19th Hole: Chris Cook

Photo: Lou Ferraro, Park South Photography

Chris Cook

Superintendent // Bailey Ranch Golf Club, Owasso, Okla.

After 18 holes, what can I get you? A Dead Armadillo Amber Ale. It’s a local brewery here in the state, and that’s one of their best beers in my opinion.

Tell me about your family. I’ve been married for almost 15 years to my wife, Jessica. We’ve got two boys, 4 and 11. Coen is the oldest, and Carter is the youngest. We try to keep them from trying to tear each other apart.

What do you and the boys do for fun? We go to Lake of the Ozarks a lot — boating, swimming, etc., as much as we can. We go about six or seven times a season. In town, my son just picked up the guitar, and I’m about eight months into my guitar journey, so we’re doing that together. That’s been a blast to connect that way. My littlest is only 4, but he’s already a heck of a soccer player.

Tell me about Bailey Ranch GC. It’s in a little town called Owasso, 10 minutes north of Tulsa. It’s a nice little quiet community. The course is kind of linksy. Think Trinity Forest in Dallas.

How has your 2020 season been? With all the craziness of this year, agronomically, we’ve been having a great year. The weather has been really generous. It’s been cool. We haven’t had those rains that we fear, where it gets hot immediately afterward. Bentgrass is happy, the golf course is lush and thick and we’re easily double the regular play we would see.

You spent some time at Wichita CC and in Leawood … are you a Kansas native? I’m from Kansas City. My first job was at Iron Horse GC in Leawood, and I fell in love with it. After two summers there, I realized I wasn’t going to go to Kansas University — sorry, Seth — I went to Kansas State for its ag school and never looked back.

I won’t hold it against you. Are you still basking in the afterglow of the Chiefs Super Bowl win? I’m 39, so this is the first Super Bowl win in my lifetime. It’s easily the best football game I’ve ever witnessed. And, we’ve done some good things organizationally to keep (Patrick) Mahomes for almost 12 years … we somehow managed to keep Chris Jones. I think we had $150 left in the salary cap. They squeezed every ounce of juice out of that orange they could!

What are your favorite tools to get the job done? For me, in the Transition Zone … the 648 ProCore, the moisture meter and fans. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without them.

It was announced today that the 2021 Golf Industry Show will be virtual … are you attending? I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t. There’s not much going on here in February. I’m going to do it because I always do it. It’ll be a different format, but I’m flexible.

As interviewed by Seth Jones, Aug. 12, 2020.