Photo Credit: Courtesy of Brevard County Parks and Recreation Department
Editor’s Note: This column, “LBWA” (Leadership By Wandering Around), is based on the premise that, in order to find out what’s going on in the field, a parks and rec leader has to leave his or her desk and “wander around” the area of operations, talk to people, ask questions, and kick around ideas with the individuals in the thick of delivering services to the public. So the author will bring up issues and ask the leaders among the readership to share their knowledge and experiences.
The modern game of golf evolved from what 15^(th)-century Scots knew as “gowf,” when it was played on the rolling, sandy terrain common on Scotland’s eastern coast, called “links land.” This reference eventually led to the modern phrase “hitting the links.”
The game that began on a few isolated cow pastures using sticks to hit rudimentary balls has evolved to hi-tech manufactured clubs, balls with pressurized cores, and carefully manicured courses. For parks and rec departments or other groups responsible for public golf courses, this means performing a level of maintenance beyond routine care of sports fields.