Keeping up with The Jones: How golf course superintendents survive the toughest season

When it comes to publishing a magazine, I try my best to make a magazine I would want to read. This issue is very much that. I don’t want to give too much away, but I’d still like to give you a little background on several parts of this magazine…

First, the cover story. This idea has been kicking around in my head for years, but I didn’t know how I wanted to pull it off. I’ve heard so much from our Friends of Golfdom over the years about how grueling the summer months can be for superintendents and their crews. So why — and how — do they do it?

It occurred to me: I can’t tell you why or how, but they can. I got my start in the spring by texting around 30 friends in the business, prompting them with the story idea. I told them I’d be calling them without warning, and if they wanted to talk to me about their most difficult summer and how they endured it, we’d talk.

I remember calling Mark Semm and doing that interview in shorthand in a casino sportsbook (I must have been feeling lucky). I spoke with Johnny Walker while I sat in my car, waiting to pick up my son (for effect, I had the air conditioning off and the windows down). It took Anthony Williams two weeks to return my call, but the wait was worth it (I’ll always call Anthony, I think of him as my own superintendent Yoda).  

Not every interview made the magazine, but it was sure fun catching up with so many guys. The Thankless Summer — superintendents and industry veterans, in their own words, talking about their most difficult summers and what they learned from it — can be found here.  

Now, the cover of this issue? That was a year in the making. And if you didn’t instantly recognize the inspiration, I’ll let you take another look at it before I get into that story (I’ll bring this around in a few paragraphs — take your time). 

Some more things I’m excited about in this issue: My friend Andy Staples, ASGCA, has his first column for the magazine in this issue; sponsored by Foley, we debut a new department, This Guy Grinds, spotlighting an equipment manager; our Golfdom Gallery is a three-pager this month to celebrate all the people we’ve seen recently, including a two-page spread from the U.S. Open at Shinnecock. 

Also, we have two articles that are timely follow-ups to innovations we were the first to tell you about: turfRad and NanoOxygen Systems.

OK, back to the cover. For those old enough, they will recall the movie “The Endless Summer,” a 1966 documentary about a group of surfers traveling the world. The movie is a classic; the movie poster, created by John Van Hamersveld, is in the Smithsonian. That movie poster is the inspiration for this month’s cover, adapted from surfers to supers. 

Credit where credit is due: North Coast Media CEO Kevin Stoltman came up with the idea. When he first pitched it to me, I wondered: Will enough readers get the homage? I told him I wanted to think on it. 

It was a week later. I was at the U.S. Open at Oakmont, having dinner in Pittsburgh following an eventful day on the course. We were seated near the open-air windows of the front when a couple walked past our table. The guy was wearing a T-shirt of “The Endless Summer” movie poster. He must have caught me looking at his shirt as he gave me a smile and a nod. 

I immediately texted Kevin: Give me 12 months, and we’re going to make “The Endless Summer” homage happen. “The Endless Summer” poster is indeed iconic. A tip of the cap to Rob Dobi who nailed the concept for this month’s cover. 

Those surfers had an endless summer. Thankfully for supers, every grueling summer eventually has an end.  

And for every grueling summer, we are thankful for superintendents. 

Email Jones at: sjones@northcoastmedia.net.