Andy Morris went from tossing greens to mowing them, after leaving a successful culinary career to pursue a turf degree that led to his becoming Superintendent of the Country Club of Peoria.
It’s not unusual to find a golf course superintendent whose career started in another profession, but it’s a good bet there aren’t many who began as a chef.
But that was the path taken by Andy Morris—after starting out by tossing greens, he then decided to learn how to grow and mow them.
“I do get a strange look from people when I talk about my first career,” the Iowa native says. “But I tell them the two have much in common. Both require attention to detail, good communications skills, and listening to your customer.”
SUPER IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Andy Morris
Current Position: Golf Course Superintendent, Country Club of Peoria (2005-Present) |
Morris’ pathway to his current post as Golf Course Superintendent of the Country Club of Peoria, in Peoria Heights, Ill., actually had a logical beginning. As a youth, he helped out wherever needed on the family farm in central Iowa—something he called an obligation rather than a job, because there was no pay involved. But when he entered high school, he went to work at a nearby truck stop, to earn some spending money. He began as a short-order cook, but the manager quickly noticed Morris’ ability and placed him in charge of managing all aspects of the operation.
The job was enough to pique Morris’ interest in a career in the food industry. So after finishing high school, he headed to San Francisco to enter the California Culinary Academy, with the goal of becoming a famous chef.
Upon graduation, he took restaurant positions in Napa Valley and then moved down the coast to Sea World. And when the Busch Entertainment Corp. bought the theme park, Morris was given responsibility for hiring and training chefs for all properties, and designing hospitality centers.
“That was a big break for me,”he says. “Working for the Busch family was wonderful. They gave me opportunities that were on a large scale, and that still helps me in my job today. I was managing big projects and supervising staffs.”
While Morris doesn’t regret trading in the meat cleaver for the moisture sensor, he hasn’t completely given up his time in the kitchen. He still enjoys cooking at home and frequently cooks for his staff at work—his favorite being barbeque.
C&RB: When did you decide to change your career path to that of golf course management?
Morris: My wife decided to pursue a Ph.D. at Ohio State in the mid-1990s while I was working at Sea World, so we moved to Columbus. It gave me the chance to look at my options. I’d always thought I would someday get a four-year degree, so I talked to counselors at Ohio State. They pointed out the opportunity to work in golf course management, which interested me because I liked the game of golf.
My wife then got a job in Michigan, so we moved and I finished with a turf degree from Michigan State. I had a few internships, and then moved to Peoria when my wife got a teaching job. I took an assistant’s position at Weaver Ridge Golf Course, then moved to the Country Club of Peoria as the first assistant, before becoming head superintendent.
GOLF COURSE PROFILE: Country Club of Peoria
Website: www.ccofpeoria.org |
C&RB: Was there any trepidation in the career change?
Morris: There was at first. You know, I really should have been nervous leaving after high school in Iowa and flying out to culinary school in California, not knowing anyone. But I was young and didn’t know better. I was excited. In moving to Ohio, I was married and ready to start a family. So changing directions was a bigger deal. I think the fact that I liked golf and was entering the golf industry helped greatly. When I began course work and did internships, I found that my project management and supervisory experience were a great benefit. After a while, I knew I’d made a good decision.
C&RB: What type of facility is the Country Club of Peoria?
Morris: We are the second-oldest golf course in the state of Illinois. Only the Chicago Golf Club is older. We opened in 1897, and the next year added the back nine to give us 18 holes.
The course sits on a bluff not too far from the Illinois River. It’s a parkland-style course with about 2,000 trees. The course was established to encourage physical activity among area residents. We now offer the full complement of club activities, including swimming, tennis, a fitness center and dining.
Caterpillar is headquartered here and so are numerous medical professionals, so we have the typical corporate members. But one of the biggest changes the club has made is to be even more family-friendly. We have numerous activities for the children. We are essentially at full membership, with about 500, give or take.
C&RB: How does the layout challenge the golfer?
Morris: We are not a long course, with only 6,200 yards and change. We cannot add distance because we are surrounded by homes. But people who have never been here are surprised to find we have no flat lies. There are undulations all over the course. Our renovation in 2007 included fairway bunkers, and that added a considerable amount of strategy.
C&RB: Why the renovation in 2007?
Morris: The course really needed a “hug.” The greens were re-done in 1996, so all we did to them was a regrassing. We did considerable work on the tee boxes, widened a few fairways, added fairway bunkers and a few more around the green complexes. We also thinned out some trees for air flow and to allow for sunlight and to widen the fairways. We also upgraded our irrigation.
I always tell the members they deserve the credit for supporting our regrassing. We have very little poa, and bentgrass handles the weather extremes better than poa.
C&RB: What’s the biggest challenge from a course-management perspective?
Morris: The changing growing environment always keeps us on our toes. Technically, we’re about 100 miles north of the transition zone, but most people believe that line is moving farther north over time. There are times I wish I had Bermudagrass, [such as] a few years ago when it was so hot.
This year has not been bad because we have had good rainfall, and it has not been as hot as we typically get. If we had the high temps we would be under even more disease pressure. Of course, our winters can get be pretty tough and we can get some winterkill. But we’re fortunate we have such a good stand of the newer bentgrasses. We would struggle even more with the poa.
C&RB: You were promoted after only two years as an assistant and have had a long tenure at the Country Club of Peoria. What has been the key to your success?
Morris: I think communication and education have been important. It is important that I am a clear communicator. Obviously, my team needs to understand our programs and the goals. Other employees of the club need to be brought into the loop as well, but the members need to hear from me.
I contribute to a monthly newsletter and I used to blog, but I have found the members like to follow me on Twitter, so I spend time doing that (@amorris_andrew). Our members need to know why we do things and why things happen. For example, there’s going to be stress on the turf in summer; it’s always going to happen at some point. Explaining why it happens, and how we’re dealing with it, is important.
I report to our GM, but we also have an active greens committee. For the past three years my greens chair has attended the Golf Industry Show and we’ve walked the floor together. That’s helped the club understand my job even more.
C&RB: With the economy regaining some strength, are you back to pre-recession levels of budget and staff?
Morris: We are close. But costs have gone up since then, so we are still facing doing more with less. I think superintendents as a group learned a lot during the tough times, because facilities were not willing to lower their standards.
We took a hard look at our labor and work assignments and created some efficiencies we did not have. We looked at our chemical programs and tried to stretch our supplies as much as possible, knowing that our membership is not too keen on the presence of diseased, damaged or dead turf. It has heightened our attention to detail even more.
I’m not sure, though, that we could go through the same experience now and come out as well as we did coming out of the earlier recession. We are now stretched pretty close to the limit, I think.
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