niche. I’ve grown our golf course sales to 15 to 20 percent of our business. Starting this past January, I took over more of the marketing and advertising side of the business. My husband, Lonnie, is a grading contractor, the third generation of his family business. We live in Columbus, GA, where his company is located. Tat puts me 1.5 hours from our Whitesburg farm. Off site is fine for sales most of the time. Trying to manage the marketing and advertising remotely is harder.
Jutt has taken a bigger role. He’d been managing our Whitesburg farm and is now transitioning inside to manage the office and sales, which is more of a fit with his business degree. Mark is great. He manages the farm in Fort Valley; oversees all the logistics company- wide; oversees the other farm managers; he’s the overall operations manager and he’s all over the state doing it.
It depends on the type of grass whether we’re competitive in the marketplace. We generally can’t compete on Tifway 419 because of freight. We will ship Zeon to Little Rock, Mississippi, or to South Florida. We do slabs and big rolls and we do supply sprigs and will do the sprigging. We don’t do sod installation. Tere are too many contractors out there who are doing that very well. Actually, it’s an advantage as they are our customers too.
Mark and I helped with the first harvest of NG Turf sod. I was eight, Mark was twelve. Dad taught me how to stop
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the harvester. I’d drive to the end of the row, stop, and Dad would come and turn the tractor around. He and Mark were at the back, stacking. Mark and I were on the farm daily in the summer. We usually didn’t work during the school year because we played sports.
Mark and I work really well together. Tere’s no friction between us. I attribute that to Dad keeping things fair and even, and sometimes not equal, but still fair. Equal is not necessarily fair. Dad has always been open for us. We know that he is in charge and the boss, but it’s never “I”. It’s always “we” or “our”. He’s always included us and made us feel that we are part of the ownership team. We try to sit down once a month and have a family planning meeting, but it doesn’t always work out. We do a lot of impromptu meetings. We are all working together to continue the legacy that my Dad has built. As a company, we’re always focusing on the future.
Te most rewarding part of my job is seeing what we have accomplished as a company. It gives me a purpose. I also love the relationships I have made through both the golf industry and turf industry.
Lonnie and I are the parents of Riley, age twelve, and eleven-year-old twins, Josie and Claire.
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www.BigYellowBag.me TPI Turf News September/October 2017 45
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