When crediting those who have made a positive impact on his career, Justin Sims checks all the usual boxes, like superintendents for whom he once worked. Sims, the director of grounds and facilities at the Alotian Club in Roland, Arkansas, also points to some unlikely influences.
One of the major influences on Sims' career is the late John Wooden, who led the UCLA basketball program to 10 national championships in 12 years in the 1960s and '70s.
A motivational genius, Wooden developed his Pyramid of Success that assigns an order of importance to 15 personal attributes that serve as building blocks of success. They key to that ultimate success, which in the case of UCLA's basketball teams was Competitive Greatness, is dependent on the other 14 building blocks being in place. That ultimate goal cannot be achieved if just one block in the pyramid is compromised.
"I have read a lot of books about him and books that he has written," Sims said.
"He has a lot of philosophies that apply not only on the basketball court, but in life."
The other mentors who have played a role in Sims' career include Marsh Benson and Brad Owen at Augusta National and Pat Finlen at the Olympic Club.
He needed to call on every lesson he learned from each of them in 2020.
Sims, who oversees all outdoor operations at the Alotian Club, was down about 30 people across the golf course maintenance and landscape operations while simultaneously taking on a greens renovation project.
"This year was a double-whammy for us. We've had quite a few H2B workers in the first eight years I've worked here," Sims said. "This year, we didn't get any of them. We were down 30 people, so we were busy recruiting and worrying about what we were going to do to find people. Then the virus hit while we were in the middle of rebuilding seven greens. We were closed January 1 and were supposed to reopen March 28, so we had a lot of stuff going on. We were in a bad spot."
Sims eventually was able to put together what he described as a hodgepodge crew. Throughout the pandemic, the club has been testing all employees every Wednesday. The virus affected large chunks of the team throughout the summer, with as many as 19-20 people in quarantine at one time or another.
The pandemic has given Sims an opportunity to take a hard look at the members of his team and see how they fit into his philosophy.
"The last year has been good for building a crew," he said. "I was able to get a handle on how people handled adversity, how they are able to block things out and concentrate on getting better every day. An adverse time provides an opportunity to assess how everyone fits in as part of the team."
Enter Coach Wooden.
"I'm very people oriented. I know everyone is unique and personalities vary, and there is no one-size-fits-all philosophy," Sims said. "When we're hiring, I'm only looking for three things: integrity, attitude and do they have, as John Wooden would call it, industriousness. If someone has those things, then they're good to go; you can be part of a team and you're someone I can manage. I've never been able to train someone to be honest. I've never been able to train someone to work hard. And I've never been able to train someone to have a positive attitude."
