Golf Course Industry shined a light on equipment managers last year. Now the Golf Writers Association of America is shining a light on us.
Editor-in-chief Guy Cipriano finished third in the Enterprise category of the 2024 GWAA Writing Contest for Mission: Maintenance Critical, a four-part series about the importance of equipment managers and technicians, the backgrounds of the people who work those jobs, and the future of the position. The series was published in partnership with Bernhard in the September through December issues.
Cipriano talked with 14 equipment managers and technicians for the series, highlighting just how key they are to daily maintenance operations.
“Of all the labor issues facing golf, none is as debilitating to the industry as a shortage of qualified equipment managers,” he wrote. “A mega-club such as Philadelphia Cricket Club can absorb the angst of a mower hitting a rock or suffering a hydraulic leak. The margins between a tidy day or a messy day, week or month are slimmer elsewhere.”
The award is the third for Cipriano from the GWAA in the last six years. He finished second in non-daily features in 2021 for his story Driving Through, about a five-day road trip drive home across the country during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic that highlighted the importance of golf. He also finished second in special projects in 2018 for When the Creek Rises, a three-part series about the flooding and rebuilding of The Old White at The Greenbrier. Golf Course Industry is the only publication covering the maintenance side of golf to be honored in the history of the GWAA contest.
After previous awards in 2021 and 2018, Cipriano is now just one GWAA award shy of a foursome. Check back in 2027?
Golf Course Industry senior contributor Judd Spicer also picked up an award, finishing second in Long Profiles for his feature story The unbreakable spirit of Tracy Drake, published in FORE Magazine.
“A visit to these grounds with Drake brings forth the essence of her character,” Spicer wrote. “The longtime park services manager for the City of Torrance — and counted among the most revered naturalists in the region — speaks of her past. ‘I followed the oak trees,’ she remembers of her 12-year-old self. She trekked along the hiking path adjacent to the course’s closing holes, a bag over her shoulder and no money in her pocket; she was, at that moment, a homeless runaway.”
There were 364 total entries across seven categories.
2024 GWAA WRITING CONTEST
COMMENTARY
1. Alex Miceli, “Monahan will have to answer for mistakes,” SI.com, June 7
2. Michael Bamberger, “Reflections on a Masters,” FirePitCollective.com, April 18
3. Tom Coyne, “Noisy time, quiet place,” Golfer’s Journal, December
ENTERPRISE
1. Madeline MacClurg, Keely Levins, Luke Kerr-Dineen, Greg Gottfried, Derek Duncan, Sam Weinman, “College Golf,” Golf Digest, October-November
2. John Steinbreder, “Arizona seeks lead in golf’s water wars,” GlobalGolfPost.com, Feb. 6
3. Guy Cipriano, “Maintenance mission critical,” Golf Course Industry, September-December
LONG FEATURES
1. Josh Berhow, “Inside America’s most complex municipal course,” Golf.com, Dec. 20
2. Oliver Horovitz, “A journey to Nepal,” Golf Digest, February
3. Shane Ryan, “The grinders who saved a college team,” GolfDigest.com, May 26
SHORT FEATURES
1. Michael Bamberger, “The Open, real golf, is finally here,” New York Times, July 20
2. Sean Zak, “Inside chaotic race to Phoenix 16th hole,” Golf.com, Feb. 11
3. Gary Van Sickle, “Arnie’s red cardigan is a coveted prize, SI.com, March 8
NEWS/GAME
1. Mark Schlabach, “How LIV Golf deal went down,” ESPN.com, June 12
2. Ryan Lavner, “Harman’s hard-earned validation,” GolfChannel.com, July 23
3. Gary Van Sickle, “Magical Masters for Rahm,” SI.com, April 9
LONG PROFILES
1. Dylan Dethier, “Cantlay speaks,” Golf.com, Dec. 31
2. Judd Spicer, “The unbreakable spirit of Tracy Drake,” FORE Magazine, February
3. Patrick Hand, “The legend of John Konsek,” GlobalGolfPost.com, Aug. 31
SHORT PROFILES
1. Beth Ann Nichols, “Jane Park thankful for her daughter,” Golfweek.com, Nov. 23
2. Joel Beall, “Polarizing Phil Mickelson,” GolfDigest.com, May 16
3. Gary Van Sickle, “Saying goodbye to Madeleine,” NewEnglandgolf.com, Aug. 16