Chad Braun, the 2026 Edwin Budding Award winner, has made a name for himself in Minnesota and beyond. Photos by Tregg Hagen
The word “neat” perfectly describes equipment manager Chad Braun, in many ways.
It reflects his habits running the golf course maintenance shop at Town & Country Club in St. Paul, Minn. It describes his work area, organized and spotless.
And being called a neat freak is fine with Braun.
“I am — 100%,” he says. “My dad kept things spotless. I take pride in the appearance of our equipment. Not sure if I’m OCD, but I learned the art of attention to detail.”
For all that Braun, a 13-year member of GCSAA, has accomplished in his career, he is the 2026 winner of the Edwin Budding Award, a lifetime achievement honor given annually to “an individual in the turf equipment industry whose actions have helped shape the turf equipment industry.”
Let Braun explain how neat this is.
“I’m quite shocked. I know a lot of folks who received this in the past, and some were my mentors,” Braun says. “I’m very, very humbled, that’s for sure.”
Braun has become a household name for equipment managers, sharing his ideas through social media.
Towing lawn gear and cars as a teen
Braun was born in Fort Riley, Kan., the U.S. Army installation where his father, Ken, was stationed. Talk about a chip off the old block: Ken was a mechanic in the Army, at one point serving in Vietnam and as a tank mechanic.
“He is my No. 1 mentor. He made me what I am today,” Braun says.
The family moved to West Saint Paul, Minn., when he was 2, and by the time he was a young teen, Braun was driven enough to start his own business, West Lawn Care. “I was a young lad; I had 10 accounts. I towed lawn equipment with my bicycle,” he says.
At 16, he worked at a local Amoco full-service gas station. One of his duties? Towing cars.
“Three hundred to 400 of them,” Braun says. “I only damaged one car, a Pontiac Fiero, that I was towing out of a parking lot that had a steep approach, and I ended up scraping the front spoiler.”
Braun learned to love diesel engines, carried a toolbox and developed lofty career goals. His objective: be a fleet manager. “I wanted to run a public works garage for a municipality or county,” says Braun, who enrolled at Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount, Minn.
He was later hired by one of the largest commercial lawn care and snow removal companies in the Twin Cities, Henning, Rohde & Associates, spending seven years there. Ultimately, doing snow removal created a path to the golf industry.
Braun with equipment operator Jim Crawford, who has been with Town & Country Club for an incredible 54 years, starting in 1972
From snow to the golf course
That snow removal thing wasn’t sustainable.
“Snow plowing gave me shoulder troubles,” Braun says, “and I got upset with the snow removal part of that job.”
So he joined Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury, Minn., staying for 23 years as mechanic and golf course equipment manager for a family-owned club. It’s where Braun established a name for himself throughout the industry, but it didn’t happen overnight.
“When I got into golf, I didn’t know a lot about it. I learned,” he says. “I’m the type of person who, if you want to fix something, you’ve got to learn how it functions.”
Dave Kazmierczak, CGCS, superintendent at Prestwick and 32-year GCSAA member, testifies to the Braun legend. At Prestwick, Kazmierczak and Braun occasionally tangled.
“We butted heads sometimes. Ninety-nine percent of the time, he turned out to be right,” Kazmierczak says. “He has total dedication to the craft, motivated in everything he does, leaves no stone unturned.”
As for Braun’s “keep it neat” style …
“He’s meticulous, but that doesn’t begin to describe him. He had equipment that may have been 15, 20 years old, but it looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line,” Kazmierczak says.
One more thing from Kazmierczak. Make that one real big thing. “In 20 years, we never had an oil leak on the golf course. Not one. Ever,” he says. “That’s dedication.”
Braun credits mentors for much of his success. One is Carl Osterhaus, a former certified service manager for The Toro Co. who for many years was an ambassador for equipment technicians and managers. He recalls Braun’s appetite to learn, attending Toro service school.
Osterhaus noted how Braun was an early networking proponent: In the 1990s, Braun joined other Minnesota equipment managers in creating a committee that held monthly meetings. At a national level, Braun has participated at the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show, including a Power Hour session, telling the audience, “It’s easier to maintain than restore.”
And many equipment managers in this business have likely seen Braun on social media, actively sharing posts or videos as a go-to resource.
When Osterhaus visited Braun in his Minnesota shop, the surroundings were impressive. “He believes in keeping things looking good,” Osterhaus says. “He promoted to wash, wax and take the opportunity to look at the equipment. Spot check it because you may see a fastener coming loose. You might see some chafing. He’s into making the equipment perform well and lasting a long time.”
Braun has also served as a mentor, and Matt Hertel, equipment manager at Prestwick and a four-year GCSAA member, explains how he changed his life. Hertel, a drummer, was pursuing a music career, but later was searching for something more. He saw an ad for a job at Prestwick, and Braun hired him as his assistant.
“I knew nothing about the turf industry,” Hertel says, but Braun was “quick to provide information, and he does things the correct way. When he left, those were big shoes to fill. I think I have done pretty well, keeping things up to his standards. He planted the seed in me.”
Braun, with his dog, Jagger, have a spectacular background of the Twin Cities from Town & Country Club.
Talk of the Town (& Country Club)
When he needed an equipment manager six years ago, Bill Larson, CGCS Retired and a 43-year GCSAA member, knew whom to call.
Then in charge at Town & Country Club in Saint Paul, Minn., Larson phoned Braun, who was still overseeing Prestwick. Shortly after their conversation, Braun joined Town & Country Club, the oldest private club and golf club in Minnesota, established in 1888.
Larson, who retired last year and was replaced by Jared Watters, a 13-year GCSAA member, was ecstatic when he landed Braun. “I knew he was the best, right? He does everything by the book,” Larson says.
Larson admires how Braun operates — for instance, how he expands the equipment arsenal without breaking the bank.
“He was looking for a Toro Workman seat,” Larson says, “and Chad found one on eBay for $75. He does that a lot, and, as a superintendent, you like him to be that way. He keeps his equipment second to none. It looks showroom ready, every day. He doesn’t cut corners. His standards are exceptional, and he helps other facilities, loves to share.”
Braun is also in tune with city and county agencies for yearly inspections. Plus, he notes potential hazards, in part to prevent potential accidents.
Oh, then there’s what Larson calls “a little trick” of Braun’s: “Every (tire) rim, he uses a black Sharpie and puts the PSI on every tire. It’s a time-saver.
“Nobody knows equipment better than him.”
Now 56, Braun plans to keep working until who knows when. For Braun, his wife, Cheri, son, Gary, and daughter, Rochelle Pastorius, the family getaway is a northern Minnesota cabin at a lake, where he can jump on his snowmobile or ATV. No surprise here: He has a skid steer nearby in his shop.
Howard Richman (hrichman@gcsaa.org) is GCM’s associate editor.