This month’s superintendent profile will focus on the hi-lo golf course superintendents association reigning golf champion. He will be defending his title in June at Shadow Ridge Golf Club in Palm Desert.
Will Carrick was born and spent the first ten years of his life in Houston Texas. From there his family re-located to Maine where he spent the rest of his youth playing golf at any chance he could get. Right after high school Will found his passion for maintenance and began working on his first 9 hole golf course. He worked on a second nine hole course before he went off to college at UMASS. While attending UMASS Will was able to complete an internship at Pine Valley Golf Club. After graduation from UMASS Will landed his first assistant job at Merion Golf Club.
The famous Mr. Dick Bator hired Will as an assistant, but by the time he started his position with the club Mr. Bator was moving on to another position. The replacement superintendent was Paul Latshaw Jr., and Will credits a lot of his knowledge and philosophy on golf course maintenance to his tenure spent at Merion. After his stint at Merion Will landed his first superintendent job at an upstate New York Club called Yahnundasis. Will spent three years at Yahnundasis before moving on to Morris County Golf Club in New Jersey. Both clubs were over a hundred years old with the latter being an original Seth Raynor design. Will went onto say the Raynor was an engineer originally and he designed his golf course with that direction in mind. There were bunkers, and even some green complexes on the course that were square.
In his tenure at Morris County Will was able to work on a re-design of the property with Ron Pritchard a well known east coast architect. With that project complete Yahnundasis Country Club came calling again for his services. Will spent a few more years at Yahnundasis before the West Coast specifically the desert came calling. Will has been in his current position at Andalusia Country Club now for four years, and has done a wonderful job with the Rees Jones designed club in La Quinta.
Will is currently an active member of the hi-lo golf association, and may have aspirations to run for the board of directors in the future. I guaranteed Will there may be more than one person holding him to that aspiration. His lowest score ever on a golf course was a 68 on a course back in Maine in his early twenties, and he credits Kiawah Island Ocean Course in South Carolina as the toughest course he has played partially because of the constant wind coming off the ocean. Will related a funny story about when he was playing with a close friend at Pebble Beach. The twosome was paired with a single who preferred to walk the course that day. Well the single player shot a robust 156 in his round and played every single stroke. That guy got his money’s worth from Pebble on that day I would say. Will also has an affinity for the automobile industry as well. His father worked at dealerships throughout Will’s youth, and he liked attending car auctions to purchase and re-sell automobiles.
Will lives in La Quinta with wife Audrey and their two children Natalie and Will Jr. Natalie who is 14 enjoys dance, and is attending a cheer program to become a cheerleader at La Quinta High School. Will Jr. loves sports and is currently playing both baseball and soccer. Audrey is a counselor at Xavier High School here in the valley.
Everybody will thoroughly enjoy Andalusia Country Club this May. It is a great challenging golf course for all skill levels. Trust me on this one I know from firsthand experience.
Remember to thank William for hosting this event you “WILL “not be disappointed.
Geoff Johansen
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