Keepers of the greens
Picture this ...
The sun has just risen, the early-morning dew is still on the ground, the air is filled with the sweet, sweet smells of green, green grass, and you're ready to tee up your ball.
And just as you're ready to take your first swing ... off in the distance, you faintly hear:
The humming-like sound of a tractor with mower attached, trimming the roughs or the fairways or the tee boxes or the greens.
Or, the "sphit, sphit, sphit'' sound of a sprinkler, gently performing its hydration/irrigation assignment.
Or, the light "scrape, scrape, scrape'' sound of someone pulling a rake through a sand bunker.
First one out on the course?
Not likely.
More times than not, the grounds crew at a particular course has already preceded you out there by an hour or two.
They're out there mowing and watering and tidying things up, so that your round of golf will be as enjoyable as it can be.
And heading that crew is the resident head superintendent or groundskeeper.
A person who wears many hats, having to tend to a variety of jobs and endeavours. A person who gets up and starts work early, before the sun comes up. A person who many times stays late to make certain that everything's in order heading into the next day's list of duties and chores and things to do.
And a person who - despite what many golfers may think - didn't just start getting the course ready for golfers the day after the snow melts each spring. Instead, they've been working on things since the previous season came to an end.
And what kind of credit do they receive for their efforts?
A regular pat on the back by golfers who play the course? Kind words, thanking them for their hard work and their expertise?
Um, not very often.
With that in mind, let's lend an ear to hear what three local head superintendents - Ryan Dingman of Binder Park Golf Course, Tim Hesselink of Cedar Creek Golf Club and Bill Walters of Bedford Valley Golf Club - have to say about what takes place behind the scenes in keeping a golf course plush and lush and up to the playing standards golfers expect to find at their favorite links hangout these days:
RYAN DINGMAN, BINDER PARK
"It's much, much more we do than simply just mow the grass,'' said Dingman, 34, a 1993 graduate of Harper Creek High who later received a bachelor's degree in horticulture at Michigan State University.
"We've got equipment to work on all of the time, making sure the blades on the greens and tees mowers and the fairway and rough mowers are sharp and at the right height. We've got to repair and fix loose water areas or damaged ground areas around greens and tee boxes and in fairways.
"We've got trees to trim, areas to maintain, cups on the greens to change, wildlife and environmental concerns to be aware of.
"And we've got to make sure everything gets enough water - the tees, the greens, the fairways and all. And we've got to aerate all over the course each fall to give all the grasses a chance to breathe and regenerate, even though golfers don't necessarily like playing on a course that has holes in the ground all over the place.
"And in my case,'' continued Dingman, who is in his sixth season as head superintendent at Binder Park, the city's only municipal (city-owned) course and who is in his seventh year overall at the site, "I also have a lot of decisions to make about how much pesticides and fertilizer we'll need and calibrate all that information as close to an inch as I can, because there are budget concerns to deal with.
"All in all, there's just a lot of things you have to be doing all the time to keep a course in as close to perfect shape as you can, so that golfers will want to keep on coming back and back and playing a course. It's a lot more work than a lot of people think.''
Dingman said that also on his list of duties is making sure ball marks on greens and divots in fairways and roughs that are made by golfers are tended to in a timely fashion.
"A ball mark on a green that has been properly repaired will heal in about 24 hours. If it's not repaired, it can take weeks or months - and nobody likes putting on a green where all of a sudden your ball will jump or get off line when it rolls over an un-repaired ball mark,'' he said.
"And with divots, it just makes sense for golfers to repair the divots they've made, or someone else has made, so that you don't wind up with your ball in one of those divots and wind up having a tougher shot than you'd like.''
Dingman said that his biggest rival to keeping a course like Binder Park in super shape is Mother Nature itself.
"Each season is different,'' he said. "Some winters are dryer, some have more snow, and when the weather starts getting nicer each spring, we've got to make sure that diseases aren't invading greens or fairways. So, we make sure we put the proper and right amount of fertilizers and fungicides on those areas to keep everything healthy.''
Dingman noted that even though the daily duties of his own and his staff's are multitudinous, extra care is especially doled out to the course come Calhoun County Amateur Championship time each August.
"We've got to make sure that at least two weeks before (the Cal-Am) that we're already putting down fertilizer and doing our spraying so that we don't have to do that right at tourney time,'' he said, "and that we're already double-cutting the greens so that people can get used to the faster putting surfaces they'll run into during the tournament.
"We do the best that we can to keep the course in great shape, but it just really helps when golfers also take note of course etiquette and kind of leave things the way they found them,'' Dingman said.
Dingman added that it would be great if everyone would just fix their ball marks and their divots; if everybody would make sure to keep their carts at least 30 feet or so away from greens so that the ground around the greens doesn't get damaged; and it would be great - even from just an aesthetic standpoint, but also from a practical standpoint, one golfer to another - if all golfers would just do their part in keeping things nice.
"That would make a superintendent's job a lot easier,'' Dingman said, "and it would help keep the course that much more playable all the time.''
TIM HESSELINK, CEDAR CREEK
Hesselink, 49, is in his 14th season at the Battle Creek course owned by Cris and Kriste Vocke.
And as is the case with Binder Park, Cedar Creek also enjoys heavy golfer traffic each and every season - in the 10s of thousands of rounds annually.
"With a course like the one here at Cedar Creek, we've pretty much got everything the way we want it to be - so our big thing is maintenance,'' said Hesselink, a 1977 graduate of Grand Rapids Christian High who received his turf management degree at Michigan State in 1983 and who worked at Harborside GC in Chicago, Dunes Club in New Buffalo and Long Beach GC in Michigan City, Ind., and South Bend Country Club prior to coming to Cedar Creek.
"And our biggest challenge, if you want to call it that, is finding the right time to do things out on the course - the mowing, the fertilizing, the raking - so that we don't get in a golfer's way.
"That's why,'' continued Hesselink, "typically our day starts about 5 in the morning, so we can get out there on the course and do the things we need to do before the course gets busy. You'll still see us out there during the day a lot of times ... but we try our best to stay out of a golfer's way.''
And what Hesselink and his crew are doing out on the course - which, like Binder Park, is ripe with wildlife and wetlands - are a slew of procedures.
"A lot of people don't really have any idea all that's involved with maintaining a golf course - with a year-round continual maintenance program being our approach,'' he said. "So many things to do, so many things to work on, so many things to maintain.
"But the fact that the people in the pro shop are usually the ones getting most of the nice comments about how great the course looks and what great condition it is in - that they're the ones golfers communicate with most, instead of with the superintendent or the grounds crew people - that really doesn't bother me at all.
"I'm just not the kind of person who needs to get all the credit all the time or all the glory. I'm not one with a big ego. And I think most golf course superindents are that way, too.
"We're just more known as the people behind the scenes who are out there fixing stuff up and making sure that everything is nice for the golfer.
"Every once in a while, when you do hear somebody saying something nice about how great the course looks to me or to one of the grounds crew workers, that's enough for me.''
BILL WALTERS, BEDFORD VALLEY
Walters, 40, who has been with the Gull Lake View chain of courses for about 20 years - 11 as an assistant superintendent at Gull Lake View GC in Augusta and the past nine as head super at Bedford Valley - said his job is made easier by the fact that the Scott Family makes putting money back into their courses a priority.
"What's excellent about my situation at Bedford Valley is that the great golf course conditions you see out here during one of our big state-level tournaments like the Michigan PGA Senior Open are the same, exact conditions the everyday golfer will see when he or she comes out here to play. There's no difference - the course is always in excellent condition,'' said Walters, a 1986 graduate of Gull Lake High who said he learned and honed his trade via on-the-job training from the likes of Charlie Scott and Paul Dubnicka (longtime members of the GLV contingent).
"I mean, during something like the Senior Open, there are some things we can't do like we normally do when there's no tournament going on, like watering during the day or mowing and those kinds of things. During those times, we've got to start like at 5 in the morning, do our stuff then - which also includes stuff like a double mow and a mow and roll on the greens - then come back when the tourney's over for the day and then work until dark. And then we come back early the next morning again and start it all over again.
"But other than that,'' said Walters, looking out at the course he works at that's also filled with wildlife and protected wetland, like all of the GLV courses, "if you came out here to Bedford Valley the days before the tournament or the days right after, you really wouldn't notice anything different. Everything's in great shape out here, all season long, for everybody. It's a tournament golf course all season long.''
Walters also said that he realizes what a great situation it is working for a course in the GLV chain and for the Scotts.
"Because we're so popular'' as a walk-up, golf resort-package and tourney course "as part of the Gull Lake View chain,'' Walters said, "we work really hard to make sure that everything is as perfect as it can be.
"And what helps with that is, since the Scotts take the outlook that the golf course is No. 1, if something needs to be done, we're going to get anything we need to do it. We share all the equipment among the courses (Bedford Valley, Gull Lake View and Stonehedge), and we never go without.''
THANK YOU, SUPERINTENDENTS AND GROUNDSKEEPERS
It's important for courses of all shapes and sizes to have on their staff superintendents, groundskeepers and/or grounds crew workers who are knowledgeable about their business and who take great pride in their work.
Here's what the golf course pros/managers/owners of the aforementioned layouts had to say about their grounds crew staffs:
• Ron Osborne, PGA professional and head pro/manager of Binder Park Golf Course: "Without question, superintendents are invaluable at a golf course - you just can't do without a good superintendent. And if you have a bad one, it really shows up quite easily in the condition of the golf course.
"And here at Binder Park, we're very fortunate to have a very good one in Ryan Dingman. With Ryan and his crew - which is a crew of approximately 14 during peak season, some full-timers and some part-timers - they make sure that the course is always in great shape, and that golfers are enjoying their time and money spent out here.''
• Chris Vocke, owner (along with his wife Kriste) of Cedar Creek and Cedar Farms golf clubs: "A golf course superintendent either makes you or breaks you ... and kudos from me go out to Tim Hesselink here at Cedar Creek and (Jayme Gregersen at Cedar Farms) and their entire crews - and there's about 20 workers at both places during peak season on the maintenance staffs when you're talking about both courses.
"And with so many golf courses now out on the market - especially around here and in Southwest Michigan - for golfers to choose from, it's just very, very important to have a superintendent who can keep the course in such great shape that golfers want to keep coming back and back to your particular course. That's why we're fortunate to have a guy like Tim out here ... he's one of the best.''
• Dean Kolstad, PGA professional and head pro at Bedford Valley Golf Club (part of the Gull Lake View chain of courses owned and operated by the Scott Family): "The best thing I can say about the job that Bill Walters and his crew does out here is that when people are done playing golf on this course, they come into the clubhouse for a drink or a bite to eat and you don't hear them complaining about something out on the course - they just come in here and enjoy themselves after a round.
"I mean, they don't come into the clubhouse and start complaining that the fairways weren't mowed or that the greens haven't been cut or haven't been cut nicely. Instead, they come in and they might make a comment like, 'Hey, the course is in great shape, just like it always is. Love playing out here.'
Article written by Will Kowalski
The Enquirer
Photographs by John Grap
The Enquirer
