Practical advice at Pinehurst

Everything about Pinehurst is filled with tradition. The 10 (for now) golf courses, obviously. The timeless village and vintage hotels. More and more Christmas decorations every time you turn around during the weeks leading up to the holiday.

And, for each of the last three Decembers, dozens of talented assistant superintendents pouring into the remote golf destination to learn and network during the professional sprint that is Green Start Academy.

Sixty assistants landed an invitation — some from as far away as western Canada, some from as close as … Pinehurst No. 2 — to attend the event, sponsored again this year by Envu, John Deere and Rain Bird. The stated goal for the three days is to help assistants build a strong foundation for their careers — and to help the future of the industry as a whole — by providing peer groups, professional development and plenty of networking. It sounds so simple and feels a little like magic.

Off the course for a few days, assistants gathered in small groups with superintendent and director mentors — one of whom, Todd Bohn, now the director of agronomy at Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, attended the inaugural GSA when he was still an assistant himself — swapped stories with one another, and managed to carve out a little time to tour Pinehurst No. 10 (set to open April 3) and play The Cradle (the 789-yard short course that audibly wowed many of them).

Perhaps the most productive couple of hours was a mentor roundtable, where some of the industry’s more prominent names shared advice they learned on the way up. Here are some key excerpts.

John Cunningham
General manager and COO
Grandfather Golf and Country Club
Linville, North Carolina

How and what are the two words you should keep in your vocabulary. How can I help? What can I do? The word why gets you off on the wrong foot. Think about redefining conversations into more of a positive.

Your role is going to change. As you progress in your career, you’re going to be doing less. You’re not going to be responsible for the doing, you’re going to be responsible for the leading.

How many of you have spent more than two hours in accounting? Probably not very many of you. And food and beverage, how does that fit in with what you do? Ask your golf course superintendent if you can do a rotation to every other department at the club. That’s one to separate yourself from everybody else.

Robert Hertzing
General manager and COO
Lakeside Golf Club
Burbank, California

Figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are and lean into your weaknesses.

The silent conversation is not the right conversation. Don’t let a relationship go sour because you didn’t want to talk about it.

Make relationships with people who have your best interests. Don’t rush into anything because your friend bought something from this guy.

Go make friends with the chef. Golf course operations could learn a lot from a good kitchen operation. They’re very clean, they’re very prepared.

I always end the day with a Power List, and that’s a list of all the things I’m going to do the next day.

You have to act like you own it.

Dan Meersman
CPO and director of grounds
Philadelphia Cricket Club
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Stay professional with your co-workers. And while you’re young, take advantage of not being in a position of responsibility.

You can learn a lot by diving into your club calendar. A lot of those are annual events, so once you learn about it, you’re in a better position for next year.

Part of my role is to minimize the mistake. Be quick to fix your mistake and do your best to minimize it and make sure people aren’t embarrassed by it.

Watch your habits now while you’re young, because they’ll probably amplify over time.

You have to grow in your idle time.

Stephen Tucker
Director of golf course and landscape operations
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Lake Buena Vista, Florida

There typically isn’t endless capital just sitting around. You’re in competition with all the other departments. You’re competing against all these other people. ‘We need it, so we should get it.’ It doesn’t work like that.

I tend to always look at things like it’s my money. And the reason that I do that is if they call me in and ask me a decision about why I did something, I can stand behind it. I’m not trying to come up with a story.

The more you read and try to understand how to lead people, the more you’ll understand when you’re finally sitting in that seat.

You can’t sell emotion. You can sell data.

Chris Dalhamer
Director of greens and grounds
Monterey Peninsula Country Club
Pebble Beach, California

Once you get your workforce in, how can you keep them? Are we attracting good enough people to keep them at our club?

Get to know your staff. Learn what makes them tick.

It’s our job to go that extra mile to tell what that person has done.

When it comes down to it, people want to get paid.

If you have a passion for every job out there, that’s infectious.

You’ve got to make work enjoyable, and sometimes that’s very hard.

John Jeffreys
Golf course superintendent
Pinehurst No. 2
Pinehurst, North Carolina

Don’t eliminate somebody based on certain characteristics. Give them more tools to do the job. Evaluate, rather than eliminate.

We are not trained to talk somebody off the ledge. … And if you just blow it off, that’s just as bad as giving bad advice. Knowing when to help yourself or someone else is very important.

Todd Bohn
Director of agronomy
Desert Mountain Club
Scottsdale, Arizona

Pictures. Pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures. If you take one thing away from me today, take a lot of pictures.

If you’re at a place that doesn’t have a five-year capital plan, I’d be asking why.

Don’t be afraid to share the negative stuff.

Matt LaWell is Golf Course Industry’s managing editor.