Waterlefe general manager heads for bigger greens

After more than four years as the general manager of the Waterlefe Golf and River Club, Joe Rassett wasn’t searching for a new position.

But, as of Sept. 1, he’s officially the new general manager and chief operations officer for the Palm Aire Country Club.

“It just came up and fell in,” he said.

He was out to dinner with friends who were members of Palm Aire, and the general manager there had died. They asked him if he would be interested in the position, and he said he wasn’t looking to move.

“Next thing I knew, here I am” Rassett said.

Palm Aire is a bigger golf course than Waterlefe, with 36 holes and private membership. It also has more amenities. But Rassett said he’s bringing everything he’s learned at Waterlefe into his new position.

“I learned a ton of the back-house accounting, the whole intricacies of running a club on a shoestring—hopefully I can bring some of that knowledge,” he said. “We ran things very efficiently at Waterlefe.”

Rassett said his best accomplishment at his former club was bringing sturdy financial stability to the accounts and planning for repairs and replacements to make the golf course better.

“They weren’t unstable, but we had to peck away at what was going out the door,” he said.

While there, he recommended the golf board switch golf management companies, which resulted in cost savings for Waterlefe.

He’s only been at Palm Aire for a little over a week, but Rassett’s already got goals in mind. He hopes to update the club’s strategic plan and set a plan in place for future infrastructure, repair and replacement needs.

“Those take a lot of money, and clubs have to been prepared from those upcoming items,” he said.

Rassett started to play golf when he was 5, while growing up next to a golf course in California. He played in college, at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., and then proceeded to play professionally both on the PGA and European tours for 13 years. Now, he’s been on the business side of the game for about 20 years.

The Waterlefe CDD holds no hard feelings to Rassett for the club switch; however, the board of supervisors has no long-term plans to replace him.

“He got a very good opportunity at Palm Aire,” said Ken Bumgarner, the chairman of the Waterlefe CDD.

Waterlefe's director of golf, Steve Dietz, has been named the interim director for golf operations to take over the duties that Rassett oversaw there. Instead of hiring a new general manager, however, the CDD will contract with the Master Property Owners Association for property services. The CDD had already purchased some work from the MPOA in the past, Bumgarner said. 

“We feel that for now, we can probably by fine working through the MPOA,” he said. “It will hopefully meet everyone’s needs.”

Large contracts, such as mowing, will be contracted through the district manager. Dietz will serve in his interim role, which includes overseeing the guard gate, for six to eight months, so both the CDD and MPOA can see how the arrangement works. If the abolishment of the general manager position suits Waterlefe, Dietz’s position will be permanent.

“There will continue to be a lot of collaboration between the two groups,” Bumgarner said. 

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the previous manager of Palm Aire had left the position due to illness.