Summer replay

While many Superintendents across the country are wishing the summer of 2010 never happened, I look back and wish I could relive much of it all over again. 2010 was the year I stopped being a superintendent. Let me tell you how I spent my summer vacation.

Like many golf clubs in North America, my club was struggling. Designed as a golf and residential community, the golf course was the centerpiece for the entire development. When the recession hit in 2008 everything, everywhere, just seemed to stop. With the arrival this past winter of a new majority partner to rescue the development, who also owns a neighboring golf course just minutes away, my position soon became obsolete. One superintendent would manage both golf courses and by the end of July, I was gone.

The truth is I enjoyed my best summer ever. I spent more time with my kids than I can remember, more time with my wife than she’d care to remember and I loved every minute of it. I slept in late, stayed up late, rode my bike, enjoyed weekends (full weekends mind you, not half a weekend after working a full day on Saturday) at the cottage with friends, and saw New York and Chicago for the first time. Essentially, I did many of the things I wish I had done over the past five years; things I could have easily done in the past five years if I had kept my job and my responsibilities in perspective. Too often I put my job ahead of my family. The last few years saw a shift away from that attitude, but still it became too easy to come up with an excuse to go back to the course in the evening “just in case something went wrong.” Let me share some wisdom gained over the past few months: If you’re responsible and doing a good job, as most of us are, things just “don’t go wrong.” When you leave the course for the night, don’t come back until morning. It will still be there upon your return.

I’d be lying if I said I’d been living carefree since my departure. There have been a few anxious moments, usually when I’m reminded of the reality of a shrinking job market in a very slowly recovering economy. Really, I was no better or no worse than any number of good superintendents faced with a similar life crisis; I simply came out on the wrong side of the numbers game. Almost anybody could find themselves on the wrong side over the next 5 years. However, a good friend reminded me, “The cream always rises to the top.” I may not come out of this lull with the highest paying job in the area, but I know where the top is now and I intend to be there, enjoying it with the people who are most important to me.

The life of a superintendent moves pretty quick. To go from zero to 60 back to zero again in the middle of the season is not easy. I’m grateful for all the support I received since I left the club and I’m reminded of a chance encounter and conversation I had with a local superintendent at the end of September. When I told him how I had been spending my time he replied, “Man, I really envy you.” That comment helped put things in perspective, and I couldn’t have agreed with him more. GCI

Chris Lecour, former superintendent, The Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay. Collingwood, Ontario, Canada,http://chrislecour.blogspot.com/
Lecour’s final post was dated July 30, 2010.

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