GCSAA Headquarters Visit

 

October 24th 2014.

Just like the magic school bus (without the magic) my Golf Ops class and I traveled to Lawrence, Kansas this past Friday to visit the incredible GCSAA Headquarters. GCSAA is the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, in which professionals maintain and manage the game of golfs most valuable resource. GCSAA has played a valuable part in helping Superintendents manage and satisfy the needs of the golfer. Since 1926, GCSAA has been coherent in providing education and information to more than 17,000 members in more than 72 countries. Their mission; "is to serve its members, advance their profession and enhance the enjoyment, growth, and vitality of the game of golf".
When we arrived at the GCSAA headquarters we were astounded with the buildings construction along with its impeccable outside venue with the Jim Morris Statue surrounded by renowned superintendents/golfers. Rhett Evans greeted us at the door and proceeded to bring us into the main auditorium, Evans is the GCSAA Chief Executive Officer who plays a major role in the development and success of GCSAA itself. Once in the lecture hall is described to all of us what GCSAA does with development, education, and the future. He then had all 17 of us students introduce ourselves and tell where we have worked and where we were in our education. When he got a feel for all of us he discussed certain things that help you be successful in the golf industry, a word that came up almost every sentence was "Communication". This is a power asset a superintendent can have and undividedly make or break someone's career. With that said Evans went on to introduce 2 of the industry's best superintendents. Andy Kleitsch and Todd Bohn. Andy manages 4 courses in the public sector whereas Todd is in command of a private country club. Each with different styles of managing golf courses both come together when it comes to the overall care and communication of its members/employees. Some tips they gave to us students was that the art of communication is the most important part of managing a golf course, not cutting the turf, not growing new greens, nothing. Its all about communication, Bohn went on to discuss who he has to communicate with on a daily basis, whether it be from the golf pros he has on site, to his members/founders/greens committee its all part of his day. He talked about that making yourself available is the key to good communicating, he says usually on a tournament day he will hang out around the first tee rather than hiding down in the maintenance shop. Kleitsch reinforced this point by telling us how different the public sector can be with communication, being available is important but satisfying public members is much easier than satisfying private wealthy members. Both were very interesting to listen to and were very beneficial to our continuing education process in golf course management.

After our visit with the superintendents and executive officers, we were lead down to the basement where the GCSAA has collections of memorable in what they like to call "the museum". I particularly enjoyed this tour of the museum because it begins with the very first cultural practice on golf courses. There were black and white pictures of men using the most primitive equipment while wearing what looked like to be the warmest clothes of all time. I wondered to myself how long it would take to mow the turf on the golf course with a mower pulled by a horse while wearing slacks, wool shirts, and heavy hats. I realized that these men who started maintaining golf courses really are the true hero's of the industry. Without them this business would not be as enjoyable as it is today. Along with the pictures there were many old pieces of equipment, mostly donated from the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, some of these pieces of equipment just looked like with one touch they could fall apart. The most interesting pieces we saw were for starters the push behind mower with a logo on the basket which read "for the queen" along with the families family crest. Another piece of equipment I liked was the hand made scythe which workers would use to trim long pieces of turf. I cant begin to imagine how different a work day would be back then compared to now. Thank goodness for those men who spent countless hours working and dedicating there lives to perfecting the visually appeasing golf courses around the globe.

GCSAA is a an amazing resource for superintendents, it acts as a communication hub for superintendents near and far. Rather than superintendents trying to out do one another, GCSAA has preached that working together has a better result than trying to battle a fellow superintendent. I love this because many hand make light work and with all of us pulling our resources and knowledge together we can help each other work through problems. I really appreciate Professor Jack Fry for taking us to the GCSAA headquarters, without him I would not know what I know now and with his help hopefully become as good as a superintendent can be.