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For the record, I hate the term “golf boom.” I’m old and I’ve learned that booms always bust, and busting is no fun. But this thing we’re in now is unprecedented. Rounds continue at record levels, waiting lists for a lot of clubs are bloated, big renovations are happening everywhere, and the pandemic gift that keeps on giving – work from home – continues to shower golf with riches.

So, with nearly five years of post-Covid golf course operations behind us, we’re still experiencing both the highs and the lows of this new, dynamic golf market. Here’s a look at some of the big issues that shaped the world of golf course maintenance in 2024.

The Equipment Saga Continues

Between 2010 to 2020 – from recession to pandemic – I gave the same speech about the state of the industry: supply (the inventory of U.S. courses) would slowly decrease as courses closed but demand (total rounds) would remain essentially flat. I was cautiously optimistic that more kids and women would pick up the game, but there wasn’t anything big on the horizon that promised to jump-start new course construction or grow the business substantially.

Business models for industry manufacturers reflected that. Sales forecasting was a pretty straightforward thing for companies, including the equipment suppliers. Revenue growth of 3%-5% annually wasn’t optimal, but it was predictable in what was largely a flat market. As a result, just-in-time production became the norm.

Then three things happened kind of simultaneously:

First, the market model for golf course mowing equipment shifted for the first time in 40 years as a significant player downsized their presence in the U.S. market. That alone had already started to tilt things when the pandemic threw a giant monkey wrench into just-in-time production globally. Finally, that beautiful burst of golf enthusiasm arrived and, to everyone’s astonishment, course revenues and demand for maintenance supplies went through the roof.

Thus, five years after we all raced out to buy toilet paper and masks, we still have a giant gap between expectations and promises and the reality of actual new equipment delivery. I unscientifically polled Turf X (Twitter) about the current state of things and the feedback was not good. The delivery timeline for new equipment is still not meeting expectations, to say the least.
 

Will the market ever get back to “normal?” I asked people who should know and they all basically kind of shrugged their shoulders. None of them wanted to be quoted about what’s still broken and why. It remains that bad.

The Rise of the Robots … Finally

I’ve been yammering about the promise of autonomous mowing for about three decades but, up until recently, the notion of robots maintaining golf courses was still largely the stuff of science fiction.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. We went through an ill-fated attempt to commercialize an autonomous greensmower that needed a lot of attention and didn’t offer much ROI. There were also plenty of little Roomba-style thingies that didn’t make the cut. And we heard a lot about large manufacturers adapting existing equipment with GPS steering but bringing them to market has been a painfully slow process. Blame the lawyers for that.

But as the labor crisis has worsened in golf, expectations about driverless mowers have grown and the technology is catching up. The Husqvarna CEORA and the ECHO mowers and range ball retrievers have delivered solid results. Both of these products are excellent as utility players, by all accounts. They seem to be terrific solutions for ranges, short game areas, roughs and lawn areas.

But the holy grail of robot mowing has been a reliable unit that can put a quality cut on a fairway. This year, the first legit option for that seemed to emerge as FireFly Automatix grabbed the attention of the market with a unit that combines fairway-quality cut with reliable performance. The Utah-based company has been developing its autonomous technology on sod farm fields for 15 years. They used that experience to design purpose-built mowing units.
 

The obvious benefit of a wider range of autonomous mowers is the ability to reallocate staff to other tasks. The other potential benefit is mowing at night, something FireFly demonstrated during the Black Desert Championship, a Utah PGA Tour event. The super, Ken Yates, used four AMP units to stripe his 51 acres of fairways in the middle of the night. And the stripes were perfectly aligned from hole to hole. For a profession full of perfectionists, that’s a soothing extra benefit.

Scott Rettman and the leadership of Walnut Creek Country Club in South Lyon, Michigan, made the leap by purchasing three AMP cutting units a few months ago. “We were looking for an autonomous mower that could really cut some acreage,” says Rettman. “We have 27 holes with 13 acres of fairway per nine holes. I needed a solution that could handle that.”

He liked the unit’s size and conventional 100-inch head and the fact that it can mow 22.5 acres on one charge. “They’ve been very reliable so far and the FireFly engineers have been very proactive about their performance. We’re very pleased.”

How pleased? Walnut Creek decided to purchase the units instead of leasing them. Rettman projects the investment will pay for itself in less than four years. And, more importantly, he’s able to reallocate staff time away from mowing fairways to tasks and detail work that make a big difference to his members. “We didn’t let a single person go,” he says.

Demand for Great Supers

The other looming issue that’s reshaping our business in 2024 is replacing a couple of thousand baby boomer superintendents. Turf’s “greatest generation” emerged as four-year turf degrees became nearly mandatory for supers in the mid-1980s and real estate companies built a bunch of new anchor courses.

Forty years later, many of those stalwarts of the profession are moving to greener pastures (often with a little financial nudge from their clubs) and being replaced by younger turfheads. This might be the best time in history to be a rising superintendent with a proven background and great people skills.
 

"This might be the best time in history to be a rising superintendent with a proven background and great people skills."

I asked my friend Tyler Bloom, a specialist in golf industry workforce development, to characterize the current job market for up-and-coming turf pros. He called it highly competitive and robust. “Golfer expectations, labor challenges and the increasingly diverse nature of the position demand more than just agronomic and environmental expertise,” said Bloom. “Leadership skills are indispensable.”

So, the short version is there’s never been a better time to be a motivator and communicator who also knows a lot about grass. “The number one thing courses are looking for is an agronomy leader who will take an ownership mindset when it comes to operations,” said Bloom. “You need to be a partner with golfers and owners, drive great conditions, pay attention to details, and view the golf course as a business asset, not an amenity.”

I’ve lost track of the notable retirements and job searches we’ve seen this past year. A lot of them seem to be tied to renovations. I think that’s partially because, as the legendary Bruce Williams said, renovations can be job killers. Expectations are high, and problems like cost overruns, disagreements with the architect, and high-pressure timelines can damage the employment relationship. The best supers know that going in and some are wise enough to exit before their job gets torn up along with the course.

So, the generational sea change will continue. It was happening before 2020, but like many trends, the pandemic accelerated it. The longer-term question is who will backfill key positions as this new group of college-educated, leadership-oriented agronomists moves up the ladder?

Bloom says it will be tough. “I think the job market is going to get extremely tight for highly qualified, tenured superintendents who have the overall acumen, know-how and desire to be a golf course superintendent,” says Bloom. “They also have to be prepared to overcome work/life balance concerns, face the difficulty of finding qualified seasonal and full-time staff, and meet increased expectations with limited resources. It’s a big change coming.”

Other Notable 2024 Storylines

Equipment challenges, robotics and the evolving employment market weren’t the only big stories in 2024. Other issues on the radarscope include:

New construction: About 25 new courses opened this year around the U.S. and more than 100 are in the construction or planning stage. Of particular note is the continued growth of destination courses and ultra-exclusive solo-owner clubs.

Traffic: One aspect of the growth in rounds that has big maintenance consequences is traffic damage to the turf and the continuing problem of working around play to accomplish critical tasks. Maintenance Mondays anyone?

Middle-management hires: An employment study I did with Tyler Bloom at the beginning of 2024 suggested that hiring a lead assistant or equipment manager is now a four-month process. How do you avoid that gap or at least speed up the process of filling those critical positions? Let us know when you figure it out!