Members Welcome
Golf season is on the horizon. The mellow season in maintenance shops is drawing to a close. I always find myself with mixed feelings around this time of year. Excited for the longer days, warmer temps, & the hope that maybe this is the year my golf swing clicks and I find that consistency and ball striking I somehow still believe is achievable. Very soon the onslaught of Masters themed stories, posts, merch and the like will flood all corners of the golf ecosystem. It’s like fashion week for golf and much like the Christmas season it seems to arrive earlier every year and stick around a bit longer.
It has been a long winter. A busy winter. A cold, dark, and wet winter. For myself it included planning, networking, brainstorming, creating, and yet it never feels like enough. The to-do list only grows. Odds are decent that you are just getting acquainted with the Greenkeepers Golf Club. If not, well, you should really get back to me, I’ve been trying to talk to you for a while and set something up. You know who you are.
The arrival of the golf season also marks the inaugural season for the Greenkeepers Golf Club. By and large we (greenkeepers) are a blue collar bunch. It’s a big reason that led me to create the GK GC. In a landscape where our work is a service to others, I think it is important for us to take some time where we can, to enjoy the fruits of our labor. The chef has got to eat at some point.
So for the Greenkeepers Golf Club to work, it does in fact need members. It turns out you can’t really call yourself a club if you do not have any members. It requires a membership that can believe in and represent our guiding ethos; Work Early and Play Late. And if we can find enough of us who do believe and embody this, our ranks will grow and along with it the value and pride of being a member.
A golf club with no membership is not a club. A donut with no holes is a danish.
I mentioned in a previous post I suffer from paralysis by analysis. I have spent the winter planning and plotting ways to create a golf club for greenkeepers, at my own expense, while offering members the best value possible. I believe that greenkeepers and turf care departments provide the best value in the entire golf ecosystem. I want to make this club as accessible as possible for anyone in our industry to feel a part of. It also turns out chasing golfers who are overworked and underpaid is not the smartest business decision. But here I am and with the first hints of spring showing it is time to quit planning and just go for it. Enough standing over the ball, it's time to swing, hit and go find it.
So for this first season of GK GC play it is time to launch a Membership (Beta) program. Membership will be an included value for anyone who registers and participates in any of the 2025 GK GC events. Just for playing you get the opportunity to be a member and receive the benefits valid for the year. That means you will be able to consider yourself a member of the Greenkeepers Golf Club and have a voice in shaping its future. It also means that I will provide you with as much value as I can deliver without causing my family financial harm. If you are not able to make it to a GK GC event but still want to be included there is a remote option for those who cannot make it in person but still want to have a voice, get the access and enjoy the benefits. The first events are growing here in the Pacific Northwest but I see no reason why the GK GC cannot operate anywhere there are greenkeepers who enjoy getting out amongst others in the industry and playing some golf. The overarching concept to all of this is building a network of golfing greenkeepers, a community that wants to get out, connect and play, and on occasion; compete. So what does membership include:
The Greenkeepers GC Membership (Beta)
Discord Server Access- Some golfing societies refer to this as their virtual clubhouse and it is an accurate description. Members can connect, network and help advise in club dealings and direction such as merch decisions, art, event format and more.
Member Exclusive Pricing- Pre order merchandise at near cost pricing, still get a discount when it is in stock, and eventually event pricing discounts as well.
Member Exclusive Access- Members will always have first priority when travel golf opportunities and local play opportunities arise.
Member Bag Tag
Eventual USGA Virtual Club status with Handicap- This will take a little time and some work from within the membership. Status could be achieved in ‘26.
NO AUTOPAY- That’s right, another great business decision here. While we establish the membership and iron out details, there will be no CC on file that gets run annually when you forget about it. Either you want to be here or you don’t, that’s your choice, not mine.
The whole idea is to provide a member experience at a maximum value for those in the greenkeeping community. Behind the scenes I am consistently working to find and create value to offer our members first and then partners who share in our values and commitment to enjoy the game we work to deliver for so many others. For many, our hands may be callused, our backs stiff, and our swings shortening, but I am more convinced than ever that playing more golf can be an input to grow our ranks and community and forge both personal and professional gains that will help in reminding ourselves why it is we chose this line of work in the first place. Let us remember to stay connected to our turf community, our courses and when the opportunity exists, the game. Because we may not always remember why we do what we do, and we may often find reasons to gripe about what we do, but we still show up and do it.
I have found that most ideas require a few things to become reality. Passion, vision, a bit of luck, and someone with the drive to see it through. I have the vision, the passion and the drive. I just need the luck and support from likeminded others who are willing to build something unique and original for our industry. This is a club open to greenkeepers, turf nerds and the like, at all levels; both in golf skill and job status. I believe golf can do good things for greenkeepers and I believe in the power of working early and playing late.
If you enjoy golf and have a connection to the golf maintenance industry and believe in the value of work and play I hope you will join in and we can build a connected community of golfing greenkeepers together. I truly believe we have an opportunity to build something special, lasting and unique that can and will do good for our entire turf care community.
"Nothing is more endangered in the modern world than the powerful combination of hard work toward meaningful goals joined with an exuberant embrace of the present moment."
(Old) Tom Morris
The Original Golfing Greenkeeper