our inclination. Once in the water and solidly stuck in the soft lakebed, I could barely move the bricks and backed off when I tried, fearing a herniated disc or worse. Then the wind blew for two days consistently from the west, the dock moved, although not nearly as much, just a slight angle from perfection. As much as I tried to bring it back to the intended location, I could only tighten the ropes as the bricks were now tight to the bottom. Not to worry however, as the wind shifted and blew persistently from the east for two days, straightening the dock back to the intended direction. The moral of the story is that some very large changes require consistent and persistent inputs to accomplish movement that cannot be attained with a single Herculean effort. You could say that moral is also an example of the achievements the MGCSA and, for that matter, the game of golf in Minnesota, have accomplished over the past half-decade. The Environmental Stewardship Committee and allied golf associations, years ago, created and proposed a very simple industry regulated BMP/Stewardship program
to various agencies with great pomp and circumstance and full expectation that it would be implemented quickly and protect the game’s most critical resource; water. Bound in the quagmire of bureaucracy, the proposal went through a series of changes, reproposal, new audiences, dormancy, re-proposal, massaging and again, semi-dormancy as nothing moves ahead quickly at the Capital. In the background, “golf” was not idle and, as you are likely well aware, presented itself consistently as a solid, persuasive and knowledgeable professional industry at many different forums. From Fresh Water Society functions, MDA Pollinator Habitat work groups, DNR water management committees and even attendance at Legislative Water Commission hearings on a regular basis, Minnesota Golf began a very persistent campaign of presenting itself as a community’s largest rain garden with amazing potential to be much more than a recreational destination. Your business even hosted the very first Golf Day on the Hill just a few short weeks ago. This long-term awareness exercise may have seemed to some as a well intended endeavor, but highly unlikely to gain any net results.
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