Heath brings experience in oil fields to Melita’s golf course

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This article was published 22/05/2018 (2912 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MELITA — Kent Heath is learning to fill an old pair of shoes on the go.

The 57-year-old took over from 84-year-old Doug Walker as the Melita Golf Club’s new superintendent this spring after Walker spent many years in that position.

Even Heath admits it has been a bit of whirlwind adjusting to his new part-time day job.

“It’s allow the fly,” he said earlier this month. “I’m just trying to learn as much as I can as I go.”

Heath is originally from Waskada and spent more than 20 years working in the oil industry — 17 years with Tundra Oil and Gas and another few years with a different company back in the 1980s — and several years farming.

He has been living in Melita since 1997 and is half retired, but when Heath was asked to take over for Walker he decided to try something new.

“I thought this would be a good thing to try,” Heath said.

“I think I’m enjoying it and just getting all of the kinks out and doing what needs to get done,” he added.

The biggest challenge he faced in early May was learning the nuances of the sprinkler system as he waited for the ground to warm up.

Becoming adjusted to cutting the greens, several of which are perched either above or below the level of some of the fairways, was another early season difficulty he faced, but he has adjusted.

The help of assistant Terry Rozak, who has eight years of experience on the maintenance staff at Melita’s nine-hole layout, and volunteer Terry Stewart, who worked for two years as a superintendent at a course in Calgary, has been invaluable to Heath.

“I’m actually learning a lot from Terry as he’s been here for eight years,” Heath said.

Working on a golf course isn’t completely foreign to Heath, as he occasionally helped out years ago when he served as a board member for the club.

He was in that role for about a dozen years ago when the current sprinkler system was installed, and club president Wayne White is grateful to have Heath as the superintendent.

“He’s not a golf course person, but he has lots of experience in oil fields and farming, and as far as getting things done he’s doing really well,” White said.

Bringing the first green back to life is a major challenge as it’s battling severe winter kill, but cutting roots from nearby trees, reseeding the green and sanding it will hopefully result in a more lively product later in the season.

A couple of serious floods over the past five years has also taken its toll on other parts of the course, but Heath is determined to make Melita as beautiful and playable as he can.

White can tell how much Heath wants the golf course to shine.

“Kent is a lot more fussy about doing the little things to make the course look in better shape,” White said.

MATCH PLAY: A quartet of Westman products are playing in Golf Manitoba’s men’s match play championship qualifier on Saturday and Sunday in Winkler. Brandonite Mark Tokle, who plays out of Shilo, will be there along with Carberry’s Joel Baron, Glenboro’s Glen Ford and Dauphin product Connor Shaw, who’s now playing out of Winnipeg’s Elmhurst club. There are 45 players in the field.

Keith Fawcett of Onanole and Barry Mymko of Brandon are among the 17 players in the senior men’s qualifier, while Erickson’s Bobbi Uhl is one of eight people in the women’s qualifier.

DIVOTS: Hartney is having a two-person, best ball tournament on June 2. The shotgun start is set for 10 a.m., and to register contact the pro shop at 204-721-1277 … Carberry Sandhills’s Ladies Open is set for June 3 and will be followed by its Men’s Open on June 10. Both tournaments costs $40 per person and begin at 10 a.m. Contact the club at 204-834-2325 for more information … Boissevain’s 50-plus senior men’s tournament is taking place on June 4 with a pair of shotgun starts: 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. To register, call the clubhouse at 204-534-2365 … Glen Lea Golf Course will be home to the Pinkest Owl on June 9. For more details about the 18-hole tournament, which also served as a fundraiser last year for the Brandon Regional Health Centre Foundation, call the pro shop at 204-728-9090 … Souris Glenwood Golf Club is having its Father-Child Tournament on June 17. For more information call the clubhouse at 204-483-2956 … The Shilo Country Club is putting on junior group lessons on every Wednesday in June. Beginner classes (ages five to 10) run from 4:15 to 5 p.m., followed by advanced classes (8 to 14) from 5 to 5:45 p.m. It costs $50 plus GST for the four sessions. For more info, call the clubhouse at 204-765-3623.

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