Asserting worth with words

Billy Lewis submitted a forthright article for our 2021 Turfheads Take Over issue.

Lewis, a veteran North Carolina superintendent at the time, examined whether superintendents undervalue themselves given the versatile skillsets and immense responsibilities they assume for their employers. Because Lewis is one of you, his article packed more impact than anything we could write on the topic.

You trust your peers above any writer, editor, consultant or professor, thus the reason we established Turfheads Take Over in 2016. Sorry, Golf Course Industry team! That’s the candid content facts. Devoting one issue to your ideas, successes and rants is our pleasure. We’re elated when busy people find time to help others via writing.

Enter bit.ly/TurfheadsLewis into any web browser if you missed Lewis’s article. His words could empower you to take needed action to receive the compensation, responsibility and respect you deserve.

We recently encountered Lewis at the Carolinas GCSA Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Lewis joined the Ewing Irrigation & Landscape Supply team this year as an account manager. He has a great gig visiting courses and serving customers in the Carolinas and Georgia. His career making golf a better game spans more than three decades, yet he exudes a zest for golf akin to a teenager discovering the joys of the game.

Our chat with Lewis and reading the terrific submissions on these pages reinforces the vast talents possessed by golf maintenance professionals. You are problem solvers, customer relation specialists, scientists, irrigators, technicians, financiers, conservationists, leaders, motivators, organizers, planners, listeners, speakers and, yes, writers. The recruiting pitch we use for this issue and other reader-produced content is straightforward: You write much better than we can maintain turf. Trust us when we tell you this.

Humility represents a noble pillar of the golf maintenance industry. But are superintendents and their teams too humble? Does humility cause superintendents, assistant superintendents, equipment, irrigation and spray technicians, and loyal crew members to undervalue their worth? Writing can be a tactic to gently tell your story.

Remember when nearly everything halted in 2020 except activity on golf courses? You kept courses playable despite scant crews and golf has emerged as a stronger, more profitable business. Facilities proved they can survive without surf and turf night. This gargantuan industry doesn’t exist without healthy turf.

Your stories are the best golf has to offer. Leading a team through the unforeseen such as Bellevue Country Club’s Mike Tollner (page 31) or flipping a course’s fortunes through science, savvy and grit such as the Resort at Longboat Key Club’s John Reilly (page 28) are feats few others can achieve. Again, trust us when we tell you this.

Hiding stories of triumphs and vulnerabilities hurts you and those closest to you. Seeking help on the job — Josh Lewis (page 40) and Nate Jordan (page 42) — is OK, especially in the high-play, low-labor era. Seeking help away from the job is also OK.

Openness leads to understanding, which means more productive life and work situations. How can employers, members and golfers understand the plight of superintendents and their teams if discreetness and anonymity permeate in certain segments of the industry? Outsiders don’t know what they don’t know.

Confidence represents a proven route to being open and asserting self-worth. Think about the glut of television and radio ads featuring attorneys. Are they the best attorneys in their respective markets? Doubtful. Are they perceived as best-in-class by legal outsiders? Probably. Are they maximizing their worth through confident messaging? Likely.

The trick is to find more subtle ways than boisterous marketing to demonstrate why you are a tremendous asset to your employer. Writing works for Matthew Wharton (page 50) at Carolina Golf Club and writing helped Tollner handle a tough spot caused by historic winter damage.

Writing requires time and repetition. We’re confident you possess the aptitude to make it a powerful part of a case to secure what you and your team deserve.