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Australia's sportsgrounds and golf courses are running out of people to look after them, national survey reveals

Greenway Turf Solutions

Key Facts:

• A national survey of more than 400 turf managers across Australia has identified recruiting and retaining qualified staff as the industry's biggest challenge, with 38 per cent of respondents describing hiring as very difficult or critical.
• The staffing shortage affects multiple sectors equally, with council parks (45 per cent), golf courses (41 per cent), and sports fields and stadiums (33 per cent) all ranking it as their top concern.
• Low wages are the most frequently cited complaint, appearing in a third of all open-ended responses, with one example citing a qualified greenkeeper role at a Sydney golf club advertised at just $28–$32 per hour.
• The shortage is not primarily a funding issue, as nearly 79 per cent of respondents reported budgets had stayed flat or increased over the past year, with only 9 per cent reporting cuts.
• The single most desired improvement cited by respondents was greater professional recognition and status for turf managers, whose work is increasingly technical but remains, in their words, undervalued and underpaid relative to other skilled trades.

Turf managers across the country can't fill vacant roles, and wages, not weather or drought, are the industry's loudest complaint

The people responsible for maintaining the surfaces under Australia's golf courses, football ovals, racecourses, council parks and school sportsgrounds are in short supply nationally, according to a new industry survey. Low pay, not water restrictions or extreme weather, is the concern respondents raised most often when asked what the public should know.

The State of Australian Turf 2026 survey, conducted by turf industry supplier Greenway Turf Solutions, gathered more than 404 responses from turf managers across every state and territory. Recruiting and retaining qualified staff was named as the biggest challenge by 34 per cent of respondents, the largest single group, ahead of rising input costs, budget constraints and turf disease. Hiring was described as currently "very difficult" or "critical" by more than a third of respondents (38 per cent), with positions going unfilled and affecting day-to-day operations.

The shortage cuts across the sector: it's the top-ranked challenge for golf courses (41 per cent), council parks (45 per cent) and sports fields and stadiums (33 per cent) alike, three very different parts of the industry united by the same problem.

Money isn't the barrier, pay is

The finding runs counter to a simple "underfunded industry" narrative. Turf maintenance budgets had either stayed flat or increased over the past year for nearly 79 per cent of respondents, with only 9 per cent reporting a cut. In 86 substantive written responses to an open-ended question about what the industry wants the public to know, low wages and pay emerged instead as the single most recurring complaint, raised in a third of all comments, more often than staff retention, training gaps or industry recognition individually.

A respondent described a classified advertisement for a qualified greenkeeper at a well-known Sydney golf club, offering $28 to $32 an hour, in a suburb where, they noted, that wage wouldn't cover rent. Others described watching colleagues leave the industry entirely for better-paid trades, and a widening gap between what senior turf managers and their crews are paid.

An industry at national scale

Australia has roughly 1,600 golf courses nationally, more per capita than almost any country in the world, each reliant on trained greenkeeping teams to remain playable, alongside thousands of council-run sportsgrounds, racecourses and school ovals surveyed here. Asked what single change would do the most to improve standards across the industry, the top response nationally, ahead of more funding and better training, was greater professional recognition and status for turf managers: a role respondents describe as increasingly technical (regular soil testing, data-driven treatment programs, environmental monitoring) but still, in their words, undervalued and underpaid relative to other skilled trades.

"Healthy turf starts with skilled people. This survey shows Australian turf managers are doing more than ever with increasingly stretched teams, while continuing to lift professional standards. The challenge now isn't just agronomy, it's ensuring the industry remains an attractive career." Chris Chapman, Director, Greenway Turf Solutions

About the survey

The State of Australian Turf 2026 survey collected 404 responses from turf managers across golf courses, sports fields and stadiums, council parks, racecourses, bowling clubs, turf farms, education facilities and residential/commercial turf operations nationally between June and July 2026. Full data tables, sector breakdowns and de-identified respondent comments are available to journalists on request.

About us:

About Greenway Turf Solutions

Greenway Turf Solutions is a privately owned Australian company supplying turf protection, nutrition and colourant products backed by agronomic expertise, including its GTS Analytical diagnostic service, to golf courses, councils and turf professionals nationally.

Contact details:

Lacey Milzewski - Marketing Manager