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HOW HAVE YOU GIVEN BACK TO YOUR PROFESSION? One thing I want to do as I get more time is work with First Tee in growing the game. It all starts with kids. Detroit has a great history with golf, and a huge population of young people who have to chance to try the game. If you can get them to try it and fall in love with it before the frustration of the game kicks in, it will pay dividends in the future for the game.
12 WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST
ISSUES FACING ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENTS TODAY? Acting as that bridge between the superintendent and the crew and getting all you can out of the crew is the toughest dance. You have to maintain authority, but also motivation. I don’t bash on the millennial thing, but the work force is different these days. You have to learn the way to give orders and explain to get people to buy into what the superintendent wants.
13 WHAT IS THE PART OF THE JOB
THAT YOU DISLIKE? Finding the balance to be still be involved in the day-to-day while in the sprayer for full days and full mornings. It’s hard to find that balance and time just to take a quick drive around the course and maintain the knowledge of what is going on.
14 WHAT IS THE EASIEST PART OF
THE JOB? The easiest part is getting up every morning the summer. In the winter, getting out of bed is not exciting, but in the summer getting out of bed with a list of things to do is great. If you had told me at Central that I would enjoy waking up at 4:20 in the morning one day I would have laughed in your face. But honesty, getting up and getting ready for the day is easy now.
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Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association
15 WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN
10 YEARS? I definitely want to be a superintendent by that time at a private club in the Detroit area. I really do love Michigan for the long haul, but if it can’t be here than somewhere out west in a mountain region. I tend to like the forest over the beach. I should be well into starting a family and all that good stuff, too.
16 HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE
REMEMBERED IN THE FUTURE? Having the best greens ever? I don’t know. I guess as someone who made it a point to provide a quality product and made sure the game itself prospered. Coming up with something cut costs and give golf course better opportunities usually reserved for a higher budget would be ideal and impactful, too. I would like to be part of that.
17 WHO HAS INFLUENCED YOU
THE MOST ABOUT TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT? Kyle Barton gave me a great start and John Nachreiner at Shady Canyon (Irvine, Calif.,) gave me some really cool opportunities as an intern. He put a lot of trust in me and I appreciated it out there. I didn’t realize how much I appreciated it until I heard what other interns got to do on their jobs. My experience was beyond what it has been for others. I was able to run his crew of 40 people for a two-week period, do full green sprays, fairway sprays, and all the cultural stuff we did on a regular basis. It was a really cool summer. I appreciate that he trusted me, let me make mistakes and then do my best to fix them.
18 WHAT IS THE MOST VALUABLE
THING YOU HAVE LEARNED? That mistakes happen. We are around fairly dangerous things each day and you need to use your best judgement.
| www.migcsa.org
