GCSAA Immediate Past President T.A. Barker with members at the Old Soldiers Golf Course during the 2025 National Golf Day service project. Photo by Tyler Stover
Imagine taking care of your golf course with no fertilizer, no pesticides, no sand for topdressing greens — actually, nearly no inputs at all except for spare water for the greens. That and your staff of five greenkeepers are all volunteers in their 70s or 80s with little to no knowledge of turf care.
That’s the case at the Old Soldiers Golf Course on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C. Milton Stark — the 84-year-old course manager and one of 200 residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home — says everything, nevertheless, seems to come together just fine.
“We call ourselves the MacGyver Bunch, if you know who MacGyver was,” says Stark, referring to the TV show hero who could make or repair seemingly anything, improvising with whatever was available. “When equipment breaks down, most of the stuff we can usually fix ourselves. If it’s really serious, we can send it out. But all the mowers and golf carts, we do all the routine maintenance.”
Keeping the course mowed and trees taken care of takes up most of the volunteers’ time on the nine-hole course. “I’d say the shape of the course right now is about a 7 out of 10,” says Stark. “Three years ago, when I got here, it might have been a 3. It was really neglected.”
The course got a big boost last year when about 100 GCSAA member volunteers showed up at Old Soldiers for a National Golf Day service project. It was the first time such a thing had happened for the course since federal funding for maintenance was cut about 15 years ago (About 250 locals pay $700 a year to play golf from May 1 to Nov. 30, but that’s the extent of their budget.)
“None of us working on the golf course have the proper knowledge or training to do things like topdressing or aerating or fertilizing,” Stark says. “So, when the Golf Course Superintendents Association came here, it was wonderful. They did things like fertilizing, topdressing, overseeding. It just gave the course a big improvement.”
This will be the second year that GCSAA members will volunteer at the course for its community service project as part of National Golf Day, May 4-6. At least 50 volunteers are expected to participate in eight major projects at Old Soldiers Golf Club, says Chava McKeel, GCSAA’s director of government affairs. Those projects include topdressing, aerating and overseeding all the greens, repairing a fallen periscope, extensive tree trimming, aerating and overseeding the tees, improving the cart charging area, and mowing the entire course.
National Golf Day volunteers first came to Old Soldiers Golf Course last year to work on improvement projects. Photo by Abby Olcese
Helping coordinate the effort is Jon Lobenstine, 27-year GCSAA member and director of agronomy at Montgomery County Revenue Authority, which manages nine golf courses and a vineyard in Maryland. He says he first got involved in National Golf Day and its service projects in 2011 because it was a ready way to give back to the industry.
“Particularly if it’s one of your first superintendent jobs, an important thing is to just get outside of your box,” says Lobenstine. “With this service project and National Golf Day, it gives you a bigger perspective on the industry and a sense of purpose beyond your daily responsibilities. It lets you give back in a hands-on way that reflects what we all do best. We all support each other.”
GCSAA has partnered with Toro to provide the equipment and funding for the service project at Old Soldiers. John Deere is sponsoring a second National Golf Day service project happening simultaneously on the National Mall.
Josh Tubbs, senior marketing manager at Toro, says the local distributor — Turf Equipment and Supply Company — is donating a Toro Greensmaster triplex mower, a Toro Groundsmaster rotary mower and a Toro utility vehicle.
“This contribution represents a meaningful investment in the course’s future, ensuring the maintenance team has reliable, professional-grade equipment to care for the property,” Tubbs says.
McKeel says the National Golf Day service project is collaborative team effort of many GCSAA members and partners that benefits a group that needs and thoroughly appreciates the effort.
“For the residents at the Armed Services Retirement Home, this is the highlight of their year,” McKeel says. “They’ve told us that GCSAA and the National Golf Day delegation coming onto the property and working with them is bringing the course back to life. It’s so special to them. They’re just so thrilled with our involvement with them.”