Fresh faces

     It's been a long time since I've been able to publish anything to this blog and I apologize.  The growing season was crazy hectic last year with projects and to put it gently, an unfavorable winter. With the help of Xingyu, last year's architect intern, we designed 4 flower beds, a rock retaining wall and a newly designed and finished black tee box for #1, and a wildflower establishment area located by the tunnel entrance to Fair Hills Resort.  These projects were completed and look fantastic; a job well done by all who helped.  A special thank you to the Schupp family for providing extra hands to plant the native wildflowers just before the 4th of July.We also completed construction of the chipping green located adjacent to the driving range tee box.  We are still growing this in and plan to open it around the fourth of July.  We also began construction of a 6800 square foot bentgrass nursery as most of you are aware.  Last fall we pressurized and checked the irrigation system addition and are very pleased with the in-house design and installation.  This spring, we will finish the final grading and amending, and will plant bentgrass soon after.  This addition to the facility will prove beneficial two-fold.  It will allow us to harvest bentgrass for damaged areas on our tees, greens and collars; and provide a "test plot" for maintenance practices that we will employ on the rest of the playing surfaces. 
      Now that this is all behind us and we are once again looking forward to the upcoming season, I thought I would post some information on Wildflower's two newest additions to our crew. 
     We were fortunate enough to hire two assistant superintendents to add to our experienced staff who have more than 30+ years in the golf course maintenance industry. 

 



This is Tim Halvorson.

"Born in San Antonio, TX raised in Brainerd, MN. First started working at the golf course as a way to get free golf during the summer, slowly turned into a career that I love. Hobbies include golfing, fishing, hunting, wood working, repairing golf clubs and traveling. I've been to 35 different states and 14 countries." Tim Graduated from U of M Crookston and will be moving to Wildflower March 7th.

 

This is Scotty Reams.
    

      "I am originally from Onamia mn. This will be my 6th season on a golf course. After high school I attended Anoka technical college where I received my Associates in turf grass management and a certificate in landscaping.  I have traveled across the U.S. throughout my career. I have been lucky enough to work on, and learn how to care for, several top courses. Including the ocean course at Kiawah island where we hosted the PGA championship. After years of traveling I knew it was time to come home to Minnesota.When I'm not working on the course I am almost always outdoors. I love playing golf and playing in tournaments whenever possible. I go deer hunting and fishing as much as possible. Riding atv and snowmobile is one of my favorite ways to spend any down time I have. Basically as long as I'm outdoors I am happy. I look forward to an amazing season at wildflower." Scotty will be moving to Wildflower as well on March 7th.

 

     These two young gentlemen will be involved in all aspects of the golf course and you will see them a lot this summer!  I am looking forward to the improvements these two will bring to the table, and as members of a team, we look forward to raising the standards at Wildflower.  Having these two will switch some of my time from "on the sprayer" to managing and scheduling more of the daily tasks.  Being able to devote more of my time to leadership allows me to focus our efforts on playability and aesthetics of the entire course and the Fair Hills Resort 9.  Fine tuning the management practices that we have found to work at Wildflower and making sure that each piece is working and running smoothly will ensure a great season.

 

     I have never looked at Wildflower at Fair Hills Resort as "my course" or the excellent employees we have as " my crew".   WE are all together on the crew and each and every crew member is a part of a fantastic work force that strives to make the course more enjoyable each and every day. Of course there is seniority, but I have found that every member of our team is willing to do what it takes and go above and beyond and no task is menial or "below their pay scale". Each task is just as important as any other task, from doing divots to blowing out the irrigation system in the fall.  I cannot emphasize this enough to everyone on the crew; everyone's task is vital to the entire organization.  A clock cannot run smoothly if just one cog is slipping, and making sure each piece is in tune with the clock as a whole is extremely important. 

     Take some time to greet these two new faces to our organization, but not too much time, we all have our jobs to do!!!