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About this blog

Paul MacCormack, Fox Meadow Golf Club, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Entries in this blog

Wellness

Minority Report: Minority Perspectives on Well-Being in Turf

The intention for this series is to share more diverse perspectives on what it means to be a turf professional in today’s industry. Our backgrounds (gender, race and such) can influence how others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves within the dominant narratives/lens in North America which favours the lived experiences of cisgendered, white males. Depending on where we find ourselves in relation to the dominant power structure, it can influence our mental wellness in a wide variety of way
Wellness

Through a Different Lens: Female Perspectives on Mental Health and Well-Being in Turf

The impact of our industry on one’s mental health is more often discussed from the male perspective rather than that of female superintendents. In the last post (Is it Time to Man Up or Open Up) we looked through the lens of the male experience and explored themes like vulnerability, intergenerational patterns and the simple act of opening up to someone you trust.   When I wrote that piece I felt that I had at least a modicum of experience to fall back on. Being a man and speaking with othe
Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Wellness

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Wellness

Is it Time to Man Up or Open Up?

June was Men’s Mental Health Awareness month. I thought it timely to circle back around to this topic and once again shine a light on mental health awareness. This blog post will be focusing on the gender majority of our industry, men.  Next month it will focus on women’s experience and well being. Back in the midst of the pandemic, there were many studies and articles about the state of mental health amongst greenkeepers, course managers and superintendents. As we adjusted post- pandemic,
Wellness

The Wintering Season

Recently we explored the idea of seasonality (The Season) and the idea that we as a species (and a part of nature) follow similar rhythms of the natural world over the course of both a single season and a year as a whole. When we remember to tune into the rhythms of a particular season of our lives we tend to find greater ease as we are more likely to be in flow and less likely to be swimming against the current. One particular season that often times gets ignored or overlooked in our moder
Wellness

Starting Anew...

Sometimes in this life we have no choice in the matter. Events occur which upend our lives in such a monumental way that we have no choice but to change direction and begin anew. It could be a climate disaster that destroys your home and surrounding community. It could be the tragic loss of someone you love dearly or an accident that leaves you or someone you love personally injured and forced to relearn the basics of what it means to live on a day to day basis. No matter what the tragedy, you a
Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Wellness

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Wellness

Sleep Easy...

We all do it. We can’t live without it. We’ve been doing it since the day we were born and will continue to do so until our final breath. What I am talking about here is sleep. When you think about it, we spend slightly less than half of our lives practicing this craft. We each have our own idiosyncrasies and habits when it comes to what works best for us to hopefully achieve the proper amount of rest each day. It’s a part of our lives that is so completely undervalued and misunderstood, an
Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Wellness

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Wellness

The Benefit of Doubt...

As Superintendents & Course Managers we manage a great deal on a daily basis. Conditioning of all sorts, staff issues, weather, member and customer expectations, budgets and financial drama… by times the list can appear endless. But there is one thing above all that, and based on how we manage it, can have a deep impact on not only our operations, but on our overall well being.  It’s the very thing that has the biggest influence on just about every decision and prediction we attempt eve
Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Wellness

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Wellness

The Show Must Go On…

For the first time in nearly three years we are almost finished a full, in-person conference season. From the GCSAA Show, the BTME, the Carolinas and all shows in between, we have made the transition back to meeting face to face and by all accounts it’s been well received. After two plus seasons of virtual and hybrid education, everyone appears to be genuinely happy to be back at our respective events, shaking actual hands. For me personally, it’s been a quiet return to travel and speaking.
Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Wellness

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Wellness

Mindful Resilience: Letting Go...

If you live in the northeastern part of the US or in eastern Canada as I do, you are very likely smack dab in the midst of what can be termed the burn out season. You spent the spring preparing your facility for the onslaught of golfers and now with the excitement of opening day a distant memory, both you and your team are most likely suffering from the cumulative effects of the grind.  The feeling of fatigue which supers and their employees experience at this stage of the season can be ove
Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Wellness

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Wellness

A Pound of Cure...

Pause a moment and think about a time when your playing surfaces suffered. Disease, traffic issues, weather events… any or all can force you to take measures to mitigate the damage. Perhaps you add medicine, raise the HOC, or divert activity away from the area all together in order to alleviate the pressures and allow space for recovery. Basically you were forced to confront vulnerability and then impart measures of care and nurturing in order to fix the problem. How many times in your care
Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Wellness

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Wellness

Mindful Resilience for turf and self...

Mindful Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. The ability of an object to spring back into shape; elasticity.  (Oxford Dictionary) So much of our job as Superintendents depends on our ability to build resilience into our systems. We focus a great deal of time and energy on building the ability for our turf to recover quickly from inevitable hardship. The full range of our cultural practices, from nutrition, to hydration, air movement and proper light levels are all
Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Wellness

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Wellness

No expectations...

"My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations." Michael J. Fox Over the weekend I had an interesting chat with my sister-in-law. She was reflecting on the malaise of her generation (she is 28) and how it relates to job prospects and general quality of life. The conversation eventually swung around to the topic of expectations and how they are directly linked to contentment. Her basic premise was that people who trundle through
Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Wellness

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