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My friend Tyler Bloom and I recently collaborated on a study of employment issues facing golf course superintendents. We dug into things like work-life balance, compensation gaps and overall career satisfaction. The results – including nearly 1,000 insightful verbatim comments – are a deep dive inside the mind of today’s superintendent.

For me, as someone who’s thumped the drum on behalf of supers for nearly 40 years, the most telling question was, “What do you think you need to do to go to the next level of employment or compensation?”

Some felt they needed more management experience, certifications or specialized skills like course construction. But I was pleasantly surprised to find nearly two-thirds of the 300 supers who responded said they needed to market themselves more effectively or do a better job of networking with key influencers. Can I get an amen?

For too long, the culture of the profession has been that telling your story to golfers or other leaders at the course was somehow inappropriate. It seemed like bragging in the “my results speak for themselves” world of turf. If you were lucky, you might have an enlightened green committee chair (or a USGA agronomist) to speak on your behalf. But mostly, the superintendent’s story went untold; or worse, was poorly told by those who neither understood nor supported the efforts of the golf course maintenance team.  

"For too long, the culture of the profession has been that telling your story to golfers or other leaders at the course was somehow inappropriate."

All that changed about 20 years ago when blogging really became a thing. A handful of pioneering turf pros began to share their stories directly with members and others via blogs. Suddenly, supers could talk directly to golfers about how to fix ball marks properly or explain why the 40-year-old irrigation system was a wee bit problematic. Social media took that power to the next level, and also brought some problems along with it. With great power comes great responsibility!

So, here we are in 2024 with unprecedented interest in golf and course maintenance and a thing you carry around in your pocket gives you the power to create and share content globally in an instant. What should you do to tell your story, grow your program and advance your career? Here are five things I think every superintendent should consider doing to sell themselves and their maintenance programs more effectively.

Make a marketing plan for yourself.

What are your goals for your program and your career? Do you need to secure funding to replace an ancient irrigation system? Are you trying to get members to buy into a tree removal plan? Or do you simply want to build awareness of your work and successes to position yourself for the next level? Whatever those three or four communication goals are, write them down and refer to them regularly.

Develop simple messages that you repeat often and in different ways.

Whether it’s promoting the work of your department or advancing a proposal for major course improvements, simplicity is important. What does your target audience need to know? Example: “Removing just 50 unhealthy trees will make the course safer and improve playing conditions on several holes.” Develop a brief message for each of your goals and repeat often using slightly different angles or techniques. A tweet or Instagram post highlighting shade issues can get people thinking, a blog post can lead with the key message and go into more detail, and never discount the power of face-to-face communication. Take your committee or key golfers out to the areas in question and repeat your message with the issue right there to see. Then start the process all over again!

Use a maintenance blog as “content central.”

Develop a stand-alone blog or use the functionality of your course’s website to house all of your posts, pictures, videos and stories. Keeping everything in one place makes life simpler for you and your audience. Remember that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are just delivery systems for your content. Instead of just tweeting, try to be “platform agnostic” and post stuff everywhere. Think your blog posts need to be 3,000-word dissertations? Nope, just start with a few pictures and captions to show why those trees need to go. Shorter is better.

Find authoritative content from other sources that tell your story for you.

You have two huge resources for this. First is the Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) system developed decades ago by Michigan State with USGA funding. The site contains pretty much every article ever written about golf course maintenance and it is now open access. Want to make a point about Poa annua encroachment? You can find and cite articles written about Poa in the 1920s or two weeks ago. The second place to look for authoritative content is the USGA Green Section Record, especially the Fore the Golfer series. This is credible, well-produced content on dang near every agronomic and business topic you could want. Want support to establish a Maintenance Monday program at your place? Here you go: “Making Time for Maintenance.”

Target your content to the right people in the right format.

There’s one platform that’s often overlooked: simple emails. Sure, you can piggyback content onto your facility’s regular broadcast emails, but you can also use a focused approach. You probably know the key golfers and decision-makers who will have the most influence on your program and your goals. Develop an email list just for them and tell your story using short videos, images and articles that share key messages. A two-minute video of you explaining in layman’s terms how those new robot mowers work will be extremely effective. If those key folks aren’t big on tech, seek them out in person. Remember, a marketing plan is only effective if it reaches people.  

"The bottom line is that if you don’t tell your own story, you’re likely to be at the mercy of bad information, rumors and whatever comes up first on Google."

The bottom line is that if you don’t tell your own story, you’re likely to be at the mercy of bad information, rumors and whatever comes up first on Google. Put the same effort into a marketing plan for your program and yourself that you’d put into planning a project on the course. It’s totally worth it.