Greenskeeping

[stealthduffer]

Beginning to give thought to my retirement plans. Still have a dozen years to go but a good time to start putting pieces in place.  Not the type of person to want to sit around or play golf 100% of the time so was giving thought to looking for work in the course management side of things - mowing or even something more "technical" than that.  Has anyone out there taken this route and have any helpful suggestions? I'll probably only change my mind 20 times or so but it's my current path!

Thanks!

[caniac6]

We have a couple of retired guys that work part time at the course I belong to, and they do a great job. By patr time, I mean they work during the growing season. They are there regular hours from mid March until November. I would think that a lot of courses would love to have responsible workers. A nice benefit will be free golf.

[WUTiger]

This all depends on the area labor market's "supply and demand" for landscape workers.

You might ask the greenskeeper at a couple of local courses what they want out of their workers, whether they have "extras" in warm weather.

The local junior college or vo-tech school might have a few classes which could help you build a useful skill or two in this area.

[tefunk]

I have a similar plan, my goal is to retire btwn 55-60 and do something I enjoy at that point. I worked at a golf course in college, grounds crew. I really enjoyed it, it was a relaxing atmosphere (other than the occassional golfer who would hit into me while mowing the green or something). And I got free golf at the course I worked at and free golf at the other 2 sister courses (owned by same company). There were a few retired ppl I worked with and they would work 3 days a week cutting the fairway, rough, etc. Several of the starters and rangers were also retired and worked there a few days a week. From a pay standpoint, it was a little better than minimum wage. I was on the general crew (not the greenskeeper or assistant keeper), so I cut greens, fairways, fixed sprinkler heads, general landscaping, etc. Nothing too difficult. To echo what WUTiger said, it will really depend on the need for staff when you start looking to actually do it. But it shouldn't be too tough to get the job if the timing is right.