Lawrence, Kansas, is primarily known to the rest of the world for two things: the University of Kansas with its storied basketball team and as the setting for the 1983 post-nuclear war movie “The Day After”. So how did Lawrence become the home of GCSAA?

Zoysia.

In its first 46 years, GCSAA was a nomad, operating from the courses of association leaders in the early years before renting office space in Illinois, then Florida and then back to Illinois. In 1972, the association’s leadership began looking for a permanent home and decided on Kansas City due to its central location and, at the time, its status as the primary hub for Trans World Airlines (TWA), making for easy travel to the city.

However, during a site visit to Kansas City, the relocation committee could not find a suitable location after final negotiations on one site fell through. They decided to make a side trip to nearby Lawrence to visit the four-year old Alvamar Golf Club. Rebranded as the Jayhawk Club in 2017, Alvamar was the first golf course in the world to be constructed with Zoysia fairways. Alvamar’s superintendent at the time, Mel Anderson, put the committee in touch with former KU basketball player and real estate developer Bob Billings, who owned more than 3,000 acres of western Lawrence.

Billings put together a deal and found a piece of ground to meet the association’s needs. The first GCSAA-owned headquarters opened on April 23, 1973, at 1617 St. Andrews Drive overlooking Alvamar GC’s 16^th green. On Jan. 12, 1974, an open house celebration featured 300 guests including Kansas Gov. Robert Docking and U.S. Sen. (and future presidential nominee) Bob Dole.

“Given the original plan to have Lawrence as the long-term headquarters location for GCSAA, it made owning the building a sound financial decision in many aspects versus leasing space,” GCSAA Chief Financial Officer Cam Oury said. “The city of Lawrence also helped by issuing Industrial Revenue Bonds so GCSAA could finance the original debt at a significantly reduced cost through lower interest rates and property tax abatements.” 

Although the 6,000-square foot building on St. Andrews Drive was built with a basement for “further expansion”, it could not keep up with the rapidly growing association. When leaders began looking for a bigger space, they once again turned to Billings.

"We just have been delighted to have the association here in Lawrence and at Alvamar and we've tried to be supportive in any way we could," Billing said at the time. "If there was anything that Alvamar could do to help the leadership and directors of the association to make their lives more comfortable, we would do it and would continue to do it."

After extensive long-range planning, ongoing reviews of operations and analytical projections of superintendents' future professional needs, plans for a 44,000 square foot building two miles west of the St. Andrews Drive locale was approved by the Board of Directors in 1989.

On Sept. 7, 1991, GCSAA’s headquarters at 1421 Research Park Drive was dedicated in conjunction with a celebration of association's 65^th anniversary.

The headquarters, which sits on six acres, was later expanded to total 73, 845 square feet. It currently houses GCSAA’s 90 employees as well as three tenants that lease office space, which contributes more than $400,000 in annual revenue. It’s the site of numerous meetings throughout the year that bring members to the building, and it has become tradition to get a selfie with the Old Tom Morris statue that has stood out front since 2001.

 “Members and other industry leaders and visitors to GCSAA headquarters typically leave with an elevated impression of the size and strength of the association,” Oury said.  “Members have a tremendous amount of pride in the building and staff when they visit, and staff also enjoy and are productive working in such a nice environment.”

 In October, GCSAA headquarters will host the 2026 Chapter Delegates Meeting featuring unveiling of a Col. John Morley statue and the Centennial Plaza, which will display plaques of those who made donations to the Col. John Morley Centennial Campaign.

Bob Billings passed away in 2003. A year later, the city of Lawrence renamed the street that flanks the north side of GCSAA headquarters in his honor.

And Mel Anderson, the superintendent whose innovative use of Zoysiagrass brought GCSAA leaders to Lawrence in the first place? He was elected to the Kansas Golf Hall of fame in 2018. Now retired and living in St. Joseph, Mo., Anderson is 93 years old and a 65-year member of GCSAA.