Jeff,
When you said mentioned yong pup, how young were you when you did Nekoosa?
Would you be in charge of the golf course design or did Nugent always make the final calls?
Did you shape features or did you work only from grading plans?
Sorry for the questions, I am always curious how others grew up in the business?
Jim,
No problem. Back in those days, Killian and Nugent always drew grading plans. In some cases, they would bid to contractors and in others, send a field associate such as Bob Lohmann or myself up to build it using a bunch of sub contractors. They would explain you could perhaps save the 10 and 10% profit and overhead of a Wadsworth, but with an agreement specifically telling the owner that we didn't guarantee it.
In spring of 1979 I went to Lynchburg, VA to build a nine holer like that, got back and got sent right up to Nekoosa in the fall and the summer of 1980 to build the front nine at Lake Arrowhead. I was 25-25 and had been with KN since '77. BTW, the back nine got delayed a few years, and was built after K and N split up. With fewer manpower, we recommended a contractor, and Landscapes Unlimited got the bid, one of my first experiences with them. (Actually the first was a three hole remodel in Hammond, IN)
But, lucky me, I lived up there for most of that summer. I was 25 and had been at KN since May '77. Being single and Bob getting ready to be a dad factored into the scheduling.
We brought in a Chicago shaper named Hank Shall, and an irrigation foreman who had worked in WI. We used a Wisconsin earthmover from Plover (he had the most machines, and our theory was he would bring the right ones. Some smaller firms had only track hoes, so what do you know, they thought all dirt was track hoe dirt, or trucks, so it was truck dirt.) I recall the cut and fill as being 90K on plans, but the earth mover was pretty crafty at finding closer dirt. For anyone who has played there, the fifth tee was originally scheduled to get dirt from the pond across the street, but he made a large cut where the path is and built the tee up with that, all news to this then 25 year old! Most labor was from homeowners kids, which proved to be a challenge, working with teens and college kids.
So, I mostly set stakes and ran the crew, with some tractor work, but no shaping. Also recall putting out a forest fire one day......great learning for me. Would drive up every Monday leaving Chicago about 4AM, and drive back every Friday leaving at 4PM, but when seeding came, I stayed a few weekends to finish it out.
Two funny labor stories, though. One kid, college age, jumped out of the irrigation trench and started to leave. Asked where he was going, he said his dad told him if he hadn't gone to college, he would dig ditches all his life, and it just dawned on him that was just what was happening.
A high school kid was a real problem, no interest. We started edging bunkers and he asked why I was doing what I was doing with the spray can. At the end of the day he asked if he could try it and I let him. He was pretty good at it and looked forward to it so I let him keep doing it. One day a guy comes in asking for me. It was his father and he said that the kid had always been lazy but the last week he couldn't wait to get to work, was excited and pleasant, and he wanted to know what my motivation skills and techniques were! Still wonder about that kid to this day.
Good times, and I always thought it was a pretty nice course.