When a scheduling error for this year's National Golf Day in Washington, D.C., prevented attendees from helping spruce up the National Mall for the event service project, two other locations in need of plenty of TLC proved to be more than adequate replacements.
A group of about 200 superintendents will be among those helping put a shine on the Armed Forces Retirement Home Golf Course and East Potomac Golf Course May 2 at the conclusion of National Golf Day, an annual event hosted by the American Golf Industry Coalition that allows golf industry stakeholders to spread the word to legislators in the nation's capital about the benefits of golf.
About 150 of the 200 or so superintendents in attendance will work for about 3 hours at the Armed Forces Retirement Home course, with the other 50 taking on East Potomac.
The project is a cooperative effort that includes GCSAA and several vendor partners, including Genesis Turfgrass of York, Pennsylvania, which is supplying sand, and Finch Turf, an equipment dealer with a half-dozen outlets in the Mid-Atlantic that is supplying a variety of 13 mowers for the Armed Forces Retirement project, said Jon Lobenstine, director of agronomy for Montgomery County's nine-course operation in Maryland and part of the association's National Golf Day planning committee. Toro is lending equipment for the East Potomac project.
The course at the Armed Forces Retirement Home does not have a superintendent and relies on a handful of resident volunteers who are not trained agronomists.
"They have no superintendent, no assistant, no equipment manager, no ability to spray. They mow almost everything with a zero-turn," Lobenstine said. "Cups are changed once a year, and there are dandelions on the greens."
There are more than 200 residents at the home, but fewer than 20 play golf, said Lobenstine.
The project will include mowing everywhere, seeding, topdressing, spraying, some tree work and cleaning up flower beds, said Ryan Kraushofer, CGCS at Westminster National Golf Course in Manchester, Maryland.
"This has been on our radar for a few years," Kraushofer said of the Armed Forces Retirement course. "It's been great to meet the retired vets who maintain the property. We're excited to see some superintendents come in and spruce the place up."
The superintendent contingent will meet with legislators and their surrogates all day Thursday before making their way to the golf courses first thing Friday morning.
As part of the project and to thank the Armed Forces Retirement Home volunteer greenkeepers for their service, the GCSAA contingent will make the group honorary association members.
"I think they will be excited about that," Lobenstine said.
National Golf Day is an annual event hosted by the American Golf Industry Coalition, a group of the game’s leading associations. During the three-day event, coalition members, including superintendent members of GCSAA, have the chance to meet with lawmakers and their staff members to discuss the game's economic and environmental benefits.