TurfNet Superintendent of the Year 2009
Finalist Profile:
Thomas Bastis, CGCS, The California Golf Club of San Francisco, South San Francisco, Calif.
 When Allan Jamieson penned a nomination for Thomas Bastis for superintendent of the year for 2008, he cited such criterion as negotiating with government agencies as helping save a major renovation at the California Golf Club of San Francisco.
One year later, after the first full year of play since completion of the Kyle Phillips-designed restoration of Vernon Macan's 1918 design, Jamieson is calling for a mulligan of sorts. The accomplishments of those involved of the restoration project - namely Bastis - were vastly undersold and underestimated he said.
Bastis, 38, served on the restoration committee that drew up plans for the project, sought an architect and sold the package to the club's membership.
"The real test wasn't in convincing members to do it," said Jamieson, the club's green chairman. "It was in convincing them he was right."
The prove in that statement is a golf course that has drawn rave reviews from members as well as others from throughout the golf industry.
Alex Miceli of The Golf Channel and a Golfweek contributor, while in San Francisco for last year's President's Cup, told Jamieson that he was so smitten with the new greens that he told Jamieson he rearranged his schedule to get in a second round.
"The rumor has always been that greens in Northern California are generally bumpy due mainly to the Poa annua which is prevalent in the area," Miceli wrote via e-mail. "The exception to the rule is California Golf Club. Recently, the greens were redone, eliminating the difficult Poa annua, and the greens are not only some of the best in California, but in the U.S. They putt very true and have incredible speed, which makes the putting surface a significant challenge and puts a renewed premium on putting."
There was a time during the restoration of this course near San Francisco International Airport that members had to wonder whether the project might be completed. Bastis played a critical role in educating the local planning board on a tree-removal project that was part of the overall restoration. The board considered a field trip to the property, which would have delayed seeding by a full month, threatening the grow-in. Still, early rains delayed the seeding process by a week. Ensuing rains, including 2.5 inches on one day, caused flooding, erosion and loss of seeded areas on slopes throughout the 185-acre site.
With the project falling behind schedule, some at the club were becoming restless.
"What I find extremely frustrating is the criticism of members who can't get their lawns to flourish, yet fail to appreciate the challenge of maintaining 130-plus acres to a much more delicate standard than their lawn," Jamieson wrote. "I have made the analogy that anesthesiology is a high-risk medical profession because the anesthesiologist maintains a patient right on the edge between life and death during surgery . . . My limited experience leads me to believe that a putting surface is extremely stressed and constantly 'on the edge.' "
The club reopened amid the onset of the ongoing economic challenges that have beset golf courses and virtually every other industry during the past two years. That has led to sweeping cuts throughout the property, including the maintenance department.
Despite the challenges, he and his crew produced a restoration that, in Jamieson's words, "has received universal acclaim from all manner of professionals within the golf industry." And they maintain it with a budget and staff that have been affected dramatically by budget cuts.
"It's no revelation . . . that private clubs reek of internal politics and have no shortage of uniformed critics," Jamieson wrote. "A vocal minority chose to focus only on what they perceived as sub-standard about the course and its condition.
"Thomas was handed the additional challenge of maintaining the course to members' expectations with reduced staff and budget. Once again, a challenge met professionally and successfully. . . . The condition of the course, Thomas' purview, has received universal acclaim from all manner of people who share a love of our game. . . . (He has) put our new course solidly in the conversation about great golf in San Francisco."
And that is saying a great deal.
The Superintendent of the Year award, sponsored by Syngenta, is presented annually by TurfNet to one outstanding superintendent selected from among those nominated by club officials, course owners, members, casual golfers, or staff members.
The winner will be announced at GIS in San Diego, and will travel with a guest to Ireland for a week-long golf course tour, courtesy of Syngenta.
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