| Favorite Quotes | ||
|---|---|---|
|
||
| Casperkill Golf Club |
|
|
|
Type: Semi-Private Number of Holes: 18 holes Driving Range: Mats Practice Greens: 1 putting, 1 chipping Staff: 6 full time, 8 seasonal Operating Budget: $800,000 Casperkill Golf Club is one of those hidden gems. Set in the countryside of the Hudson Valley, the parkland style layout offers the ideal golf experieince. It combines masterful architecture among magnificent oaks, tranquil ponds, and the meandering Casperkill Creek that comes into play on seven holes. When Mike arrived in February 2002 and looked under the turf covers on the 2nd and 14th greens he knew he was in for a challenge. While other greens on the course had been damaged the previous fall, these two greens had been wiped out and only some newly germinated poa annua could be seen. It took no time at all to decide that these greens needed some drainage installed. It was also obvious that it was poa annua that would have to be manages as there was only about 30% creeping bentgrass. This meant that the seedheads of the poa annua plants would have to be suppressed in order to have a more viable plant in the summer due to the conservation of energy from this method. None of the previous golf course superintendents at Casperkill had experience at truly championship course and therefore championship conditions were never achieved. Mike lowered the heights of cut on greens, tees and fairways without consequence to turf quality. This was immediately noticed by management and customers. Again as was the case at Champaign Country Club over-watering was culprit. Hand-watering had rarely been practiced. Irrigation cycles were adjusted and the staff was trained to hand water and syringe greens. While the golf course had a single row irrigation system it was better than most. Again attention to detail attributes were addressed such as edging bunkers and ensuring a consistent two inch lip on all greenside bunkers, creating neat looking ballwasher pads with landscaping stone, building cedar water cooler storage units, adding walker paths from tee to fairway since 40% of customers walk at Casperkill, edging all curbs and cart paths, improving all ornamental beds to provide both more color and contrast along with many other minor but noteworthy improvements. Due to the push up greens still struggling especially when wet conditions were frequent the decision was made to conduct very aggressive deep aerification of the greens in the fall. Drill and Fill was conducted that first fall to be followed in consecutive years with similar agressive aerification methods. At the end of his first year Casperkill’s course conditions were worthy of Mr. Jones’ architecture. The next two years were spent continually improving upon the first in all areas of golf course management. IBM allocated $400,000 for a Phase I of an irrigation renovation. All 18 holes could not be renovated properly for that amount so Mike recommended doing as many holes as possible the right way and also upgrading all 18 holes with respect to satellite controllers. The end result was that 4 holes were completely renovated with a precise design, piping from the pump station to strategic locations was installed with proper sizing for Phase 2 and all satellites were replaced and a new central controller was installed. In 2004, IBM sold the property to a developer from Westchester County, New York who planned to build 469 units surrounding the golf course. The developer hired a golf management company to manage the golf course in a consulting capacity. Mike was retained but others were not so fortunate. Part of the property that housed a conference and athletic center was sold to another company. This reduced some of the ground’s department’s responsibilities but not to the tune of $200,000 which is what the course maintenance budget was to be reduced. The first decision mike made to accommodate the change was to cease walk mowing of greens to reduce payroll. Staff was reduced further ending with 11 employees during the season. The course managed to maintain very good playing conditions despite these changes. Later that fall Mike was asked to step into the role as General Manager/Golf Course Superintendent for both his leadership abilities and the ability to consolidate payroll. At this point Mike had just attained his Certified Golf Course Superintendent status. Knowing that he had a good assistant superintendent that had worked with him for three seasons Mike accepted the opportunity and challenge. He spent the winter hiring a golf professional and food and beverage manager. The sales and marketing director had been at the property all along and Mike respected her abilities. Over the last three seasons the rounds at Casperkill have increased from 31,167 to 36,650 and the Net Operating Income has increased 120%. |
||
