Presidential Perspective by Brandon Schindele, Superintendent Edina Country Club
Last month I discussed the topic of showing gratitude and saying Thank You to everyone that allows us to complete our respective jobs with success every day, whether it is colleagues in other departments of your operation, colleagues at another golf course, vendors that provide support, products, and knowledge, and probably most importantly the staff members that each of us are charged with leading. Staffing is a great concern to all of us. Every spring the question of, “How is your staff coming together?” comes right after, “How did your turf come through winter?” Drilling down further I think all of us worry how are we able to continue to find people that will fill the roles of Equipment Manager/Mechanic, Spray/
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Irrigation Technicians, and even Assistant Superintendents for that matter. Honestly, this problem is not a simple, one answer solution because the reason for lack of people going into the positions is multi-faceted. The cost of education is going up and the rise in salaries are not going up at the same rate. I do think the salary part will correct itself in the present economy due to low unemployment numbers and salaries are going to have to go up. Universities are becoming increasingly more difficult to gain admittance to, especially at a Big 10 school, such as the University of Minnesota or UW Madison. Looking inward at our operations, what are some things that we can all do to develop staff and show them that the Turf and Golf Course Industry can be a rewarding and fun place to work?