What you missed on Twitter in the past few months
If you haven’t heard, social media is huge, and it’s no surprise that it’s caught on like wildfire in our industry. After all, the only people who truly understand what we do are our grass-growing brethren, so it makes perfect sense that sharing our thoughts, issues and opinions with others in the business would be wildly appealing to many. Add to that the visual nature of our work and the ease with which photos and videos can be shared, and it’s a match made in heaven.
Unfortunately, we get so busy this time of year that we usually don’t have a lot of time to keep up with everything that’s going on in the Twittersphere (a word I hoped I’d never use) or any of the other social media outlets. Because Golfdom is entirely committed to our readers, I will attempt to get you caught up on what you may have missed so far this year.
Keep in mind that I, too, have had almost no time to keep up with the latest social media goings-on, but since at least 75 percent of turf-related social media posts fall into one of the following categories, I’m confident that this summary will be completely accurate.
The Hopeless Romantic Post
Several people posted pics of sunrises and glistening dew with captions ranging from “Best office on earth!” to “Nothing like the smell of fresh-cut grass in the morning.” I’m admittedly a huge sucker for these; I’ll throw a “like” at an HRP almost every time.
The Maintenance Monday Post
A lot of crews used Mondays to backtrack verti-cut in multiple directions, Graden, needle tine, deep tine, Dry-Ject, topdress or spray greens. There may have been a few where most of this was done in the same day. I hope they’re on bermuda. I bet guys who aren’t fortunate enough to ever have a free Monday get tired of reading these.
The Zippity-Doo-Dah Post
For some guys out there, the sun is always shining, the crew is always awesome and the turf is always #glowing. The cynic in me sometimes wonders if these are just marketing ploys to get more interns.
The New Equipment Delivery Post
It was Christmas in (insert month that’s not December) for several crews. We’re like a bunch of kids when it comes to new equipment. We can’t wait to use it, and when somebody else gets new stuff we wish we were getting some, too. Speaking of marketing ploys…
The Carnage Post
Unfortunately, people apparently had to deal with vandalism, storm damage, divots on greens, spray rigs in lakes, irrigation geysers… basically everything that keeps you awake at night and makes you feel bad for the guy posting it.
The Weather Post
It rained a lot somewhere, didn’t rain for weeks somewhere else, and was really hot or not that hot. Misery (and relief) love company. This is one of the best things about social media usage in our business. We all know we’re not the only ones dealing with a certain set of challenging circumstances, but it sometimes helps to be reminded that you’re not alone.
The Soapbox Post
Somebody took exception to something someone else posted and decided they needed to air their objections publicly. All I’ll say about this is that being preachy and self-righteous is never a good look. Oops — I guess I just was. Carry on, soapboxers, my apologies. You were just getting ready to light me up, weren’t you?
I hope that helped get everybody caught up. I’d hate for you to have to spend all winter wading through thousands of posts when everybody knows winter is for reading the April through November issues of all the trade magazines. Merry Christmas. Hope you don’t have to spend all weekend plowing snow.
Photo: iStock.com/mattjeacock