Rule #3-Getting it right, is more important than being right

Embrace the challenge in every comment

I’ve always found it enlightening to look back and think about the person I used to be. As a golf course superintendent, I was a person who always wanted to be right. I’d get defensive and build a case for why I was right and they were wrong. As time has gone by, my approach toward my job has moved more toward ‘getting it right’, than ‘being right’. It’s a change in approach that has both allowed me to be better, but also be much more relaxed about the commentary that comes with the job. 

Like it or not, we are in the service industry. We call ourselves turfgrass professionals, but that aspect is only important insofar as it produces a product, or a service for our golfers. In the eyes of our golfers, we are no different than our colleagues in the clubhouse, or golf shop; we are there to provide a service. A fact of the service industry is that we will receive commentary on our product. Over the years, I’ve learned to embrace this commentary as a challenge, rather than getting frustrated and shrugging it off by saying: “I’m right and they’re not.” 

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A brief interlude to let you know I’ll be joining Micah Woods this afternoon for a live Office Hours. We’ll be live on the Asian Turfgrass Center YouTube channel at 1:30pm Central Standard Time. We hope you’ll join us by using the link below:

Now back to the show!

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My first year at Hazeltine, I managed the practice tees with the same program as the fairways. The goal was to promote bentgrass and simulate the fairway surface on course, as best as possible. By late-summer the heavily used tee looked like this and complaints were frequent. 

“It looks terrible”, “Horrible first impression” and “What an embarrassment to look down on that tee”-were the type of comments I heard. 

I was defiant and sure that I was right and they were wrong. “This is how you manage bentgrass. This is what happens when a practice tee is heavily used. Are they hitting from bad turf? Does it matter how it looks when it’s healing?” 

After the season, I sat with my then green chair, who told me it needed to be better and a plan was required for improvement. It made me mad, because I still thought I was right. But he was a smart man, and when I thought about it, I knew he was right. I started to think about how we’d get it right. We changed our approach and now at the end of a long summer, it looks like this!   

When we get commentary from our golfers, it can be easy to get defensive, wanting to prove we’re right. Sometimes we are right, but regardless there’s a challenge and a learning experience to be found in every piece of commentary. Something I’ve come to realize is that every member wants the course to be great. Just like a fan watching their favorite team. No one wants their team to be bad and any commentary a fan might make is just in the hope their team will be better. It’s the same thing with golfers, they just want the course to be better. 

This approach isn’t just important for dealing with commentary from golfers, it’s also excellent within your own team. Those on our team know they can approach me with a thought, or idea and it’ll be given real consideration, not just blown off because it wasn’t my idea.

The next time you hear, or receive a comment, especially one you don’t like, or that wasn’t your own, cut through your frustration, stop assuming you’re right and spend time thinking about how you get it right. I guarantee it’ll make you better.