As golf course superintendent at Hazeltine National, Patty Knaggs juggles more than mowers -- much more.

by Pamela F. Emory

THE BACKGROUND of the current head green superintendent at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., is like that of most superintendents at other U.S. Open venues. First there was schooling to learn the textbook basics of the most demanding job in golf. After a college degree, there was the obligatory journeyman work on ground crews followed by advancement to assistant grounds superintendent and finally elevation to golf's CEO position: head green superintendent. Before the midwest assignment, Hazeltine's super worked at some of the better-known clubs in the east, The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., and Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. What is unusual is that the name atop the resume of Hazeltine National's superintendent is a woman's: Mary Patricia Knaggs.

This past fall, Hazeltine National and its wise and talented head golf course superintendent, Patty Knaggs, had a chance to show their stuff when the club co-hosted (with Wayzata Country Club) the 1994 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. Besides one terrific 18-hole course, Hazeltine is different from many, if not most, other championship sites. Clearly the club is willing and able to host events, and is concerned with the history, Rules, and traditions of the game. But Hazeltine National knew from its opening, in 1962, that one vital way to achieve richness in all these important areas was to include and treat all people as equals in club life. Besides a written mission statement, this suburban Minneapolis club encourages membership from minority groups and women, including representation on its board. It was a pioneer private club in eliminating gender-based tee times. If ever a club and a superintendent were a perfect match, it is this equality-based club and the female agronomic wunderkind.

Patty grew up in Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, N.Y. It was her lifelong love of the outdoors, combined with a mere three days working on a golf course crew, that led her into the profession of golf course maintenance. After a summer job lifeguarding for the West Point Recreation Department, she was asked if she would like to stay on with the department but in a different capacity. "Sure," said the outgoing, friendly Knaggs, and off to the West Point Golf Course she went. She explained what happened in 72 hours to set her life course: "It was a combination of things and that's what is so wonderful about the whole career. You get to do technical things and physical things. It's also very, very appealing to see what you have done every single day. It's one thing to enjoy what you do, but it's another to actually see the results of what you have done. This career and this job have that and much more!"

Patty Knagg's life went from being on cruise control to high gear the summer of 1978. She had recently completed her fourth year at Syracuse University, where she was a political science major. That was the same summer she returned home and began her lifeguard job and eventual career in the golf industry. Once her life's work became clear to her, she enrolled in the University of Massachusetts's Turfgrass Management program and graduated with an Associate of Science degree in 1983. Patty then served as assistant grounds superintendent at Echo Lake Country Club in New Jersey and The Country Club, serving at the latter before, during, and after the 1988 U.S. Open. In January 1989, she became the head golf and grounds superintendent at Westchester Country Club, one of the grand country clubs in America with its 400 acres, 45 holes of golf, and much, much more.

Westchester and Knaggs were getting along just fine and Patty certainly wasn't looking for another position when the Hazeltine job came available. Patty had learned from good friends that this Minnesota club "was a very, very good place to work and to be," and according to Patty, "It's all been true. Hazeltine National knows what it is and where it is going. It goes back to job training; you can't do a good job if you don't know what's expected of you."

The most interesting aspect of being a head superintendent, according to Knaggs, is "trying to accomplish what is the correct thing for the turf, from an agronomic standpoint, and fit it into the weather and the golf schedule. My personal favorite parts of the job are the personnel training and the grooming for tournaments." Knaggs didn't have her crew of seven full-timers and 25 summer staffers doing too much more than normal operating procedures in preparation for the 14th Mid-Amateur Championship.

Sixteen years in the profession have honed Patty Knagg's personal philosophy and management style. In spite of the publicity she receives as the premier female superintendent, she knows -- and acts upon the belief -- "You're only as good as the people you have working for you. Remember, you're nothing without people. It doesn't matter how smart you are, how ambitious you are, how athletic you are, or how you want to spend your time, because there are only 24 hours in a day. You cannot do it by yourself. So if you are incapable of conveying whatever you want to other people, I don't see how you're going to be able to accomplish anything."

She may be a success-oriented, ambitious professional, but Patty Knaggs is also the consummate team player. She wants her team to win and the product to be the best possible. If you plan to work for Patty Knaggs for any amount of time, you must be at work on time and be willing to listen to directions. Her staff has expectations and goals and project definitions. Once she has confidence in her staff's ability level, she can't wait to turn them loose and see how they problem solve. "We start here at Hazeltine with very high standards, and we try to teach people why they are doing what they are doing. It may not affect them that day or on that very job, but just about every day I like to point out a magazine article on our blackboard that says we're the number-one golf course in the state. I enjoy working at a facility where I can say that. I like to have the opportunity to do things to the best of our abilities." Giving confidence and training to her staff are two of Patty's most important leadership skills. She knows that she is not the physically strongest crew member or the most experienced with certain types of equipment, but she realizes the goal is to "fill in the gaps and eventually the product will come about -- and that's what the most important thing is. Everyone's opinion is important even though I must take the responsibility in the end."

Knaggs loved her job at Westchester. There were the normal challenges of such a huge facility, preparations for the annual PGA Tour event, and she was in close proximity to her family and friends. And yet the Hazeltine position became of interest to her largely because of the equal access issue.

"A lot of things are accepted here that don't exist, or are challenged, at other places. Hazeltine National has always been in the forefront of equal rights for women at clubs. . . . I had begun to notice in my career -- of course I had always known I was in a male-dominated profession -- how difficult it would be if I didn't have equal access to the members, who are the people I work for. This is a service industry, and I felt I could do a better job in my profession with accessibility."

More than any other profession, a head golf course superintendent has a difficult -- impossible? -- task of getting away from the job. Patty plays her course with the Tuesday evening group of members and Saturday afternoons with her crew. The only times she can really escape the extraordinary pressures and realities of her chosen profession are when she's on her rollerblades or in the middle of a Minnesota lake.

Mary Patricia Knaggs is not the first, certainly not the only, or probably, at 39 years of age, the youngest female in the field of golf course management. But because of her current head residency at Hazeltine, she is the most publicized and high profile. The press she gets is well deserved; she's as effective in the agronomic end of the job as she is in public relations and people management.

Patty's mother was a social worker and her father an Air Force pilot. He died when she was nine, but before his death, he instilled values such as discipline and the idea that his young, energetic daughter must always be able to take care of herself. She credits them with giving her that combination of support and encouragement necessary to try anything, even the unknown. "I did not know a career like this existed until I was 23," she recalled. In the two years since Patty's been at Hazeltine, the club's tennis courts have been converted from receiving lobs and backhands to serving as a storage space for the superintendent's topsoil and an employee parking lot. Skill, hard work, confidence, and a sense of humor -- that's all it should take for anyone to succeed, even a woman head golf course superintendent.