SUPERINTENDENT — JOE VERDUIN AT AMERICAN DUNES GOLF CLUB
JOE
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Joe VerDuin is the superintendent for the soon-to-debut American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven. He started in the business working at Spring Lake Country Club at age 16. He is currently 30 and studied turfgrass at Michigan State University and business at Grand Valley State University where he also worked at The Meadows Golf Course at GVSU. He and his wife Emma have been married four years and have two boys. He has been at what was Grand Haven Golf Club and is now American Dunes since 2017. He has also worked at National Golf Links and Arcadia Bluffs.
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HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED IN THE GOLF BUSINESS? I needed a summer job when I was 16. I walked into Spring Lake Country Club and they were hiring. I worked there for probably four years and Kirk Carls said to me that it seemed like I enjoyed myself, and that I had a knack. I went to a community college trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Then went to Western Michigan for a little bit, too, before I found the golf industry.
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WHAT PART OF YOUR EDUCATION DO YOU USE THE MOST? Things have changed even in the last two years to tell the truth. I used more of my current knowledge, especially with this grow-in. I was here when it was Grand Haven Golf Club in 2017 and 2018 and they needed help with the turf when I got here. I worked hard on that.
Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association
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WHEN DID YOU LEARN IT WAS GOING TO BECOME AMERICAN DUNES? I heard that someone who was a big deal was coming to the course. They didn’t really tell me or anybody what was going on. It was probably July of 2018 and Jack Nicklaus showed up with his head designer and Dan Rooney. That was mid-day maybe 4 o-clock. There were golfers on the course and Jack and his designer got in carts and took a spin around the entire golf course. He was buzzing by people, and they were playing golf out there. People were kind of angry at first, and then they were like that’s Jack Nicklaus. It was an interesting day. I was then told at a fall meeting in 2018 the final word, that they were going to do the whole course. I was told we’re going to make this a different place. I was like, sweet, yeah.
