Chad Giebelhaus, Crooked Creek Golf Club
These last few months leading up to the National GIS in Orlando has had my phone ringing off the hook, to sort of say. Now that I am our delegate for NGCSA I have the honor of having the candidates for Directors of the Board of GCSAA call me intermittently throughout the days, asking if there are any questions that I or our members may have for them, while they also slip in the “I am also just looking for your support for my position on the board!” This let me tell you, they are all deserving of our support after having the privilege of speaking with all of them. Service on the National GCSAA Board of Directors is no small task, and I doubt if any of them would be running if they didn’t care.
After asking a question or two, we got on a pretty good topic of discussion: Where is the GCSAA headed and how do we get there? One candidate had an answer that was rather obvious. He said that in order to sustain and improve on GCSAA’s national impact and public awareness we have to promote ourselves at home, at our places of employment first, and then make sure we are doing what we are supposed to be doing at the state level, and then the national level of support will come. But GCSAA has to be able to supply the knowledge and means of communication to its members. Though, individually we need to be communicating to our members first and foremost, they are the only reason that we get to do what we do! Then communicate effectively and explicitly with our supervisors, whether that is a board, owner, director, or whomever. What matters the most is that we communicate, because that will put us in the eye of the decision makers and the customers, thus validating that what we do is important. Not only is what we do important to the game of golf, but to the environment and our communities. Our management of resources cognitively and respectfully allows us to preserve our planet, so to speak. We are mindful of the plant and animal species in our environments, our impact on their health and survival, water sources, and the air in which we breathe, but do the players, public, and legal decision makers of our communities know that?
I guess how I envision our self promotion is that it starts every morning. During the growing months you start the process by going out and talking to the players, explaining what your goals and processes are for the day, the week, the month, and so forth. From there discussion might progress to how your accomplishing these things and the explanation of impacts come later in your discussions. Knowledge displayed is power, and I think that the power, so to speak, is you securing your place at your facility and your place in the game of golf. After your interaction with the players you can start the whole process over again with your superiors, with whom you are directly responsible to. And it shouldn’t stop there…there is also lateral information shared with the golf professional, your assistant, and don’t forget the rest of the maintenance crew. If all other employees see what you’re doing and why, your impact reaches far beyond your clubhouses and maintenance shops. Keeping with those lines of communication, you need to stay in contact with your local legislators and fellow superintendents on important environmental issues. Communicating our knowledge everyday will demonstrate that our impact is much more diverse than just on the game of golf! Really, I think it’s that easy.
What we know and have done for the past 30 years for that matter, cannot be learned in a thirty minute reading of some article out of a magazine or turf book. What I do here at Crooked Creek will not always work for Brian Hellbusch at Hillcrest Country Club, two miles to the west! One also may not be able to manage their 15th green the same way that their 9th is managed. Others need to know that.
So in my closing remarks, we need to be visual at our facilities. We need to be active, vocal, and perform in that educational role every day. And from there we do the same outside of the confines of our employment, being active in the same way in our communities. We need to use our local and state association as a means of informing others, staying on top of important topics, performing community outreach, and don’t forget relating with our fellow superintendents with what we love to do! I hope as this newsletter hits your desks with spring fast approaching, that we were all able to recharge ourselves after last year’s many challenges! I know I’m looking forward to this spring.
Chad Giebelhaus
NGCSA President
