It does happen to you

I will never forget a day when I was on the fourth floor of Smyth Hall on the Virginia Tech University campus when Dr. Marcus Alley asked me what I was going to do after graduation. At the time I was debating options regarding assistant superintendent roles when I said, “I don’t know, Dr. Alley, but what I do know is in 10 years you will hear Johnny Miller say my name on television and give kudos to me and my team for the wonderful conditions we presented at the United States Open.”

That was 24 years ago, and there was not anything wrong with my goals and aspirations. But my life and career as a golf course superintendent took a different route.

When I arrived at Carolina Golf Club in 2005, we spent four years renovating and growing in the golf course. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to many superintendent meetings and events during that period.

Once we reopened, I thought hosting a superintendent meeting would be a fantastic opportunity to display the changes to the golf course and our team’s work while meeting my peers. I’ve been fortunate to host my peers on multiple occasions. The truth is those outings are more nerve-wracking than a member-guest.

Of course, we want everything to look and play its best when the folks experiencing the golf course do what we do for a living. I actually wrote about this several years ago (Soap Box Derby, December 2017) and complained about one particular aspect of course setup when it comes to hosting your peers. Please give it a read and take it to heart. We do not enjoy four-putting.

While at Carolina Golf Club, we hosted the North Carolina Amateur in 2014, which at that time was the largest event I had the privilege to be associated with. The North Carolina Amateur is conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association, and it was a lot of fun to collaborate closely with their team members to determine mowing heights and practices to test the best amateurs in the state.

Four years later, Carolina Golf Club co-hosted the 2018 United States Mid-Amateur. We worked closely with USGA agronomists for a couple of years to produce championship conditions for a national championship. It was a career moment I will forever cherish.

Pushing yourself and your team to go above and beyond to achieve results worthy of such acclaim produces dopamine that some people in this business thrive on. There are people in the industry who host high-profile events on an annual or rotational basis.

To be honest, one of the things that appealed to me about my recent job change involved Idle Hour Country Club hosting the 118th Southern Amateur Championship this year. Conducted by the Southern Golf Association, which was founded in 1902, the Southern Amateur has been won by the likes of Bobby Jones, Perry Adair and Watts Gunn, along with Billy Joe Patton, Vinnie Giles, Hubert Green, Lanny Wadkins and Ben Crenshaw.

More recent past champions include Justin Leonard, Webb Simpson and Harris English. It’s one of the oldest amateur championships in the United States and the world. Hosting an event with such a respected pedigree is by far the closest I will come to my student proclamation.

But it’s not about me. It’s the rising to the occasion of the challenges. It’s watching your team take pride in their work and going the extra mile. It’s the memories you make during the stressful times leading up to and during the week of these events that make it all worthwhile.

Perhaps you work at a facility that will never host a state, regional or national championship. Perhaps you will not even host a city tournament. There are multiple ways to circle one or more events on the calendar and treat it like your U.S. Open. Local tournaments, PGA chapter or section pro-ams, club championships, member-guests or even hosting next month’s gathering of the turf care professionals can be your big day.

Whatever it is, embrace the challenge, remain calm under pressure, enjoy the moment, and sleep well knowing the course could not have been better.