When the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship arrives at Hazeltine National Golf Club this June, the spotlight will naturally fall on the best players in the world.

Fans will see championship golf. Television viewers will see grandstands, scoreboards, hospitality venues, and the competition unfolding inside the ropes.

What many won’t see is the army of volunteers, committee leaders, staff members, and community partners working behind the scenes to bring one of the most significant events in women’s golf to life.

Helping lead that effort is Greta Siedow, General Chair of the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

For Siedow, this role represents far more than a leadership position. It is the culmination of a journey that began nearly two decades ago, long before she found herself overseeing one of the game’s premier championships.

Like many golfers, Siedow’s introduction to the game started with family. Her father introduced her to golf at a young age, and she quickly developed a passion for the sport. Throughout high school, she competed on the golf team and later continued her involvement in the game through roles in outside services and golf operations at local clubs, including Hazeltine National Golf Club.

One of those early experiences came during Hazeltine’s 2009 PGA Championship, where Siedow worked on the driving range as part of the championship operation.

Seventeen years later, she returns to the championship stage in a dramatically different role.

Meredith:

“Seventeen years ago, you were working on the driving range during the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine. Today, you’re serving as General Chair of a major championship at the same club. When you reflect on that journey, what stands out most to you about how your relationship with golf and leadership has evolved?”

When I reflect on that journey, what has remained constant is my genuine love for the game and the relationships it creates—connections, friendships, and even lifelong bonds that are uniquely shaped through golf.

What has evolved is how golf has shown up in my life at different stages. Early on, it was about quality time with my dad. In high school, it became a way to be part of a team. As I entered the workforce, it opened doors—creating shared ground with people, including senior leaders, I might not otherwise have had access to.

Today, as a club member and General Chair, golf represents something even broader: a sense of community and the opportunity to lead, give back, and help shape meaningful experiences for others.

Greta Siedow

As General Chair, Siedow now oversees a complex organizational structure that includes more than 50 committee and division chairs and approximately 1,300 volunteers who will help deliver the championship experience.

The role requires strategic planning, operational oversight, volunteer engagement, community relations, and collaboration with numerous stakeholders, all while ensuring the championship reflects the excellence expected from both Hazeltine National Golf Club and the PGA of America.

Fortunately, leadership is nothing new for Siedow.

Professionally, she serves as Vice President and Chief of Staff of Optum, bringing extensive experience in strategy, operations, administration, and organizational leadership. Those skills translate naturally to championship management, where success often depends less on individual contributions and more on aligning teams around a shared vision.

The scale of the event is significant, but so is the responsibility.

Major championships do not simply happen. They are built through thousands of hours of preparation and the collective efforts of volunteers who believe in the mission and the event’s impact.

Meredith:

“Leading more than 1,300 volunteers requires a unique leadership approach. What have you learned about building teams, creating buy-in, and bringing people together around a shared vision?”

This was one of the first opportunities I’ve had to truly build a team from the ground up—and it was rewarding. We’re fortunate to have such a passionate and dedicated membership at Hazeltine, which made it possible to bring together more than 60 committee chairs, coupled with a very strong community, which resulted in over 1,300 volunteers, who are deeply committed to the club’s mission and Minnesota’s passion of hosting world-class championship golf.

What I’ve learned is that when people are aligned around a shared purpose, building buy-in comes naturally. My role is to clearly define priorities and goals, communicate with consistency and transparency, and then empower individuals to operate at their highest level within their own respective roles.

When you create that kind of environment—where people feel connected to the mission and trusted to deliver—you unlock both performance and a strong sense of team.

Greta Siedow

While the championship will ultimately crown a major champion, its impact extends far beyond the leaderboard.

The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship has become one of the most influential events in women’s sports, serving not only as a showcase for the world’s best golfers but also as a platform for leadership, professional development, and visibility for women both on and off the course.

That broader mission feels particularly relevant in today’s sports landscape.

Women’s sports continue to experience unprecedented growth in viewership, attendance, sponsorship investment, and media attention. From professional basketball and soccer to golf and tennis, audiences are increasingly recognizing the talent, stories, and competitive excellence that have long existed but have not always received equal visibility.

Golf occupies a unique position within that movement.

The game serves as both a sport and a business platform, creating opportunities for networking, leadership development, mentorship, and relationship building. For many women, myself included, golf has become a gateway to professional opportunities that extend far beyond the fairways.

Championships like the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship help amplify those opportunities while creating visibility for the next generation.

Meredith:

“Women’s sports are experiencing unprecedented momentum right now. From your perspective, what makes this moment different, and why do events like the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship matter beyond what happens inside the ropes?”

Everyone Watches Women’s Sports’ is one of my favorite taglines right now because it captures what’s changing. The talent and the stories have always been there—but what’s different in this moment is the scale of visibility, investment, and belief behind it. We’re finally seeing more consistent coverage and storytelling, and as a result, audiences are connecting with these athletes not just for their performance, but for who they are as people.

Events like the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship play a critical role in sustaining that momentum. As one of the five major championships on the LPGA Tour, it provides a national platform to showcase excellence at the highest level—and to tell the stories that help grow the game. Soon enough, the coverage will extend beyond the majors, but everything must start somewhere.

You saw that play out with the attention around Nelly Korda’s U.S. Women’s Open win—her journey resonated because people understood what it meant to her. And that’s the opportunity we have at Hazeltine. There are 156 athletes in this field, each with a story just as compelling and inspiring. When we elevate those stories, we’re not just growing women’s golf—we’re shaping how women’s sports are seen and valued more broadly.

Greta Siedow

Siedow’s commitment to growing the game is also rooted in personal experience.

As a young golfer, she attended women’s golf events with her father, including the Solheim Cup and the U.S. Women’s Open. Those experiences helped shape her appreciation for women’s golf and demonstrated the importance of seeing successful women competing at the highest level.

Today, she has an opportunity to help create those same experiences for future generations.

The championship’s community initiatives include youth-focused programming and opportunities designed to introduce more young people to the game. Children ages 15 and under receive complimentary admission with a ticketed adult, helping make the championship accessible to families and aspiring young golfers.

For many attendees, a major championship may represent their first opportunity to see the world’s best female players compete in person.

Moments like that can have a lasting impact.

They can inspire participation, create aspirations, and challenge perceptions about what is possible within the game.

Just as importantly, they can help young girls envision futures for themselves not only as players, but as leaders, executives, volunteers, coaches, and decision-makers within the industry.

That representation matters.

The growth of women’s golf will not be driven solely by those competing on the course. It will also be shaped by the women leading organizations, managing events, building partnerships, mentoring future leaders, and creating opportunities for others to follow.

Meredith:

“If a young girl attends the championship this June and sees herself in the future of golf: whether as a player, executive, volunteer, or leader, what do you hope she takes away from the experience?”

Golf is unique and diverse—and I hope a young girl who attends the championship feels that sense of possibility. It can be social, a way to connect with friends and family. It can be competitive, pushing you to grow as an athlete. It can be recreation and exercise. It can also open doors professionally, creating opportunities in business and leadership.

What I hope she sees at Hazeltine is that there isn’t just one path—there are many ways to be part of the game. Whether she dreams of playing at the highest level, leading an organization, or simply being part of a community, golf can be a platform for all of it.

I hope she also walks away inspired all while believing that she belongs. That this is a game—and a space—where she can thrive, lead, and shape the future in her own way.

Greta Siedow

As the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship approaches, Siedow’s story serves as a reminder that leadership often begins long before a title is earned.

It begins with showing up.

It begins with volunteering.

It begins with saying yes to opportunities before fully understanding where they might lead.

From working on the driving range during the 2009 PGA Championship to leading one of the most important events in women’s golf, Siedow’s journey reflects the power of long-term commitment, service, and belief in the game’s future.

And while the world’s best players will ultimately determine who lifts the trophy at Hazeltine, leaders like Greta Siedow are helping ensure the stage itself continues to grow bigger, stronger, and more impactful for generations of women to come.

About the Author

Meredith Otero is a marketing strategist, former private club executive, and Director of Marketing for Bloom Golf Partners with nearly two decades of experience in the golf industry. A former NCAA Division I athlete and founder of MET Marketing, she is passionate about telling the stories that shape the business of golf, with a focus on leadership, innovation, and the women driving the game’s future. Through her writing and industry collaborations, Meredith shines a light on the people and partnerships making a lasting impact both inside and beyond the ropes.

Article featured in Golf Course Industry | Written by: Tyler Bloom, Owner and Founder, Bloom Golf Partners

You’ve just interviewed a strong assistant superintendent candidate. No budget ownership. Limited committee exposure. You’ve Nick Saban said it best: “You get up every day entitled to nothing. Nobody owes you nothing. You could have talent, but if you don’t have discipline, you get nothing.”

I wish someone had handed me this earlier in my career. After thoughtful discussions with assistant superintendents throughout this winter’s conference and education season, I thought I’d share some blunt honesty from the sidelines and recruitment chair. So here it is.

The floor has moved. The modern member expects near-championship conditions every day regardless of weather, labor shortages, budgets or supply chain realities. More rounds, higher conditioning standards, skyrocketing operational costs. That’s the environment you’re walking into. 

It’s not always fair, and in many cases, it isn’t sustainable. But those are the facts on the ground. 

What that means for you is simple: showing up, working hard and waiting your turn still matters — but it’s no longer enough on its own. The bar is higher, the pace is faster and the people rising quickly are the ones who understand that early.

Here’s something nobody tells you clearly enough at the early stages: the market has already decided a lot about your career trajectory, yet it is giving you a more stable start than those before you. 

Most graduates of turfgrass agronomy programs are entering the workforce with $70,000-plus compensation packages after nine months of internship experience.

The compensation conversation is real, and I won’t pretend otherwise. Yes, the market has moved. Yes, starting packages are stronger than they were a decade ago. But there’s a growing gap between what some assistants expect and what they’ve actually built the case for. 

Compensation follows value; it doesn’t precede it. I’ve seen assistants price themselves out of the right opportunities chasing a number at the wrong time, leaving roles where they were genuinely being invested in for a $5,000 bump somewhere that offered nothing else. Two years later, they’re behind the peers they left. The number matters less than the trajectory you’re on, the people who are helping you grow and the club standards that are shaping your career. 

The opportunity is real. So is the competition. And so are the expectations that come attached to that number. You’re not owed it. You’re being given the chance to earn it. There’s a difference — and the ones who confuse the two don’t last long. 

I’ve watched talented people stall — not because they lacked ability, but because they believed their potential was the same thing as their track record. It isn’t. 

If you want to become a superintendent — and not everyone does, and that’s fine — understand the pathway looks different than it did 10 years ago. Running harder down the old road won’t get you there faster.

One of the most common myths I see is the belief that a degree or a certification is the finish line. It isn’t. It’s the entry ticket. I’ve talked with assistants who completed their turfgrass programs, landed their first role and quietly waited for their superintendent to hand them a development plan.

When it didn’t come on their timeline, frustration set in. But the truth is the best operators in this industry didn’t wait to be developed. They showed up to GCSAA events on their own time. They read. They asked uncomfortable questions. They volunteered for the problems nobody else wanted to solve. A credential tells a hiring manager you can learn. Your initiative tells them whether you will.

Only one in roughly three dozen golf course superintendent searches over the last two and a half years has yielded a challenging position from an experienced greens chair surrounding education requirements, and the desire of advanced education through on-the-job training and networking. 

The people advancing quickly aren’t just mastering agronomy. They’re learning how to lead up, how to communicate with club leadership, how to influence without authority, and how to walk into a boardroom or a green committee meeting and be taken seriously. That’s not soft skill noise. That’s the job. The sooner you start building those capabilities alongside your technical ones, the sooner the right doors open.

The rent for success isn’t just due every day. It compounds with interest. Skip too many payments early and you’ll spend years working twice as hard just to get back to even. I see many young assistants expecting a streamlined path to a superintendent position because of their years of experience versus their exposure and actual results on the ground.  

Think of it like the world’s worst adjustable-rate mortgage except instead of your house, it’s your professional reputation on the line. Showing up three Mondays in a row isn’t the bar. 

Institutional knowledge, loyalty and hunger get noticed by the leaders worth impressing. Surface-level effort gets surface-level results.

The ones who rise are the ones who stay past normal hours, ask better questions and treat every season like it’s building toward something. Because it is.

Despite everything that’s changed, some things haven’t. Hard work still matters. Pride in your craft still matters. Gratitude for the opportunity to be part of something worth building still matters. Professional etiquette and patience still matter.

The clubs and leaders that last are holding that line, and they’re looking for people willing to hold it with them. You don’t need a motivational slogan or an inflated title to move forward. You need discipline, consistency and the humility to understand that trust is built slowly and lost quickly.

I’m not telling you this because the path is easy. I’m telling you because I’ve walked it, made mistakes on it and watched others shortcut it. The ones who paid attention early are the ones leading great operations today.

You get up every day entitled to nothing. Nobody owes you nothing. Talent without discipline gets you nothing.

Pay your rent. Every single day.

Tyler Bloom is a workforce and leadership consultant and principal owner of Bloom Golf Partners.

About the Author

Tyler Bloom is the Founder and CEO of Bloom Golf Partners, a boutique executive search and consulting firm focused on the golf and private club industry. A former golf course superintendent with more than 20 years of experience in turfgrass and club operations, Bloom is widely recognized as a leading expert in workforce development, recruiting, and organizational strategy within the golf industry.

Written by: Mitch Rupert, Communications Manager, Bloom Golf Partners

I promise, when you sit across from me in a Zoom interview, I’m not trying to trick you with the questions I ask. I’m not trying to confuse you with the questions I ask. But there is a purpose for each and every question.

Some of those questions are about obtaining a particular answer. Some of those questions are more about the process to the answer than the actual answer itself. It is important when your interviewer asks a question that you’re able to decipher exactly what kind of information they’re trying to ascertain.

But I’m going to let you in on a secret about the one question which I see interview candidates struggle with the most. And the catch is that it’s not even a question at all. I start every interview with “Tell me a little about yourself” and no request has ever perplexed a larger number of people.

It’s an easy response to overthink. It’s an easy response that can mess up the flow and timing of the rest of the interview. So let me provide you a roadmap on what the answer to this question should look like.

First and foremost, it’s incredibly important to understand this is just an icebreaker. This is to get the ball rolling on the interview and get everyone comfortable in an otherwise uncomfortable setting of job interviews. This is not meant to be an in-depth recitation of your life story or your career story. The goal of this question is to get you comfortable in the question-and-answer setup of the interview. It’s a softball to get you settled — I promise, I’m already settled.

The most significant mistake made during this icebreaker is that this question is about some measure chronology. But I already have your resume in front of me. I know what occurred in your career and when.

The question you may be asking yourself is ‘Why does it matter how I answer this prompt?’ That’s a perfectly reasonable question. And normally this isn’t a topic which should need to be talked about. But in conducting over 1,000 interviews in the last two years, I’ve seen far too many people take 5, 10 and even 15 minutes answering this prompt in what is supposed to be a 20 or 25-minute interview. That means they’re eating up a good chunk of time on an icebreaker instead of reserving that time for the points you really want to make.

Much like you can’t win the division title in the first month of the baseball season, you surely can lose it. The same goes for an interview. You’re not going to win the interview with this answer, but you could lose it. This question is about surface-level introduction to who you are and why you’re here. This is not a question to be overthought, it is a question to be chewed up and spit out in as few bites as possible.

So here is the roadmap. All I want to know in that moment is why you’re here. Why did you get into the business? What do you love about the business? Why are you looking to move on from your current job? What piqued your interest about this job you’re interviewing for? What value can you bring to this opportunity?

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

It really is that simple, yet it’s often treated as it’s not. So don’t overthink it. Prepare yourself for what you want to touch on in that moment, but remember not to let this introduction steal the time which is vital to selling yourself and your skills.o swallow, but it’s also reality. And if you focus on the process as opposed to the result, you’re going to be able to put yourself in position to eventually find the position that is the right fit for you.

About the Author

Mitch Rupert

Mitch Rupert brings more than 20 years of high-stakes interviewing experience—from covering professional and youth sports as an award-winning Associated Press journalist—to his role with Bloom Golf Partners. Since joining the firm in 2021, he has supported candidate communication, interviews, and due diligence while applying his storytelling and research expertise to the executive search process.

You’ve just interviewed a strong assistant superintendent candidate. No budget ownership. Limited committee exposure. You’ve played their course, and know the product on the ground is exceptional, but they may be missing intangible leadership experiences and skills. You pass. Six months later, they’re thriving at another club.

Over time, I’ve develop a pattern recognition that’s hard to explain until you’ve seen it enough times.

I’ve watched hiring committees pass on assistant superintendent candidates for reasons that had nothing to do with their ability to lead an operation. No budget development experience. Limited committee exposure. Hasn’t managed member relations directly.

And I understand the instinct. Those are real responsibilities at the head superintendent level.

But here’s what those committees were missing – the assistant sitting across the table was already running data models, tracking inputs with precision, and leveraging agronomic technology that didn’t exist when the criteria they were being graded against was written. They’ve also done it at a level the club’s existing operation isn’t.

It is a paradox. We are evaluating tomorrow’s superintendents with yesterday’s ruler.

The assistants coming through the pipeline today from top clubs aren’t just boots on the ground. They are technically sophisticated, data-literate, and in many cases operationally sharper than the role they’re being hired into. What they haven’t had is the opportunity — not the capability — to own a budget, chair a committee presentation, or manage a membership relationship directly.

That distinction matters more than most committees realize.

Before a hiring committee evaluates an assistant superintendent, they need to understand one fundamental truth – the role is structurally designed to limit ownership in most organizational cultures.  However, progressive clubs are incorporating their senior management team into normal executive level conversations.

The assistant superintendent does not set the budget. They execute within it. They do not chair committee meetings. They support the superintendent who does. They do not own membership relations. They observe, assist, and occasionally participate – on someone else’s terms.

This is not a failure of ambition or capability. It is the architecture of the role.

And yet, committee after committee grades assistant superintendent candidates against criteria that the position itself prevents them from meeting. The result is a systematic undervaluation of some of the most capable emerging talent in the industry.

The question is never did they own it? The question is are they ready to?

Those are not the same question. And confusing them is costing clubs the right hire.

Three evaluation criteria dominate most assistant superintendent searches – and all three reflect the same fundamental misunderstanding.

Budget development and oversight.

Committees want to see candidates who have built and managed budgets. But in most assistant superintendent roles, budget involvement means reviewing line items someone else constructed, flagging variances, and executing within parameters already set. The candidate who hasn’t owned a budget in this role hasn’t failed – they haven’t been given the keys.

Evaluating them on this criterion is grading someone on a course they were never enrolled in.

Most inputs are monitored from historical budgeting, and often more and more clubs we work with are using zero-based budgeting.  With the advent of AI and numerous tracking systems like the Greenkeeper App, Playbooks for Golf, Sparks, and others, assistants are getting this exposure very early.

Committee exposure and member relations.

Direct committee presentation experience is rare at the assistant level – and its absence tells you almost nothing about a candidate’s ability to communicate with authority, build trust with stakeholders, or navigate club politics.

What matters is whether they’ve been in the room, whether they understand the dynamics, and whether they’ve been trusted enough by their superintendent to be present at all. Great clubs are engaging their assistant managers into these meetings, as well as helping prepare presentations, reports, and monthly on course meetings.

Most assistant superintendents interact with members daily – on the course, at the range, in passing moments that require professionalism, composure, and judgment. But formal membership relations management is reserved for the head superintendent. Penalizing a candidate for not owning something the org chart explicitly assigns elsewhere is not rigorous evaluation. It’s a blind spot dressed up as a standard.

Indicators and predictors of success

While committees fixate on what assistant superintendents haven’t been allowed to own, they consistently overlook the indicators that actually predict success at the next level.

Network strength and intentionality.

The assistant superintendent who has deliberately built relationships beyond their club – with peers, vendors, industry leaders, and professionals outside agronomy – is showing you something important. They are not waiting to be developed. They are developing themselves and creating exposure. That initiative is one of the strongest predictors of long-term leadership trajectory in this industry.

Hunger and professional drive.

How a candidate invests in themselves outside of work hours tells you more than their job description ever will. Are they attending conferences beyond the GCSAA show? Are they pursuing certifications, reading broadly, engaging in industry conversations? Are they visiting other top tier operations? Hunger is not something clubs can install after the hire. It either exists or it doesn’t.

Technical and data literacy.

Today’s assistant superintendents are operating with agronomic technology, data platforms, and precision tools that represent a generational leap from how this industry has historically managed turf. A candidate who is fluent in these tools is not just technically capable – they are future-ready in ways that many experienced superintendents are still catching up to.

Committees that dismiss technical depth as a given are leaving one of their strongest evaluation signals on the table.

Ground-level operational knowledge.

There is no substitute for having done the work. An assistant superintendent who has been boots on the ground – who knows every irrigation head, every drainage challenge, every microclimate on the property – brings an operational intelligence that cannot be taught in a boardroom. This knowledge becomes the foundation of credible leadership when they step into the head role.

Working in the right environment under the right mentor

Perhaps the most overlooked proxy indicator of all. Who developed this candidate – and how deeply? An assistant who has been intentionally mentored by a director of agronomy, brought into club leadership conversations, and trusted in front of membership is not an untested candidate. They are a developed one. The investment their mentors made in them is itself an evaluation signal. Ask who shaped them. The answer will tell you more than the org chart ever could.

Reading the Environment Before You Read the Résumé

Not all assistant superintendent roles are created equal – and evaluating candidates without understanding the environment they came from is one of the most consequential mistakes a hiring committee can make.

An assistant at a 36-hole private club with a $5M maintenance budget, and a director of agronomy who brought them into every strategic conversation is a fundamentally different candidate than one in a similar environment under a a hands-off superintendent, micromanager who never shared a budget line or encouraged them to take ownership of a project or operational standard.

Their titles are identical. Their readiness may not be.

Before the interview begins, committees should be asking three “environmental” questions:

What was the scale and complexity of the operation?

Size, hole count, maintenance budget, staff count, and facility type all shape the candidate’s frame of reference. A candidate coming from a high-complexity, high-expectation environment has been stress-tested in ways a simpler operation cannot replicate.

How much autonomy did the head superintendent give them?

This is the most important environmental question and the one committees almost never ask. An assistant who was trusted to run departments, lead staff, represent the operation, and participate in decisions is ready in ways their job title cannot capture. An assistant who was kept at arm’s length from every consequential decision is not necessarily less capable – but their readiness profile looks different.

What was the caliber and prestige of the club?

High-expectation membership environments produce candidates who have been tested under pressure – where course conditions are scrutinized, standards are uncompromising, and the margin for error is narrow. That environment builds a different kind of professional than one where expectations are more forgiving.

Often these clubs have maintenance standards that can be adapted, and we continue to hear committees asking for these written standards as part of their strategic plans, member communication and accountability.

Context is not an excuse for a candidate. It is essential data for an evaluator.

About the Author

Tyler Bloom is the Founder and CEO of Bloom Golf Partners, a boutique executive search and consulting firm focused on the golf and private club industry. A former golf course superintendent with more than 20 years of experience in turfgrass and club operations, Bloom is widely recognized as a leading expert in workforce development, recruiting, and organizational strategy within the golf industry.

Written by: Mitch Rupert, Communications Manager, Bloom Golf Partners

What you’re about to read next is going to sound ridiculous. I can already hear you scoffing at your phone and covering it in spittle. But hear me out.

Whether or not you get a job you apply for has no bearing on whether or not your application and candidacy was successful.

I know that may seem counterintuitive. Afterall, the reason you apply for a job is to get a job. But the decisions in a job search are really out of your hands as an applicant. The only thing you can do is present yourself in the best light. Then hope that’s enough to entice someone to want you to work for them.

The question I hear so often from candidates who aren’t selected for a job, regardless of how deep into the process they advance, is what could they have done better to move forward? Sometimes it’s not about being better. Sometimes you just aren’t a fit for what the club is looking for. 

Let’s think of it this way. I’m a poker player — sometimes a good one, sometimes maybe not — but it is imperative to learn as a poker player that it cannot be a results-oriented game, or you’ll drive yourself nuts. Anybody who sits at a poker table will understand it is very possible that you do everything right in a poker hand, but the luck of the draw can still be against you. 

Consider this, a well-shuffled (at least seven riffle shuffles) deck of 52 cards has 52! (that’s 52 factorial) possible outcomes for the order in which those cards finish. To put that in terms of a number, that’s an 8 followed by 67 zeros. Anytime you shuffle a deck of cards well, it’s very likely that is the first time in human history the cards have been in that order. So there are any number of reasons you could win or lose a singular hand of poker that goes beyond just the way you played the hand.

A job interview is similar. There is so much more that goes into the decision-making of who to hire for a position than your experience, your application materials, and your performance in an interview.

Even we, as recruiters, don’t know the inherent biases that a member of a hiring committee, or a hiring manager carries with them. You, as the applicant, can’t account for the politicking of people outside the club who are stumping for one candidate over another. You, as the candidate, can’t account for the preferences of a hiring committee or manager.

So to beat yourself up over whether or not you got the job, is to not understand how little control you actually have over the process and the decision. What you can do is focus on the things only you can control, and regardless of the outcome of the search, you can ask yourself whether or not you put yourself in the best position to be hired. 

If your answer to that question is yes, then you can walk away satisfied — not necessarily happy — regardless of whether or not you’re hired. If your answer to that question is no, then it’s incumbent to re-evaluate your process.

Recently I’ve done a number of post-interview coaching sessions 

So what are the things you can control in a job search process?

1. The presentation of your documents — Is your spelling correct? Is your grammar proper? Do you have an aesthetically pleasing résumé which properly describes your experience and work history (with dates)? Do you have a cover letter addressed to the proper person(s)? 
2. The presentation of yourself — Did you come dressed appropriately to the interview? This doesn’t always mean suit and tie, but let’s default to dressing for the job you want, not the job you have. Did you speak clearly? If it was a Zoom interview, did you sit in a quiet place where there were no interruptions and your WiFi was strong?
3. Your preparation — Did you take time to understand the job, the club, the hiring manager, your interviewer? Did you show up with questions you needed answered?
4. Your answers — Did you keep yourself from rambling and going off on tangents? Did you stick to the topics at hand without getting too deep into the weeds with your answers?

It’s difficult to consider that maybe we, as candidates, just aren’t the right fit for a job that we would kill to have. But more times than not, that is why a candidate doesn’t move forward in the interview process. But if you have taken care of those four points previously listed, you have put yourself in the best possible position to move forward. From there, the decision comes down to the luck of the draw.

That’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s also reality. And if you focus on the process as opposed to the result, you’re going to be able to put yourself in position to eventually find the position that is the right fit for you.

About the Author

Mitch Rupert

Mitch Rupert brings more than 20 years of high-stakes interviewing experience—from covering professional and youth sports as an award-winning Associated Press journalist—to his role with Bloom Golf Partners. Since joining the firm in 2021, he has supported candidate communication, interviews, and due diligence while applying his storytelling and research expertise to the executive search process.

I’ve been using AI in some capacity since I started Bloom Golf Partners. Not in some grand, strategic way – just practically. Writing job descriptions. Drafting member communications. Running monthly financials. Using for content creation. Creating workflows. Organizing my thoughts before a presentation.

Nothing flashy. Nothing that required a technical background or an expensive platform. Just small use cases that saved time and made my work sharper.

And over the last three years, those small use cases have compounded. AI is now part of how I operate – not because I had a master plan, but because I started.

Here’s what I’ve noticed: most of the industry hasn’t.

It’s not that superintendents and GMs are skeptical or opposed. It’s that they don’t even know what “starting” looks like. They hear about AI-powered drones and smart irrigation systems and assume it’s not for them—too expensive, too complex, too far from daily reality.

But that’s not where you start. You start with a blank prompt and a task you do every week.

Here’s my perspective on what “starting with AI” actually looks like for clubs and industry professionals:

It’s not about buying new technology. It’s not about drones or smart sensors or six-figure software investments.

It’s about learning to use the tools already available – free or nearly free—to do the work you’re already doing, faster and better.

And once you start, you’ll wonder why you waited.

Here are three steps to get moving.

STEP #1: Pick One Task You Already Do Every Week

Don’t start with strategy. Don’t start with a vision for how AI will transform your operation. Start with something simple – something you already do that takes more time than it should.

A job description you’ve rewritten a dozen times. A member email explaining course conditions after a weather event. A report for the board. A presentation for the green committee. An outline for a staff meeting. A SOP for mowing greens.

You’re not looking for the perfect use case. You’re looking for a repetitive task where a rough draft would save you thirty minutes.

That’s your starting point.

STEP #2: Open the Tool and Give It Context

You don’t need to pay for anything. ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini – they all have free versions that are more than capable for this.

Open it up and give it context. The more you share, the better the output.

Tell it who you are: “I’m a golf course superintendent at a private club in the Northeast.”

Tell it what you need: “I need to write an email to members explaining why we’re aerating greens next week and what to expect.”

Tell it what good looks like: “Keep it under 200 words, professional but not stiff, and include the dates and estimated recovery time.”

That’s it. You’re not programming. You’re just explaining—the same way you’d brief a new assistant.

STEP #3: Iterate and Refine

The first output won’t be perfect. It might be too formal, too long, or missing something important.

That’s fine. This is where the real value shows up.

Push back. Say, “Make it shorter.” Say, “Add a sentence about cart path restrictions.” Say, “Make the tone a little warmer.”

Each revision takes seconds. And by the third or fourth pass, you’ll have something you can send—or at least something 90% done that you can finish in five minutes instead of thirty.

The goal isn’t to let AI do your job. The goal is to eliminate the blank page. To get to a starting point faster so you can spend your time on the work that actually requires your judgment.

The industry isn’t standing still because it’s resistant to AI. It’s standing still because no one has made starting feel accessible.

But it is accessible. The tools are free. The learning curve is shorter than you think. And the payoff – time saved, clearer thinking, sharper communication—starts showing up immediately.

You don’t need a strategy. You don’t need a budget. You just need to open the tool and try.

This is part of why we’re very passionate and all in at Bloom Golf Partners. Because AI without data is just guessing.

The superintendents and GMs who figure this out now won’t just save time. They’ll operate differently. And that gap will only widen.

If you’re ready to stop standing still and start using AI practically, we built something for you.

???? Join Our Online AI Course

From the team at Bloom Golf Partners

Boards and leadership had been “benchmarking” themselves against nearby and regional clubs—courses with deeper pockets, larger crews, and resources this club simply didn’t have. But nobody had ever quantified the gap. No one had shown them where they actually stood in the marketplace.

So they operated with a false sense of what was possible. And when reality didn’t match their expectations, they blamed the person closest to the problem.

By the time I was involved, the damage was done. A career disrupted. Trust broken. And a club still no closer to understanding the real issue: they didn’t have a performance problem—they had a visibility problem.

Here’s the hard truth: most clubs don’t have a performance problem. They have an alignment problem.

And it’s not limited to one budget tier or one department. Whether you’re a $5M club or a $20M club, misalignment between boards, GMs, and superintendents shows up the same way—missed budgets, declining assets, turnover, and frustrated members who don’t understand why conditions aren’t improving.

The solution isn’t working harder. It’s knowing where you actually stand—and building shared expectations from that reality.

Here are three shifts that change everything.

SHIFT #1: From Comparison to Context

It’s natural to look at the club down the road and wonder why your fairways don’t look like theirs. But comparison without context is dangerous.

A $5M club and a $12M club aren’t playing the same game. They have different staffing levels, different equipment budgets, different maintenance windows, and different member expectations. When you benchmark against a club with twice your resources, you’re not setting a standard—you’re setting a trap.

The shift is simple but uncomfortable: stop asking “why don’t we look like them?” and start asking “what’s realistic for who we are?”

Context isn’t an excuse. It’s a foundation. And until your board, GM, and superintendent are operating from the same foundation, alignment is impossible.

SHIFT #2: From Assumption to Data

Here’s where most clubs get stuck: everyone has an opinion, but nobody has the numbers.

The GM assumes the maintenance budget is in line with the market. The board assumes conditions should be better. The superintendent assumes leadership understands the constraints. And none of those assumptions have ever been tested against actual data.

This is where benchmarking changes everything. Not benchmarking against the club you played last month—benchmarking against clubs in your tier, your region, your budget reality. Maintenance cost per acre. Labor hours per hole. Capital reinvestment trends.

When everyone is looking at the same numbers, the conversation shifts from “why isn’t this better?” to “what can we do with what we have?”

Data doesn’t solve every problem. But it eliminates the arguments that waste time and erode trust.

SHIFT #3: From Blame to Visibility

When expectations and reality don’t match, someone pays the price.

Usually, it’s the superintendent. Sometimes it’s the GM. Occasionally, it’s a board member who pushed too hard and quietly steps away. But the underlying issue never gets addressed—because the problem was never visibility. It was the lack of it.

The club I mentioned at the top of this blog didn’t have a bad superintendent. They had a blind spot. No one had ever shown them where they stood in the marketplace. So when conditions didn’t match their assumptions, they looked for someone to blame.

Visibility protects people. It protects careers. And it protects the club from making decisions based on feelings instead of facts.

This is the shift that matters most: stop assigning blame for outcomes you never had the clarity to expect.

Misalignment isn’t a people problem. It’s a visibility problem.

And it’s solvable.

When boards, GMs, and superintendents operate from shared data—when they know where the club actually stands in the marketplace—everything changes. Budgets make sense. Expectations become realistic. Careers are protected. And the club starts making decisions that build toward something instead of reacting to frustration.

This is exactly why we’re building the Bloom Golf Partners Performance Index. Benchmarking, tools, and alignment—designed for clubs across every budget tier, from under $5M to $20M and beyond.

Because every club deserves to know where they stand. And every leader deserves to operate from the truth.

Book a FREE Talent Strategy Call to learn how leading clubs are aligning culture with strategy – and see how your operations can get there too.

From the team at Bloom Golf Partners

In 1727, a 21-year-old Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia with little more than a few coins in his pocket. He was a runaway apprentice—no connections, no credentials, no pedigree.

But Franklin understood something most people miss: success isn’t just about what you know. It’s about who you’re in the room with.

So he created a room. He founded the Junto—a small club of tradesmen, artisans, and merchants who met every Friday night to share ideas, challenge each other, and open doors. From that room came America’s first public library, the first volunteer fire department, and the foundations of the University of Pennsylvania.

Franklin didn’t wait to be invited into the rooms that mattered. He built one – and filled it with people who could help him see beyond his own lens.

It’s a lesson most of us learn the hard way.

For years, I watched the most talented superintendents not get the best jobs. The ones who advanced weren’t the most skilled agronomists or the hardest workers. They were the most visible.

And the rest of us? We stayed stuck in a box we didn’t build. Operational experts. Turf guys. Valuable, sure – but not perceived as strategic enough. Not leadership material. Not in the rooms where decisions actually get made.

I couldn’t control that narrative. But I could never accept it either.

Since I jumped into my venture five years ago, I’ve stepped into rooms with New York Times bestselling authors, 8 and 9-figure business owners, and professionals looking to climb the career and corporate ladder – hitting the same walls I and so many other golf course superintendents face.

In some cases, historic industry norms and stereotypes plague them like pedigree. Where you came from. What title you hold. What box people put you in before you ever open your mouth.

And here’s what surprised me: even 8-figure business owners were fighting for visibility in their own way.

The walls we face aren’t unique. Visibility and positioning are universal challenges. And the path forward is the same regardless of industry – exposure creates opportunity.

Then last week, 30,000 golf industry professionals gathered in Orlando for the PGA Show.

Brands. Retailers. PGA and LPGA professionals. Media. Buyers. Executives.

Decision-makers from every corner of the $102 billion golf business – all in one place.

And it hit me again: this is where the money happens. This is where relationships get built that shape careers, open doors, and create opportunities most superintendents never see.

Not because they’re not qualified. But because they’re not in the room.

If you’re ready to stop being invisible to the people who shape your career, it starts with exposure. Here are three STEPS to getting in the right rooms.

STEP 1: Recognize the Silo Is Keeping You Invisible

When you stay isolated in the operational silo, you become invisible to the people who shape your career.

You might be the best agronomist in your region. Your greens might roll true every single day. But if the only people who know your name are your crew and your GM, your ceiling is set by whoever happens to be in your corner – not by what you’re actually capable of.

Here’s the hard truth: research shows that being physically visible to supervisors and peers provides multiple benefits – faster advancement, higher pay increases, and better performance evaluations.¹ A Pew Research survey found that 63% of people who left jobs in 2021 cited lack of advancement opportunities as a primary reason.²

The pattern is clear. People don’t get promoted because they’re the most talented. They get promoted because decision-makers know who they are.

Influence doesn’t come from waiting to be noticed. It comes from being present where decisions get made.

STEP 2: Understand Where the Real Conversations Happen

Let me be clear: the GCSAA Conference matters. It’s the room for turf professionals – focused, specialized, and full of people who understand what we do. If you want to sharpen your agronomic knowledge and connect with your peers, it’s essential.

But the PGA Show is a different animal.

It’s 2–3× the size. Over 1,000 exhibitors compared to roughly 450 at GCSAA. And the audience isn’t just superintendents—it’s manufacturers, retailers, buyers, PGA and LPGA professionals, media, and club operators across every facet of golf.

That’s broad market exposure. That’s where you see how the entire industry moves—not just the turf side.

The data backs this up. Studies estimate that 70–85% of job openings exist in the “hidden job market”—positions filled through networking and referrals before ever being posted publicly.³ Referrals alone account for 40% of hires, even though only 7% of applicants come through that channel.⁴

The math is simple: if you’re not in the rooms where relationships form, you’re competing for a fraction of the opportunities.

Industry conferences like the PGA Show aren’t just trade shows. They’re where hiring conversations start months before a job ever gets posted.

STEP 3: Put Yourself in Rooms That Stretch You

When you’re in those rooms, you start to see the game differently. You understand what owners care about. You hear what’s driving equipment purchases, membership trends, and capital investments. You stop thinking like a department head and start thinking like a business partner.

Research from Harvard Business Review found that employees who actively invest in visibility and network development are promoted 42% faster than peers with equal technical performance but limited external visibility.⁵ That’s not a marginal difference – it’s a career-altering gap.

And even if you’re not ready to have those conversations yourself, here’s the minimum: you gain credibility with the people at your club who are in those rooms. Your GM. Your board members. Your ownership group. When you can speak their language – when you understand the pressures they’re navigating – you stop being the turf guy and start being a strategic partner.

That shift doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by putting yourself in rooms that stretch you.

Imagine what becomes possible when you stop waiting to be noticed and start positioning yourself where opportunity lives. Imagine walking into your next career conversation with relationships already built, credibility already established, and a perspective that extends far beyond the maintenance facility.

The most talented superintendents don’t always get the best jobs. But the most visible ones? They get opportunities the rest of us never even hear about.

So here’s my challenge for you this week: Take an honest look at the rooms you’re in right now. Are they stretching you? Are they exposing you to the people and conversations that move your career forward? Or are you surrounded by the same voices, the same perspectives, the same operational echo chamber?

If you want more influence, you need more exposure. Period.

And if you’ve never been to the PGA Show, put it on your calendar. January 2026. Orlando. Thirty thousand industry professionals. Decision-makers from every corner of the game. A chance to see the business of golf from a completely different lens.

Level up the room. The opportunities will follow.

What’s one room you’ve been avoiding that could change your career trajectory?

Footnotes:

Harvard Business Review. (2024). “Career Capital and Promotion Velocity Study.” HBR Research.Book a FREE Talent Strategy Call to learn how leading clubs are aligning culture with strategy – and see how your operations can get there too.

Elsbach, K. D., Cable, D. M., & Sherman, J. W. (2010). “How Passive ‘Face Time’ Affects Perceptions of Employees: Evidence of Spontaneous Trait Inference.” Human Relations 63, no. 6: 735–760.

Parker, K., & Horowitz, J. M. (2022). “Majority of Workers Who Quit a Job in 2021 Cite Low Pay, No Opportunities for Advancement, Feeling Disrespected.” Pew Research Center.

Adler, L. (2016). “New Survey Reveals 85% of All Jobs are Filled Via Networking.” LinkedIn.

Jobvite. (2021). “Job Seeker Nation Report.” Jobvite Annual Survey.

From the team at Bloom Golf Partners

Every January, the coaching carousel starts to spin.

As a diehard Penn State fan and State College native, I watched it up close this year. The speculation. The rumors. The waiting. And then—the recruits started decommitting.

That’s when the real frustration set in.

The search dragged on longer than anyone expected. Every day without a decision was another day of uncertainty. Fans were restless. The message boards were on fire. And while the committee deliberated, the program was losing ground in real-time.

When Matt Campbell was finally announced, the reaction was mixed but pragmatic. Relief that direction was restored. Frustration that it took so long. Most of the negativity wasn’t aimed at Campbell—it was aimed at the process.

Here’s the thing: the hire was credible. Stabilizing. It stopped the bleeding and restored credibility.

But the damage from the search itself? That had already been done.

And that’s when it hit me: this is exactly what happens at private clubs.

Every year, clubs enter their own version of “search season.” A superintendent leaves—or is pushed out—and suddenly the GM, the board, and the green chair are scrambling. Opinions fly. Timelines slip. And while the search committee debates what they’re looking for, the best candidates move on to other opportunities.

Sound familiar?

Because just like college programs, clubs don’t rise and fall on facilities alone. They rise and fall on leadership.

One thing is clear:

The clubs that win aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the flashiest job postings. They’re the ones who get aligned—before the search even starts.

Here are the four critical areas where alignment matters most.

1. Expectations

Most clubs don’t have an expectations problem. They have a comparison problem.

Here’s what I see all the time: A board member plays a member-guest at a top-tier club, comes home, and asks why their course doesn’t look like that. The green chair agrees. The complaints pile up. And the superintendent is left defending conditions against a standard that was never realistic in the first place.

Here’s the hard truth: You can’t judge your course against a club you visited once. You need to judge it against your true peers—clubs with similar budgets, similar member demographics, and similar regional challenges.

Before you start a search, get aligned on this question: Who are we actually competing with?

If your expectations don’t match your budget and your market, no hire – no matter how talented – will ever feel like enough.

2. Budget

I see this constantly: A $5M club offers compensation expecting to attract candidates from $8M operations – and wonders why the search stalls.

The math doesn’t lie. Your compensation signals the caliber of candidate you’ll attract. If your pay doesn’t match your expectations, you’ll end up hiring someone from a different demographic—someone who may be talented but is in over their head at your level of operation.

And the consequences show up fast: a constant learning curve, performance gaps, and the same search conversation happening again in 18-24 months.

Before you post the job, ask this question: Does our compensation match the club we say we want to be?

If you’re expecting top-tier results on a mid-tier budget, you’re not running a search. You’re setting up your next superintendent to fail.

3. Culture

Skills get someone hired. Culture determines whether they last.

I’ve seen technically excellent superintendents flame out because they weren’t prepared for the environment they walked into. They stayed in the shop when the club expected them on the course. They waited to be asked instead of proactively updating the GM. They’d never navigated committee politics—and it showed in their first board meeting.

Here’s the problem: candidates don’t know what they don’t know. A superintendent coming from a smaller operation may have never presented a capital plan, never managed green committee expectations, never been the face of agronomy to a demanding membership.

That’s not a character flaw. It’s an exposure gap. And it’s the club’s job to identify it before the hire – not after.

Before you start the search, get aligned on this question: What does leadership look like at OUR club?

Do you need a communicator or a technician? A visible presence or a behind-the-scenes operator? Someone who can manage up—or someone who just needs to manage turf?

If you don’t define culture fit before the search, you’ll discover the mismatch after it’s too late.

4. Gaps

Every club has gaps. The question is whether you’re honest about them before the search – or whether your new superintendent discovers them on day one.

I’ve seen it too many times: A superintendent arrives, walks the property, and realizes the irrigation system is 20 years old, the equipment fleet is held together with duct tape, and the maintenance facility hasn’t been updated since the Clinton administration. The job they accepted isn’t the job they got.

And here’s what happens next: Capital requests that blindside the board. Agronomic issues that take years to correct. A superintendent who burns out trying to meet expectations with infrastructure that can’t support them. Turnover in 24 months – and another search.

The hard truth? Clubs often don’t realize the level of inputs they’ll need to put in before they can expect outputs.

Before you start the search, get brutally honest about this question: What are we actually handing the next superintendent?

Deferred maintenance. Staffing shortfalls. Aging equipment. Irrigation headaches. If you don’t name the gaps upfront, you’re not hiring a superintendent—you’re hiring a scapegoat.

The Bottom Line

The Matt Campbell hire worked—not because he was the flashiest name, but because he was the right fit. Credible. Stabilizing. A foundation to rebuild on.

Your next superintendent hire can work the same way. But only if you do the work before the search starts.

Get aligned on expectations. Make sure your budget matches your ambitions. Define what leadership looks like at your club. And be honest about the gaps you’re handing over.

The clubs that win searches aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the most prestigious names. They’re the ones who know exactly what they’re looking for—and why.

Search season is here. The question is: Are you ready for it?

From the team at Bloom Golf Partners

Millennials and Gen Z now make up the majority of the workforce at clubs and golf facilities—and they’re reshaping what “a good job” looks like. Our latest national research confirms what many leaders feel on the ground: flexibility, growth, and belonging are no longer perks; they’re baseline expectations that drive both attraction and retention.

Across roles—from shop attendant to superintendent to GM—flexibility has moved from “nice to have” to “must have.” Both generations value control over when and how they work, and Gen Z is notably more likely to leave if they lack control over their schedule or can’t continue their education. If you’re rigid with shifts or slow to accommodate school, caregiving, or commute realities, you’ll hemorrhage promising talent.

Pay matters (more on that below), but culture keeps them. A disrespectful manager is the #1 reason people leave after the first 90 days—an expensive hit to morale and operations. Train managers on communication, coaching, and accountability; your first-line leaders are your retention engine.

Gen Z and Millennials rank an annual salary increase among their top motivators to apply or accept a job. Combine that with transparent pay bands, bonus opportunities tied to outcomes, and early eligibility for benefits (health insurance and PTO) to reduce first-year turnover. Consider the signal value of pay progression: it proves your club offers a career, not just a seasonal role.

What wins? A visible training pathway that leads to certifications, advancement, and more responsibility. Gen Z in particular wants soft-skills development (communication, leadership, customer service) alongside technical training. Map the first 24 months for each role: onboarding, milestones, certifications, and pay steps. Make the path real, time-bound, and celebrated.

You don’t need to boil the ocean—just align with what these cohorts value most:

• Transparent compensation – performance-based incentives + pay progression
  
• Flexible scheduling (swaps, compressed weeks, exam weeks)
  
• Education support (tuition or certification reimbursement; study time during slower periods)
  
• Well-being (access to mental-health resources)
  
• Childcare support where feasible (stipends, partnerships)
  These targeted benefits punch above their cost because they speak to real life, not optics.

A majority of workers believe most golf roles don’t require a college degree, and 60% see golf as a stable career—yet outdated perceptions (seasonal, limited growth) still suppress interest. 

Five quick wins for clubs this season

1. Post pay ranges and pathways on every job ad.
   
2. Pilot flex: offer two alternative shift patterns in at least one department.
   
3. Manager micro-training: 30-minute monthly sessions on feedback and recognition.
   
4. Education credits: small, fast-tracked reimbursements for relevant courses or licenses.
   
5. On-ramp mentorship: pair every new hire with a peer mentor for the first 60 days.

These moves directly address what Millennials and Gen Z value—and they’re feasible at any club size.

Book a FREE Talent Strategy Call to learn how leading clubs are aligning culture with strategy—and see how your operations can get there too.

From the team at Bloom Golf Partners