Bad economies require every working man and woman to make decisions not often faced in life; for example: what is the better way to secure jobs in a difficult economy: (i) By constructively managing careers to get further ahead; or (ii) By defensively managing careers to maintain present jobs?
Human nature generally dictates that we take the more conservative approach to securing jobs when economies turn bad; i.e.- to hunker down defensively, do a solid job and stay out of the limelight.
Speaking with many superintendents and industry professionals this past year, a recurring theme always seems to spark interest -- employment contracts. In fact, Jim McLoughlin just touched on them in the past few months on his TurfNet blog. My business partner, Greg Wojick, also recently published a thorough article on them in the MetGCSA's Tee to Green newsletter. It provides quite a bit of research and interviews from superintendents, TurfNet founder Peter McCormick, Bruce Williams, McLoughlin
On two different occasions this past week I attended talks that reflected on the concept of "home". Ironically, both talks were given by former American citizens who, until they had moved to Prince Edward Island, had not yet felt as though they had "come home". I began to reflect on the notion of home, both in the intimate sense of an actual abode, and the broader connection we have to a place or time.
We all come from somewhere. The place we grew up will always reside in our memories, and
The State of Michigan was among the hardest hit by the severe winter weather of 2013-2014. Dr. Kevin Frank of Michigan State University led the charge of turfgrass recovery and PR outreach to the golfing community.
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Kevin chats with me about what we learned from last winter and how we can use that knowledge to better combat this type of damage in the future.
Rockbottum University has been studying Wheat Belly for months now and we are prepared to release our premature findings. The primary researcher/test subject, (me) is a gifted dietary adjustment genius with heavy experience in food crazes, exercise addiction and nutrition conspiracies.
I inherited this disorder from my dad, Norm, a former paratrooper/golf pro/CGCS with a maniacal fixation on diets, vitamins and health supplements dating back to 1964. Our family regimen involved ingestio
My Oct. 9th blog post advised that one of the more effective ways for a superintendent to create a visible presence is to schedule an Open House maintenance facility field day one Saturday afternoon each spring. As a follow-up on this recommendation, this blog is going to focus on the pivotal issue of maintenance facility order versus disorder because -- through my years of visiting America's golf course maintenance facilities -- I have seen the good, the indifferent and the ugly in about equal
John Reitman's article on the front page of TurfNet is an absolute must-read for anyone in the golf business.
Once again, we have been savaged by the pretend eco-warriors and painted as pesticide-soaked earth molesters. The time has come to be more animated in our response to propaganda, to adamantly present our positive environmental image to mainstream media.
We need to be more like Anthony Williams and Mark Hoban . . . aggressive environmental action heroes. We must not allow these
This post is intended to complement the message presented in the last post and presents the negotiating sequence that should be considered in the pursuit of a written employment contract.
Acknowledging the fact that roughly 80% of qualifying superintendents are consistently denied the protection of written contracts and suffer the consequences thereof (see Sep 25th blog), the purpose of this blog message is to educate newly hired and already employed superintendents who have been denied writ
I'm back. Not baaaaaack... just back, from my self-imposed six-month-or-so sabbatical-of-sorts. 'Sabbatical' meaning no new projects or learning curves for awhile, sleep in (past 5:00) on occasion, take a couple hours to read a book or an afternoon snooze if the spirit moves. Take a few deep breaths... look around, regain one's bearings... hopefully emerge renewed and refreshed.
I have long said that our society should allow everyone a sabbatical at some point in their life. From Wikipedi
I wrote this post a few years back. Maestro McCormick thought it may be timely to dredge it up because not much has changed. So here goes...As always...thanks for reading. -DW
In my current, often schizophrenic situation, I find myself involved in the whole concept of Early Order Season. As I write this, there are no less than thirteen programs that in some way or another provide an opportunity. Opportunity for what? That's the big question for which every situation will have a different ans
My Sept 25th blog post advised that the primary reason why the vast majority of golf course superintendents are denied written contracts is because search committees lack the confidence to judge the technical qualifications of job applicants accurately.
Therefore, logic suggests that the best approach for superintendents to overcome this shortcoming is:
To educate search committees to the point where they would feel comfortable granting written contracts to established and newly hired su
In this second episode of Frankly Speaking on TurfNet RADIO, Dr. Doug Soldat of the University of Wisconsin-Madison talks about some surprising research into long-standing notions about turf nutrition - notably that late-season shot of nitrogen, and where it does and doesn't wind up.
He also calls into question the practice of boosting potassium fertility at the end of the season to "promote plant hardiness" - where in reality it might best be applied early- and mid-season to combat basal r
The camera platform known in current terms as a "Drone" has more potential than just another way to indulge in Metallica driven action videos.
In the following training film, Buddy explains other ways to utilize the Drone.
Time flies. I can't believe I have been writing for TurfNet now for just over a year. I've enjoyed offering advice on careers and technology and hope anyone who has read the blog receives value in some way from it as that is the goal -- to help others in the turf industry.
Because we are all pulled in different directions constantly and content is everywhere, I thought it might be a good time to recap and highlight the five key articles I wrote in this past year that would bring the most va
We just kicked off our first episode of Frankly Speaking on TurfNet RADIO, chatting with Dr. Brian Horgan of the University of Minnesota about nutrient management and water quality. Thanks to DryJect and Aquatrols for sponsoring. Check it out below!
I hate bad shoes. My brother Mike was almost killed by bad shoes. His after school job selling women's shoes sometimes required him to force size 4 high heels onto size 12 hooves. One simple detonation could fling shrapnel and clouds of compressed foot gas all over the mall.
I hate bad socks more than bad shoes. I was almost killed by bad socks. I remember a particularly grueling 12 mile ruck march in the Ozarks--complete with howling winds and snow--when I ran out of moleskin at m
Yes, there is a second undiscovered web site opportunity that is potentially more valuable to a superintendent than the well-documented highly respected personal career web site.
Properly prepared, managed and updated on regular basis, a "maintenance program" (MP) web site's attainable objectives are to promote the superintendents' "brand" in the following ways:
To educate course officials/players to the basic elements of the maintenance program.
To educate re: the role and job descript
I have this voice stuck in my head. It talks to me every day on the course. Buddy says if I retire it will go away. I don't know how much more I can take . . .
Every fall, the floodgates open and the soil tests come rolling in. I love soil tests. Probably because I actually use them for what they are intended for. Information. Not sales.
A long time ago when I decided to form a business around testing soil and consulting based on those soil tests, a ton of people said that I was crazy. Charge for something that the fertilizer industry usually gives away for free? It made no sense.
When I exposed bad testing or perhaps better said, cheaper tes
Two totally independent national surveys that mutually support each other's findings tell a frightful story about the careers/lives of golf course superintendents:
FIRST SURVEY: Indicates that only about 20% of golf course superintendents enjoy the security of a written employment contract, while roughly 80% of PGA and CMAA members enjoy this privilege.
Few people in the world give thought to the devastation wrought upon families when a superintendent is summarily dismissed - which is n
I stumbled across an interesting question on Twitter a while back. Posed by consultant John Bladon, it read:
It was an interesting post to me for a few reasons. I know that business is business, but I always liked to think that on the turf side of things our shared trials and tribulations overshadow our differences. I love that when I ask a question on TurfNet or hit up a local super at the conference seminar there is no hesitation with an answer... turf guys just want to help.
Alas
This is the first in a series on building career websites for the turf industry. We will cover all aspects of content, page building, imagery, and more.
Let's start with some facts. There is still a bottleneck at the top of our industry in trying to attain a Superintendent position at a quality club. If you are applying blind to a position where you have no connections to the club at all, a standard cover letter and resume will not get it done. With dozens upon dozens of applicants, you hav
The blog series now switches to Contract Negotiations.
Too many job applicants once told by the search committee that they are being offered a job drop their guard thinking the task of pursuing their next job has been successfully concluded.
Unfortunately, this is a fundamental mistake because receiving a job offer is simply an 'invitation' to be the first or next in line to have the opportunity to negotiate an employment agreement.
Candidates should realize when offered a job that
