By: Adam Ikamas, CGCS
Executive Director, Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association
As we come off the ‘tradition unlike any other’ – the annual starting gun for professional golf majors and the golf season here in Michigan – many golfers flock to their home course ready for tournament speed and the dream of green jackets. However, often they are disappointed in what they find: the greens are slow, there can be some leftover winter damage from snow–mold or ice issues, plus soft, wet conditions. Of course, most golfers understand the springtime conditions around Michigan are not the same as Augusta, Georgia.
Beyond this comparison comes the ones from every weekend all summer on the various pro Tours, many of which will soon swing into our great golf state. The one thing all these tournaments have in common with each other but not with daily courses is the extra efforts that are simply not sustainable for many public daily fee and even most private facilities.
For every PGA, LPGA & Champions Tour event this year in Michigan there will be an army of volunteers – some you see and some you don’t like the hundreds of local Superintendents, Assistants and Industry Experts who are supplementing in great quantity the normal local maintenance crew, both morning and night. Along with that, often they are doing so with an entire fleet of brand-new equipment brought in just for the tournament.
But even before the first grandstand is put up and any professional shots are hit is the detailed planning of the Golf Course Superintendent. There’s planning for these volunteers, fertilizer and plant protectant inputs, timing for construction and weather issues along with so much more. To compare what you see on TV to your round the next day is like comparing NASA to American Airlines. They both fly but that is where the comparison ends in budgets, allotted manpower and other factors.
Golf Course Superintendents are scientists, agronomist, electricians, plumbers, landscape designers, managers; leaders who can do so many amazing things. So, the next time you see your Superintendent checking your favorite course one last time during your sunset round wave them down and thank them for what is sometimes a thankless job.
