Our country’s economy is in serious trouble and the President is telling America that things will get worse before they get better.  Accordingly, some of the country’s private golf clubs and daily fee courses could be facing austerity budgeting next year, or soon after. If your club board or daily fee owner asked you, as the golf course superintendent of record, to draft a 2010 austerity maintenance operating budget for your golf course, what would the final product look like and how far would you go to cut expense spending?

(FYI: Municipal golf courses probably will not have a need for austerity budgeting because the Obama stimulus bill has directed billions of dollars to states and municipalities.)

Anticipating the possible need for austerity budget drafting at some future time, rough out a preliminary 2010 austerity operating budget draft, using your 2009 operating budget as a baseline, to estimate what level of austerity budget-cutting you believe your course could absorb and still remain playable. (When this exercise is complete, submit your budget-cutting estimate to the poll on the right.)

Austerity Budget Drafting Guidelines:

1. Assume that your austerity budget would minimize crew size, bunker care, mowing frequency, cutting patterns, multiple cutting heights through the green, water usage (be firm and think brown) and cultural practices but must do so without endangering the long term viability of the putting surfaces and the playability of the golf course; i.e.- maintain general green quality but at slower speeds, while not allowing course conditioning to fall to a point where playing golf would not be enjoyed.
2. Accept that your golf course would lose its pristine look within an austerity budget program but, nevertheless, must still remain playable.
3.  Assume that your job will depend on how deep you can budget-cut while still maintaining reasonable golf course playability. Use comment opportunity below to share your core/creative thinking re: this matter.

Make this exercise a good self-teaching moment for future reference.

Roughly 75% of PGA members and over 80% of CMAA members work with the protection of (multi-year) written employment contracts. Conversely, only 21% of golf course superintendents enjoy the protection of written contracts. The reality of the situation is that four of five GCSAA members face a double obstacle when looking to borrow money to buy a traditional home, or a family car –  i.e., lending institutions do not honor verbal contracts or “year-to-year” agreements, which all verbal contracts are by definition.

Then, do we have to remind ourselves of the devastation wrought when superintendents without written contract protection get summarily dismissed from their jobs (estimated @ 400-plus times each year country-wide) simply because they can be? As a consequence, families face the loss of primary income; mortgage payments and children’s college tuition fees are put in jeopardy; employer-provided housing is quickly term-limited virtually putting families out on the street; family health coverage fades; children will have to change school systems; anxiety mounts throughout the family; and finally, dismissed superintendents face the daunting task of seeking their next job without strong employer support. Can there be any greater trauma forced on good families? Not likely.

Of course, the present-day economy seriously aggravates all of the above. See my most recent blog, “Anticipating Austerity” (with comments) for guidelines to minimize job vulnerability in a bad economy.

What Steps Need To Be Taken?

Step #1: Read my October 2007 Golf Course Industry column to see how: (i) individual superintendents; (ii) GCSAA chapters; and (iii) GCSAA itself can effectively address this matter.

Step #2: Ask your Chapter to constructively lobby GCSAA to take the lead addressing this matter.

Step #3: Use button at the bottom of this page (you may have to hit the HOME tab on the menubar first) to e-mail this post to peer, chapter delegates and members of Chapter Boards across the country.

Step #4: Participate in the survey poll to the right because the greater the response the more weight behind this campaign.

The concept that every superintendent should have the right to earn a written contract is a realizable goal, but one that should be collectively pursued now because if this matter is allowed to stand in these continuing to decline economic times – thousands of superintendents’ jobs will be put unnecessarily in jeopardy in the coming years.

Superintendents, want to help your assistant(s) on their career path? Print out these Career Corner posts and responses on an ongoing basis and assemble them in a hard copy binder for your assistants and crew.

April 15, 2009 marked the 62nd anniversary of the day Jackie Robinson played his first game as a Brooklyn Dodger… and by doing so broke the color barrier in professional baseball and made the sport, for the first time, truly America’s game.

Jackie Robinson lived by a set of values that guided his career and path through life. These nine values were:

Citizenship

Commitment

Courage

Determination

Excellence

Integrity

Justice

Persistence

Teamwork

Robinson also once said, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”  I believe this is the single most important concept we parents can pass down to our children. See the poll to the right to identify what value you feel will most effectively guide you through life.