Features Profiles
Maintaining turf, tending a farm, riding dressage: all in a day’s work for Foxbridge Golf Club

If the turfgrass maintenance industry is supposed to be a man’s world—particularly in the golf sector—someone forgot to tell Leasha Schwab.

This year marks the start of her third season as superintendent at Uxbridge, Ont.’s Foxbridge Golf Club and, at the lean age of 24, she already has 10 years of experience in the industry, including a role in a grow-in project.

Up until only about five years ago, however, she wasn’t sure if a career in the golf industry was her calling, and, to be on the safe side, had studied business administration in college to help widen her options.

In 2008, Schwab wasn’t aware of any female golf superintendents anywhere and also figured it would be extremely difficult to land such a position at all. Although she greatly enjoyed her work on golf courses over the years, having begun at the age of 14 at Beaverton’s Cedarhurst Golf Club, she thought maybe she had reached the end of the trail in climbing the golf ladder. A business diploma from Ottawa’s Algonquin College would give her the tools she needed to explore other options where women might have a better chance for advancement.

Then fate intervened in the form of a job offer to be assistant superintendent at Foxbridge. Schwab respectfully turned down the offer, at first, wishing not only to complete her college studies, but she favoured the shorter daily commute from home in Beaverton and decided to continue working at Cedarhurst once classes ended in the spring.

Foxbridge was persistent, though, and made the same offer a year later. This time, she began to contemplate her future a little more carefully.

“I thought, OK, I’ll give it a try,” she said, “as long as I can bring my dog.”

Schwab had already established a reputation for being a good worker during her time at Cedarhurst, and later at nearby Wyndance Golf Club, that it caught the attention of Foxbridge’s superintendent whom she knew from social circles.

She accepted the challenge of the position and further educated herself through study at the University of Guelph’s turfgrass managers’ short course.

But when she returned to begin what she thought would be her third season as assistant superintendent two years ago, Schwab said her superior matter-of-factly announced he was moving on and said the superintendent’s job was hers.

“I had a crew of men, and almost every single one of them was older than me,” she said, admitting she felt a little intimidated by the situation.

The change of command wasn’t universally embraced by Foxbridge’s grounds maintenance staff, some of whom didn’t relish the idea of not only working for a woman, but also a much younger person. For the most part, however, she immediately established a circle of support.

“They had worked here longer than me and I was way younger than them. And I started immediately doing things differently.”

Unconditional support for Schwab, however, was provided by the club’s owners who were impressed enough with the job she did as assistant that they felt her promotion was earned.

In fact, co-owner Sandy Williamson bent over backwards for Schwab who, while still serving as assistant superintendent, suddenly had no place to live after her parents had moved to Haliburton. Williamson and his wife offered Schwab lodgings at their home until she had time to find a place of her own. The living arrangement was also extended to Schwab’s six-year-old Belgian shepherd, Summer, who goes to work with her everyday and is effective at keeping Canada geese at bay.

Schwab credits Jake Reiksteins, her former superintendent while at Wyndance, for much of the grooming that led her to being noticed in the first place by Foxbridge. There for only one season following a four-year stint at Cedarhurst, she was involved in a grow-in project and learned other important skills under the tutelage of Wyndance’s spray technician.

“I helped her with all the fertilizing and that type of stuff.”

Reiksteins responded favourably to anyone who showed an interest in his or her work. What also impressed him was Schwab’s willingness to get up every morning at 3:30 to make the 45-minute commute from Beaverton and then work a 12-hour day.

“That was crazy, but I loved it there. That just kind of started everything. I showed a lot of interest.”

Reiksteins, who has since moved to China to work on a new course construction project, was praised by Schwab as “a great mentor.”

Schwab is currently gearing up for a major project of her own at Foxbridge. At the end of the season, the clubhouse and turf maintenance building will be demolished and portions of the first and ninth fairways on the course’s north nine will be given up for new residential development. New buildings will be constructed in the south nine section of the course, and the course layout will be reconfigured to accommodate 18 holes on the existing property.

Both the existing maintenance building and clubhouse are old—the golf course opened in 1947—and each time there is a violent wind, there is fear each building’s roof could be lost.

How exactly the new-look Foxbridge Golf Club will look had yet to be determined as of mid-April as a number of possible scenarios were up for consideration. But Schwab said she figures whatever direction will be taken will involve some new greens construction.

Foxbridge is currently at about 6,000 yards with a par of 72, and attempts will be made to maintain that length and offer golfers a challenging experience in spite of the tighter land constraints.

Schwab said she is optimistic the new course layout will be more golfer-friendly even though there are some longtime members who are resistant to change. Most of Foxbridge’s approximately 220 members are excited about the pending changes, she said, but are a little apprehensive about how the construction and grow-in period might affect their 2014 season.

“We’re trying to keep everybody really excited and showing that this is a good thing. It’s a new thing.”

Having the new clubhouse and other amenities in one location will be good for the club, she added.

“I’m probably going to cry when I see a couple of the greens demolished that I worked so hard on all year.”

Efforts will be made to open the newly-configured course sometime next spring, but that will depend on which of the new layout proposals will be adopted and how much grow-in will be required. It could mean starting the season on time with nine holes available for play with a delayed start for the full 18.

Of the proposals under consideration, “some are like trying to morph different holes and some are like building new holes.”

Schwab said her grow-in experience from Wyndance will come in handy for the project, no matter what new layout plan Foxbridge decides to pursue.

Jason Miller of Miller Golf Design Group in Clarksburg, Ont. has been charged with Foxbridge’s reconfiguration.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens with the design of this course,” Schwab said. “I think it’s a great little course. They have wonderful rates here and it’s very public.

“In the end, it will be me who’s stuck with whatever they build, so I want to make sure I’m going to be happy with it.”

Schwab said she is hoping a newer, updated irrigation system might coincide with the course reconfiguration project. Currently, the system on the north nine is manually started up with a diesel pump and all sprinklers are snap valves. On the south nine, greens and tees come on from a small battery which times on at night and all fairways are manual.

“To do a grow-in without a proper irrigation system, you’re just not going to be able to do it.”

The concensus is that some new parts of the course will be seeded while others will be sodded.

Although her greatest test still awaits, Schwab said she believes she has already made some positive changes in the short time she has been superintendent. One has been in the way she works with her staff.
When she took over, she presided over a small staff of about eight people which meant they had to work every other weekend.

“I found people were just miserable and no one wanted to come in on weekends. It was always such a downer.”

Since then, Schwab has introduced some part-time positions, growing her staff to 13 at peak season, which allows enough flexibility for weekend work to be scheduled on an every third week cycle.

The change in scheduling has had a positive impact on staff morale, she said, adding there has never been a no-show for weekend work since its implementation. Previously, she said she used to “pray” staff would show for their scheduled weekend.

“You can really get burned out working 12 days straight.”

Bringing aboard part-time staff has allowed regular tasks to be completed while simultaneously permitting such periodic work as aeration.

Among her staff is a dedicated mechanic.

Schwab has made some other changes that have gone favourably, including making a switch from granular pesticides and fertilizers to foliar applications.

She prefers the use of walk-behind greens mowers when possible and recently secured a second machine. Because of Foxbridge’s smaller-than-average putting surfaces, nine holes can be cut in about three hours, and one unit can now be sent out for each set of nine holes.

Golfers have told her the greens have never looked better. Even though the onus is on golfers to repair their own ball marks on the greens, Schwab has instructed her staff to pause from their mowing duties to fix any of the marks they see themselves.

She has also been firm in implementing a smoking ban inside the shop. The directive was met with some opposition, but was eventually embraced.

“What I like about this course is that, if I have an idea, I can sit down with Sandy and explain it to him and he’s like, ‘Yeah, great idea. Try it out.’”

Schwab started using wetting agents last season, which was a practice never done in previous years at Foxbridge. The move was something which was fully supported by the club’s ownership.

She said she believes many of the positive marks she’s made on the golf course are the result of a woman’s attention to detail.

“Women see things a little bit differently than men, so it’s good to have a mix of both.”

Schwab will readily admit that she doesn’t have an answer to everything, and she will occasionally seek the advice of other superintendents in the Uxbridge area, most of whom have several years’ more experience.
“They’re really good. They’re quite helpful. I feel completely confident phoning them and they’ll come here right away to help me.”

Having never dealt with brown patch before, she sought the advice of the superintendent at Wooden Sticks Golf Club for the means to address the problem. She also borrowed the club’s sprayer on another occasion when hers was down.

Schwab is the representative for the seven Uxbridge-area golf courses on the Uxbridge Watershed Advisory Committee. The member courses signed an agreement with Uxbridge Township that they would be IPM-certified by 2012 (a mandate of the Ontario government) and that by 2015 they would be Audubon-certified. She was nominated for her position on the committee by Reiksteins, who had been her predecessor.

She said her dedication toward environmental causes is a perfect fit with her position on the committee. She conducts a program through the committee called “Yellowfish Road” in which she teaches students from local schools about what goes down storm sewers and how the wrong things can negatively affect lakes and rivers. The emblem of a fish is painted on storm sewers to emphasize that only rainwater should be entering the basins.

Four different programs of about 11/2 hours’ duration have been scheduled within the next couple of months for local students’ participation.

Her association with the committee helped member course Mill Run Golf Club with its tree-planting efforts following a major creek diversion program there last year.

Other courses which signed the treaty with the township include Wyndance, Wooden Sticks, the Goodwood Club, Coppinwood Golf Club and the Granite Club.

As part of her role on the committee, Schwab must make an annual presentation before council to keep elected officials abreast of how the local golf courses are progressing with their quest for Audubon certification as well as provide updates on IPM practices.

Her environmental efforts on the golf course include never spraying her fairways. At some higher end courses, fairways and greens are routinely sprayed, but Schwab said she “isn’t into that.”

“I spray when I absolutely have to when it’s going to be detrimental to my greens.”

About 40 bird houses have been built and set out in various locations throughout the golf course property.
In addition to her involvement on the watershed committee, which meets once a month, Schwab has plenty of other extra-curricular activities on her plate away from the golf course. Along with her fiance, a corporate banker, she recently purchased a hobby farm with heritage pigs and chickens which requires her to wake up that much earlier each morning to ensure the animals are fed and tended to. One of her staff at the golf course assists her one day at week at the farm with the necessary chores.

Additionally, she rides dressage every day after work at Horse Haven Farms in Beaverton. When she was younger, she competed nationally in the sport.

“I got out of it when I went into college, and now I’m trying to get back into it.”

The golf course, hobby farm and horseback riding make for long days, but she says she’s able to make everything work.

“My days are crazy, to say the least.”

Having the winters off gives her the time she needs to be serious about competing in dressage again at a high level. The first show she entered in her comeback was earlier in April.

When Schwab first took over as superintendent, she found herself working long days while becoming accustomed to the requirements of the job and managing her staff. With a couple of seasons now under her belt, she said she’s become more comfortable with her job and is able to better manage her time, which has freed up the necessary hours for her other pursuits.

Working with her own staff and others at the club has largely been productive and made her own job easier, she said. The current general manager at Foxbridge had previously worked on her staff for a couple of seasons, and the working relationship with someone who came up through the maintenance ranks will be advantageous, she speculated.

“I think he’ll be good. He worked for me for two years. He’s done aerating, he’s topdressed, he’s fertilized…he’s been there.”

Although the new GM’s focus is now on the bottom line, he at least has an understanding and an appreciation for the turfgrass maintenance end of the operation, Schwab said, adding he’s already shown a willingness to work with her.

In her first three years at Foxbridge, Schwab was the lone female employee on the grounds maintenance staff. That has since changed. Recalling her single season at Wyndance, where there were other women on staff, she said the females tended to be the more productive and less fussy workers.

Schwab hired a female employee last season who, at first, wasn’t the “outdoorsy” type. That employee has since been molded into the ideal worker.

“I can send her to do anything now and trust her.”

Another of her female staff is the sister of a former co-worker from Cedarhurst, and a third woman has recently been hired.

To date, Schwab has no official assistant superintendent. The position was not refilled after her promotion to superintendent, but she said she plans to hand over much of the fertilizing work this year to one of her female staff to allow for the time needed to oversee the rest of the operation.

“You have to have someone who’s really trustworthy to do that.”

Schwab is the only IPM and pesticide-licensed employee on staff.

Foxbridge played host for the first time in early May to the Durham Region junior qualifying tournament.
Schwab shares her experiences and other interests in a regular blog whose purpose is to make people think about their impact on the world. Go to http://www.thesummerhomestead.blogspot.ca/