One big happy (mechanic) family

Come tournament time superintendents enlist the help of volunteers and receive extra equipment from distributors to prepare the course — but what about additional help for the mechanic?

Twenty-two John Deere greens mowers, five Jacobsen fairway units and more Cushman Utility Vehicles came to the Straits Course at Whistling Straits before the players arrived to compete at the 2015 PGA Championship. With all of that added equipment and the time constraints on the course, Cliff Henning, head equipment technician at Whislting Straits, knew he could count on help from his neighbors just 11 miles away at the fellow Kohler Co.-owned golf course Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis.

“The gentlemen who work over at Blackwolf Run are professionals just like the mechanics here,” Henning says. “Our goal is the same, which is to get the best quality piece of equipment out to the superintendents so that their crews can go out there and make the finest golf course possible.”

The benefit of having a helping hand so close to his course is not lost on the superintendent at the Straits Course, Chris Zugel.

“It’s a huge asset for us here to have multiple courses to pull qualified mechanics and it’s a little bit of a family affair as far as the guys coming over from Blackwolf Run,” Zugel says.

Kevin Jacky, equipment technician at Whistling Straits, tunes up a John Deere greens mower (while wearing a Blackwolf Run sweater.)

The “family affair” between these two teams of mechanics began during the 1998 U.S. Women’s Open. That year it was Blackwolf Run that was playing host to the tournament and Whistling Straits was providing the extra help.

Henning talks to Golfdom Associate Editor Grant B. Gannon.

Since then Blackwolf Run mechanics have helped with the 2004 and 2010 PGA Championships, and 2007 U.S. Senior Open at Whistling Straits, while the Whistling Straits mechanics made the trip to Blackwolf Run to help with the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open.

“We have a good working relationship with the guys, we all know each other and we have worked several tournaments together,” Henning says. “These are like our brothers over there and we give them a little brotherly love whenever they come over.”