Meet Vince Hartney, the new Superintendent at Tahoma Valley Golf Course

There’s a new Superintendent at Tahoma Valley Golf Course, and he worked his way up the ranks. Only it’s not what you would expect. By ranks, we mean the military ranks.

Meet Vince Hartney, native Pacific North Westerner, originally from Sandy Oregon. He spent 30 years in military service within the Command & Control career field. He launched armed fighters out of Portland and managed the ‘Air Picture’ for NORAD all from windowless buildings and aircraft. Vince notes, “I needed some outside hobbies, so I pursued a few sporting side trips.” Ultimately, Vince retired from the military, but like so many, found sitting at home or just pursuing hobbies wasn’t enough. “So, I started mowing greens and troubleshooting the irrigation system at Tahoma Golf Course in 2020.”

In March of this year, the opportunity to manage the course and lead the crew was offered to Vince. As the new Superintendent he inherited a 6-person crew, 4 of whom were also prior military service retirees. The other were a ski fanatic and a college student. Tahoma Valley Golf Course is in Yelm, Washington. The crew there maintains a full 18-hole course. “Being at work for us is like having a day of quality ‘guy time’. I’m the only member of my crew that doesn’t golf, but I do love some healthy grass!”

Vince is a new member of the WWGCSA, thanks to a referral from Jackie Klein of Walrath. He looks forward to reaching out to fellow members to learn more tricks of the trade, and broaden his scope of ‘guy time’ with people who love grass like him.

Truan challenged his audience with some exercises in calculating with as much precision as possible budget figures for line items related to supplies and equipment. The group walked through a sample budget format, focusing on understanding the value of each column and to identify, in advance of any presentation, what the most likely questions they are going to get based on the information that they present.

Some good questions were asked on the strategy side. Should budgets be stretched or cautious? Is it advantageous to beat budget’s forecast? What happens to line items in year two that finish under budget in year one? Make sure one knows whether the brackets around a figure in the variance column is good, or not so good.

For most, the discussion was a refresher of financial terms and planning that they’ve been exposed to before and, perhaps, will be expected to be the lead on in the not too distant future.

After the budgeting session, the group wrapped up the event with some lunch and putt-putt golf Flatstick Pub style.

At the business meeting, members elected Chris Concienne (Helena Agri) and Chuck Nixdorf (Sand Point Equipment Manager) to the Board, replacing the departing Steve Kealy and Jacob Close. At the same time, Craig Benson (Meridian Valley CC) was elected President of the Board, taking over for Greg Matz, who will stay on the Board for one more year in the role Immediate Past President.

Greg Matz and Bill Ackerley (Executive Director) presented a list of Association items, including encouraging members to participate in a wide variety of upcoming events (see our Calendar) and to check out a new element to the website, as the Association now has an online merchandise store (the link is also on the Calendar). Ackerley presented a summary of the Association’s financial position, emphasizing that our cash position is very strong and expected to remain so for the foreseeable future.

David Phipps, our regional GCSAA Field Rep gave an update on the goings on the with GCSAA, while also presenting a GCSAA plaque to Eric Verellen for his contributions to the industry’s Communications and Community Outreach. Sean Reehorn, the WWGCSA’s GCSAA delegate spoke on the goings at the recent Delegate meeting in Lawrence, in particular the discussion around a potential member dues increase. The GCSAA believes this is necessary as the expansion of its programs is outpacing its growth in revenue.

Greg Matz presented scholarship grants of $2500 each to this year’s recipients of the Annual WWGCA Turf Management Scholarship. The winning applicant’s are Connor Roy of Bear Creek Country Club and Connor Karmil of Seattle Golf Club. Both are working to complete their turf management education at Walla Walla Community College (via online).

Steve Kealy had the honor of presenting the Annual Paul Backman Distinguished Service Award to Greg Hall (Fairwood Golf & Country Club). Mr. Hall has served as Fairwood’s Superintendent for more than 30 years. He has also been an active member of the WWGCSA which included guiding the Association through some challenging years shortly after the turn of this century while serving as its President.

As the meeting adjourned, it was time to look toward the golf course. While the weather continued to be blustery and wet, the forecast looked promising. After a brief delay, the members took to the grass where Jackson Logsdon (Assistant Superintendent at Glendale Country Club) took top honors in the Superintendent Championship, with a two-stroke victory over defending champ Ivan Gibbs (Leavenworth Golf Course). The wind played havoc on everybody, but Logsdon persevered shooting an 84 in conditions with gusts approaching 30 mile per hour. In the team game, the group of William Wallace (Turf Commander), Tyler Chaloupka (Sand Point), Josh Cheney (Glendale) and Pat Oien (Sahalee) posted a score of 144, a single stroke victory over Brian Lindgren (Gallery), Kelly Wallen (Gallery), Bryce Landrud (Thundering Oak Tree Service) and John Leslie (Twin Lakes).

Congrats to those that had faith in the weather and the fortitude to stick it out enduring the strong winds. Welcome to the Board Chris Concienne and Chuck Nixdorf as we look forward to next year under the leadership of Craig Benson. And finally, thumbs up again to Connor Roy, Connor Karmil and Greg Hall—whose good works in their turf careers thus far earned them significant recognition from the WWGCSA.

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Amidst a beautifully crisp fall day not far from the shores of Puget Sound, the crew from Trysting Tree Golf Course (Corvallis) won the 2024 PNW GCSA Chapters’ Crew Championship. Shooting 15-under par on the well-manured Home Course, the Trysting Tree crew bested a field of seven teams from across the Northwest, getting by their neighbors (well, though it is a two-hour drive, they’re both from western Oregon) from Heron Lakes Golf Course (Portland).

The crew from the Home Course (DuPont) took third place at 10-under, only three strokes off the pace. The Gold Mountain crew finished at 7-under par. Kudos to the crew from Awbrey Glen, which took advantage of their road trip to Western Washington by playing practice rounds at Salish Cliffs and Tacoma Country and Golf Club before finishing fourth at the Home Course and the PNW Crew Championship

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The Trysting Tree Golf Course greens crew is now home to the PNW Crew Championship traveling trophy, while each of its team members took $100 in cash for their efforts. Below are the final results for each team:

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The crew at Sahalee Country Club was coming off a week, in fact more than a year, of prepping and managing their course to major championship condition as the Women’s PGA Championship was visiting their course. Overcoming exhaustion, or better yet, perhaps delaying a drop in adrenaline, Sahalee sent three crew teams who each shot 68 or better. And one bested the entire field by 4 shots after shooting a 57, 15 under par, at Mill Creek Country Club earlier this week.

The Sahalee team of Jobany Vizcarra, Jesus Vizcarra Jr., Connor O'Neill, and Miles Owre are this year’s WWGCSA Crew Champions. Traditionally, the winning team and the runner up represent the WWGCSA in this coming Fall’s Pacific Northwest Crew Championship, to be held at a course to be determined but somewhere in the Puget Sound Region. But the Sahalee team will not be able to make it, so the third place team (Gold Mountain), as the alternate, will take Sahalee’s place at the PNW Crew Championships this fall.

The Home Course crew won a tiebreaker for second place over that Gold Mountain Crew by making birdie on the 18th hole. As referenced above, both the Home Course and Gold Mountain will represent the WWGCSA at the PNW Crew Championship. Gold Mountain still finished in the money while also winning a closest to the pin prize when they stuck a tee shot to 5 ft 8 in on the 148 yard 5th hole. Sahalee’s Crew earned the other closest to the pin prize when Connor O’Neill put his tee shot 3 ft 10in from 121 yards on that heretofore mentioned 18th green. Washington National’s Nick Perry secured the Long Drive prize for his team on the par five 3rd hole.

Here are the final results from this year’s Crew Championship:

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The crew Eric Thompson, Tumwater Valley Golf and the city of Tumwater are taking on an important initiative, one that gets easier to implement they more they do it. Thompson has embarked on a mission to host a First Green event at his golf course twice a year, once in the Fall and again in the Spring. This 23/24 academic year marks the first year of what Eric Thompson hopes will be many to come. “The plan is to hold two events per year, fall and spring. The first one had approximately 60 kids and the second had 45; the kids are from the two [Tumwater] middle schools and were the 8th grade advanced math students,” Thompson says. “It looks like a lot but so many key people have bought in on the program that it makes my part easier.”

Before getting started, Thompson secured the support and participation of key people who help make the First Green event successful:

To gather support—Dr Lorie Thompson (Regional Network Director, Capital STEM Alliance), Cecily Kiester (Regional Administrator, Career Connected Learning ) Kat Santana (Capital STEM Alliance), Michelle Paul (CTE TOSA), Suzane Jones (Black Hills Middle School).

More support and connection to resources and expertise—Chuck Denney (Parks & Recreation Director, City of Tumwater), Tyler Trimble (Golf Ops Manager), Russ Olsen (PGA Associate, Golf Operations Supervisor), Todd Anderson (Recreation Coordinator, City of Tumwater), Bri Feller (Volunteer Coordinator, City of Tumwater).

Volunteers for in-the-Field Training—Larry Gilhuly (USGA Retired), Rick Michel (Pacific Golf and Turf/John Deere), Grant Gilmore (Water Resources Specialist, Habitat & Outreach City of Tumwater)(Professor at UW), Geoff Rinehart (University of Maryland Turf Management), Brandon Wilhelm (Wilbur Ellis), Jason Heye and Regan Broome (TVGC Golf Instructors and First Green).

First Green brings many benefits for multiple parties. It provides an opportunity for city governments to engage with young people about what they do, it gets the students out of the classroom and into a real world environment. Vendors of the turf management industry and the industry itself introduce students to job opportunities on golf courses. Plus, the public relations benefit to the City and the industry by connecting with the community, demonstrate what they really do and opening up lines of communication with each other is invaluable.

Thompson recognizes just getting started may seem daunting, but once tried, the next attempt becomes much easier. “There is an outline on the GCSAA site for hosting an event. I encourage my fellow Superintendents to give it a try. I would be happy to help anyone else interested in hosting one.”