Worker visa restrictions could hit course bottom lines, and yours

    When I was a teenager almost five decades ago, the prized summer job was out on the golf course, either as a caddy or apprentice landscaper (i.e. picking weeds and raking).  The pay was good for a kid without skills and, of course, you got to play for free on Mondays when the courses were closed.  My friends and I lined up for the privilege of working at one of the local private courses.
    Today, most of the kids I know, including my own, would rather work at Starbucks or Barnes & Noble than deal with more than 90-degree days and the occasionally surly caddy master or green superintendent.   Until this year, a lack of local workers was not a problem for golf courses, which found willing and cheap summer labor overseas.  Foreign workers were provided with H2B visas for seasonal work, and they were happy to have the low-wage jobs that Americans did not want.  America's seasonal employers, including golf courses, were happy to have them.  
    But now, the U.S. Congress has failed to extend the H2B visa program to permit more than a relative handful of foreign workers into the U.S.  And, therefore, golf courses, as well as amusement parks, circuses and hotels, are looking at a long, hot summer without the seasonal minimum-wage workers they have come to rely upon.
    The H2B visa program extension is at the whim of the Congress. Politicians who want to force substantial immigration reform are blocking the H2B visa extension as a way to apply pressure to force a vote on a more comprehensive bill.  Last year's extension, which ran out in September, permitted 120,000 foreigners to work legally in the States during 2007. This summer, only 33,000 will be given the prized visas; another 33,000 were let into the country for the winter months.
    The risk to small businesses is substantial, and golf courses are scrambling to find help.  I heard the tail end of an interview with a golf industry official on CNN last week.  He indicated some courses will be short 15 to 20 workers this summer because of the H2B visa restriction.  After that interview, former Republican candidate for President and U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo, a staunch opponent of temporary visas for any foreign workers, made the point that a 5% unemployment rate in the U.S. demonstrates there are enough citizens available to work on the golf courses and in other jobs.  
    That may be true, but the unemployed aren't exactly lining up for the low-wage jobs in the Georgia summer heat.  McDonald's, on the other hand, is air-conditioned and pays just as well as the golf courses do.  If the courses are forced to raise the compensation for seasonal workers to attract local people, members of private clubs and daily fee players alike will start seeing increased assessments and green fees this season.