Controlling what I can control

Introspection isn’t my specialty, but it seems like lately I’ve been doing a lot of it. ¶ It’s surely the new year that has me pondering the past, present and future. Or, some might just accuse me of being a worrier — I had to earn all this gray hair somehow, right? Maybe it’s because this issue is my 50th working as the editor-in-chief of Golfdom, a landmark I’m proud of. ¶ Or maybe it’s our cover story, and one specific question: how do you feel the golf economy will be in 2015?

I called some heavy hitters in the industry to ask them their thoughts, and you can read all their responses starting on page 20 of this issue. It seems that not only are Golfdom’s readers optimistic for 2015, but the industry bigwigs I spoke with are as well.

But this got me thinking about 2015. And that got me worrying: What if 2015 is worse than 2014?

Then I decided, heck, I already know what will happen in 2015: Courses will open and courses will close, people will take up the game and people will quit the game, people will be hired and people will be fired.

And at the end of it all, if you’re still a loyal reader of this magazine in 2016 (plan on it), if I’m still your loyal editor of this magazine (plan on it), then that will mean we survived another year working in this amazing business of golf.

And that, my friends, is a gift.

We have no control over what the national economy does, but we do control what we’re trying to accomplish, and how we work toward that goal.

Forget the golf economy. What are you and I going to do in 2015 to make the year a resounding success?

I’ll tell you a few of my goals I want to accomplish in 2015 to make it a successful year:

Go north. Recently I saw on Facebook a map of the U.S. where you can click all the states you’ve visited and share it with friends. I rarely post on Facebook, but I thought that sounded fun, so I clicked all the states I’ve visited. I realized that I’ve covered pretty much all of the U.S.… with the exception of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota.

I need to remedy that, and I’m doing it in 2015. If you’re in one of those states and think I should come to your course, let me know, and I’ll see if I can make it happen.

Even better: I need to hit a chapter meeting up that way.

Make more friends. As I roam around the country, I’m fortunate to meet a lot of cool, fun people. I love meeting new people, especially those with similar interests.

I hope to meet more of Golfdom’s readers and make some new friends along the way. I love it when I’m sitting at a nationally televised Kansas University basketball game and get a text from a superintendent (you know who you are) asking me if I’m at the game, and when we’re going to catch a game together. Or being invited to a 40th birthday party (you know who you are.) Or getting an email with about a dozen exclamation points, letting me know you just got your dream superintendent gig (you know who you are.)

So, I want to make more friends. Laugh. Tell stories. And most important: make new stories.

Impress you. I want to have an issue this year that blows your mind. Maybe it’s a big interview, or a business story. Maybe it’s a course profile. I want it all to come together and have a story that elicits responses from around the country, gets a conversation going, gets people thinking, maybe even changing.

That’s not too much to ask of myself, right?

What are your goals for 2015? Let’s discuss, and soon.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net | pat138241 | Joelle Harms