Who knew a Plan B service project more than a year ago would eventually lead to a meaningful and lasting relationship between a group of golf course superintendents and a collection of military veterans trying to keep a Washington, D.C.-area golf course in playable condition?
When a scheduling conflict during the 2025 National Golf Day in Washington stopped attendees from helping spruce up the National Mall for the event’s service project, some of the golf course superintendents in attendance for the government outreach opportunity discovered a suitable stand-in project at the Armed Forces Retirement Home Golf Course and East Potomac Golf Course.
There are more than 200 residents at the home, but fewer than 20 play golf. When that group is not playing golf, they often can be found working to maintain the track. The course at the Armed Forces Retirement Home does not have a superintendent and relies on that handful of dedicated resident volunteers, none of whom are not trained agronomists. Still, they are the only thing preventing the course from transitioning to pastureland.
Continuing to support the veterans and their golf course has become a pet project for Maryland superintendent Jon Lobenstine, who helped organize the 2025 service project. director of agronomy for Montgomery County Revenue Authority in Rockville, Maryland.
In 2025, the NGD contingent helped the volunteers with mowing, seeding, topdressing, spraying as well as tree and ornamental maintenance. A little more than a year later, Lobenstine, director of agronomy at Montgomery County Revenue Authority in Rockville, Maryland, hosted a group of those hard-working veterans for an outing at The Crossvines, a golf, research vineyard, wine-making operation and event center in Poolesville.
“There is no crew there, just those veterans,” Lobenstine said. “The youngest is age 68, the oldest is 84. They go out on the golf course almost every day trying to make it better. So, having led the projects for National Golf Day and developing relationships with them and the administration there, I’ve been invited back many times, and this has turned into a very rewarding experience.””
Besides nine holes of golf, the veterans from the Armed Forces course were treated a tour of the vineyard and wine-making operation as well as tastings of Crossvines’ wines and hard ciders.
“It was an honor to invite these guys out to Crossvines and treat them with the highest honor,” Lobenstine said. “We played nine holes, got them got them some swag, and we took them through the vineyard.”
Also, on hand from Crossvines were golf course superintendent Michael Otstot, general manager Kevin Mandel, winemaker Tyler Henley, vineyard manager Daniel Larason and winery assistant Katarina Swendrowski.
Outreach at the Armed Forces course did not stop in 2025. Since then, the Mid-Atlantic chapter has done another service project there and is planning another one for late October.
“We’re going to get some work done on the greens, and they have some trees down that are too big for the saws they have,” Lobenstine said. “These guys are out there cutting up trees and doing what they can. It’s so inspiring.”
Service has long been important to Lobenstine, who is a former chapter president and board member. It’s a trait that runs in his family and started with his late father, Clark, who was a minister and director of a D.C.-area interfaith conference that today is known as the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington.
“He led a life of serving others,” Lobenstine said. “I grew up around that, so I think maybe that’s where some of that desire to serve on my part comes from.”
