Lead by example

Whether you’ve been a course superintendent for two years or two decades, you know that not much happens without a good crew. If you want a great golf course, you need a great team.

Learning how to build that team—and keep them—can be a career-long adventure, full of trial and error. At least that’s been the case for Rick Staughton, CGCS, a golf superintendent and general manager at Towne Lake Hills Golf Club in Woodstock, Ga. “As a manager or communicator, you never stop learning,” says Staughton. “I’ve tried to take the good and bad lessons I’ve learned from everyone I know and apply that to my situation.”

Like many superintendents, Staughton’s long career has included different courses, each with unique challenges. Among them: Learning to communicate with crews from different cultures, languages and regional backgrounds, and replacing a course superintendent who was admired by the crew.

Now in his 17th year at Towne Lake Hills Golf Club, Staughton is starting to reap benefits from a lifetime of teambuilding lessons. Four out of six crew members have been on staff for eight to 12 years—an eternity compared to the average tenure. Low turnover has created a finely-tuned grounds crew that performs well with only minor tweaks.

Staughton credits his team’s longevity to a distinct advantage among courses with limited resources. “I’m a working superintendent, so I’m out there working with the crew,” he says. “We start every week with a schedule of tasks, so everyone knows what’s in store for the week, and we don’t have to wait for a weekly meeting to discuss a project because we’re doing that on the fly.”

Staughton says being a working member of the team garners a certain amount of mutual respect and cooperation. “We’ve developed ways of doing the job, but if they want to show me a different way of doing things, then I’m going to listen,” he says. “They’ve been around long enough to know when there’s a better way of doing things. At the same time, we’re going to keep doing it the way we’ve done it unless someone proves there’s a better way. Either way, we’re going to finish the task so the course is in excellent shape.”

Staughton is also a big believer in cross-training and helping crews develop respect for the game and its players. From the beginning, team members learn to structure work for maximum productivity and minimal disruption. “Because my crew doesn’t play, we go out twice a year and play together,” he says. “I think it helps when people understand the game and what they can do to be polite.”

Although many crews have specialists devoted to certain tasks, Staughton thinks courses benefit when everyone on the crew knows how to perform every part of the job. Over the years, he has seen a greater harmony, cooperation and fairness among crew members when everyone cross-trains.