DAVID FEARIS, Director of Membership for the GCSAA, talks about the issues facing golf in America. As you will see, there are similar issues to those we face in the UK
HOW DOES BCL (NOT BLT) RELATE TO YOU?
H
opefully the title caught your attention. If you don’t know what ‘BLT’ stands for, it refers to a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich and has absolutely nothing to do with you as a professional greenkeeper. Now "BCL" will, but I will hold you in suspense for a little while. First, please let me tell you a little about myself. I am presently the Director of Membership for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA). I have been in this position for two years. My actual career in the golf course management started as a youngster working on the maintenance crew when I was 14. I enjoyed it so much that I went to Purdue University and got a turf management degree. From there I was an assistant superintendent for two years and a head golf course superintendent at the C.C. of Peoria (Illinois) for 12 years. Then I decided to go into sales for four years with O.M. Scott & Sons. However, being a golf course superintendent was in my blood; so I went back to being a superintendent at Blue Hills Country Club in Kansas City, Missouri for sixteen years. I actually retired from there and was doing some consulting work and teaching seminars for the Club Managers Association of America when 9/11 hit. So, back to the real world I went as a
product sales associate for one of the companies I was consulting with. Then the job at GCSAA became available, and here I am. So, I have experience as a golf course superintendent, a sales person, a teacher, and now am in the association management world. Also, in between all that, I served on the GCSAA Board of Directors from 1993 to 2000, serving as president in 1999.
So let’s get back to ‘BCL’. It stands for Business, Communication, and Leadership. The reason this subject comes up dates back to the National Golf Foundation (NGF) meeting held in late 1999. The NGF gives an overview of the game of golf every ten years. In 1989, golf in the United States was in a growth mode. However, in 1999, the NGF said that there were too many golf courses and not enough golfers. Obviously, many were in disbelief when
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this was announced. However, it proved true as there were more courses in the U.S. closed in 2006 than were built. This hadn’t happened for over three decades. So, during that golf boom, golfing rounds were up which related to positive revenue. Now, rounds are down, and golf courses are competing for the golfer's dollars.
This down turn in revenue affects the whole golf facility including the golf course management end of it. In many cases the golf course superintendent’s attributes were strictly aligned to the skills of golf course management. Now, with this loss of revenue, the term ‘success of the facility’ enters into the picture.
This actually is a positive for the golf course superintendent. It means that the superintendent is a main contributor to
In 1999, the National Golf Foundation said that there were too many golf courses and not enough golfers
that success. Surveys have shown that the golfers return to the golf course because of the conditioning of the greens, tees and fairways. Thus, the golf course superintendent relates directly to contributing to the revenue of his/her golf facility. However, this is a different style of thinking for the golf course superintendent. He or she is use to thinking in agronomic terms, not business terms. Employers have told GCSAA through various forms of communication, including committees, that they expect golf course superintendents to have good agronomic skills. This is very evident in the excellent condition of the golf courses. However, the employers said that they have noticed a lack of skills in the areas
of Business, Communication and Leadership.
In my contacts with assistant golf course superintendents, they readily admit that they lack the BCL skills and were not exposed to them in college. So, they are taking courses in these subjects and also learning them on the job. We know at GCSAA that 93% of our members join because of the education offered by us. This education comes in many different forms - seminars offered at the GCSAA Educational Conference and Golf Industry Show (over 100 with 21 new titles in Orlando), regional seminars, web casts, external education (often times put on by distributors) and self-study courses (on-line). However, GCSAA has found that golf course superintendents will pick seminars that relate to agronomic practices and then take those BCL seminars if the agronomic seminars are full and unavailable. Some of the BCL seminars offered by GCSAA are: Business: ‘Inventory & Budgeting Management’, ‘Financial Essentials for the Superintendent’. ‘Administrative Management’, Communication: ‘Customer Service - A Superintendent’s Perspective’, ‘Negotiating for Success’, ‘Write It Right’ Leadership: ‘Leadership Skills for the Golf Course Superintendent’, ‘Coaching Skills for the Golf Course Superintendent’, ‘Managing Your Manager, Committees & Boards’ In this business world that we live in
today, education is a very important part of our jobs. The professionals that you work for, lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc. all have to have continuing education. So, let’s take a closer look at these Business, Communication and Leadership categories. Business: This is the one of the main components of the ‘Success of the Facility’ concept. As we talked about earlier, the golf course superintendent is a major player in this concept. Conditioning of the golf course can affect revenue of the entire facility. Increased rounds can equate to increased food and beverage sales, increased pro shop sales, increased hotel rooms if you are a resort course, etc. Understanding
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