What's a Top Greenkeeper Worth?

[Kalen Braley]

Looking to Long Island or Monterey to baseline pay wages is an exercise that doesn't match reality.
 
Outliers like this have gotta be more than 2 Standard Deviations from the mean and thus excluded....somewhere between 50-60k per year is likely where the actual median is found.

[jeffwarne]

$400K, are we letting our imagination runaway with us I wonder

Maybe a bit but not too much.  The form 990s are available on the web and show salaries and other compensation for many of the top clubs.  I have searched for two of the clubs on LI and the salaries were both around $255k and bonuses were $41k-$80k.


Google "clubname form 990"  - there is a website called CitizenAudit that appears to scan and post these forms.  Compensation info is around page 10.

wonder where the compensation for private putting greens, golf pro lessons, school teachers tutoring is posted.....?
Meaning it's a moving target and really none of other people's business

[Carl Nichols]

In 2015, the average base salary for golf course superintendents rose to $85,204, a 3.2% increase over the base salary reported in 2013. This increase represents a 72.9% gain since 1995, or an increase of $35,935 in 20 years. In 2015, half of all superintendents earned $75,000 or more annually, 25% of all superintendents earned more than $100,000, and the top 10% earned $135,000 or more annually.

Steve:


Thanks for the facts.  I am startled by the numbers, but as I said, my basis for said numbers is twenty years old and I have a hard time adjusting for inflation.  [You will pardon me for observing that the average mean salary for American worked has NOT increased by 72.9% over the past twenty years, even if Patrick may not.]


As you stated after the numbers, though, I wonder if this is really all-inclusive.  For one thing, those $300k guys really drive up the AVERAGE salary but not the median.  For another, I wonder what % of American courses have GCSAA member superintendents?  I have some doubts that the percentages shown hold true for all of the 15,000 golf courses in the U.S.A., since it is in every professional organization's interest to over-report the average salary of their members to those who might negotiate their pay.

Tom--
Since those numbers don't say they are inflation adjusted, I think you'd be surprised.  I'm no expert, but it seems like the U.S. median household income in 1992 was something like $29,080, while in 2012 it was $49,486.  That's a 70.1% increase.  See http://www.davemanuel.com/median-household-income.php.  For individuals, the median income was something like $15,690 in 1993 and $28,031 in 2013 -- a 78.65% increase. http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/central.html.


That's median.  The mean (for individuals) shows a bigger percentage increase from 1993 ($22,191) to 2013 ($43,041), or about 94%.   http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/central.html.

[Ken Moum]

The average Sup income for Long Island is probably about $275,000...Starting pay is about $90k for a private not in financial trouble...the continuity and longevity of many of the guys has pushed the averages higher with some making over$450k...RHE

I doubt it. I looked up the 990's for NGLA, Maidstone, and Shinnecock - presumably in the top tier of facilities - and the average total compensation package for the superintendents in 2012 (most recent year I could find) was 240k.

I'm having so much fun searching Forms 990.

I know it's mean, but I'm fascinated by the debt some clubs are carrying. It makes me wonder about sustainability.

[Joe Hancock]

Ken,

That is mean. But, conversely, I was wondering what the comedian income of superintendents was......

[Mark Lester]

I was the superintendent at a private club in the hamptons and made nowhere near the salaries being thrown around in this thread.
18 holes, 696,000 budget,established 1896, 360 members.
Never lost a green, never went over budget, never made close to 6 figures.
Held the job for 26 years.


Frank Hannigan of the USGA was asked at the start of a U.S. Open who was the most important person on the property, he replied, "the superintendent, if he fails, we all fail."

[Jeff_Brauer]

In my 30 years in the biz, I have noticed the counter trend to GCSAA trying to boost image and salary.  And that trend is towards management companies, who generally pay less than private clubs, maybe more to pros than superintendents.

That said, I have also seen a trend in the best management companies towards keeping good supers.  In the earlier days of the wave, they didn't respect what the supers did, IMHO, and often went the cheap route.  Of course, savings is what they sold to at least municipalities who had let their budgets bloat a bit.

But, as someone noted, all it takes is one year of lost greens turf to balance out those salary savings and I don't see many turning over the reigns to 25 year olds any more.  I used to tell a joke that I heard a management company had fire employees and used the golf course dog to maintain the course.  When I called the course to see what conditions were, the super answered "ruff."

Also, management company maintenance budgets were often a fraction of what others had, but that gap seems to be narrowing in general, although I can't say it is universal, and I am talking from experience from some of the bigs.  Chambers Bay and Kemper is a good example of giving a course what it needs to fulfill its function, albeit, at the top end of the spectrum. Kemper does a wonderful job at the mid level courses of mine that they manage.  Nice balance of budget and results.

[Andrew Buck]

Here is a more simple formula.  A head super or pro should be able to live in the same neighborhoods, eat at the same restaurants and send their kids to the same schools as the members they serve.

Really the best post of the lot.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Frank Hannigan of the USGA was asked at the start of a U.S. Open who was the most important person on the property, he replied, "the superintendent, if he fails, we all fail."

Interesting post especially since the USGA emasculates the super when they take over a course for the US Open - most famously at Shinny.

[David Lott]

Think about what it costs to renovate your greens, rework your bunkers, replace your irrigation system before its proper useful life, explain those dead spots to prospective members or greens fee payers or replace badly maintained equipment. Then you will have a start on what a first rate greenskeeper is worth.


Then try to quantify the quality of your course or the pleasure of the golf experience.


Than you will get an fuller sense of what a greenskeeper is worth.


Trust me, in most cases its more than what you pay them.

[John Kavanaugh]

When I build a bridge I am not paid based on what it would cost if it fell down.

[Scott Little]

As someone who worked golf course maintenance to pay my way through college (great job, lousy pay), I can say that the only thing more expensive to a course than paying an appropriate wage for a competent super is not paying enough to hire a competent super.  While I did not understand it at the time, the decisions that my boss made resulted in a need for massive reconditioning in the future.