Superintendent John Zimmers Jr. Oversees Demanding Oakmont CC with a Level Head
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Superintendent John Zimmers Jr. oversees demanding Oakmont CC with a level head 40 Golfdom BY LARRY AYLWARD, EDITOR IN CHIEF hey are a fussy bunch, course maintenance staff provides an The thick-skinned Zimmers, who's the members of Oak- outstanding setting, the members still in his eighth season at the Pitts- mont Country Club. find things to fret about. burgh club, realizes that dealing They expect nothing John Zimmers Jr., Oakmonts with the clubs 400 members — but premium playing grounds superintendent, takes the considered the most demanding | ; • 'V! i > - conditions on their exalted 104-year- members criticism in stride. In fact, fraternity in golf — is an essential | T 111* * " sT* *•» ' v JS! * ® " old golf course, the site of this months he welcomes their myriad opinions part of his job. i g : " o U.S. Open. And even though the golf about the golf course he oversees.. Continued on page 42 £ Continued from A when I think of what the membership "The members just embrace fast Which brings us to the U.S. Open, strives to do here every day," Zimmers says. greens," Zimmers explains. "We're more whose preparations have also been a vital What exactly do the members strive on the extreme of speed versus any club part of Zimmers' job the past five years. to do at Oakmont? In short, they want out there." Now, if you're the superintendent of a U.S. Zimmers to make the course as grueling The greens are so fast that the United Open host course, you're probably under to play as possible. They want their course States Golf Association plans to slow them more pressure during championship week to be the ultimate test of golf. If someone down for the U.S. Open. (Is that a sur- than Jack Bauer during an episode of "24." shoots par, someone else says, "We can't prise?) So you can see why Zimmers might Such tension comes with the territory of have that here." feel less anxiety during U.S. Open week. staging one of golfs greatest spectacles. Not But make no mistake: The U.S. Open only are the world's greatest players playing More Coverage: won't provide a quick getaway to Mar- your course, the most hypercritical golf "ex- garitaville for Zimmers and his crew, who perts" are scrutinizing its every grass blade. Page 46: Oakmont Regains Its have been preparing fervendy for the week But Zimmers might be an exception Grueling Image of June 11 through June 17 for several to the U.S. Open pressure cooker. That's years. They plan to make the club's mem- not to say the 36-year-old isn't feeling the Page 50: Born for Bethpage bers, the USGA and themselves proud. searing heat to stage a magnificent cham- "When you prepare a golf course at pionship. It's just to say he's accustomed Of course, the demand for difficult this level every day, you want to show it to facing the same loud music from his conditions can have Zimmers and his crew off to the world," Zimmers says. club's members — every day. So you walking a tightrope when it comes to the One doesn't become the golf course won't see Zimmers pulling his closely turf s health. Take the greens, for instance, superintendent at a place like Oakmont cropped hair out if the world's greatest which the members want running at 13 without having a passion for work. So it's golfers complain that Oakmont's rough feet on the Stimpmeter. And they want no surprise that Zimmers comes from a is too tough. Zimmers and his crew to triple-cut the family of hard workers. He grew up in In fact, as absurd as it may sound, the Poa annua-bzmgrass greens almost daily Sinking Valley, Pa., a small town between U.S. Open may provide respite for Zim- and roll them several times a week to State College and Altoona in the state's mers from his normal workweek. achieve their breakneck speed. And, yes, central region. Zimmers says his grand- "This is a really bizarre thing to tell you, they expect Zimmers and his crew to keep father, also named John, was his biggest but I actually think there's a little less de- the greens alive despite subjecting them influence in regard to his work ethic. mand associated with the championship to such stress. "He was the hardest-working guy I've Their time is up. DuPont Starts working in hours—even minutes. Provaunt INSECTICIDE ever met," Zimmers says of his grandfather, who worked for 43 years at a paper mill. Zimmers' family - Zimmers grandfather died last year. His including wife framed black-and-white photograph sits Tracey and dog on Zimmers' desk. It serves as a reminder Diamond - mean to Zimmers that hard work can get you the world to him. everywhere in life. Zimmers' foray into the golf indus- try came after he answered a help-wanted ad in The Altoona Mirror when he was 18. Paul R. Latshaw, the then-superin- tendent of Wilmington Country Club in Delaware, placed the ad. Country Club in Bethesda, Md., where But it's not just good fortune that has Zimmers rarely read the newspaper he became Latshaw's first assistant. Zim- propelled Zimmers' career. Dedication then, but he did on this day and saw mers stayed there for two years before tak- to improving his craft has much to do the ad. Zimmers had recently graduated ing the superintendent's position at Sand with it. from high school and was working for a Ridge Golf Club, a new Tom Fazio "If you want to be better than any- local landscaper. He figured he had noth- design in Chardon, Ohio. body else, you have to be willing to put ing to lose by phoning Latshaw to find Zimmers says Latshaw taught him in the time," Zimmers says. out more about the job. most everything he knows about the busi- The amount of work he puts in is Zimmers liked what he heard and ness. Zimmers says he's also grateful to "mind-boggling," says his wife, Tracey, took the job on Latshaw's crew. He Bill Conway, owner of Sand Ridge, for who is the office manager at Oakmont's worked for Latshaw, hailed as one of the giving him his first job as a superinten- maintenance complex. Zimmers is at top superintendents ever, for four years dent when he was only 25 and work by 4:30 a.m. daily to begin his crew at Wilmington. Zimmers also decided to involving him in the construction and on their assignments. He also works week- £ attend Rutgers University to study turf- grow-in of one of the top clubs in north- ends. Near-100-hour weeks are the norm. £ grass management while he worked at east Ohio. Sometimes it might seem like John is Wilmington. He received a two-year turf- "I was really fortunate," Zimmers says. married to the golf course and not her, £ grass certificate in 1993. Later that year, "I was able to do things there that I did- says Tracey, his high-school sweetheart g he followed Latshaw to Congressional n't get to do at other places." Continued on page 44 i They can crawl, but they can't hide. DuPont Provaunt No buffer zones to worry about. INSECTICIDE superintendent with a similar resume wouldn't? But Oakmont's members wont prompt his departure. They have grown to appre- ciate the superintendent they have in Zim- mers, says Tom Wallace, Oakmont's gen- eral manager. "They recognize that he is one of the finest superintendents in the world," Wal- lace says. mers, standing near Oakmont's famed Wallace enjoys telling Zimmers-at- rch pew bunker, is praying for good work stories, which illustrate why Zim- ither during championship week. mers is so well regarded by the members. One summer day a few years ago, Wal- lace watched from his office window Continued from page 43 With nearly eight years in at one of as Zimmers cut a small hole with his and wife of 17 years. But she understands America's premier golf clubs at such a pocketknife in the turf on the ninth the commitment John had to make when young age, some people wonder if Zim- green. Zimmers then peeled back the he became superintendent of Oakmont. mers will ditch his pressure-packed job cut turf, lowered his face to the exposed The couple has no children. and move on after the U.S. Open. area and began to sniff it. "It's a way of life for him," she says. But Zimmers says he's not going any- "I thought he was losing his mind," But while his work consumes him, John where. Oakmont is the place for him, Wallace says. has realized the importance of family, Tracey right now. Besides, the prestige of another Wallace left his office and walked down says. He is there when family members Major tournament — the 2010 Women's to the green to find out exacdy what Zim- need him. He doesn't use work as an ex- U.S. Open — is on the horizon. mers was doing. When he asked him, Wal- cuse to miss important family functions. "It fits my niche of where I'm at in lace got a quick lesson in agronomics. "Do you live to work or work to live?" my life right now," he says. The weather that summer had been Tracey asks.