The Hyde Park Grounds Team at the WM

Each year some of our team members have the chance to volunteer at a PGA or USGA event, it is a great opportunity to see how the golf course is prepared for the best in the world. Our team enjoys the opportunities at these events; learning new strategies in leadership, agronomy and building an industry network. This year, Assistant Superintendents; Arron Garrett and Zach Neuhaus were selected to assist the Agronomy team at TPC Scottsdale for the Waste Management (WM) Phoenix Open. I am very proud of how they assisted the agronomy team and represented the Hyde Park Membership with the utmost professionalism. Below, is a snapshot of their experience of a very busy week at the WM!

 

The WM Phoenix Open has been something that I have wanted to attend since I started in this industry 7 years ago. Now, where I’m at in my career and the club that I belong too has granted me the opportunity to have one of the best experiences of my adult life. My name is Arron Garrett, and I am an Assistant Grounds Superintendent at Hyde Park Golf & Country Club. I would like to thank all the membership and the managing staff to grant me the privilege of representing our club at such and amazing event.

 

When I arrived in Phoenix and we took our ride to the course, driving by the “Stadium” gave me chills. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. You don’t appreciate the full affect unless you see it in person. It is an astonishing view. Once settle in at our hotel, it was time to start our volunteer week. The first day, we received our job assignments and met all the other volunteers. They were from all over the country and some good people; up and coming in the industry with a drive for what they enjoyed. My morning and evening assignment was rolling greens on the back 9 and the practice area. 

 

With my job being one of the final pieces of each shift, it gave me the chance to observe the managing strategies that were employed by the senior staff at TPC Scottsdale. There were a lot of similarities to the way that our course operates, a few more processes to deal with being a tournament course, but the core strategies were almost the same.  Once again, I would like to thank all the HP membership for allowing this amazing opportunity and all the staff at TPC Scottsdale Agronomy team for being gracious hosts to all the volunteers along with a special thanks to Brandon Reese, Director of Agronomy and Senior Assistant, Scott Herbert for their time and insight into preparing the course for the best in the world. I hope there will be many more opportunities like this in the future. 

 

Hi, I’m Zach Neuhaus and I am an Assistant Superintendent at Hyde Park Country Club. I recently had the amazing opportunity to volunteer on the grounds crew for the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see what goes into preparing a golf course to PGA standards and have some of the best players in the world play on a course I’d have a small part in preparing. 

This was my first experience preparing a course to PGA standards so I didn’t know what to expect when it came to what task I would be assigned for the week. My task was hand watering the putting greens on the back 9,  I learned a lot about how firm and fast the PGA prefers their greens for tournament golf. Every morning and evening we would go around the back 9 greens and put just enough water down to keep the greens healthy while remaining as firm as possible. The task was very challenging, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Getting to see this beautiful course close-up was surreal, I see it every year on TV but in person it was even nicer. The overall energy from the hundreds of thousands of fans was so amazing. It felt more like a music festival than a golf tournament. I understand fully now why so many people come to this tournament every year, not only do you get to see some of the best golfers in the world, but the energy of the crowd feels like a 3-day long party! Although, we were too busy to join in the party it was still a great atmosphere to be around. We did have the opportunity between shifts to walk the course and watch the golfers; I really enjoyed watching the best in the world deal with the fast greens I helped maintain! 

This was a week I’ll never forget, and I learned a lot about what goes into tournament golf course preparation. I met a lot of great people in the industry and I hope to stay in touch with as well. I’d like to thank the Hyde Park membership for this great opportunity, and I hope to bring some of the things I learned back with me to Hyde Park to help make this course even better. I’d also like to thank TPC Scottsdale for allowing us to help and making our stay in Arizona comfortable and convenient. I had a great time and I hope to volunteer again in the future.