A couple of weeks ago another great post came through the TurfNet Turf Blog Aggregator. Andrew Hardy, the superintendent at the Pheasant Run Golf Course (just outside Toronto, Canada), was writing about the difficulties he had been facing with regards to his blog (The Argument for being Social).

Mr. Hardy has been blogging for quite some time now and has garnered quite a following. He is a very thoughtful writer and is not shy about sharing information about the golf course along with a few snippets of what being a superintendent means to his home life as well. This was all well and good, until Andrew ran into a tough summer a couple of seasons back.

It was a season that we most likely have all been through, rough winter/off season, rotten start to the summer, and then dealing with trying to grow in grass on an busy golf course. It was a tough year, but Andrew and his crew made it through. During the whole process Andrew shared everything with his membership, but in the end that was not enough for some. There were pot shots taken, harsh words spoken, and in the end Andrew had made the decision that it was time to dial back on the writing.

We work in a tough gig. At the best of times it can be darn near impossible to please everyone. We always will have our detractors, and we need to develop a thick skin early in our careers in order to let the negativity slide.

It can get even messier when we choose to blog and write about the properties we maintain. Add in the next layer, sharing little bits about our lives and the effects that our jobs can have on them, then you can have a recipe for disaster. It is one thing for Joe Blowhard to stop us in the clubhouse, but give him the anonymity of the internet and things can get nasty.

So what is a blogging super to do? Do you close up shop, or keep plugging away? It is a tough question, and one that that may not have an easy answer.

As a blogger myself, there is an inherent risk in sharing too much about your personal life. Especially with the nature of this particular blog and what we discuss here. The harsh truth is that some folks just don't care. But the bigger truth is that a lot of people do actually care, and by giving people a small glimpse into your lives, you bring a certain level of humanity to your job. You are not just some guy or gal who cuts grass, you are a real, living, breathing person that actually has a life beyond the property boundaries.

But it is not to say that your golf course blog should be a platform to share all of your intimate details and private thoughts about the world around you. You have to remember why you started to write in the first place. In almost 100% of the blogs I have read (and trust me, I have read lots) the purpose is to inform the golfers and membership about the property. We have to remember our target audience and stick to our mandate.

That said, I for one am proud to be part of a community of people that takes the job of greenkeeping to new levels via enhanced communication. I am also heartened by the response to this blog and the willingness for superintendents to not only share their talents and knowledge about turf, but also their willingness to give a behind the scenes look into what being a Turfhead means to their personal lives.

So blog on my friends... blog on.