In 30 years as the New Jersey club’s General Manager, he directed its growth to 54 holes.
David McGhee, General Manager of Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, N.J., was featured in the Parsippany Daily Record on the occasion of his retirement, which began July 1.
McGhee had worked for the club for 30 years, capping a career that began with a summer job in high school at Mercer Golf Club that led to his deciding to earn a turfgrass management degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1963.
“I found out that I wasn’t quite good enough to be a golf pro, so I chose to become a golf superintendent and go to Penn State for the turfgrass side of things,” McGhee told the Daily Record.
After earning his degree, McGhee worked at two other golf clubs before coming to Fiddler’s Elbow in 1981. During his tenure at Fiddler’s Elbow, he oversaw the club’s expansion from 27 holes to 54 (working with Rees Jones to build a new 18-hole course), which gave the club the distinction of having the largest golf layout in New Jersey. In 2009, Fiddler’s Elbow expanded from its original corporate-only membership structure to also open its doors to families and individuals.
Fiddler’s Elbow was also the first club in New Jersey to be certified as a sanctuary by the Audubon Society of New York State, in recognition of how it has installed birdhouses throughout its property and maintained buffer zones between waterways on its courses. McGhee also earned the Ilona Gray Award from the Alliance of Environmental Concerns for his environmental stewardship and was the recipient of the Hall of Fame Award from the New Jersey Turfgrass Association, for which he once served as President.
“I think, at times, golf has a bad rap for being a negative for the environment,” McGhee told the Daily Record. “I think it’s just the opposite. Turf can be a great filter for water and things like that.”
McGhee’s also served for 17 years on the Board of Trustees for the Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture, where he oversaw the creation of a turfgrass management program.
McGhee’s son, David McGhee, Jr., has also pursued a career in the club industry, currently serving as Superintendent of Oyster Bay Golf Links in Sunset Beach, N.C.
The elder McGhee says he and his wife of 48 years now plan to spend the summer months in New Jersey and the winter months in Florida or the Carolinas, and that much of that time will be spent playing golf with other members of the McGhee family. “We have nine grandchildren,” McGhee said. “And we’ve got most of them playing golf.”
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