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The Awesome Job of a Golf Course Greenskeeper
Does anyone else dream of being a greenskeeper?
Rolling around in a golf cart, buggy, mower, three-wheeler, utility cart, or tractor under the sunshine with the wind blowing on my face, thinking it doesn’t get any better than this.
Simply being around a golf course is like being home for me. This is partly the reason why I’ve always dreamed of being a golf course greenskeeper. My first dream job was to be a professional golfer, but this requires being exceptionally good at golf — something I’ve yet to accomplish.
Despite being an 11 handicap after nearly 30 years of trying to break the par code, I did finally accomplish my dream of being a greenskeeper.
Seeds of a Dream
Like other young and ambitious Americans, I started off my college years working toward a respectable career, specifically for me, being a secondary education history teacher. I was interested in history, liked to teach, and the pay was good.
While working toward my Associate degree at a community college I took a career development course. During this course, the teacher asked us to write a list of the careers or jobs we wanted to do. A what do you want to do when you grow up question.
For some reason, the teaching idea was getting lost in my head, so I chose to be a greenskeeper and a writer as my top career choices. There were others who wanted to be a writer, but I was the only one who wanted to be a greenskeeper.
Fast forward 19 years and I finally became a golf course greenskeeper!
Meadows Golf Course
I did work as a golf course cart attendant for a season around 7 years after this class, yet it wasn’t until I landed a job at Sunriver Resort’s Meadow Golf Course when I was 40 years old that I finally realized my dream job.
The hard part about this job is I had to drive 82 miles one way to get there. This meant my 8-hour job with a half-hour lunch turned into an 11-hour day with the drive — and the gas took a huge chunk out of my already small paycheck.
Besides the paltry pay and long commute, this was the best job I’ve ever had. I absolutely love being a golf course greenskeeper.
