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Superintendent Spotlight on Robert Young, CGCS

September 6th, 2007

A superintendent since graduating from North Carolina State University in 1982, Robert “Bob” Young has mastered practically every circumstance possible for a professional turf manager. Beginning with his first position at a semi-private course in the countryside of Enfield, NC, through a stint as Director of Golf Course Operations at Lochmere Golf Club and Devil’s Ridge (where he oversaw the new course’s construction), to the complete renovations at Greenville Country Club and of his current course, Raleigh’s highly-regarded Carolina Country Club, he has seen it all.

A big part of what he has seen change since that first summer at age 12 is the growing understanding of what his eventual profession actually requires. “We were thought of years ago as somebody that just threw a little fertilizer out there and mowed the grass. The mentality at that time was that anybody could do it. But our field is a lot more technical than that. You have to be a Jack-of-all-trades; you have to be a people manager; you have to make a dollar go a long way; and you have to have mechanical and electrical knowledge. Superintendents have educated the industry to the complexities, so the demand for qualified people has gone up.”

It isn’t just the perception of the turf profession that has changed either, he points out, but also the day-to-day reality of the work. “Now you have to be efficient with computers, too. Matter of fact, when I was in high school I made fun of some of my buddies for taking typing. ‘You’re never going to have to know how to type!’ I told them. ‘What are you going to be, a secretary?’ Little did I know I’d need to be typing everyday once I became a golf course superintendent.”

Thanks in large part to the efforts of the national, regional and local professional organizations he has long been involved with and served, including tenure as President of the Triangle Turf Grass Association in 2001, the true nature of the technically demanding and complex responsibilities of a golf course superintendent are finally starting to become appreciated. When asked about the reasons for this shift in the general perception of the superintendent’s role within the golf community, Young credits an increased awareness of environmental concerns in general as making a big impact. “We’re having to utilize our natural resources a whole lot better than we have in the past. Our industry has changed to where you have got to be conscious of the products you are using being environmentally friendly. You know, like with run off issues of nitrogen into streams. That’s where the industry has really changed.”

But there is still an overall lack of public awareness of what a superintendent actually does. “I get introduced to people outside of the club everyday, and they ask what I do. When I tell them I’m a golf course superintendent, they say, ‘Oh, you get to play golf every day don’t you?’ I say, ‘Nah, that’s not really what I do. That’s the golf pro, not me.”

But this misperception is harmless compared to some others. “If all you do is go out and play golf 3 or 4 times a year, you won’t know what is really done there. The general public thinks that because the golf course is nice and green we’ve GOT to be using a lot of chemicals and fertilizers, more than they do on their yard. So the perception is that we’re using more water, more chemicals and more fertilizer, more of everything, to get a product that looks that good. In fact, we’re not using more, but we’re utilizing the products better. We’re using water more efficiently by using surfactants, but they don’t know all that. All they think is that we’re just dumping stuff out there, so no wonder it’s green.”

On the positive side, research into how much of an impact golf courses actually had on issues of pollution was the result of this kind of thinking, he says. The work, which continues to be done at universities like NC State and Clemson, has not only increased the industry’s knowledge but also has led to improved products and turfgrass management techniques.

An additional result of an increased interest in the possibly negative impact chemical treatments have on the natural world is that his job has been made somewhat easier. Young says this is because opportunities to educate his members have increased as awareness has gone up. He goes on to explain that golfers will now ask what is being sprayed on the turf, when in the past they wouldn’t have. “They want me to post in the Pro Shop whether or not I’m spraying greens that day so the members will know what it is we’re using. And the more we can educate the public that a lot of the products we use are environmentally friendly, the better. It gives them comfort that when they go out on the golf course they know I’m not spraying DDT, or something else from years ago, that can cause them health problems from coming into contact with it. It just gives them peace of mind to know the products we use are not harmful to them.”

Products and turfgrass maintenance techniques have clearly become increasingly more technical over the course of his 25-year career. In the largely traditional world of golf, one might reasonably expect ownership and members to resist some of these advances, but Young explains that isn’t necessarily the case. “Any time you can explain to a Board of Directors or a Greens Committee why you are using a certain type of product, or why it makes sense to do something a little differently than you’ve done it in the past, and you’ve got good performance out of a particular product, they normally don’t have a problem with that.” After a brief pause, and the hint of a smile, he adds, “If it’s cost effective.”

Mr. Young hopes to stay at The Carolina Country Club until he ultimately retires, as he feels he has found a home there. When pressed to share a tip, he recounts a story from years ago about how the only time he’s ever had true success keeping golfers off his closed practice green was when he posted a skull and cross bones warning of pesticide use. It probably wouldn’t work today though, because his members would know better.

Entry Filed under: Superintendent Spotlight