintendent said, ‘Rick, you need to go to a big golf course. You have to get 18-hole experience and broaden your horizons.’ He lined me up with a golf course in Chicago (Hinsdale Golf Club) and I went there as first assistant. I went there in March, I was 21 years old, and they fired the superintendent Fourth of July weekend.
So, you’re in charge at that point?
We ran the golf course the rest of the year and then in the fall they said, ‘Are you interested in the job?’ I said, ‘No. I have to move back to Iowa.’ I left in February of 1983. Bill had a superintendent on one of the golf courses named Steve Ladeburg. Steve got cancer and passed away. There was an opening and Bill hired me. From 1983 to 1987, that was the big kick in bentgrass fairways coming to the Midwest, and triplex mowers and five-gang mowers. We killed and overseeded our fairways to bentgrass in 1985, 1986 and 1987. We did nine holes a year and in 1987 we did 18 holesThat was a big turning point in golf course maintenance. Everybody just took it up a notch. You had bigger crews. At that time, we were mowing everything with triplexes. We started hand mowing greens. You had bentgrass fairways, you had better weed control products, better plant protectants, better fungicides, better insecticides. Turfgrass just got better. That was a big, big learning point for me working for Bill at that time. I’ll never forget it, in one of my reviews in 1988, he said, ‘Where do you want to be? What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘I want to sit in your chair.’ He said, ‘Leave. I’m still young. I’m going to stay here the rest of my career. You have to leave and go make a name for yourself, and someday when I retire, hopefully you can apply.’
How valuable and memorable were your 17 years at Elmcrest Country Club?
Everything that I did at Elmcrest I was trying to emulate what Bill Byers was doing. We converted to Penncross fairways because that’s what Des Moines Golf had. Why did I pick A-4 bentgrass for Elmcrest? Because that’s what Des Moines Golf had. I tried to learn as much as I could and make things just as good at Elmcrest as they were at Des Moines Golf. I tried to emulate everything Bill was doing or even do it better, because when my opportunity came at Des Moines Golf, I wanted to be the guy.
When I was at Elmcrest what Larry Gladson, the golf pro, was doing was infectious for everybody. His love of the game carried over into my crew. I went there thinking just about golf course maintenance. When I left there 17 years later, I thought about everything being a team. In the 1980s and 1990s, golf pros and superintendents didn’t get along. And Larry and I got along great. We did everything together.
Larry would always invite me to talk to the junior golfers. There was a group of five kids that played together every day. You kind of gravitated toward them. You would see them, stop and say, ‘Long drive for a candy bar.’ Or I would give them golf balls. Or I would give them tees. All of them were good golfers. One of them was Brian Rupp, who ended up playing for the University of Iowa. And then there was Zach Johnson, who probably loved the game more than anybody and had more desire. His high school golf team won the state championship, but he wasn’t quite recognized as a great player. He went to Drake University and the rest is history.
How fortunate have you been to spend most of your career in the state you care so much about?
It’s a dream come true. I’m lucky that I have been at two clubs that have been forward-thinking and allowed me to do what I love. It was cool during my Hall of Fame induction that a ton of Elmcrest members were there, knowing you have that support 13 years later is special. It’s been a great ride and it’s so cool to stay here and identify with all these people and tell these stories over the years. It’s been a great time to be involved with golf in Iowa and in the industry.
You’re in the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame. You’ve gone through the biggest of big renovations. You’ve hosted a major tournament. You’ve sent a lot of your assistants onto head superintendent positions. How do you want the next five to 10 years to go?
I’m not going to take my foot off the gas. If anything, we’re stepping on it harder and shifting to a higher speed. I still think there are things that we can do here to improve. The day you can’t improve is probably the day you should walk away. I look at the industry and how fast it’s changing. I still want to be a part of that. I still want to do things that will improve Des Moines Golf and make it better. I don’t want to leave here having people say, ‘He rested on his laurels.’
There are a lot of superintendents in your situation. How do superintendents in their late 50s and early 60s stay motivated?
I told this story during my Hall of Fame induction. I made a joke about Barney Fife and not a single one of my guys laughed because they didn’t know who he was. I thought, ‘I’m surrounded by millennials.’ You have to embrace what they are doing and understand what they are doing and learn how to get motivated by them and what motivates them. No matter what you do in this business, it’s an evolution. You have to constantly reinvent yourself, all the time. Every day you have to look at it and say, ‘What can we change to make it better for them as employees to want to work here? And what can we do to make it better for our golfers to walk in here?’ My goal has always been that when a member pulls into Des Moines Golf and when they pull out, they have the same smile on their face. That’s what motivates me. I don’t want them to have a bad day.
The Thrill of the Turf
Features - Cover Story
They left. They returned. Industry professionals describe what led them back to daily life on a golf course.
Stacy Baker caddied his first round when he was 13 years old. Since then, he has worked a couple Colorado summers at Boulder Country Club and a couple seasons at Wellshire Golf Course in Denver. He has designed a tee, a green and a trio of par-3 holes for a wealthy South Korean business owner. For years and years, he has traversed the Pacific Northwest, first climbing the proverbial ladder at Riverside Golf & Country Club in Portland and Tumwater Valley Golf Club near Olympia, then heading down to California’s Table Mountain Golf Club in Oroville and Peach Tree Golf & Country Club in Marysville. Until January, he worked as the director of agronomy for Morton Golf, overseeing all maintenance of the MacKenzie Course and Arcade Creek at Haggin Oaks in Sacramento.
And for much of this year, he has rolled out of his Northern California bed as early as ever to walk Amber, his beloved Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and Sadee, his rambunctious Labradoodle-German Shepherd, before embarking on another day.
These days, though, are not filled with course work. Not right now, at least.
After Baker returns home with Amber and Sadee, he instead heads back out for some more miles, running seriously for the first time in his life. Then he practices yoga. Then he sits down and writes another thousand or so words of his novel — a not-all-that-autobiographical story about a golfer and her relationship with a greenkeeper-turned-caddie whose wonderful working title is Off the Green — first by hand in the mornings, then pounded out in the afternoons on a 1950s Smith-Corona typewriter he discovered at an antiques store. He’s even carving out time to finally earn his pilot’s license.
Baker is living his best life, exercising his mind and body, spending more time with his girlfriend — a high school English teacher named Sherry Fortner who’s editing his manuscript — and pressing the refresh button on a turf career creeping toward the end of its third decade.
“You have to be able to find something away from the golf course,” says Baker, 48, who previously stepped back from the industry in 2012, when he opted to play golf and bass fish for the better part of a year, and for three years early in his career, when he operated a division of his father’s Eagle Snacks company before Anheuser-Busch peddled it off to Frito-Lay in October 1995. He says he plans to return to the fold — he might be back already by the time you’re reading this story — but his sabbaticals are a sort of necessity and a benefit.
“I always tell people, you never know if you’re going to make it to retirement,” Baker says. “You have to take these little breaks, and then have faith that somebody’s going to give you another chance.”
Baker’s story is anecdotal, of course, but it’s far from an anomaly. Eight superintendents and directors across the country shared their experiences of time off the turf for this story. A couple were fired, but the rest walked away on their own. Some cited family as the driving force behind their decision, others said salary and benefits were the keys. More than a couple mentioned differences with leadership — though they requested details and attribution not be included here, for obvious reasons of keeping bridges sturdy rather than incinerated. Mental health popped up again and again.
No two experiences are the same. The one constant, though, for Baker and everybody else, is the lure of the turf. You could be gone for a week, a month, a year, a decade, and it’s still there, somewhere deep inside, all but impossible to shake.
“It’s nice to at least have a year of retirement,” Baker says. “Then you get the bug again, pulled back into this crazy industry.”
‘I had doors slammed in my face’
According to a 2016 survey published by the nonprofit Families and Work Institute, more than half of all American employees reported feeling “overworked or overwhelmed at least some of the time” and almost three-quarters said they “often dream of having a different job.” Few if any of those surveyed likely worked in turf, and there aren’t any firm numbers for the industry — we here at Golf Course Industry have asked about firings in recent State of the Industry surveys but not about what prompts somebody to leave — but plenty of folks have walked away.
Kevin Sunderman, for one. Currently the golf course superintendent at Isla Del Sol Yacht & Country Club in St. Petersburg down in Florida and a member of the GCSAA board of directors, he shifted from sunrises to stocks, working as a broker for Edward Jones for about two years to better financially support his young family.
Jeff Eldridge, too. The director of agronomy at the Clubs of Cordillera Ranch near San Antonio and Austin, he stepped out for about three-and-a-half years, first for “a great opportunity” to become an H&R Block franchise partner, then to enter the sales fray for Bayer to get back closer to golf.
And Adam Deiwert. An assistant superintendent at The Cliffs Mountain Park near Greenville, S.C., and a recent assistant at PGA Tour stop Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, he pressed pause early in his career because of a handful of challenges, including the strain long hours placed on his young marriage, switching gears to work for a local lawncare company, then the third shift at a warehouse distribution center.
“Coming home, just not seeing each other, we kind of expected that,” Deiwert says. “But she also wasn’t expecting that complete shift in attitude over to how I was acting. It was taking a pretty good toll on our marriage and we’d only been married for three years at the time, so we were still kind of getting used to each other.”
That early stop out of turf school “wasn’t really working out,” Deiwert says, “but there weren’t any other openings in the area, so I was sticking it out as long as I could. It finally got to the point that we were getting ready for the second summer and I told my wife, Acey, I don’t care what it is, I’m just going to start applying for everything turf in the area.”
Eldridge wrestled with the transition from spending his days almost exclusively outdoors — he had most recently worked as the superintendent at Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate near Kansas City — to almost exclusively indoors, and while the course did share more traits with tax preparation than you might imagine, “it just wasn’t a good fit,” he says.
“That whole period of time, from January through April 15, is fairly similar to what you can expect from a golf course in the Midwest June through August, a lot of hours and all that,” Eldridge says. “I don’t mind that. It was just different getting used to it at that time of year. But the stresses are equal. I think I started realizing when the weather started turning nice again that first year, that, ‘Man, I want to be out there.’”
Sunderman arrived in Florida around the turn of the century with his wife, Melani, their toddler son and their soon-to-be-born daughter, only to find that his new employer had not approved his promised salary. Instead, he received about two-thirds of what had been quoted. “We had bought a house based on that amount,” he says. “We did it for a while, but we were struggling to make ends meet. Now we had two kids and a mortgage, and not seeing any great golf opportunities on the horizon, I said, ‘Man, I need to do something else.’”
After talking with his brother, Mike, a fellow agriculture buff who landed with Edward Jones, Sunderman interviewed with the company, learned the finance industry and started walking neighborhoods to establish face-to-face conversations. “This was right after the tech bubble burst, so a lot of people had just lost a lot of money,” he says. “I had doors slammed in my face. I was called a crook. I was bitten by a dog. There were times I would park my car at the end of the street and throw up on my shoes.” Sunderman pushed through and was on track to earn close to $100,000 his second year — more than three times his last turf salary — but he missed being on the course and building things with his hands. He missed the sunrises.
This was right after the tech bubble burst, so a lot of people had just lost a lot of money. I had doors slammed in my face. I was called a crook. I was bitten by a dog. There were times I would park my car at the end of the street and throw up on my shoes.” — Kevin Sunderman
‘Harder than hell to get back in’
Americans switch jobs about a dozen times over the course of their working life, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the median tenure checks in at a whopping 4.0 years for women and 4.3 years for men. Eldridge has eight stops under his belt. Baker has seven. Sunderman has six. So does Deiwert. Some of them might hit a dozen professional changes, but if they do, every new job will almost definitely be in the turf industry.
They’ve ventured out, tested the waters and returned to what they love.
Sunderman scoured classified sections — still relatively robust back in 2004 — then leaned on what he describes as his “meager network” to land an interview at TPC Prestancia in Sarasota. “I basically laid it all out for them,” he says. “‘I miss it desperately, I want to get back into this business, and I’m giving up a lot to do it, but I like getting my hands dirty.’ And the thing that got me the job is that they had a terrible irrigation system. In an interview, you say whatever will get you the job, so I said, ‘Oh, yeah, I love irrigation’ — which I did, but I had no idea the extent of the irrigation work on that property.”
Eldridge loved his two years as an area sales manager for Bayer, but the travel proved too large a hurdle to continue, every week on the road, especially with a 10-year-old son and 14- and 16-year-old daughters at home. He landed at Lake Quivira Country Club near Kansas City, where he worked for about five years as the superintendent and grounds manager, armed with new appreciations for chemistry and sales. “You’re spending a lot of time with Ph.D.s with that Green Solutions Team,” he says of his work with Dr. Frank Wong, Dr. Rob Golembiewski and Laurence Mudge, among others at Bayer, “and their knowledge is at a different level.”
Deiwert says he could have established a career at the warehouse distribution center — “The people were great people,” he says. “Great job, paid well, the benefits were fantastic” — but after about a year out of turf and about two years out of golf, he wanted back in. He landed at Trinity Forest Golf Club, working under director of grounds Kasey Kauff for just shy of the next four years before returning to South Carolina last year for family reasons.
After a couple years outside golf, Deiwert says he started to focus more on “just finding the good things about each day. I didn’t do a good job of that earlier. I just focused on the negatives and all the things I didn’t like about each day. … Find even the tiniest thing that’s good about getting to work, even if it’s just the five minutes you happen to be on a hole by yourself.”
Perhaps reading this story has sparked your desire to step away for a stretch. “Before you make that move,” Eldridge says, “you have to realize it is harder than hell to get back in.” One reason is that your course is your resume. “If you don’t have that for them to go physically look at, that’s a challenge. ‘I was the greatest grass-grower in the world two years ago. You’re just going to have to take my word on it.’ ‘Well, what are you doing now?’”
Or perhaps you’re already outside the industry and ready to return. “Lean on your network and the (GCSAA),” Sunderman says. “Those are the opportunities you have to meet the people who can help open doors for you. The GCSAA will provide you all kinds of educational opportunities, especially if you’ve been out of it for a number of years. All of a sudden, if you can somehow find a way to take advantage of some of the webinars they offer, or the certificate programs, these are ways to maybe increase your current knowledge base.” And yes, the GCSAA does offer an inactive membership for reasons of unemployment, illness or other adversity.
“We want to be inclusive,” Sunderman says. “We want to look for ways to help people in these types of situations.”
That whole period of time, from January through April 15, is fairly similar to what you can expect from a golf course in the Midwest June through August, a lot of hours and all that. I don’t mind that. It was just different getting used to it at that time of year. But the stresses are equal. I think I started realizing when the weather started turning nice again that first year, that, ‘Man, I want to be out there.’” — Jeff Eldridge
‘I’m a grower’
A couple years ago, a Spanish travel company called eDreams surveyed more than 12,000 people in the European Union and the United States. More than half of the American respondents said that a planned strategic pause in their working life would improve their mental health. Few companies anywhere in the country offer sabbaticals, either paid or unpaid — about a quarter of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For offer a sabbatical, and McDonald’s, believe it or not, is credited with starting the country’s first corporate sabbatical program in 1977. Not many clubs can offer a break from the grind. If you want a sabbatical, you’ll probably need to schedule it yourself.
You need to take care of yourself, too. Not long after Frito-Lay purchased Eagle Snacks from Anheuser-Busch and pushed him toward unemployment on a Friday afternoon, Baker realized there is little loyalty in business.
“Things can just change like that,” he says. “I’ve always been a little leery of security, and knowing this business, no matter how good you have the golf courses looking, management or ownership or membership, they can turn on you overnight. That’s what I learned at Eagle Snacks. Nobody seems to have any loyalty in this business. There are very few guys I know in this industry who have been a superintendent at their same course for 30 years. It’s not that type of an industry. Superintendents are expendable.”
A couple weeks after Baker embarked on his current sabbatical, his girlfriend, Sherry told him she didn’t care how he filled his days, “but you have to do something.” He started his novel days later, then added running and yoga, then started the pursuit of his pilot’s license, inspired by his father’s and grandfather’s past aerial exploits.
According to that same 2017 sabbatical survey, the reasons cited most often by Americans dreaming of an extended career pause are an escape from the stresses of working life (53 percent of more than 2,000 U.S. respondents) and the aforementioned improved mental health (52 percent). Improved physical health (40 percent), family travel (39 percent) and learning new skills (19 percent) check in third, fourth and seventh on the list, respectively. Baker has them all covered. He keeps his phone in a drawer until at least noon most days and spent two weeks with his family back in February.
“I never would have had those opportunities to just spend that much time back home if I was working crazy hours every day,” he says. “I did that the last time I took off, too. Spent about three weeks at home, got to golf, fish, spend some real quality time with my dad. You never know how long he’s going to be around, you know?”
When Baker interviewed superintendents or assistant superintendents, he would always ask, whether they were a grower or a mower. Responses were split about down the middle. “Some guys would say, ‘Oh, I can stripe up a fairway,’” Baker says. “I don’t care about stripes on a fairway. I care that there’s grass out there we can mow. The mow is the hassle part of it. I’m a grower.
“That’s what I’m kind of doing now, whether it’s just in my back yard with my tomatoes and peppers and all the plants that I’m growing, whether it’s a few landscapes I’m working on for other people. It’s just that whole mentality, I just want to continue to grow. That’ll never leave me.”
There are no guarantees in this life, of course. Paychecks and benefits can vanish in an instant. Hearts pump blood for only so many years. The prospect of retirement remains just that until that last walk on the course. In the end, business will remain business and loyalty will remain a mirage far more often than not.
The thrill of the turf, though. No matter how long or how far you wander, the thrill of the turf will almost always pull you back.
Guy Cipriano learns about Bethpage State Park’s greater purpose from the people responsible for managing its golf courses, plant species and ecosystem.
Hello. Great to meet you. Let’s start walking and talking.
Bethpage State Park horticulturist Victor Azzaretto and I dash through the maintenance facility and down a steep hill referred to as “Pike’s Peak.” We stop briefly at a spot called “Victor’s Valley,” a former dump-turned-garden parallel to the Black Course’s fourth fairway.
Bird boxes are placed throughout the five golf courses at Bethpage State Park.
Azzaretto talks excitedly, waving his arms and hands describing how his role managing plant species fits into the greater mission of the five-course park. A gallery marches along the right side of the hole and Dustin Johnson, the world’s top ranked golfer, struts between the gallery and the temporary stopping point. Neither of us has much to discuss about Johnson’s prospects at the 101st PGA Championship.
Bethpage fascinates because if offers 1,368 acres of public greenspace — including a major championship golf course and four other soothing tracts — within a crowd slice of Long Island. High-energy, high-productivity personalities such as Azzaretto are entrusted with doing what they deem fit to lure visitors to the park. A Long Island native, Azzaretto worked as a teenager in Bethpage’s clubhouse, then joined the golf course maintenance crew, and later earned a horticulture degree from nearby SUNY-Farmingdale. His bosses created the horticulturist title, satisfying Azzaretto’s desire to work with plants while boosting golf course and park aesthetics. “This is a nice hidden gem,” he says. “You can learn a lot here.”
A hidden gem? In a county with 1.3 million residents? At a major championship venue? The rise of the Black Course as a fabled American golf venue represents a small sliver of Bethpage’s busy existence.
Daily green fees and PGA Championship tickets come with visual perks carefully cultivated by the Bethpage staff. Broomsedge adds fire and color to the golf courses, with the plants being grown by the thousands each spring in a greenhouse Azzaretto manages near the Green Course. The periphery of the Black Course boasts dozens of birdboxes, providing audible escapes from subway rumbles, car horns and jet engines.
Park ecologist Yael Weiss says tree swallows, bluebirds, warblers, red-tailed hawks and great horned owls are among the birds spotted on the Black Course each spring. The park collects data on its wildlife as naturalist Jim Jones serves as a part-time employee responsible for studying hawk and owl activity. Weiss hopes golfers are inspired to become citizen-scientists and contribute to the digital community of photos and observations.
Victor Azzaretto is the enthusiastic and longtime horticulturist at Bethpage State Park.
“Before I got this job, I didn’t even know Bethpage State Park had a public area that people could go to,” says Weiss, a graduate of nearby Hofstra University. “I thought it was only for golf. It was a new world. It’s an open classroom and there’s so much that you can learn here. If this golf course wasn’t here, this would be developed. It would be a mall or something. People will say it’s a golf course and they use pesticides and all of that, but there’s so much untouched area between all the wooded areas and all the pollinator gardens and rough areas that serve as wildlife refuge. There’s so much greenspace here. It’s an important part of Long Island.”
The Black Course starter’s hut, a spot thousands of spectators pass during a major championship, displays signage promoting Bethpage’s status as a Certified Audubon Sanctuary. An extensive study with Cornell University examining reducing inputs makes Bethpage a frequent topic in industry research papers and conference presentations. But the park’s best ambassadors and educators are its employees, many of whom are self-starters such as director of agronomy Andy Wilson and Black Course superintendent Mike Hadley. Even well-traveled tournament veterans such as PGA of America chief championships officer Kerry Haigh notice employees’ zest for the park. “Their passion for this venue, for their golf courses,” he says, “is second to none.”
Creating repeatable course conditions over the years has allowed Bethpage to extend its outreach efforts, and Wilson and Hadley openly talk with anyone willing to listen about their maintenance practices and management philosophies. Wilson, who grew up in Bethpage, and Hadley, a western Pennsylvania native entrenched on Long Island for two decades, maintain turf that takes a pounding (the five courses combine for more than 225,000 annual rounds) yet keeps flourishing. Their team includes multiple employees who migrated from Bethpage only to return, a sign of the park’s enduring pull on talented people seeking lasting fulfillment.
State bureaucracy, golfers of all skill levels, taxpayer money, ecology, horticulture, Northeast intensity, televised tournaments and predatory birds could be a toxic mix at some places. But it all meshes at Bethpage.
Azzaretto continues our walk, stopping in the woods twice, including once on the way up “Pike’s Peak” to showcase blooming pink lady’s slipper, the only orchid found in the park. The people who care deeply about Bethpage are always moving, stopping and explaining. Creating connections to a park, whether it’s via golf, horticulture or ecology, requires unyielding enthusiasm.
It’s a major undertaking.
Tartan Talks No. 35
Rogers
Drew Rogers restores classic courses in cool-weather regions. He also enhances modern courses in South Florida.
Rogers joined the Tartan Talks podcast to discuss a busy decade executing projects in divergent regions. His growing portfolio since launching his own firm JDR in 2010 includes steady work in Florida snowbird meccas such as Naples and Palm Beach. Closer to his Toledo, Ohio, home, Rogers has executed work on courses designed by Golden Age architects such as C.H. Alison, Harry Colt, Donald Ross and Willie Park Jr. Rogers often finds himself wondering how the venerable architects would handle Florida’s flat terrain and demanding club memberships. “I think they would be forced to be very responsive in very similar ways as we are today,” he says.
If you listen to the podcast closely, you’ll also receive tips on the art of listening from Rogers and hear him offer thoughtful praise to superintendents everywhere.
Enter bit.ly/2HGVhAw into your web browser to hear the podcast.
The (relative) calm between the storms
Shane Omann and Keith Wood lead the golf course maintenance team at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.
For 30 glorious minutes, Shane Omann reclines in a plastic folding chair inside the grounds crew meal tent at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. His sunglasses provide him with a shield to rest his eyes as director of green and grounds Keith Wood explains the rigors of championship golf to dozens of guests. The industrial air conditioner in the corner is blowing enough of a gust in his direction to chill a glass of sweet tea.
After this rest, he is ready for another long afternoon of work.
Omann is the golf course superintendent at Quail Hollow Club, which is famous for playing host most springs to the Wells Fargo Championship. That would be more than enough responsibility for most clubs. Two years ago, though, it also provided the backdrop for the PGA Championship, and two years from now, it will open its gates to the Presidents Cup. Championship golf runs through its history.
Quail Hollow Club will likely never double up in the same calendar year — the Wells Fargo Championship moved across the state in 2017 to Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, and it will head north in 2021 to TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms in Maryland — but that clustering of headline events still provides professional and personal challenges for Wood, Omann and the grounds crew filled with 20-somethings just out of turf school. Long hours. Demanding players. Tens of thousands of fans trampling their art.
“We don’t get much of a break in how we work,” Omann says. “We’re going to grind all the time.”
How does a club so tied to an annual PGA Tour event shift gears? How do Wood and Omann keep morale high during the inevitable valleys between the weeks when cameras and crowds fill the grounds?
For more about how the Quail Hollow crew handles events of all sizes, enter bit.ly/2X3qy5H into your web browser.
The maintenance facility at Quail Hollow Club during Wells Fargo Championship week.
Jan Bel Jan is the new president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the second woman elected to the position after the late Alice Dye. Bel Jan is a registered landscape architect, certified arborist and former assistant superintendent with dozens of projects in her portfolio. Bel Jan says she wants to carry on the mission of the office: “Thoughtfulness for our clients so we may continue providing the best product, helping show a better economic way to do things and greater recognition for the work of ASGCA members.” She will serve through fall 2020.
The Toro Company recently finalized an 11-year equipment and tournament support agreement with Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., extending a working relationship that started when the club opened for play in 1962. The deal will include support for the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 2020 USGA Junior Amateur, 2024 USGA Amateur and the 2028 Ryder Cup. Toro distributor MTI Distributing is also a part of the deal.
More than 300 industry leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., for the 12th annual National Golf Day — a banner event for the industry highlighted by a record-high 244 meetings with members of Congress. “We are here to educate our elected officials that the golf industry is made up of many small businesses that contribute to our national economy,” says Jay Karen, CEO of National Golf Course Owners Association and Chair of the WE ARE GOLF Board. “The importance of fair and good taxation policies is paramount to the success of our businesses.”
Guy Cipriano
