Golf course equipment managers are pretty good at preventing small challenges from turning into large problems. Tony Nunes has taken preventive maintenance to a different level at historic Chicago Golf Club.
When it was plainly evident that an equipment operator was having difficulty seeing and following mowing lines, Nunes did some investigating and discovered that the employee suffered from deteriorating vision. Nunes brought his findings to the attention of superintendent Scott Bordner, who arranged for the employee to visit an eye doctor for a new pair of glasses."He's a troubleshooter. And that's how far he takes it," Bordner said. "He's like that with everything. He learns all about something, and wants to make it better.
Most golf course equipment managers can't seem to ever muster even one nomination for the industry's oldest award that tries to lob just a little notoriety in their direction. So it's rare when a mechanic is nominated almost a half-dozen times.
Part building caretaker, part engineer, part inventor, part ophthalmologist, Nunes drew high praise for implementing a preventive-maintenance plan that keeps older equipment up to par at Chicago Golf Club, which in 1896 was one of the five clubs that founded the USGA.
"Tony has been responsible for instituting a preemptive maintenance program which has allowed CGC to extend equipment well beyond normal life cycles," said Scott Immekus, a member of the club's green committee. "This direct cost savings has allowed CGC to purchase job-specific equipment allowing the club to do more work in house. Tony has also been creative with repurposing equipment for new roles working with Toro and other manufactures to find solutions for our specific needs."For his dedication at helping Chicago Golf Club perpetuate more than a century of greatness, Nunes has been named one of three finalists for the TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by The Toro Co.
Buying new equipment is a rarity for Bordner, who estimates he spends about half, or less, than what he should in capital purchases to keep an operation like Chicago running smoothly.
When he first arrived at the club in Wheaton five years ago, he gave Nunes the task of assigning a life expectancy to every piece of mechanized equipment, including a fleet of Toro Flex 21 greensmowers that already were about 10 years old.
"When I asked him how much longer he thought they'd last, he told me he could get another 20 years out of them," Bordner said. "He said 'If you want new technology, then that's different. But I can keep the engines running forever.'
"There is so much equipment here that shouldn't be here, but it is because Tony keeps it running. We spend almost nothing on capital purchases. That's what makes Tony so valuable."
The last time the club replaced a golf car - it was so old it was a three-wheeler - it was only because the frame had rusted out.
"Mechanically, it was fine. Everything Tony was responsible for worked perfectly," Bordner said. "The frame was gone. We don't replace things on a schedule. We run them into the ground and replace them when they fall apart.
"He takes preventative maintenance to a whole new level. We have some of the oldest equipment at a high level club and it runs better than most newer pieces at other facilities. He can fabricate anything we need and has an engineer's ability to make it work.
"Equipment salesmen don't like him, but even our Toro salesman nominated him."
When I asked him how much longer he thought they'd last, he told me he could get another 20 years out of them."
Nunes, 46, worked on the crew of two other Chicago-area courses, and learned mechanics on the job. He was hired at Chicago a decade ago by then superintendent Jon Jennings, CGCS, now at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, another USGA-founding club in Southampton, New York.
Since then, he not only has extended the life of virtually every piece of equipment in the maintenance shop, he services the boiler, HVAC and fire sprinkler systems in the clubhouse.
"Tony told me once that he has never had a piece of metal beat him," Jennings said in his nomination. "This positive attitude drives him to deliver equipment that is maintained and repaired at a higher standard than I could ever imagine. Tony has the ability to foresee what is needed to make the golf maintenance operation run like a Swiss watch. He has the long lost skill of repairing machinery rather than just replacing components. In many instances, items he has repaired are in better condition than they were when they left the factory."
Said Bordner: "Jon would have taken him to Shinnecock if he had been willing to move to Long Island. Fortunately, he was not willing to do that."
The winner will receive the Golden Wrench Award and a weeklong training session at Toro's Service Training University at the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Criteria on which nominees are judged include: crisis management; effective budgeting; environmental awareness; helping to further and promote the careers of colleagues and employees; interpersonal communications; inventory management and cost control; overall condition and dependability of rolling stock; shop safety; and work ethic.
Previous winners are (2016) Kris Bryan, Pikewood National Golf Club, Morgantown, WV; (2015) Robert Smith, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, PA; (2014) Lee Medeiros, Timber Creek and Sierra Pines Golf Courses, Roseville, CA; (2013) Brian Sjögren, Corral de Tierra Country Club, Corral de Tierra, CA; (2012) Kevin Bauer, Prairie Bluff Golf Club, Crest Hill, IL; (2011) Jim Kilgallon, The Connecticut Golf Club, Easton, CT; (2010) Herb Berg, Oakmont (PA) Country Club; (2009) Doug Johnson, TPC at Las Colinas, Irving, TX; (2007) Jim Stuart, Stone Mountain (GA) Golf Club; (2006) Fred Peck, Fox Hollow and The Homestead, Lakewood, CO; (2005) Jesus Olivas, Heritage Highlands at Dove Mountain, Marana, AZ; (2004) Henry Heinz, Kalamazoo (MI) Country Club; (2003) Eric Kulaas, Marriott Vinoy Renaissance Resort, Sarasota, FL.
There was no award in 2008.