Each year seems to bring some personnel changes at the Miami Valley courses and 2018 is no different.
I am aware of half-dozen new head professionals in the area as the season begins.
Last November the City of Dayton moved longtime Kittyhawk Golf Course pro Jana Dalton to Community Golf Course and installed Zachary Fink as head professional at Kittyhawk. Fink has managed Rollandia Golf Course for many years but will lose that post when Rollandia closes.
Rollandia probably will close some time soon, but for now it’s open and golfers are golfing, hitting balls on the driving range and having repairs done in the pro shop.
Matt Adamski, who had been working at Detroit (Mich.) Golf Club, has been hired as head professional at NCR Country Club where he reports to Eric Eby, the director of golf.
Country Club of the North’s new head professional is Alan Phillip, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, who came to the United States in 1988. He graduated from Louisiana State University. Phillip has been working in the golf business in Florida ever since. He last worked at Palm Harbor Country Club in Palm Coast, Fla.
Hampton Golf Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla. has taken over management of both Miamisburg’s PipeStone Golf Course and the Piqua Country Club. Scott Effinger, a 45-year-old native of Batesville, Ind., has replaced Bob Bachman of Kemper Golf as head pro at PipeStone. Effinger has worked at courses in Seymour, West Harrison and Cicero, Ind.
Paul Block, a Michigan native who spent a couple of years as an assistant at NCR Country Club, has been named head professional at Piqua Country Club, another facility now managed by Hampton Golf. Born in Kalamazoo, Mich., Block is a 41-year-old graduate of Michigan State University who has been in the golf business for 18 years. He worked previously in Arizona, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio.
While at NCR in 2011, Block played on the club’s team that won the Miami Valley Team Invitational championship.
Ken Green, who had served as head pro at Piqua’s Echo Hills golf course before running the golf program at Miami Shores in Troy for many years, retired from Miami Shores at the end of last year.
Troy has hired Kyler Booher as Green’s replacement at Miami Shores. Booher graduated from Newton High School and worked at Miami Shores in the summer during his college years. He has been a teaching pro in Colorado for the last five years, most recently at River Valley Ranch Golf Club in Carbondale, Colo. He also spent a year in China and was an instructor for the Jim McLean Golf School.
Moraine, Sugar Valley and Troy country clubs all have hired new assistants. Dave Miller is working for Doug Wade at Sugar Valley, Travis Mumma is on Mark Robart’s staff at Troy and Corey Weckerling was hired by Brent Sipe at Moraine to replace Derrick Dehart.
Jim Hesselbrock, the green superintendent at Miami Valley Golf Club since 1984, has retired. His last day on the job was Friday. Hesselbrock, who was first employed at Miami Valley in 1981, has been replaced by Matt Dever, who had been working at Cincinnati Country Club.
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