Oliver Therrien hit his first hole-in-one while working as an assistant superintendent at Pleasantville (NY) Country Club. Photos courtesy of Oliver Therrien
“Oh my god!” I shouted when my yellow and orange Srixon Q-Star Tour golf ball bounced off the right-side bank of Pleasantville Country Club’s bowl-shaped par-3 fourth hole before rolling into the cup. I couldn’t believe it: all the practice, all the living room CBS Sports and Golf Channel with my dad, every blade of grass in my turf career, all leading up to my first hole in one.
When I was young, my father and grandfather tried desperately to teach me golf, but most of my time on the course consisted of struggling to carry the golf bag. I didn’t see another golf club until many years later. During my first maintenance job at Norwich Golf Course in Connecticut, I participated in a club tournament, and I prepared by re-learning the basics along with my father at my hometown driving range.
My initial involvement with the golf industry was influenced by my experience mowing 10-plus lawns per week over the course of three summers. Feeling I now had more turf experience, a wakeup call from my father caused me to step up. I got a job on a golf course, figuring that would suffice. After one constructive year in Norwich and three educational years with Portland Golf Course — including 2018’s international winter program for superintendents through the University of Massachusetts — I landed in the assistant superintendent position at Pleasantville Country Club in Pleasantville, New York.
PCC is a tight, dense, private 9-hole country club with John Deere-striped valleys through five manageable par-4 holes paired with four signature par-3 holes. Fourteen quirky bunkers surround the course’s aggressively topographical greens and dry mountainous fairways. Built in the early 1920s by A. W. Tillinghast while owned by the Manville family, the property adjusted in the 1980s to accommodate 72 townhomes. My boss and current superintendent, Ed Kaufmann, has reimagined each hole over the last 16 years. He hired me to learn and assist with all operations, including our recent reconstructive improvements on our fourth, seventh and eleventh tee boxes. We also expanded our first, third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth greens. Greens seven and eight have been much larger projects, using bunker drainage in seven’s new trap hazard, and eight’s false green sides, turning that green’s surrounding sandtrap into a grass bunker.
Therrien, a two-year GCSAA member, was encouraged to enter the golf industry in part by his father.
Ed’s agronomic routine includes 14-day interval sprays split amongst our fairways, greens and tees, proper fertilizing schedules and late autumn aeration on greens and tees. The aeration process uses 5/8 hollow tines on a John Deere 800 Aercore to pull cores before adding fall overseeding and topdressing. This ensures the greens have good air movement and moisture management during the occasionally snowy or icy winter months to anticipate a healthy spring-up.
Once a month from June until August we use 1/4 solid tines on the Aercore to poke holes in the greens and tees to guarantee minimal disruption for golfers while continuing to give the turf easy breathability and root health. Once we reach September, we plan for fairway aeration to prevent hydrophobic soils in our short soil profiles. An application of 1/4 hollow tines running through the greens and select tees pulls out a little turf-tipped dirt to remove a percentage of grassy earth remedying compaction or moisture, furthering airy atmospheres and improved fall well-being.
With these high standards, our membership tally continues to grow. I spend several nights a week enjoying gorgeous sunsets and entertaining the challenge of beating the course. In October 2022, the combination of cool harvest conditions, hard work and zero expectations guided my golf ball into a soft ricochet off the recently aerated grow-in, causing a second bounce followed by a short slow roll into the cup. Throwing my club and forgetting my pushcart I excitedly sprinted after my ball to fetch it for a keepsake while friends met me on the green. With phones in hand on video mode, we recorded our proof of the rare event.
The agronomic routine at PCC includes a late-autumn aeration process using 5/8 hollow tines on a John Deere 800 Aercore.
I put that ball in a special pocket of my dark blue golf bag, a hand-me-down from my grandfather. After all the excitement, I only had one thing on my mind walking up to PCC’s fifth tee box: “I have GOT to call my dad.” I didn’t even skip a beat when he answered, “Dad I just got a hole in one!” “No way,” he replied before congratulations and participating in my happy jitters.
Less than a year later, I got my second hole-in-one. Yet again I called my father. Now, reflecting on those progressions, I’ve grown to realize my knowledge, drive, passion and love for this industry comes from my family-oriented childhood. To appreciate where I am today is to appreciate where I’ve come from. When people ask why we do what we do, remember: our roots were laid out long before us.
Oliver Therrien is an assistant superintendent at Pleasantville (NY) Country Club.