Katrin Wolfe (Rick Woelfel Photo)
Katrin Wolfe sees a golf course from a unique perspective. As a field representative for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, serving the Mid-Atlantic region, she’s cognizant of all that goes into creating quality playing conditions.
“I definitely look at bunkering,” she said. “That’s a big thing, how the bunkers are maintained, have they been redone recently? Green complexes and tees.”
Wolfe, who is based in northeastern Pennsylvania, spends a lot of time on the road, working with superintendents in five Middle Atlantic states and the District of Columbia.
This week, she is getting a close-up look at Waynesborough Country Club in Paoli, Pa., just outside Philadelphia, where she’s part of the Mid-Amateur field for the 88th Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship.
At the halfway mark of the two-day, 36-hole test, she is one shot out of the lead.
Waynesborough’s demanding green complexes in particular have drawn her attention
“This golf course has some incredible greens,” she said.
Wolfe has an impressive resume as a player. She grew up in Western Pennsylvania and was introduced to golf at the celebrated Sunnehanna Country Club before going on to play college golf at Penn State.
She’s played in 10 USGA Championships and will tee it up in an 11th, the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, in September. She tries to play as much golf as her travel schedule will allow.
“Probably more {this season} than I have the past couple years,” Wolfe said. “It’s easy to lose your golf course management, I feel like if you’re not playing as much, and it’s harder to tee off and get going.
“I try to do the best I can, especially in mid-ams. We’re lucky to have this division. We’re professionals outside the golf realm; we take it very seriously, but at the end of the day we remember that we get to play this great [championship] and still get these competitive opportunities. So, it’s kind of amazing.”
Wolfe serves the game in her role with the GCSAA, serving as a liaison between the organization’s headquarters in Lawrence, Kan., and its members.
“We are in chapter and membership services,” she said. “We help provide the programs that the GCSAA offers and make sure they get out to our members and chapters. We also do a lot of services that our member will need. We try to do education; getting out what we’re providing.”
Wolfe and her colleagues also work in the legislative arena to promote the turf industry’s environmental efforts.
“We do a lot of advocacy,” she said. “Being in the Mid-Atlantic, Washington, D.C., is right at my back door. I’ve done some work with National Golf Day.
“So, it’s not always necessarily chapter and membership relations. You may branch out into environmental or government advocacy as well.
Kind of, whatever the chapter needs, whatever the region needs, is kind of what you’re providing.”
Wolfe is in a unique position in that the services she provides to GCSAA members also benefit her as a golfer.
“I get to play golf because of what our members get to do every single day,” she said. “I wouldn’t get to do this if it wasn’t for our members, so it’s two-fold. I get to provide them with wonderful services and opportunities and they’re giving back to our game more than I ever give them.
“I’m just proud that I get to help them just a little bit every day.”