GCSAA, WARRIOR ALLIANCE Address Labor Challenges

While golf course superintendents aren’t the only ones in the golf industry facing labor shortages, but finding qualified, skilled workers remains a challenge. In fact, in a 2022 labor survey conducted by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), 63 percent of respondents listed the labor market as bad or very bad.

Those numbers exactly match the 2019 survey results but are significantly higher than the 2016 survey (45%) and 2012 survey (19%). Only 9% of respondents indicated the labor market as good or very good, while 28% fell into the neither good nor bad category in the most recent survey.

One way GCSAA is working to better the labor outlook for its members needs regarding labor is with a recent agreement with The Warrior Alliance.

During the 2023 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in February, GCSAA and The Warrior Alliance signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on developing a career pathway in the golf industry for service members, veterans, their families and others.

This joint initiative will align GCSAA’s expertise of the required competencies for success in the golf course maintenance industry with The Warrior Alliance’s Operation Double Eagle, a nine-week skills development program in Augusta, Ga., which connects veterans and transitioning activeduty service members to a network of employers seeking “job-ready” veterans for nationwide career opportunities.

The program looks to provide placement of veterans and other participants in suitable positions for their validated skillsets, thus encouraging employees to stay engaged as they advance within the golf course maintenance industry.

Once established, the program will be available to expand externally with various stakeholders and educational providers throughout the country providing online, classroom, hands-on, and apprenticeship skills development courses for the golf industry. This expansion will go beyond serving only veterans to include anyone interested in advancing their skills in the golf course maintenance industry.

Warrior Alliance’s Operation Double Eagle began in 2020 and provides selected veterans golf course education and job-placement assistance. Through eight sessions of training and education, 30 percent of the graduates are now working in golf course maintenance or in landscaping. In addition, 50% of the graduates have found work in similar industries.

GCSAA’s GCM magazine recently featured graduates who are working at golf courses, including Shannon Bowling. The retired Army sergeant spent 15 months at the Creek Club at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga. before accepting an offer to work at a Fort Gordon, Ga., golf course located on a military base.

“I told my wife I am lucky to have found a job where I love what I am doing,” Bowling said. “I work on the grass and get to play golf, too. Now I have the advantage over the people I play with. I know where the pins are set – because I set them.”

Steve Rumsey is another example of a program success story. The army veteran served for 37 years and suffered a work injury after retiring from service. He found out about the Operation Double Eagle program and started working on golf course restorations via a landscaping company.

“I never thought I would end up on a golf course,” Rumsey said. “I do wish Operation Double Eagle would get a little more recognition. To have a course like that – never in a million years would I have thought I would do something like this. The way it is brought forward, nobody is alienated. You are no different than anybody else. You are a veteran. You are a family member. You have the same life story as every other veteran. This program makes you feel human.”

The specifics of the GCSAA/Warrior Alliance program will be developed over the next six months, with expectations to be operational by early 2024.

“With this agreement, GCSAA and The Warrior Alliance will combine our resources to expand the veteran workforce development of Operation Double Eagle and support our GCSAA members and their golf facilities,” GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans said. “This collaboration will help address golf’s labor shortage by providing a skilled workforce trained in the various maintenance practices used on golf courses.”

To learn more about The Warrior Alliance visit https://www.thewarrioralliance.org/