They call it the happiest place on turf, and for 64-year-old Bruce Gerlander, one gets the sentiment that he feels genuinely content in his role as general manager of Walt Disney World’s golf operation.

With a global reputation for fulfilling and exceeding people’s dreams when they visit the 27,000-acre Walt Disney World (WDW) Resort in Orlando – officially the largest theme park in the world – you could be mistaken for assuming that Gerlander sometimes feels the pressure.

Operated and managed by Arnold Palmer Golf Management (APGM), Gerlander is the general manager responsible for overseeing two clubhouses and 63 holes of golf, not to mention three separate practice facilities all aspiring to offer a unique, and world-class golf experience to everyone that ventures out onto the courses.

Back in 2011, APGM and WDW entered into a 20-year partnership to improve the golf facilities, guest experience and course conditions across the four golf courses, and 2023 will mark the culmination of that process when the re-imagined Magnolia Course at Walt Disney World fully reopens.

Opened in 1971 along with The Magic Kingdom, the Magnolia Course has undergone an extensive redesign of all 18 greens, with holes 14-17 on the closing stretch re-routed, partly due to a new access road that has been built to ease the flow of the 12 million people that visit The Magic Kingdom every year.

Along with Lake Buena Vista, the Palm and the nine-hole Oak Trail, The Magnolia forms the centrepiece of the WDW golf offering with more than 200,000 rounds hosted by APGM ever year across the four courses.

And all under the supervision of Gerlander, who counts himself “lucky” to not only work at Walt Disney World, but also, in the golf business as he explains.

“I didn’t come from a golf family,” he states. “My dad was a fireman, and my mum stayed at home, so I came from a very modest background. We weren’t Country Club people, and not even golfers.

“My interest in golf came from some friends who used to go to the local municipal course and caddy… back then it was $5 a bag,” he recalls fondly. “So, I started doing that in the summers, and on the weekends, I’d get up early and try and be first out in line to start carrying bags.

“You’d pick-up a few ideas, and try a few shots and play a little bit, and I fell in love with golf, and stopped playing everything else. I was lucky that I fell in love with it.

“I then got a college scholarship to play golf, and I’ve been working in golf ever since.”

When asked if he ever aspired to become a touring professional, he laughs and says: “Yeah… the two per cent dementia side of my head. I look back now and laugh, as anybody that ever shot under par in a tournament thinks that, well, you know…

“I didn’t fool myself and started with the PGA of America a long time ago, at a small course up north and I got lucky again, as I got to Innisbrook Golf Resort.

“Actually, I never wanted to be in the golf business – I wanted to be in business,” said Gerlander. “I enjoyed playing, but I saw the life of the people that had good jobs and could still play, and they could beat most of the gentlemen that I saw that were golf professionals.

“So, when I got to Innisbrook, I saw a different side… I saw a business as opposed to a hobby. Most of the golf professionals previously I saw were ok players; good card players and real good drinkers.

“From the moment I got into the [golf] business, I was aspiring to be a business person.”

Gerlander’s determination to succeed led him to a 14-year role as GM at Orange County National Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, before moving to a struggling private club in Albuquerque, New Mexico that needed some guidance. In a two-year period, Gerlander helped to avoid foreclosure, and converted the club into a debt-free, sustainable entity which included re-branding the club and giving it back to the local community.

“Albuquerque, New Mexico is a very small, poor town, and four individuals got together and pooled the funds to turn the club around, and to help the community improve. It was a lot of fun, and very socially impactful.

Gerlander admits that working in Albuquerque was “out of my wheelhouse, well out west in the mountains”, and due to family pressures – his son, who grew up in Orlando and was born in the Arnold Palmer Hospital wanted to come back home – the family moved back to Florida.

And in September 2016, Gerlander landed the role of GM at Walt Disney World Golf, and feels like he’s returned ‘home’.

Disney is revered the world over for its guest experience and merchandise, and Gerlander describes the operation as “the most robust I’ve ever been involved with.”

Pointing to murals of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Gerlander says: “You put any one of these characters on anything we have in the shop, and it’s going to help sell it. We’re very fortunate, and sometimes you can’t keep certain items in stock.”

Historically, of the three 18-hole courses at Walt Disney World, The Magnolia was always perceived to be the signature course, hosting all three rounds of the Disney Classic.

But post COVID, and with the Magnolia partly closed for renovation, Lake Buena Vista and The Palm have taken the largest share of visiting golfers.

But with the emphasis on quality and not quantity, interestingly Gerlander has made changes to the tee-time as he explains: “When I came here, we were at eight minute flight times, and then we moved to nine, and now we’re at ten,” he said.

“We could certainly put more rounds out, but we’re actually closing off later in the afternoon trying to just give the courses a break, as we’ve been so busy.”

But that in turn brings other pressures, especially when it comes to the pace-of-play.

“It’s interesting because of the unique property that we are, that people might have their annual game of golf when they’re on a Disney vacation, or they just play a few times a year,” said Gerlander.

“I can’t say that we have the most avid golfers necessarily, but we have the most avid Disney fans that also play golf.

“[Pace-of-play] is a challenge, for sure,” he admits. “Even with ten minutes, we saw round time shrink as we spread out the tee times, but it’s a bit of a roll of the dice every day. We could get everyone round in four hours, ten minutes today and think we’re smart, and then the mix of play tomorrow changes.

“We have just put GPS on all of the carts, and have player assistants out on the course as well.

“We try and hang our hat on the Arnold Palmer style of hospitality, and we want everyone that comes here to feel comfortable, important and appreciated. That was the way Mr Palmer treated everybody.

“Mr Palmer never met a stranger, and he treated the bellboy the same as the president of the company. He always had time for you and shook everybody’s hand.

“And we try to create a little bit of a relationship with everybody and come across in a sincere matter that says: ‘We care that you’re here; we want to take care of you and we appreciate you coming to visit with us.’”

With that mantra, chances are that Gerlander will see out the rest of his career at WDW saying: “I have no plans to retire. I love what I do. I don’t feel like it’s work.”