News
Oakmont's Berg wins Golden Wrench Award
- Details
- Category: Industry
- Published: Saturday, 17 April 2010 12:16
- Hits: 11552
From Turfnet.com...
Historic Pittsburgh-area club rolls out red carpet for its Technician of the Year Award winner.
There is a popular saying that refers to fiddling where one does not necessarily belong. In many areas that saying goes something like this: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In the Penn Hills neighborhood of Pittsburgh, folks there have modified that saying to reflect the mechanical abilities of Oakmont Country Club equipment manager Herb Berg.
“In our old neighborhood there was a saying, ‘If Herb can’t fix it, it ain’t broke,’ ” Berg’s brother, Bill Berg, said April 16 after Herb was presented with TurfNet’s Technician of the Year Award, presented by The Toro Co.
Berg was selected by a panel of judges from among three finalists to receive the Golden Wrench Award, symbolic of TurfNet’s Technician of the Year. He also won a weeklong, all-expenses-paid training session at Toro’s corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Minn. Other finalists were Jim Kilgallon of The Connecticut Golf Club in Easton and Darryl Elliott of Hershey’s Mill in West Chester, Pa.
Although he has no formal training in mechanics, Berg, 56, has been tinkering with engines most of his life.
“Short of a nuclear reactor, he’s worked on just about everything out there,” said brother Bill. “He’s gotten me out of more difficult situations over the years than I can count.”
For example, on Good Friday, Bill Berg’s 23-year-old daughter, Lindsay, was driving to the Pittsburgh area from Washington, D.C., when her 2000 Toyota Echo broke down 40 miles from her destination.
Berg diagnosed the problem, a faulty air-conditioning compressor that caused a belt to break. He located a used replacement and rebuilt it in time for Lindsay to be on her way back to Washington on Easter Sunday – two days later. “I just picked it up,” Berg said of his mechanical abilities. “I got some of it watching my father.
“I’ve always had good mechanical aptitude since I started working on small engines when I was 9. I could always look at them and know what was wrong, and get them running.”
Winning the award came as a surprise to Berg, who walked into a packed dining room in Oakmont’s clubhouse under the ruse of being forced to attend a luncheon to kick off the golf season. Instead, he was greeted by a standing ovation and cheers of “congratulations.”
“Thank you, but I don’t know what this is about,” Berg said. Then superintendent John Zimmers ended the suspense, informing Berg he had won the Golden Wrench. The surprise announcement was a family affair for Berg is more ways than one.
On hand for the presentation ceremony were several members of his family and friends, including his brother and his mother, Bernice Berg.
Also on hand was his Oakmont family that included Zimmers and wife Tracey, grounds chairman Chris Donohue, club manager Thomas Wallace, club president Bill Griffin, several members of the green committee, assistant superintendent Dave Delsandro, what appeared to be the entire grounds staff and several of the club’s vendors. The latter included Randy Zidik of local Toro distributor E.H. Griffith. The maintenance facility at Oakmont stands as a testament to Berg’s expertise as an equipment technician. Chests and boxes filled with tools support his claims of possessing more than $200,000 in inventory at home and work.
The condition of the club’s rolling stock speaks to his talent as well.
A 1970s-era Ford tractor housed under an overhang is still used today and starts and runs better than newer counterparts on the property, Berg said. Likewise, other courses in the Pittsburgh area often line up for the opportunity to buy Oakmont’s aging equipment because they know how well Berg maintains it, Delsandro said.
And like any great golf course equipment manager, Berg excels at creating tools and parts for niche uses.
Mowing the practice range tees and collecting the divots used to be a two-man job. Then Berg fashioned a trailer hitch and attached it to the Jacobsen LF 3400 used to mow the area so that it could accommodate a tow-behind Steiner used to collect the divots.
“We used to tow the Steiner behind a (utility) cart,” Delsandro said. “What used to be a two-man job now is a one-man job.”
Berg’s skills as a mechanic and equipment tech keep Oakmont’s other equipment in prime form as well. And that is saying a lot. The passion Oakmont members have for their course might be unmatched anywhere. And they demand conditions that Donohue said are intended to “make members suffer and maim the guests.”
To accomplish that Zimmers’ staff must employ what the superintendent has called an “aggressive” mowing regimen that includes tipple-mowing daily and hundreds of tons of sand dispersed over the golf course each year.
“Without Herb, we couldn’t do what we do here,” Zimmers said.
To show its appreciation for Berg’s work, the club also gave him a framed print of the golf course and flag – signed by the staff and green committee – commemorating this year’s U.S. Women’s Open, which is scheduled for July at Oakmont.
“He deserves it,” Bill Berg said of his brother receiving the Golden Wrench and the accolades that came with it. “There isn’t a better mechanic anywhere.”
Just ask his family – both immediate and extended.