Why aren’t course superintendents golf’s rockstars?
Recently, Australian Golf Digest spoke to several course superintendents to explore why superintendents and their grounds staff – arguably the most important role in the global golf industry – aren’t more famous. The men and women responsible for growing and maintaining the vision of course architects and shapers should have a higher profile. Anyone who has ever spoken to a golf-course superintendent will know, the men and women who maintain turf (and do so much more) at golf courses are usually humble, unsung heroes. The kind of people who eschew the spotlight. The reality is, course superintendents deserve similar recognition and notoriety to golf-course architects, tour pros and head professionals.
Coincidentally, while we were putting this story together, a prominent publisher and editor in this space, Guy Cipriano, editor of Golf Course Industry magazine in the US, posted a brilliant forecast on his X (formerly Twitter) account:
“PREDICTION: An authentic public course superintendent will eventually establish a wildly successful
@YouTube channel. By reaching new audiences, this person will create more awareness for the profession than traditional advocacy efforts. Enthralling possibilities exist.”
Quickly, a user responded pointing out a fantastic YouTube channel called Lawn Tips, hosted by an Australian named Ben Sims, a superintendent who built a par 3 in his backyard in Orange, New South Wales, and who takes viewers inside the trade secrets of turf and lawn care. He has 145,000 subscribers. It’s great content.
Is YouTube the answer to finally boost the profile of turf management specialists? Maybe. But to find out how we can better celebrate course superintendents, we chatted to Hayden Mead from Kingston Heath Golf Club, a top 20 golf course of the world, as well as other key industry figures.
Hayden Mead, superintendent at Kingston Heath Golf Club (co-host of the 2024 Australian Open and host of the 2028 Presidents Cup)
“The perception is changing, but I think over the years, the name ‘greenkeeper’ was probably not taken seriously. I don’t think it did our role justice. There’s so much more to the job than just cutting and watering grass; it’s so much more detailed and professional than just keeping greens. I don’t think that [is spoken about] enough in the in the
golf world.
“I don’t think [Bill Murray’s role as a dopey greenkeeper in the movie] ‘Caddyshack’ did any superintendent any good,” Mead laughs.
“Kingston Heath is a wonderful club and they have involved me in a lot more than just looking after the turf, which I think really helps. Each club is different, and how they manage their superintendents as to their involvement. I’ve been over to Winged Foot (a US Open rota course in New York) quite a few times and Steve Rabideau is great at his job. The turf quality over there is unbelievable. It’s that typical American style of soft, damp turf, but the two courses there are always playing quite firm and fast and difficult all the time.
“He’s one guy who has always impressed me. [Domestically], there are plenty of very good superintendents out there on shoestring budgets. I look at some courses in the country and think, Geez, that’s impressive.
“I volunteered at the PGA Championship at Bethpage in 2019. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were 10 of us [volunteer superintendents] cutting fairways that week, and all 10 of us were from all around the world, which was cool. I returned to Australia after that PGA Championship with little tricks I had picked up, especially hosting tournaments, how the US major championships managed their volunteers. I took a lot of things out of the induction manuals for superintendents and brought that knowledge back to Kingston Heath for our volunteers. The trade secrets were more behind the scenes, not necessarily the turf management side of the event. It was the first time I saw the old Stimpmeter, and there are some different length ones you can get depending on the contours of your greens. We purchased a couple of short Stimpmeter devices and took them home. All you need to do is double the length to get the speed reading.
“I do hope superintendents start to get more recognition. It’s starting to improve. If you consider Kingston Heath Golf Club, they’ve got a portrait in the front entrance and there are two superintendents who made the cut on there. Graeme Grant is in there, and Vern Morcom is in there, two [past] superintendents. The club has always held superintendents in high regard. I think I might be only the sixth or the seventh superintendent in the entire history of the club. But as an industry? I think it could improve.”
Idris Evans, superintendent, The Western Australian Golf Club
“We are the backbone of the playing facilities, aren’t we? If we do a good job, everything goes smoothly. As golf becomes more educated about course architecture and agronomy, I hope we get to a stage where superintendents are kind of stars in the industry. You don’t hear too much about the superintendent at [Augusta National] but without him, how would the Masters go?
“Major championships are a real time for superintendents to shine, but that’s not why we do it. We do it to bond together and volunteer out of passion for maintaining courses. I’ve volunteered at three US Opens – the US Open in 2015 at Chambers Bay, in 2017 at Erin Hills and in 2019 at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Chambers Bay was a classic example [of the pressure superintendents face]. Josh Lewis, he was the superintendent at the time at Chambers Bay, and he was bubbly and bouncing around on Monday and Tuesday. But then all of a sudden, some bad press started coming about the condition of the golf course. [I can only imagine] the stress he would have been under.
“I’ve been doing the job now for 25, 26 years as a superintendent, but I still get nervous about making decisions, because the decision I make today may not come to fruition for at least two or three weeks. It could be a fertiliser application, a renovation program or chemical application. I’m always trying to work about two months in advance of where I am. You’re trying to forecast the weather and guard the turf against things like heat stress, or whatever it may be.
“I respect every superintendent in the industry as a whole. I think the superintendent at Royal Adelaide, Nathan Bennett, does great work. Royal Adelaide is probably one my favourites outside the Melbourne Sandbelt. It’s a beautiful golf course, and it’s always in pristine condition. Tim Warren, at Glenelg, is doing an unbelievable job.
“I’ve always been at a big club like [The Western Australian], so we’ve always had a decent number of staff and great machinery. But I’m a great admirer of the superintendents who work at country golf courses, who often have small budgets, one staff member and three volunteers.”
Mike Clayton, course architect, Clayton DeVries Pont
Clayton says certain superintendents throughout Australian golf history have been celebrated within the industry, but he would like to see better recognition externally. Especially for several pioneering decisions made by greenkeepers that changed the fabric and playability of many top courses in Melbourne. He points to the legendary Mick Morcom, the superintendent at Royal Melbourne in the early 20th century who was tasked with building the greens and bunkers and growing the turf after acclaimed architect Dr Alister MacKenzie came to Australia in 1926 and designed the West course.
“Mick Morcom changed golf in Australia with what he built at Royal Melbourne; he worked with MacKenzie and was one of the great unsung heroes of Australian golf,” Clayton says.
“I worked with John Sloan and Bruce Grant [at Michael Clayton Golf Design], and they were brilliant at what they did. Graeme Grant, Bruce’s brother, put in all the couchgrass at Kingswood Golf Club. He was the first guy to move away from the two-grass policy in Melbourne (Poa annua in winter and couch in summer). That transformed the conditioning of golf courses, certainly in Melbourne. That was driven by a ballsy superintendent who went away from what everyone had always done and killed off the poa. Essentially, every course has done that since.
“Superintendents are very important. [As designers], we spend so much time with them on-site. We get to know what they’re comfortable maintaining, and conversely, they get to know how we as architects want the course to look and play. When designing a course, it’s integral to think, How is this going to be managed and what’s it going to look like in 20 years?
“In my time, I think [after designing Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania with Tom Doak], Phil Hill did a great job maintaining it. He was there for almost 20 years. Barnbougle was a difficult place to find someone to work long-term and it’s not the easiest posting in the world. Any super who has worked at the great clubs in Melbourne [has achieved a lot]. I think of Glenn Stuart at Peninsula Kingswood, and Richard Forsyth at Royal Melbourne. In Sydney, Anthony Mills at The Lakes was absolutely fantastic. We worked with him [while Clayton’s firm performed a redesign of the prestigious inner-city club] and he did an amazing job. It’s arguably the best conditioned course in Sydney. Even though it’s kikuyu, The Lakes is probably the best conditioned kikuyu course in the world after Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.”
Dean Hardman, Certified Sports Turf Manager (CSTM) and assistant course manager at Indooroopilly Golf Club
“I think superintendents are beginning to receive more recognition, to a degree. I volunteered at the 2017 US Open at Erin Hills. And among the Australian Opens I’ve worked, you’ll occasionally hear on the broadcast or in the 18th-green speeches on Sunday, ‘Thank you to the grounds staff who did a wonderful job.’ But it could get better. You don’t really see a lot of recognition in the public about golf course superintendents and tournaments. A lot of hours go into a tournament from the ground staff, and they definitely need more of a rap.”
A DEFINING MOMENT?
In the push to give superintendents the credit they deserve, in 2022 the United States Golf Association created the E.J. Marshall Platter, which recognises golf course superintendents who demonstrate dedication, expertise, and teamwork with the USGA to operate its championships, such as the US Open and US Women’s Open. It’s a masterstroke that sees the superintendent receive an award on the 18th green after the championship. Last year, John Jeffreys, the super at Pinehurst No.2, was presented with the E.J. Marshall Platter moments after Bryson DeChambeau won his second US Open crown. In fact, the entire maintenance crew and volunteers were cheered on during the presentation ceremony. Jeffreys was in his 24th year at Pinehurst, after working at the No.6 and No.7 courses before taking the reins of the No.2 course team in 2014.
In 2023, the USGA awarded Pebble Beach’s super at the time, Bubba Wright, the E.J. Marshall Platter after the US Women’s Open at the iconic Monterey Peninsula course.
