Local lad makes good

I got the news today that Morgan Robins has been promoted to Superintendent at the Vancouver Golf Club. That’s the kind of place where it costs $100k to join, and then a thousand a month ever after. Plus, you’ll still pay for every round. Needless to say, that’s not where I’d be golfing. It’s not something I’ve done in about 40 years, but when I used to do it, it was mostly at the “executive” course at the Victoria Road Golf Course. Executive means short. The DeCorsos were an Italian family that had purchased a plot of land on the outskirts of Guelph way back when. They had a longer course on the other side of Victoria Road, which I think remains a going concern. The short course has long since become townhouses. But I digress. Morgan’s mom and I used to work at the same school. Being parents, we’d often swap news about our kids. I was somewhat taken aback to learn that her young lad was enrolling in something called “turf management” at the University of Guelph. I have an undergrad degree from UG and spent some time around the place, and I gotta say you didn’t hear a lot about the Turf Sciences Institute, or whatever it was called. Turf Sciences? Really? I grew up with a lawn around the house, and never did it occur to me that studying that lawn might be construed a science. Not only that, but studying that lawn could land you a university degree! But it didn’t end there. Fast forward a couple years, and young Morgan is off to U Penn for, get this, a masters degree in turf management! I mean, that’s a serious university! All along, at the back of my mind, I’m thinking Morgan is one of those poor kids whose parents are pushing him into university when he’d rather just… play golf or go skiing? So the kid ends up in a career where he pulls down six numbers for rubbing elbows all day long with the kind of people who can afford membership at an elite golf course! Not only that, but in the off season the downhill junkie is a hop and a skip from multiple world-class ski hills! Well played, Morgan!