A player's view of golf

ROYAL CITY - Players may just end up liking how newly-hired Superintendent Shawn Vetterick manages the Royal Golf Course. He was a player of note at one time.

Vetterick helped his high school team to the Indiana State Tournament his junior year. In his best years, he got down to a handicap of 4.

"I can't play much now. I'm too busy," he said.

But he knows how golfers like the feel and view of a golf course. He knows how much rough is too much and when it's too little.

Vetterick came onto the job on March 15. According to Pro Randy Puetz, he had some catching up to do. Not much has been done since the former superintendent took a position at Legacy Golf.

"He's going to be real busy for a while," Puetz said.

Vetterick said one of the first tasks is to get all of the equipment into the operating shape he wants. There are some repairs to be done to equipment and golf cars.

"We fertilized a couple of weeks ago," Vetterick said. "We're waiting for some heat to get the greens popping."

Vetterick plans to tighten a couple of the fairways, especially No. 9.

"You can play soccer the width of that thing," he said.

Greens Nos. 1, 2 and 6 need to be re-seeded, Vatterick said, and re-seeding is needed in fairways Nos. 1 and 3.

Vetterick was hired full time, year around and lives at the golf course. He found the RGC opportunity at Turfnet.com.

Vetterick decided to apply because his wife grew up in Washington and has family as close as the Tri-Cities.

"And I like to fish," he said.

Vetterick was 22 when he started his greens keeping career at the Kirksville (Mo) Country Club. A friend was the new superintendent and needed help.

"I fell in love with being outdoors," he said.

Vetterick made it to assistant superintendent at Kirksville. He moved to DesMoines, Iowa and took an employee position at the DesMoines Country Club, a top-5 club in the state.

Vetterick left golf for a while and worked in irrigation and spraying. In 2009 he went back to golf at the Wakonda Country Club in DesMoines.

The job at RGC is Vetterick's first time as a superintendent. With his experience in fertilization, irrigation and spraying, he believes he is well suited for it.