Nad Al Sheba Golf Course in Dubai is going to close. Where does that leave me?

It’s 9:15 a.m. on May 10 in Lawrence, Kan., and the e-mail I was hoping to get is waiting for me in my inbox. Craig Haldane, the superintendent at Nad Al Sheba GC — the Middle East’s only fully-lit 18-hole golf course — has gotten back to me about using his article in our magazine. I’m the senior associate editor of Golf Course Management magazine, the official publication of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), headquartered here in Lawrence.

The e-mail arrived at 10:35 p.m. my time. They’re eight hours ahead of us in Dubai, making communication a little difficult.

We’ve learned that Nad Al Sheba GC will be shutting down on June 1st, but we have a story on the course we were ready to run in our June issue. Where does that leave us?

I meet with my editor in chief, Ed Hiscock and my managing editor, Bunny Smith. We agree that the story is still worthwhile to our readers. Since the course is fully illuminated by lights, and also has parts of it enclosed by a horse track, it makes for an interesting story. The maintenance challenges are unique, and Haldane’s handling of the situation is creative.

We decide to use a sidebar, where I’ll write a note to the readers explaining the situation, and then we’ll finish that sidebar with Haldane in his own words on the closing. It should work out.

I get back to my desk and the phone is ringing. It’s my editor, Scott Hollister. He’s in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., at the PGA Tour’s Players Championship.

He wants me to start checking into prices for hotels in Philadelphia. I’m going to the U.S. Open to cover the tournament on the GCM blog (http://www.gcm.typepad.com/) and it looks like prices near Oakmont Country Club are already through the roof.

I add “Look into U.S. Open housing” to my list of things to-do today. It’s joined by: proof (articles); buy Shingo (Katayama) photo; forward mail; blog; and all-staff meeting.

It’s now 9:35 a.m. I get busy, because 4:59 p.m. will get here soon. And I already miss my 5-month-old, Evey, even though I just dropped her off, so I really don’t want to be late.