“Are you going to spray again this year?” Scott Dunbar asks Eric Tuchols as they stand casually in the maintenance building at Diamond Hawk Golf Course. While discussing plans following a hot summer, a long-term friendship is revealed. Conversations and inquiries happen frequently in this area of Buffalo, especially between Dunbar and Tuchols. The turf duo’s public golf courses both opened in the mid-2000s, and they both have been the only superintendents to work for their respective facilities.
Diamond Hawk opened in 2006 in Cheektowaga following designs by William A. Kerman and the Hurdzan-Fry architecture firm. Dunbar, a Penn State University graduate, joined the staff as superintendent to grow in the 18-hole course. Prior to Diamond Hawk, he worked at numerous other facilities including Lockport Town & Country Club, where he assisted in the grow-in of the western New York course.
Similarly, Tuchols joined Orchard Park’s Harvest Hill Golf Course in 2006 before the course opened in August 2007. Also designed by the Hurdzan-Fry firm but led by David Whelchel, Harvest Hill features an 18-hole course, a three-hole short game area and a driving range. Ross Cellino purchased the course in 2012 from a nonprofit.
Tuchols also joined the staff with prior construction experience, as he previously worked as assistant superintendent at Arrowhead Golf Club during its grow-in. “I had the grow-in experience over there at Arrowhead, so it was a good jump for me,” Tuchols says.
There are nearly 50 courses in or around Buffalo. Numerous other courses debuted around the same time as Diamond Hawk and Harvest Hill, including Arrowhead, which opened in 2004. The two courses are known to be high-end, high-quality public facilities.
“We put a lot more into it than most other public golf courses,” Tuchols says. “It’s private club conditions but open to the public.”
The courses share numerous similarities. They were designed by the same firm, opened around the same time, and both are cared for by superintendents who have been there since the start. Despite the commonalities, the courses boast unique characteristics.
Diamond Hawk, located near Buffalo Niagara International Airport, features a parkland style front nine among the trees and lots of wildlife. Dunbar describes the back nine as “completely opposite the front.” It’s a more links-style range of holes, wide open with many ingoing and outgoing planes in sight. The clubhouse and a road divide the nines.
Greens are sand-based, which Dunbar says compares the public facility to private clubs. “I feel our greens really set us apart from other places,” he says. “We put a lot of time and effort into how we maintain our greens surfaces. I feel the putting speeds, trueness and overall turf quality is what separates us. The bentgrass we have and California-style sand greens play a big part in how we can maintain them. I’d put our greens up against anyone in our area.”
Since opening, minimal changes have been made to the course. Over the years, Dunbar and his team have continued to clear overgrown areas and remove trees as needed. “There’s a lot of dead ash trees,” he says.
The property features more than 75 bunkers, all original. Dunbar and his small team are in the process of redoing bunkers, digging out the old, contaminated sand and replacing it, as well as reshaping some. “I would say the bunkers are the biggest weakness here,” he says. Some bunkers will also be removed. Having a small staff with so many bunkers requires significant time spent manicuring them each day.
Located just nine miles south of Diamond Hawk, Harvest Hill spreads across 300 acres. The par-72 layout features five tee box options, measuring 7,021 total yards from the back tees and 4,583 yards from the front. Their scorecard reads: “A daily fee golf course with a personal touch,” offering players a fun but challenging course with 44 bunkers and numerous water hazards.
For Tuchols, this job is exactly what he dreamed of. “I was born and raised in Buffalo, so I really never wanted to leave Buffalo,” he says. “It’s what I always expected. This is the type of job I wanted. I’m really happy here.”
In 2020, the maintenance building was rebuilt, offering cleaner, secure space for the turf team. Smaller projects are completed each year, with the focus currently on expanding the men’s tees to accommodate for heavy play. Bunker work will be in the facility’s future too.
Different from nearby courses, the two facilities feature Declaration bentgrass. When deciding on a seed, Dunbar and his team spent lots of time researching with Rutgers University to make the best pick based on disease resistance and growing potential in the area. “We got it because of the disease resistance on dollar spot,” Dunbar says.
Both courses operate with small full-time staffs in the offseason. At Diamond Hawk, Dunbar carries only three other staff members: mechanics AJ Brodeur and Chris Kujwaski and foreman/assistant Bill Liberati. During peak season, the maintenance crew climbs to 12. “Even though I don’t have a true assistant at the moment, Bill has been with me for several years and continues to want to learn more and I’ve given him more responsibility,” Dunbar says of Liberati. Dunbar does his best to help each crew member feel appreciated, valued and taken care of. “You’re only as good as your crew,” Dunbar says.
Bob Folck, another Diamond Hawk employee who focuses on morning set up and gardening on the property, has been with the course almost as long as Dunbar. “He’s another right-hand man that can just be a set of eyes for me,” Dunbar says.
Tuchols’ crew also peaks around 13 or 14 crew members before dropping to three during the offseason withassistant superintendent Pete Leising and mechanics Dave Hoellig and Scott Draught. In the offseason, the mechanics spend mornings working on the course and their afternoons in the shop.
For Leising, working with Tuchols at Harvest Hill is a dream. “I’ve been here three years, and I can’t even imagine being anywhere else,” he says. “I think I learn something new every week, whether it’s Eric getting down and teaching me about a disease, or just observing what he does every single day. If I’m ever a superintendent, I would pretty much use this exact template of how to run a course.”
Leising’s father actually helped Tuchols get his job at Harvest Hill. Tuchols repaid that favor in 2023 when he recruited Leising to fill the assistant role. “I’ve known him since he was a little kid, which is kind of neat,” Tuchols says.
As a bonus, Leising also gets to bring his dog, Mable, to the course each day. “As an assistant, some guys don’t allow that,” Leising says.
Despite small crews, the courses strive to provide private club conditions. Leising says they succeed in that and have for years. He has been playing there since he was a kid.
“The conditions have always been immaculate; it was always the No. 1 place.” Leising says. “It’s been consistent. I think not only is it consistent because he’s so good at his job, it’s also been the same guy for 20 years. There’s no new person coming in and changing things up. He knows the golf course so well. He knows every single nook and cranny.”
Working at the course for two decades gives Dunbar and Tuchols an advantage — they know their turf better than anyone. For Dunbar, having seen the course be designed and built helps him make decisions. It allows him to prepare accordingly and make proper choices with his plans.
“There is knowledge that I have gained that has been invaluable,” Dunbar says. “Knowing how the course was built, where all the irrigation lines, valve boxes and wires are located, where all the drain lines run, where drain receivers are and how the system was designed to work. Knowing what greens, tees and fairways will show the first signs of stress during certain times of the season, what areas of the course are the wettest after a rain event and how to deal with those areas and knowing what turf diseases will show up first and what areas of the course are more susceptible to that.”
For Tuchols, knowing the course so well helps him stay ahead of the game. Well aware of where problematic areas lie, he can get out ahead of the issues. “Which greens dry out quicker? What areas stay wet longer? I guess you just kind of learn,” he says.
As the grass has matured at Harvest Hill, Tuchols says he has too. He prioritizes continuing education through the GCSA of New York and the GCSAA, which has helped him improve his skills and stay current on industry trends. But his industry relationships, like his with Dunbar, have helped him most improve.
“I feel like the guys that have been here for a while, we are pretty close,” Tuchols says. “We have a tight-knit group of guys in the area.”
Superintendents in the region will often get together for a beer and conversation, inquiring about their peers’ decisions and recent findings.
Tuchols plays in a weekly league at Diamond Hawk, so the two will often find themselves chatting before play, or texting about life and the job.
Dunbar marked his 20th anniversary at the course in March, and Tuchols will celebrate his 20th in April 2026. According to the GCSAA, the average number of years a superintendent remains at one course or job is 9½ years. What has made this superintendent pair stick around their courses for so long? One reason is that management emphasizes support for the operation.
“It’s pretty laid back,” Tuchols says. “Our owners let us do our thing and manage it the way that it should be managed.” The Cellinos, who own the facility, give Tuchols and his team the tools they need to keep the course in the best condition.
Ownership also doesn’t place pressure on Dunbar. “I kind of do my own thing,” he says. The lack of pressure to make certain decisions allows the superintendent to make ideal decisions for the property while keeping golfers happy.
Above all else, the superintendents stay because they love what they do and where they do it.
“It’s a great layout. It’s a beautiful piece of property,” Tuchols says. “I like to work outside. I have a passion for golf. So, I like to see the final product. When you’re all done at the end of the day, you look back at it and you’re like, ‘Wow, that looks really nice.”
Although the superintendents work on different properties, under different course names, their passions for their job, community and career do not differ. They are the superintendents from the start, and they don’t plan to end that any time soon.
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