Source: Benton County Daily Record
Tending a golf course isn't so much maintenance as it is art.
"I'm an artist," says Shannon Billingsley, assistant superintendent of Scotsdale Golf Course said with a gesture toward the window. "This is my canvas out here."
Billingsley has been around golf courses his entire life, in one capacity or another. While growing up, his parents ran a golf course in Minnesota. "Basically, the only thing I've ever known is golf," he says.
He has worked as an irrigation tech at Greystone Country Club in Cabot and at Chenal Country Club in Little Rock.
"I love it," he says. "There's nothing I'd rather be doing. If I wasn't doing this, I don't know what I'd do."
Except for a short time when Billingsley traveled around the concert circuit, selling tye-dyed T-shirts, hemp necklaces and bracelets, he has always worked on a golf course.
And it isn't just about the free golf for Billingsley. He takes a certain pride in that he has a hand in the beauty on the No. 16 par five, or the No. 15 par three.
And if anyone doubts Billingsley's skills as a "painter and artist," they need only look at the No. 5 green at the Country Club Golf Course or the No. 17 at Scotsdale.
Both greens suffered extensive damage as a result of vandalism. Billingsley was a key member of the team that restored the Country Club green and the main individual responsible for repairing the green on the Scotsdale course.
On any given day, there is plenty to do on a golf course, even in the winter. "You pick up everything you can off the course that can be brought into the shop, and clean and paint it.
"On the course, we cut trees back, and mow grass, although, in the winter, it's not really mowing. You're basically breaking up the divots."
Mowing is something that must be done daily on a golf course, especially in the summer. But there are many other things that have to be done to keep a golf course in top-running condition.
"You have to seed, tend to your nursery green, if you have one, because that's your most important green. If you get one that's damaged, like we did with No. 17, then you'll need a nursery green in order to repair it," he says.
Watering grass is another important thing on a golf course and something that can be easily messed up, if you don't know what you're doing, Billingsley said.
"You can get grasses too wet. It is possible to water them too much," he said. "Watering grass takes a lot of practice, knowing how much to put on there."
There are many different kinds of grass, and new kinds coming out all the time. And where you are and the climate for that area will determine what kind of grass has to be used on the course. For instance, bentgrass is used on all of the courses in Bella Vista, Billingsley said. Farther south, they use Bermuda.
"Bentgrass is a cool-weather grass, while Bermuda is more heat tolerant," he said.
Sometimes, life veers away from the norm and can't necessarily be scripted.
During the floods of April and July and the first part of this year, Billingsley spent time on a bridge, pulling limbs and trees out of the water before they caused damage.
However, Billingsley is not content to just work on a golf course. He's also an avid golfer.
His favorite club is his sand wedge, an R-90.
"I can hit it just about anywhere," he says. "I don't necessarily hit it far, but I can hit off sand, off grass, or off the rocks. When I die, it'll go in my grave with me. No one gets my R-90."
He broke 100 for the first time when he was about 10 years old, and broke 70 when he was 15. He even remembers the date he recorded his first and only hole-in-one.
"It was May 18, 1986. The No. 15 hole at Westpark Golf Course in Duluth, Minn. It was 119 yards," Billingsley recalled.
And not only does he remember the course, the hole and the yardage, but also what club he used. He even kept the ball, the flag, the tee marker and the scorecard.
However, he is quick to add that he didn't steal the flag and the tee marker.
"Fortunately, they'd just gotten new flags and tee markers," he said.
But golf isn't the only thing in Billingsley's life, although it is definitely the main thing.
"I married my job a long time ago and we're very happy together," he says, adding, "With this job, you spend all your time on a golf course, if you're dedicated. It's a 365 day-a-year job. You always have to come in and check the course."
Billingsley is also fiercely devoted to his pet snake, a ball python named Zeek.
He's not married and says that he would have to find a woman who could deal with his pet because, "She'd go before the snake."
Billingsley is not especially interested in money, which is a good thing, he said, because, "You're not going to get rich doing this job."
However, he does have ambition. Right now, he says he is happy being an assistant superintendent, as there are things he has yet to learn.
Eventually, he would like to be a superintendent, maybe in Bella Vista, maybe not.
