The international presence at this year’s TOUR Championship extended beyond talented turfgrass volunteers roaming East Lake Golf Club’s bermudagrass and zoysiagrass playing surfaces.
Beaverbrook Golf Club’s Dylan Brychta spent the week helping equipment manager Wes Holsenbeck and assistant equipment manager Chris Lewis handle a bevy of tournament-week activity. Brychta, according to Holsenbeck, represented East Lake’s first international equipment management volunteer. “It’s a really big deal for us to get an international volunteer in the shop,” Holsenbeck says. “I hope it continues.”
Brychta is the head equipment manager at Beaverbrook Golf Club, an exclusive private facility in Surrey, England. In fact, Brychta is the club’s only equipment manager.
(Pictured: Chris Lewis, Wes Holsenbeck, Dylan Brychta)
Opened in 2016 and designed by architecture star David McLay Kidd and eight-time major champion Tom Watson, Beaverbrook is unlikely, at least in the near future, to host a significant professional event. Nearby Wentworth Club and Walton Heath Golf Club are frequent tournament sites, but Brychta wanted to expand his network, so he started pondering volunteer opportunities in the United States. “I have always seen it as a good progression to get to know some superintendents and course managers in the states,” he says.
Brychta has relatives on the West Coast and he considered applying to work one of the PGA Tour’s California stops. An industry contact he made while exploring West Coast opportunities sent him a link to apply for a TOUR Championship volunteer spot. The timing of this year’s event – the tournament was held Sept. 20-23 in Atlanta – fit into Brychta’s schedule because it coincides with the end of Beaverbrook’s peak season. The TOUR Championship moves to August beginning in 2019. “With the season just handing off in the United Kingdom, it meant I could step up for a week and put everything into this,” he says. “I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.”
The biggest contrast between Beaverbrook and East Lake’s shop, Brychta says, is the manufacturer supplying the equipment. Besides working on different equipment, the week provided an opportunity to study the layout and inner workings of an established American shop offering support for turfgrass maintained at tournament-level heights. Brychta started working at Beaverbrook before it opened and contributed to the construction of the maintenance facility.
He quickly noticed other differences during his time at East Lake. Beaverbrook has creeping bentgrass greens. Creeping bentgrass, Brychta jokes, is considered a warm-season grass in the United Kingdom. Brychta also brought some different lingo to the East Lake shop, most notably calling backtrack mowing “freaky cutting.”
For Holsenbeck, the presence of a young, enthusiastic shop volunteer made his second TOUR Championship at East Lake even more enjoyable. Brychta is just 25 years old, giving Holsenbeck an opportunity to work alongside somebody in a demographic that veteran equipment managers are trying to attract to the golf industry.
“It’s kind of sad to see how it has turned out the last five to 10 years,” Holsenbeck says. “Guys aren’t interested in doing what we do. We are pushing things with the GCSAA and that’s helped. It’s great to see a young guy like him show the amount of interest that he shows.”
Brychta expected a “hectic” few weeks when he returned to Beaverbrook, although he lauds the club’s assistant course managers for their willingness to check equipment when he’s away. His co-workers are a fortunate group. Not many United Kingdom turf managers will spend a winter listening to stories about “freaky cutting.”
Guy Cipriano is GCI’s senior editor.
Beaverbrook Golf Club’s Dylan Brychta spent the week helping equipment manager Wes Holsenbeck and assistant equipment manager Chris Lewis handle a bevy of tournament-week activity. Brychta, according to Holsenbeck, represented East Lake’s first international equipment management volunteer. “It’s a really big deal for us to get an international volunteer in the shop,” Holsenbeck says. “I hope it continues.”
Brychta is the head equipment manager at Beaverbrook Golf Club, an exclusive private facility in Surrey, England. In fact, Brychta is the club’s only equipment manager.
(Pictured: Chris Lewis, Wes Holsenbeck, Dylan Brychta)
Opened in 2016 and designed by architecture star David McLay Kidd and eight-time major champion Tom Watson, Beaverbrook is unlikely, at least in the near future, to host a significant professional event. Nearby Wentworth Club and Walton Heath Golf Club are frequent tournament sites, but Brychta wanted to expand his network, so he started pondering volunteer opportunities in the United States. “I have always seen it as a good progression to get to know some superintendents and course managers in the states,” he says.
Brychta has relatives on the West Coast and he considered applying to work one of the PGA Tour’s California stops. An industry contact he made while exploring West Coast opportunities sent him a link to apply for a TOUR Championship volunteer spot. The timing of this year’s event – the tournament was held Sept. 20-23 in Atlanta – fit into Brychta’s schedule because it coincides with the end of Beaverbrook’s peak season. The TOUR Championship moves to August beginning in 2019. “With the season just handing off in the United Kingdom, it meant I could step up for a week and put everything into this,” he says. “I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.”
The biggest contrast between Beaverbrook and East Lake’s shop, Brychta says, is the manufacturer supplying the equipment. Besides working on different equipment, the week provided an opportunity to study the layout and inner workings of an established American shop offering support for turfgrass maintained at tournament-level heights. Brychta started working at Beaverbrook before it opened and contributed to the construction of the maintenance facility.
He quickly noticed other differences during his time at East Lake. Beaverbrook has creeping bentgrass greens. Creeping bentgrass, Brychta jokes, is considered a warm-season grass in the United Kingdom. Brychta also brought some different lingo to the East Lake shop, most notably calling backtrack mowing “freaky cutting.”
For Holsenbeck, the presence of a young, enthusiastic shop volunteer made his second TOUR Championship at East Lake even more enjoyable. Brychta is just 25 years old, giving Holsenbeck an opportunity to work alongside somebody in a demographic that veteran equipment managers are trying to attract to the golf industry.
“It’s kind of sad to see how it has turned out the last five to 10 years,” Holsenbeck says. “Guys aren’t interested in doing what we do. We are pushing things with the GCSAA and that’s helped. It’s great to see a young guy like him show the amount of interest that he shows.”
Brychta expected a “hectic” few weeks when he returned to Beaverbrook, although he lauds the club’s assistant course managers for their willingness to check equipment when he’s away. His co-workers are a fortunate group. Not many United Kingdom turf managers will spend a winter listening to stories about “freaky cutting.”
Guy Cipriano is GCI’s senior editor.
