Dad was a policeman and Mom worked as a checker at the A&P. We moved to Arcadia Maryland in Upperco when I was four and soon there were six of us. We barely made enough to get by in the 1960s and ultimately, we made constant trips into the fields to grab corn, beans, or tomatoes.
"We lived on a one lane dirt road surrounded by farms, and we became friends with the farmers kids."
In the next twelve years, I worked with those kids on their farms and learned how to do all kinds of farmwork. I loved plowing, discing, planting, and harvesting. Feeding the animals and ultimately taking them to slaughter. I learned so much and had so much fun. I knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life.
"Steve Michael was my best friend on the local family farm who taught me everything."
Then in 1973 my dad came home one day and told me that the local golf club needed someone to wash windows and pull weeds around the clubhouse.
His exact words were, “Get your ass up to Piney Branch tomorrow. They need someone!”
You see, my dad owed money to the car dealer, bank owner, and the local insurance man. They were all members of Piney Branch Golf Club, and Mr. Barns the banker, told him about the job opening.
I was raised with a great work ethic and was the best club grounds worker they had ever had. So good that the Golf Course Superintendent, Gene Dyke, asked if I could help on the golf course in the evenings from school and on weekends. I loved working with farm equipment, but when I saw these modern golf course machines below, which were modern for that time, I wanted to learn how to use each one.
Gene was a great man and a wonderful teacher. He oversaw a “Semiprivate” club with 18 golf holes. He had an ALL-manual pump station and quick couplers throughout the course. Equipment companies were just starting to specialize in golf equipment and irrigation, so not much modern equipment was around. Budgets were very small, and equipment maintenance was paramount.
"Within five years I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life."
In 1977, I had no money, was making $2.15 per hour, and didn’t know how I was going to get there. It wasn’t easy and it took me nine more years, but I became a Golf Course Superintendent in 1986!
Gene Dyke also said one thing to me before I left Piney Branch. He said that if I wanted to become a Golf Course Superintendent, I had to go to a full Private Golf Club like Towson Golf & Country Club. I went there the next day, spoke to Paul O’Leary and he hired me on the spot.
-Mark S. Merrick, CGCS Retired
Introducing ‘Merrick Mondays’, a segment where we hear from Mark Merrick, our resident brand Ambassador, Chief ‘Cool” Officer, and general source of wisdom and secrets of the universe, to spotlight a dose of interview-style content, weekly.