Golfdom • June 2022 • The 19th Hole

David, what are you drinking? A Cutwater Vodka Mule. I discovered them for the first time at the GCSAA tournament in San Diego; they’re so good.

Tell me about your course. I’m at The Club at Indian Springs in Broken Arrow, Okla. We’re a private facility with 36 holes. One of the courses has Champion Bermuda greens, the other has SR-1020 bentgrass greens, so the best of both worlds. I’ve been here 21 years, the superintendent for the last 10.

Do you have a family? I’ve been married since 2005. No kids, but we have two dogs, a German shepherd and a Pyrenees mix, so it’s like having kids.

What’s your favorite vacation? Going to Australia. My wife is Australian. We went to Sydney several years ago; I’m looking forward to going back. She still has family over there, her mom and sister. The culture there is so laid-back. Whenever you say ‘thank you,’ they never say ‘you’re welcome,’ they always reply with ‘no worries.’ It’s such a different place.

You’ve played every golf course in Oklahoma. How long did it take? I finished it last May. It took me 15 years. I’ve got a scorecard from every course except one. I’ve got a logo ball as well if they had one.

What is your favorite tool in the shop? The cup cutter. I love changing cups and getting out in the morning, seeing the course. It’s a simple tool, easy to use.

If you had my job for a day, what would you do? You have a pretty cool job where you get to go around and interview superintendents, and you go to a lot of the major championships. I would just enjoy meeting so many superintendents. I love to network in our industry.

What is your all-time golf highlight? I love playing golf; I love everything in the golf industry — I can’t get enough of it. My all-time highlight is getting to play St. Andrews, the Old Course, with (retired St. Andrews superintendent) Gordon Moir. He was a very generous host. We were to be the first ones off, but they had a frost delay. There, you don’t get pushed back, you just get canceled. Luckily, I was with him, so he made it so that we were the last tee time of the day. We got through 18 with just a little bit of daylight left. We then got to tour the R&A clubhouse because I was with Gordon. Just an awesome highlight to an awesome trip.