Golfdom, August 2012

Reading Greens EDITORS COMMENTARY H ello Seth This is Jack Hanna Sometimes my cell phone rings and I get an unexpected surprise on the other end When I receive a phone call from a celebrity outside the golf world people like Vince Gill or Puddy from Seinfeld I immediately ask myself what does it have to do with golf But then thats my job to figure it out Somewhere a PR person was nice enough to pass along my cell phone number and the next thing I know Im in a conversation with someone I hear on the radio or see on TV regularly and I have to figure out a way to bring it all back around to golf Thats where I found myself with Hanna well known for his many wildlife TV shows and for bringing exotic animals to Good Morning America and Letterman for the last 30 years Wait Before you flip to Woodward and Danneberger let me remind you that the reason I was talking to Hanna at all is because Jack is the unofficial M C of Rain Birds Intelligent Use of Water film competition and Rain Bird in partnership with Golfdom will be flying two lucky people to Beverly Hills all expenses paid to attend the event You can bring your wife your assistant your general manager alright probably not your GM whomever I only ask that you bring someone fun with you because youll be hanging out with me and Jack Hanna and well we like to party Just go to www golfdom com IUOW to enter Check it out Though Hanna has never played a round of golf he sure loves the game Why Because hes an environmentalist and environmentalists love golf For 20 years Hanna lived off the 10th hole at Muirfield Village GC in Dublin Ohio Thats when he fell in love with what golf courses offer to those lucky enough to live nearby Im out there by myself in the woods the fairway is 50 feet from my house Hanna recalled I get to walk it and see the deer and the birds and all kinds of animals out there 10 Golfdom August 2012 An Intelligent Use of Water on the golf course I loved that I asked Hanna what he thought about the people out there who complain that golf courses use too much water Is golf indeed an intelligent use of water No matter what you do in this world somebodys going to complain It makes no difference what you do Hanna said A lot of people play golf What critics dont realize is golf courses are preserving a lot of land What do they want a company on that land They want houses all over the place Golf courses divert water conserve water recycle water Golf does more conservation than many projects throughout this country Hanna clearly is simpatico with superintendents when it comes to his appreciation for the environment as well as an appreciation for an industry that employs a whole lot of people I asked Hanna what to expect at my first IUOW film festival Ive presented at the Emmys Ive done 28 years on Letterman 30 years on Good Morning America this is right up there he told me Its going to blow your mind At least I hope it does Maybe Im building this up too much It blows my mind I had the pleasure of chatting with Hanna for a while Im sad I dont have more room to share more of our conversation here like his story of living on an abandoned golf course in Rwanda or his honorary title of director of wildlife at a course in Ohio Ill save those stories for when were in Beverly Hills OK E mail Jones who is clearly pretending not to know Puddys real name is Patrick Warburton at sjones@ northcoastmedia net BY SETH JONES WHAT DO THEY WANT A COMPANY ON THAT LAND HOUSES ALL OVER HANNA ASKED GOLF COURSES DIVERT WATER CONSERVE WATER RECYCLE WATER