Source: Dallas Morning News
There is a reason six pairs of headlights, beams from a squadron of riding mowers bobbing along the rolling hills at Cottonwood Valley, pierce the darkness at 5:30 on a February morning.
Over on the neighboring TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas course, there is a reason two workers carefully carve hexagon-shaped chunks of sod from a putting green, like surgeons with shovels under the light of the moon.
And there is a reason four mechanics check mower blades daily, and technicians apply fertilizers, herbicides, growth regulators and fungicides twice a week."These greens are your livelihood," says TPC superintendent Timothy Heutzenroeder. "Something happens to them, you don't have a job."
Similar scenes play out each morning across Texas as superintendents battle rain, heat, freezing temperatures, equipment malfunctions and budgets to keep our courses in top shape.
Most golfers expect every course they play to look like the ones they see on television. Fairways should be lush, bunkers should be manicured and greens at the local muni should roll just like Augusta National.
So we often take superintendents for granted. Few realize the detailed work that goes into getting a course ready before the first tee time, or the long hours it takes to keep layouts playable.
But try repairing a broken water main on the 12th fairway with balls zipping over your head. Or get 36 greens and tee boxes mowed and 36 new pin placements set with four staff members home with the flu. Or try keeping bent grass greens alive in 100-degree temperatures while water rationing is in effect.
Superintendents are golf's unsung heroes. They are underappreciated and overlooked when conditions are perfect but blamed when a putt rolls off line or Joe Six Pack forgets to rake a bunker.
Players who never repair divots complain to the head pro about bumpy greens. A guy who ignored the bottle of sand in his cart gets irate when his ball lands in a pitch mark.
On any given day, a superintendent can serve as turf grass manager, landscape artist, irrigation specialist, spray technician, mechanic, electrician, plumber, accountant, secretary and public relations rep.
"It's a challenge every day, but when you get down to it, that's our job as turf grass managers," says Richard Pavlasek, superintendent at Brookhaven Country Club. "A lot of people think you can just throw down some fertilizer and water and everything will be green."
There is no denying the importance of superintendents. They are the heart and soul of our courses.
Sherrill Park
At about 6 a.m. at Richardson's Sherrill Park, a light glows from a small building just beyond the driving range net.
Inside, assistant superintendents Kim Staritz and Loren Paulson are plotting strategies for a bunker project. Perhaps it's their combined 40 years of experience that keeps them calm.
Overseeing a 10-member staff with a city budget of $1.2 million per year, superintendent Steve Greenhaw relies heavily on the knowledge and experience of Paulson and Staritz.
"My biggest challenge is budgeting," Greenhaw said. "A crew of 10 is very lean for 36 holes.
"I ask these guys to do the impossible time and time again, and they continue to do it."
Staritz is old school. He was working at Glen Lakes, which was turned into a shopping center long ago, in the late '60s.
"I was the long-haired guy who rode the Harley," says Staritz, who came to Sherrill Park in 1987. "And when I got here, I was the long-haired guy who rode the Harley."
The small crew is responsible for 298 acres - two 18-hole courses, a 21,000-square-foot practice green and a driving range. Four part-timers are hired for the busy months of June and July.
The high traffic - about 95,000 rounds and 100 tournaments - at this 36-hole public facility complicates matters for the grounds crew. All those footprints put more stress on the greens in peak season. Unlike private clubs, Sherrill Park does not shut down once a week for repairs.
On this winter day, four workers are mowing the 36 greens, and four others are cutting new holes and tidying areas around the greens and tee boxes.
In the garage, mechanic Robert Spence is knee deep in nuts and bolts overhauling a fairway mower. He will work on three more vehicles before the day is done.
As Paulson inspects a new bunker on Course One, a player walking off the green asks, "Where'd you get that sand?"
"East Texas," Paulson says, knowing that a compliment for his hard work is not forthcoming.
"Well, you ought to take it back, because I can't get out of it," the old man says.
TPC Four Seasons
On a Tuesday at the TPC Four Seasons, most of the workers are out on the two courses by 5:30 a.m. A large message board lists everyone's duties under these headings: "Machina, Nombre, Trabajar."
With the TPC course closed, mowers are out in force at Cottonwood Valley. Greens, tee boxes, the first cut of rough and around the bunkers. Most of the workers are in pairs.
The TPC course is undergoing special projects. On the large double green shared by holes 5 and 9, patches of Bermuda grass are being removed in the glare of headlights from two utility carts.
A spray technician is applying fungicide on the 20 greens, including two practice areas, to prevent disease. The greens get sprayed with fertilizers and herbicides twice a week.
Although the sun won't rise for 90 minutes, most of the 36 holes have somebody in a uniform performing some function with a tool.
This is pretty much the Super Bowl of turf management.
Scott Miller, the director of golf course and landscape operations, oversees a year-round staff of 48. Heutzenroeder serves as superintendent on the TPC course, and Rusty Wilson is the superintendent at Cottonwood Valley.
There are guys trimming bushes, guys manicuring bunkers by hand, and others cutting plugs of sod in the makeshift nurseries on both courses. All the fairways have been overseeded with rye grass.
Special attention is being paid to the three-acre driving range on this unseasonably warm winter day. Divots are being filled with sand and seed.
"Our membership expects to have a high-quality practice facility," Heutzenroeder explains. "They will come out in hordes today because of the weather."
The staff has little time to rest. Not only must they maintain a high standard for membership and resort guests, but they must get two 18-hole courses ready for television each May for the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
During the busy season, from March to June, the staff expands to 67. With about 35 vehicles and more than $1 million in equipment, it's a constant fight keeping everything running smoothly.
"You really have to break it down into individual pieces to not get overwhelmed," Miller says. "The challenges to me are opportunities. Some things can be frustrating, but it's also a chance to make something better. Every day is different."
Texas Star
Scott Boven chose to do something different during his first semester at Tarleton State. He decided to major in horticulture and landscape management.
Having worked part-time at Squaw Valley in Glen Rose, where he grew up, Boven figured he could use the knowledge he gained on the golf course for his career. He worked his way up to foreman at Squaw Valley while in college.
He has been the head superintendent at Texas Star for four years.
Like most in his field, he spent four years in a highly technical field of study. Turf grass management has become extremely competitive. Most job openings require at least a two-year degree. Superintendents must be well versed in agronomy. Spray technicians must be certified.
Still, they fight the perception of Carl Spackler the greenskeeper.
"I think most people would consider us farmers of some sort," Boven says. "It's the Caddyshack syndrome. That is the opposite of what we are working toward."
It has become a sophisticated profession, and its standards kept pace with golf's increase in popularity. Turf growers have developed new Bermuda blends that are more heat tolerant and have developed hardier varieties of bent grass.
There are meetings, conferences and classes each month to keep superintendents in tune with the changes in technology and agronomy.
At Texas Star, Boven has a full-time staff of 13, including two assistants. Five employees are added in the summer to help maintain the 220 acres.
Like most of his peers, Boven is driven by the complex challenges of his job.
"You've got so many small things that you're in charge of," he says. "There's something different every day that keeps you hopping. It almost never fails, just when you think everything is just right, you'll have an irrigation pipe blow up."