Keeping up with the Jones: Putting a bow on the summer of 2024

The last day of summer is near. For me, that means the kids are going back to school (Evey, somehow, is now a senior while Boyd starts seventh grade). But for many readers of this magazine, the end of summer means the busiest, most hectic time of the year is almost over.

How did you fare? How busy was the course? Does your significant other still recognize you when you walk in the door?

Golfdom’s Editor-in-Chief Seth Jones on his trip to Alaska. (Photo: Golfdom staff)

My summer was packed with travel. And while I don’t like being away from my family, I’ll admit that my travels were a lot of fun. I crossed Alaska off my bucket list with a trip to Bristol Bay for some fishing and bear watching (SO MANY BEARS!). I made it to Cleveland to visit the home office of North Coast Media but somehow managed to whiff on both the Sammy Hagar concert and the Def Leppard show that were in town at the same time. And most recently, I was in Park City, Utah, for a couple of days of golf and meetings with some friends in the industry (Thanks to Brian Renschler, director of agronomy at Talisker Club, for hosting us on his beautiful course. You can read my 19th Hole interview with Brian here).

Whenever I post a photo on social media from a scenic location, I usually get someone who is local to the area who responds, “You were in (insert location) and didn’t call me? I live near there; we could have grabbed lunch!” I instantly feel guilty about not thinking of contacting the person … and then a few moments later, I consider how many people skirt through Kansas City in a given year and don’t think to call me. Hey, it happens; we’re busy when we’re traveling. But it is something I have to get better at because I love it when people reach out to me when they’re in my area.

Recently, Steve Sarro, a longtime superintendent I’ve known for two decades, pulled his U-Haul into my driveway. He was on a cross-country trip, moving his family’s belongings to Destin, Fla., where he is now the superintendent at Kelly Plantation GC. Steve and I got to catch up over a few drinks in the Hall of Justice (a photo is in this month’s Gallery on page 10). Similarly, current GCSAA President Jeff White, CGCS at Indian Hills CC in Mission Hills, Kan., stopped by the HOJ recently. I think Whitey will vouch for the HOJ if you ask him. Maybe I can talk him into hosting a board of directors meeting there someday.

Jones (left) and Steve Sarro. (Photo: Golfdom staff)

The results of this month’s cover story are from another one of those calls. I met Jeff Stahman of TurfMend at the Equip Exposition show in Louisville, Ky., last October. A few months later, he passed through Kansas City and reached out. We decided to meet up for dinner. He told me he was with his friend “Lew.”

Turns out Lew is Lewis Sharp, head agronomist for Tee-2-Green. Despite both of us being in the golf industry for decades, we’d never crossed paths until this dinner. That dinner led to a new friendship in an industry full of friends. Lew helped me wrangle the sources for this month’s cover story on bentgrass seed farmers, and he even took the photos featured on the cover and inside this issue. Like one of my sources this month told me, “Lew is one-of-a-kind.”

That dinner in Kansas City also led to my recent golf trip to Park City, Utah. But more on that story in a later issue …

Congratulations on getting through another busy summer. I hope someday you can tell me all about it, maybe while I’m at your course … or maybe at a restaurant in Kansas City or even over a cold beer in the HOJ.

Related Articles

Seth’s August column: Keeping up with the Jones: Welcoming the next generation

Seth’s July column: Keeping up with the Jones: One day in North Carolina at the U.S. Open