Editor’s Perspective
Work Smarter A
re you a glass half full or half empty person? Is the future brighter or bleaker for your kids than it was for you? When you get up and face another day, is it filled with possibilities or potential problems? No, I haven’t been taking psychology classes at the local community college. I’m just asking you the same questions I have to ask myself every once in a while. You may find this hard to believe, but I’m not always the upbeat, cheery, good looking, charming guy that you see in the photo above. Just ask those that live or work with me. Here on the Southside, a lot of people have been asking themselves these questions lately. I know it’s hard for the other ninety percent of the state to believe, but there are pockets of our Commonwealth where the unemployment rate is a problem, and it’s not because it is too low. Residents of this area can well relate to the Bruce Springsteen lyric of “foreman says the jobs are going boys, and they ain’t coming back – to your hometown.” At this point, they have every reason to be glass half empty people. And some of them are. Segments of our industry have seen somewhat similar times over the past several years. If you’re in the landscape, sod, irrigation, or sports turf sector things are rockin’ and times have never been better. With changing lifestyles and the housing boom, the sky is the limit. However, over in what was once “king golf,” things haven’t been quite
as rosy. Most will agree the peak came in the late 90’s and things had already leveled off before the tragedy of 9/11. Things kinda started to recover, then somebody moved our cheese again. Lots of reasons have been given for this: the myriad of activities competing for leisure time, a reordering of priorities within families, golf takes too long, blah, blah, blah. Add in the last 18 months of never-ending rain, shrinking budgets at the same time prices for goods and services are increasing, and everyone is not so fat and happy. Given the circumstances, you might think a general malaise would have set in over Southern and Southwest Virginia. But you would be mistaken. Instead, what has happened is what has taken place countless times over the short history of this country. People face challenges with perseverance, renewed vigor, ingenuity, and a
Mark Vaughn, CGCS Virginia Turfgrass Journal Editor
willingness to adapt. Those of us in the golf business realize we must do the same. Some things are tried and true and need to be held tightly, but if we are to reach the good NEW days it cannot be business as usual. One of the best ways to work smarter and hopefully more economically is to gather as much information as we can from our peers and our friends in academia. I cannot think of a better place than the pages of this publication to start. I couldn’t put the situation of my home area or my livelihood any better than Andy Dufresne did in one of my all-time favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption – “Red, the way I see it, you got two choices. You can either get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’.” Amen, Andy.
Mark Vaughn
Journal of the Virginia Turfgrass Council
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