I'm not a Mercedes...

I'm finally back at the Rutger's Professional Golf Management School, and I will tell you, I missed it... The relationships you make when entrenched in a program as demanding and fast passed as this, is extraordinary... But a subject discussed today, dredged some old thoughts from the back of my mind.... Am I ever going to have the opportunity to put a small mark on the Golf Course community? The subject is one I have batted around for, jeez, at least a decade or so... Will the fact that I have chosen a certain type of employment (ie. not well known golf courses), stop me from putting MY stamp on this community... I have had many sleepless nights (cough, tonight, cough) just sitting up and putting together hypothetical plans and actions that I would like to take, when I can finally achieve a Superintendent position...

How would I nurture my crew? How can I provide a high standard of accountability and trust to my employer, colleagues, and employees alike? What step would I take to advance the success, both in reputation and fiscal standing? How would my family benefit? What steps do I need to take to put myself on track to achieve my goals? Goals..... What a force... The drive to better ones life and the ability to go and live that life... What goals do I have? Financial comfort? To be respected and lauded for my achievements? To have the ability to give my wife and children the experiences and comforts they deserve? All these questions and ideals weigh on the mind of a person at time... I guess, I just want to make the most of my life while I'm on this beautiful planet... To love harder than I loved the day before... To dream bigger than I did last night... To take the next step without fear of failure, or disappointment, from those I love and cherish. To leave this world, just a little happier than it was... I love that ideal... To just be... and be the best YOU, you can be... Through my faults and idiosyncrasies... Through my passion and loyalty... ME... Assistant at Augusta? No.. Valhalla? Nah... Pebble? Sawgrass? Shinnecock? Nope... I'm not a Mercedes... I come with no pretty lights, or fancy gadgets... No rear view camera, or wipers on my headlights... No leather, wood accents, AC, power windows, GPS, Sirius XM, bluetooth, or $10,000 of high performance tires...... I'm a 1981 Truck... diesel (Cummins), 4X4, quad cab (because I like to carry people), mud covered, scratch covered, heavy towing capability, high mileage... I have been smashed into a time or two, and still run... I can handle any job, big or small, without second thought... I am reliable in rain or snow, freezing temps or high arid heat... I don't get parked in a garage for fear of fading, or covered up... I'm not pretty or fancy, I carry no expectation to be treated better than other vehicles, or given preferred parking, due to my branding... I preform the tasks needed quickly and efficiently... All I ask is for sufficient amounts of fuel, regular maintenance to ensure I run smooth, and maybe a Pine Tree mirror freshener.... I like the smell of pine... Though if they made one that mimicked the sent of a Golf Course in the morning hours, I'd take that too..
As always.... Thank you, and I love you all... Work hard, play hard, love hard... GOODNIGHT!!

Ahoj a sbohem.... Seasons come and go...

    Hey my friends... It's been a minute since my last post... Pretty sure nobody is curled up in the shower awaiting my next installment, but for the sake that one of you is, I'm sorry.
    Interesting  past few months as the season has been winding down. All the hot Czech girls are back in Prague, I grew my beard, hosted an awesome Tourney,

That's my Double

 both my Czech boys and Bulgarian beast went home, lost one friend to Turf School (GOOD LUCK BRO!), and gained a pretty clutch year round filler. I will say one thing, the dynamic of the work environment changes exponentially when you start to lose personality types, sometimes good, sometimes bad. How a team feeds off one another is an amazing thing, but the metamorphosis is delicate. For example, and most have heard or seen this before, when a leader or respected individual of the whole, or clique inside the whole, is let go for unexplained or seemingly unfair conditions, you often lose a larger chunk of the group than anticipated. Loyalty is a very strong emotion. Loyalty has a distinct "ripple effect", and an immediate response to threat can be detrimental to one's life. Every so often this can be rewarded, but all to often it leads down a slippery slope. Now before I get backlash, certain jobs carry the absolute need for reactionary loyalty (i.e. military forces, police, firefighters, etc).

http://www.army.mil/aps/05/training.html

I am a HEAVY believer in loyalty to my employers and subordinates, but my loyalty is more proactive than reactive and I would never react in a manner that will put my personal life in jeopardy of collateral damage. It becomes even more relevant when a wife and children are involved. I have had many guys in life say "if you go, I go" and I love these guys, with all my essence, but I would never dream of a person feeling I would think any less of them if they didn't follow. The greatest part about being me (sounds egotistical) is that I never will ask for sacrifice, but I will sacrifice myself, in duty, to carry everyone. I try to absorb all the stresses, because my constitution allows me to. I focus negative and generate positive. This doesn't make me Captain Sunshine & Rainbows, no no no, I'm still a a bit sarcastic at time, what it actually does is gives me the ability to troubleshoot issues without panic, call audibles and changes tactics mid execution. This is why I can see a persons issues and often offer logical and compassionate advice, even though I can't relate. I take personal investment in everything. When you take ownership, failure isn't an option.  We are all puzzles, but most people don't like seeing old pieces of the puzzle being replaced by new and different pieces... I was told by a very wise instructor at Rutgers University OCPE that the paradigms we create are not easily changed... My paradigm is change... I love new... and this is going to be hard to follow, but I like making old feel new again. I don't always want to be moving, but I will. I don't always want to retrain new employees, but I will. Making old, feel new, revitalizes. Whether it's new faces or a well seasoned, solution oriented colleagues, fresh beginnings inspire alternate avenues of thought, and provoke changes to the landscape of the work environment... at times in major ways. Evolution of any industry cannot occur if the processes, by which a segment of production functions, reaches a level of monotony. Fresh minds and fresh ideas will always lead to the eventual "reinvention" of your organization, whether it be on a minimal level or an exponential one, depending on the willingness to let these changes occur. Change isn't always necessary, wanted, or accepted. I can say that having a stable core of employees, with the proper passion and loyalty, is good as gold, but finding such a nucleus isn't easy to come by. The beginning of each season, the golf industry brings with the reuniting of old and the coming of new friends and colleagues, and at times, the gaping holes from those that have moved on. Here's to always looking to the next sunrise and the opportunity is carries with it... but... also having the awareness, to every once in a while, stop to enjoy the sunset right in-front of you.

Marconi Beach Cape Cod

Thank you my friends.. I love you all...

First Encounter Beach Cape Cod

It rubs the lotion on it's skin**...

I just want to start this one by explaining a excerpt from my first installment. I had made the comment that to be successful in Hospitality, you need to be an verbal artist. Not that this statement isn't true, its just flawed. To clear up the vaigeness of this statement, I wish to put depth to it. "Personal Investment". I been bringing my kids to work with me on occasion, since my Hannah was a little bean, and recently she has described my interaction with patrons and coworkers as GENUINE. She puts it that I seem truly happy to interact with everyone, and take interest in their personal lives. This is true. I tend to make it a point to learn names and at least 2 things about that person. I feel it connects me on a deeper level and allows me to better serve. Which is a good spring board into the true "meat" of this post... Motivation.

How do you properly motivate and inspire those around you to do the things you need from them. I have found, as I'm sure most have, that there is no clear cut answer. Torture? Favoritism? Apathy? Unreal expectation? Putting them in the bottom of a well? 

What time is it?

Punch in... Punch out... Don't go over 40... Mandatory OT... Things I've never worried about in the 16+ years I've been in the work force. My day more so revolves around, is the job done or at an acceptable stopping point? Even when I was an hourly employee, 40 hour work weeks never constrained my productivity. "Just clock me out at 40, whatever hours I put in beyond, we can work out in the future." That was me. 1, 2, 3 more hours is all I need. "Greens are starting to turn, I'm gonna go cool 'em down. Just two more sets of tees to aerify, I'm gonna stay to finish. If I get these breaks glued up today, we can open the isolation valve tomorrow and get that area watered." You know, that kind of crap... Not saying every single day is a 16 hour day, but if it has to be, I'm not shy... Plus I married a great woman, who knows I'm married to my job, so I hold little stress when I'm not spending quality family time.

Turf is the easy part...

     When the average person hears about the golf course maintenance professional, I'm pretty sure they mainly think of Bill Murray from Caddyshack ( top 10 best movie all-time)...

     Unfair? Not really. You have to be a little twisted in the head to do this job. But what most people should know about the serious turf professional, is that we are basically personal trainers for grass. I'd like to say doctor, but you'd have to delve deep into the pathology arena of the scientific world to latch on to that label. Though educated in the physical and chemical needs of turf, we are there to keep the plant healthy, vibrant, and growing. But growing grass is the easy part.