The 19th Hole: Chris Ortmeier

By |  August 19, 2014 0 Comments

Superintendent // Champions Golf Club, Houston, Texas

Ortmeier_ChrisR2Drinks are on me. What are you having

A cold beer. I’m not particular.

Congrats on the new job! Tell me about it.

It’s great. Six weeks ago I took the position of superintendent at Champions GC in Houston, after being assistant superintendent at Colonial CC (Fort Worth, Texas) for seven years. I feel very blessed and very privileged. It’s a 36-hole facility. Similar to Colonial, it’s an iconic, classic Texas course, steeped in history.

So does that mean you’re a Texans fan now

You know, I’d been looking for a reason to dump the Cowboys…

You get to green light any research study you want… what would you choose?

In general, it’d be awesome to have some good data on various cultural practices…the effects of topdressing sand — frequency, quantity and physical make-up, on the health and performance of ultradwarf putting greens.

You played college baseball, right? Where?

I spent two years at Navarro Junior College (Corsicana, Texas), then a couple years at Texas Tech.

What position?

Pitcher. Coming out of high school, I was drafted in the 31st round by the Chicago Cubs. I went to junior college because if you go to a division one school, you have to wait three years before you can go pro. So I went to Navarro, ended up having shoulder problems, played a little bit but nothing spectacular. I came back for my sophomore year, everything was going great, then I relapsed with the shoulder. I walked on at Texas Tech, declared turfgrass management as my major. I didn’t make the team my junior year, and that’s when I shifted my focus to turf. I found out that was my calling in life. They called me back my senior year, I decided to give it another shot. I made the team. Playing Big 12 baseball will always be some of the best memories of my life.

Do you regret not signing with the Cubs after high school?

I don’t have any regrets at all. Baseball was a big part of our family, my brother did make it to the big leagues. Even though I was drafted, the likelihood of my success, being drafted in the 31st round, was slim to none.

Fill in the blank: College athletics helped me prepare to be a super-intendent because it _____.

I could give you 15 different things, but if it had to be one? I experienced firsthand the correlation between hard work and success.

As interviewed by Seth Jones, July 30th, 2014.

Photo: Seth Jones

This is posted in People

About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 25-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


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