The job keeps getting tougher. And tougher.

And . . . tougher.

Wilson Morrison, a sales manager for a Ransomes Jacobsen dealer, says politics are a problem.

Archie Dunn, who has worked in the golf course maintenance industry for 27 of his 44 years, says he has many more challenges to deal with these days than he did several years ago. Dunn says today's golfers are high maintenance. They want this and complain about that. Dunn also says he has to deal with more environmental and safety issues than before.

Dunn could be any American superintendent working in any corner of the country. But he's not. Dunn, who speaks in a thicker-than-a-dark-ale brogue, is the course manager of Auchterarder Golf Club, an 18-hole semi-private club in Perthshire, Scotland.

German course manager Seve Schmitz says he welcomes a reduction in pesticide use.

The United States and the United Kingdom share many distinct differences: We drive on the right side of the road, and they drive on the left side; we call it a "rest room," and they call it a "toilet." But when it comes to golf course maintenance, there are more similarities than differences. (Although we call the job a "superintendent," and they call it a "course manager.")

For instance, course managers in the UK are under tremendous pressure — from golfers, not disease. Just like in America, many golfers in the United Kingdom expect superb golf course conditions from tee to green, and course managers are under pressure to deliver them.

"You're only as good as your last golf course preparation," says Scott MacCallum, communications manager for the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA). "Perfection is something everyone is trying to achieve. But no one ever will."

Ahh, the pursuit of perfection. Many American superintendents can relate to chasing it because it's what their courses' members and golfers expect these days.

Perfection wasn't a big issue in the UK about 10 years ago, Dunn says. Back then such standards at golf courses were expected only on weekends. "But the expectations are there now on a daily basis," he adds.

Golfers want to play year-round in Scotland, and they expect high standards throughout the year. Problem is, the expectation levels keep going up while maintenance budgets get tighter.

"There's not as much money around to buy the equipment that's required to maintain the escalating standards of what's expected," MacCallum says.

While American superintendents face similar challenges, Dunn blames much of the problem on American golfers. Golfers in the UK are watching American golf tournaments such as the Masters on satellite television and, lo and behold, they see the perfection that is Augusta National.

"They expect [our] course to be like Augusta," Dunn says of his course's golfers. "That's just not possible."

Don Donaldson, owner of Farthingstone Golf Club in Northamptonshire, England, says golfers' expectations are a problem. They see greens on TV rolling at speeds they've never seen before and decide they want the same speeds on their courses' greens.

"They want faster greens, but the average golfer can't play faster greens," Donaldson says.

MacCallum says course managers try to encourage golfers that greens don't need to be lush green and fast to be good. "Good grass can be grass that looks like it's about to die of thirst . . . but golfers don't necessarily appreciate that," MacCallum adds.