Nearly 100 active listings for interns on the TurfNet Jobs board illustrate the intense competition to attract tomorrow's golf course superintendents.
Superintendents who are able to routinely attract top interns — as well as assistants — know that success hinges on showing candidates what they will take away from the experience, not telling them what will be expected of them — or else.
At the Quechee (VT) Club, that means a customized experience based in part on what the intern wants to learn.
"When we interview people, we tell them they are going to get hands-on experience. We are going to tailor the job to your experience," said Ken Lallier (right), property manager at Quechee. "We try to get them for more than one year, and when they leave they will be ready to be an assistant superintendent."
That experience also means on-site housing in a farmhouse on Lake Pinneo that the club owns. The building has a restaurant on the ground floor and apartments upstairs.
"We've always offered housing for the simple reason that every intern we get is typically young and not from the area," Lallier said. "They need to find a place to live. In our area, housing is cost-prohibitive: $2,000 is the starting rate for a studio apartment. If you're making $20 or $22 an hour, that's just not realistic. It's not the Taj Mahal, but we don't charge them anything."
Josh Clevenger tells a similar story at Pine Canyon Club in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he is in his fifth year as director of agronomy after a decade at Claremont Country Club near Oakland, California.
Pine Canyon used to help cover the cost of housing. That has changed to fully funding the cost of short-term housing for interns since Clevenger has been there.
"We wouldn't be able to attract interns without it," Clevenger said.
"We don't have on-site housing. We rented apartments in the past. This year, we rented a townhome for the entire summer. We were able to provide housing for two interns and two assistants."
Unlike places like Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tucson, where play peaks in winter and during the shoulder seasons, Flagstaff, with an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet, has a traditional summer golf season.
This year, Clevenger was looking for winter housing, to provide a longer experience for Pine Canyon's interns. He used the Furnished Finder web site to locate short-term housing in Flagstaff, the site of Northern Arizona University. The school has an enrollment of 28,000.
"I always wanted to start an intern program in California, but we didn't have housing. The only courses that had interns also had housing. In the Bay area, you had to go 30 miles east of Oakland to find something that was affordable. Flagstaff is a college town with no shortage of options for housing.
"I don't see how we could be competitive in the market without (housing)."
That was a lesson he learned in California, where the club did not offer housing for interns.
"I always wanted to start a program there," he said. "The only courses that had interns also had housing."
Even with free on-site housing at Quechee, competing for interns with larger clubs in the Northeast can be a challenge, so Lallier, who is in his 38th year at the club, also sells amenities and lifestyle experiences that do not show up on a paycheck. The club converts to a ski resort in the winter, and there are other outdoors activities throughout the area.
"The pool of people who want to come here is already shallow. The big clubs build dorms and siphon off a dozen interns. That doesn't leave much for the rest of us who want interns," he said.
"We'll interview them, and they'll have six other interviews. You think it's a good interview, then they call and they're taking another job. If you like the outdoors, there is so much to do here: fish, ski, hunt. We try to sell that."
The Country Club of Detroit has had housing for interns in an on-site house the club owns since before director of agronomy Ross Miller, CGCS (right), arrived there 13 years ago.
Although that makes it easier to recruit interns, Miller says it is as important if not more to focus on the intern experience.
"There are tons of world-class facilities within a half-hour," Miller said. "It's not just about housing. You have to build relationships with the universities so they know their interns are going to learn a lot when they are here. Eighty percent of our interns are not married to a property, but more so to a learning experience.
"When we interview them, we look to see if they are going to be a good culture fit. What are they looking to get, and what are you able to provide?"
Trying to find the right person begins long before that initial interview. It is important, Miller says, to be up front when listing a job. And it is just as important for those seeking internships to be just as open and honest about their expectations and what will be expected of them.
"It's a turf business, but it's also a people business. You can damage relationships with potential interns from universities for quite some time if you are not transparent with them," Miller said. "Part of that transparency is in the job posting. But there has to be an understanding, but to get that you have to earn that. Show us that you are proficient and excel in the basics then we will teach you want to learn."