A couple of years ago the course where I live was in dreadful condition. The super at the time just didn’t do the job. He got lazy. I was on the board at the time. We fired the super and began the search for a new one. I did the interviews. It was great fun. I’d question the prospective supers and the GM would listen and chime in occasionally. I’d then take him out on the course and show him what was going on. We interviewed about a dozen guys. Most of the time the prospect would say, “Boy is that going to be a lot or work to get this place back in condition.” Only one guy said, “I can’t wait to get my hands on this course and bring it back to life.” We hired him and he did what he said he’d do. When we fired the old super, I had folks ready to ring my neck, because he had made a bunch of friends with the membership. Now they all love me.
It is hard to overstate the importance of a good super. He must be an agronomist, scientist, artist, adaptable to the various conditions, be able to endure criticism because the course is too soft or too firm, the greens are too slow or too fast, the aeration holes aren’t healing quickly enough, and what is that bug on the tenth green?
Sometimes the membership doesn’t even know that there are problems. At another of my clubs most of us were pleased with the conditions. Then we got a new guy. Yikes, what a difference. Thank goodness for guys like Ken Curtin, Joel Miller at my home club, and Steven Ball at Ballyhack.