If some young woman hears my name on TV and that I’m the superintendent at Torrey Pines that will filter down
this too.”
Carmen Magro, a former Course Superintendent who is now Head of the Turfgrass Programme at Penn State University, one of the foremost training grounds for superintendents in America, says “Candice is probably the most prestigious woman in the industry right now. Having a successful Open,” he says, “will be huge for women in this industry. It will absolutely open doors.” And that breaking of golf ’s ‘grass ceiling’ makes Candice proud. “That means something to me,” she says. “Hopefully, I’ve given one for the team.” “The profession has changed dramatically in recent years. The old greenkeeper was a manual labourer with a green thumb,” says Bruce Williams, a third-generation super who was Head of the Grounds at the Los Angeles Country Club. “The key to the old days was that you had to withstand the physical part of
the job to move yourself through the ranks. Back then, unloading a fertiliser truck was backbreaking. Today we do it with a forklift. The physical aspect is still there, but it isn’t make or break anymore.” “Women in the industry also must
overcome sexism and tradition. Can a woman ride a tractor? Can she jump on a backhoe? Can she give directions?” asks Bill Spence, the longtime Superintendent at the Country Club in Brookline, Massachussetts. “Sure she can, but, subliminally, some men can’t see that.” Adds Hannes Combest, staff liaison to the GCSAA’s diversity task force, “It doesn’t appear to be a welcoming profession.”
Maybe it is that ‘subliminality’ that held the media back from promoting Candice to the world?
Still, as Candice begins another day on the job, she admits that her entry, more
than thirty years ago, into a universe without a Y chromosome made her an anomaly in a profession that has skewed almost exclusively male since Old Tom Morris invented the job. The path to becoming a golf superintendent now runs through university programmes like Penn State. Now, one or two women (out of a total enrollment of 45) enrol annually, which is a rise from one every few years just a decade ago.
Those sections of the media that did
report on Candice just had to point out that she is “a divorced mother of two”, as if that is important. How many male greenkeepers do you know that have their private lives cited in the media? Things are changing, it’s just a shame the media didn’t help out more.
Complied by Peter Britton with thanks to Jeff Silverman of Sports Illustrated for his input. Images © USGA
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