Albany Golf Club has become one of the top 18-hole courses in Central Minnesota
The marriage of golf and public service are alive and thriving in the city of Albany. Tom Kasner, 59, has been the course superintendent at the Albany Golf Club since 1987. For the past 35 golf seasons, he has seen the course mature into one of the top 18-hole layouts in Central Minnesota. Moreover, he was a city council member in Albany for 13 years prior to becoming its mayor five years ago.
Kasner grew up in Foley, learned the art of growing grass by being an apprentice for 10 years to his brother, Mike, who was the consummate course superintendent at Wapicada Golf Club. In those days, the idea of a grass grower evolved in the 1970-80s to a true profession and appropriate job title ― today’s golf course superintendent.
During his tenure in Albany, Kasner has dealt with many challenges and the most daunting has been the flooding of the course in 2011 and most recently in May, when more than 6 inches of rain deluged the course and closed it down for more than a week.
However, this year the course rebounded nicely since greens and fairways on 12-13-14-16-17 were elevated in 2011. After playing the course last month with Joe Hasbrouck, Steve Schiffler, Jon Herges, Jeff Herges and Brad Andvik, one would have a hard time finding any residual damage after the torrential rain pounded the course two months ago.
In my one-on-one discussion with Kasner, my first question was what was the one biggest challenge he has experienced in his long tenure at Albany Golf Club? First, he mentioned the change in irrigation methods. When he first started at the club, he would go home after a day’s work and get up in the middle of the night to douse the thirsty greens and parched fairways. Now automation has replaced hand watering and he gets to sleep at night.
On second thought, Kasner cited the change in greens maintenance as today’s most radical development. “The biggest change is how we manage greens," he said." Golfers love fast greens. Now we apply growth regulators and liquid fertilizers every two weeks instead of just applying a granular fertilizer every 30 to 45 days. Also, mowing heights used to be 5/32” to 3/16”. Now greens are mowed at less than 1/8” daily and sometimes twice a day.”
Kasner continued, “Topdressing, verticutting, brushing and rolling of the greens are all examples of some of the tools being used on a regular basis to provide results demanded in today’s golf world. Also, these tasks are done by a passionate and dedicated Albany grounds staff. We superintendents seem to get all the credit for their diligent work, when in reality without them, there would be no credit due.”
Golf notes
Often times the people who work tirelessly on the maintenance of a golf course are nameless people. Here are Albany Golf Club’s named personnel who make golf enjoyable: Assistant Superintendent Ben Kasner, Equipment Manager Kuba Feia, part-time mowers Dennis Korte, Craig Baggenstoss, Kenny Petron, Tony Ebnet and Dan Boom, crounds crewmembers Carter Birr, Joe Hoff, Zach Birr, Dominick Winkels, Mason Bierbaum, Devon Schaefer and Noah Voz, and flowers and gardens are cared for by Gretchen Smoley.
Aaron Kleinschmidt has been the Albany Golf Club manager for the past four years and his able assistant, Mary Lauer, has been with club the past 26 years. Staff continuity is important for the club’s success.
Top Tracer’s facility has been a boon for the club the past two years. "We have a superb golf course, excellent restaurant and a Top Tracer facility," Kleinschmidt said. "The income from Top Tracer and the Greenside Grille has aided our bottom line. Due to the supplemental income from those two facilities, we were able to purchase a $52,000 mower which has enhanced the fairway playability for our 400 members."
The 119th MGA Men’s Amateur was contested at Olympic Hills in Eden Prairie July 18-20. Capturing the championship was former Annandale golfer Ben Greve with rounds of 66-71-72. Three area golfers competed but all failed to make it into the final round. Wapicada’s Daryl Schomer recorded the lowest score of the trio with rounds of 80-82, St. Cloud’s Joe Sauer fired rounds of 83-80, and Blackberry Ridge’s Scott Shosted shot 85-82.
Last Friday I attended the 3M Open in Blaine and followed the 12:33 p.m. duo of Fargo’s Tom Hoge, and 2018-19 PGA Rookie of the Year Sungjae Im. Hoge had won back-to-back MGA Men’s Amateurs (2009-10) and snared his first PGA Tournament in February when he captured the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with a final round 68 to triumph by two strokes over Jordan Spieth.
He had missed six cuts in a row coming into the 3M Open and was 17th in the Fed-Ex Cup race. Hoge finished the 3M with a four-round total of 271, tied for fourth, four strokes behind winner Tony Finau, and earned $315,625. Hoge has earned $4,271,347 this 2021-22 golf season and his career earnings are $11,375,619.
Hoge won the 2009 Pine-to-Palm championship played in Detroit Lakes. This week the Birchmont in Bemidji starts followed by the Resorters in Alexandria and concludes with the Pine-to-Palm in Detroit Lakes. Many area golfers will compete in this three week resort circuit.
— This is the opinion of Times golf columnist John Lieser. Contact him at Jgl1943@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Albany Golf Club is one of the top 18-hole courses in Central Minnesota
