A hundred dollars does not go as far as it once did, but for one aspiring superintendent, it made all the difference in the world.
Chris McIntyre did not have a lot growing up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. While many in town went to watch the Packers on Sundays, McIntyre's family knew only poverty. He did not learn how to manage money, mostly because he never had any. In 2005, he found a part-time job on superintendent Mark Storby's crew at Oneida Country Club, an unlikely landing spot for an African American kid from the other side of the tracks.
When McIntyre's world threatened to come crashing down around him, it was his boss who reached out and gave him a hand in the form of a hundred bucks and a place to stay. More importantly, the gesture helped McIntyre realize his new line of work was more than a job, it was joining an extended family that included people who did not look like the person he saw in a mirror. Today, McIntyre believes it is his responsibility to pay forward his good fortune and do for others what his former boss did for him. His vision is to start a program that introduces turf management to kids from at-risk communities to help give their lives meaning, purpose and direction.
"I think diversity in the crew opens up other cultures to the world. My goal is to start a program and bring in at-risk minorities as employees," McIntyre said. "Black, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, white, I don't care. I want to bring them in and teach them life skills. You grow as a person because of relationships with other people.
" Here at Cantigny, we have white people, black, Hispanic, Mexican. We have someone from Ireland and London. We talk and have conversations about different cultures.
McIntyre gets emotional thinking back to that day where his life changed. He loved his new line of work. Like most in the business, he was drawn by working outdoors and helping create something beautiful out of a piece of land. But just a year into his new job, it nearly stopped as quickly as it started.
I think diversity in the crew opens up other cultures to the world. My goal is to start a program and bring in at-risk minorities as employees. Black, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, white, I don't care. I want to bring them in and teach them life skills. You grow as a person because of relationships with other people.
"One day I went to the golf course and told Mark that it would be my last day, because I was homeless and had nowhere to go," McIntyre said. "Mark gave me a hundred dollars and told me to get a hotel room and please come back to work the next day and we'd figure it out."
Storby saw something in McIntyre besides the obvious. He saw that although McIntyre looked different than most people in this business he had something to offer and simply walking away from the golf course would be a wasted opportunity for both parties. So, Storby and his wife opened their home to McIntyre until he was able to get on his feet. Today, McIntyre, who has since earned a certificate in turfgrass management from Des Moines Community College in Iowa and a two-year degree from Penn State, is the assistant superintendent at Cantigny Golf in Wheaton, Illinois.
"He opened his door and his home to me. His family is my family," McIntyre said. "He didn't just mentor me on the golf course. He mentored me in life. He gave me an opportunity that a lot of men with my background don't have. You have to give credit where credit is due."
Although different opinions and ways of doing things can positively impact the golf course, promoting diversity in the workplace, whether it is golf or otherwise, sometimes is just about doing the right thing, creating awareness and sharing strengths and overcoming our weaknesses.
"Diversity within the industry can open our eyes to being better people," McIntyre said. "I was horrible with money. Part of that is because I grew up on welfare. The value of saving money was not there. Working around white people has helped me learn life skills."
Even in college, things did not come easily for McIntyre. He already had 10 years of experience on golf courses when interning as a student at Penn State. He watched as his white colleagues were given opportunities to learn how to operate every piece of equipment on the property as he performed the same task over and over each day.
"It was frustrating to see 19- and 20-year-old interns learning everything, and there I was every day with a rake in my hand. A one-year guy was on the spray rig before a guy with 10 years of experience and the same education," he said. "I kept asking myself 'Why is this happening?' I don't know, maybe I was just that good at raking bunkers. Unfortunately, I have to think it is because of what I look like."
Of course, not all places are the same, and McIntyre does not face those same hurdles at Cantigny in suburban Chicago where he has been an assistant to director of agronomy Steve Kuretsky for the past two years.
He is very outgoing and positive. He still has some things to learn, but he's willing to learn. We needed someone who could exude that positivity to the crew.
Cantigny was carved from land once owned by Robert R. McCormick, the one-time owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, and today is owned by the McCormick Foundation. In one of the country's great golf cities, Cantigny would be a plum job for anyone wishing to be a superintendent.
"It was his personality. He is very outgoing and positive," Kuretsky said. "He still has some things to learn, but he's willing to learn. We needed someone who could exude that positivity to the crew."
Working at Cantigny has been a perfect match for McIntyre, too.
"I am really happy here. I want to be a superintendent, but I know I'm not ready," he said. "They have invested in me and Steve is teaching me. This is the right opportunity for me."
His vision of introducing kids from a variety of backgrounds to potential career opportunities in the golf industry serves a dual purpose: it casts a wider net and promises to help solve golf's labor challenges, and it gives a hand up, not a hand out, to those who desperately need one.
"Chris has some life lessons he can share with others," Kuretsky said. "This place is special, it's not just a job. We want to make it a family. We are trying to groom leaders here and make this place and this industry better."
McIntyre believes his vision can help accomplish those goals.
"It's not about golf, it's about life. Life is much bigger than what we do on a golf course," he said. "I want to bring kids into a place where everything is positive and show them that there is some positive in this world. It might take time, but it will happen."
