Craig Sterrett
Wisconsin golf superintendents and assistants were lagging behind.
They weren’t behind when it came to maintaining great turf and playing surfaces in a state with a short growing season, widely varying soil types and unpredictable weather.
They just had never given themselves a pat on the back.
This year, for the first time, the Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendents Association recognized its top performers of the year, and Horseshoe Bay Golf Club’s Aaron Slaby was named the first-ever state Assistant Superintendent of the Year.
“They felt like it was time to start recognizing some of our own people,” said Horseshoe Bay superintendent Brian Ferrie, noting that the Iowa association had been giving awards for many years before he moved to Horseshoe Bay 28 years ago.
Ferrie said Slaby provides leadership and direction to the maintenance staff and achieves consistency and quality that the players and members expect.
“Aaron’s kind of my lieutenant. He runs my crew,” said Ferrie, whose role has evolved over the years into greater involvement with the management team and its vision.
He said Slaby has almost obsessive-compulsive attention to detail, but he keeps things constructive and positive. Slaby honed his golf skills and ideals while playing for the Gibraltar High School golf team and went on to study Golf Enterprise Management at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
“He’s extremely knowledgeable from the technical side of things,” Ferrie said.
TURF AT THE PARK
In a series of recent videos, Peninsula State Park Golf Course General Manager Jason Daubner gave details on updates and upgrades. He hopes the new green for the seventh hole can be ready by mid-June.
“Hopefully, we get some warm weather the next few weeks, because we have to get that grass to be ready to withstand traffic and the mowing patterns,” he said.
Last fall, Peninsula invested in a project to improve drainage on the 10th fairway. Each spring, a lot of water comes out of the bluff to the left of the fairway, and it tends to soak the playing surface early in the season.
Daubner said despite the 3-foot snowfall in March, the thaw and heavy rains, the 10th fairway was dry and playable by May 1. That’s a pleasant change from last year, he said.
During the thaw and heavy rains, “it looked like a river was running through here,” he said, “but the system definitely did a better job than it had in the past. Last year at this time, we couldn’t play this hole for two or three weeks because the fairways were so wet.”
GROWING SEASON AT MAX
While Peninsula will have some ground under repair where that drainage project crossed the 10th fairway, Maxwelton Braes still will have an extremely narrow strip of damaged turf in the fairways this year.
Last year, a lot of players used that 8-inch-wide stripe down the middle of the fairways as an aiming line. They know that the scar will gradually disappear, as it was left behind by the installation of the first fairway irrigation in the history of the 95-year-old course. Like much of northern Door County, the course has a lot of rock below a shallow layer of turf, and the sawing of rock to trench for the irrigation left a strip of soil with a lot of rock chips.
Course manager Jim Bresnahan said the fairways should be great throughout the season due to the irrigation. He said it may take more than a year, but the maintenance crew will gradually but steadily replace soil to make those linear scars disappear.
FITTING DAY
Idlewild Golf Club will host a TaylorMade Fitting event from 11 am to 3 pm on Sunday, May 24.
“Whether you’re chasing lower scores or just tired of guessing on equipment, this is worth it,” said owner and PGA Head Professional Brandon Hansen.
PLAY WHERE THE PROS PLAY
For years, golf writers have had the privilege of playing at PGA tour stops during press days before tournaments. Most people never get an opportunity to play a course the pros play, and many courses used for major tournaments are private.
But folks can try their luck right here in Door County playing the courses used on tour. At both Stone Hedge in Egg Harbor and The Sand Box in Sturgeon Bay, you could play the same layouts on the simulator that the pros are playing on TV.
That even includes the private, Donald Ross-designed Aronimink Golf Club, which just hosted the PGA Championship.
Craig Sterrett is a University of Iowa graduate, award-winning reporter and Sister Bay hardware store manager.