One last time

My name is Matthew Wharton, and I cannot tell you how excited I am for this wonderful opportunity I have been given today. I am going to be sitting down with none other than America’s Greenkeeper.

AG informed our readers last month he is stepping away from his role as our monthly backpage columnist after more than six years of banging out his thoughts and opinions on a multitude of golf industry-related topics.

This is my chance to ask him about some of those memorable columns — plus hopefully gain some insight as to why he is stepping away now just when it feels to me like he is on top of his game.

MW: So, you are really going to stop writing full-time?

AG: Yes, you have been around me lately. Do not get me wrong, I enjoyed it immensely. You may recall I once asked Pat Jones, “When are you going to let me write for the magazine?” at the Carolinas GCSA Conference and Show. It was not until after Pat left Golf Course Industry and Guy Cipriano took over that I was blessed with this amazing opportunity.

MW: What made being the backpage columnist so special?

AG: For starters, I equate being the backpage columnist here to what Rick Reily accomplished at Sports Illustrated — for everyone out there old enough to remember. Readers know exactly where to find you. There are people who turn straight to the back page. Two, it’s only one page. There’s no place to jump to if you write too much, so you must make a point in a concise format. Three, I entertained the idea of serving on the GCSAA board of directors several years ago. I believe had I chosen to pursue the election I would have been elected and served my industry peers. But someone very close to me, one of my mentors, mentioned that I may have actually reached more peers and made a bigger impact on others in this role compared to serving with GCSAA, because not everyone in the business is a GCSAA member and Golf Course Industry serves the industry in a broader capacity.

MW: Wow, I never thought of it that way. What are some of your favorite columns?

AG: Well, I will never forget my first contribution, and I mentioned last month my second was a rant I still can’t believe got published. But once I began writing monthly, I think I made some excellent points. In 2019, I talked about the importance of learning social etiquette so you can represent yourself and your employer in certain settings without embarrassment. We got folks to ponder if they are still having fun on the job as the industry has gone through so much change from when my generation came up the ranks. And we pondered the labor struggle just prior to the pandemic.

MW: The pandemic, which was crazy. How did you manage to cope with all the chaos around?

AG: It was not easy, but I was fortunate to be working in a state that did not close golf, and I wrote about it in May 2020. Later that year, we made the case for folks to take the time and get away from work for a few days and recharge. We hope we made an impact when we wrote about becoming one with your environment at work and being able to quickly notice when things are amiss to help guide you with what needs to be done to better manage your property.

MW: I remember those. That was some of your best work.

AG: I agree. Sometimes, those early days were easy as I had so much inside my head. The words just flowed out through my fingertips directly to the keyboard. As we continued to move forward, we had already shared so many ideas, and we had to find inspiration elsewhere. Like our letter to the USGA when we disagreed with the direction they were going in 2021, or sharing the importance of being humble shortly after Bill Anderson passed away and we recalled how my friendship with him developed after our awkward first meeting.

MW: And “Starting Over” was huge.

AG: Yes, we probably received more private feedback from that column than any other. We’re also proud of our efforts to encourage folks to stop using the word “chemicals” in July 2021, and earlier this year we made the case “just because you can doesn’t mean you should” when folks got in a tizzy at the number of push mowers at The Players Championship. And we stand by my message that it is only you holding you back from achieving more.

MW: Wow, in retrospect I guess you really did make an impact.

AG: We did, Matthew. We did. Thanks for all your help! And thank you all for reading and following along!