Golf course superintendents are known for helping their colleagues—but Brian Peters, who oversees three North Carolina properties, also pays it forward with a charity he founded to benefit people with special needs.
Golf Course Superintendent Brian Peters, who oversees three North Carolina courses for Traditional Golf Properties, has some unfinished business. A previous quest to scale Mount Rainier in Washington left him short of his goal, but he was scheduled to try again this month.
And it’s not just personal satisfaction that’s at stake. Peters recently started a nonprofit charity, Adventurers for Special Needs (AFSN), to benefit people with special needs, and this climb will be the organization’s first endeavor. With a donation goal of $20,000, he plans to help the Frankie Lemmon School and Development Center in Raleigh, N.C.
Peters’ 10-year-old son, Cameron, who was born prematurely at 24 weeks, succeeded in the Frankie Lemmon preschool early-intervention program despite having visual impairments, weakened motor skills, and developmental delays since birth.
“I am so proud of what Cameron accomplished at Frankie Lemmon,” Peters says. “Founding a charity like AFSN gives me the opportunity to know that other children with special needs will receive proper education to be able to progress like my son has. That means a lot to my family and me.”
Accompanied by guides from RMI Expeditions, Peters will begin the Mount Rainier climb at 5,600 feet before ascending to 10,200 feet and then to the summit at 14,410 feet. All donations raised for the climb will go directly to the cause.
Peters recently spoke to Club & Resort Business about starting the charity—and about balancing his philanthropic endeavors with his professional life.
Super in the Spotlight: Brian PetersPosition: Golf Course Superintendent, The Traditional Golf Club at The Preserve; The Traditional Golf Club at Chapel Ridge; The Traditional Golf Club at Falls Village (all in North Carolina) Website: www.traditionalclubs.com No. of Holes: 18 at each location Designer: The Preserve—Davis Love Group; Chapel Ridge—Bob Moore; Falls Village—William Daniel Type: Semi-private Annual Rounds: 30,000 each location Years Opened: The Preserve—2001; Chapel Ridge—2006; Falls Village—1999 Golf Season: End of March to mid-November, with year-round play as possible Fairways: 4-19 Bermuda and Quickstand Bermuda Greens: L-93 and A1-A4 Education and Training: Turf degree from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.; multiple continuing education classes since 2003 Previous Employment: Private and semi-private clubs including Carolina Country Club, Raleigh, N.C.; grow-ins at Heritage Golf Club, Wake Forest, N.C.; and The Preserve, Chapel Hill, N.C. Certifications: Class A superintendent; N.C. pesticide license |
Q: What is Adventurers for Special Needs?
A: Adventurers for Special Needs (AFSN) is a North Carolina-registered nonprofit organization that works for children and adults with special needs, and their families. Our desire is to accomplish endurance-type adventures and turn them into fundraising events, such as the Mount Rainier Climb for Special-Needs Children, which will take place from September 15-20 of this year.
Our main focus is to raise funds for children, adults, families, and organizations that help individuals with special needs. Our desire is to be broad-based. We do not want to focus on one specific special-needs disorder; we want to be a resource to help as many as we can. We want to have other adventurers with an idea/desire/goal to help us out and have their event be used as a fundraising effort. For example, people can ride across the country, hike the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail, paddle the entire coast of Florida, climb Mt. McKinley, or undertake any other extreme adventure.
Q: How does it work?
A: We try to find adventurers wanting support for a special extreme event. We then select this event to sponsor and promote on our website at www.adventurers4specialneeds.com. Then we work to solicit donations for that event and give 100 percent of donations directly to an organization for special needs like the Frankie Lemmon School. All of the AFSN staff is made up of volunteers, and AFSN sponsors provide funds for overhead items and website services.
Q: Why did you decide to climb Mount Rainier for your first fundraiser?
A: I climbed Mount Rainer on my 40th birthday to within 900 feet of the summit of 14,410 feet. Due to a back injury I stopped before getting to the summit. Therefore, I was committed to getting to the top. So I planned another climb for September 2013. We then decided to form AFSN and use it as our first fundraising event, and we recruited four main sponsors: Green Resources, Precision Laboratories, The Maintenance Excellence Institute, and Carolina State Strategies.
Q: How did you get involved in golf course maintenance?
A: My dad loved landscaping. We lived on a golf course so I was exposed to grass, gardening, and plants from an early age—plus I loved being outdoors.
Q: What kind of adrenaline rush do you get from your day job?
A: There are plenty, but they basically come from being bombarded with situations and then categorizing them by importance and getting as many done as possible. If that doesn’t get your juices flowing, nothing will. Among specific tasks, tree work in the wintertime is the best—dropping a huge tree never gets old, and it always gets the heart pumping.
Q: What are the biggest challenges of overseeing three golf course properties?
A: Communication to stay on top of everything, not only with the talented maintenance crews I work with, but also between clubhouses and the pro shop staffs.
Q: What are the benefits of overseeing the maintenance of multiple properties?
A: It has helped me develop my growing skills, because each course has a different growing environment and type of grass. It has also helped me learn to deal with different personalities and to understand what it takes to try to motivate different people.
Q: How can you use your golf course management skills to benefit your fundraising efforts?
A: By bringing together a team and asking for the best effort they can give. I can do very little, if anything, on a golf course without the support and teamwork of the maintenance crew. That is how we are trying to run AFSN—with teamwork.
Q: How have you used your adventure skills as a team-building tool for your staff or co-workers?
A: Golf course maintenance is physically demanding. I use working on the course as a training method to keep in shape for adventures. If the crew guys see you pulling the load, then they will pull as well. I also do adventure races and have done some backcountry winter climbing with the Director of Golf for our properties. The situations we come across during adventures truly help us as co-managers when dealing with work-related issues.
Operations Profile: Traditional Golf PropertiesAnnual Course Maintenance Budget: $400,000 at each property Staff: 10 full-time employees at each property Irrigation System: Toro Osmac at The Preserve and Chapel Ridge, 650-plus heads at each course; Rain Bird at Falls Village, 400 heads Water Source and Usage: Effluent reclaimed water at The Preserve and Chapel Ridge; natural rainwater from holding ponds at Falls Village Equipment: Properties own all equipment (Toro and John Deere) Aerating and Overseeding Schedules: No overseeding; two annual core aerifications at all three properties—aggressive in spring and smaller in August, plus venting greens once a month until fall Maintenance Facilities: All locations have large steel buildings that include kitchens, employee lockers, offices for superintendents and mechanics, wash pads and chemical storage units |
Q: What kind of interest, if any, have you seen from fellow golf course superintendents about this project?
A: They have been wonderful. All the superintendents I have been in contact with have been very helpful with spreading the word. The CGCSA has also been great with getting the word out and helping with exposure.
Q: How can people get involved?
A: Become a sponsor. As a sponsor you can provide financial support to “adventurers” with entry fees and travel expenses, or you can make a direct contribution to AFSN. Or, you may want to sponsor a specific person as an “adventurer” for an AFSN fundraising event and have AFSN donate to a special needs area of your choice. You will receive recognition on our website with a link back to your organization’s website.
Donate what you can at http://adventurers4specialneeds.com/donation.html. Be assured all donations will be used for AFSN’s goal of helping special-needs people. AFSN is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization. We have established and accept credit card donations via www.WePay.com, a secure website.
Become an adventurer for AFSN. As a special person daring to try something beyond what an ordinary person would do, please contact me, or other AFSN staff. We can make your adventure count for something by helping make it into an Adventurers for Special Needs fundraising event. We will help you in every way possible with publicity, promotion and possibly helping you get sponsors for entry fees, etc. You will receive excellent recognition on our website. Your efforts will be rewarded by knowing you have raised funds for special needs people and organizations. As you know, “ordinary people are the ones that can do extraordinary things in life.”
Tell AFSN about an adventurer you know. Someone you know may be interested in that adventure of a lifetime or maybe a “bucket list item.” Let us know about that person so we can find out about their plans and how AFSN might be able to help them.
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