Words aren’t a hobby

Developing an active ingredient to use on a living, breathing ecosystem such as a golf course represents a long, arduous, expensive endeavor for a company.

All it takes are a few wrong letters to ruin a nine-figure investment.

Letters, which morph into words, which become industry nomenclature, matter as much as molecules and formulations.

In his brilliant cover package (Namestorming, page 20), senior editor Matt LaWell explores how products used on golf courses obtain their commercial names. There’s way more to it than a customer imagines.

The legal side is straightforward. Attorneys guide and dictate a significant part of the naming process. Matt covers the logistics of trademarks and registrations — those minute symbols on product labels and magazine ads — in the package.

Nobody reveals the human side of a topic like Matt. He’s a wizard with … well … words. Once a name passes legal review, a mental tussle emerges for marketing and leadership teams. Matt depicts the brainpower marketing pros possess by learning how they handle the pressure and logistics of the naming process. This group of behind-the-scenes industry stalwarts plays as big of a role in a product’s commercial success as any researcher, developer or engineer.

The bold words on jugs and labels must resonate with customers to ensure sales teams hit targets. Regardless of how well a rake grooms a bunker, a surfactant disperses water or a fungicide curtails dollar sport, a silly, drab or misleading name will kerplunk a product.

On the opposite side, a curiosity-inducing name can turn a mediocre product into a commercial success. Why and how? Decades of research prove purchasers are more apt to buy something that forges a personal connection. Effective names evoke powerful messages, which help establish non-transactional relationships.

After reading Matt’s story, you will likely look at labels and magazine ads differently. Witty words always attract attention.

Job titles also matter in 2025, even if crusty industry veterans suggest otherwise. Tyler Bloom and Rachel Ridgeway combined for the “Yes, job titles matter” article published on our website. Bloom, the founder of Bloom Golf Partners, and Ridgeway, a search executive and HR consultant with the growing firm, present a powerful case behind why titles carry weight for rising managers and general employees.

Bloom and Ridgeway urge industry leaders to view titles through the perspective of their employees. A few words attached to a name might not matter much to somebody who has already achieved a certain status. But those words can be the difference between retaining or losing an awesome employee.

“Just because you don’t mind being called ‘whatever they want,’ doesn’t mean that others don’t take pride in a hard-earned title,” Bloom and Ridgeway write. “They may wear that title as a badge of honor, a symbol of the years of work, learning and leadership it took to get there.”

Astute Golf Course Industry readers and followers will notice two of our editors own new titles.

Before he completed this month’s awesome cover package — and after six years of consistently elite work — we elevated Matt to senior editor. Matt’s ability to creatively tell stories on multiple platforms is unlike anything in industry media. He’s immensely talented and enormously engaging. The hundreds of people whom Matt has interviewed since joining our team in 2019 remember their interactions with him. His new title reflects a larger leadership role he will be assuming.

Kelsie Horner doesn’t have a senior by her name — yet. Instead, she’s now our digital editor, a position we created to better serve website, mobile, newsletter and social media audiences. Kelsie joined our staff as a summer editorial assistant in May 2024. She graduated from Kent State University in August 2024 and we immediately added her in a full-time capacity. We’re confident she’s prepared to help us grow and further engage digital audiences.

Matt and Kelsie resemble the readers we serve. They’re too humble to openly plead for expanded roles or gaudy titles. They send enduring messages by communicating thoughtful words. We’re confident we selected the right words to describe what they mean to us and the industry.