There are 93 GCSAA affiliated chapters in the United States and Canada, with more than 20,000 members in about 80 countries. Behind almost every chapter is an executive director. Who are they? And what do they do?
Although chapter leaders share the same title as executive director, very few took the same path to arrive there. One might assume the leaders were lifelong superintendents. But that's not the case for MetGCSA executive director Michael McCall.
McCall attended Purdue University through the ROTC program and served as a Naval officer for six years. After realizing he did not want to raise a family while in the service, he headed out into the world to figure out what was next. He landed on the dream of owning a golf course. He went back to school, earned a two-year degree from Penn State and became a superintendent.
“I'm sure I had thoughts occasionally of looking to go to one of those top golf courses and host the U.S. Open, but that dream never really resonated with me, and it was all about ownership,” McCall says. He left the role of superintendent in 2012 and began his own golf course management company.
Serving as the executive director for the MetGCSA chapter — which includes northern New Jersey, the New York City suburbs, Long Island and parts of Connecticut — was not something he expected to do. “I went into the military thinking I’d be a lifer in the military,” he says.
Although Minnesota GCSA executive director Chris Aumock has worked in turf for more than a decade, his post-high school career began in art school. But with another superintendent in his family, and being surrounded by golf his whole life, the superintendent route was ultimately for him. “Golf just always has been a big part of my family and my life, and it seemed like a great career once I failed out of art school and college,” he says.
The GCSA of Northern California executive director Marc Connerly has never worked as a superintendent. His family, the owners of Connerly & Associates, a consulting management company, took on the management of the California Golf Course Owners Association in 2013. From there, the GCSA of Northern California hired the company in 2014, and because of his management experience, Connerly earned the title of executive director in 2019.
“I think it allows me to kind of look at it through a different lens,” he says. “People who have been in the industry their whole life, or worked as a superintendent their whole career, obviously have one perspective, but sometimes they can get lost.”
Other executive directors have been all about turf since Day 1. Michigan GCSA executive director Adam Ikamas can still remember grabbing the phone book and calling a local country club. Fresh out of high school, he asked if they were hiring any maintenance team members. “I haven’t done anything else since,” he says.
New day, new challenge
A day in the life of a GCSA leader is never the same. Each day, month and year brings different and new tasks. Often, this is what attracts people to the role. “That’s one of the things I like, is that it’s always, constantly a new day, a new challenge, new duties,” Connerly says.
Day to day, the directors handle emails, work for member engagement and attend meetings as needed. Their jobs focus on the bigger picture with member event planning. “There’s that long-term planning for the association, along with our board members, just determining where we want to go and making sure that we are making the right steps to get to those goals,” Aumock says.
Event planning can begin more than a year out. Events led by GCSA chapters can range from golf outings to dinners to boot camps.
Some GCSA chapters produce a magazine, which can provide tasks for the day, month and quarter. “Either we just completed one, we’re now starting to plan for the next magazine, or we’re just starting one and getting ready to finish that in the next 30 to 60 days,” Connerly says. The GCSA of Northern California magazine, Thru the Green, is published quarterly.
Advocacy for golf maintenance workers is another important role for executive directors. Aumock works daily to educate others on the turf industry. “The perception of golf is rather outdated, and what people see it as is what it used to be and is not exactly what it is today,” Aumock says. “So, I think that that education is one of the biggest challenges externally, but that’s also internally making sure that our professionals within our association are understanding the challenges as a whole, that we can all kind of make sure we’re making efforts to be better and manage our properties in a better way.”
Meet the exec | |
 | Chris Aumock Favorite food: Garlic bread Favorite movie: Will Ferrell movies Favorite place to travel: Scotland Favorite course to play: Roseville Cedarholm Golf Course in Roseville, Minnesota A quote to live by: “We cannot react emotionally; we must respond effectively.” Advice for young leaders: Ensure time away from the property. |
 | Marc Connerly Favorite food: Steak Favorite movie: “As Good As It Gets” Favorite place to travel: Venice Favorite course to play: Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nevada A quote to live by: “You can’t put a price on integrity.” Advice for young leaders: Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to try big ideas. |
 | Michael McCall Favorite food: Fettuccine alfredo Favorite movie: “Mister Roberts” Favorite place to travel: Somewhere new Favorite course to play: Old Course at St. Andrews Advice for young leaders: Do hard things and push yourself. |
 | Adam Ikamas Favorite food: New York strip steak with sidecar shrimp Favorite place to travel: Augusta, Georgia, for the Masters Favorite course to play: Crystal Downs in Frankfort, Michigan A quote to live by: “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” — Elon Musk |
Communication and organization
No matter the location, two common qualities are needed for the GCSAA chapter executive director to be successful: communication and organizational skills.
Depending on your location, members could be two minutes down the road or hours away. Using communication skills to connect with all members is a must. “To lead an organization of people like this, I’ve got to be a good communicator,” McCall says.
McCall’s members have the benefit of geographic proximity, but traffic in the New York metro area can delay travel. “We do have the benefit of being a tightly knit group, geographically,” he says. “We’ll have six golf events, two social events, two big educational events.”
After Hurricane Helene brought disaster, communication was necessary for affected GCSA chapter leaders and members. “Now you’re seeing the associations that are dealing with the disaster relief, they’re stepping up to the plate and doing a fantastic job of communicating, not just with the members themselves, but to outside to get help,” McCall says. “We were certainly an organization that tried to do as much as we could to help from a fund standpoint.”
Leaders must also communicate effectively with members to encourage engagement and attendance for events, which can be a challenge. “That’s the biggest challenge, is getting the type of attendance numbers at events that really make the events worthwhile and make the events successful,” Connerly says.
Connerly and his team in California have made efforts to advertise events earlier, open registration earlier and even make direct contact with members encouraging attendance. “We’re trying to change up our strategies and be more proactive,” Connerly says. “And also surveying the members is something we’ve done. Find out what they’re looking for in events, where they want them to be held, how much they’re willing to pay, what topics or speakers are interesting to them.”
“My goal is to try to have every member have some sort of touchpoint with the chapter every day,” Ikamas says. That touchpoint could be a newsletter, wearing a logoed cap, advertising for an event or just sending a text.
Tradition vs. evolution
As executive directors, a constant decision must be made: Do we keep it the same, or do we switch things up? Continuing tradition while also evolving can be difficult but necessary for the role.
“Golf is a game built on tradition,” Aumock says. “Just like any organization, tradition has its place, but I’ve never been one that says, ‘That’s just the way we’ve done it, so we’re going to keep doing it.’ I don’t think that’s an acceptable kind of response. And there’s always opportunities to improve. Even if something’s working, let’s try to make it better.”
As an executive director, evolving and attracting the next generation of members is important. Carrying on tradition while improving awareness and education is needed.
“We naturally have to evolve,” Aumock says. “And being a membership association, our job is to provide value and benefit and be a resource for the members. So, any membership group is trying to improve that and increase those values and provide more opportunities and that’s our job. We just can’t stagnate, so we have to continue to try and work to evolve.”
Encouraging evolution isn’t the challenge for Ikamas and the Michigan chapter. “Our tradition is evolution,” he says. “For me, it’s more about being flexible and malleable and making sure you’re doing the right thing for your members, not getting boxed into bylaws or whatever else. If it makes sense, do the right thing for your members right now.”
For McCall and the MetGCSA, a frequent compromise is with dress code.
“Similar to the issue that golf and country clubs face is balancing tradition and evolution,” McCall says. “We’re an association that has strong traditions. The whole jacket and tie versus (casualness), we’ve had to kind of ride that fine line, and we’ve made some accommodation for some of our events. Like after the event, it’s not always a jacket afterwards, but for our big winter seminar, it’s jacket and tie, and it’s always going to be that way as far as I can see, and our members like that.”
Connerly hopes to evolve Northern California’s chapter with non-turf related resources. “Superintendents are not just superintendents,” he says. “They have a life away from the course. I think I was just brainstorming, OK, how else can we be a benefit to them? How do we not just enhance their professional life, but also help them away from the course in their personal life?”
Connerly hopes to be able to provide resources such as marriage and family counseling, and assistance with life skills.
“I want to create an organization that has as many resources and as many benefits to our members as we can possibly come up with,” he says. “And that’s kind of what continuously drives me, is searching for ways to help our members be successful.”
Explore the January 2025 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
