2024 Super Social Media Award: Jeremiah Mincey

Less than three weeks into the new year, Jeremiah Mincey has already pressed send on what could be among the turf industry’s most viewed social media posts of 2024.

“Alright turf Twitter,” Mincey wrote last week. “Let’s see how many replies we can get. Post your favorite picture you’ve taken at your current course or previous courses. I’ll go first.” Mincey’s morning snapshot of the 12th hole of the Highlands Course at Atlanta Athletic Club sparked a social media flood that ebbed only after four days, 231 replies, 281 likes and more than 90,000 impressions.

“I was not expecting that tweet to blow up like that,” says Mincey, a former intern and assistant superintendent at Atlantic Athletic Club who moved in October to a first assistant superintendent position at Savannah Quarters Country Club in Pooler, Georgia. “I haven’t gotten any notifications since probably midday (Monday). It’s toned down a lot compared to a day or two after it was posted when I was getting notifications every five minutes.”

Just 26 years old, Mincey is relatively new to both Turf Twitter (and TurfTok) as well as golf course maintenance in general. He grew up on a farm in Blakely, Georgia, a city of about 5,000 people in the southwest corner of the state a few miles from the Alabama border, and always loved being outside. When his parents told him he needed a job during his sophomore year at Georgia Southern University, he checked out the university job board and spotted a position working on the crew under superintendent Patrick Reinhardt. He applied, landed the job, and was hooked. Before long, he talked with Reinhardt, now the superintendent at TPC Sawgrass, about turning his college gig into a career.

Mincey has big dreams: He wants to be a superintendent or director for a PGA Tour course. Until then, he will remain a beacon on X, where he shares morning photos like the one above and is as likely to repost inspirational and informative tweets from other up-and-comers, and TikTok, where he highlights cultural practices.

His positivity on the various platforms has landed him a 2024 Super Social Media Award.

Mincey and other award winners will be honored Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the Social Media Celebration at Aquatrols booth #2747 during the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in Phoenix. The event begins at 2:30 p.m., with winners being honored around 3 p.m. The event is open to all and free drinks will be served.    

A big part of your social media feeds is not just liking but reposting what others are doing and have shared. Why do you take that approach?

It’s about growing everybody else. If I see it, I may not have a question about it, but if I retweet it, it will go in somebody else’s feed who may have a question. If you bring attention to it, more people will see and you’re growing other people’s accounts. … We’ve done a great job of building each other up and learning from each other. We need to stay with that and keep it going day after day and month after month.

You’ve volunteered at two tournaments during your first two full years in the industry. Did you use social media to land either of those opportunities?

When I volunteered at East Lake (Golf Club), that was through Twitter. I met Charles Aubry, the director of agronomy, and I told him I wanted to volunteer. He emailed me the volunteer signup and that was that. … I documented my volunteer experiences just so other people could see how tournaments went and maybe inspire them to want to volunteer for a tournament.

What appeals to you about what for so long has been called Turf Twitter?

I see more people active on Turf Twitter, and I see a lot of people who have been on it for 10 or 12 years before I got on it. Normally on social media, you see a lot of the younger generation, my age being really active. So, it’s nice to see people who have been in the industry for a long time be active, sharing how they run their golf course and how they do things. … I didn’t realize how many people were a part of Turf Twitter. I expected to interact with a few people. I didn’t know how vast it was and has become.

Matt LaWell is Golf Course Industry’s managing editor.