While some believe it is better to be lucky than good, Andy Magnasco is living proof that a little bit of both can go a long way in forging a career path.At age 27, Magnasco is entering his third season as head golf course superintendent at Carmel Valley Ranch in Carmel, Calif. For those keeping score, that means Magnasco was 25 when he landed his first job as a head golf course superintendent. And it has been a combination of meeting the right people, asking the right questions, having the guts to ask the tough questions and in inner drive that does not stop that have helped Magnasco reach a level of professional development much faster than what has become the industry standard.
In fact, Magnasco has been working in the golf business since age 13 when he was washing carts to gain community service hours at Tayman Park, a nine-hole course in Healdsburg, Calif. originally built by Alister MacKenzie. By age 14, he was running a triplex and was responsible for course set up on weekends while also running his own lawn service operation as well as competing in golf, soccer and wrestling as a high school freshman. It was a schedule few kids that age could manage.
Although Magnasco admits there were many who helped him along his path to success, including mentoring from Dick Rudolph, management skills from Jeff Markow and soil management from Jason Goss, it soon became clear to many who crossed paths with him that he was driven like few others.
"He had ability to communicate with people from all walks of life, more so than others his age," said Rudolph, superintendent at Aetna Springs in Napa, Calif., and Magnasco's career mentor.
"He was an aggressive kid, who, you could tell, wanted to get somewhere really fast."
That somewhere is a full-service golf resort that is rewriting the books on providing customers and employees with a well-rounded experience found in few other places. And it's a place that would allow Magnasco to draw from his previous experiences.
Looking back, it was a stroke of luck that Magnasco and Rudolph met while the former was still in high school while also helping maintain Tayman Park and the latter was playing golf there. Sparked by mutual Fresno State ballcaps, the meeting changed both of them forever.
"Here was this man playing golf who looked like Robert Redford, and he asked me what I wanted to do with my life," Magnasco said. "When I told him I wanted to go to Fresno State and be a golf course superintendent, he told me he was a superintendent and he had gone to Fresno State.
"He told me if I really wanted to be a superintendent, that he wanted to meet my parents so he could tell them everything I needed to do."
Rudolph helped Magnasco plan his education, which included two years at Santa Rosa Junior College and two years at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Magnasco also went off the reservation from the pre-established plan once or twice, moves that define his personality and that have paid immense dividends.While making the drive to Cal Poly, he stopped at Pebble Beach just to introduce himself. He made enough connections on that stop, including Bob Yeo at Spyglass Hill, that he has been volunteering at events at Pebble Beach ever since, including the PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
While a student at Cal Poly, he picked up the phone one day to ask Markow for an internship at Cypress Point, a move that even Magnasco admits was pretty gutsy at the time.
"Cypress Point is the best golf course in the country. That's where I wanted to be," he said. "I'd never met Jeff, but I'd heard nothing but great things about him. So, I called him and told him I wanted to intern there."
Markow receives a lot of requests from turf students wanting to intern at Cypress Point, so he can afford to be selective.
"Basically what we look for in an intern is a passion for the industry, a willingness to experiment, learn and a relaxed attitude. The rest we will help teach and shape," Markow said. "It is also important they learn to get along with the crew and understand, appreciate their efforts because as a superintendent your success relies on the efforts and quality of your crew. How they are treated goes a long way in forging that relationship.
"Andy had and still has a great mental attitude, that willingness to learn and try things and also how to treat and respect his crew. While continuing education is important, the best lessons are to "Learn by Doing", to steal from Cal Poly's theme, which he is always willing to try. His dedication to his facility and providing the best possible conditions will ensure his success."
Magnasco said it was that brief time working for Markow that he learned not only about managing turf to meet golf demands, but how to manage people as well.
"Those were the most valuable three months I've ever spent working for someone else," Magnasco said. "He is perfect in how he can communicate and get members and owners to understand what is needed on the golf course and the options available. He is cutting-edge and his professionalism is top-notch. It's refreshing that a gardener, a greens guy, can show that his strongest suit is being a businessman. He is what every superintendent should strive to be."
That positive attitude and willingness to learn and try new things that Markow talked about have come in handy at Carmel Valley Ranch, which is much more than a hotel property with a golf course.
Redefining diversity under the vision of resort manager Kristina Jetton, 500-acre Carmel Valley Ranch has areas for staging weddings, bocce ball and tennis facilities, a small organic farming operation, small vineyard, a salt house that pulls sea salt from ocean water out of Monterey Bay, hundreds of lavender plants that eventually are distilled for oils used in soaps and lotions and an apiary for raising organic lavender honey, all of which fall under Magnasco's supervision.
Managing lavender plants for a customer focused property like Carmel Valley Ranch is much more than raising flowers in a bed. It requires manipulating the plants so they are in bloom for customers longer, and when it's time to harvest them, Magnasco's staff pulls out every other row, to leave some in the ground as long as possible. "We harvest every other row, so you don't wipe out an entire field of it for the guest experience," Magnasco said.
"If people come to Monterey Peninsula to play golf and golf is all that is on their minds, then they're going over there to the coast," he said of places like the Pebble Beach properties. "But, if you have a family, and you want to see what California is all about and also play some golf, it's incredible what we offer here. And I am a steward of this property."
Being a steward of the environment and wanting to learn more took root in Magnasco early.
Dave Wilber of Sierra Pacific Turf recalled visiting Goss at Sonoma and being chased down by the assistant superintendent who had a lot of questions to ask.
"I remember being about two hours later than I wanted to be leaving Sonoma Golf Club because Andy sat with Jason and me and just asked questions," Wilber said. "He wanted to know. Not because of a critical ?that's not what they taught me in school' attitude, but because he was observing some different things being done and wanted to know why."
Years later, Magnasco still is asking questions, seeking ways to make Carmel Valley Ranch better for its customers. He deflects much of the credit for his outlook to Jetton, who Magnasco says, has that one intangible you can't see, but you know it when someone possesses it.
"She gets it. And she makes me want to come to work," he said.
"She talks about generating revenue and what we can do to get to the next level. We want to make sure we are a step ahead. And right now, in my opinion, we're three steps ahead of most resorts in what we offer.
"When I got here in 2009 as an assistant, this was just a golf resort, and golf was my passion. It still is, but I want to be like an innkeeper. I have the heart of an innkeeper. My mind is all over the place all the time. No. 1. I want to make this a beautiful golf course that plays well. We're doing that, but we can be good at other things."