Being a Greenkeepers Wife

Being a greenkeepers wife isn’t for the faint of heart.

It‘s early mornings, long days and a lot of dirty clothes.

My husband grew up on a golf course and had always dreamed of becoming a greenkeeper.

At the age of 42, he was offered an apprenticeship at the golf club we’re members of.

At the time, we had a small engine repair business.

We talked about it in great length and detail and I pushed for him to do the apprenticeship. It’s not every day you get an offer to do something you’ve wanted to do since the age of 5.

We had a lot of testing times while he was doing his apprenticeship. I suffered a pretty bad injury and required surgery. Surgery brought on complications. We moved house. My mother-in-law fell ill, was diagnosed with dementia and passed away. I went through a second surgery. Hubby injured his back and we look after his elderly father.

Despite the testing times, he never gave up on his dream and I never gave up on him.

He starts work at 6am every day. He works in the shittiest of conditions. He works on the hottest days and on the coldest. He works hard and takes pride in his work. He comes home some days completely caked in mud, clay, grass and shit.

I am up most mornings before he is getting his stuff together for work. Making sure he’s got a hot coffee for the drive to work, drinks and snacks for a day and these days, a stick to your ribs lunch to keep him full and warm during the winter months.

His work clothes are permanently stained with dyes and grease.

He’s come home from work soaked to the bone from working in the pouring rain.

Not many wives would be awake well before the birds on a Saturday morning to go into work with their husbands. Especially during winter.

I’ve spent and will continue to spend many early mornings on the course with him on a Saturday or any other day because I’m proud of him and the work that he does.

I’ve been by his side since day one and will continue to stay by his side. I see the passion he has for the work that he does and the pride he takes in his work can be seen by anyone that watches him work.

I will be out there at 5:30 on a Saturday morning with him while he rolls greens freezing my ass off in winter and watching and taking photos of him and the work he takes so much pride in.