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Editor’s note: This column comes from Greg Shaffer (@gtshaffer) and Andrew Hardy (@pheasantturf), both active members of the tight-knit community of superintendents on Twitter, and is a response to the discovery last week that John Vaught, @grassgoober on Twitter, was not the superintendent he claimed to be.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: College football player “meets” individual on-line, becomes close friends with the individual they have never met in person, only to find out much later that the person they had constant communication with never existed. Unfortunately, this is becoming an all too common occurrence in today’s world of social media.
Many of us within the turf industry are huge proponents of social media and find it to be an outstanding resource for new ideas and yes, even a way to make new friends. In mid-July, more than 500 turf professionals that regularly communicate and share ideas via Twitter were caught up in a scenario much like the example above. An individual creatively named @grassgoober was a brash, arrogant and opinionated individual that many did not care for; but at the same time, he was an engaging, charismatic and sometimes thoughtful person. One major issue: He was fake. If you followed him, you will recall his charming wife AJ (also on Twitter), their wedding, her miscarriage, his tragic head injury after being struck by a golf ball and numerous other life events. You guessed it: fake, fake, fake and fake.
Sure, the two of us were guilty of interacting with the “individual.” So were a lot of you. It’s safe to say that we have all learned a lesson, not that we didn’t already know the lesson prior to this. The entire debacle very much emulates the movie (and subsequent TV show) “Catfish.” It’s hard to believe that something so far reaching as fake wives, jobs and family issues can become reality. If you were to choose a fake life, why would you choose the life of a golf course superintendent when there are so many less stressful and less demanding professions? We all love our jobs and careers, and do refer to it as a dream job but this has all played out like a bad movie.
One of the great things about our industry is the way in which we support each other in good times and in bad. We celebrate one another when a tournament goes well or when an individual gets promoted and we are the first ones to lend a hand to a fellow superintendent when a piece of equipment breaks or a natural disaster strikes. Because of this, it’s quite possible that our welcoming nature predisposes us to such scenarios. Regardless, the turf version of the movie has ended and thankfully nobody was hurt or impacted financially. It would appear we’re all smart enough in that regard.
For those of you that are reading this and have no interest in social media or are on the fence as to whether or not you want to get involved, I would encourage you to not let this incident deter you or solidify your opinion. This is one incident. To the contrary, we can give dozens of examples of relationships that we have formed that began on Twitter. Yes, they are real and the individuals can attest to it. A perfect example of such a friendship is the one that the two of us share.
We aren’t sure when we actually connected, but it was most likely through the informal group called Lighter Side of Turf (LSOT) where through a little tweeting and a lot of self-deprecating humor a great friendship and bond was formed. In the last two and a half years we have formed a tight bond where at the GIS we are, for the most part, inseparable. Regular phone conversations have trumped Twitter activity now and we make sure that we stay in contact consistently throughout the year. We have broken bread together with our wives and hope one day to have our kids meet as well. We share friendships with many other individuals within the industry that also began on Twitter. There are too many names to list, but you know who you are and we are grateful for your friendship.
Social media has broken down barriers where small course superintendents are now afforded opportunities to meet with the best in the business. Isn’t that what puts this industry above so many others? We can’t allow this one instance of a sad and deranged man ruin another one of the great perks of being in this great industry.
Many thanks to our friends John Kaminski, Pat Jones, Bill Brown, Chris Tritabaugh, Bob Porter and the handful of other turf professionals that were at the forefront of introducing social media to the turf industry and promoting its use as a valuable tool for communicating and interacting. Now, let’s quit backtracking and move forward. Just do it a little more cautiously.
