A path less taken

A Midwesterner works his way up to a high-profile facility on the West Coast and operates under a different framework.

Explain how you got into the business.
I started playing golf when I was 11. I caddied at a course in Chicago for a year before my family moved to Kansas City where I started picking up balls on the driving range at Quivira Lake & Country Club. From ages 12 to 15, I worked in the golf shop doing whatever odd job was available. In the fall of my sophomore year while working in the golf shop, I was asked to help out on the golf course maintenance staff because most of their help had returned to school. I was asked to come and help on weekends, and that was how I started working on a golf course – hand mowing greens when I was 15.

Pat Finlen

I continued working through high school and took every available hour to work on the golf course because I loved being outside, operating equipment and seeing the results of my work.

I went to college at Kansas University and worked the first two years on a local course and then transferred to Rockhurst University, a Jesuit college in Kansas City for my final two years. I didn’t work on a golf course from my sophomore year in college until I was 23. I graduated college with a degree in business administration.

I wasn’t looking to go back on a golf course. I went into the landscape/nursery business the final year Jimmy Carter was in office and borrowed a fair amount of money at about 20-percent interest. I lasted two years and then had to get out. I had to find a job, so I went back to the two courses where I worked previously – Quivira Lake and Alvamar Golf and Country Club in Lawrence, Kan. I ended up at Quivira Lake and was fortunate to do so. Within a year, the assistant superintendent left, and I became the assistant superintendent. A year after that, in 1984, the superintendent left, and I became the superintendent.

How did you manage to become a superintendent without a turfgrass degree?
I was in the right place at the right time. Quivira Lake is the place where I started picking up balls on the driving range when I was 12 and the same place I first started on a maintenance crew, so most of the members there knew me.
I was told by many that my career wouldn’t go far without a turf degree. I took many seminars and read every turfgrass book I could get my hands. I talked to as many superintendents as I could and continued to read.

It was pure timing to be there when the assistant left. If it were today, that wouldn’t have happened. Demands have changed dramatically as well as the superintendent’s role.

Where did you go from there?
I stayed at Quivira for two years, then took a job in Virginia Beach, Va., building a new golf course. I was there about two years and returned to Quivira Lake when it combined the superintendent position with the residential maintenance manager position. In the new position, I was responsible for the golf course, as well as the roads, common areas, lake and sewers. That experience was a great foundation for my career because I learned about more than just golf. I gained a lot of experience dealing with contracts and projects.

I hired three assistants to work for me – two on the golf course and one on the nongolf side. That’s when the job became much more of a management position. I still wanted to get out there and do the work but couldn’t.

I stayed in that role for 11 years. I had a great general manager, John Miller, and a great green chairman, Terry Williams. Those two, along with many members, taught me a lot about ethics and how to operate in a business climate.

What was next?
I went to Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Courses in Seaside, Calif. It’s a 36-hole facility that used to be a part of Fort Ord. My wife and I always wanted to live in the Northwest, but there were few jobs advertised. After interviewing unsuccessfully a couple times, the job in Seaside opened in 1998.

I sent in my resume and got an interview. It just so happened the interview was the week of the U.S. Open, which was being played at The Olympic Club. I was the last person to interview and was asked to stay around. Eventually, I was offered the job while still there. I told them I would look at housing. I was shocked. I was coming out of Kansas City, which is one of the most affordable housing areas in the country, and looking in the Monterey area, the prices were astronomical. I said I couldn’t take the job. They told me to think about it for a couple days and come back with what I wanted. In the meantime, I watched the U.S. Open for a couple days. I went back to Seaside, told them what I needed, and we eventually settled.

I credit getting that job to my involvement with the GCSAA and serving on committees when I was in Kansas City. From the networking aspect of it, I had met and knew enough people that when the time came for that job to open, it happened to be a person on a GCSAA committee who interviewed me. We didn’t know each other at that time, but he has since told me that my service on a GCSAA committee contributed to me getting an interview.

Why the move from Bayonet and Black Horse to The Olympic Club?
Just before 9/11, I saw changes in the golf market. Bayonet and Black Horse is a daily-fee, 36-hole facility. We had done a tremendous amount of construction and improved it. It was slated to be taken over by TPC, but the deal was delayed after 9/11, and it looked like it wasn’t going to happen, so I started to look elsewhere. I interviewed for a few other positions but didn’t get them.

I went to Kansas City for a GCSAA committee meeting, checked my messages one day, and there was a message from a search firm looking for a superintendent. They wouldn’t tell me where the location was other than it was in the San Francisco area and it was a multicourse facility. I knew what facility it was because that was the only opening at the time.

I went through the process of sending my resume and the phone interview and was selected for a personal interview. That was November 2001. The hiring process was slow and methodical. The job had been offered to another candidate before me, but he turned it down because he was out of state and didn’t think he could afford the move.

What were your thoughts while interviewing?
I was scared to death interviewing for The Olympic Club. I’m a humble person, and my career path has never been to seek employment at a high-profile golf course. I was extremely nervous. I’m a quiet person and don’t interview well. I even admitted that in the interview. But I left the interview feeling pretty good about it, until it dragged on for a couple months.

What factored into you getting the job?
Living in California was somewhat of a factor, but more importantly was the fact that I was at a 36-hole facility. My business background played a part, too. The Olympic Club is a 45-hole facility. We have a lot going on and have a large staff. It’s much more of a management job than when I first started at an 18-hole facility. We have a superintendent for each 18-hole course, and they both have assistants. We also have an assistant on the nine-hole course.

Are you under more pressure maintaining courses at such a high-profile club?
You always have an image of what a place is like, and that typically changes after you get hired. I knew it was a course that had a lot of history and prestige to it. I was just thrilled to be considered for the job. Then to get offered the job and show up three weeks later for work is a humbling experience.

The strict environmental regulations Pat Finlen works under keep him and his staff on their toes a bit more than they normally would be.

I couldn’t have had a better situation because our general manager, Dennis Bouey, started a month before I did. He has been fantastic and is another person who has a lot of great management experience and is a good teacher. He has been great to work with. I also had a new green chairman who is a tremendous asset and who has been good to work with, as well as the board and committees. It would have been much tougher without those people in place helping me along.

Explain the environmental regulations in California.
Each year you meet with your county agricultural advisor and give him a list of the products you want to use during the year. There’s a number of pesticides that, when they become available in other parts of the country, might take three to five years to become available in California because, in addition to the EPA label registration, they have to have a California registration, which many other states don’t require.

Beyond that, there are strict reporting requirements. Every month, you have to turn in exactly what you’ve used to your county agricultural advisor. For any 2,4-D or similar products, you have to give notice of intent to use those. That notice has to be given within 24 hours. The county agriculture department has the authority to tell you whether or not you can make that application depending on the weather. He also has the right to come out and inspect the course at any time. We get inspected fairly often. The state is stringent about the products you use, how you use them, the signage you have and the personal protective equipment used.

The city-run golf courses in San Francisco have their own reporting requirements. They operate under their own department rather than through the San Francisco agricultural department. They have a whole other realm of stringent requirements that they have self-adopted through the city that we don’t have to comply with. It’s a much more restrictive list.

Are the regulations necessary?
When I first moved here, I thought the regulations went too far, but after you operate under something like this, you realize they’re good regulations. We’re all afraid of doing something different, but it isn’t that hard. It’s just a few more hoops you have to jump through. I’ve told many of my friends  growing grass here is much easier than in Kansas City or Virginia, it’s the politics of growing grass that are much different. The regulations make you operate in a framework that has you on your toes a bit more than you normally would be. We’re very cognizant of what we’re applying, when we apply it and how we store it, whereas if we hadn’t had these rules and regulations, things might be different.

Do you solve problems differently because of the tighter regulations?
That’s a tough one because the weather is different here. It’s cool almost the entire year. We usually get to about 65 degrees during the day. We’re in the fog half the year, so we have a more constant disease pressure, but not the extreme disease pressures many other parts of the country experience during the summer months.

The weather makes you think differently about how you use pesticides. We have snow mold pressure 12 months a year. We’ve learned there are certain months in the spring and fall that, because of the type of weather, we can get away with not applying a preventive product or stretching out an application much longer than we normally would. I can’t attribute that to pesticide regulations. That’s just using good agronomic knowledge any superintendent would practice in any part of the country.

Explain the importance of being involved with associations.
It makes you a better superintendent because of the people and role models you meet. In Kansas City, I was a member of Heart of America Golf Course Superintendents Association and went on to become its president. It was through that involvement I initially became involved with the GCSAA and committees. My interest in the GCSAA and the role the golf course superintendent has in golf has propelled my career through the people I’ve met.

When I moved to California, I immediately became involved in the GCSA of Northern California. Within two years, I ran for its board of directors and was president last year. Part of that involvement led to becoming involved on the state board because it pulls members from each of the six respective chapters to serve on the state board. I’m their president this year. I’m also a candidate for the GSCAA board of directors.

When serving associations, my goal isn’t to become president. You have more fun the years you’re not president because you have a chance to become involved in many different things.

What’s the biggest challenge you deal with on a regular basis?
This is the first time I’ve worked at a union facility. Like with pesticides regulations, it makes you operate under a different framework. Right or wrong, we are what we are, and it’s the biggest challenge, but it’s one that makes you think and act differently. It also requires you to solve problems differently than what you’re used to. Some solve problems by getting rid of a person. In a union environment, that typically doesn’t happen. You become creative when solving employee issues.

We negotiated a contract with the union three years ago that expires this March, so this January we’ll begin negotiations, which is an intensive process – one of you is on the far left and the other is on the far right, and you have to bring everyone to the center. It becomes a good learning experience about people and how to negotiate.

What are the best and worst parts of your job?
One of the best parts is the enjoyment of seeing the results of your work. You can take an area that needs attention and transform it into whatever vision you or the architect has and have an outstanding outcome. Once you complete a project, you see the satisfaction golfers have from your work. The constant interaction with golfers and the conditions I provide that make them happy is rewarding.

I also like to see those who work for me go on and achieve something for themselves. Not that we want to run people through our program, but we want to bring in people who have a career path and have them go on to be superintendents.

What bothers me the most is seeing middle-age superintendents lose their positions. Whether they lose them because it’s their own fault or because of something unjust, they have an extremely hard time re-entering the job market. There’s this inclination to hire the young because they’re stronger, quicker and smarter, but many people find out that isn’t so. There are many talented superintendents who are in their 50s that often get overlooked.

Where’s the superintendent profession headed?
The business model for golf will continue to change. I’ve heard Steve Mona say no longer will three people be able to make the top salaries at a facility – there will be only two. Down the road, the business model at public and resort golf courses, and eventually many private courses, will have only one making a great salary being in charge of the entire facility. It could be the superintendent, golf professional, director of golf or club manager. I tend to look at the superintendent to be that person. We are the most creative of the group of professionals at a facility. We need to step up to the plate. Our association is stepping up to the plate by offering seminars for those who want to continue on. If you decide to be that person, you need to be prepared and use the tools your association has to offer.

Superintendents are going to continue to see more responsibility thrown their way, and they need to be prepared to take it on, or let someone else be in charge.

What agronomic changes do you foresee?
We’ve hit a plateau with low cutting heights. The PGA Tour and USGA have talked about rolling back some of the changes – to where we go to these extremely low cutting heights on greens, tees and fairways for events – that have been made during the past five years. The trend to continue with these low cutting heights is going to change slowly during the next five years. That doesn’t mean they’re going back to where they were. But we won’t see the rapid progression where every year we have to have something shorter, tighter and faster.

But the demand for playing conditions will continue. We see it in bunkers, which are hazards. But most golfers want all bunkers to be consistent and play alike, which isn’t typical of hazards, but it’s typical of what the American golfer wants, which is a continuation of something bigger and better.

To a degree, we are our own worst enemy. Our desire to please the people we work for propels us to do things that might not be sound agronomics or sound from a sustainable standpoint. As superintendents, we need to be more creative when achieving better playing conditions than just lowering the height of cut. We have hit a certain level, and that’s about as far as we can go. Most courses can’t continue to achieve better playing conditions on a year round basis without incurring increased costs.

Much of the business model of golf is being driven by how much money is spent maintaining the course. It used to be that we were extremely happy to take our budget and be left alone to do our job. But that’s not going to happen at most facilities. The superintendent is going to be relied on to be a part of the management team, to cut costs, to operate more efficiently, and to continually provide better playing conditions.

Careerwise, where would you like to go from here?
I’m 47 years old, and when you are in your late 40s, you think about retirement, not because you want to retire, but you want to know how you’ll get to retirement. I was never one to say I want to be at this or that type of course. I’m more of a person who does the best job I can do and hope that opens up other doors. It’s not that I’m trying to open up other doors right now because I’m extremely happy where I’m working. I couldn’t have a better situation. We have the U.S. Amateur coming in 2007 and the U.S. Open in 2012. I’m here through the U.S. Open, and I’m not looking for anything right after that. I want to get to 2012 and do the best I can and portray the club in the best light possible. GCN