Candice Combs made history at the US Open by becoming the first woman to prepare a Major course. But, did we miss a huge opportunity to promote our industry?
THE T
GENDER TRAP?
he eyes of the world were on Tiger Woods as he hobbled his way to his fourteenth Major title at the US
Open at Torrey Pines. The event had been perfect. A journeyman pro, Rocco Mediate, had challenged him all the way, refusing to lie down until the 19th hole of the play off. And a Brit, Lee Westwood, had also put in a superb performance, missing out on the chance to put even more pressure on Tiger’s knee by just one shot.
The weather was fine, but with a nuisance wind to cause a degree of difficulty, and the course looked spectacular, even at one o’clock in the morning through bleary eyes! Yet there was bigger news, at least for our industry, in the shape of Candice Combs, the first woman Course Superintendent to be in charge of preparing a course for a Major. But, unless I have missed something, that moment in history went almost unmentioned by the media. Perhaps it was what Candice herself wanted but, given that the BBC drool over ‘double freakies’ and the Red Arrow like antics of fairway mowers when covering Augusta, it was all rather quiet on the ‘greenkeeping’ front and it makes you wonder if the media were ‘up’ for the opportunity to promote a woman in a
predominantly male environment. Candice Combs is hugely experienced. She took her first step toward becoming a superintendent twenty-nine years ago at Balboa Park Golf Course which, like Torrey Pines, is part of the San Diego municipal system. As an employee of the city she was protected and promoted by the system.
When she first arrived in San Diego with her boyfriend in 1976, Candice had no idea what she wanted to do, other than escape the harsh winters of her hometown, Dearborn, Michigan. She had a degree in botany from Michigan State University and liked plants, the outdoors and physical labour (her father was a mason), but she wasn’t a tomboy. “I was a real girl-type girl,” she says. “I cooked. I sewed. I crocheted. I gardened.” She worked as a waitress and got a pilot’s licence and, eventually, landed a job in the city park system, spending a year picking up whatever dogs and people left behind. She hated it. Then came what Candice calls “a happy accident.” She was transferred to the maintenance crew at Balboa. “I didn’t know what a green was,” she says. “I didn’t know what a tee was.” But Candice was a quick learner and, in addition to keeping up with her co-workers, she also impressed her supervisors by taking
Candice Combs
turfgrass courses, learning advanced maintenance techniques and earning a pesticide license.
She became a supervisor and then, in 1984, the Assistant Superintendent. In 1993 she was named Balboa’s Head Superintendent. The news did not go down well in all quarters. “On the first day I was told flat out by one of the retired navy men on the crew that he wasn’t taking orders from a woman,” says Candice. But she was better qualified for the job than anyone else in the system, and the city promotes from within with gender-blind eyes. “I’m a diversity queen,” she says.
Candice became active in the local
GCSAA (Golf Course Superintendents Association of America) chapter. “I went to the first meeting in a dress and high heels,” she says, “and no one took me seriously.” Not for long. She was elected Chapter President and named
51
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140