Ask just about any Arizonan what living and working in the Copper State is like and they will tell you something along the lines of “it is what everybody thinks it is.”
Those are the words of Seth Miller, who was raised in Racine, Wisconsin, next to Lake Michigan, and is now the golf course superintendent at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale. His blood has warmed. He is as used to the triple-digit temperatures as can be. And, working on turf every day, he is well aware of the state’s much-documented water challenges.
“Arizona is a place with limited water sources,” Miller says. “It’s also a place with a lot of innovative superintendents who are trying to deal with the reduction in water, especially as they realign the allocations in the Colorado River.”
Miller and his team of 27 have turned to technology to deal with those challenges — most notably with the recent installation of new HDPE pipe and a Rain Bird CIRRUSPro irrigation system that provides single-head control. He also uses moisture meters everywhere and has adopted evapotranspiration — “the best way to irrigate any golf course anywhere in the world,” he says — during which water moves from the surface into the atmosphere and allows for deficit irrigation. “You’re always using less water than what is lost in the turf,” he adds.
Miller also worked with the late Tom Weiskopf to remove about four of the course’s then-40 acres of turf doing a 2020 renovation — across tees, fairways, approaches and even some rough around greens. “And we will probably continue to focus on removing any unnecessary turf as we move forward,” Miller says. “You can exist with probably 45 to 50 acres of turf and still have a really playable golf course. That’s kind of what led us to having a reduced footprint and our continued effort to reduce turf overall. I think that’s kind of where we’re heading. Using other technology like infrared or drone flyovers, to focus even more on daily irrigation, can get that dialed in and use as little water as possible.” Miller estimates that his team hand waters about eight to 12 labor hours per day throughout the summer and about four to six labor hours per day in the winter — all in an effort to reduce water usage.
Beyond water, Miller can see qualifications and requirements for superintendents changing over the next decade.
“You might have a degree in communication and not even have a turf degree, because you’re managing people 95 percent of the time,” he says. The improving technology could allow turf leaders to focus far more on people. “I think that the technology will assist almost anyone that can manage people, that can manage time, that can manage a budget, and they can still be successful in this industry.”
Potentially helpful degrees? Finance. Communications. English. “It starts with the individual and what their capabilities are,” Miller says. “I think being able to convey what’s happening on the golf course, what needs to happen on the golf course, projects, management, getting a billionaire to understand what you need to do, these are all things that need to be communicated well.”
Miller keeps up with the most current forms of communication thanks to his kids, who are 15, 13, 11 and 9.
“They use TikTok a lot to send stuff to friends and Snapchat. I’m not on either,” Miller says, adding that those apps distract him but that at least knowing about them could help him find and hire younger employees. “You have to stay relevant and understand what people are going through. The job depends on it.”
Explore the January 2025 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
