Interestingly, there is no correlation between the apparent reputation of a golf course and the behind-the-scenes story of how it is managed. I know of one world-class club in which the nationally esteemed superintendent endured 15 green chairmen during his 17-year tenure (before leaving voluntarily) – all while overseeing multiple major championships at the course. A superintendent based in the Midwest told me, “I’ve been here 25 years. We have exactly as many bunker styles as I’ve had green chairmen. I can go out there and identify each one. Flashed-up sand, flat sand floors, revetted pot bunkers, railroad ties, waste areas — you name it, we have it.”

The famed golf course architect Dr. Alister MacKenzie expressed concern about green committees that turned over too often almost a century ago: “It would be wise for every club to have a permanent green committee. The history of most clubs is that a green committee is appointed who makes mistakes. Just as they are beginning to learn from their mistakes, they are replaced by fresh members who make still greater mistakes.”

There’s no question that stability counts for a lot, but a careful survey of the field suggests that there’s more to being a successful green committee chair than experience and authority. In today’s world they need tact, communication skills and patience.

The Point Person

At Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, superintendent David Swift appreciates stability in the green chair role. The current chair, James Moore, is only the third green chairman Swift has had in his 16 years at Minnehaha. The 12-member grounds committee meets monthly, “for no longer than an hour,” said Swift, “and without getting into the weeds on maintenance.” These meetings focus more on big-picture goals and key issues rather than the minutia of the maintenance operation.

Moore serves as the first line of defense when it comes to the members. “Complaints go to him,” said Swift. He also serves as the link to the board and knows, or at least anticipates, how that group is likely to receive requests from the superintendent and the grounds committee. Swift and Moore talk through potential requests long before they’re presented to the board so that Moore is well-versed in advance and can explain how something like a new piece of equipment or additional staffing will deliver tangible benefits to golfers and the club as a whole.

It is not uncommon for clubs to have a policy like Minnehaha’s, where member questions and complaints about course conditions follow a chain of command filtered through the green committee chair. While that is the policy on the books at the Country Club of Jackson in Michigan, third-year superintendent Ian Daniels, CGCS, says that he is comfortable with a “less formal procedure in which I am directly available to members and can answer their concerns.”

Perhaps this represents a generational shift, away from hierarchy and formalism in how green chairs, superintendents and clubs interact. Course managers like Daniels are active on social media, so it is not as if they could hide from golfer inquiries about course conditions. Daniels is likely to be able to provide a more detailed response to any turf-related questions than his green committee chair. “Besides,” said Daniels, “it saves us time in the green committee meetings dealing with complaints when we have bigger policy concerns to address.”

Stewardship

Club boards these days are generally preoccupied with overall business matters, so the details of course maintenance and design are best handled by the green committee, with the chair primarily responsible for filtering decisions and requests upward to the board for their ultimate decision.

That is how things work at Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Dunlop White III serves as both golf chairman (since 2012) and a longtime board member. His chief responsibility is the golf course (not the golf calendar) and he does not play “amateur agronomist,” but he does take an active interest in all matters architectural. It is a skillset he nurtured as a course rater, student of golf course architecture, and published author of articles about golf course design and restoration.

He established a close working relationship with architect Bill Coore, who has now completed a second major restoration of the club’s 1939 Perry Maxwell design. In the process, Old Town Club has catapulted from relative obscurity to national renown.

White says that a green chair needs to be thick-skinned while also having the ability to say no. In his mind, those are traits that come less from innate obstinance and more from an acquired sense of wanting to proceed carefully, thoughtfully and transparently – and only after careful study and extended deliberation.

“You have to understand the architectural heritage and evolution of the course,” he says. “Your job is to identify, protect and preserve the culture and traditions of the club.” Those are not skills you get from a quick survey of the latest turf research or a best practices manual. Nor are they typically acquired within a condensed time limit. Those skills emerge, often over many years, from careful study and consideration.

Listening and Communicating

At Inwood Country Club in New York, a 1914 design by Herbert Strong that hosted the 1921 PGA Championship and the 1923 U.S. Open, Dan Friedman is in his 20th year as green chairman. He says it took him a long time to understand what the role really was. For one thing, he does not need to play amateur agronomist. “It’s the green committee’s job to determine the general philosophy of the golf course, the objectives and goals, and the personality they want to present,” said Friedman, “then it’s the job of the green committee and superintendent to figure out how to realize those objectives.”

When Friedman took over the committee, Inwood did not have an overall golf course design philosophy; decisions took a band-aid approach to the issue of the moment. He quickly realized that the golf course could only get better if his committee developed an overall philosophy, got board approval for the general change in direction, informed the membership and then proceeded full speed ahead.

Friedman admits that when he started, one of the most difficult things for him to come to grips with was that nine out of ten ideas he had were wrong. He believes he is now at the point where only two or three out of ten are wrong. “Better, but still dangerous,” he said.

All he asks is that the club’s restoration architect, Brian Slawnik of Renaissance Golf Design, hear him out. Then Slawnik makes the final decisions when it comes to any of the ongoing course changes. Friedman’s advice here should resonate widely: “Think very carefully before overruling your architect. In my experience, it almost always turns out badly.”

When it comes to caring for the course, Friedman says Inwood is lucky to have Tim Falvey as its superintendent. Now in his second year, Falvey was a fine arts major and, according to Friedman, has an eye for design that not all of his colleagues have. “He’s a tremendous asset to the club,” said Friedman. “He quickly understood the committee’s objectives and has been able to achieve them in ways we hadn’t thought about.”  

In an effort to be inclusive, Friedman welcomes any interested members onto the green committee. “Anyone who wants to be on, is on,” he said. Though he adds that an ideal (and more influential) member of the committee is someone who plays widely on different styles of courses.

He believes that it’s crucial for a green chair to communicate clearly and often – in writing. “Don’t dumb it down for the members,” said Friedman. “Do not underestimate their intelligence or their interest. The more detail, the better. Many changes will be unpopular at first. But if you explain the reasons behind them, the membership will give you more leeway. If your plans are well thought-out, most (but not all) people will come to appreciate your efforts.”

The Right Stuff  

The recipe for what makes an effective green committee chair will vary from club to club, but as I reflect on the examples in this article and my decades of experience working with boards and committees, a few things jump out.

• Don’t try to play amateur agronomist.

• Don’t try to play amateur architect. 

• Read the classic literature on golf maintenance and design and be aware of the latest trends and information on these subjects.

• Travel widely and see as many great courses as you can, taking note of what other places are doing right and wrong. 

• Bring in experts and walk the course with them; listen, ask and observe.

• Spend time with your superintendent and the maintenance staff; ideally, early in the morning when much of the action is happening. 

• Make yourself available to members. Learn to listen to them. 

• Provide basic answers to questions and concerns in casual conversation and more formal newsletters, emails or blog posts. 

• Don’t be afraid to say “no.”

• Don’t be afraid to say “that’s interesting.” 

Bradley S Klein is a veteran golf journalist whose book, “Discovering Donald Ross,” won the USGA International Book Award in 2001. His many design consulting clients include Inwood CC.