For the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, the grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence.

Leaders of the association said Tuesday that they have decided to keep their headquarters and its 120 jobs in Lawrence.

Steve Mona, president and chief executive of the association, said the group’s nine member board unanimously agreed to discontinue considerations to move its headquarters to a more “golf-centric” area of the country.

“I think the pretty clear conclusion was that we have been doing well here and have pretty good momentum here,” Mona said of the 21,000-member organization that has been based in the city since 1974.

The decision ends speculation of a move that had been ongoing since board members raised the issue in November 2002. Area economic development leaders had made keeping the company a top priority, in large part because the company’s 120 jobs pay an average wage of $43,000 per year. The association also is one of the few companies that has its national headquarters located in the city.

“The Golf Course Superintendents Association really is a part of our community’s identity,” said Lynn Parman, vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. “We are extremely pleased that they’re staying home.”

Employees of the business, which has its offices just west of 15th Street and Wakarusa Drive, also were pleased and relieved to hear the news.

“It did weigh on a lot of people’s minds,” said Leah Craig, a Lawrence resident who works at the association. “A lot of people wouldn’t have been able to make the move.”

The association never selected an alternative to Lawrence, but it mentioned cities in the Orlando, Fla., and Phoenix areas as possibilities.

The board’s decision, which was made at a Monday meeting in Chicago, leaves the possibility that the location of the headquarters will become an issue again. Board members agreed that they would consider reopening the issue if future evaluations of the association showed that it wasn’t adequately meeting its goals and objectives.

“I don’t want to set the expectation that this will automatically come back up again,” Mona said. “If we’re achieving all our strategic objectives, then it won’t come up.”

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Several employees said they were optimistic the issue wouldn’t arise again anytime soon.

“Quite honestly, I think this whole experience will put the issue to rest,” said Lorrie Butell, a Lawrence resident and employee of the association. “It (a move) is a question that has been on the minds of the members for a long time. I think now they’re finally going to be able to stop wondering if they’d be better off in a new location.”

Dick Stuntz, vice president of golf course facilities for Lawrence-based Alvamar Inc., is a member of the association. He said he thought it was unlikely board members would revisit the issue anytime soon.

That’s in part because the board was following the recommendation of an 11-member “resource group” that had studied the pros and cons of a possible move for more than a year.

“I’m confident the report wasn’t political and was objective in its nature,” Stuntz said. “That means it cuts a big swath with the board of directors.”

At the association’s Monday meeting, board members also directed Mona to look at the possibility of opening regional offices to better serve association members. Mona said that study likely would be completed by the end of the year.

He said if new regional offices were created, it was possible Lawrence employees could be transferred to serve in the new offices. But he said any job losses at Lawrence likely would be minimal.

“It wouldn’t be any mass exodus of employees from Lawrence,” Mona said.