Get to Know the Team - Mike Zarate

Mike “Chippy” Zarate

What is your title?  Assistant Mechanic In Training – Full Time Laborer

How long have you worked here?  3 years

Why did you get into working on a golf course?  Love working outside, did landscaping for 2 years.

What is your favorite Hole on the Course?  16, 12, 6

What is your favorite job task at OGC?  Mowing the Fairways

Do you play golf, If so, what is your golf handicap?  Love to golf, no idea

What are your hobbies?  Cars; Fishing; Gaming

Any favorite quotes?  Life can only be understood backward.  It’s why it must be lived forward.

What is your favorite meal?  Fish Fry

What is on your bucket list?  Drive a Supercar

Get to Know the Team - Eric Schmitt

Eric "P Sizzle" Schmitt

What is your title?  Assistant Golf Course Superintendent

How long have you worked at OGC?  3 years

What is your favorite Hole on the Course?  #12

Why did you get into working on a golf course?  I love the aesthetics of a golf course

What are your favorite job tasks at OGC?  Training team members

Do you play golf, what is your golf handicap?  once or twice, happy to break 100

What are your hobbies? working on my 53 Mercury, attending car shows, "saving the world" via gaming

Mentors in the Industry?   Jake Renner, Logan Spurlock, Dustin Riley  

What is your favorite meal?  Seafood and/or Steak

What is on your bucket list? Vacation in an Indonesian Island  

Get to Know the Team - Smokey "Todd" Aartsen

Todd “Smokey” Aartsen

What is your title?  Shop and Equipment Manager

How long have you worked at OGC?  14 years

What is your favorite Hole on the Course?  #13

Why did you get into working on a golf course?   Grew up on one

What are your favorite job tasks at OGC?  Wildlife management; Diving - #13 pond (repairing underwater intakes)

Do you play golf, what is your golf handicap?  Very little, N/A

What are your hobbies? Flying aircrafts; Diving; Hunting/Shooting

Favorite quote?  Extremely difficult gets done immediately, impossible one second later

What is your favorite meal?  Seafood

What is on your bucket list?   Fly a Jet

Get to Know the Team - Steve Houlihan

Steve “Houli” Houlihan

What is your title? Golf Course Superintendent

How long have you worked here?  2 months

Why did you get into working on a golf course?  4 Uncles WI Golf Superintendents; Caddied 11 years at Merrill Hills CC; Received Evans Scholarship; BS and MS at UW-Madison – Soil Sciences

What is your favorite Hole on the course? 8, 9, 12, 13, 18

What is your favorite job task working on the Course?   Growing up I loved mowing greens.  Now it’s seeing the end product each day from our Teams’ accomplishments!

Do you play golf, If so, what is your golf handicap?   Yes, it’s going up = 6.3

What are your hobbies?  Family time – biking, hiking, swimming; Golf and Basketball; Puzzles

Any favorite quotes?  If you can appreciate the value of simple things, then you can accomplish great things.  Success is the sum of small efforts repeated every day.

What is your favorite meal?    Chinese

What is on your bucket list?  Trip to Hawaii

January Update

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to work for your Club.  I’m excited to continue showcasing and conditioning the property while providing members and guests memorable experiences.  I have been welcomed whole heartedly by the members whom I’ve met and the OGC Team.

I look forward to meeting each of you as the daunting thermal temperatures become favorable for some outdoor Wisconsin golf.  In the meantime, the golf simulators suit my golf game a little better as you always have a perfect lie, no army golf (walking), no wind, and not having to putt the ball on the green. 

These past few months have given me and my team the opportunity to review a lot of material and gain insights into how the property is all put together.  Learning an entire new property not only above ground, but all the components in the ground, takes time to fully get a feel for the operation and how to fully maximize each facet. 

For those aspiring weather watchers in warmer locations.  In Wisconsin, we now understand what cold weather really means.  We’ve even had a day or two where we were colder than the continent of Antarctica. Brutal cold!  In addition, two big snow storms in January each produced over 6” of snow which gave us some snow plow practicing.  As a “Turf Doc”, I am thankful for the snow cover as it’s a great insulator on the property.  With no snow cover, the brutal temperatures would have been lethal to those precious species of turf which we meticulously lose sleep over each night.

Looking ahead to the next few months, our team plans on finishing the sunshine enhancement program by winter’s end and look forward to working on the property cleaning it up from winter.  We also have been busy servicing and touching up the course’s equipment and accessories.