DiFranco’s Drive: On the road again and again

As I’ve been on the road (or in the air) of late, I’ve had quite a bit of time to reflect on my time at Golfdom. By the time you’re reading this, I’ll have been with the magazine for three years, a wild thing to think about as it feels like just yesterday I walked through the doors of our Cleveland office a full 45 minutes early.

I came into the golf industry with little knowledge about turf or the people responsible for keeping it alive and thriving. There’s still a lot — like, a whole lot — for me to learn, but that’s where these recent travels come into play.

Over two weeks in December, I took back-to-back trips to North Carolina for outstanding industry events — the Syngenta Business Institute and Green Start Academy.

This was my second time attending Green Start — and this time, I finally scored a “Green Start Academy Alumni” pin! This was also my second time at Pinehurst, where John Deere, Envu and Rain Bird have hosted the event for the last four years.

If you’ve never been and are an assistant superintendent looking to make your way up the industry ladder, I can’t give a big enough endorsement of Green Start. 

You won’t talk turf — at least during the day — but you will get invaluable advice from superintendents who are previous attendees. Mentors like Bubba Wright from Big Cedar Lodge, Troy Flanagan from The Olympic Club and John Jeffreys from Pinehurst — aka guys with experience hosting men’s and women’s U.S. Opens.

The Syngenta Business Institute was an event I had been looking forward to since Golfdom Digital Media Specialist Sydney Fischer came back with a glowing review of her experience in 2023.

I won’t leave you hanging for too long on my review … it lived up to the hype. The Wake Forest University staff did a fantastic job with sessions on leading across generations, how to strike a good work/life balance and more.

By far, my favorite part of the event was the roundtable discussions on the final night. Over the last three years, I’ve heard a lot about the state of the labor market in this industry. To say it’s been a mixed bag would be an understatement. As I’m sure you know, some have all the luck with employees and some have little to none. This discussion had people on both sides of that spectrum, and it led to plenty of ideas flying back and forth. 

A long list of thanks

As I start year three at Golfdom — and pen my first column since 2021 — there’s a long list of people that I’d like to thank, starting with my wife, Sammi. One of my first purchases after I started at Golfdom was an engagement ring, and a year later, we tied the knot. 

A special thanks to Ryan Blair, CGCS, at Holston Hills CC in Knoxville, Tenn., for allowing me to visit his course as we prepared for our first-ever Tour Guide issue in 2023. If not for that visit, I wouldn’t have come up with the idea for a honeymoon in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Another gigantic thank you goes to Larry Napora at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Larry has been a great friend of the magazine — and me — over the last two years. Larry and Superintendent Tim Gruber were among my first interviews for that 2023 Tour Guide and couldn’t have been more welcoming. 

Finally, a massive thank you to all of you. I met a lot of great superintendents and assistants during my end-of-the-year travels, and I cannot wait to meet more of you in 2025 and beyond.

Related articles

Green Start Academy returns to Pinehurst for fourth straight year

Superintendents get a crash course on leadership at 2024 Syngenta Business Institute

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