Teeing Up for the 2025 Golf Season
Given the epic winter we just had, it’s a thrill to finally say golf season is here! All courses across Turning Stone Enterprises—the 18-hole Atunyote, Kaluhyat and Shenendoah, as well as the 9-hole Sandstone Hollow and Pleasant Knolls—are now open.
That’s all thanks to our Golf and Grounds teams, who once again have transformed these courses into golf destinations that win top awards and rave reviews from publications like Golf Digest and NBC’s GolfPass, and attract guests from around the world every season.
What does it take to get these courses player-ready? To find out, we spoke with Turning Stone Enterprises’ David Winget, Director for Golf Operations, and Matt Falvo, Director for Agronomy, about setting up for the 2025 golf season.
Did our courses open later this year due to the crazy amount of snow this winter?
David: Actually, they opened earlier than normal! Believe it not, the snow helps. It insulates the ground so it doesn’t freeze as hard. Water can run through the grass earlier in the season, meaning we can start getting ready sooner.
When do you start preparing for the golf season?
David: We start preparing as soon as the previous season ends. Jobs with our Golf team can be a year-round opportunity. The first thing that happens is we transition a lot of the team over to the Sportsplex for indoor golf, where they’ll work through the winter. At the Sportsplex, the season never ends, so much of the team is busy through the winter.
People may look at winter as downtime for us, but that’s when we do a lot of heavy lifting. Once the season starts, you can’t really change anything, so you’ve got to carefully plan everything out and be ready to put that plan into action day one.
Matt: As soon as a season ends, we start course maintenance, which includes a lot of “tree work.” That means we go out and assess tree and storm damage and then begin cleanup, whether it’s removing fallen branches or checking for hazardous trees that need removal before opening.
Once the snow starts falling, my team transitions to snow plowing and removal, so we were very busy this past winter! When the snow melts away, teams go out to rake up leaf litter, thatch, and pine needles. We also do a full irrigation system check to make sure everything is in proper, working order. There’s a lot of variety and a lot of opportunities to be outdoors and work with your hands alongside a great team of people who can teach you a lot about this kind of work.
Then the really fun part begins—getting the turf into shape. As Matt explains, that involves an evaluation of our elegant greens, tees, and fairways for not-so-elegant sounding issues like “winterkill,” “snow mold,” and “vole damage” (And yes, Caddyshack fans, our courses have a fair share of gophers, too). Grass areas undergo aeration, during which small holes are created in the soil to relieve compaction, improve airflow, and help water and nutrients more easily reach the grass roots.
Once grass is coming in for the season, that’s when the mowing and pruning begin. And while all of this is going on, the team is also cleaning and reshaping bunkers, installing equipment such as rakes, benches, tee markers, and more.
It’s a lot of work, and all of it contributes to making Turning Stone and its golf courses an unforgettable experience for golfers across Upstate New York and around the country. Thanks to our Golf and Grounds teams, we’re teed up for another amazing golf season at the resort – and that team is always growing. If you’re interested in flexible seasonal jobs with full-time opportunities, check out our careers site for more information about roles in Golf, Grounds and more.
