Key Takeaways

• We surveyed superintendents, assistants, turfgrass researchers and USGA agronomists from across the country about how they rank various challenges facing the golf industry today and in the future.
  
  
• The top three current and future concerns overall are “Water supply, constraints, and/or cost,” “Lack of qualified/skilled labor,” and “Extreme weather and/or climate.”
  
  
• The least-concerning current and future issue is “Lack of opportunity for professional advancement.”
  
  
• There is some variability in rankings among regions and roles within the golf industry, but there is generally broad agreement about the most- and least-concerning issues.
  
  

Results

Analysis

To make sense of the responses, a number (1 through 4) was assigned to each rating with a “Top concern” receiving a 1 and “Not a big concern” receiving a 4. Green Section data scientist Wesley Stewart compiled and organized the results in such a way that issues receiving a lower number are more of a concern for respondents while problems with higher numbers are less of a concern. We were also able to break down responses by job title and geographic location to get a better understanding of what challenges are seen as more pressing depending on a person’s role and/or location.

Overall Results

In the full sample, “Lack of qualified/skilled labor” ranks as the top current concern, followed closely by “Water supply, constraints, and/or cost.” Those rankings are flipped in the future. “Extreme weather and/or climate” ranks third among top issues today and in the future (Table 1). The least-concerning issue for the respondents as a whole, both today and in the future, is “Lack of opportunity for professional advancement.”

For the remaining issues, there is some variation between current and future concerns. For example, the amount of concern placed on “Equipment availability” today and in the future are similar (2.76 and 2.86, respectively), but because other problems increase in concern in the future category, it drops from the eighth position today to the tenth in the future. Additionally, all issues, with the exceptions of “Meeting golfer expectations” and “Equipment availability,” become more concerning in the future.
 

Results by Job Title

Table 2 shows the rankings of each issue when broken down by job title. It is interesting to note the differences among concerns within each position. Superintendents are tasked with filling employee rosters, so it makes sense that their top concern is a lack of qualified/skilled labor. USGA agronomists work closely with superintendents, so it is not surprising that a lack of qualified/skilled labor is also the top concern in their eyes. Assistant superintendents deal less with hiring staff and focus more on daily management, which may help explain why “Equipment availability” and “Pesticide constraints and/or costs” are their biggest current concerns. Meanwhile, researchers are charged with studying and preparing for the future of the golf course maintenance industry, so it is not surprising that a longer-term issue like “Water supply, constraints, and/or cost” ranks most concerning for them today and in the future.

Looking to the future, all four respondent groups have “Water supply, constraints, and/or costs” as either the top or second-most-concerning issue. For superintendents, “Lack of qualified/skilled labor” fell from first to second place, followed by “Extreme weather and/or climate.” For assistant superintendents, “Water supply, constraints, and/or costs” and “Pesticide constraints and/or costs” rose from a tie for third place to the first and second concerns, respectively. Researchers are most worried about “Water supply, constraints, and/or costs,” followed by “Extreme weather and/or climate,” and “Lack of qualified/skilled labor,” while USGA agronomists feel that “Lack of qualified/skilled labor” is the biggest future concern, followed by “Water supply, constraints, and/or costs.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum, all groups currently feel that “Lack of opportunity for professional advancement” is either the least or second-least-concerning issue. Superintendents, assistants and researchers have “Meeting golfer expectations” near the bottom of both the current and future concerns category, while USGA agronomists rank this issue third highest in both time frames. This is an interesting discrepancy. USGA agronomists and university researchers are also least concerned about “Equipment availability” in the future, while superintendents and assistants have this issue in the top five among future concerns.
 

Results by Location

Respondents from the Southwest (Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah) are most apprehensive about “Water supply, constraints, and/or costs” – both now and in the future. This is also currently a top concern among respondents from states in the Northeast (Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania), but responses from the Northeast further cite “Pesticide constraints and/or costs” as an equally challenging current issue. Respondents from states in the northern portion of the West (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming), have “Budget/finance limitations,” “Lack of qualified/skilled labor,” and “Pesticide constraints and/or costs” tied as their top current concerns. Respondents from the central U.S. and Southeast (Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia) are all finding “Lack of qualified/skilled labor” to be the top current concern.

In the future, “Water supply, constraints, and/or costs” is the top issue for respondents in the West, the southern part of the central U.S. and the Northeast. It is the second-biggest issue for respondents from the northern part of the central U.S., behind “Lack of qualified/skilled labor.” In the Southeast, respondents are most concerned about “Lack of qualified/skilled labor” in the future, followed by “Pesticide resistance” and “Water supply, constraints, and/or costs.” These results make sense for an area with a year-round golf season and heavy pest pressure.

When it comes to least-concerning items, respondents in the Southeast, Northeast, Southwest, and the northern part of the central U.S. are least concerned with a “Lack of opportunity for professional advancement” both now and in the future. Respondents in the northern part of the West are least concerned about “Pesticide resistance,” while in the Southwest the second-least-concerning issue is “Diseases and/or pests,” which makes sense in these relatively dry climates. In the southern part of the central U.S., “Equipment availability” is least concerning among current and future issues.
 

Key Findings

Water Supply, Constraints, and/or Costs

Water is at the top of the list for current and future concerns overall and in most of the job type and regional breakdowns in this study. It is not surprising to see this result from respondents in the Southwest, but it is also the top concern among respondents in the Northeast, where water is relatively inexpensive and abundant. Water is also the top future concern among superintendents, assistants and researchers, with USGA agronomists placing it second among future concerns. This shows broad recognition of the potential challenges, even if there has been less action around water conservation in some regions than others.

Lack of Qualified/Skilled Labor

Another top concern is the lack of qualified/skilled labor. Superintendents have this as their top current concern and their second-highest future concern. Several comments were submitted detailing the struggle to attract and retain staff, including this one: “Not only finding the crew to work that is skilled but getting the money in the budget to pay for that labor.” This quote highlights the double-edged challenge of finding employees and being able to pay them a competitive wage. “Budget/finance limitations” is a middle-of-the-pack concern in this survey, but quotes like this highlight the unavoidable tangle of human and financial resources required to run a successful golf course.

Issues of Less Concern

“Lack of opportunity for professional advancement” is the least-concerning current issue overall and specifically among superintendents, assistants and researchers, which likely speaks to the robust current state of the golf industry. “Meeting golfer expectations” is second and third lowest among current and future concerns for superintendents and assistants, respectively, which may also speak to the current golf boom. Courses are busy everywhere, so superintendents and assistants may feel that expectations are being met for the most part. “Diseases and/or pests” is the second-lowest current and future concern overall, but “Pesticide resistance” ranks fifth in both current and future concerns. This suggests that respondents feel current tools for pest management are working well, but there could be challenges ahead. Herbicide resistance among Poa annua populations and nematicide resistance are both good examples.

Conclusion

Looking at the results from this survey, there is fairly broad agreement about the most- and least-concerning challenges. It is not surprising to see “Lack of qualified/skilled labor” at or near the top of the list no matter how we break down the data. “Water supply, constraints, and/or costs” may be typically viewed as an issue for golf courses in dry parts of the country, but these results have water issues near the top of respondents’ current and future concerns across the country and across job types. The USGA recently published our “Water Conservation Playbook” to help courses explore ways to use water more efficiently, potentially reduce water use, and build drought-resilience in the event of shortages. This is just one step in our multifaceted effort to help address the water challenges that folks in this survey and throughout the golf industry feel strongly about.

The results of this survey also point to how strong the golf business has been in recent years. If we had conducted the same survey 10 years ago, opportunities for advancement and budget and finances may have been significantly higher among people’s concerns. Even equipment availability, which has been a source of complaints since the COVID-19 pandemic, scored in the bottom half of concerns. The takeaway is likely that the golf industry is doing well, courses are busy, and maintenance teams are finding ways to meet the demands. Hopefully courses are investing wisely while things are good, so that they are better prepared for whatever resource and economic challenges lie ahead.