Being a Golf course superintendent is one of the most diverse careers. It carries many different roles and responsibilities. You have to walk in many different shoes – you need to be an accountant, a good public speaker, and a knowledgeable agronomist among others. Communication is one of the most important aspects of the career. It has been said time and time again that you could be the smartest superintendent out there but a lack in communication skills would end up costing you a job.
Communication with members is key. The majority of a superintendent’s day is not spent directly working on the course; it’s spent working on paperwork and meetings with members, golfers, the general manager, different vendors, employees and the greens committee. A superintendent needs to be able to talk the language and put thing in terms that the members and the greens committee can understand. Members care a lot about playability and aesthetics, so when they ask a question about something you cannot use technical terms as you would if you were talking to one of your assistants. When talking to greens committee you need to be business savvy.
You also need to be able to communicate with your employees and know how to motivate them and get them to work up to and past their potential. Like I said earlier, the majority of the superintendent’s job is spent in meetings and in his office doing budgets and other miscellaneous paperwork. He needs to be able to communicate with his assistants because they are his eyes and ears on the course. Without the assistants he would be in the dark on a lot of things. Therefore, communication with his employees is vital.
Communication is very important to not only the success of the superintendent himself, but to the course as a whole. Communication is about 80-90% of the job where as the other 10-20% is growing grass. As a superintendent, you are constantly talking and communicating to people whether its vendors, your employees or membership.
