Golfdom, February 2015

T he inspiration for the maintenance facility came from numerous site visits over the years literally hundreds The above head hoses in each bay area is like what they saw at Augusta National The maximization of space comes from studying the shop at St Andrews Cypress Point was a sentimental inspiration another course that gets it done with not a lot of space The office furniture Probably inspired by Pine Valley maybe or Pebble Beach Sorry Thats straight off Craigslist We had a budget to buy furniture but Id lay in bed at night and find three chairs on Craigslist for 100 says William Larson CGCS Im programmed to save money Its my upbringing we never had money Our first shop was a semi truck trailer I dont forget those days Looking at the state of the art facility from which Town Country Club in St Paul Minn currently operates its hard to imagine Larsons crew working from a semi truck trailer This facility is so pristine visitors have parked there then started changing their shoes in the parking lot thinking they were at the clubhouse Members rent the high tech break room for events yes the maintenance teams break room to show off to their friends It isnt a multi million dollar maintenance budget that Larson has It just looks that way Best in state For readers outside Minnesota and maybe the Midwest allow us to introduce Mr Bill Larson CGCS superintendent at Town Country Club and the 2015 Herb Graffis Businessperson of the Year award winner Now in its fourth year the Graffis Award is given in honor of Golfdoms founder World Golf Hall of Fame member Herb Graffis When Graffis founded the magazine in 1927 he did it with the mindset that golf is more than a game its also a business The Graffis award isnt a good guy award Its a good businessman award But it turns out Larson is both Excruciatingly humble he asked not to be featured on the cover without his crew his club president talked him out of it sharply funny ask him about his last trip to the Masters and endearingly sentimental he became misty eyed when he learned he was the 2015 winner of the Graffis Award Larson photo by Judy Griesedieck February 2015 Golfdom 21 Golfdom com is equally admired feared and respected by hundreds in the turf maintenance business When we took on the bunker project I talked to Continued on page 22 William Larson cGcs has spent the last 26 years improving town country club one project at a time and saving the club untold thousands along the way By Seth JoneS