It took me by complete surprise. I was chatting with a couple that is friends of our family. We were talking about retirement and how much Cheryl and I were enjoying ourselves.
Out of the blue, the wife blurted out, “We both hate our jobs. We hate going to work and hope that somehow we can retire early.”
One thing that makes this a stunning comment is that they are both working in the profession they chose. One is a high school teacher and the other is an engineer. Each one has a B.S. and M.S. from major institutions. They are both smart, successful, experienced and prosperous. Both earn excellent wages and benefits. And yet, they dread going to work each morning.
I feel sorry for them, likely because I just cannot relate to such feelings. You wonder why people hang on to jobs and careers they detest.
But at their ages – around 50 – it is a little late to start over. Kids are in or nearly ready for college. They still have house and car payments, and good paychecks are still required. They need the health insurance and retirement plans and the generous vacation time. So they feel trapped. To make matters worse, the high school principal the teacher answers to is incompetent and ungrateful. Most of us can relate to working for a bad boss sometime in our career.
Still, as I look back over the 40-plus years I spent in golf course management, I could hardly wait to get to work in the morning. People my age are children of Depression Era parents, and we heard all our lives that we should be grateful to have a job that allowed us to live normal, happy lives. That may be a small part that helps explain why so many superintendents my age loved the responsibility of managing a golf course.
However, that same group would proclaim our golf course management was always more than a job. It truly is a profession – well defined, well respected and one a person can be proud to be a part of. There are so many appealing things that it becomes nearly impossible to count them, but some big picture aspects come immediately to mind.
The personality of many superintendents puts value in outdoor labor, and for many of us that carries substantial weight. We are generally not coat and tie and desk bound people. It is also a profession that includes a sport at its center, and that adds an element of excitement. The fields of play of this wonderful sport of golf are all different, unlike baseball diamonds, football fields and the other outdoor sport playing areas. No two golf courses are the same. Sports have heroes, and in golf we can look to Old Tom Morris, Francis Ouimet, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and, these days, Jordan Spieth and hundreds of others. Our heroes are surprisingly accessible during their playing careers, and usually respectful of the work of golf course superintendents.
If we never get to host a big-time golf event, our careers are filled with countless competitions, local and state, junior and women and seniors, and club tourneys. Sometimes amateur golf at these levels is every bit as exciting as the big leaguers.
Our educators have always held a high and special place in our profession, and many of us have had great enjoyment knowing and working closely with them, supporting their programs of research, education and extension. They have always been in our midst, one way or another. Just recently I visited with Jim Beard and received a nice note from Frank Rossi. Turf faculty have added greatly to our business of golf turf, and they have been our friends as well.
Superintendents seem to all possess an interest in and love for the machinery we use to maintain our golf courses. We may not all exactly be gear heads, but there is a challenge in managing our equipment, just like there is for managing our staff and our budgets. Pleasure resides in acquiring operator skills and teaching staff the same. There is nothing like operating a new five-plex fairway mower unless it is watching four or five employees putting them to use every day.
My career was spent at a private course, and some of our city’s most successful and interesting citizens played golf there, often times served on the Green Committee or some other committee I interacted with. I liked that. There are superintendents who have forged friendships with state and national leaders, corporate execs and people from the arts, and invariably enjoyed those relationships. Lots and lots of successful people enjoy golf.
I am no Pollyanna and would be the first to say the profession is a difficult one. We have to deal with unfavorable weather, golf spending is totally discretionary for most players, and it takes lots of hard work and long hours to be successful. But that is also part of the appeal to me. Not everyone is capable of success or has the necessary skills.
Also high on my list of favorables is the fact that the results of your efforts are usually immediately visible. You can see what you and your staff have done and that satisfaction is sweet.
Putting together a quality staff that feels comradery, a budget sufficient to accomplish the organization’s goals, and a golf course that gives players a lot of enjoyment are wonderful challenges. Add in pretty good salaries and it becomes quite easy to see why so many superintendents are passionate about their career. For me, it was a feeling that lasted for 40 years.
Monroe Miller retired after 36 years as superintendent at Blackhawk CC in Madison, Wis. He is a recipient of the 2004 USGA Green Section Award, the 2009 GCSAA Col. John Morley DSA Award, and is the only superintendent in the Wisconsin Golf Hall of Fame. Reach him at groots@charter.net.