The career path of Carlos Arraya has been on a trajectory that rivals anything even SpaceX has put on the launch pad in recent years.
First the golf course superintendent at historic Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, then the club's director of agronomy and later assistant general manager since 2019, Arraya recently was approved by the club's membership to become its next general manager. He will succeed Michael Chase. Chase, who previously worked at Druid Hills in Atlanta, The Loxahatchee Club in Jupiter, Florida, and The Philadelphia Cricket Club before coming to Bellerive in 2018, is moving on to take another position at Atlantic Beach Country Club, near Jacksonville, Florida.
Since the early days of his career at Hawks Nest in Vero Beach, Florida, where he was assistant superintendent from 1998-2002 and later returned as general manager from 2005-2014, Arraya has adopted a team-first management style that has helped accelerate his career. It is a philosophy that he learned from his mentor John Cunningham, who in turn picked it up from Dick Gray years ago at Martin Downs in Palm City, Florida.
But the real turning point for Arraya was triggered by the tragic loss of his son, Isaih, in a car accident in 2016.
"Isaih's passing was the crossover for me to grow people," Arraya said.
In the wake of the PGA Championship three years ago at Bellerive, Arraya was named the recipient of the 2018 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award. He spoke then at length about how personal tragedy helped lift him up to appreciate those around, including members of his maintenance team.
"Losing my son gave me a new perspective," Arraya said in 2018 upon winning Superintendent of the Year. "Tragedies really awaken people, or they make them go down a road they can't come back from."
Obviously, Arraya chose the former, and folks at Bellerive noticed.
Upon taking a position with another club, Chase recommended Arraya to Bellerive's members as his permanent successor.
"I feel strongly there is no better candidate than Carlos," Chase wrote in his recommendation. "Carlos understands and is a key force behind the club's continuing positive trajectory."
Members of the club, its board of governors and a search committee formed to find Chase's replacement agreed.
"I think with his prior experience as a General Manager, his business acumen, his knowledge of Bellerive and the membership, his respect and love for the golf course and our reputation in the golf world, our traditions, and a sincere appreciation for our community standing and the Club as a whole, as well as his commitment to St Louis, he would make a fantastic General Manager," Bellerive president Rick Walsh wrote in announcing Arraya's promotion.
Never was Arraya's management style on display more than during the pandemic. He played a key role in developing flex scheduling and selling the "Bellerive experience" to hourly employees, many of whom could have earned more elsewhere, but decided to stay at the club.
Losing my son gave me a new perspective. Tragedies really awaken people, or they make them go down a road they can't come back from.
Management avoided layoffs and even attracted a whole new demographic to the workforce - teenagers.
"The turning point, where we had to make some tough decisions, came when you ask how you are going to compete with Domino's, who is paying $15-plus, or Amazon at $18-plus," Arraya told TurfNet last year. "There is something like $8 billion in construction contracts over the next few years in St. Louis. People are being paid more than $20 an hour just to pour concrete.
"We have to sell something. How do we make this fun?"
The Bellerive Experience included team outings and other events to help promote a feeling of unity. Bellerive also became a place that employees could rely on when they could rely on little else during the pandemic.
"During the pandemic, we didn't cut anyone. We cut hours, but we didn't cut jobs," Arraya told TurfNet. "People here know they have a safe place to work.
"We've had more young kids apply than ever before. It's not the pay, it's parents saying this is a safe place to work. This is the youngest staff we've had since I've been here."
