Paul E Dowaschinski said: Interesting article in this months GCM magazine. It can be read on this website or follow the link -
http://www.gcsaa.org/gcm-magazine/2014/ ... their-turf
Obviously, a reason Superintendents have a problem finding Assistants is because there are fewer prospective employees. With that being said, wouldn't the law of Supply & Demand result in a higher salary for Assistants?
Furthermore, what about people, like myself, who made mid-life career changes? I previously mentioned the Turfnet article about older people who don't necessarily want to become the Superintendent. Personally, I would be happy working for a Superintendent/club which sees my potential and grooms me to be the 2nd Assistant. I've only been working in the industry for 11 months, but have a feel what needs to be done on a regular basis and have performed my share of the dirty work.
In my opinion, leading a weed eating crew isn't grooming. Being told what chemicals are being used and why, how to turn on/off the irrigation system and budgets/ordering is grooming. I'm sure someone out there is thinking - you have to earn that. Kind of like the indentured servant comment above.
What I find funny about some of the "old school" leaders is that they hand a new person a weed eater and tell them to clean-up the lagoon banks or edge the bunkers on 18 holes. They then complain that certain spots on the 2nd hole were missed. Perhaps, instead of driving from the 2nd hole to tell the crew on the 16th hole to go back to the 2nd, they could have simply pulled the weeds themselves?
However, I realize that Superintendents are not only there to manage the crew, their #1 priority, in my opinion, is to see things that most people don't and then diagnosing the problem. I admit, I saw some grass that appeared dry to me and then was told that armyworms caused the problem.
But, what do I know? I'm just a wannabe AIT.
From this superintendent's point of view - you having knowledge of what is being sprayed, what the budget is, or what the procedures are for ordering, or how to turn on the irrigation system does little to help me or the organization. The things that you are referring to as "grooming" are not necessarily skills that a long term 2nd assistant would need to have to bring value to the organization. It doesn't matter if you can figure out what to spray, because that's my job anyway.
On the other hand, supervising guys doing the "dirty work" is something that can possibly add great value. You want to know what the budget is? It all goes to labor - if you want to be of help go and make sure that is being spent, supervising the weedeating crew is a good way to do that. Own it. Live it and breathe it. Figure out every little in and out of it. Figure out how to get the most productivity out of each job.
having "a feel for what needs to be done on a regular basis" doesn't help me either. Do you know it cold? can you make the right scheduling decisions every time? This is my reputation and livelihood on the line, so just know that I'm not handing it off to you until I'm sure you can do it.
Supervising the guys doing the weedeating here results in them moving about twice as fast, and thats a big deal to me, that's valuable to me.
If they missed a spot on #2 I would send them back too, and I would be pissed at whoever should have seen that before I did. For every 1 thing that you have to focus on, I have 20. I would have sent them back because its their job, not mine, not because its beneath me or something like that, but because they need to do their job, and do it right, and me not sending them back doesn't help that occur.
To be blunt - your post describes someone who doesn't get it. Listen to what your superintendent is asking you to do, stop worrying about what you think is the best way to run the golf course. After 11 long months in the business you most likely have no idea how to do your bosses' job, and are just a "wannabe AIT". Someone who knows how to do your job is telling you how to do it. Be wise enough to listen.