Leadership on the Links

In this episode, we sit down with Jason Hurwitz, Senior Project Manager at The Mazzella Partnership, to unpack his 29-year journey through the turf industry—from high school intern to long-time superintendent to his current leadership role guiding clubs through high-impact golf course renovation and construction projects. Jason shares how his early experiences prepared him for today's consulting work across some of the most ambitious club improvement projects in the country. What You'll Learn in This Episode: 📈 Career Growth: Jason's 29-year journey demonstrates the long-game mindset—each phase of his career built on the one before it. Oakmont Experience: Leadership presence, clear communication, and relationship-building were cornerstones of his development at one of the game's most prestigious clubs. New Challenges: At The Mazzella Partnership, Jason now advises clubs on complex renovation and construction projects, bringing superintendent-level insight to planning and execution. Trending Amenities: Short courses and putting courses are on the rise as clubs adapt to time-conscious members. Project Leadership: Success comes from organized communication, long-term planning, and regular meetings to keep teams aligned and accountable. Links mentioned:  Jason Hurwitz LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-hurwitz-00724311/ Mazzella Partnership - https://mazzellapartnership.com/   

Summit Promotion Join us at the Leadership on the Links Summit on Monday, October 12, 2026 at Toftrees Resort in State College, Pennsylvania. This one day program brings together golf course superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of agronomy, equipment managers, and industry leaders for keynote sessions with Cael Sanderson and AJ Vaden, attendee driven discussions, and professional development built specifically for agronomy leaders. Attendance is capped and seats are limited. Registration is open at https://bloomgolfpartners.com/our-events/. Introduction Adam Ikamas started in this industry raking bunkers at a local country club at seventeen, and he arrived at Michigan State expecting to study photography rather than turfgrass science. Nearly three decades later he serves as Executive Director of the Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association, an organization that has grown from roughly 600 members to nearly 900 during his tenure and that now devotes as much attention to executive leadership and workforce development as it once did to agronomic education. That distance, from a maintenance crew at a northern Michigan resort to the executive director's chair of a statewide association, shapes how he thinks about career pathways, chapter value, and what the profession owes the people entering it. Adam joins host Tyler Bloom on Leadership on the Links for a conversation on registered apprenticeships, aligning maintenance expectations with budget, and why participation rather than persuasion is what makes a professional association work. What You'll Learn in this Episode: Adam explains why he tells owners and managers that the golf course is the only real asset at a club and everything else is an amenity, and how that framing has advanced recognition of the superintendent's role over the past fifteen years. He traces the development of Michigan's Golf Course Maintenance Technician Registered Apprenticeship Program, a Michigan Golf Course Association initiative built with input from MiGCSA, the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation, GCSAA, and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, and describes the state grant funding that helped launch it. He identifies the turf school enrollment gap of the late 2000s that left comparatively few experienced turf managers in the 35 to 45 age range today, and explains what that shortage means for both hiring facilities and mid career professionals currently in that window. Adam addresses the phrase "doing more with less" directly, arguing that it is a path to burnout and that superintendents are better served by an annual conversation that aligns maintenance expectations with the budget, staffing, and resources actually provided. He explains why MiGCSA shifted its education emphasis away from agronomic content and toward executive leadership and professional development, and why the relationships formed around an event often deliver more lasting value than the classroom sessions themselves. He shares the governance practices he relies on to move initiatives forward, including an accountability list that assigns a named owner to every commitment and a standing willingness to question long established practices rather than repeat them by default. Adam offers practical guidance for members on extracting value from a local chapter, noting that association benefits accrue to those who attend events, volunteer for committees, and build relationships over time rather than to those who simply hold a membership.   Links and Resources Adam Ikamas, CGCS on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-ikamas-cgcs-41a5087/ Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association: https://www.migcsa.org/ MGCA Golf Course Maintenance Technician Registered Apprenticeship Program: https://michigangca.org/memberships/member-benefits/rap Michigan Golf Alliance: https://www.michigangolfalliance.com/ Leadership on the Links Summit registration: https://bloomgolfpartners.com/our-events/  

Summit Promotion Join us at the Leadership on the Links Summit on Monday, October 12, 2026 at Toftrees Resort in State College, Pennsylvania. This one day gathering brings together golf course superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of agronomy, equipment managers, and club leaders for a day focused on leadership development, personal branding, and building high performing teams. Keynote speakers include Cael Sanderson, Olympic gold medalist and head wrestling coach at Penn State University, and AJ Vaden, New York Times bestselling author and CEO of Brand Builders Group. Registration is 197 dollars and seating is limited to 100 attendees. Register at https://bloomgolfpartners.com/our-events/. Episode Introduction Zach King believes the isolation that many leaders accept as a condition of the job is neither necessary nor permanent. King spent more than a decade in international media training and nonprofit leadership, working with leaders across six continents, before serving as board president and later Executive Director of the Columbiana Area Chamber of Commerce in northeast Ohio, and his guiding conviction is that the fastest route out of professional isolation is to serve one person in front of you. He discusses why leaders with a clear vision often stall between what they can see and what they can explain, how to build genuine buy in inside institutions that have operated the same way for a century, and why the daily inputs a leader controls matter more than the outcomes they fixate on. This conversation on Leadership on the Links with host Tyler Bloom examines leadership habits that carry across industries, including the private club environment where general managers and directors of agronomy answer to a board, a membership, and a staff at the same time. Leadership on the Links is hosted by Tyler Bloom of Bloom Golf Partners. What You'll Learn in this Episode: •     King identifies four forms of decision paralysis that stall leaders, which he defines as perfection paralysis, language paralysis, overwhelm paralysis, and shiny object paralysis. •     He explains the difference between lag measures, which leaders often control very little of, and lead measures, which are the daily and weekly inputs that compound into results over time. •     Leaders stepping into century old institutions are advised to treat the first ninety days as a listening tour that studies the history of the organization, not only the stakeholders currently in the building. •     King describes a wet cement approach to strategic planning, in which a plan is developed to roughly seventy five percent and then shaped as it is tested in practice rather than finalized before launch. •     The conversation addresses the isolation reported by leaders who sit between a board above them and a staff below them, and King explains why he views shifting focus outward as the practical remedy. •     Bloom and King discuss the seasonal nature of workload in the golf industry and make the case for scheduling personal and family time with the same intention applied to agronomic and operational planning. •     King outlines the five pillars of his leadership framework, which are growth, unity, influence, legacy, and drive, and his position that organizations perform better when leaders stop competing and start completing.   Links and Resources •     Leadership on the Links Summit registration: https://bloomgolfpartners.com/our-events/ •     Zach King on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-king/ •     Zach P. King website: https://zachpking.com •     Bloom Golf Partners: https://bloomgolfpartners.com/

The Leadership on the Links Summit takes place October 12, 2026 at Toftrees Golf Resort in State College, Pennsylvania. The one day program runs from 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM and is built for golf course superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of agronomy, equipment managers, and club leaders, with industry partners, vendors, and consultants also welcome. The day includes breakfast, lunch, education credits, and a mix of speakers, panel discussion, and attendee engagement, with an evening networking element under consideration. Registration is $197.   The first twenty sign-ups pay $147 with code SUMMIT50 at checkout, and each attendee registers individually with their own email address. Lodging details and sponsorship opportunities are available on request. Full details are at https://bloomgolfpartners.com/our-events/ and registration is at https://bloom-golf-partners.circle.so/checkout/leadership-on-the-links-summit-2026.   Most conversations about hiring focus on the candidate, yet the outcome of a search is shaped just as much by how clearly a club defines what it actually needs. Mitch Rupert has spent five years on the other side of that table as Communications Manager at Bloom Golf Partners, conducting candidate interviews and due diligence for searches ranging from assistant superintendent roles to director of agronomy positions. He came to the work after two decades as an award winning sports journalist, and that outside vantage point shapes how he reads hiring committees that change direction midway through a search, strong candidates who withdraw late, and the difference between a prepared candidate and a rehearsed one.   In this episode of Leadership on the Links, host Tyler Bloom speaks with Mitch Rupert about the mechanics of a superintendent search, the education gap between agronomy teams and club leadership, and the next phase of professional development at Bloom Golf Partners.   What You'll Learn in This Episode ●      Hiring committees frequently adjust their criteria partway through a search, and Rupert explains why communicating those shifts early prevents frustration for the club, the search firm, and the candidate. ●      Candidates who withdraw after learning more about a role are making a defensible decision, and Rupert argues that taking the wrong job is far worse than not getting the job at all. ●      Clubs generally understand the financial requirements of maintaining a golf course but often underestimate the human side of it, the staffing and leadership investment behind those conditions, a gap Bloom Golf Partners is working to close with general managers, hiring teams, and green committees. ●      Rupert offers feedback to candidates who did not get the job, and roughly sixty to seventy percent take him up on it, conversations that help professionals identify skill gaps before their next opportunity. ●      Authenticity outperforms rehearsal in an interview setting, and Rupert compares the process to poker, a process-oriented game rather than a results-oriented one, where sound decisions matter more than the outcome of any single hand. ●      Bloom Golf Partners will launch a professional development platform following the Summit, offering monthly engagement and ongoing career and team development support in the months between annual industry gatherings. ●      The firm's inaugural turfgrass management scholarship drew thirty to forty applicants from across the country and led to an introduction to The Outpost Foundation, which funds club employees pursuing turf management education such as online and advanced certificate programs.   Links and Resources Mitch Rupert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchrupert/ Bloom Golf Partners: https://bloomgolfpartners.com Leadership on the Links Summit: https://bloomgolfpartners.com/our-events/ Summit Registration, code SUMMIT50 for the first twenty: https://bloom-golf-partners.circle.so/checkout/leadership-on-the-links-summit-2026 Bloom Golf Partners Turfgrass Management Scholarship: https://bloomgolfpartners.com/scholarship-program/ The Outpost Foundation: https://outpostfoundation.org Toftrees Golf Resort: https://www.toftrees.com

Summary: Book a Free Talent Strategy Call In this episode, Tyler is joined by Ben Czyzewski, who has been foundational in building the related instruction component of the New York State Greenskeeper Apprenticeship Program in partnership with SUNY Delhi and the New York State Department of Labor. Ben walks through his own journey from internships across the Northeast and time at Pine Valley, to a master's degree at Penn State and ultimately returning to SUNY Delhi as faculty. If you're trying to build a stronger pipeline of assistants and future leaders and you've got team members who are curious, engaged, and ready for more - this episode will help you see what's possible when education meets real-world work. What You'll Learn: How the two-year program combines full-time employment with 19 college credits What apprentices actually study: plant science, turf fundamentals, pests and pesticide applications, irrigation, first aid/CPR, and more How the January hands-on lab week in Delhi gives apprentices access to sharpening, grinding, and technical training they may never see on the job Why the program is tuition-free for employers and apprentices through state support How apprenticeships can act as a feeder into associate and bachelor's degrees, not a competitor Where Ben sees opportunities for equipment companies and industry partners to plug into the training Links: Learn More about the NYSTA Apprenticeship Program: https://nystaapprenticeship.com/