Industries
Why hospitality employees leave and how to understand why
Hotel, restaurant and banquet staff leave for reasons that vary by department and season. How to ask what sits behind the first answer and act on it.
8 min readRead article
Hospitality · Golf courses
HR for Golf Courses: Caddies, Greenkeepers and Early Mornings
A golf course runs on early starts, outdoor crews and a service team that members and guests know by name. Here is how to organise caddies, greenkeepers and the clubhouse around the season.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsA golf course combines a farm, a sports facility and a restaurant. Greenkeepers and groundsmen mow, water, drain and repair the fairways and greens, often starting before sunrise to finish before the first tee time. Caddies carry bags and advise players, and are frequently paid per round rather than a monthly wage. A pro shop sells equipment and coaching, a starter manages the tee sheet, and the clubhouse runs dining, bar and event service. Marshals keep play moving, while mechanics service the mowers and carts. Workload depends on the weather, the season, tournaments and the rhythm of weekend play, so a rainy week can mean idle caddies and a dry weekend can mean a queue at the first tee. Many caddies and ground staff are from nearby villages and have worked there for years, with limited written terms.
- Plan
- Hire
- Onboard
- Manage
- Develop
- Perform
- Engage
- Retain
- Exit
- Improve
When HR is weak in golf courses, you may see
- Caddies are paid by the round
- Greenkeeping starts before dawn
- Skills sit with a few people
- Seasonal workload and idle weeks
- Equipment is dangerous and costly
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
Who does the work in golf courses
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
- Caddies and caddie masters
- Greenkeepers and groundsmen
- Irrigation and equipment mechanics
- Starters and course marshals
- Pro shop staff and coaches
- Clubhouse dining and bar staff
- Course and club managers
Where HR strains in golf courses
Caddies are paid by the round
Income swings with weather and play, nobody is sure of their status, and disagreements arise over fees, tips and who gets the next bag.
Greenkeeping starts before dawn
Crews must be on the course by early morning in all weather, and lateness shows up as wet greens or a delayed first tee.
Skills sit with a few people
The head greenkeeper's knowledge of soil, drainage, grass and machines is rarely written down or passed on.
Seasonal workload and idle weeks
Monsoon and extreme heat slow play, yet fixed staff costs continue, and decisions on hours or lay-offs are made hurriedly.
Equipment is dangerous and costly
Mowers, tractors and chemicals are used by staff with uneven training, and accidents or misuse are expensive.
HR topics for golf courses
Start with the topics that matter most here: Compensation, Payroll and Benefits; Health, Safety and Wellbeing; Career and Succession Management. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for hospitality, not in general.
Compensation, Payroll and Benefits
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Career and Succession Management
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
HR Strategy and Workforce Planning
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Organisation Design
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
Onboarding and Probation
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Employee Administration
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Performance Management
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Learning and Development
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Employee Engagement and Experience
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Employee Relations
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies, Compliance and Governance
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Retention and Attrition Management
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Exit and Alumni Management
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
HR Technology and Automation
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
HR Analytics and Management Reporting
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
HR Operations and Governance
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
What a working HR set-up looks like
The pieces a golf courses business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Clarify caddie status and payment
A written arrangement on how caddies are enrolled, how fees are collected and paid, and what happens in wet weeks.
What this coversHide
Clarify caddie status and payment
A written arrangement on how caddies are enrolled, how fees are collected and paid, and what happens in wet weeks.
What this coversHideA written arrangement on how caddies are enrolled, how fees are collected and paid, and what happens in wet weeks. Confirm the correct status with a qualified professional. The payroll process can hold the record.
Plan the greens crew by season
A calendar of tasks and staffing for peak growth, monsoon and dry months, with rotating early starts and a defined rest day.
What this coversHide
Plan the greens crew by season
A calendar of tasks and staffing for peak growth, monsoon and dry months, with rotating early starts and a defined rest day.
What this coversHideA calendar of tasks and staffing for peak growth, monsoon and dry months, with rotating early starts and a defined rest day. The attendance and shift process covers it.
Write down the course knowledge
A maintenance manual in simple language covering each hole, the schedules for mowing, watering and treatment, and the equipment checks, prepared with the head greenkeeper.
What this coversHide
Write down the course knowledge
A maintenance manual in simple language covering each hole, the schedules for mowing, watering and treatment, and the equipment checks, prepared with the head greenkeeper.
What this coversHideA maintenance manual in simple language covering each hole, the schedules for mowing, watering and treatment, and the equipment checks, prepared with the head greenkeeper.
Train and record machine and chemical use
Practical sessions on each machine and treatment, with a name-by-name record and an authorisation list.
What this coversHide
Train and record machine and chemical use
Practical sessions on each machine and treatment, with a name-by-name record and an authorisation list.
What this coversHidePractical sessions on each machine and treatment, with a name-by-name record and an authorisation list. The health, safety and wellbeing work covers the routine.
Set a plan for slow weeks
An agreed approach to use quiet days for training, repairs and leave, so that idle time is not a surprise cost.
What this coversHide
Set a plan for slow weeks
An agreed approach to use quiet days for training, repairs and leave, so that idle time is not a surprise cost.
What this coversHideAn agreed approach to use quiet days for training, repairs and leave, so that idle time is not a surprise cost.
Start by checking where you stand
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirements- Write down how each caddie is paid, who collects the fee and what happens in a wet week.
- Ask the head greenkeeper which tasks only he or she can do and who could learn them.
- List every machine and chemical in use and note who has been trained to use it.
- Confirm with a qualified professional the employment status, safety and record-keeping obligations that apply to caddies, ground staff and clubhouse teams.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
How GullyHR helps
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
- Payroll process management
A clear method for paying caddies and ground staff who earn per round or on varying hours.
- Attendance, shift and leave
Early-morning and seasonal rosters with a reliable record of who worked when.
- Health, safety and wellbeing
Training and records for machine, chemical and heat-related risks in outdoor work.
- Succession planning
A plan to pass on the head greenkeeper's and course manager's knowledge before they leave.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Our HR transformation approach
- 1
Assess
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
- 2
Identify gaps
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
- 3
Design
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
- 4
Implement
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
- 5
Automate
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
- 6
Measure
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
- 7
Improve
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
Blogs worth reading first
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in hospitality, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
HR Management
Salary bands for SMEs: building grades when you have never had any
Most salary structures grew one negotiation at a time. How to build grades and bands from what you already pay, without repricing everybody at once.
8 min readRead article
HR Management
The safety poster nobody reads
A laminated notice, an annual drill, and an incident register with three entries in two years. What workplace health and safety looks like when it is real.
7 min readRead article
HR Management
"What if this person resigned tomorrow?" A succession exercise for small companies
A two-hour exercise that names the roles you could not fill quickly, who could cover them, and what readiness would actually require.
7 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Questions owners ask
It depends on how the arrangement works in practice. Ask a qualified professional to confirm their status and what follows from it, then write it down so that everyone understands the terms.
Plan them in advance: use the time for repair, training and leave, and agree a rule on caddie income in wet weeks. Decisions made calmly are fairer than those made on the day.
Check how people travel, rotate the earliest starts fairly and track the pattern. Often a transport or rest problem sits behind repeated lateness.
Only people who have been shown and tested, with a record against their names. Ask a qualified professional about what training and protection apply to the chemicals you use.
Offer clear pay steps, recognise skill, and give a path from groundsman to supervisor. Staff who feel their knowledge is valued stay longer.
Probably how your caddies are paid and who collects the fee, which course knowledge sits with the head greenkeeper alone, and who has been trained on each machine and chemical. A good first piece of work is a clear caddie arrangement or a seasonal crew plan covering the slow weeks. After the conversation we put the proposed scope in writing for you to agree.
More on HR for hospitality
All 14 business types in hospitality · Find another business type
Country clubs and member clubsSports and recreation centresCampgrounds, RV parks and glamping sitesHotels and guest housesEvent planners and banquet hallsEscape rooms and entertainment venuesCompensation, Payroll and Benefits in hospitalityHealth, Safety and Wellbeing in hospitalityCareer and Succession Management in hospitality