Carolinas superintendents help put kids on course

Liberty, S.C. – Carolinas golf course superintendents extended a helping hand to children in their communities recently, raising awareness of the profession as well raising more than $10,000. Two efforts made headlines in local newspapers and the third became the basis for a live television sportscast.

Students from Rice Creek Elementary visited the Columbia Country Club.

In April, superintendent Bob Wallace organized a field trip for about 80 elementary schoolchildren to study nesting bald eagles at the Golden Bear course at The Golf Club at Indigo Run in Hilton Head, S.C. Wallace arranged for a local wildlife biologist to be on hand to provide expert instruction to the children. The eagles nested alongside the 10th hole of the Golden Bear course and Wallace worked hard at making sure they were comfortable, restricting the use of machinery in the vicinity and placing signs to ensure golfers kept their distance.

The eagles produced three young, which happens only about once in every 25 nestings.

“It was exciting to see those kids so excited,” Wallace says. “They got to see and learn about the eagles but they also got to see and learn about golf and the work that golf course superintendents do. Eagles are very sensitive to chemicals in the environment so to have them living on your golf course is a great advertisement for how well your golf course is taking care of the land.”

Wallace’s outreach was featured in the local Island Packet newspaper, as did a thank-you letter from the school group.

Awareness of the positive role golf can play in communities and the environment was also a strong theme when superintendent Jeff Connell hosted about 50 elementary school students at Columbia Country Club, S.C., a week later. Connell had help from colleagues Craig Taylor from The University Club, Chris Taylor from Charwood Country Club and Chris Williams from Spring Valley Country Club. The outing received coverage in The State newspaper, South Carolina’s largest.

The visit was part of “Kids on Greens” day during South Carolina Golf Week, and was designed to introduce city children to the game and the contribution of the golf course superintendent. The superintendents gave students a hay ride tour of the course, demonstrated equipment, cut holes, staged a mini-putting competition, and opened the driving range before cooking lunch. Each student also received a bag of goodies to take home that included balls, hats, sunscreen and written information on golf and its place in the environment.

“I asked if anyone wanted to try raking a bunker and next minute we had 50 kids in there grabbing for a rake,” Connell says. “Then when we got to the green a few of them dropped onto their hands and knees to get a closer look. They couldn’t believe that grass so short could be real. For a lot of these kids golf wasn’t even on their radar before. But they all left with a positive impression of the game.”

At the end of the month, Mike Brown, certified golf course superintendent at Starmount Forest Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., staged the third annual fundraiser for the On Stage School of Dance. A full field competed in the golf tournament, raising more than $10,000 to help send dancers to perform on a cruise ship sailing to the Bahamas in June. Last year, money raised helped send dancers to Disney World in Orlando, Fla., where they performed as temporary cast members.

Superintendent Mike Brown thanks supporter of the fundraiser for local dancers.

Brown, who is also president of the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association, worked with contacts at television station WFMY who broadcast the evening’s entire sports news segment live from fundraiser.

“These kids enjoy outstanding support from the golf community each year and it was great that this year, the wider community got to hear about it and see it,” Brown says.

Dancer Sydney Lee, 15, says for many students in the dance class the fundraiser makes the difference between them being able to take part in traveling performances.

“These are really trips of a lifetime and we’ve been so lucky to be able to be able to go on them because of what Mr. Brown and his friends do for us,” Lee says. “Trips like these help you learn about a lot of things in life, not just dance. And some kids would miss out it wasn’t for the help we receive.”