INDUSTRY PROFILE - JIM HIGGS
Jim
Higgs 1
Jim Higgs has been with Spartan Distributors for 12 years and is currently working in irrigation sales and service. He is 49 and resides in his hometown of Howell with his wife Ann Marie. They have been married for 26 years and have a son Joshua, who is 23.
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HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE GOLF BUSINESS? My first involvement goes back to my father. He got me involved in the game and there was a time when I was thinking of chasing the career as a player. I thought I had the talent at a young age but realized later I didn’t. I was hired at a golf course 33 years ago on the maintenance side of it. I spent 18 years working on that side and was a superintendent for eight years. I loved it until the day I resigned. At 37 I was hired into my current position at Spartan.
all three of those guys, I would not be where I am today.
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WHO WAS YOUR GREATEST INFLUENCE IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE? I have to say two people. My father and my wife’s grandfather. My father, William Wallace Higgs, was a Marine for 20 years and taught me a lot of things. My wife’s grandfather John Chenoweth has become a great mentor and gave me a lot of great advice. WHO WAS YOUR GREATEST INFLUENCE IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE? I have three people there. Tom Schall was the first superintendent I worked for in the business. Alex Greenacre was an assistant to him. They moved on to other facilities and then Rod Wilson was the super I worked under for a long time. Alex is one of my dearest friends and we remain close today. If it had not been for what I learned from
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WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE ARE THE BIGGEST ISSUES FACING SUPERINTENDENTS TODAY? No doubt today the topic discussed more and more is labor, or the lack of it. I think the industry is behind the times in what can be paid and that makes finding quality people, dependable people, more and more of a struggle. It is beyond what I had to deal with, and I thought I had a difficult time with it. Regardless of the facility size, the budgets, I hear it and it is a problem at all levels. It is topic number one. As for another, on my side of the business in irrigation, we don’t see yet, but we may – water usage and water management. The way we gather water, recycle water are not problems in Michigan yet, but down the road we are going to have to pay attention to the quality of water. WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS WHEN WORKING WITH THE MICHIGAN GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION? They do a great job and make you proud to be a part of the organization. They do an excellent job with communication, and you need that as a vendor, or in any business. They are very supportive and give you a thank you, too.
Course Conditions
| Fall 2018
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