Hey, you’re superintendent No. 1!

Stewart Naugler ended a superintendent job in Michigan on May 10. He flew to Austin, Texas, on May 12. He reported to work, at a golf course that’s not a golf course yet, on May 13.

Hasty? Sure.

Heavenly? It’s a move Naugler always desired — and one few of his peers will ever make.

Naugler is the director of agronomy at Loraloma, a new David McLay Kidd-designed course with ravines and river views in the Texas Hill Country. Resting 25 miles west of Austin, the Areté Collective development will support modern homes and Texas-themed amenities serving a roaring housing market.

The project evokes memories of an era before Naugler reached his turf prime: the golf construction rush of the late 1990s and early 2000s. A second-generation superintendent, Naugler started following the frenzied era of golf development on GolfClubAtlas.com as a teenager. He always wanted to be superintendent No. 1 somewhere, anywhere. Like those who came of turf age following the Great Recession, Naugler wasn’t sure if he owned a practical dream.

The number of new courses being built and planned is rising compared to the late 2010s and early 2020s, but annual totals remain in the dozens instead of reaching the hundreds like they did during the era that enthralled Naugler and many other aspiring superintendents. Only 33 new 18-hole equivalent golf courses are under construction in 2024 with another 31.6 in the planning phases, according to the National Golf Foundation. Texas leads the land of new opportunities as five courses are under construction and 4.7 more are in-planning phases.

“Career-wise this was all I ever wanted,” Naugler says. “This is going to be the pinnacle. It’s not only the fact that the development company is all in and wants something world-class, but the property is world-class. They gave us the best land on the property for golf. I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity.”

With a rare opportunity comes a tremendous workload packed with deadlines, decisions and unique job pressures. There’s no time to stall when memberships and homes must be sold. Vibrant turf makes a vision pop more than an artistic rendering. Grandiose plans hinge on a superintendent’s ability to quickly and intimately understand a property better than anybody else.

That’s why Naugler arrived in Texas before stuffing his possessions into PODS. His girlfriend was still completing her medical residency in Michigan when he left for Texas. “I had to leave before everything was done,” he says, “because there’s so much to do here.”

The path to No. 1

Shawn Fettig crossed just one state border to become superintendent No. 1 at Broomsedge, a private course designed by Kyle Franz and Mike Koprowski in the South Carolina sandhills. Fettig officially started at Broomsedge on Jan. 5. Unofficially, he made biweekly late-2023 visits to Broomsedge while finishing his duties as an assistant superintendent at Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Broomsedge and Old Town Club are separated by 165 miles.

Only 30, Fettig’s career has taken him to five states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Broomsedge marks his first head superintendent job.

“I was officially offered the job, accepted the job and they wanted me to get here,” Fettig says. “It was really a breakneck pace. That’s kind of how superintendent moves are in this industry.”

The pace accelerated immediately upon full-time arrival. On his first day, Fettig walked the entire 200-acre property. Learning the site’s drainage topped his massive to-do list as he met shapers and the construction crew. The pace has never slowed as full-member play approaches in early 2025.

Fettig’s career rise has been rapid. He completed his first internship in summer 2015 at admired Lancaster Country Club in southeastern Pennsylvania. Working at a high-level club hosting the U.S. Women’s Open inspired him to seek jobs at tournament-caliber facilities executing big projects. But his goals never included becoming superintendent No. 1 somewhere. “I wouldn’t classify this as a dream,” he says, “I would classify this as an opportunity.”

Developing connections in the right network opens opportunities, and Broomsedge hired a turf leader from an esteemed superintendent lineage. Eagle Pointe Golf Club superintendent Sean Anderson and Southern Hills Country Club director of agronomy Bryant Evans are among Fettig’s career influences. Anderson and Evans were mentored by Russ Myers, who joined Hanse Golf Course Design as director of agronomics in 2023 after a successful superintendent career at elite clubs. Myers was mentored by the legendary Paul R. Latshaw. “I think relationships and reputations are more valuable than any job you’re going to have,” Fettig says.

Naugler also has a gaudy résumé. He spent a summer as an intern for Jeff Markow at Cypress Point Club and worked as an assistant at Chicagoland classics Midlothian Country Club and Olympia Fields Country Club before returning to Michigan for his first superintendent position at The Heathers Club. He ascended to a golf maintenance supervisor position with the Huron Clinton-Metroparks, an eight-course municipal system near the Michigan community where he developed a zest for golf and turf observing his father, Jim Naugler, lead crews at Goodrich Country Club.

“Huron-Flint Metroparks are a huge operation,” Naugler says. “At one point, I thought that’s where I would retire — and then this opportunity opened up. I always wanted to do a grow in, do everything from scratch, work with David McLay Kidd and be at a top-level facility again. So, this is a dream come true.” Naugler is now a Spartan adjusting to the humidity and college football fervor in the land of Longhorns and Aggies.

Whether it’s adapting to different weather or living among people with contrasting backgrounds, landing a superintendent gig at a new course likely means uprooting. Not many turf pros have new course developments in their neighborhoods.

The willingness to island hop resulted in Damon DiGiorgio becoming the first director of agronomy at Point Hardy Golf Club at Cabot Saint Lucia, a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design on a surreal site with elevated views of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

A Maryland native, DiGiorgio attended NC State University, completed internships at The Country Club of North Carolina and The Honors Course under industry icons George Thompson and David Stone, respectively. For his final internship, he joined the Landscapes Unlimited crew building the Greg Norman Course at PGA West.

After a few full-time positions in California, DiGiorgio moved to the Dominican Republic, where he became the first superintendent at Nick Faldo-designed Rocco Ki Golf Club. Rocco Ki was constructed on a fabulous site but shuttered during the Great Recession. DiGiorgio’s adventurous side led him back to the Dominican Republic in 2017 for the director of agronomy role at Playa Grande Golf & Ocean Club. He jumped islands again in early 2022 to accept the Cabot Saint Lucia job. Saint Lucia is a 238-square-mile nation with 180,000 residents.

“I’d say you have more than double the opportunities if you can move,” DiGiorgio says. “I get it, people have families and kids at home. But if you’re limited to a relatively small geographic area, many of those opportunities aren’t going to open up, especially if you want to get into new golf course construction. You can start off as a construction superintendent and then move into the turf side of things. You’re going to have opportunities as long as you don’t jump around too much.”

The days as No. 1

DiGiorgio started at Cabot Saint Lucia in February 2022. He hired his first employee in May 2022. A few members of the Cabot Saint Lucia management team — the development includes a luxury housing component — were on the island when DiGiorgio arrived. Besides interactions with contractors, DiGiorgio spent most of his early days in Saint Lucia in solitude.

“You have to have that mental fortitude because you can’t say, ‘OK, when I’m having a bad day here, we have a whole team to rely on,’” he says. “At the beginning there’s nobody. You have to stay in that present moment and think ahead, knowing it will get better, and you’ll build your team.”

Assembling a crew might be the most challenging task facing superintendent No. 1. Cabot Saint Lucia is only the second 18-hole golf course on the island, so the labor pool consisted of candidates unfamiliar with the game. Initially, DiGiorgio relied on Cabot’s talent and culture team to conduct mass interviews and identify candidates fit for golf course maintenance roles. “But when you start building a team, not everybody works out,” DiGiorgio says. Word of mouth, he adds, is the most effective way to develop a team in places where golf isn’t prominent. Cabot is constructing an agronomy village, an asset DiGiorgio believes will help recruit and retain key employees.

The population growth — and construction boom — in and around Austin could present labor challenges for Naugler at Loraloma. He says he’s projecting he’ll need five to 10 workers during the early stages of the grow in, with the staff potentially increasing to 35 to 40 employees once full play begins in 2025. His crew will be maintaining an agronomically unique golf course. Zoysiagrass will cover all short-cut playing surfaces, including greens. “One thing that we have to sell is that this is a David McLay Kidd design and first-class operation,” says Naugler.

Fettig experienced quick labor success at Broomsedge. He convinced assistant superintendent Nate Brock to move with him from North Carolina to South Carolina. The pair have worked together for the past six years. Fettig filled another assistant superintendent position with an industry veteran and hired an experienced equipment manager. But he’s also hired golf newcomers to fill hourly positions.

“It’s hard to get good people and it’s even harder to keep them,” Fettig says. “But if you can give them a good home base and keep a light culture while still being productive and providing a product, that’s what it’s all about.”

The empowerment to build a team and turf operation the way he deemed appropriate was a reason Fettig sought jobs as superintendent No. 1. “The way I saw these new builds, it was an opportunity to instill the culture I was raised under and build something the way you want to maintain it,” he says.

Visualization as No. 1

Superintendent No. 1 must stay in the moment and see the future simultaneously.

During one of his early weeks at Loraloma, Naugler toured the property with the construction team. He saw shaped bunkers and defined green sites. He visualized shots over ravines and views of green swaths along the Pedernales River. He also returned to his temporary office — which is around 10 minutes from the construction site — drenched. The storm foreshadowed Texas’ volatile weather.

“It’s a beautiful site and it’s going to be spectacular when it’s done,” Naugler says. “But it’s also one of the hardest construction sites you can ask for.” Sturdy bedrock beneath what Naugler calls a “decent” layer of topsoil and highly acidic soils are among the construction and agronomic challenges he faces.

Multiple storms halted progress at Cabot Saint Lucia, and DiGiorgio calls a 5-inch flash flood in November 2022 the “low point” of construction. But he started visualizing a drier future standing on the sea-bordering 15th and 18th greens on a mid-January 2023 morning. Savoring ground covered with ripening paspalum along blue waters reaffirmed something special awaited.

“It really does feel surreal to me that I get to work in these beautiful places and get to watch the ocean every day,” DiGiorgio says. “I get to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic and the sunset over the Caribbean every day. How many people get to do that? But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.”

As Cabot Saint Lucia prepares for its one-year anniversary, DiGiorgio is managing a crew still learning golf and turf maintenance without its permanent work home. Turf evolves as it matures, and weather exposes unforeseen course infrastructure weaknesses.

Once play begins, superintendent No. 1 becomes like thousands of other turf managers. Reaching overarching deadlines means the beginning of new dilemmas requiring creative thinking.

“Just because there’s grass on the ground,” Fettig says, “doesn’t mean it’s done.”

Guy Cipriano is Golf Course Industry's publisher + editor-in-chief.