Green, special and filled with meaning

Instead of placing major championship venues, industry events or association presidents on the same monthly covers every year, we challenge our innovative team to identify topics resonating with readers working at golf courses of every level.

In January, we used our annual “Numbers to Know” survey to explore the expanding responsibilities of the modern golf course superintendent. In February, we profiled a beloved Pennsylvania course with a budget likely resembling the budget at your course. Last month we covered hiring. Next month we have something fun planned involving tournaments — but not the ones you see on television.

This month we’re confident we found a universal concept to showcase.

Everybody who works in the golf industry is responsible for managing green space. If you don’t view where you work as critical to the overall economic, societal and environmental well-being of your community, it’s time to find another career. No game dependent on discretionary income improves more lives and protects more green space than golf.

Ever occupy a window seat when flying over a metropolitan area? I did when cruising into coastal California for a visit to Santa Lucia Preserve. My gaze never shifted as the plane descended into San José Mineta International Airport. The only wide swaths of green space I spotted above Silicon Valley were golf courses.

Imagine the challenges if golf courses were eliminated from densely populated places. Where would people of all generations simultaneously recreate? Where would water flow during punishing storms? How much warmer would temperatures be due to thousands of acres of additional pavement? What would happen to thousands of good jobs? Stories about Bobby Jones Golf Club and The Pulpit Club demonstrate how golf courses help growing metropolitan areas solve problems associated with rapid development.

We turned to one of your peers, Ron Furlong, to reinforce why where you work matters. Sadly, many professionals who maintain golf courses view their workspaces from microlevels. Providing memorable experiences for others means focusing on the warts more than the wonders of a golf course.

It’s no different for a magazine editor. It’s always about the next issue, story, podcast, social media post, newsletter, video or web posting. It’s maddening. It’s motivating. It’s part of striving for excellence.

Furlong’s words rekindle magic many of you discovered when selecting golf course maintenance as a career. Where you work is inherently excellent and exceedingly important. I’m typing this column inside an office, under a highway bridge, in an industrial Midwest city. Editors and writers, unfortunately, don’t have relatable peers such as Furlong — the superintendent at a busy, 27-hole public facility in the Pacific Northwest — writing personal essays for a monthly magazine designed to help, inspire and motivate the publishing community.

When I need a midday reset, I drive five miles to Washington Golf Course, the largest plot of green space in a neighborhood bordering Cleveland’s industrial epicenter. Operated by Cleveland Metroparks and housing The First Tee of Cleveland, Washington is an Audubon International Certified Gold Signature Sanctuary featuring a par-29 course, driving range and practice putting green. The facility consumes 42 acres of 59-acre Washington Reservation, the most urban of the Metroparks’ 18 reservations. Wetlands frame multiple holes and signs educate golfers about the ecological importance of the green space.

We refer to Washington as Golf Course Industry’s home facility. We’ve spent thousands on green fees and range balls, never once regretting any of those investments. Washington excursions help invigorate our minds and tone the golf muscles. They also inspired some of the methodology used in devising the theme of this issue.

When we visit Washington, we see smoke rising from mills along the Cuyahoga River, the City of Cleveland’s skyline, affordable homes, children swinging clubs for the first time, people from all backgrounds honing their games and dedicated professionals tending to turf. We see golf as green space.

We hope you see golf as the same special thing.