Superintendent of the Year Finalists
Summer stress a common theme among Superintendent of the Year candidates
Thinking back on the events of last summer, Robby Watts joked that it might have been a good time for superintendents on the East Coast to explore other career options.
“It was a good year to quit being a superintendent,” said Watts, head superintendent at The Country Club of Asheville in the North Carolina mountains.
Of course, Watts didn’t quit being a superintendent, and to his credit the members at Asheville did not quit on him.
Still, the excessive heat of the summer of 2010 presented challenges, sleepless nights and much worse for superintendents throughout the eastern half of the country. And those same conditions were a pervasive them in balloting for this year’s TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.
To that end, six of this year’s nine award finalists were lauded – by those who submitted nominations and their behalf – for their ability to manage turf during extremely trying conditions that included temperatures in the 90s and higher throughout much of the summer.
Joining Watts as finalists are
- Thomas Bastis, CGCS at The California Golf Club of San Francisco
- Nick Bright of Melrose Golf Course on Daufuskie Island, S.C.
- Sean Creed of Oak Brook (Ill.) Golf Club
- Tom Lipscomb of River Bend Golf and Country Club in Great Falls, Va
- Glen Misiaszek of Cohasset (Mass.) Golf Club
- Bryan Plummer of Palm Harbor Golf Club in Palm Coast, Fla.
- Butch Sheffield of North Ridge Country Club in Raleigh, N.C. and
- Megan Van Arsdale of Danville (Ky.) Country Club.
The winner will be announced Thursday, Feb. 10 at 1:30PM in the Syngenta booth during GIS.
The finalists were selected by a panel of judges from a list of 56 candidates nominated by co-workers, supervisors, golfers, vendors and others from throughout the golf maintenance industry. Judges include Scott Cole, formerly of Syngenta; Peter McCormick, John Reitman and Jon Kiger of TurfNet; Larry Hirsh of Golf Property Analysts; Mike McCullough of the Northern California Golf Association; Tim Moraghan of Aspire Golf Consulting; Frank Rossi, Ph.D., of Cornell University; Cal Roth of the PGA Tour; Jon Scott of Nicklaus Golf; Tom Stine of Golf Datatech; and reigning superintendent of the year, Anthony Williams, CGCS at Stone Mountain (Ga.) Golf Club.
Click here to read more about Watts.
Thomas Bastis
This is the third consecutive year Bastis has been named a finalist for the Superintendent of the Year award. Unlike the first two years, when he was nominated for his work in renovating The California Golf Club of San Francisco, Bastis was recognized this year for taking a lead role in restoring someone else’s golf course.
When a combination of disease, insect pressure and gloomy summer weather devastated the greens at municipal Gleneagles Golf Course, the lessee of the course called upon Bastis for help. What ensued was a volunteer effort for the books.
Click to read more.
Nick Bright
Bright endured what no one should have to in his first experience as a head golf course superintendent after the owner of Melrose Golf Course declared bankruptcy. He and his crew experienced an on-again, off-again work schedule until some financial stability was brought to the property.
During that time, he stretched existing inventories of what product was on hand and borrowed and traded for almost everything else he needed.
They also continue to work in modest conditions that include a makeshift office in the Melrose pump house.
Click to read more.
Sean Creed
Creed was recognized in several nominations for his ability to defy the odds and bring back Oak Brook Golf Club from a devastating flood during one of the most difficult summer seasons in the Chicago area.
He restored the course and beat the odds by reseeding when conditions exceeded 90-plus degrees and 90 percent-plus humidity.
Click to read more.
Tom Lipscomb
Lipscomb earned praise from his members for shepherding River Bend Golf and Country Club through a renovation project wrought with challenges.
From an exhaustive permitting process that took nearly four years to navigate to rolling out bentgrass sod in 100-degree-plus conditions that left the turf infested with pythium within one day, Lipscomb faced hurdles from the start of the project to the last day.
And the crew moved into a new home during the renovation as construction of a new maintenance facility was taking place at the same time, meaning the crew moved into a new home in the middle of the renovation.
Click to read more.
Glen Misiaszek
Misiaszek epitomizes today’s superintendent, who is more communicator than agronomist, according to his co-workers and members at Cohasset Country Club who nominated him.
He was lauded for his efforts at establishing a sense of consistency in maintaining the vintage Donald Ross design while also remaining sensitive to the concerns of golfing members.
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Bryan Plummer
You must be doing something right when the mayor of the town that owns the golf course on which you work nominates you for Superintendent of the Year. In fact, just about everyone else who plays Palm Harbor Golf Club either nominated Plummer or signed a petition supporting the club-initiated campaign.
He gained widespread favor for marshalling a challenging renovation to completion and leading a recovery effort after record cold in the winter of 2009-10 threatened to undo the entire project.
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Megan Van Arsdale
As the only woman golf course superintendent in Kentucky, Van Arsdale is accustomed to proving herself to colleagues, co-workers and just about everyone else. After years of producing top-level playing conditions at Danville Country Club, including throughout the duration of last summer, she figures she has converted most of the non-believers.
The challenge for Van Arsdale was not deciding that she needed to alter her management plan, including raising mowing heights, it was convincing members to let her do it or risk losing their golf course, perhaps for the remainder of the season.
Click to read more.
Butch Sheffield
Sheffield said he was lucky that tournament scheduling allowed him to adjust his maintenance practices in time to ward off the effects of last summer and keep the turf at North Ridge not just alive but healthy.
Instead, it was the club’s members who were fortunate that Sheffield had been conducting research and was ready for a proactive approach to dealing with the summer’s woes long before the hottest temperatures arrived.
Click to read more.
