In tribute to superintendents (best of best )

[archie_struthers]

 


Architecture and playing conditions are so intertwined. I've personally been involved in a few brouhahas over this very subject, particularly with really good golfers. They tend to be less inclined to look past conditions to the intent and the "bones". However superintendents have at least as big a role in the evolution of the game and in fact most of the early designers were greens keepers as well.


I've met some great supers in my time and have tremendous respect for their efforts to make golf fun for us all. However one guy stands out to me as way over the top in his craft. His name is Dick Bator....more to come ...here's a chance to give a shout out to the best you have ever seen! 

[Adam Clayman]

Archie, Could not agree more on the importance of the meld betwixt the two disciplines.


I'm most impressed when a super can learn what's a proper presentation, without being a Golfer.


 Doug Petersen, (Prairie Dunes, Austin Golf Club. retired) always deserves a shout out as does his protege Stan George, (R.I. P.)   and his protege Zak Harrington.






 

[John Emerson]

This is always something I think most don’t understand.  Who’s the “best” is subjective and relative.  There no name superintendents at super low budget courses that do a world class job and will never ever get recognized.  So often people will blame the superintendent for Course conditions, but he/she will have absolutely zero to work with.  Crap equipment, awful help/no help, and little money for products to perform basic agronomic duties.  These guys are the real heroes, but unfortunately they’ll never get recognized, and are often vilified or blamed.

[archie_struthers]

 


Ok, as to Bator as my choice for best I've met. When I first saw Pine Valley it blew my mind that something like that could exist so close to our home. My first loop was with a good caddie named Billy Cappozoli, and he enjoyed watching my shock and awe as hole after great hole was unveiled to me.


Eb Steiniger was the superintendent then, a pretty famous guy in his own right and he was really nice to me. He appreciated my interest in the golf course but occasionally cut me short as I was wont to pepper him with questions about the place. He retired a couple years after a I started there and was replaced by a young fellow who had worked as the super at Seaview CC. It didn't work out and in came Bator.


Within a couple of months you started to see differences in the golf course. He cleaned up a lot of junk in the bunkers and waste areas, which was a little controversial. What he really did though was firm up and dry out the whole place, and removed lots of zoysia that had intruded into some of the play areas. He had no fear of cutting it low and drying it out.


He did great work at Oak Hill and Merion also but the job he did at Atlantic City CC was off the hook. Within two months of being there and getting it ready for The U.S. Womens' Mid Am and a subsequent sale it was a different place. He tore out trees and bushes turned off the irrigation system and pretty much spoon fed what little water he used to the poa annua greens tees and fairways. Where he couldn't grow grass and the irrigation wasn't good he returned to nature and cut it short. The golf course literally shined and to this day I have never seen a transformation like this anywhere in such a short time frame. When we played it for the Fraser Tournament that summer the conditions were as good as any I've ever seen. This without the budget he enjoyed at the aforementioned clubs, the man was and is a genius at this tough tough job, best I've ever seen!

[archie_struthers]

 


John don't know if you are a superintendent but you make a wonderful point. I was loathe to rank someone at this because budgets vary so much and thus many guys do miracles with little or nothing. My point with Dick Bator was I personally saw the work ethic and knowledge he brought to the job and the results were incredible. My last post pointed out he did incredible stuff with much less to work with at ACCC, relative to Pine Valley.


So apologies to all those who toil in obscurity but it shouldn't deter acknowledging great supers.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Archie, Could not agree more on the importance of the meld betwixt the two disciplines.


I'm most impressed when a super can learn what's a proper presentation, without being a Golfer.


 Doug Petersen, (Prairie Dunes, Austin Golf Club. retired) always deserves a shout out as does his protege Stan George, (R.I. P.)   and his protege Zak Harrington.

Yes, they were/are all great.  The best part of that lineage, is that in nearly every big city or region there is an older super who has mentored a large chunk of the supers in the area.  Quinton Johnson was one of those guys here in Texas, Monroe Miller must have started half the superintendents in Wisconsin, etc.

[John Emerson]

John don't know if you are a superintendent but you make a wonderful point. I was loathe to rank someone at this because budgets vary so much and thus many guys do miracles with little or nothing. My point with Dick Bator was I personally saw the work ethic and knowledge he brought to the job and the results were incredible. My last post pointed out he did incredible stuff with much less to work with at ACCC, relative to Pine Valley.


So apologies to all those who toil in obscurity but it doesn't necessarily but it shouldn't deter acknowledging great supers.

No worries!! I knew exactly what point you were making.     I just always like to bring up this point because so many people assume it is the superintendents fault for things when in reality most times it goes back to money, GM, or owner, greens board etc.  On the flip side, there’s definitely guys who underachieve though when presented with a solid budget, and resources.  Goes both ways I suppose. 

[Joe Bausch]

Eli Rodriguez.


Nobody made Cobb’s Creek and Karakung sing like Papo.  He has for the last few years been doing the same at Royce Brook.


I’ve never known a better nor harder working super.

[Terry Lavin]

Sam MacKenzie at Olympia Fields is Best in Show in Chicago IMHO.

[Tom_Doak]

Ok, as to Bator as my choice for best I've met.

He did great work at Oak Hill and Merion also but the job he did at Atlantic City CC was off the hook. Within two months of being there and getting it ready for The U.S. Womens' Mid Am and a subsequent sale it was a different place. He tore out trees and bushes turned off the irrigation system and pretty much spoon fed what little water he used to the poa annua greens tees and fairways. Where he couldn't grow grass and the irrigation wasn't good he returned to nature and cut it short. The golf course literally shined and to this day I have never seen a transformation like this anywhere in such a short time frame. When we played it for the Fraser Tournament that summer the conditions were as good as any I've ever seen. This without the budget he enjoyed at the aforementioned clubs, the man was and is a genius at this tough tough job, best I've ever seen!

Arch,


What year are you talking about at ACCC? With due respect to Mr Bator, it is a lot easier to deliver firm and fast conditions when you know they are about to do a total renovation and it's no big deal if the grass dies.


Then again, due credit to Mr Bator for being one of the few who was never afraid to risk his job over getting conditions as he wanted them.  It's a different game when the members are afraid of the superintendent instead of the other way around. 😉


I have worked with quite a few great superintendents over the past 25 years.  Not all of them are at top-100 type courses, but definitely a few of them have been key to getting their golf courses to that level.


Also had the pleasure of getting a tour of PV from Mr Steineger back in 1980.  That was an eye opener !  When I went to work for Mr Dye he asked me one day which course I had seen had done the most turf research and test plots on site, and after a minute I said Pine Valley🌲 and he replied "Uh huh.  And what does that show you?"

[Thomas Dai]

The most important person imo at a club/course is the the Course Manager, Head Greenkeeper, Curator, Superintendent or however he/she is titled. They almost always do amazing jobs given the money and tools they are expected to work with, even more so given the personalities and expectations of players and committees.
atb

[Steve Lapper]

In the golf-rich NY-NJ-CT area, two consistently great super's come to mind:


 Steve Rabideau at Winged Foot. Granted he's blessed to have all the resources one could ask for, yet his level of day-in-and-day-out presentation for all 36 holes in unparalleled in excellence.

No lesser is Cliff Moore at Mountain Ridge. A sleeper by relativity to so many of the other, better-known, courses, MRCC is kept fast, firm and in near perfect condition year after year. It shines even when it's neighbors are not.

Both of these guys have played major roles in significant renovations and restoration across their properties. They have some of the broadest sets of experience found anywhere.

  Both can be found late in the day hand watering, weeding, doing most anything needed. They are all-in 24/7 and it shows. They both deserve the recognition that neither seek.

[archie_struthers]

 


Hey Tom I alluded to the fear factor with Dick, but also know him pretty well now. Atlantic City was absolutely perfect right thru the dog days of August and into the fall that year. He was hired to get the place ready for the Women's Mid Am in 1997. I saw what they did and it was amazing. His protegees also have become pretty good supers in their own right Rick Christian and Jeff Kent just to name a couple.


He has some kind of sixth sense about just how much water a place needs to stay healthy. Don't know if he ever lost turf in the six or seven years when I got to see him firsthand.


I'm not a total acolyte which he would surely tell you. We had a great argument about the eyebrow he put over the DA on #10 at Pine Valley to keep water out of the bunker. It also made that little hole easier. We had a great row about that one day where he questioned my knowledge of anything lol!










p.s.     of course I didn't dare tell him this until my tenure at PV was long in the past

[Ira Fishman]

If you were interviewing a candidate for Superintendent, what are the key questions to explore?


Thanks,


Ira

[Tommy Williamsen]

If you were interviewing a candidate for Superintendent, what are the key questions to explore?


Thanks,


Ira

Ira, I interviewed prospective supers for the course where I live. Here are the questions for the first interview. The GM and HR people were present but I led the interview. I spent about an hour in the interview room and an hour driving the course. We had significant damage to the course due to the serious rain events of 2018 and I wanted to hear about his experience with drainage. I wanted him to see what he was getting into. Here is the list of questions I asked.


      Welcome and sharing
[/color] [/size]
[/color]1.     [/size][/color]Tell me about yourself. Where raised etc. Who were some important people that helped you along the way? We can learn a lot about who he is a person from what he tells and what he leaves out.[/size]
[/color]2.     [/size][/color]Share a bit about ourselves. We should share something about the resort: mountain (ski & bike park) activities, lake etc. that we are member owned and therefore more like a private club that allows outside play than a resort that is privately owned.[/size]
[/color] [/size]
[/color]Career[/size]
[/color]1.     [/size][/color]Work history including work outside the industry.[/size]
[/color]2.     [/size][/color]Why did you choose golf course maintenance as a career?[/size]
[/color]3.     [/size][/color]Do you play? [/size]
[/color]4.     [/size][/color]What was your favorite job? [/size]
[/color]5.     [/size][/color]Tell us about the projects of which you are most proud.[/size]
[/color]6.     [/size][/color]Can you recall a time when you were less than pleased with your performance? [/size]
[/color]7.     [/size][/color]What traits do you believe make up the most successful superintendent? [/size]
[/color]8.     [/size][/color]Share a time when you willingly took on additional responsibilities or challenges.[/size][/color][/size]
[/color]9.     [/size][/color]What job functions are the most difficult for you? Why?[/size][/color][/size]
[/color]10.  [/size][/color]What do you love most about your job? [/size]
[/color]11.  [/size][/color]What is the most challenging part of your job?[/size]
[/color] [/size]
[/color]Team work[/size]
[/color]1.     [/size][/color]Describe the types of team work you’ve been involved with?  [/size]What was your role?
[/color]2.     [/size][/color]Tell me about a time when you had to be collaborative or working with a group of people in order to make sound decisions.[/size]
[/color]3.     [/size][/color]Tell me a time when there was controversy at your last club and how you handled it. What did you learn? It could be a staff issue, issue with the GM, or membership. [/size]
[/color]4.     [/size][/color]Describe the budgeting process at your current employer. What is the most challenging part of budgeting for you?[/size][/color][/size]
[/color]5.     [/size][/color]How do you track your progress?[/size]
[/color]6.     [/size][/color]What makes you a good fit for the team at Bryce?[/size][/color][/size]
[/color] [/size]
[/color]Turf[/size]
[/color]1.     [/size][/color]Where is the best turf you’ve ever seen in person? Why was it the best?[/size]
[/color]2.     [/size][/color]Tell me about the turf where you have worked. [/size]
[/color]3.     [/size][/color]How do you like to maintain the course? What are your current practices?[/size]
[/color]4.     [/size][/color]Share that that we really do not have a green committee, but a committee and Crazy Daisies that help with projects both consider important: i.e. new forward tees/painting gazebo/beautification projects. This should help us understand how he interacted with membership at his former clubs. In most member owned clubs the chairman of the green committee tells the super how to maintain the course. At Bryce he is free of that oversight. Here he will work in conjunction with Paul.[/size]
[/color]5.     [/size][/color]What is you experience with push-up greens, blue grass/fescue fairways, and fixing drainage issues?[/size]
[/color]Drive the course and discuss the following[/size]
[/color] [/size]
[/color]We should drive him around the course. He needs to see the condition the course is in now and make comments as we drive. This will be a good time to get a feel for what he knows. It is a less formal way of getting an understanding how he likes to do his work and what he knows. If he is a go getter he will cherish the thought of bringing the course back to a more playable condition. [/size]
[/color] [/size]
[/color]Tell him how we maintain our course: no first cut. Greens are Penncross bent with some Poa Annua. Greens run about nine on the stimpmeter. Aerate spring and fall. Need to aerate fairways. Fairways are generally mowed twice a week. Most of our daily players are retired and high handicappers. [/size]
[/color]1.     [/size][/color]What are important winter activities and how should we get ready for opening day?[/size]
[/color]2.     [/size][/color]What is you experience with irrigation difficulties? [/size]
[/color]3.     [/size][/color]What experience have you had with drainage issues?[/size]
[/color]4.     [/size][/color]We should give him a list of our equipment, their condition, and leasing schedule. List our equipment, their condition, and leasing schedule. Patrick can do this.[/size]
[/color]5.     [/size][/color]On the drive he should see the maintenance equipment. [/size]
[/color]6.     [/size][/color]What is you experience working on and maintaining the maintenance equipment?[/size]
[/color]7.     [/size][/color]Let him know how many maintenance staff both full time and part time we have.[/size]
[/color]8.     [/size][/color]Discuss winter months maintenance activities[/size]
[/color] [/size]
[/color]Bryce Ryan to take the lead. [/size]
[/color]Salary and relationship to team [/size]
[/color]1.     [/size][/color]Ryan can talk about salary and his expectations.[/size]
[/color]2.     [/size][/color]How he fits into the team etc[/size]
[/color]3.     [/size][/color]What questions do you have for us?[/size]
[/color]4.     [/size][/color]References[/size]
[/color] [/size]
[/color] [/size]
 

[jeffwarne]

If you were interviewing a candidate for Superintendent, what are the key questions to explore?


Thanks,


Ira

Ira, I interviewed prospective supers for the course where I live. Here are the questions for the first interview. The GM and HR people were present but I led the interview. I spent about an hour in the interview room and an hour driving the course. We had significant damage to the course due to the serious rain events of 2018 and I wanted to hear about his experience with drainage. I wanted him to see what he was getting into. Here is the list of questions I asked.


      Welcome and sharing

1.     Tell me about yourself. Where raised etc. Who were some important people that helped you along the way? We can learn a lot about who he is a person from what he tells and what he leaves out.
2.     Share a bit about ourselves. We should share something about the resort: mountain (ski & bike park) activities, lake etc. that we are member owned and therefore more like a private club that allows outside play than a resort that is privately owned.

Career
1.     Work history including work outside the industry.
2.     Why did you choose golf course maintenance as a career?
3.     Do you play?
4.     What was your favorite job?
5.     Tell us about the projects of which you are most proud.
6.     Can you recall a time when you were less than pleased with your performance?
7.     What traits do you believe make up the most successful superintendent?
8.     Share a time when you willingly took on additional responsibilities or challenges.
9.     What job functions are the most difficult for you? Why?
10.  What do you love most about your job?
11.  What is the most challenging part of your job?

Team work
1.     Describe the types of team work you’ve been involved with?  What was your role?
2.     Tell me about a time when you had to be collaborative or working with a group of people in order to make sound decisions.
3.     Tell me a time when there was controversy at your last club and how you handled it. What did you learn? It could be a staff issue, issue with the GM, or membership.
4.     Describe the budgeting process at your current employer. What is the most challenging part of budgeting for you?
5.     How do you track your progress?
6.     What makes you a good fit for the team at Bryce?

Turf
1.     Where is the best turf you’ve ever seen in person? Why was it the best?
2.     Tell me about the turf where you have worked.
3.     How do you like to maintain the course? What are your current practices?
4.     Share that that we really do not have a green committee, but a committee and Crazy Daisies that help with projects both consider important: i.e. new forward tees/painting gazebo/beautification projects. This should help us understand how he interacted with membership at his former clubs. In most member owned clubs the chairman of the green committee tells the super how to maintain the course. At Bryce he is free of that oversight. Here he will work in conjunction with Paul.
5.     What is you experience with push-up greens, blue grass/fescue fairways, and fixing drainage issues?
Drive the course and discuss the following

We should drive him around the course. He needs to see the condition the course is in now and make comments as we drive. This will be a good time to get a feel for what he knows. It is a less formal way of getting an understanding how he likes to do his work and what he knows. If he is a go getter he will cherish the thought of bringing the course back to a more playable condition.

Tell him how we maintain our course: no first cut. Greens are Penncross bent with some Poa Annua. Greens run about nine on the stimpmeter. Aerate spring and fall. Need to aerate fairways. Fairways are generally mowed twice a week. Most of our daily players are retired and high handicappers.
1.     What are important winter activities and how should we get ready for opening day?
2.     What is you experience with irrigation difficulties?
3.     What experience have you had with drainage issues?
4.     We should give him a list of our equipment, their condition, and leasing schedule. List our equipment, their condition, and leasing schedule. Patrick can do this.
5.     On the drive he should see the maintenance equipment.
6.     What is you experience working on and maintaining the maintenance equipment?
7.     Let him know how many maintenance staff both full time and part time we have.
8.     Discuss winter months maintenance activities

Bryce Ryan to take the lead.
Salary and relationship to team
1.     Ryan can talk about salary and his expectations.
2.     How he fits into the team etc
3.     What questions do you have for us?
4.     References

I'm going to guess you hired a really young guy...

[Dan Boerger]

John Gosselin. Yea, I'm a homer and he's the Greens Superintendent at Aronimink and does an amazing job. Preparing a course for tournament play and keeping the course as open as possible for member play around that is no small task. John is a fine golfer and I think that's extremely helpful as he guides his staff for day-to-day play. John is also a reader of and sometimes contributor to this forum.

[Jason Topp]

If you were interviewing a candidate for Superintendent, what are the key questions to explore?


Thanks,


Ira

Ira, I interviewed prospective supers for the course where I live. Here are the questions for the first interview. The GM and HR people were present but I led the interview. I spent about an hour in the interview room and an hour driving the course. We had significant damage to the course due to the serious rain events of 2018 and I wanted to hear about his experience with drainage. I wanted him to see what he was getting into. Here is the list of questions I asked.


      Welcome and sharing

1.     Tell me about yourself. Where raised etc. Who were some important people that helped you along the way? We can learn a lot about who he is a person from what he tells and what he leaves out.
2.     Share a bit about ourselves. We should share something about the resort: mountain (ski & bike park) activities, lake etc. that we are member owned and therefore more like a private club that allows outside play than a resort that is privately owned.

Career
1.     Work history including work outside the industry.
2.     Why did you choose golf course maintenance as a career?[/size]
3.     Do you play?
4.     What was your favorite job?
5.     Tell us about the projects of which you are most proud.
6.     Can you recall a time when you were less than pleased with your performance?
7.     What traits do you believe make up the most successful superintendent?
8.     Share a time when you willingly took on additional responsibilities or challenges.
9.     What job functions are the most difficult for you? Why?
10.  What do you love most about your job?
11.  What is the most challenging part of your job?

Team work
1.     Describe the types of team work you’ve been involved with?  What was your role?
2.     Tell me about a time when you had to be collaborative or working with a group of people in order to make sound decisions.
3.     Tell me a time when there was controversy at your last club and how you handled it. What did you learn? It could be a staff issue, issue with the GM, or membership.
4.     Describe the budgeting process at your current employer. What is the most challenging part of budgeting for you?
5.     How do you track your progress?
6.     What makes you a good fit for the team at Bryce?

Turf
1.     Where is the best turf you’ve ever seen in person? Why was it the best?
2.     Tell me about the turf where you have worked.
3.     How do you like to maintain the course? What are your current practices?
4.     Share that that we really do not have a green committee, but a committee and Crazy Daisies that help with projects both consider important: i.e. new forward tees/painting gazebo/beautification projects. This should help us understand how he interacted with membership at his former clubs. In most member owned clubs the chairman of the green committee tells the super how to maintain the course. At Bryce he is free of that oversight. Here he will work in conjunction with Paul.
5.     What is you experience with push-up greens, blue grass/fescue fairways, and fixing drainage issues?
Drive the course and discuss the following

We should drive him around the course. He needs to see the condition the course is in now and make comments as we drive. This will be a good time to get a feel for what he knows. It is a less formal way of getting an understanding how he likes to do his work and what he knows. If he is a go getter he will cherish the thought of bringing the course back to a more playable condition.

Tell him how we maintain our course: no first cut. Greens are Penncross bent with some Poa Annua. Greens run about nine on the stimpmeter. Aerate spring and fall. Need to aerate fairways. Fairways are generally mowed twice a week. Most of our daily players are retired and high handicappers.
1.     What are important winter activities and how should we get ready for opening day?
2.     What is you experience with irrigation difficulties?
3.     What experience have you had with drainage issues?
4.     We should give him a list of our equipment, their condition, and leasing schedule. List our equipment, their condition, and leasing schedule. Patrick can do this.
5.     On the drive he should see the maintenance equipment.
6.     What is you experience working on and maintaining the maintenance equipment?
7.     Let him know how many maintenance staff both full time and part time we have.
8.     Discuss winter months maintenance activities

Bryce Ryan to take the lead.
Salary and relationship to team
1.     Ryan can talk about salary and his expectations.
2.     How he fits into the team etc
3.     What questions do you have for us?
4.     References

[Tim_Weiman]

Archie,


John Zimmers is the best I’ve known. Met John at Sand Ridge where he did a fabulous job with the grow in.


John went on to Oakmont and then Inverness.

[Rick Lane]

In the golf-rich NY-NJ-CT area, two consistently great super's come to mind:


 Steve Rabideau at Winged Foot. Granted he's blessed to have all the resources one could ask for, yet his level of day-in-and-day-out presentation for all 36 holes in unparalleled in excellence.

No lesser is Cliff Moore at Mountain Ridge. A sleeper by relativity to so many of the other, better-known, courses, MRCC is kept fast, firm and in near perfect condition year after year. It shines even when it's neighbors are not.

Both of these guys have played major roles in significant renovations and restoration across their properties. They have some of the broadest sets of experience found anywhere.

  Both can be found late in the day hand watering, weeding, doing most anything needed. They are all-in 24/7 and it shows. They both deserve the recognition that neither seek.

Have to give a shout out to Peter Bly at Brooklawn. who has been in the role for 47 (!) years, operating on a "less than Winged Foot" budget, and constantly presenting the 110 year old course, with 90 year old Greens, in fantastic condition, through hot humid summers, and surviving icy winters.    The USGA must think so as well, as Brooklawn was just awarded its fifth  USGA Major.   Peter, as mentioned for other great supers, is out there daily with his beloved dog Deuce, digging, watering, cutting trees, and digging in the dirt.   He calls himself "just a farmer".  He is currently out there on a backhoe working with huge boulders in the Rooster River, helping the town to control its flow during heavy storms.
In tribute to his remarkable tenure of achievement, the new Maintenance facility the club is building will forever be known as the "Peter Bly building"

[V_Halyard]

Tom Feller from Cedar Rapids is a genius super and manager, a personal hero, a pal and a stunning human.

[archie_struthers]

 


Thanks for the shout outs re: the super supers but what makes one stand out and perhaps separate them from others that are really exceptional?  For me it was Bators' sense for water use and just how much was needed. I've seen countless issues with poa here at the shore where superintendents fed it early' particularly when we had a wet spring with the inevitable loss of energy in August.


I'm all in that less water is better and the best superintendents tend to make the plant go looking for it early!

[Mike_Young]

Thanks for the shout outs re: the super supers but what makes one stand out and perhaps separate them from others that are really exceptional also?  For me it was Bators' sense for water use and just how much was needed. I've seen countless issues with poa here at the shore where superintendents fed it early' particularly when we had a wet spring with the inevitable loss of energy in August.


I'm all in that less water is better and the best superintendents tend to make the plant go looking for it early!

Archie,
Do you have a copy of Bator's Bible?

[Jeff Schley]

Tom Feller from Cedar Rapids is a genius super and manager, a personal hero, a pal and a stunning human.

Wow, what do you say about me?  Please write my recommendation for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

[JESII]

As one standard of measurement, "the greatest number of days with good to great playing conditions"...the award for the mid-Atlantic region, with its crappy climate, should go to Scott Anderson at Huntingdon Valley.


He's certainly laser focused on managing water input and is ahead of the curve in experimenting with chemical inputs.


When you hit a wedge into the first green and the ball bounces over the flagstick, you know you're in for a day...