Episode Details

From young golf enthusiasts to industry leaders overseeing iconic venues, Jeff Corcoran and Dave Delsandro share their journey of passion, growth, and adaptation in the golf industry. Discover their evolution from demanding superintendents to understanding leaders, the challenges of labor shortages, and their new roles as advisors, providing invaluable insights and expertise to the next generation of golf course superintendents

Corcoran has been a golf course superintendent for more than 20 years. He landed his first head superintendent job at The Weston Golf Club, outside of Boston, and he has been the director of agronomy at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, since 2003. During his tenure at Oak Hill, he hosted two PGA Championships and two Senior PGA Championships.

In 2019, Corcoran worked in conjunction with architect Andrew Green to renovate Oak Hill's East Course. Corcoran has been responsible for placing 10 assistant superintendents into superintendent roles.

Delsandro's career in the turf industry has spanned 25 years, most recently as the superintendent at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. His experiences include all types of conventional golf course construction projects, as well as large-scale site development, earth moving, utility relocation/installation, and building construction. He has worked with several leading golf architectural firms, including Fazio Design, Coore & Crenshaw, and Hanse Golf Design.

Delsandro has successfully prepared for, hosted, and restored venues for four national championships, including two U.S. Opens.

They partnered last year to form Agronomic Advisors, a consulting company focused on providing a diverse, comprehensive suite of solutions to the golf course industry.

In this episode, Delsandro and Corcoran look back fondly on the golf course as their babysitter, share the lessons they learned as leaders at premier venues, and advise today's superintendents on leadership approaches in a changing industry.

Your Club Selection Changes with Age, so Should Your Leadership Approach

Most of us need to adjust our club selection as we age in order to hit the ball as far as we once did. The clubs we grabbed as teens, such as the self-described junkies Delsandro and Corcoran once were, won't make the cut after we make the turn in the game of life. Neither will the same approach to managing a department in a golf club nor leading a large capital project.

Know when and how to adapt.

"When you're younger, and you're trying to prove yourself at this particular level, as a superintendent, your bandwidth for people that fall outside of those realms that you that you live in is pretty narrow," Corcoran said. "I remember telling guys, 'You don't want to work till 7 o'clock tonight on Friday? You're not dedicated enough. You've only worked 21 days in a row and you want a day off? You're not dedicated enough.'

"That sounds awful now."

Recognize that it takes all kinds of individuals to build a team and have a culture of success.

Labor Market Management

The labor market in the industry has changed significantly in recent years, and that's not just a problem for superintendents at local community golf venues. Leaders at the premier clubs face the same challenges, particularly when weighed against the facts that member expectations are not changing, nor are members willing to pay more for a stagnant experience.

Talk about shifting winds.

"The light-bulb moment for me was… I can either expect the labor market to change to meet the needs of one corporation or the upper echelon of one industry, or duh, realistically, we have to change to meet the labor market," Delsandro said.

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