COURSE + GROUNDS
MAN and MACHINE With more educational opportunities at their disposal and a dedication to their craft, equipment managers are proving to be indispensable parts of golf course maintenance teams. By Betsy Gilliland, Contributing Editor
AT FIRST GLANCE, SPENDING TIME indoors as part of a golf course maintenance operation might seem counterproductive. But not for Patrick Drinkard, Equipment Manager at The Clubs at Cordillera Ranch in Boerne, Texas. He knows his place—inside, with the fan running. After all, that’s where Drinkard is most effective when it comes to creating the best conditions possible for the property’s 18-hole golf course. Because if he doesn’t do his job to keep the maintenance equipment at top performance levels, then the grounds crew members can’t do their job to keep the golf course in optimum shape. “I enjoy knowing that it is my work that makes the golf course look the way it looks,” says Drinkard, who has been in the business since 2007 and came to Cordillera Ranch from a Georgia golf course in October 2016. SAFETY, SETUP, AND SAVINGS While equipment managers’ work ethic has an outsized influence on golf course maintenance operations, so does the relationship between equipment managers and golf course superintendents. “It is a very critical relationship, one that sometimes gets overshadowed by the [focus on] agronomy,” notes Anthony Williams, CGCS, CGM, Director of Golf & Landscape Operations at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas. Williams’ Equipment Manager, Greg Neill, is responsible for the 36-hole TPC property’s $4 million fleet of equipment, with duties that include maintenance and repair of everything from high-end mowers to weed eaters, and that also extend to parts inventory, safety issues, and training of maintenance staff personnel. “He has to sign off on [equipment] before it is released into the wild,” Williams says. “We need a willing operator and properly maintained pieces of equipment to generate the conditions that members expect.” Neill’s duties also include setting up the equipment to get the right height and quality of cut. “He has to anticipate which pieces of equipment are critical to do the task,” says Williams. “The machines have to function within their design. He sets up the machines so they operate properly and safely.”
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August 2019
www.clubandresortbusiness.com
7/30/19 11:17 AM