Curtis Tyrell, CGCS

On Tuesday January 26, 2010 we had the privilege to have Curtis Tyrell, CGCS speak to PSU Turf Club about his travels throughout the business, along with the preparation that Medinah Country Club is going through to get ready for the 2012 Ryder Cup.

Mr. Tyrell is the Director of Golf Course Operations at Medinah Country Club in Chicago, IL. He was a 1996 graduate of the two year program at Penn State University. Shortly after he graduated he took a job out west in California as a spray technician at PGA West. Three years later, he moved out to Scottsdale, AZ, where he received a job at Desert Mountain. He said that those were the most important years of his career because of the experiences with cool season grasses in desert weather conditions. It was like a grow-in every year. He also touched on the details of daily preparation that he went through. After his three years in Arizona he took his first superintendent’s job at a private club in Las Vegas, Nevada called Anthem Country Club. The experience he gained in Las Vegas at Anthem Country Club would also provide a great learning experience. Anthem Country Club was owned by a corporation called True Golf. Mr. Tyrrell said this is where he learned more about the business end of the industry like budget prep and budget back up. After about three years at Anthem CC he had an opportunity to move to Connecticut and work on a 36-hole grow-in with one of the most famous and well respected designers in the industry – Rees Jones. He worked as the grow-in superintendent for Lake of Isles in 2003 and 2004 and then became the Director of Golf Course Operations in 2005. In 2008, he was hired as Medinah Country Club’s Director of Golf Course Operations and just finished his first full year there in 2009.

Throughout his journey he has learned many life lessons; some of which he shared with us.

• Set goals – he stressed with this to BE SPECIFIC! Be aware and open to learn every day.
• Do not approach any day like you know everything, because once you do that, you’ve lost.
• Control the controllable – there are so many things in this industry that you cannot control like the weather; so in that case work with the things you can control, such as dirty tee towels or dirty tee markers.
• Use your resources and network.

I felt that Mr. Tyrrell was one of the best speakers that we have had at turf club this year. His speech was informative, enjoyable to listen to and inspiring. I hope that Mr. Tyrrell will come back in the future to speak with us again and I wish him the best of luck with his preparation for the 2012 Ryder Cup.