Inside The World of Golf Course Shaping | The Golfer's Journal

The Golfer's Journal is made possible by the support of our members. If you enjoyed this film, please consider joining here: glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYT
Made in partnership with @titleist
It started with a stick. A few decades back Bill Kittleman, the legendary former head pro at Merion and mentor to up-and-coming golf course architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, was on a dusty site with his protégés. The maintenance crew had long since taken their tools and equipment back to the barn, but this trio remained to work through an issue. Kittleman, unfazed, grabbed a stick and began whittling away at the soil, doing whatever it took to get the job done. “Look at this, we are like a bunch of (expletive) cavemen out here!” he exclaimed. A nickname, and an ethos, was born.
Today Caveman Construction is the band of shapers that dig into the dirty work behind Hanse and Wagner’s glittering roster of golf course projects. They’re in excavators and on bulldozers, armed with shovels and rakes to build the fairways, bunkers and greens that we will one day play upon. You’ve seen enough about the big-name architects in golf. This is a love letter to the crews with their hands in the dirt.

[@cherylguyer1086]

That's my son Tanner Guyer. I'm one proud mama ❤️

[@jimiverson3085]

He's building things that should give people pleasure for generations.

[@SpudRunGolf]

What an awesome video! Great job guys.

[@Teejbanf]

shot of them with the lightning behind was epic

[@Capt_Colty]

As an equipment operator and a golf junkie this was a fantastic look into what I’d consider a dream job. Tip of the cap to everyone involved in this project.

[@KarenOkeefe18]

Great video as always top notch from TGJ!

[@Klimwriter]

What a great little film!!

[@wthigley78]

Great watch!

[@sunsetgolfcourse]

great video :) I've always love golf design

[@carsonbaugher4671]

Fantastic

[@jedmmoller]

Great job!

[@mattwagner5332]

Here's the problem; when you talk about all the passion and the time spent you are pushing people away from the industry. People don't live to work anymore. You have to find better ways to communicate how actually awesome the job is. All sorts of people work really hard at what they do for all sorts of reasons. Passion isn't that impressive.
And FWIW, I'm a golf course superintendent with 19 years in the industry. Passion has never been part of my playbook, but I've been highly successful all the same.