Movin' on up

At some point in their careers, assistant golf course superintendents get tired of being No. 2 and want to call the shots. They gain experience, learn from superintendents and plan the move to become superintendents of their ideal courses. Yet there are different roles for assistants, and some move on more quickly than others.

After the back nine is completed at the Talons of Tuscany in Ankeny, Iowa, assistant superintendent Dan Schuknecht would like to become superintendent of the 18-hole course.

John McCarthy, who has been an assistant at Berkeley Hills Country Club in Duluth, Ga., for seven years, says a first assistant’s role is more managerial, while a second cuts his teeth on the job and is in charge of things such as chemical applications. McCarthy says his supervisory role came in time and evolved out of necessity and communication.

“I was originally in charge of quality control construction methods and was getting my feet wet on a 27-hole facility,” he says. “When construction stopped, that’s when my assistant’s role changed. Before that, I had probably spent 10 percent of the time supervising. My intent is to take on as much as I can from my boss to overprepare myself for a superintendent position that will put me over the edge during the hiring process.”

Rich Liddle is an assistant at the 27-hole North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif. Before that, he was assistant at Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles. Liddle says assistants are becoming more hands on with personnel and other department heads at clubs, partly because staffs know how to grow grass and maintain it.

“At North Ranch, the superintendent helps you get exposure to the management end of the business,” he says. “At Hillcrest, I was more on the course and was less involved with management, but still got exposure to the g.m. and golf pro.”

Rich Liddle, assistant superintendent at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif., expects to be in his position another three to five years.

Liddle says some of the limitations of the assistant position include not working with a budget and managing the finances – duties generally handled by the superintendent.

“It’s important to me to be exposed to that for 12 months [before becoming a superintendent],” he says. “Getting the best out of the crew is something I feel comfortable with – I’ve achieved that. I want to get away from the course a bit more and become more involved with finding out what the membership’s goals are. That might mean saving $200,000 this year to put toward a project next year.”

Jason Harrison, an assistant at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., has been there for three years. His first year, he was an intern; his second year, he was the assistant on the West Course; and this year, he’s the assistant on the East Course.

At Merion, Harrison says it’s all about hiring from within. The director of golf, Matt Shaffer, has two superintendents under him – one on the West Course and one on the East Course. Additionally, the East Course has two assistants, and the West Course has one.

“I will be the next to jump,” Harrison says of a possible promotion. “Matt plans to retire here, so the superintendents are forced to leave. On average, superintendents spend two years at their position, then leave.”

Future plans
Dan Schuknecht, assistant superintendent at the Talons of Tuscany in Ankeny, Iowa, is in his first assistant’s job. Schuknecht says his plan for the future is basic: move from assistant to superintendent, acquire certification and move up to general manager or director of golf, then into ownership.

At North Ranch Country Club, Rich Liddle wants to become more involved with finding out what the memberships's goals are.

“This is the ideal path,” he says. “And the ideal golf course is somewhere in the Midwest where the expectations are high and the resources match them. I’d like to work for an owner and develop a relationship with him and not be looked at as another employee.”

Schuknecht, who has worked at public and private courses, says he doesn’t have a preference for one or the other.

“I’m flexible and open to the situation,” he says. “Location is most important.”
After building the back nine at the Talons of Tuscany, which is in progress, Schuknecht ideally would like to move into the superintendent’s role for the 18-hole facility, which would allow him to accomplish some of his goals.

“I’m blessed because I have duties a lot of superintendents have,” he says. “But I’m looking for the title to achieve certification sooner.”

Schuknecht says that from the assistants he has talked to in Des Moines, the job market is tight, and guys are staying at their jobs longer.

“I’ve been able to move,” he says. “Right now, I’m not looking, but it’s good to be ready at all times.”

John McCarthy, assistant superintendent at Berkeley Country Club in Duluth, Ga., has a supervisory role that came with time and evolved out of necessity and communication.

Harrison, too, wants to advance. He would like to move up to the superintendent position on the East Course at Merion. However, he says management might try him out as the superintendent on the West Course first before moving him to that position on the East Course. The superintendent of the East Course has been at Merion for six years and has been the superintendent of that course for the past two, and he might be moving on to another job soon, according to Harrison.

Harrison, who is 24 and has no wife or kids, ideally wants to host a major and stay at a high-end golf course such as a Torrey Pines or Winged Foot, until a family comes along. That’s when he might step back to work at a less-high-profile course. But for the most part, he wants to stay at a private club. Although he has mainly cool-season experience, Harrison is willing to move anywhere and says he wouldn’t count out a course with warm-season grass.

“I foresees staying at Merion, but would leave if the right opportunity presented itself,” he says. “I always try to expand my education so I can elevate myself to director of golf someday.”

Harrison also says networking is important for getting his next job.

“Being at Merion, I have done a lot of networking,” he says. “I’ve met Eric Greytok (Winged Foot) and Paul Latshaw (Muirfield Village) because Matt Shaffer knows a lot of people who come to visit.”

Realistically for Liddle, he expects to be in his position for the next three to five years. He would like to work at a private 18-hole facility that isn’t too demanding, but challenging – not a top 100 course because he says he needs time to become certified.

Currently, Dan Schuknecht is looking to stay at the Talons of Tuscany, but he says it's good to be ready to move at all times.

“I’d like to be at a well-established club so I can spend time with my family and association chapter,” he says.

Liddle, who has done golf course construction work, says he needs more exposure to the business side of the job and needs to be comfortable before taking the next step.

“I want to be 100-percent capable of being a superintendent before taking that position,” he says. “North Ranch is a good fit for me. I’ve been here three months, but I need to be here a year to determine if I can take my boss’ job. It’s all about timing. Some assistant superintendents jump too quickly to take a superintendent job, and some of them end up saying it was the worst job they ever had.”

Liddle wants to stay in Southern California, but if the right opportunity came about he wouldn’t say no.

“This is an extremely competitive market,” he says. “I’ve worked with a lot of guys from the East. It’s difficult to come here, stay here, then go back East. It’s easier to stick it out here and wait for the opportunity because  moving from one coast to the other puts a strain on your life.”

In the Atlanta metro scene, McCarthy says he’s at a point in his career where he’s pricing himself out of certain positions because he has been an assistant for seven years.

“My tenure here is longer than normal, but I’m more cautious with my decisions because I have other people to think about,” he says, referring to his family.

McCarthy, who is originally from New Hampshire, doesn’t want to move far for his next job.

“I did an internship at Arizona State, and because I had experience in the Northeast, I felt I needed other experiences in other parts of the country,” he says. “It was a good plan back then, but now I’m married with three kids, and moving around isn’t so appealing. But I will have to move for my next job, but hopefully not out of Georgia.

“What’s appealing to me isn’t appealing to some other assistants,” he adds. “I’m searching for quality more than the role. Career development for me has been great under [superintendent] Mark Synder. I’m always learning. I’ve just taken over the budget, which has been invaluable experience.”

McCarthy recently had a job opportunity that fell through – it was working for a project coordinator building a course.

“This guy has been in the industry for 35 years,” he says. “I’m in my early 30s, and my boss is in his early 40s, so I was looking forward to working for someone who I could learn from with a different perspective. I have limited grow-in and construction experience, so I’d like to get more of that. But the move fell through because of owner issues. The guy who was going to hire me left because the owner was difficult to work with. But I couldn’t think of a better situation for me.”

McCarthy says the next best thing would be to become a superintendent at a private club. But says he needs to know what went on before him before he takes a job.

Berkeley Hills Country Club has been the professional home of John McCarthy for seven years.

“I need to know the history of a club and things such as whether they pay their bills on time,” he says. “I’d like to know why the guy before me left. I’d like to get a feel for the course because I can’t work on something I don’t like.”

McCarthy says the likelihood of him becoming the superintendent at Berkeley is slim because Snyder isn’t going anywhere.

“I don’t know how Mark feels, but it’s unrealistic for me to move up here,” he says. “My support of him is high. I’d follow him out the door if it came to that. He has put a lot of faith in me. He even came with me on an interview. It was wonderful when you give back like that. If you have a superintendent that doesn’t care about you, look for other employment.”

McCarthy also wouldn’t rule out working for a management company.

“When you have the support of a management company, it’s admirable and is worth looking into,” he says. “But you never want to put yourself in a position you can’t get out of.”

Even though McCarthy would leave Berkeley to become a superintendent elsewhere, he doesn’t want to be impatient and says patience is a characteristic people overlook.

“It’s taken a lot of patience to get to this point,” he says. “I get calls from vendors about job opportunities, and recently I had an interview with an architect who’s building a course. So when you can integrate yourself in the business, people take notice, and you’ll get an advantage. Touch as many avenues in this business as possible.” GCN