19th Hole: Tim Nielsen

Photo: Lou Ferraro, South Park Photography

Tim Nielsen

Superintendent // Creekmoor GC, Raymore, Mo.

What are you drinking? A bourbon and club soda … with a big splash of Tang.

Tell me about your wife and kids. My wife (Kelley) and I just got married a year ago … she has a senior in high school (Maddy), bummer for her with what’s going on right now. And I have two girls, a 10-year-old (Lauren) and (Haley), about to be 7.

How’s the pandemic been for you at home? We’re having our kitchen redone at this very moment. We’re three weeks into it — that’s been the biggest challenge. I’ve got two smokers and a grill in the back, so that helps.

Tell me about Creekmoor GC. The course opened in 2007, for a development. They’ve been building houses since 2005. The golf course is great but very difficult. We have a hole, ‘The Beast,” that’s 663 yards with trouble all over the place. The course has a slope rating of 147; it’s the highest-rated course in Kansas City.

What’s been key to your career success? That’s an easy one: hiring great assistants.

You’re a fellow Kansas City Chiefs fan … do you think it’s OK I scheduled Chiefs fans in back-to-back months … and do you think I can sustain it for a whole year? The biggest problem you’re going to have is … you’re going to have to continue this year
after year, for probably the next 10 years!

Next time I’m on your side of KC, where should I go? Brobeck’s BBQ. They’ll ask you if you’ve been there before, and if you say no, they’ll bring you a sample of their ham salad. It’s a smoked ham salad that’s served on a homemade potato chip and it’s just incredible.

What’s your dinner specialty? Brisket and wings are my two favorites. I have a Pit Barrel Cooker. I bought it for $300 eight years ago. I decided to buy a Traeger two years ago; I hardly ever cook on it. The Pit Barrel is the best thing I cook on. It’s made by a veteran in Denver.

What’s your favorite tool in the shop? The TDR 300 Moisture Meter, easily. The 300 is super simple, really lightweight … they’ve changed my career. Before we were syringing greens until five or six at night, just trying to cool them down, thinking we were doing the right thing. Now? We might leave the course on a 100-degree day at 2:30 in the afternoon because we know where the greens are. We go home, and we sleep easy. I bet I cut 10 to 15 hours off my workweek in the summertime.

As interviewed by Seth Jones, April 17, 2020.