We opened another year of audio offerings on Superintendent Radio Network with conversations with an assistant equipment manager near the Gulf of Mexico, an Air Force veteran-turned-equipment manager near San Francisco Bay, a golf course architect branching out on his own, a couple trips to Pinehurst, and a look at our annual Numbers to Know package.
The road has been long and filled with interesting stops for Shelby DuBois. Before she landed in Florida as the assistant equipment manager at Longboat Key Club, she moved from her home state of Missouri to Texas and then to Utah, and from golf course equipment to racing technology before returning to the links. Her philosophy about the job, though, has never changed: handle minor problems before they become major. “Things like hydraulic leaks, oil leaks, they can go from just fine one day to, all of a sudden, we’ve got three greens completely ruined for the next three or four months,” she told Rick Woelfel on Episode 31 of the Wonderful Women of Golf podcast. “And if you have machines down or anything like that, it really messes up everyone’s schedule and we’re not able to do what needs to be done for the club and the members.” Sound advice.
Our January issue featured our annual Numbers to Know survey — which for years we called State of the Industry — an exploration into both the data and some of the personal stories behind them. How much are golf courses spending on maintenance? How much are they spending on people? How stressed are superintendents? How, as we approach the fourth year of a golf surge, is all the work getting done? Editor-in-chief Guy Cipriano and Woelfel both joined me on Episode 51 of Beyond the Page to discuss some of the results. “We’re going to have to lean a lot as an industry on technology,” Cipriano said. “Maybe those technological solutions have been found to elevate conditioning to what we’ve never seen before, but they haven’t reached the point where they’ve made the superintendent’s job and life easier.” Woelfel, who profiled a quartet of superintendents in different situations, added that the project, “shows a variety of circumstances and what these ladies and gentlemen have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, what their members are expecting from them. But how they go about that really varies on their circumstances.”
Jeff Lumaquin lived within minutes of California Golf Club in San Francisco for decades but never knew the esteemed course existed in the City by the Bay until he headed there for a job interview. After 12 years in the Air Force working on F-16s and later C-17s, C-5s and KC-10s, Lumaquin was looking for a more civilian position. “All my buddies were mechanics and day after day I would hear the horror stories with customers and service advisers,” he told Trent Manning on the January episode of Reel Turf Techs on Superintendent Radio Network. “So, I jumped onto Craigslist and looked for a job that could utilize my skills.” The most interesting listing he found did not include the employer. It turned out to be Cal Club, located conveniently about five minutes down the hill — which is also about as long as it took for him to land the position as the club’s new equipment manager. That line on his resume about working on $40 million fighter jets seemed to help.
I visited Pinehurst Resort twice late last year — first for a USGA field day that showcased some of their recent efforts and tech, then for Green Start Academy — and discussed both visits with Guy on Episode 55 of Greens with Envy. We also discussed whether Pinehurst’s 2024 will be the biggest year for any golf resort — the Tom Doak-designed No. 10 will open in April, followed by the U.S. Open less than 10 weeks later — and Guy’s recent trips to both Florida and California. Guy visited The Preserve Club and Boulder Creek out west, and Longboat Key Club and The Bobby Jones Golf Course back east. That last course, designed by Donald Ross and located in Sarasota, recently restructured 45 holes in 18 restored Ross holes, a 9-hole par-3 course that is currently under construction and an enormous practice facility. “This is a tremendous story that demonstrates why golf is more than just a game and a business,” Guy said. “It has a huge positive environmental impact on communities.”
After 35 years guiding design and build efforts for McDonald Design Group and McDonald & Sons, golf course architect Joel Weiman branched out on his own last year. It didn’t take Weiman Golf Design long to find fantastic footing. “Right now, I have five jobs in the dirt, and I can tell you none of those superintendents give a hooey about the other four,” he told Guy on Episode 91 of Tartan Talks. “But they need to know I’m their partner, they need to know I’m all in and they need to know that I’m going to take it as personally as they are. If the superintendent doesn’t succeed, I don’t succeed either. The superintendent’s job might be on the line to get that course to open, but my job is on the line, because if we don’t succeed, I might not get that next job.” Weiman says golf course design and renovation is much more dynamic now than during years and decades past, “and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of.”
Matt LaWell is Golf Course Industry’s managing editor.
