When Kris Kristofferson penned the lyrics to Me and Bobby McGee in the late 1960s, he did so with thoughts of a pair of drifters wandering California, not a golf course superintendent traversing the South leaving a trail of awesome golf courses in his wake.Although Janice Joplin made the former Bobby McGee a household name when she took the song to No. 1 on the charts in 1971, the latter was equally popular in golf circles in Georgia and Arkansas where he built and owned golf courses and was the host superintendent to the only U.S. Open ever held in the Peach State.
McGee's career included stops like East Lake Golf Club and Atlanta Athletic Club, where he was the host superintendent for the 1976 U.S. Open won by fellow Georgian Jerry Pate. In December, he and two others will be inducted into the Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Hall of Fame.
Joining McGee, who will be inducted posthumously, will be William Shirley of Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta and Ron Sinnock, who spent nearly 40 years as a superintendent and also served as director of the Georgia GCSA. The trio will be inducted Dec. 8 during the annual Georgia GCSA annual awards banquet at The King and Prince Resort on St. Simons Island.
McGee, who died in 2005, was a native of Rockmart, Georgia and a second-generation golf course superintendent. His career started as an assistant at East Lake before being named superintendent at AAC.
There he received acclaim by many, including the USGA, for conditions during the 1976 Open that was plagued by rainy conditions during the final run-up to the tournament. He also served on the Georgia GCSA board of directors and was president in 1975-76. He also served on the USGA Green Section committee for more than 20 years.
After leaving Atlanta Athletic Club, McGee moved to Arkansas where he was superintendent at The Country Club of Little Rock and North Hills Country Club. He also designed Glenwood Country Club and Coopers Hawk in Melbourne, Arkansas as the owner of McGee Golf and Design.
He helped establish the Arkansas Turfgrass Association and was considered by many to be the dean of golf course superintendents in Arkansas. He served as president of the GCSA of Arkansas and received that organization's inaugural Distinguished Service Award in 2003. He was inducted into the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame in 2009.
Shirley began his golf course superintendent career in 1980 at Newnan Country Club. He'd been working in the pro shop when club leaders encouraged him to apply for the vacant superintendent's job. Some 45 years later, he's still working in the field.From Newnan, he moved to Canterbury Golf Club in 1983, Rivermont Golf and Country Club in 1986, Idle Hour Club in late 1988, Capital City Club in 1994 before arriving at Peachtree in 1996. Shirley served on the Georgia GCSA board of directors and as president in 1993-94. He was the chapter's Superintendent of the Year in 2011.
Sinnock served as a Georgia GCSA director during nearly 40 years as a golf course superintendent at Chattahoochee Golf Course in Gainesville and Coosa Country Club in Rome. At Coosa, Sinnock was host superintendent for many events including two State Amateur championships and the first State Mid-Amateur in 1982.He was a bentgrass pioneer in Georgia, converting both Chattahoochee and Coosa from the coarser Bermudagrasses of the day. He was the chapter Superintendent of the Year in 1999.
An Illinois native, Sinnock oined the Army straight out of high school. After the service, he began working at Belle Meade Country Club. After two years there he was asked to apply for the superintendent's position at Chattahoochee. He took that job in 1968 and began a career that spanned nearly 40 years in Georgia, and included two stints on the Georgia GCSA board of directors and a turn as the Georgia state director of the Southern Turfgrass Association before he retired in 2005.
The Georgia GCSA was formed in 2011. Other inductees include (2011) Harold Baldwin, Palmer Maples Jr., Randy Nichols and Charlie Underwood; (2012) Don Branch, Buzz Howell and Bill Womac; and (2013) Mark Esoda and Ken Mangum.