How 100 works today

On May 12, 1923, the Northern Ohio Golf Course Superintendents Association was formed. On May 12, 2023, the association celebrated 100 years. Col. John Morley established it at Youngstown Country Club, the course where he was the superintendent. There, he met with a group consisting of Fred A. Burkhardt, Frank W. Ermer and William “Rocky” Rockefeller, leading to the creation of the Cleveland District Greenskeepers Association, later becoming the NOGCSA.

Now 100 years later, the association consists of more than 300 members — carrying with it families, a brotherhood and a sense of togetherness where they help one another out.

A family affair

In Avon, Ohio, a growing suburb on Cleveland’s West Side, sits Bob-O-Link Golf Course, a 36-hole, family-owned public facility. The facility opened in 1969 with just a pair of 9-hole courses — the White and Red links. Current owner Bill Fitch started working on the course before it opened during the fall of 1968.

During the day, Bill would work on the farm with his father and then head over to the course in the evenings, where he mowed and handled night watering. He worked on the course throughout college. The original owners built the course to sell it. At the time, the property was going for $500 to $1,000 an acre.

“When I was working with guys that I had gone to school with, I kept saying, ‘Someday, I’d like to purchase this,’” Bill says. “They said, ‘Well, keep dreaming.’ But the dream came true.” In 1977, Bill and his partner bought the course on a land contract.

In 1998, Bill had to make the decision to either buy out his partner for ownership of the course or sell it to his partner where he would turn it into a housing development. Bill bought out his partner to assume ownership of the course after he saw his son and current superintendent Bryan Fitch demonstrate curiosity in the operation.

“I remember I was showing the interest and it was kind of one of the things where I would say to them, ‘I hope they’ll do this,’” Bryan says, “but it was something, even from back then, that I was interested in doing, which I think maybe made their decision a little bit easier.”

Bryan is the youngest of four siblings. He has a brother and two sisters, but he’s the only one of the four in the golf maintenance industry. His siblings were involved with the course when they were younger. His mother, Donna, still helps operate the course.

“They all worked here while in high school and college,” Bill says. “They kind of picked up different professions, but they were here and kind of got us to where we’re at right now.”

Former superintendent Jim Prusa told Bill to sign up for the association when he was attending its monthly programs. Bill says he would’ve liked to have done more with the association, but he had little time.

Bill is a retired NOGCSA member; Bryan remains actively involved in the association.

“Bryan has brought it up a couple of levels here,” Bill says. “I would probably still be cutting fairways at an inch and greens at a quarter of an inch, but the knowledge that he has picked up talking to other people and everything else, we’ve got it down to greens playing a lot faster than we had them.”

Bryan has been a member of the NOGCSA for 16 years, although he started attending meetings with his father as an 8-year-old. He recalls remembering names and details from those early meetings. Bryan still attends meetings, with Bill covering for him at the course when he’s gone.

“My biggest thing is that the network of people just gets bigger and bigger,” he says. “When it comes to anything from purchases to stuff that pops up at the course, being able to have that line of people to call to ask them helps.”

Bryan also stresses the importance of not being alone. “It’s not as big of an island to be out there alone as you think it is,” he says. “It's much easier to be part of that group than it is to not be and not have someone to call.”

After attending the first 2023 meeting and seeing the history of the association, Bryan felt further inspired. “For 100 years, there were people who chose this as a profession,” he says. “It’s not just the question of ‘What do you do in the winter?’ and ‘You must golf a lot.’ I think people outside don't even have an idea of what it takes. I think that maybe after seeing this, it shows that this was something that’s been around for that long and it’s been a profession for that long.”

Bill explains why the NOGCSA must endure.

“I know initially, like when I first got into the association, there’d be close to 100 people at meetings,” he says. “I could just look back upon the knowledge that I picked up. It’s really something that’s going to continue to be a need for, and it’s something you’d like to pass on to Bryan and future generations.”

Still improving

May 2023 was a special month for Avon Oaks Country Club superintendent Terry Boehm. He celebrated both the association’s 100-year anniversary and his 30-year anniversary at Avon Oaks.

Avon Oaks is an 18-hole, family-oriented club that opened in 1957. The club recently completed a full-course renovation that involved revamping tees and bunkers and installing a new irrigation system. Avon Oaks is gradually transitioning its rough over to “more of a turf-type tall fescue,” Boehm says. The project initially began all the way back in 1998.

“In 1998, we did a little bit of renovation work on No. 2 and No. 3, and then we didn’t do anything for 10 years,” Boehm says. “And so we came back in 2008, and started doing a green complex here, a green complex there, whenever we could scrape up enough funds.”

After completing a hole or green complex at a time, members told Boehm, “We want to be done with this. We want to get this whole thing renovated.” The club concocted a plan to finish the renovation in three years.

The renovation commenced in fall 2019, with the course remaining open the entire time. Boehm is happy the renovation is done. “I've been enjoying the fact that I’m focusing on daily maintenance again,” he says. “For about three years, I felt more like a construction supervisor than a golf course superintendent.”

Boehm didn’t start in the industry. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in accounting but had second thoughts about entering that business.

“I was a senior in Indiana, and I started to go, ‘Do I really want to be an accountant?’” Boehm says. “I applied to Michigan State University’s turf program because Jim Loupee, the superintendent I was working for, was a Spartan grad. I applied up there at the same time as interviewing for accounting jobs, and I got a job offer coming out of school in accounting and an acceptance letter at Michigan State all about the same time back in January of my senior year of college.”

Boehm talked to his parents. His father told him to do what he loves and he won’t regret it. “He was absolutely right,” Boehm says. Boehm took over at Avon Oaks in January 1998 after superintendent Carl Schwartz retired.

Boehm remembers meeting local and national turf legends such as Terry Bonar, Frank Dobie and John Spodnik at NOGCSA gatherings. “They would take time out of their day to come talk to me and that still means a ton to me,” Boehm says.

The togetherness and the way superintendents help one another is one of the reasons Boehm appreciates the association. “The association means a lot to me because I love reaching out and talking, sharing notes, playing golf, whatever it is with other superintendents,” he says. “I love the fact that this industry is that way. Some industries might be very cutthroat — this is a trade secret, we can’t share this with the competition. I don’t think I’ve ever run into a superintendent that wasn’t willing to show me every possible trick he had and helped me along the way. I certainly try to help anybody I can as well.”

Boehm tries to get to every association meeting. “I’m kind of old school in that I like face-to-face interaction,” he says. Boehm has been with the organization since he started working in Ohio and still loves meeting people.

“It helps just to talk with other people that are going through the same thing that you’re going through,” he says. “I always say, ‘I think this industry is a tough industry to be arrogant.’ I don’t find too many arrogant superintendents because Mother Nature can put us in our place so quickly. You can have things look really good and then all of a sudden maybe you got a disease outbreak, maybe you got a big flood that washed out all your bunkers.”

Boehm thinks it is “really cool” to be involved with a 100-year-old association.

“Every year you sit there and look at how things were done 100 years ago … and Colonel John Morley, how he started getting people together, sharing information and becoming better at their jobs,” Boehm says. “That’s what this is all about. By getting together, meeting and learning from each other, we’re better at our jobs, and we’re producing better conditions.”

Despite being at Avon Oaks for 30 years, Boehm is still improving. “I’m still learning every day,” he says. “I always said if I ever feel like I know it all, they should fire me right away because it means I’m not interested in learning.”

Up in smoke

Stephen Maclay, the current NOGCSA president and former superintendent at Valleaire Golf Course in Hinckley, is extra thankful for the association as it “saved our golf course,” he says. It wasn’t always golf for Maclay and his path into golf course maintenance was different.

Maclay grew up in Pennsylvania and attended culinary school in Pittsburgh out of high school. He graduated with an associate’s degree in culinary arts and “ended up absolutely hating it.” Maclay had friends from culinary school who lived around Medina, Ohio. Looking for a change of scenery sounded like a good idea to Maclay.

He started working at Weymouth Country Club as a grounds crew member. “The superintendent there, Ken Aukerman, put me under his wing and taught me a lot of things,” Maclay says. “I started going to Wooster, Ohio State ATI, and he promoted me to assistant while I was in school. So that was their way of helping me through school.”

After five years at Weymouth, he went to Red Tail Country Club for a year as an assistant. Then, in 2006, Maclay became the superintendent at Valleaire, where he spent nearly 18 years before transitioning to a position with the Cleveland Metroparks at nearby Ironwood Golf Course earlier this fall.

On an otherwise normal night in May 2021, Maclay was watching his son play baseball in nearby Hudson when he received a phone call around 8 p.m. “I got a phone call from the clubhouse saying that the shop was on fire,” he says. “I thought they were playing a joke on me and didn’t really appreciate it. And then they sent me a picture. And luckily it was the end of the game, so I grabbed my family, we hopped in the car and got on the turnpike to come back, and we could actually see the smoke from the fire from the turnpike.”

Maclay was “a total mess” and had his wife call NOGCSA administrative director Michelle Frazier-Feher. She immediately sent an email to the members and the association’s board, letting them know what was going on.

“Finally, we got back to the shop and pretty much everything was gone at that point,” Maclay says. “Everything inside of it, all my equipment, all my chemicals, all my personal things that I never thought to be a problem to leave in there, everything was gone. And once they pretty much deemed it a total loss that night, we finally went home.”

Maclay slept maybe an hour before heading back to the course. When he arrived, Maclay witnessed the strength of bonds within the association. “That morning, I had no idea what was going to happen because we had no equipment and it was May, right in the middle of beginning the season,” he says, “Jim Robinson from Pine Hills right down the street pulled up with two greens mowers for me so I could mow my greens.”

It didn’t stop there. “Throughout the week, I had multiple courses just donate equipment for me to use,” Maclay adds. “Basically, the surrounding areas and the association saved our golf course by lending me equipment. Someone leant me a sprayer for a couple of days so I could spray my greens and tools, cup cutters and things that you take for granted during the day. They had extra so they let me borrow.”

The support he received “was an extremely humbling experience” for Maclay. At one point, he even had to turn away some offers because he already had enough equipment to operate. “As far down as Columbus, we had guys wanting to bring stuff up. It was very humbling and stressful, tiring, you name it. I felt it.”

Reflecting on the ordeal, Maclay is grateful for the association.

“It’s very, very comforting, knowing that you’re not alone,” he says. “It’s a brotherhood and sisterhood and everyone has your back. No matter what it may be. It’s comforting to know that you’re not alone. People have gone through this before so they can relate, you can vent to them. It’s like having an extended family, almost.”

Maclay now realizes there is more to the organization than he previously realized. “I took it for granted before because I really honestly just joined the board for a résumé builder. And, you know, as the years went on the board, I started realizing it’s definitely more than that. But when the fire happened, it was like, ‘Oh, OK, this is what it’s all about.’ Helping our industry, our peers, our co-workers, anyone and everyone. We’re all there for each other.”

Sharing ideas

Tom Bolon, superintendent at Lake Forest Country Club, has spent lots of time on golf courses since he was a teenager. A 25-year NOGCSA member, Bolon realizes how critical the association is for superintendents.

Bolon grew up playing at East Palestine Country Club in East Palestine, Ohio. Bolon played the 9-hole course twice to record 18-hole rounds. Already interested in golf course maintenance, Bolon would ride around with the superintendent/golf pro whenever he wasn’t playing.

Unsure of future plans, Bolon enlisted in the Marine Corps during his senior year of high school — until he received a letter about Ohio State ATI’s Turfgrass Management Program after graduation. He told his father it sounded fun. He then contacted his military recruiter to get out of his commitment.

After talking to Ohio State ATI and recommending he get a job on a golf course, Bolon started working with Mill Creek Metroparks near Youngstown as a seasonal laborer before his first semester of college. He arrived at Lake Forest, a private club between Cleveland and Akron, as an assistant superintendent in August 1998.

He was promoted to superintendent in 2000 after David Webner landed the head position at nearby Westwood Country Club. Bolon’s affiliation with the NOGCSA started before he became superintendent.

“I think it’s an investment in your future and an investment in your yourself,” he says. “And just having that exposure and that access to all the knowledge that’s around you is well worth it.” Bolon adds that the educational and networking opportunities are “100 percent invaluable.”

The association benefits Bolon and his peers in other ways. “When new products come out and you have access to talk to different guys in the association about how they’re using them,” that helps, Bolon says. “Or, ‘I just screwed up, I’ve got something going on and I think I might’ve messed up, can you come over and take a look?’ Or, ‘Have you ever seen this and what’s your experience with it?’” The association can “help in a tough time, just gathering different ways that people do things.”

The people have been the key to keeping the association going, according to Bolon. “How close-knit, steadfast, dedicated we all are to keeping the association going and the number of people that have stepped up into board positions and have held on to the integrity of the association is admirable,” he says.

One way the NOGCSA stands out is through its use of sponsorships. “We’re supported by sponsorships, but I don’t believe we rely on sponsorships to do what we need to do,” Bolon says. “Sponsors may take offense to that, but I know a lot of the other neighboring associations every year, every meeting you’d go to, it’s put on by Toro or Syngenta, or there’s a huge sponsor for the event. You don’t see that with Northern Ohio. Everybody’s treated equally.”

Bolon is very grateful for the association. “I don’t think that I would be where I am today if I wasn’t involved in the association,” he says.

Jacob Hansen is a Northeast Ohio-based journalist who recently participated in Golf Course Industry’s summer internship program.