Michigan golf’s good-hands guy

Craig Hoffman (pictured below) is superintendent at The Rock in Drummond Island, Mich., and golf’s only representative on the state’s Water Advisory Council.

Terry Ostmeyer

The Michigan golf course industry’s man in the state capital of Lansing has spread himself pretty thin, but he enjoys being in the thick of things.

Craig Hoffman, superintendent at The Rock on one of Michigan’s northern outposts, Drummond Island, does indeed keep himself busy these days. While The Rock has barely a six-month season in the Upper Peninsula’s confluence of three of the Great Lakes, he’s also a member of the local school board and helps coach high school sports.

Then there’s the 16-year GCSAA member’s involvement in state legislative matters on behalf of his profession and golf as a whole. Hoffman is the government relations liaison for the recently formed Michigan GCSA and just lately solidified his standing as a key figure in Michigan’s water issues when he was appointed to the State Water Advisory Council.

Not only is Hoffman the only superintendent on the council, but the only golf representative period. The organization, which was created to oversee newly passed water legislation, is otherwise manned by several industries, from aggregate to agriculture and water treatment to conservation interests. Also on the council are representatives from Michigan’s state departments of agriculture, natural resources and environmental quality.

“I represent the golf industry and the lawn-care industry — pretty much anyone concerned with turf,” Hoffman says.

Hoffman was first named to a similar council nearly six years ago that helped guide the state legislature toward new water laws. Once those measures were passed, the new council was formed to serve as an implementation watchdog, and Hoffman was appointed to that as well.

“Basically, the laws are aimed at industries with the capability of withdrawing 100,000 gallons of water or more a day,” Hoffman says, noting that the council’s most recent mission was directing research to study the environmental impact of a couple of major bottled water plants that tap into the state’s vast spring water reserves.

“We’ve been overseeing some of their functions and from everything we’ve seen and the research we’ve been given, there has been negative impact on the groundwater,” he says.

Michigan has few serious issues that affect the golf industry, but Hoffman’s role is nevertheless valued in that regard. John Fulling, CGCS and the president of the Michigan GCSA, praises Hoffman’s due diligence and says his seat on the council is a huge benefit for superintendents in the state. Fulling adds that the four chapters that make up the state chapter provide funds to cover Hoffman’s travel expenses.

Hoffman does get around, and that’s no easy task from his home base that’s all but off the U.S. map (a mile from Lake Huron’s Canadian waters). The water council conducts open meetings all over the state, and necessary trips to the state capital to network with legislators and U.S. Congress representatives are frequent.

“It makes it really tough when you’re located on an island in northern Michigan and all the meetings are in Lansing six hours away,” he says. “But I manage, I guess.”

Terry Ostmeyer is GCM’s senior staff writer.