Staff Spotlight...Mike Campbell, Equipment Manager

Behind the scenes we have a terrific group of dedicated people who work hard to provide an enjoyable experience for golfers.  We try to stay out of sight in order to be more efficient with our work and avoid disrupting golf.  Because of this, it's easy to forget how many people it takes to care for the course and club grounds.  It's even easier to forget that there is a staff of ONE working hard to keep the others up and running.  Mike Campbell keeps all of us functioning by making sure that our equipment is finely tuned, properly adjusted, and ready for action.  He is even further behind the scenes than the rest of us, but he is the key to our operation.  

Mike's job is highly technical, very demanding, extremely tedious, and never ending.  It requires  strong business sense and agronomic expertise in addition to mechanical ability.  Preventive maintenance on such a large inventory is enough to overwhelm most people.  Mowers can cost in the $60,000 range and the fleet is easily over $1,000,000.  Getting the longest possible life out of each piece is critical to the financial well being of the club.  Mike is always on schedule with ongoing routine maintenance and somehow finds time to handle the never ending stream of "surprises" as well.  A flat tire, a broken belt, leaky hose, etc.. can, and usually do, happen at the most inconvenient time.  I've seen a lot of wrench throwers in my time, but Mike's calm demeanor is a given no matter what is happening.  His work speaks for itself and commands respect from the entire staff.  He doesn't get enough credit outside the walls of our office.  

Mike moved his family (wife Chassidy and daughter Madelyn) from Roanoke to take over our Equipment Manager position two years ago.  Mike grew up on a farm in Churchville, VA and studied Agriculture and Applied Economics with a minor in Turf Management at Virginia Tech.  Prior to joining our team he spent six years as the Assistant Superintendent at The River Course near Blacksburg and 2 years as the Assistant Superintendent at Hidden Valley CC in Salem,VA.   He is a pro and we are blessed to have him on our team.  

Hundreds of tires 

Mike fabricated canopies with windshields to keep us out of the cold

The 30 year old Ford runs like new

Broken axle on the sprayer is no big deal

Mike enjoys the using the equipment too

There are a few dozen engines in the fleet

There are over a hundred reels to keep adjusted

You can eat off the floor

Old equipment gets refurbished

Some cold fresh air and a little path repair

The front end on this tractor was designed to fail, but Mike overcomes

The old John Deere gets a new set of tires

A little clubhouse furniture repair

Replacing bearings

Rebuilding one of many reels

Even the club truck gets a turn

Hydraulics 

Welding