Management Team
Based in Mooresville, North Carolina, Emerson has over 40 years of experience in the golf club industry. 25 of those years were spent at Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona as the Director of Agronomy where Emerson presided over seven golf courses, leading to several awards, including Renovation of the Year award in 2003 and multiple Honorable Mentions for Development in 2019. Prior to his time at Desert Mountain, he managed two courses at PGA West Resort in Palm Springs, CA and served as golf course superintendent at Coronado Country Club in El Paso, TX (18 holes). In addition to Emerson’s management of golf courses, he has overseen all aspects of club landscaping, tennis, and pickle court construction/maintenance, and was part of building a world-renowned performance center. He is known for his innovative approach, using technology such as sensors, drones, operation software, and procurement management, which allows for deep dive operation methods.
Emerson has managed multi-cultural work environments by hiring employees via student visas, H2B visas, and Catholic Relief Services, creating a unified team working towards a common goal. He has placed over 50 golf course superintendents and 75 assistant superintendents who have moved on to other opportunities in the golf course industry.
Emerson has collaborated closely with many experts in the industry during his career,
including architects, scientists, university professors, and manufacturers, as well as many small business owners. As a second-generation golf course superintendent, Emerson has many business contacts that span several generations. He is well respected within the industry, not only for his expertise, but also for his management skills, his ability to look outside the box, and his down to earth personality.
In joining Ethos Club & Leisure, Emerson is teaming up with Bob Jones, his former longtime general manager at Desert Mountain and a founding partner of Ethos Club & Leisure, and says, “I’m trying to help people give back to an industry that’s given me so much.”
“Superintendents need to improve their overall professionalism because their jobs have evolved beyond growing grass. We have become more involved. We’re in the room when million-dollar and billion-dollar decisions are being made. One of my new roles is helping people handle those situations because that’s not where our training was when we got our education. There’s a whole new approach to the business side of our jobs.”
Over Emerson’s career, he has constructed six golf courses and renovated four others. He has groomed golf courses for major tournaments, including nine Senior PGA major tournaments, six Arizona State Opens, four Arizona State Amateurs, six Southwest Amateurs, one PGA Senior Club Championship, and one USGA Senior Women’s Amateur.
Emerson has received many awards and honors. He was inducted into the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame in 2017 and most recently received the 2021 Golf Anuvia Legend Award. He has been featured in many golf course industry magazines and blogs, and is a frequent lecturer at GCSAA conferences and on university campuses. Emerson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy at the University of Arizona.