A major Lawrence employer is shopping for a new home with greener grass.

The 120-employee Golf Course Superintendents Association of America said Monday it soon would begin soliciting offers from cities that would like to be the organization’s new home.

“When you think of golf organizations, they are usually located in big golf destinations like Florida, California and Arizona,” said Steve Mona, the association’s chief executive. “We have had to ask ourselves whether we could accomplish some of our goals more easily if we were located in one of those golf-centric areas.

“I can’t tell you the number of people I meet who, when they find out we’re based in Lawrence, they immediately ask me why.”

Mona said representatives from the association’s 102 chapters directed him at a meeting last weekend to hire a company to accept proposals from cities that want to lure from Lawrence the headquarters of the 22,000-member organization.

The association’s board could hire a firm to begin soliciting proposals by early December, he said. Once a firm is chosen, Mona said he expected it would take from three to six months to arrive at a list of two or three proposals to consider.

But he emphasized the association also would consider staying right where it is.

“The thing I want people to understand is that Lawrence is definitely in the running,” Mona said. “We have no offers in hand. We haven’t already decided to move.”

But he said board members were eager to hear what other communities might have to offer. The association’s members think the time may be right to find a new home that would be part of a larger complex including a golf course, hotel and convention center.

“Our vision is much more grand than just moving to a new building,” Mona said. “If we are to move, we want to make a statement and really increase our visibility.”

Locating along a golf course in a traditional golf destination would make it easier for the association to educate golfers about the role golf course superintendents play in the game, he said.

When the association moved in 1991 to its current offices at 1421 Research Park Drive, officials thought the area near its offices could be developed into a golf course. That never happened, but Mona said that wasn’t a factor in the company’s decision to begin searching for a new location.

The organization, which moved to Lawrence in 1972, last seriously considered leaving town in 1998, when Jacksonville, Fla., made an offer.

With annual revenues of about $18 million, the association generally has been considered one of Lawrence’s thriving employers. It has grown from 70 employees in 1994, when Mona took over as CEO, to 120 employees today.

Mona declined to speculate on what the chances were of Lawrence keeping the organization but said board members probably would see both advantages and disadvantages in making a move.

“Lawrence has one big disadvantage and one big advantage,” Mona said. “The disadvantage is Lawrence is not a golf mecca. You can’t argue that it is.

“The one huge advantage is that we’re already here. We’re going to have to be wowed by a deal to leave here. If an offer is only marginally better, we’re not going to do it.”