In the garage, where I belong

Seth Jones

Greetings from northeast Kansas, where we’re happy to talk about Kansas City Chiefs football so we can pretend that Kansas University football isn’t a real thing. Youth soccer season finally has ended, and now my 6-year-old boy wants me to take him to the local par-3 course on Saturdays. I’m happy to oblige. That’s so much better than barking orders at his kindergarten soccer team, begging them to spread out and not play bunch-ball. Although, I have about as much control over my own golf ball as I did that soccer team…

The weather has been so nice here this fall that a few weeks ago I moved my home office to the two-car garage. I realize now that I may have gotten carried away. It started out as a lawn chair and my laptop on top of a cooler, a humble setup. Now I’ve got a desk, dual computer screens, a couch, the 100-disc jukebox, my kegerator, and last week I mounted a 55-inch flatscreen on the far wall. Meanwhile, my ’64 Impala is parked in the driveway staring back at me, wondering if there’s an outdoor winter in its future.

I don’t know what I’m going to do when the cold weather comes, but for now, I’m living the dream. I just hope my wife doesn’t suggest I make the garage not only my office but also my permanent residence… but if she did, I would at least be comfortable.

There’s clearly no one point I want to make this month, so let’s get to the bullets:

⦁ Thank you to our many readers who completed our chemical-use survey this summer. One of the things you told us is that your preferred method of learning about new trends and products are print magazines like Golfdom, which is reassuring, to say the least. There were some other interesting takes, but I’m saving those details for next month’s issue, where we will be unveiling our State of the Industry Report.

⦁ Along those same lines, I recently emailed everyone with another survey to bolster the summer chemical survey, and to get readers’ takes on a wider variety of topics. This survey will be used to help us with our State of the Industry Report. As a thank you to those who take the survey, I will be giving away one Yeti cooler to a randomly selected participant, and to the GCSAA chapter that responds with the most surveys, I will road trip to one of your chapter meetings next year and personally deliver a keg of your finest local beer. (And of course, I will enjoy a few with you.) The survey should be in your inbox right now, or you can review it by visiting Golfdom.com. We’ll also post it to social media (Facebook and Twitter) so you can see it there. Just look for the photo of me with the aforementioned Impala, in what Associate Editor Grant B. Gannon told me looks like a high school senior photo taken 20 years too late…

⦁ Coming in the January issue, we will be celebrating the 90th anniversary of the launch of Golfdom by Herb and Joe Graffis. We have a lot planned, including a timeline of the magazine, vintage advertising and new tales of Herb Graffis from those who knew him well (Mr. Graffis died in 1989 at age 95.) If you have any personal stories or memories of Mr. Graffis or any fun old Golfdom-related stories in general, I’d love to hear from you… please feel free to reach out. My garage doors are always open.