Golf Course News
Golf course maintenance staff works hard to make Tansi the best
By Todd Mathews
Golf Course SuperintendentThe golf course maintenance staff at Lake Tansi has got to be one of the finest crews in the state. These guys provide an invaluable service to the P.O.A. and the golfing community. I have been in the golf business for 20 years and have never worked with a finer staff.
We are winding down a fairly successful season, with leaf clean up being our last hurdle. The crew has turned in another extraordinary effort this year. I don't want to give away anyone's age but the average age of our crew is nearly 70. You wouldn't be able to tell by looking at the amount of work that gets accomplished on a daily basis.
In 1994 we began the transition from a younger staff to a more seasoned staff. The younger crew caused numerous headaches and managerial difficulties with tardiness, unreliability, and equipment abuse. By 1996 our staff was primarily made of part time, seasonal retirees. We no longer had to worry about poor work habits and equipment abuse. The switch to a part time seasonal labor base brought many benefits such as:
Instead of 8 full time employees we now have 13 part timers, and 3 full timers. This allows us to swarm the course every morning, finish our work by 10:30, and be out of the way of golfers.
We were able to reduce payroll by paying reasonable wages, reducing benefits, and offering golf as a part of their salary.
Mechanical repairs continue to be reduced, which results in a savings to the P.O.A., as the employees take extremely good care of their equipment.
As golfing members of the P.O.A. and local residents, our staff takes an incredible amount of pride in their finished product. Because of this, all golfers at Lake Tansi benefit.
Because we are a retirement destination, we have a good supply of people who are interested in working 18 to 20 hours week on the golf course.
Meet the staff
J.L. Kirby - (39 years of service) J.L. mows fairways and roughs. He can operate all of our equipment and does a fine job at tee divot repair in the afternoons.
Dave Walker - (9 years of service) Dave is the crew leader and my right hand man. He keeps the roughs cut down with his Toro 4500.
Larry Heslep - (10 years of service) Larry sets the course up for play 7 days a week. He also keeps the bunkers and curbs edged, weed eats, and does sod work.
Lloyd Miller - (11 years of service) Lloyd is our primary greens mower. He also maintains the cutting units on our reel mowers.
Bill Irvin - (10 years of service) Bill mows tees and collars. He also repairs tee divots with seed and sand.
Bob Wallace - (9 years of service) Bob mows around the tees and greens and operates our aerifier.
Marvin Lowe - (8 years of service) Marvin is responsible for keeping our bunkers in top condition. He also sprays for weeds as needed.
Bob Garst - (8 years of service) Bob is our irrigation tech but he also can mow greens, roughs, and tees. He also operates our aerifier, hand waters greens, and rakes bunkers.
Donald Houston - (8 years of service) Donald is our stone creation specialist and rock artisan. He also can mow tees and greens, hand water greens, and aerify.
C.W. Berry - (5 years of service) C.W. mows the roughs around trees and other tight areas. He also hand waters the greens, rakes bunkers, and mows fairways from time to time.
Charley Pepper - (4 years of service) Charley mows and rolls greens, weed eats, mows roughs, aerifies greens, rakes bunkers, and does various odd jobs.
John Withers - (2 years of service) John mows and rolls greens, weed eats, rakes bunkers, hand waters, edges bunkers and curbs, and patches cart trails.
Jim Smallwood - (1 year of service) Jim is our utility man. He collects trash, cleans the restrooms, blows grass clippings, puts out fresh ice water, and many other daily chores.
Colin Kearns - (1 year of service) Colin is our club grounds person. Every morning he cleans the parking lot, picks up trash and cigarette butts, pulls weeds, waters the flowers, and keeps up with the landscape around the pro shop, 19th hole, cart sheds, range tee, and pavilion areas.
Paul Yoder - (1 year of service) Paul is our weekend fairway mower. He also weed eats and rakes bunkers.
