Anything but routine

Changes in weather conditions, customer desires, activity calendars, and sunrise and sunset times limit the monotony golf maintenance professionals encounter.

Subtle alterations make the profession alluring. Sudden shifts make the job maddening.

The variety separates golf from related and unrelated industries.

Mail carriers often walk or drive the same routes. Office workers report to the same cubicles. Chefs guide teams cramming the same kitchens. Placing a fitness tracker on a golf course superintendent invents geometry-defying lines and patterns.

At some point in 2025 nearly every superintendent will lead a crew preparing the course for somebody’s big day. For the second straight year, in partnership with BASF, we’re celebrating those days when starting times might be a bit different and more people crowd the course. Stories about the least monotonous days on breakroom and Outlook calendars fill the Our Big Day section (pages 16-27).

In charming, lake-dotted northern Michigan, superintendent Jordan Caplan and the Belvedere Golf Club team welcome the state’s best amateur players next month. In the same golf-crowded state, superintendent Craig McKinley’s Bucks Run Golf Club team helps raise money for causes supported by the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation and Mecosta County Community Foundation by providing playing surfaces for the two-day Shamrock Invitational. In bordering Ohio, superintendent Chad Dorrell and the Springfield Country Club team witness U.S. Open dreams fulfilled — and shattered — in their small central Ohio city.

The way Cog Hill Golf & Country Club director of grounds operations Reed Anderson willingly explains it, every day is somebody’s big day at Chicagoland’s largest golf facility. Think your course hosts some giant outings? Anderson’s team supports multiple outings using all 72 of Cog Hill’s immensely popular holes.

A facility doesn’t need a major metropolitan ZIP code or four regulation layouts to enter the charity or competitive outing business. Venerable 9-holers serve as recreational and social hubs throughout small-town America. Groups ranging from youth wrestling programs to volunteer fire departments can fill modest coffers because of the local golf course. Fundraising, an already challenging endeavor, suffers in communities lacking adequate golf facilities.

The National Golf Foundation released shareable and powerful data in 2023:

• Golf’s charitable impact reached $4.6 billion in 2022
• That total was $3.2 billion in 2000
• More than 11,000 facilities hosted a charity outing in 2022

The numbers tell a terrific story and should inspire those around you. When your team wonders why it must frantically hustle to complete tasks for a 9 a.m. shotgun or why they must park somewhere else on a random Tuesday, explain how their work helps raise thousands of dollars for veterans, seniors or children. Motivation is about dispensing perspective.

Not all big days exist for charitable purposes. Local, county, regional and state events, member-guests, club championships and qualifiers require turf teams to present tournament-caliber surfaces. Peaking for an event requires persistence and tolerance for working grueling hours.

But event preparation induces adrenaline rushes few professions can match. Smooth, striped and vibrant turf delights golfers and pushes teams to achieve collective excellence. Written goals on a calendar remain an enduring managerial tactic.

Staring down at turf sometimes means avoiding eye contact with the people savoring their big days. A charity scramble, corporate outing and competitive tussle might represent the greatest afternoon of somebody’s year. Look around the course during your next outing. Listen to the laughs. Study faces. Tell your team about the joy their work provided for others.

Breaking maintenance monotony for event preparation places unique demands on golf maintenance professionals. The numbers and expressions suggest the effort must be celebrated.

We’re doing our small part by sharing stories of relatable moments. You’re doing the big part by making communities and lives better by deftly handling tournament day. That story is worth remembering — and tactfully sharing.