At 94 years old, the life and career of Palmer Maples Jr., CGCS, read like an MVP highlight reel.

• Born into a family with a storied connection to golf, he started working on the golf course at age 12 under the tutelage of his father, Palmer Maples Sr.
• Graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in agronomy.
• Spent nearly 40 years as a superintendent before retiring in 1997.
• Became one of the first Certified Golf Course Superintendents in 1971 and has maintained CGCS status for 55 years.
• Served as president of the Carolinas GCSA.
• Elected to the GCSAA Board of Directors.
• Served as GCSAA President in 1975.
• Joined GCSAA’s staff as director of education.
• Served on the USGA Green Section Committee and as an advisor to Augusta National Golf Club.
• Inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.
• Honored for lifetime achievement with GCSAA’s Distinguished Service Award (now known as the Col. John Morley Award), USGA Green Section Award and ASGCA’s Donald Ross Award.

With a resume like that, you would think that the 67-year GCSAA member would simply be enjoying his well-earned retirement at his home in Kansas City, Mo.

In October 2025, GCSAA launched the Greenkeeper Certificate Program, which provides training for entry-level golf course maintenance skills. To complete the certificate, you must learn from six webinars, pass an exam and demonstrate proficiency in six key areas. Maintenance staff members from 29 states and even one in Switzerland have completed the program, with hundreds of other in process. But last month one name stood out among those who had recently completed the program: Palmer Maples Jr., CGCS.

While Maples has stayed involved with GCSAA as a past president and with trips to the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show, including the most recent one in Orlando, his completion of the Greenkeeper Certificate was both a nod to history and a personal accomplishment.

The certificate’s named harkened back to GCSAA’s founding as the National Association of Golf Greenkeepers of America in 1926.

“As the association started out with the name ‘greenkeepers’, I wished to have a certificate with that name too,” Maples said.

In addition, when Maples retired from Summit Chase Country Club in 1997, they honored with an engraved stone near the clubhouse planted in his honor near the clubhouse, with his name, dates of employment and "Keeper of the Green" engraved on the stone.

The consummate keeper of the green, Maples also said he simply “wanted to do something to keep his mind engaged.”

We can all learn a thing or two from that.