Some of the crew at Fox Run Golf Club in Ludlow, Vt., where Jesse F. Sutton, CGCS, is superintendent. Photos by Jesse F. Sutton
March 2, 2020, was my first official day as a golf course superintendent. I couldn’t have been more excited to get started, as I had been preparing for this opportunity for the last 12 years.
I didn’t know it then, but less than two weeks later, our entire world would be shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, I had a massive problem with my operation: labor. Unemployment skyrocketed, and fear of the virus completely changed the way our world operated. Quickly, the dynamic of our seasonal workforce was crushed. Hourly wages increased by upwards of 30%, and even with higher salaries, it was nearly impossible to fully staff a golf course maintenance team in the year to follow.
Even before the pandemic, the days of sifting through a stack of job applications to build your seasonal staff were long gone; however, it forced many in our industry to adapt to different techniques to fill the gaps in each of our operations. After that first year, I had little hope for the future of hiring seasonal labor. I knew I had a long career ahead of me, and I needed to completely reevaluate how I looked at hiring. Four years later, after persistence, creativity and — most importantly — patience, I have turned the corner to building a solid team.
The first step was to complete a general labor audit of where all my labor dollars were going. Once you know your numbers, you can start making sense. No, this doesn’t require an expensive software package with daily tracking down to the minute. With some thought and time, you can quickly understand approximately what percentage of time you spend on the essential tasks. After evaluating the numbers, I knew exactly where my gaps were, but I didn’t know how to fill them.
The first technique that helped me bridge the gap is utilizing what I call “task hires.” These part-time employees complete specific tasks and then leave for the day. Most of my mowing and rolling is achieved by task hires. For me, these employees are retirees, ski instructors, college and high school students and a local real estate agent. The primary motivation for these employees is complimentary golf, paid exercise and a little bit of gas money at the end of the week.
When advertising these task-specific positions, it is critical to give the job seeker a reason to be interested. Highlight the benefits of the position. Shine a light on the peacefulness of the early mornings, physical exercise and personal satisfaction. Don’t limit yourself to just posting a job online. Contact local organizations and other businesses with seasonal staff or part-time workers. Word of mouth can be powerful.
Once you have the right people, it is time to keep them in place. Understand their needs with the position and be as flexible as possible. They are creating value for you. Now it’s time for you to create value for them.
The author has found using the concept of “task hires” — part-time employees hired to complete specific tasks — can help lighten the load.
Although hiring for specific tasks helped lighten the load, a considerable amount of labor still needs to be completed. This is the most challenging area for most superintendents. It seems that hiring one or two employees to complete these labor-intensive tasks was realistic, but I couldn’t fill the rest of my positions, and it was taking its toll on the team and myself.
I turned to utilizing the H-2B visa program. For many superintendents, this may seem intimidating, expensive and complicated. What’s so intimidating about it? You are only bringing workers from halfway across the world to your golf course you don’t know, who don’t speak your language and who have zero golf course maintenance experience. What’s so hard about that? What about the expense of acquiring the visas? Although there certainly is an expense per employee, it’s much less expensive than dealing with poor golf conditions. It made perfect sense by selling the program as an investment into our property’s future.
It doesn’t need to be complicated. After quickly researching, you will find many recruitment resources and agencies that aid in procuring visas. Three years into the program, our team is getting stronger, and our network of referrals is growing. Now, we have eight H-2B visas, with five returning workers and three new workers.
All that blood, sweat and tears from Year One are paying dividends as employees can train each other, and our communication between English and Spanish has improved. Investing time and money into this program has paid our operation back twofold. The benefits of the H-2B program work both ways, as these employees are provided an opportunity to provide meaningful income for their families in their home country. We’ve even implemented an incentive program where, after three years of service, our company will sponsor them and their family to gain Permanent Resident status — a legal path to citizenship.
Even with a full staff now, there are still tasks on the golf course that are incredibly labor-consuming. One major annual project for us is spraying over 30 acres of fine fescue tall grass areas.
Typically, because of the geography of our property, this task would take four people nearly two weeks to complete. This season, we are utilizing a contractor with a drone to spray all of these areas, which will allow our team more time to complete critical projects on our property.
The technological advancements in all areas of our trade have significantly increased our productivity as superintendents — robotic mowing, mobile irrigation operation, moisture meters, drones, etc. The majority of golf courses simply do not have the resources to go “all-in” on these new advancements, and many never will. It’s important to be realistic about what your club’s limitations are regarding resources.
Utilizing multiple avenues for building your seasonal labor staff is critical. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and every facility has different needs and resources. The good news is that I am hopeful for the future and remain confident that our seasonal teams won’t turn into robots just yet. Despite the challenges of building a team in my 20s, I have full confidence that “people” are what will continue to make a difference.
Jesse F. Sutton, CGCS, is a golf course superintendent at Fox Run Golf Club in Ludlow, Vt., and a 11-year GCSAA member.