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I refer to the news release recently issued by GCSAA (click here) that purports to express the PGA Tour’s appreciation for the work done by host superintendents that helped the tour reach its “Drive for a Billion” charity goal.
Nice, huh?
Well, sort of. But a few things about this otherwise mundane press item raised some questions in my mind.
First, the release came from GCSAA, not the tour. Consider that the tour employs about three dozen little PR minions who crank out daily releases on everything from new event sponsors to Nick Faldo’s pet iguana. They couldn’t find the time to actually give public thanks to the men and women who manage the playing fields that are the core of the game? Would they have reached a billion dollars in charitable contributions playing on cow pastures? Apparently the tour couldn’t find time to issue its own release, so GCSAA did it instead.
Second, the release quotes Jon Scott, the tour’s vice president of agronomy. Jon’s a tremendous guy who works his butt off and is always helpful and supportive to his fellow superintendents. But, that said, Jon is not Tim Finchem. The Commish couldn’t find seven seconds to add his words of appreciation? And how about the tour’s charitable poster boys like Davis Love III, Tiger or Phil? Too busy complaining about bunker sand to say thanks?
Finally, the release goes on to quote Arnold Palmer about how difficult conditions were on the tours this year because of weather. I wasn’t quite sure what the two things (charity and weather) had to do with each other, but thank goodness Mr. Palmer is always around for a positive quote about superintendents. If it wasn’t for The King (and maybe Tom Watson or Ben Crenshaw), we’d be just about fresh out of supportive, inspirational quotes.
I’m probably blowing the whole thing out of proportion, but this relatively innocuous news release seems like one more example of how the tour still views superintendents as, at best, a necessarily evil. I don’t know about you, but I find it frustrating that our profession has gained in terms of recognition in so many areas, yet the vast majority of the most visible and influential people in the business still just take the perfection they find every week for granted.
A billion dollars in charity is nice … but so is saying “thank you” every once in a while.
