John Lawrence, director of strategic golf for The Toro Company, has been chosen as the 2022 recipient of the American Society of Golf Course Architects‘ Donald Ross Award.
The award, given annually since 1976, is presented to a person who has made a significant contribution to the game of golf and the profession of golf course architecture. It will be presented to Lawrence at the ASGCA Annual Meeting on October 3 at the Donald Ross Banquet.
Lawrence has spent his entire career working in and around golf, starting with a Toro Distributor for North and South Carolina, EJ Smith and Sons Company. When the company split, Lawrence stayed with the new company, Smith Turf and Irrigation (STI) which focused on the professional side of the Toro Irrigation Distribution business and led him to develop relationships with golf course superintendents, owners, developers and architects.
He eventually came to work for The Toro Company when Turf Care Products, another Toro Distributor he led, was sold to Toro in the early 2000s. Lawrence, in his work on the professional side of irrigation, was mentored by Toro’s Dr. Jim Watson, who taught him the benefits of working closely with universities with turfgrass programs, golf course superintendents and golf course architects. He also learned about the importance of relationship building from another mentor, Toro’s John Singleton.
Lawrence splits his time at Toro between his strategic golf role and Toro’s Corporate Accounts team, which is responsible for managing many of Toro’s key golf course customers worldwide. Toro’s business model encourages relationship building, and Lawrence has spent his time over the past two decades traveling from golf project to golf project around the world supporting the work of golf course architects.
“A young architect might view John Lawrence as merely a strategic name to add to their list of contacts. But describing John as ‘a good networking partner’ barely scratches the surface,” said ASGCA President Jason Straka. “John is the epitome of what the Donald Ross Award was created to honor. He truly has made a significant contribution to the game and the profession because of his ability to find that missing piece to move a project to success, and most importantly to help an architect or friend in need.
“It seems like he knows everyone; more than once I’ve been stuck on a project and a call to John has led to a solution. I’m proud to call him my friend, and I know that’s true for scores of people in this industry. The night we give John the Donald Ross Award is going to be special.”