After more than three decades of working the grounds at Garland Lodge & Golf Resort, Mick Zajas knows every inch. The course superintendent has a favorite spot, too – not that he’s willing to share where it is. 

“If I told ya, they’d find me,” he jokes.

Sometimes a little solitude is needed in the middle of another long day battling the elements that constantly threaten turf quality across Garland’s five gorgeous golf courses. 

Actually, “long” day is an understatement. Did you know Mick routinely gets to Garland before 4 in the morning? And that’s after a 70-mile commute from his home!

Here are five more incredible things to know about Garland’s long-time course superintendent:

Mick has 50 sets of eyes

Even when arriving long before sunrise and staying into the early evening, not even Mick can manage to look at each of Garland’s 86 putting greens (including practice greens) in a single day. So, he relies on his staff of about 50 people to clue him in to any trouble.

“Your crew is your eyes,” he says. 

Each course has a team to mow grass, rake bunkers, cut cups, whip dew, roll greens, hand water certain areas and pick up garbage. Mick’s crew also handles landscaping and flowers around the Garland Lodge.

An ongoing challenge is getting enough help for the season. Because many people who work on a golf course are either retirees or students, there tends to be a lot of turnover. 

Yet, Mick is blessed to have several veterans on his crew who have been around for 20 years or more. “I really don’t have to tell them what to do or where to go.”

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Mick has two barns full of equipment

Garland has eight greens mowers, seven tee mowers and six fairway mowers – mostly John Deere with a few Toro units, too. Mick’s crew mows tees and fairways every other day and rough mowers run most every day of the week.

Meanwhile, irrigation, fertilization and treating for weeds is nonstop, with two spray rigs always out on the courses.

“We have two huge barns and they’re just packed full of equipment,” Mick says. “We have three or four mechanics working constantly all the time.

“When you run five golf courses you take everything and times it by five.”

For example, Garland has five pumphouses on the property instead of just one. Mick’s crew handles the entire irrigation system in house. 

“That’s from running the wires to putting the satellite boxes on to switching the heads out,” Mick said. “Some of this stuff is pretty old. I don’t think we go one day without something happening somewhere.”

The irrigation system is so big that at the end of the season it takes two-and-a-half weeks just to blow out the lines!

Mick deals with many kinds of grass at Garland

To the layperson, Garland’s golf courses are mostly bentgrass. To Mick and his crew, things are more nuanced. There’s Penncross bentgrass and Providence bentgrass, old Toronto bentgrass and newer 007 bentgrass. There’s some poa annua bluegrass around Garland, too.

Just as each course is different, all the greens are different. Some greens are in the shade. Some greens get wind. The sand greens are constantly hungry. The push-up greens made from native soil hold nutrients better. The poa likes lots of water.

It’s as if each green has its own personality and name.

“We call ‘em names, that’s for sure,” Mick jokes.

Mick has a soft spot for grass and turf

Mick got started in the turfgrass industry at age 28 and now is in his 60s. That’s a lot of years of playing in the dirt! 

He says he has “a compassion for grass,” and he enjoys the challenge of protecting his turf. 

“It’s like a war to me, and there’s some days I get beat up pretty good,” he says. “Mostly the things I’ve learned in the golf industry is what not to do. Just because something works 100 miles north of you or south of you doesn’t mean it’s going to work here in your backyard.”

There also are blissful moments of peace during the daily battle when Mick gets to pause and listen to the streams run. When he catches sight of a bald eagle. And when he’s out on the course at sunrise witnessing all the natural splendor. 

“Garland is beautiful,” he says. “People don’t understand what they’re missing at 5:30 in the morning when that sun’s just busting up. We have all these beautiful ponds and there’s that little bit of fog or mist. The purple martins are flying. It’s something to see that every morning on display.”

Mick started at Garland in 1994 at the bottom and worked his way up. He became a foreman after several years and has been superintendent for the past 15 years.

In the offseason, Mick likes to go deer hunting and during winter weekends at Garland he hosts a fish camp.

Mick knows that he’s to blame

Through several general managers and golf pros over the past 30-plus years, Mick has been a constant at Garland. He says he has been blessed to have a family willing to put up with the demanding work schedule of a golf course superintendent all this time. And he’s always happy to have satisfied golfers making their way around the courses.

“When I come in the golf shop in the morning and I ask the director of golf ‘How did everything go yesterday?’ and he says, ‘No complaints,’ that’s what it’s all about.”

Of course, Mick knows that every member and guest who ever misses a putt grumbles privately.

“When the ball doesn’t go in the hole, that’s my fault,” he jokes.

But seriously, Mick enjoys getting a pat on the back from golfers who enjoy and appreciate the first-class conditions of Garland’s courses. That’s what makes him excited to wake up and get back at it so early tomorrow morning.

“I always say ‘There’s no finish line.’ You just keep running. The finish line is the day you retire. Until then, the race is on.”