Like many golf course superintendents, Phil Shoemaker would make a good study for a cartographer, because he's lived all over the map.
An Ohioan by birth, the 56-year-old Shoemaker also has lived in New Jersey and Florida, and has spent the bulk of his four decades in golf in Arizona, including the last 16 as head superintendent at Desert Highlands Golf Club in Scottsdale. Throughout his career, he has dedicated a great deal of time to helping promote his profession and the careers of his colleagues through eight years on the board of directors of the Cactus & Pine GCSA chapter, including a stint as president.
Earlier this year, at the chapter's annual meeting, he was named the inaugural winner of its Superintendent of the Year award.
The announcement was made May 11 at Phoenix Country Club.
"I spent a lot of time on the board. I've done it all with (Cactus & Pine)," Shoemaker said. "Right when I was going off the board one of the things they were talking about was a (member) recognition program. Those plans sat idle for a while, then were just resurrected this spring."
Criteria on which candidates are judged include involvement, support, diplomacy, commitment, mentorship and professionalism, said Shoemaker. He said he owes a great deal of his success to Jack Nicklaus. He learned the business caddying on a Nicklaus course. His first turf job was on a Nicklaus course. He went to turf school thanks to Nicklaus. And has spent all but 19 months of his 40 years in the business on a Nicklaus layout.
A native of Dublin, Ohio, Shoemaker's career started in 1975 as a caddie at Nicklaus's Muirfield Village Golf Club. After graduating from high school, he started working on the crew because "I figured I could sit on a tractor and mow grass," he said.
He quickly was promoted through the ranks to the position of assistant superintendent, a job he held for three-plus years before the club helped pay his way to a turfgrass education at Rutgers, where he graduated in 1980.
His career took him from Muirfield Village to Desert Highlands in 1982, the site of the first Skins Game in 1983. He has spent all but 19 months of his career on golf courses designed by Nicklaus. In 1986, Shoemaker moved across town to Desert Mountain, where he built the property's first three courses before moving on to The Loxahatchee Club in Jupiter, Florida, for nine years. In 1998, he went to the TPC of Scottsdale for 19 months before returning home to Desert Highlands in 1999.
It doesn't hurt that his wife, Deb, is a Phoenix native.
"Arizona is a love-it or hate-it state," he said. "And I love it."