by
Shane Conroy
| Jul 19, 2023
We’re back for the final post in this series. As I mentioned last week, I hope you were able discover, or rediscover, the great benefits afforded to you through your GCSAA membership during this series. We at GCSAA greatly value your membership. The association is made possible because of you — the members — and that’s the subject of this week’s post.
50: GCSAA Members
Many of us in this industry got into it because we love the game of golf, or enjoy working outdoors, or with equipment or a combination of the three. It’s easy to see the draw of this profession. Your office is hundreds of acres of beautiful green space. Your coworkers consist of various wildlife. Gorgeous sunrises are as routine as sending an email, and thousands of people enjoy the fruits of your labor each year.
It’s not to say there aren’t tough days at the office. You are caring for a living, breathing entity that spans hundreds of acres. Mother Nature can throw a wrench in the best-laid plans. Sometimes those coworkers don’t cooperate, and of those thousands of individuals who enjoy the recreational platform you care for, well one or two of them are bound to tell you they can do your job better than you.
Even with all of that, it’s still tough to beat. And once you’re in the industry, it’s the people involved who really make it what it is.
This career is so much more than maintaining a golf course. In fact, it’s so much more than a career, it’s a lifestyle. The dedication, commitment and passion of superintendents, assistants and equipment managers are second to none. Nobody knows more, or cares more, about the golf course than golf course superintendents and their teams.
And it takes a village. Nobody can do it alone. You depend on your teams as much as they depend on you. Industry partners are there for support. Fellow superintendents, assistants, and equipment managers are just a text or phone call away to offer a hand, advice, or heck, even a piece of equipment to help you out.
What other industry can say that? Not many, if any, that I know of.
GCSAA members aren’t competitors. They only want the best for each other. I’ve been lucky enough to be in this industry at varying levels for 20 years and the support and encouragement from fellow members has never waivered. Go to any local, regional or national event and you'll find a group of industry professionals sharing ideas and best practices with their neighbor and fellow member. They aren’t looking to undermine the next guy’s operation — quite the opposite — they are giving advice to help with a problem or offering support when times are tough.
It's easy to see the draw of this profession. It’s even easier to see why so many end up making it a career. When you have nearly 20,000 fellow GCSAA members to lend a hand and pick you up when you need I most, that’s a pretty good support group.
I started this post by saying GCSAA doesn’t exist without the members, and that’s true. But it’s even more than that. GCSAA is the members. GCSAA is made up of member committees and task groups all working to make the lives of their fellow members better. It’s one of the best communities in one of the best professions out there, and I'm happy to be a small part of it.
Thanks for coming on this journey with me over the past year! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. As always, if you’ve missed a previous post, please check them out below: