My name is not Gary. But for a moment in time it was. For the purpose of freeing up my creative self to settle into this new role and share some mildly original thoughts here, I am going to put the name Gary back on. That way if this little experiment fails miserably we can all blame and hate Gary together. One of my first Supers gave me the nickname Gary for the simple reason I was told; “You look like a Gary”. I am pretty confident he just could not remember my name, which was common as I had a few nicknames at the time, and was by no means memorable in any way. But Gary stuck throughout my time there and became one of the top nicknames I acquired during those formative years.

I am a fairly simple guy, a self-deprecating jack ass and a mediocre one at best. I try not to take anything too seriously. I am more influenced than influencer and not very good at either. The idea of the Greenkeepers Golf Club is not about me. I do not want it to be about me and have no intentions of making it about me. This is about the greenkeeping experience, from the perspective of a greenkeeper and the experienced connection to the courses we serve and the game itself. I have no visions of grandeur for myself in this. My intention is to create something unique, authentic and of value for those who enjoy it may take pride in. I actually believe there is an opportunity for golf to do good things for the industry. Therein lies my motivation. I see an opportunity, I have a vision, a plan, lofty goals and a supportive wife. That last one at least for the time being….

I am no philosopher. No Shivas Irons here. I have dabbled in the lessons of the stoics, so I have that going for me, which is nice. The obstacle is the way, so they say. I am your very typical greenkeeper. But I do show up on time and when I say I will. That is half the job right there and it never ceases to amaze me how many can have trouble with that part of it. I started when I was 16 just as Tiger was hitting his prime and winning everything. Since then I have worked at private clubs, muni’s, high end public tracks and cut grass at all the various heights. I currently cut cups at a blue jean country club in the pacific northwest, the kind where members can supply their own carts and most swings are not worth watching. If I ever found myself needing to work I would get myself to the maintenance shop of a golf course. The cast of characters I find in said shops are unlike any I have found elsewhere, and there have been many. I still have vivid memories of my first super giving a very spirited talk to the entire crew about “attention to detail” (truth be told this was during the Gary era) and that talk still lives rent free in my head although I don’t recall it having much effect on me at the time. To this day, if I see a piece of trash on the course and don’t pick it up, 9 out of 10 times I will go back and pick it up after the attention to detail speech starts to roll in my mind. I was a greenkeeper before I became a golfer, and now I find the two sides are forever linked. I played a little golf before I made it into my first maintenance shop, enough to understand the basics. But I had no one to show me the game. Golf to me at that point was very innocent, you just wanted to hit good shots, that felt good at impact and get the ball in the hole. I had zero understanding how to play the game. That came much later and am still trying to figure that one out.

I am an over-thinker. Paralysis by analysis is my disease for which I have yet to find a cure. So, do know that whatever I put forth; an event, a hat, a sticker, an over worded introduction, a 3ft putt, anything really, it has had far more thought, attention, and fear & loathing than is necessary. But you can take solace in that fact to also know it is authentic and with care and pride that I put anything forth. I would like to think that is also how the successful people in our industry operate, by putting out their best efforts with pride and integrity. And more often than not with less resources than would be ideal for the task at hand.

This space will be the nursery for some of my observations and creative thoughts. Turns out Gary’s writing services are very affordable. You don’t have to agree, or like it, or even read it. But if you are on the back nine, hiding from your super, trying to milk it to clean up time may this bring you a bit of entertainment. And just maybe some ideas and notions make it out there into the golf universe from the perspective of your local greenkeeper. A perspective not often heard.

So there you have it. If you made it this far and if you don’t feel the need to punch me in the face I hope you will continue to follow along as I try to build a global network of golfing greenkeepers. As the good Dr. Thompson would often say Buy the ticket, take the ride. I have a plan, a clear vison and plenty of passion and hunger for success and this train has left the station. Consider this my opening tee shot. No pressure here, just swing easy. And if it misses the fairway, go find it, hit it again, and blame Gary.