Growing up around the game of golf, I never gave it much thought or appreciated the work that goes into maintaing turf on a golf course. Even when I was working in the backshop or proshop I took for granted the amazing condition St. Thomas G&CC has always been in. I thought about working on the greens staff as I worked around the club house, but doubted my ability to be at work for 5:45 am and was intimidated by all the equipment I would have to learn to operate. Wade Beaudoin, our head superintendent, was known to run a 'tight ship' and was sometimes seen sending staff members home for not doing their job correctly and failing to follow instructions, this kind of thing never happened up around the club house. After talking with our previous assistant Paul Grovesnor, he encouraged me to give it a shot for a season, making the point of having something different to do and taking on new challenges each day. So I took his recommendation and joined the St. Thomas greens staff in summer of 2010. It didn't take long for me to become comfortable with everyday jobs and feel as though I was a part of a team. Knowing the expectations of a golfer, I payed attention to fine details and did my best to create a finished product that I would be happy to play on. This job provided me with a much greater appreciation for what the greens staff does to maintain a golf course and I feel that there are to many golfers who take the course for granted.
St. Thomas is currently in the process of removing many trees around the course to improve the growing environment around certain greens. This is some of the work completed last winter.
Link: http://www.stthomasgolf.com/index.cfm?ID=587
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