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The good the bad and the ugly . . .
As an agronomist and a consultant, Stan Zontek has few peers. He's been at it longer than most and has a lengthy record of success – an unbeatable combination.
Zontek has spent the last three-and-a-half decades with the USGA Green Section, serving the North Central, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. He has been honored along the way by various golf industry organizations, including a 2006 Distinguished Service Award from GCSAA a few months ago in recognition of his contributions to the advancement of the superintendent profession.
The son of a superintendent, Zontek has gathered and digested a treasure trove of what makes turfgrass maintenance work and what doesn't during his more than 4,000 golf course visits since joining the Green Section in 1971. His observations and nuggets of wisdom are priceless.
"Consulting has always been a very passionate issue," he says. "Some superintendents like 'em, some don't. It's common for the ownership or management at many courses to seek second and even third opinions on some matters. A lot of superintendents see that as an affront to their professionalism."
Zontek says there are three elementary types of golf course consultants:
The positive consultant
They have no bias, nothing to sell other than to recommend what's good for the turf, soil and the situation. They throw their support behind the superintendent and his role in what needs to be done. "They're part of a team," Zontek says.
The negative consultant
He catches flak from others in the business on this one, but Zontek says there are definitely those who agree with only the negatives of a golf course situation and thus offer no support to the superintendent's views on the positives. Jobs have been lost as a result.
The salesman
This type of consultant has deep roots in the industry. They recommend certain products for agronomic situations, usually from a company they are affiliated with and/or employed by.
Consulting may be attractive, but it's by no means an easy job, says Zontek, who estimates he's on the road 90 to 100 nights a year.
"The field work is the fun part," he says. "But then there are follow-up visits, very detailed reports to write and a lot of travel. I also spend about a month's time each year at seminars and technical meetings offered by manufacturers just to keep current with what's out there and what's going on."
Even so, Zontek figures 75 percent of his learning comes from field experiences with superintendents: "A lot of trial and error, learning from mistakes, which is the mark of experience. There is a lot of information out there, you just have to sort it out and figure what's best for a particular golf course."
Zontek notes that today's agronomic advances in maintenance offer consultants the opportunity to direct more support to course management issues and also become more program-oriented.
"We need to rely on very good working relationships with superintendents, universities, golf professionals and club managers, to name a few," he says. "It's a position of trust that we must cultivate – everyone working together, trusting each other, communicating toward a common goal of making a golf course better."
— T.O
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