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Not your average golf course mechanics
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- Category: Industry
- Published: Friday, 01 April 2011 11:42
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When club officials at Olympia Fields Country Club near Chicago went searching for a new superintendent in 2004, they named equipment manager Pedro Briseno as the interim superintendent. Those same club officials were so comfortable with Briseno and his qualifications as interim superintendent they took nearly two full years to find a new head greenkeeper.
“It doesn’t take more than a minute or two with Pedro to see the great respect that our grounds crew, clubhouse personnel and club members have for him,” wrote Olympia Fields president Jeffrey Goldman in nominating Briseno for the award. “In his 30 years at Olympia Fields, Pedro has clearly become one of the leaders of the club.”
Jim Kilgallon and Allen Williams are equally revered at their respective operations. (Click the name of each finalist to read more about his unique accomplishments). Kilgallon manages a modest budget at The Connecticut Golf Club in Easton with the sort of precision that only an accounting department – as well as director of grounds Mark Fuller, CGCS – can appreciate. In fact, Fuller was so hesitant to discuss how much Kilgallon has saved the operation during his 12 years with the club for fear his equipment manager might want a piece of the action.
“He is able to quickly diagnose problems and then asks himself ‘How do I get this done at minimal cost,’ ” said Fuller. “He’s been managing his budget for years with smoke and mirrors.”
Mark Krick, CGCS at The Homestead, half of a 36-hole municipal operation in Lakewood, Colo., admitted that Allen Williams did not stand out, on paper anyway, from any of the others who applied for the position of equipment manager when 2006 Tech of the Year Fred Peck retired. Then someone who worked in the city’s employee relations department pointed out that Williams also was the mayor of nearby Morrison. Krick and Bruce Nelson, CGCS at Fox Hollow golf course, then figured if Williams was sharp enough to run a municipal government he probably could handle managing the maintenance operation that services two golf courses.
“After we interviewed him, Bruce and I looked at each other and said at the same time ‘yep,’ ” Krick said. “We didn’t have to talk to anyone else. We knew he was the one.”
Click on the names of each of the finalists above to read more about their accomplishments.
Finalists were selected from a list of nominees by a panel of judges that includes Carl Osterhaus of presenting sponsor Toro; Peter McCormick, John Reitman and Randy Wilson of TurfNet; Richard McGuinnes of Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; John Piersol of Florida Gateway College (formerly Lake City Community College); former TurfNet contributor and inaugural Golden Wrench winner Eric Kulaas of the Marriott Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg, Fla.; and reigning technician of the year Herb Berg of Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.
The winner of the original technician of the year award will be announced in April. That person will receive the Golden Wrench, a real, gold-plated wrench symbolic of the Technician of the Year Award, and a weeklong training session at Toro’s Service Training University at the company’s headquarters in Bloomington, Minn.
Past winners of the award are Eric Kulaas, Marriott Vinoy Renaissance Resort, St. Petersburg, Fla. (2003); Henry Heinz, Kalamazoo (Mich.) Country Club (2004); Jesus Olivas, Heritage Highlands at Dove Mountain, Marana, Ariz. (2005); Fred Peck, Fox Hollow and The Homestead, Lakewood, Colo. (2006); Jim Stuart, Stone Mountain (Ga.) Golf Club (2007); Doug Johnson, TPC at Las Colinas, Irving, Texas (2009); Herb Berg, Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club (2010). Note: No award was presented in 2008.