Acknowledgements

Over the holidays I decided to start another book — this one a compilation of essays about golf design and maintenance. In a reversal of standard form, I began to write the acknowledgements first. That’s when I came to realize (once again) how many people I have learned from over the years.

No other sport or industry is quite as much a “people business” as golf. The names of greenkeepers, architects, club managers, committee people, fellow writers, consultants and just keen avid golfers started pouring into my head. My mind filled with images and sounds of interactions over the years. In no particular order, and fully aware that I’ll leave out some names for want of space here, it seems a good time to thank the people who have helped me to learn and appreciate golf for the complex field it is.

It all started at the Woodmere Club on Long Island in 1968, when as a 14-year-old newcomer to the caddie yard, I came under the wing of golf professional Joe Moresco. He was a master diplomat with the membership, and he helped me supplement my caddie money ($6 a bag, no tipping) with an extra $1.50 an hour hand-picking the range on weekend afternoons.

Over the decades, other PGA pros have embodied for me that same combination of wisdom, tact and golf intelligence: Pete Garvey at Idle Hour CC, Bob Pang at Big Canyon CC and the late John Murphy at the CC of Farmington immediately come to mind. Right here in my hometown of Bloomfield, Connecticut, Master PGA professional Ciaran Carr at Wintonbury GC is a recurring source of insight into golf management and swing science.

For someone who has no formal training in turfgrass management, I have benefitted greatly from a delayed education courtesy of many patient superintendents, including: Paul Stead at Kennett Square G&CC, John Carlone at Meadow Brook Club, Bob Becker at Scioto CC, Matthew Wharton at Idle Hour CC, John Zimmers at Inverness Club, Steve Cook at Medinah CC, Bob Farren at Pinehurst Resort, Andrew Hannah at Rhode Island CC, Chris Tritabaugh of Hazeltine National, Adam Moore at Worcester CC, Pat Sisk from his days at both Milwaukee CC and Longmeadow CC, and, for 30 years, Scott Ramsay during his stints at The Orchards, Yale and CC of Farmington.

Turfgrass consultants have added immeasurably to my understanding. USGA director of championship agronomy Darin Bevard has been tireless during numerous major events in letting me follow him around. I’m grateful to many USGA Green Section staffers past and present for their patient explanations and kind editing: Kimberly Erusha, Chris Hartwiger, David Oatis, Pat O’Brien and George Waters. Equally informative have been two of their PGA Tour counterparts: Paul Vermeulen and Thomas Bastis.

When it comes to academic credit, no one has been more willing to help me than Dr. Frank Rossi at Cornell University. I have tried to reciprocate in terms of editing tips.

On the business side of golf, I have been lucky enough to have a small army of consultants readily available, often at awkward hours to answer texts and emails: irrigation guru Paul Granger, appraisal and real estate wiz Larry Hirsh, financial operations expert J.J. Keegan, market survey analysts Jim Koppenhaver and Stuart Lindsay, and the National Golf Foundation’s Dr. Joe Beditz and Greg Nathan.

I won’t even try here to name the architects I’ve learned from. That will take a full page in my impending book. But I would be remiss to identify a category of highly involved members who have managed to drive a successful renovation project, often incurring bruises along the way: Al Jamieson at Cal Club, Mike Petit of Santa Ana CC and Steve Cress from Brookside CC in Canton, Ohio, spring to mind.

There is also the owner/developer, willing to invest time and money into seeing a project through. I’ve been blessed to benefit from their larger insights during extensive conversations, often during rounds of golf at the places they created: Mike Keiser of Bandon Dunes, Michael Pascucci of Sebonack on Long Island and now Apogee in South Florida with Steve Ross, and Dick Youngscap of both Firethorn GC and Sand Hills in Nebraska.

Among those I learned from, perhaps nobody better embodied the business and golf skills needed for success than the late Mark Parsinen, whose friendship and insight I reveled in during rounds at his three major developments: Granite Bay in Northern California, and both Kingsbarns and Castle Stuart in Scotland.

During a recent expert witness deposition, I was asked what my qualifications were. I told the attorney that despite having no formal training I learned from the best.