How this female veteran found her calling as a golf course shaper

Mellisa Bedwell’s work life has been something however peculiar.

As a development supervisor for Landscapes Unlimited, the world’s largest golf course development firm, Bedwell is one in every of solely two female superintendents. It goes with out saying that she has few female friends. But that hasn’t stopped her from pursuing her ardour — a ardour that has introduced her into the highlight at golf programs all all through the United States.

A proficient athlete, Bedwell performed basketball, volleyball and softball in highschool however opted to not play in faculty. Instead, she joined the Marines. “I was very regimented in everything I did in life,” Bedwell mentioned not too long ago by cellphone. She married a fellow Marine who tragically died on deployment. It was a laborious time for Bedwell, who left the army within the wake of her husband’s demise.

“I wish I had stayed, the military was really good for me,” she mentioned. “But it set me on the path I’m on now.”

In her early post-military days, Bedwell was uncomfortable. She craved the order and consistency provided to her as a member of the rank-and-file, and missed the bonds that have been solid inside it. Then someday her father, a golf course shaper engaged on a course in Miami, requested for assistance on a job.

Physical labor agreed with her. Bedwell spent her days putting in irrigation pipes, selecting up rocks, engaged on drainage, and raking. When her first job was performed, she stayed on as an irrigation tech. With her employment state of affairs taking form, she even picked up a interest: ladies’s deal with soccer. Nine groups and 24 seasons later, Bedwell stays the pillar of consistency, at present serving as an offensive and defensive lineman for the Zydeco Spice in Louisiana, a staff within the Women’s Football Alliance.

At lengthy final, Bedwell had found her area of interest — however it took longer to seek out her dwelling. Despite the truth that Bedwell was doing profitable work in a male-dominant business, she didn’t entice a lot consideration from the game’s energy brokers.

“When I was a laborer, no one really batted an eye,” she mentioned. “It wasn’t until I was efficient on a piece of equipment as a shaper that people started noticing.”

That got here on a job website in Connecticut, the place Bedwell started work as a shaper in earnest — piloting a dozer to construct mounds and bunkers. She cherished it straight away. That was 12 years in the past, and Bedwell hasn’t regarded again.

“There’s something about being out there and being able to change anything,” Bedwell mentioned of course shaping’s attraction. “You could have a flat piece of land and be able to make it look like anything you want. Make it look like it was always there. It’s amazing.”

Five years in the past, Bedwell’s expertise lastly broke by means of. She landed a job with Landscapes Unlimited as a shaper, and was quickly promoted to development supervisor. It’s a profession that requires her to guide a nomadic life. The work is project-based. The hours are lengthy. In any given week, she will discover herself on a golf course anyplace within the nation. Bedwell spends her days redoing bunkers, aiding superintendents, appearing as the lead superintendent, or no matter is required at a explicit location. She’s at present primarily based in Bolton, Mass., at The International Golf Club.

“Every project is so unique and so special, they all hold something dear to me,” she mentioned. “A certain hole that pops, the grass we used, the people we met, the town we were in. Every one has special meaning to me.”

There are a lot of methods to seek out which means within the work. Golf course upkeep and growth remains to be a male-dominated occupation. Bedwell is one in every of solely a handful of ladies in her place within the golf world. But as she seems to be across the golf world, she is seeing a change slowly starting to type.

“Why not more? Fear of acceptance perhaps,” she mentioned. “Because of my background, being a laborer, then operator, then shaper, then super, I know the ins and outs. I have the experience to make suggestions to architects.”

After all, there’s a easy path to success as a shaper — a path Bedwell is aware of herself.

“Get your hands dirty!”

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As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She can out-hustle them within the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily liable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular tasks, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview collection, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each within the journal and in video type on GOLF.com.