2nd Assistant Superintendent or Assistant-in-Training job
By
Guest,
In 2015 I decided to leave the financial services industry after 20 years. During the following five years I had the opportunity to explore a lot of interests and to re-discover a few passions.
In 2017 I was offered the chance to work security for Andy Frain Services during the US Open at Erin Hills. During the two months that I was there I got to meet several of the Erin Hills staff and following the tournament I was asked to stay on as the Nighttime Clubhouse Manager and in the fall of that year I helped the maintenance department close the course for the winter.
In 2018 I returned to Erin Hills as the world’s oldest Intern where I had the opportunity to work in every area of operations accept the kitchen. My time was primarily spent working in Outside Services and the Clubhouse / Golf Shop. I also spent time during both the spring and fall preparing and closing the course.
While at Erin I rediscovered my love for the game of golf and decided that I wanted to further explore the possibility of making the golf industry my second career. For this reason, in 2019, I made the very difficult decision to leave Erin Hills and accept a position with Caddie Masters as a Caddie Manager at Whistling Straights. I wanted to see how a huge golf operation worked and thought it might allow me a greater chance of progressing in a career.
Later that summer, my friend, Alex Beson-Crone, from Erin Hills had accepted the position of Superintendent at Blue Mound Golf and Country Club and during a conversation with him he asked me to join him. By that time, I had decided that Kohler was not a good fit for me, and getting a chance to return to my childhood home course was an opportunity that I could not pass up.
At Blue Mound I fell in love with the day-to-day maintenance and care of a golf course. Alex and his staff allowed me to try my hand at everything and were there to teach me. I was involved in two large bunker projects and building two new tee boxes. We removed more than 250 trees. I cut and rolled greens, aerated, and top-dressed fairways, approaches, and greens. I was so sure that this is what I wanted to do I enrolled in the certification program offered through GreenKeeper University and was planning on taking my Wisconsin Commercial Pesticide Applicator Certification exam. Unfortunately, in the fall, my plans were sidetracked by some family issues and my wife, and I decided that I would return to work in the finance in order to support our family. I was very lucky to have found a company in Madison with an amazing group of people and we moved here in February of 2020.
I stayed on at Blue Mound until then and once settled in here, I decided to dip my toe back into golf. I accepted a position at Bishops Bay Country Club where I help on the weekend and maybe a few evenings during the week raking bunkers, setting tees, mowing rough, or anything else that needs to get done. I am planning to continue the course work at GreenKeeper University next winter the goal of returning to golf full time.
Thank you for reading my story. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. You are also welcome to speak with Alex or anyone at Erin if you have questions for them.
Ethan
Education
BA Humanities Arizona State University 1990
Qualifications
40+ years of work experience. From table chef and tennis pro to running the operations of an investment company
Date Available