Course & Grounds

As with other club departments and for businesses in general, hiring personnel for course-and-grounds staffs has become more difficult—but superintendents have special tools at their disposal to recruit and retain employees for the profession they love.

The 115-year-old club in Sparkill, N.Y. has built on its longtime standing as an environmental leader to complete a decade of improvements to the course and create a buzz among the membership and surrounding New York City metro area.

Dave Braasch set his sights on a course-maintenance career at age 16, and then fast-tracked through turf-science school, internships and assistant positions to land the grow-in opportunity at the Janesville, Wis. club, where he’s remained for 19 years. 

Whether they’re contending with heat waves and hurricanes or winds and wildfires, golf course superintendents strive to be proactive and stay a step ahead of Mother Nature.

By his own admission, Sean Sullivan, CGCS, the Golf Course Superintendent at The Briarwood in Billings, Mont., is a “curious tinkerer.”

Golf course renovations that began as a quest for water independence have distinguished the award-winning Pelham Country Club in Pelham Manor, N.Y., as an environmental leader.

From the age of 15, working on a golf course and learning how to care for turf has always been an integral part of Brian Ray’s life. And that’s a big reason why he’s had notable career stability, with superintendent duties at Long Beach (Ind.) Country Club for his entire professional tenure.

Golf course practice facilities have become destinations with multiple amenities, rather than just places to hit a few balls, and superintendents have adjusted their maintenance of these areas accordingly.

Though it’s off the beaten path, the golf course at Orangeburg (S.C.) Country Club boasts pristine conditions that have consistently earned statewide and national recognition. “We don’t have the ocean. We don’t have the mountains. But we’re a great stop in between,” says Director of Golf David Lackey.

To recruit interns, superintendents rely on job boards and relationships with turfgrass programs and professors nationwide. Many start by reaching out to about a dozen programs in the late summer every year, but are finding it harder to recruit interns because turf-school enrollments are declining.

With the increase in rounds at golf courses across the country last year, superintendents have had to adjust maintenance practices to accommodate the added stress on the turf and properly prepare for (hopefully) more of the same.

Curtis Tyrrell, CGCS, MG, Director of Agronomy at Desert Highlands Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., is crafting a new internship program at the property. The program will play to the strengths of the Arizona property, which has an arid climate. And while he typically recruited four interns at his last club every year, Tyrrell plans to…

A long and winding path took Dennis Petruzzelli to his current position at Oronoque CC, but the one constant every step of the way has been the special feeling he’s never lost about the allure of the golf course. 

After the completion of a water-diversion project that was years in the making, golf course maintenance and conditioning have been smooth(er) sailing for the grounds crew at the Branford, Conn. property.

After working on a landscaping crew as a teenager, Brandon Haynes vowed to “never dig another hole in my life.” And when he started his first job at a golf course, he thought greens were artificial surfaces. But from there it’s been nothing but an enjoyable ascent to a “job I love” at California’s Oak…