Announcement of new Superintendent at New South Wales GC.

[Anthony Butler]

And the winner is Mark Parker - who is the current Super at Concord GC..

Given the potential of upcoming changes to NSWGC, it is interesting the man who supervised the changes from the Renaissance redesign at Concord has been appointed. The announcement distributed to members over the weekend included this detail, so it might be interpreted as softening the ground for changes coming later in the year.

[Terry Thornton]

Anthony,


Do you think it more likely that NSWGC asked Mark what it was like working with Renaissance or vice versa? (or both?)

[Anthony Butler]

Anthony,

Do you think it more likely that NSWGC asked Mark what it was like working with Renaissance or vice versa? (or both?)

Given the fact his work supervising the changes at Concord was included in the hiring announcement, it's hard to imagine the topic wasn't raised during the interview. Also, by presenting it as a supporting factor in his hiring, it indicates to me the committee maybe attempting to proactively reassure members when more significant changes more than first anticipated are announced in the coming months.

Only one person can truly answer that question.. Tom ____ (Can't remember the second name :-) 

[Tom_Doak]

It's news to me that Mark is taking the job at NSW.  Neither he nor the board at NSW even told me he was a candidate - which is probably just as well, since that would have put us in an awkward position with Concord.


It's an unwritten rule, but my rule is never to "steal" the superintendent from one client to go to another project.  It really doesn't make sense.  As much as I'd like to have Ken Nice or Rusty Mercer doing construction and grow-in on my next project, it's just as important to me for them to be at Bandon and Streamsong assuring that our work there is presented at its best.  So they would have to quit and move somewhere else before I could suggest them as a candidate for a new project.


Mark was great to work with at Concord and he will be a tremendous asset to New South Wales.

[Jonathan Mallard]

It's an unwritten rule, but my rule is never to "steal" the superintendent from one client to go to another project.  It really doesn't make sense.  As much as I'd like to have Ken Nice or Rusty Mercer doing construction and grow-in on my next project, it's just as important to me for them to be at Bandon and Streamsong assuring that our work there is presented at its best.  So they would have to quit and move somewhere else before I could suggest them as a candidate for a new project.

Tom,


This begs the question of how much having a particular superintended on board to work with your firm is a factor both in winning new design commissions as well as the attractiveness of individual renovation work.

[Tom_Doak]

Tom,

This begs the question of how much having a particular superintended on board to work with your firm is a factor both in winning new design commissions as well as the attractiveness of individual renovation work.

It's almost never been a factor in us being hired to build a new project; we are being hired for design not maintenance.  But we go in with the understanding that we will help the client find the right person to help manage the project and then be the superintendent going forward, which is a big comfort to the client.  And, for the last 15 years anyway, we have had really good success in finding great candidates for those jobs, because we meet a lot of talented guys who are interested in building a project with us.


As far as consulting and renovation work is concerned, we certainly want to meet the superintendent as part of the interview process, and see how well we get along.  I can't think offhand of any job we turned down for that reason specifically, since we are construction guys at heart and we tend to get along very well with superintendents ... but it might have been a factor in not pursuing an assignment or two along the way.  Life is too short to sign up to work with people you don't like, or people who try to make things harder than they need to be.
 

[Anthony Butler]

It's news to me that Mark is taking the job at NSW.  Neither he nor the board at NSW even told me he was a candidate - which is probably just as well, since that would have put us in an awkward position with Concord.


It's an unwritten rule, but my rule is never to "steal" the superintendent from one client to go to another project.  It really doesn't make sense.  As much as I'd like to have Ken Nice or Rusty Mercer doing construction and grow-in on my next project, it's just as important to me for them to be at Bandon and Streamsong assuring that our work there is presented at its best.  So they would have to quit and move somewhere else before I could suggest them as a candidate for a new project.


Mark was great to work with at Concord and he will be a tremendous asset to New South Wales.

Hi Tom,


I hope you did not take my OP as indicating you had inserted yourself into the hiring process inappropriately. If the committee at NSWGC asked for your feedback in Mark, that sounds perfectly inline with any other hiring decision... you talk with a range of colleagues who have had exposure to the candidate in a work environment. As Gary Dempsey served as the head of the Australian Society of Golf Course Superintendents for a time, I'm sure Mark was a known entity to the man he is replacing as well.

Anyways, you'll be happy to know that the club sent out an announcement on your hiring yesterday... This one made it to two pages, included parts of your academic record at Cornell and MIT, tales of your caddying activities at St. Andrews, along with your more recent activities. ;-)

The other thing it highlighted is future plans for the 6th green, which apparently has to be moved due to some environmental situation with the NSW Govt. entity that manages the land... Far be it from me to tell you your business, but I will say the thing I like about the current configuration of the hole is that if you make a bold shot from the tee and don't hit the green you are at least rewarded with an easier recovery shot from the left side. With most pin locations, it's almost impossible to make par when you miss the green to the right. Sure would hate to see those two options entirely disappear in the renovation, as it did with Greg Norman's initial proposal.