Imported talent

[T_MacWood]

As I was watching a group of Mexican laborers recontour the greens at Ohio State, I couldn't help but think back to the Italians building Merion and the Irish building Cypress Point. Believe it or not, Columbus has a Mexican population of between 70,000 and 100,000...they dominate all areas of constuctions in this area.

What impact has the influx of inexpensive (I assume) Mexican laborers had on golf construction? It appears that the crew at OSU is almost exclusively Mexican...is that pretty common today in most other regions.

[A.G._Crockett]

I have wondered the same thing about maintenance (as opposed to construction.)  Might the perfect conditions that have led to some of the distance increases be attributed to the availability of cheap labor as well?

The maintenance staff at my club, besides the Super and his assistant and a few college kids during the summer, is entirely Hispanic.  I would assume that this is the case many other places.  I know that we have better conditions without significantly higher dues that was the case just a few years ago.