7 minute read
Member Spotlight on Paul Webb
What does your job as General Manager and Golf Course Superintendent emcompass?
I came to Humboldt Golf and Country Club in February of 2010 as the superintendent alone and after a year and a half of being here, there was some turnover in different management positions and I was asked by the Board to become general manager and superintendent on an interim basis. Nine years later we’re still here.
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I’m more focused on the turf side because I still feel like that’s the most important asset of the club and it is my background, so I feel more comfortable in it as well. As general manager, I used to have to do a lot more day-to-day, tournament operations, and food and beverage, but over the years, our club has expanded by hiring some management underneath me and it’s given me an opportunity to do more oversight and not as much hands-on with those different operations. I’m still responsible for reporting to our Board of Directors on a weekly and monthly basis, I work hand-in-hand with our club officer and committee members and I’m responsible for the yearly budget of the entire property, so every day is a different challenge. Whether it’s something on the golf course, in the clubhouse, dealing with a swimming pool – just all aspects of a country club.
How did you get into turfgrass and what path led you to your current position?
I went to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville as a business major and then after a couple of years decided that I wanted to do something within sports, but I didn’t know what. I got a degree in Sport Management and minored in business. In sport management I did a couple internships at various golf courses like Fair Oaks in Oakland, Tennessee; Gettysvue in Knoxville; and Covington Country Club in Covington, TN. After graduation, those opportunities opened my eyes to the fact that I wanted to be on the Agronomy side of it. Once I graduated from Knoxville, I began dating my wife and she was a nursing major at UT Martin, so I decided why not go get another degree, so I went to Martin and continued to work in golf at a couple different courses and ended up getting a degree in agriculture with golf course and landscape management. When I graduated I got my first assistant job at Colonial in Memphis.
Do you have any mentors in the industry?
I have worked for a number of great Superintendents that have been a positive influence along with several Sales Reps from different parts of the industry that helped me get to where I am today... without them all, I wouldn’t be the Superintendent or person I am today.
What changes have you seen over your four years as a TTA board member that you think have been important to turfgrass managers in the state?
The biggest change I’ve seen is I believe that there was a perception for many years that TTA was just a golf course superintendent’s association and conference was strictly geared towards superintendents. Since I’ve been a board member, I’ve seen the change of making it more open and welcoming to sports turf and landscape, really making it a turfgrass association, not just golf course superintendents association.
TTA has really gone to bat for turfgrass managers across the state in all areas with COVID restrictions and lockdowns. Can you give us a little perspective on how the board worked together to create that response?
I think the board did a great job of not just working together as a TTA board, but also reaching out to the other associations that are relevant to turfgrass, and made a collaborative effort of reaching out to our elected officials and different people to make sure that they understood how essential golf was. I think that the ability for golf to be viewed as an essential business has really kicked off an unbelievable year for a lot of golf courses. It’s been a really good year for us. I know there’s examples of golf courses that have not had as good a year as us, but I think the association and the board making sure that the elected officials in the state knew that we were going to be an important part of getting through this COVID situation just by getting individuals in the state an avenue to get out of the house and go do something normal.
With the surprising boom and a lot more business in the last six months, did that change how you had to manage the course this season?
Yes, somewhat. Besides pulling all the rakes off and the tee markers, removing all the things that people could touch and possibly spread the virus. I feel like our fertility program was probably upped a little bit because of the amount of traffic, we’ve got areas that have just been beaten down. We didn’t change a whole lot of our cultural practices, we kept aerifications and stuff like that the same as we normally would, except for having to move them. We did have to move some tournaments around and back some things up because we were in such a period of unknown, so those are really the only examples of us doing anything different outside of a normal year. We just saw a whole lot more people at the course, and it’s a great thing for us.
Tell us about your family and what you do outside of work.
My wife and I have been married a little over 13 years. We have four boys—they’re 11, 8, 3, and 1. So they are the main focus outside of work, because there’s always something going on. I’m a pretty avid outdoorsman, I love hunting and playing golf. I don’t play as much golf as I would like to and I really don’t like playing here because I feel like I see more stuff that I think needs to be worked than enjoying my round of golf, but just going and spending time with friends and family and getting a chance to be outdoors doing something away from work.
Paul with wife Jenny and sons (left to right) Eli, Hall, Landon and Palmer
What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing the turfgrass industry right now?
I think most people would agree that the biggest challenge to our industry is labor. On the golf course side, a lot of it boils down to two things – finding younger individuals these days that really want to work and want to work outside, for the money that we’re able to pay. I think most clubs struggle with the idea of paying a decent wage for the individuals that they have. We rely so heavily on seasonal help and I feel like it hurts a lot of clubs, especially ours, because it would be so much better for clubs to find some more money in the budget and pay their full-time staff more and be able to retain them year-round and have that training and retention that a lot of companies have, where it’s like a revolving door for us as far as labor goes.
What would your advice be for people entering the turfgrass industry now?
Be willing to go and gain any experience you can get from any course – I think a lot of these guys get to a position where they only want to work high-end golf. I don’t blame them, there’s a lot of great experience. But for somebody like myself that came as an assistant from a Colonial Country Club and came to a small town country club and thought, I’m going to be a superintendent here for a few years, then I’m looking for the next step. Almost 11 years later, I’ve got three more kids and a great job for a great club. I just think these younger guys should get as much experience as they can and be willing to go to any kind of club that makes them happy. It’s not always about the title and the money, it’s also about being at a club where you feel like you can make a difference and be happy.
