Member Spotlight

TTA Board Member Mark Stovall – Territory Manager at Harrell’s

How long have you served on the TTA Board, and why did you decide take on this role?

This is my second year on the board. I really wanted to be able to give back to the organization that supported us through my career as a superintendent. I really enjoy seeing the growth and direction of the TTA organization.

When you’re having to be very flexible and it changes daily with each conversation we have, it seems to be monthly now, something else has changed. I think Doug Ward and Melissa and the Directors have done an excellent job.

What was the career path that led you to your current position?

My only assistant job was Chattanooga Golf and Country Club working with Jeff Hollister. I worked there for three and a half years. Then, Fox Den was my first superintendent job, and I spent three years there in Knoxville. After that, I went to Lookout Mountain Golf Club and spent 15 years there. I love golf course architecture — Lookout is a Seth Raynor design.

Then I moved to Pinehurst, North Carolina and Forest Creek Golf Club. We had 36 holes and 1,263 acres on the property, so that was a large property. I held the Director of Golf Course Maintenance position. There were multiple superintendents, club and grounds staff and people that took care of the property, so that was a larger position than I’d had previously in the superintendent’s job.

Then I wanted to get back home. My daughters were born here in Tennessee, and we wanted to get back west. The job with BuySod, which is based in Pinehurst, I got to know them, and they had a position in Tennessee, so it brought us back to Chattanooga. We loved Pinehurst, but this is home now. I’ve spent over half my life here in TN.

I got to spend 6 months at Augusta National when I was a student at Mississippi State, as an intern. I did a little bit of everything throughout those six months. I was there, luckily, for the tournament. It was a great six months, I learned a lot, had some great people I got to work with, and got to meet a lot of people. Other tournaments, one that I really enjoyed because I love architecture — I got to go work the Open Championship at St. Andrews in 2005, a Tiger win there. It’s The Home of Golf, so that was a great. I think I was there ten days. That was a totally different experience working that one.

What is the scope of your current job as Territory Manager?

I have northwest Georgia, the very southeastern part of Tennessee, all of middle and west Tennessee, except Memphis, so it’s a big territory. I do a lot of driving. The vast majority of my customers are golf courses, but I still have some sod, lawncare and sports fields. Tennessee is a beautiful state, I love driving it, but we definitely have different landscapes throughout those zones.

Do you have any mentors in the industry?

I’ve been fortunate to work with some really good people throughout my career. I guess the first one I’d have to mention is Marsh Benson, because of my time as an intern at Augusta National, I still look to him. He was a great mentor, and I call him a friend now, we still keep in touch. So he guided me, and then the next one would have to be working for Jeff Hollister at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club. He was a task master, but I learned a lot in those three and a half years working with Jeff. I wouldn’t take anything for that period of being assistant for him.

What would you say is the biggest challenge the turfgrass industry is facing right now?

I’ll put the superintendent hat back on — the biggest challenge is employees, trying to find help. I really don’t know what that solution is, though. I feel for the superintendents trying to find help in this day.

There may have been a period of ten years that I might not have recommended people getting into the business, it may have been getting really crowded, but now I’m really seeing the struggle to find assistants even at high-end clubs. So once that goes, there’s going to be a group of superintendents that start retiring in a couple of years, so there’s going to be some really good positions out there. I think there’s a lot of good opportunities and a really big need for assistants now. There’s a lot of jobs, there’s a lot they’re going to have to deal with, like the labor issue, but I would recommend it.

Tell us about what you do outside of work?

I still have my parents alive, so I love to deer hunt with my dad. We’ve done it for many years, we go back to Mississippi in the winter, so hopefully we get to do it again this year. Dad is turning 82 at the end of the month, and he probably had one of his better seasons last year. I cherish the days getting to hunt with him.

My two daughters are getting older now. Olivia is a junior at UTC, and Haley is a high school senior, she just turned 18. It’s a very interesting senior year of high school with what’s going on with COVID19. My wife, Velvet, and I have been married for 23 years, she’s an elementary school teacher. I try to spend plenty of time with my family — I live on Signal Mountain, so there are a lot of good hiking trails, and we try to do some of that in my off time.

Thank you, Mark for serving TTA as a board member!

Haley, Velvet and Olivia