Throughout May and June, the British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association undertook a major industry survey that sought to gather information about salaries and working conditions for greenkeepers throughout the UK.
There were more than 1,300 respondents to the survey. With approximately 2,500 golf clubs in the United Kingdom, this represents a significant set of data that builds a comprehensive image of life at golf clubs in 2022.
Detailed results from the survey can be downloaded on the BIGGA website.
Some of the results make for startling reading.
Just under half of respondents told us they were unhappy working in the greenkeeping profession and half said that if they could go back in time, they wouldn't apply for their current role again.
Thirty-five per cent of respondents admitted they are looking for a new job outside the greenkeeping industry.
With regards issues of recruitment, 53% of respondents told us they have available vacancies on their team, with 83.5% telling us they struggle to recruit new staff. Alarmingly, just 2% said they found it easy to get staff in place if they have a vacancy.
Staffing levels
In 2019 the average 18-hole golf course had 5.5 full-time and one seasonal greenkeeper. In 2022 that number has increased to 6.3 with 1.6 seasonal greenkeepers. This is almost certainly due to the increase in revenue the golf clubs have enjoyed in the last year or so, with clubs increasing staffing levels.
The average course manager or head greenkeeper has been in their role for 9 years and six months. This is a drop from the 12 years and three months in 2019, suggesting a greater number of people changing jobs or leaving the industry entirely.
Job satisfaction
This part of the survey asked respondents to tell us how satisfied they were in their role within their the industry itself.
While 56% said they were happy working in the greenkeeping profession, 35% said they were looking for a new job outside the greenkeeping industry.
Staff welfare
With golf clubs enjoying an increase in revenue with the surge in player numbers following the coronavirus pandemic, BIGGA was interested to discover whether that money had been invested in the working conditions of the greenkeeping team. The results were startling:
- 30% of clubs don't provide an office for the greenkeeping team
- 29% of clubs don't offer a drying room and changing facilities
- 45% of clubs don't provide WIFI in the maintenance facility
- 40% of clubs don't provide a washroom
- 79% of clubs don't offer single sex changing facilities and toilets for female team members
- 29% of clubs don't provide greenkeepers with kitchen facilities
Only one in five golf clubs has single sex changing facilities for its greenkeepers.
Staff recruitment
A major talking point across society at the moment - and especially within greenkeeping - is the recruitment and retention of staff. We asked respondents to tell us how they found their experience of hiring staff to get a better picture of the situation. Here's what they told us:
When you have recruited staff, what background did they have?
School leavers 38.29%
Internal promotion 13.41%
Apprentices 42.03%
Career changers 47.58%
Unemployed 26.57%
Horticultural 22.58%
Other clubhouse staff 7.37%
Former greenkeepers returning to the profession 33.09%
Other golf clubs/sports facilities 40.10%
What are golf clubs doing to attract new staff?
We asked survey respondents to tell us any ways they had undertaken outreach in the community, as a means of raising awareness of the golf club and the greenkeeping profession. Of the over 1,300 survey respondents, only 353 told us they had undertaken at least one of the following.
Salary guidelines
The Committee for Golf Club Salaries is not a new institute, having been formed in 1997. The CGCS is an independent body that includes representatives from the home unions and membership associations within the golfing industry alongside independent experts. In 2020 the CGCS launched the online salary calculator system, which enables golf clubs to set salaries based upon standard industry levels. However, although respondents told us there is substantial awareness of the CGCS guidelines, there is much work to be done to get these implemented widely at golf clubs.
Despite recommended salary guidelines being produced and updated each year by the governing bodies within UK golf, more than 70% said these are not considered by the golf club when deciding how much to pay their staff.
So, what happens next?
BIGGA CEO Jim Croxton believes that golf can ill afford to ignore its most valuable resource - the staff that make the game possible - any longer.
We have been talking for years of the need for turf managers to make decisions on the basis of objective data, the old adage being ‘what we measure, we can manage’.
The obverse is clearly true and we cannot confidently manage that which we don’t fully understand. I’m pleased to be able to present some incredibly robust data that lays bare some fairly frightening statistics on the challenges that exist within our profession.
There are some startling revelations. We know anecdotally that there are major challenges regarding the retention and recruitment of staff and also that pay, conditions and welfare are major contributors, but to see in black and white that around 35% of greenkeepers are looking for work outside the industry is truly a concern.
Equally, finding out that only one in five facilities are equipped for female staff members makes a mockery of the sport’s ambitions to improve equality and diversity.
But the key question is what does the game of golf do with this information so as to make a difference? To overcome the challenges laid out in the survey will need an integrated approach by the whole sport, This will need to clearly lay out the challenges, create targets and devise plans to achieve our ambitions.
As an association, BIGGA will play its part and I know our members will do so too, but we will need the support of managers, clubs, golfers, the media and governing bodies if this is to be a success.
What is BIGGA doing to support its members?
There are many reasons why the greenkeeping industry, along with many others, is struggling to recruit and retain sufficient staff. As the workforce survey uncovered, this is down to a combination of comparatively low salaries, lack of advancement opportunities, job satisfaction and working conditions.
BIGGA is working on many fronts in an attempt to improve matters:
Committee for Golf Club Salaries
• This independent committee includes representation from all the membership associations in golf along with the home unions and makes recommendations to the industry on salaries, terms and conditions for the workforce in golf clubs.
• The CGCS has adopted salary calculators, which take a number of factors into account and recommend suitable salaries for each role.
• Earlier this year the CGCS recommended the highest salary increase in its history (5%)
Golf industry advocacy
• BIGGA meets regularly with the organisations that govern and manage the sport of golf in the UK.
• BIGGA regularly lobbies for support in the areas of working conditions, treatment of staff and salaries, including a ‘code of conduct’ to be enforced at golf clubs that covers the way in which staff are treated.
Promoting the profession
• BIGGA is developing an initiative that connects golf clubs with local schools to showcase career opportunities in golf clubs, particularly greenkeeping.
• BIGGA works with the On Course Foundation, a charity that connects members of the armed forces with careers and opportunities in golf.
• Greenkeeping apprenticeship schemes were among the first to be launched under the new Trailblazer initiative.
Education
• Through our work with the Greenkeepers Training Committee (GTC), there is no doubt the appreciation of education standards of greenkeepers is improving. Raising awareness of this among golfers and employers is key.
• BIGGA works closely with the Golf Club Managers Association and Club Managers Association of Europe, regularly providing articles, conference presentations and content for education. All of this is aimed at increasing respect and pay for greenkeepers. We have presented to more than 1,000 club managers in recent years.
• BIGGA invested in the production of Your Course magazine to every golf club in the country and post-COVID, these activities will recommence.
• We also engage with publications across golf to provide positive, informative content for their audience. We know greenkeeping content is popular with a golfing audience and we are providing more and more of it.
Detailed results from the BIGGA Workforce Survey can be downloaded from the BIGGA website.
What is your reaction to the results of the BIGGA workforce survey? Let us know by emailing BIGGA Head of Marketing and Communications Karl Hansell on karl@bigga.co.uk or send us a message on WhatsApp at 07933 203 645.