Lentz Wheeler: Looking Back on 25 Years at SGCC

BY EMILY KAUFFMAN | DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATION

It’s the end of an era: Golf Course Superintendent Lentz Wheeler has retired after twenty-five years of service at Springfield Golf and Country Club. We hope you join us at his retirement party on Sunday, March 5, 2023 from 3:00-5:00 PM in the Ballroom.

Lentz is a beloved fixture on the golf course and around the Club. He’s easily identifiable in his ever-present Tennessee orange, usually with a clipboard in hand and a dog or two by his side.

Being outside first thing in the morning with his dogs, Jack and Gill, is Lentz’s favorite part of the job. The course, he says, is prettiest in the early morning when there’s a nice dew on the ground. Away from the equipment, where it’s quiet, you can really appreciate the wonder of nature. There’s an added benefit to the early, solitary mornings outside: “I’m a little cranky in the morning; my guys don’t really want to be around me,” Lentz laughs, “So, it’s good to get some alone time on the course first thing.”

Lentz began his career in the Landscape Architecture department at the University of Tennessee and credits one of his professors, Dr. Callahan, for setting him on the path to success. “If I went back, I don’t think there’s much of anything I’d change,” Lentz says.

Lentz himself became a positive influence and leader. “Lentz understands his employees,” says Brian Maloney, who served as General Manager of Springfield Golf and Country Club from May of 1998 through January of 2018. “He had very little

Continued on Page 6 turnover in his department.”

Oscar Garcia has worked on the SGCC Grounds Crew for eighteen years (and counting!). Oscar says the reason there’s so much stability in their department is because Lentz treats his crew like a family: “The day that I became a US Citizen, Lentz was there. He always encouraged us guys to learn English and that once the path [to citizenship] was clear, to go through it. The day I took my Oath, he was there; it was nice support. It’s a big deal, it’s a big day. I have the picture he gave me hanging in my living room.”

Lentz greets participants of the final Lentz’s Revenge Golf Tournament in November 2022

“I love to research and read,” Oscar says. “When I first came here, I remember we had a problem with a piece of equipment and I was guessing because I had come from a place where you don’t have to read. Lentz suggested to me that I read through the manuals for the machines, so I started reading and that created for me a habit of reading. I research these days on the internet, of course, but I do my own research for electrical problems, hydraulic problems, all that. But at the beginning, it was him who encouraged me to do that.”

Lentz has a stellar track record of providing quality training and education to his employees, a skill that had a ripple-effect on the Golf Professional Staff during 2020 when they pitched in to help out the short-handed Grounds Crew: “I started helping their crew out one day a week and then got the rest of our golf pros to follow suit,” says Director of Golf, Josh Tremblay, PGA. “It brought us closer together as a staff and we gained a deeper appreciation for their work. I don’t think we want me rolling greens any more, but I refined my cup cutting technique and even got to use it about a year later when we needed to change a cup on fourteen and the maintenance staff was gone for the day.”

Lentz’s skill, and that of his crew, is what keeps our golf course in such fantastic shape: “The course keeps getting better each year and I tell students all the time if they can learn to putt and score here, they’ll be able to play most anywhere,” says Josh. “Our greens are always in good shape and usually fast with more break than people realize.”

Brian Maloney agrees and adds that the membership’s confidence in Lentz’s competence is also evident: “Over time we had issues here and there, but everybody always knew that Lentz put as much effort as he could into everything and if something happened it was beyond his control.”

Lentz is the only Golf Course Superintendent Brian has ever worked with; something for which he is grateful: “I had Lentz for my whole Club career-I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have that be the case. He’s as dedicated an employee as you will ever find. In the summer, when it was hot, Lentz would roll every foot of the golf course, scouring for hints of disease or anything else. And you’d see him at seven-thirty at night, but what you might not know is that he got to the Club at four in the morning.”

The two worked together at Hidden Creek, and Brian likes to joke that Lentz is the one that hired him at SGCC after what started as a reference call for Lentz turned into a job offer for Brian as well.

Lentz remembers his journey to Springfield fondly: “I got a call from my assistant saying there’s two guys from the VSGA here who wanna talk to you.” It turns out those “two guys” were SGCC members Bob Weyers and Bob Moss, the Club’s President at the time. “I’d put in a good word because I knew this job was opening up,” Lentz recalls. “I had the best interview; I came home that night saying ‘I’m going to Springfield!’”

Lentz’s arrival at Springfield in April of 1998 was a boon for our membership. “He brought ideas that I couldn’t believe,” says Brian. “His vision always centered around making the course better for the players in all aspects - functionality as well as aesthetics. And he did it all with limited resources. He just gets it.”

Evidence of Lentz’s artistic eye can be found all over the golf course, especially in the flower beds and pollinator gardens he planted as part of the Club’s journey toward certification as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. This massive undertaking, which began in 2010 and was achieved in 2018, designates SGCC as an environmental steward and means we use best management practices in environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, chemical use reduction and safety, water conservation, water quality management, and outreach and education.

One of Lentz’s initiatives was the construction of nature trails which allow members to try and spot the 113+ species of bird that call our course home and which our summer campers enjoy exploring as well. During our recertification in 2021, the inspector commented that the environmental initiatives taking place at SGCC are among the best of the nearly hundred Audubon Certified golf courses in the US and Canada.“The best thing I’ve done, I thought initially it was re-grassing the golf course, but you’re always dealing with nature so there’s some goods and bads with that, but the Audubon certification,” Lentz smiles, “I put a lot of effort into that. That’s my favorite thing that I’ve done, without a doubt.”

While he says he’ll be around SGCC to visit friends and his dogs, don’t expect to see him too much. Lentz wants to give new Superintendent Shawn Gill the space to do his thing, and he wants to explore his own interests outside of turf care. “I’ve got a lot of things on my mind,” Lentz says, “I’ll be staying active.” He’s compiled a list of what he’s going to be doing with all his free time that includes getting back into painting and guitar, improving his swimming skills, taking dance lessons with his wife, birding, gardening, hiking, fishing, and, of course, plenty of golf. 