Greenkeeper

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person responsible for maintaining the grass, grounds, and playing surfaces of a golf course or similar recreational area
2. A professional whose duties include maintaining, caring for, and enhancing the quality of turf and grounds for recreational facilities, primarily in golf environments
3. Someone who manages and looks after the grass and overall condition of a golf course or sports field

Etymology: A greenkeeper is, quite literally, a keeper of the green, and the "green" in golf is the closely mown patch of turf surrounding the hole. The sense of "green" as a smooth, carefully tended lawn for playing a game goes back to the open grassy commons where early golfers in Scotland played, and the compound simply pairs that word with "keeper," someone who looks after a thing. The result is a job title that describes its work with complete transparency. The word "keeper" itself comes from the Old English "cēpan," meaning to watch over or take heed of, so the job is essentially one of guarding and watching over a particular patch of ground. A greenkeeper's daily labour of mowing, rolling, watering and feeding the turf is exactly what that old verb asks for.