Self-reflection for style’s sake

Editor’s note: Tim Moraghan’s June 2024 column focused on the importance of recognizing and adapting your style as a golf industry professional. Below is some bonus material we saved for our online audiences. CLICK HERE to read the print version of the column.  

If you’re still not sure how to define your style, start by asking yourself a few questions:

• Is your focus setting up for tournaments? 
• Or are you more of a mow-and-go guy?
• What are your favorite courses or looks that appeal to you?
• Are there patterns or styles you gravitate to?
• Are you into extreme detail and precision?
• Is there an architect that you follow or a design philosophy that appeals to you? Are you equipped to maintain in that style?

Can you change your style? Are you in the wrong place to showcasing the aesthetic you prefer? How do you develop, or change, your style? Some ideas:

• Visit and play other courses and superintendents who maintain in a style you like.
• If tournament style is your preference, go to tournaments, walk the grounds, take notes and pictures.
• Work on a golf course of an architect you admire in order to understand their philosophy.
• Research and contact superintendents who have renovated a golf course to a style you like.
• Watch golf on TV and you’ll see all sorts of styles.
• Reach out to superintendents who are doing what you want to do. Ask questions about how they do their job.

If you know you have a style and are good with it, then good for you. If this is all new ground, maybe it’s time to do some thinking.