For Jonathan Fulmer, golf course management was never part of some carefully engineered career plan. In fact, his path to becoming superintendent at Seattle’s Jackson Park Golf Course winds through mission work in Honduras, teaching fifth grade at a bilingual school, cleaning public restrooms for the City of Seattle, and learning Spanish well enough to fall in love.
And somehow, all of it makes perfect sense when you talk with him.
Fulmer, a newly minted Class A Superintendent by the GCSAA, is officially classified by the City of Seattle as a “golf course maintenance supervisor,” has served as superintendent at Jackson Park for more than four years. But his roots at the facility go back much farther than that.
“I was seven years old the first time my dad brought me out to Jackson Park,” Fulmer recalled. “Playing the short course, I swung as hard as I could on the first tee and missed the ball completely. Then I topped it the second time and it rolled all the way down the hill and stopped about two inches from the cup. Golf has never been that easy since.”
Like many in the industry, Fulmer’s entry into golf course maintenance started young. While attending Shorecrest High School, he was recruited into a youth golf program by longtime Northwest golf figure Marcus King. At age 16, Fulmer began working at Jackson Park as a cart attendant and later explored the possibility of becoming a golf professional.
“I tried the PGA PAT twice and didn’t pass,” he said with a laugh. “Once at Capitol City and once at Spanaway.”
A chance encounter on the golf course changed everything. Then-superintendent Don Helstrom pulled alongside Fulmer and a friend during a round and asked if they wanted summer work on the maintenance crew. That first year was primarily course set up, spring trimming and night watering.
Not long after, one of Fulmer’s earliest mentors, Dana Peabody, gave him advice that stayed with him.
“She came up to me and said, ‘You seem pretty good at this. You might be able to make a career out of it if you stick with it.’ Her words ring true today.”
A Different Kind of Journey
Fulmer’s story took a dramatic turn away from golf shortly after he began seasonal work at Jackson Park in 2000.
Following Hurricane Mitch’s devastation in Honduras, Fulmer joined a church mission trip helping relocate a village from a floodplain to higher ground. The experience left a lasting impact.
“I decided I wanted to go back and do more,” he said. He did exactly that.
Over the next several years, Fulmer split time between seasonal golf work in Seattle and extended stays in Honduras. During one of those trips, he met the uncle of the woman who would later become his wife. He eventually lived in Honduras for extended periods, teaching fifth grade, overseeing physical education, serving as a school proctor, and teaching Bible classes at a bilingual school.
Fulmer and his wife Velky have now been married for 24 years and have a 16-year-old daughter, Cora, who he is extremely proud of. Perhaps most impressively, Fulmer became fluent in Spanish along the way. “When my wife and I first met, she spoke Spanish and I spoke English,” he said. “I would write her letters in English and she would have to translate them, and she’d write me letters in Spanish and I’d have to do the same.” It is one of many examples throughout Fulmer’s life where persistence quietly overcame obstacles.
Faith, Perspective, and Purpose
Faith plays a central role in Fulmer’s life and leadership style.
“Faith is essential to who I am as a person,” he explained. “It gives me cornerstones and guide marks to follow.” He speaks openly about surviving a traumatic childhood head injury that left doctors uncertain about his future recovery after a three-day coma and a three-week stay at Children’s Hospital. “There’s a lot of things that could have happened that would not have allowed me to talk to you right now,” Fulmer said thoughtfully. “I had to re-learn all motor skills during my recovery.”
Jonathan with his wife, Velky, and their daughter, Cora.
Those experiences seem to have shaped both his perspective and temperament. Colleagues describe him as steady, humble, and grounded — traits Fulmer credits largely to his faith. “It makes me mindful that every action has a reaction,” he said. “Be careful with what you say and how you act.”
That perspective extends into his role as a father as well. When his teenage daughter recently called after her first car accident, Fulmer consciously chose his response. “My first question was, ‘Are you okay?’” he said. “I remember thinking at the time, this is going to be a memorable moment one way or another.”
Climbing the Ladder, Seattle Style
Fulmer’s professional journey through Seattle Parks and Recreation was anything but conventional.
He was originally categorized, like most members of the golf maintenance crews, as a “long-term temporary employee” which saved the city from paying full-time employee benefits. Perhaps unexpectedly, the city changed the status of those workers to full-time. But Fulmer’s time away in Honduras made his status complicated. After a little bit of wrangling, he was able to secure long-term civil employment, but not immediately at the golf course. Fulmer spent six months cleaning public comfort stations across Seattle while waiting for a golf course technician position to open. He made the decision to grind it out for a chance to get back to what he wanted to do. “It was a humbling job,” he admitted. “But it was work that needed to be done.”
Eventually, a full-time opportunity opened at West Seattle Golf Course, where Fulmer spent six years learning irrigation, spraying, and daily golf course operations under superintendent John Price. He later transferred back to Jackson Park, where he worked under longtime superintendent Robert Maddox and later Greg Van Holbeck, both of whom Fulmer considers influential mentors. “I still follow Greg’s spray program from years ago,” he said. “If it’s not broken, why fix it?”
When Jackson Park’s superintendent position finally became available again several years later, Fulmer was given an opportunity that he clearly does not take for granted. “It’s humbling,” he said. “There’s a lot of responsibility here.”
The Municipal Golf Challenge
Managing Jackson Park presents a unique set of challenges. The facility includes a busy 18-hole golf course, executive course, driving range, and practice areas that collectively host roughly 70,000 rounds annually.
Unlike many private clubs, Fulmer operates without an assistant superintendent and with a lean crew structure. “I don’t have the same toolkit a private club might have,” he explained. “Our equipment averages about 15 years old. We’ve got limited staff, limited resources, but we still want somebody to come out and say, ‘Wow, I was really impressed.’”
That mentality — maximizing limited resources while still producing quality conditions — is something many municipal superintendents know well. Fulmer also believes municipal golf has evolved dramatically in recent years, especially in terms of who plays the game. “There’s still this perception that golf is just for rich old white guys,” he said. “But it’s moved way beyond that.”
He recalls recent outreach efforts at Jackson Park where community members expressed surprise that the facility was even available to them.
“One kid told Patrick Merriam (the head of Seattle’s golf department), ‘I didn’t even know I was allowed on a golf course,’” Fulmer said. “Patrick told him, ‘This is your golf course. You own this.’”
For Fulmer, that accessibility matters deeply.
Life Beyond the Golf Course
Outside of work, Fulmer enjoys hiking with his family, often exploring trails around the Olympic Peninsula or visiting Alta Lake Golf Resort north of Chelan (“What a gem that place is.”). He also plays guitar regularly as part of worship services at his church. “It’s good for the soul,” he said simply.
He and his wife also share an appreciation for crime and border security reality TV — a detail Fulmer admitted with a laugh — along with books by authors like Jack Carr and Brad Thor.
And while Seattle sports teams naturally dominate his local loyalties, Fulmer’s favorite team outside the Pacific Northwest may say the most about him: Platense, a soccer club in Puerto Cortés, Honduras. For someone whose life has bridged cultures, languages, careers, and continents, it feels fitting.
Through it all, Fulmer remains remarkably humble about his journey. “I’m very honored to have been chosen for this,” he said to be selected for this month’s Spotlight.
But after spending time hearing his story, it becomes clear why his peers selected him. Jonathan Fulmer represents something increasingly valuable in today’s profession: quiet resilience, service-minded leadership, and a genuine appreciation for both people and place. And at Jackson Park Golf Course, that combination continues to leave its mark every day.