Page 10 - GM Spring 2023

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Canadian partner with Australia’s EnvoyGolf in finding seasonal staff in a reciprocal program.
freshgolf.ca
“Labour is the number-one concern for golf courses, and I would suggest inside the turf department is probably the number-one area at a course because it’s so critical,” says Jeff Calderwood, the CEO of the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association (CGSA). “Because at the heart of a golf course is the course.”
Calderwood knows the industry is putting in an effort to address labour concerns across the board. A summary of Labour Market Solutions was completed by the CGSA last year and found roughly 40 percent of all superintendents were reported to be over 55 years old and inching closer to retirement, while turf management programs at Canadian post-secondary institutions are seeing declining enrollment. The pipe is emptying while the pipeline is not getting refilled. That’s a challenge, certainly, on top of the general problem of attracting skilled workers to join turfgrass as a profession.
However, the organization is laser-like on plenty of different ideas to fill the pipeline again and bring in the kind of workers needed at Canadian golf courses – no matter if they’re a family-run facility in a small town, or a top- tournament host in a major city.
“A lot of courses may have addressed the shortage of workers in Food & Beverage by stopping breakfast or closing on Mondays but with turf, you can’t get away with that. You can’t close the course. You can’t compromise the conditioning. It’s your core product that drives everything else,” says Calderwood. “That’s why supers are such a critical position. Often they’re underrated or underappreciated as compared to others in the industry, but you absolutely cannot do without them.”
1. WORKERS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
Scott Kolb is the founder of Fresh Golf and works directly with EnvoyGolf to help folks in Canadian turf find seasonal employment in Australia and New Zealand. The program started in 2018 in Sweden (one or two Canadians were part of the initial group of exchange students, but Kolb said that was a one- off versus a planned effort) and while the COVID-19 pandemic set things back for a few years, Canada was identified as a place with a comparable climate and culture as Sweden and was a natural addition to the program.
The clubs in Australia, which include iconic facilities in the Sandbelt, are looking for skilled labourers. It allows for people who, in Canada, may be No. 2 on the staff but having a hard time with taking three or four or even six months per year off because the golf course they work at is just not open. An exchange with Australia gives someone the opportunity for basically year- long work, with travel expenses covered.
Kolb says in an ideal world they would love to get 100 or more Canadians sent there, and this program is an opportunity to identify, and hopefully keep, a solid worker with a bright future in the space for longer.
“They’re getting placed at great golf courses and learning from great supers. If I’m looking at how many assistant (superintendent) jobs are out there right now, people aren’t necessarily looking at this as a career and wanting to invest in the time in going through all the steps. But this speeds up the process,” says Kolb. “Stars on staff have great potential but (superintendents) are worried they’re going to work for a municipality or going to give up the career because of seasonality. This gives them extra work as compared to what they’d be getting in Canada.”
“Welcoming workers from other countries is certainly an opportunity to keep the pipeline full,” says Calderwood. A labour crunch exists in all industries in this country, and Calderwood admits there are immigration roadblocks that need to be part of the solution to make the existing pool of skilled workers bigger.
10 • CGSA • GreenMaster