Fairways • Summer 09
Overlooked Assets

by Thomas Pagel

What a summer it has already been for golf in Utah. It’s just early August and yet we have already crowned two new State Amateur Champions in Zac Blair and Natalie Stone and recently held the Girls Junior Americas Cup at Logan Country Club which featured the best junior girls from throughout the western United States, Mexico and Canada. In all three cases the events were tremendous successes thanks to the tireless efforts of many.

Throughout my career I have been fortunate to visit wonderful golf courses and meet and work with the staff members that keep those great operations functioning. In all of my visits I have found that each course has a story, unique points that add to its character. Often times the individuals who are tasked with maintaining the character and providing golfers with a premier product are the single most overlooked asset of the facility and that is the superintendent.

We have become so accustom to golf courses that are always green and beautifully manicured but yet we only seem to remember the superintendent if the course does not meet our expectations. Why is that? When did it become bad to have a little brown on the golf course? Why don’t we give praise to these hard working individuals each time we play?

I often think to myself that Old Tom Morris would be turning in his grave if he knew what was expected of today’s superintendents, it certainly is not the same field that he helped pioneer so many years ago at St. Andrews.

I remember as a kid getting over to the golf course before the sun came up to try and get that coveted first tee time of the day. While waiting for the shop to open you could not help but listen to the mowers and watch the headlights from all of the equipment dance along the course in their choreographed routine. It was during these performances that I began to respect and fully grasp the amount of work and coordination that goes into maintaining a golf course.

In my profession now this is never more evident to me than when we are preparing for a major tournament. Work on these events typically begins months in advance with planning sessions as we begin to strategize how to best maximize the course for the particular championship. At Valley View our meetings started back in February for this year’s State Amateur. It was at this time that we drew out our course set-up plans of how we would best want the course to play for the championship and how we would get it to that point by mid-July. I guess you would have called all of this our perfect scenario plan.

When the weather decided to not cooperate this spring I just assumed that our plan was out the window and we would be trying to get as close as possible to what we would have hoped for. Was I ever wrong. The superintendent Greg Sandberg and his crew worked countless days and adopted new variations to their everyday routine to ensure that even with the undesirable weather leading into the event the players at the State Amateur were presented with absolutely ideal playing conditions throughout the championship week. This is just one example of the many times that I have been impressed with a superintendent and their crew taking the situation as it is presented to them and making it work.

Any individual that has spent a significant amount of time on a golf course understands that a superintendent is more than just the person in charge of cutting the grass. These individuals are all well trained agronomists many of whom have achieved advanced degrees in their field in addition to their on the job training (which in many cases began when they could first work). They have to contend with a number of variables such as the elements that mother-nature presents, tightening budgets, water restrictions and government intervention and yet they have adapted to optimize what they have to work with and are able to present us with the product that we expect on a daily basis.

In Utah we are blessed to have some of the best courses in the country reside in our own backyard. The next time you are playing your favorite course make a point to thank your superintendent and his staff for their hard work and long hours. I have found that superintendents are the individuals who least want the recognition but are definitely the most deserving of our praise.

See you on the course!

Thomas Pagel is the executive director of the Utah Golf Association.