Chris Sobeck can appreciate firsthand what it takes to make Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club look good.
Sobeck, 29, an Ortonville resident, is working at the club, located at G-9057 S. Saginaw Blvd., Grand Blanc, as part of an internship through Michigan State University, where he is majoring in turf grass management with the hope of eventually becoming a golf course superintendent.
His internship, which started March 27, is expected to last until around Aug. 27. During this time, Sobeck, who works about 45-50 hours per week at the course, takes part in such tasks as spraying fertilizer on the course and helping with the course’s irrigation systems.
Sobeck is one of many Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club maintenance crew members, including several from Brandon and Goodrich, whose job it is to make sure the course is in top shape when the Buick Open comes to Warwick Hills July 31-Aug. 6.
That means the crew is often at the course by 6 a.m. to get started on their day’s work, said Phil Owen, in his 16th year as Warwick Hills golf superintendent. Owen, a Goodrich resident, supervises a crew of about 25 workers that tend to the course.
Warwick Hills is not the first golf course Sobeck, who grew up in Rogers City, has been employed at. He previously worked at Rogers City, Pleasant Hills and Oakland Hills country clubs.
In his spare time, Sobeck said he has played Warwick Hills about six times this summer, with his best round being an 81.
Several other crew members work at the course as a summer job, including Chris Singer, 19, a Goodrich resident who is currently attending Northern Michigan University.
Singer is in his second year working at Warwick Hills, and is logging about 40-50 hours per week this summer. He keeps busy mowing greens, raking bunkers, weed whacking and mowing greens.
‘I don’t really golf, but it’s good pay and a lot of hours,? he said.
One of Singer’s Goodrich classmates, and Phil Owen’s daughter, Julie, has also helped out at the course for the past two or three years. Owen, who is in Oakland University’s premed program and a member of the Golden Grizzlies? softball team, helps plant flower beds and mow the greens at the course.
‘I work on a lot of little stuff,? she said.
While Singer and Julie Owen are still attending school, Brian Wartella is employed on the other side of the desk and works at Warwick Hills during the summer months.
A Goodrich resident, Wartella, 25, teaches eighth grade math and science in the Holly school district. He worked as a caddie at Warwick Hills in the late 1990’s, and currently helps with course setup, such as mowing the area around the tees and the greens.
‘I just like being here,? he said. ‘It’s a nice break from teaching.?
Wartella is firsthand proof Warwick Hills crew members are not immune from the occupational hazards of working at a golf course. While working at the Buick Open Pro-Am two years ago, he was accidently on the receiving end of a golf ball driven by professional golfer Phil Tataurangi, a New Zealand native.
‘We were trying to stay ahead of him, but no one yelled, ‘Fore,?? he said. ‘It was a sudden hit on the shoulder.?