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New course pros Martin, Wasinger ready for ride
Published 7/28/2009 in Pro-Am
By KEVIN THOMPSON
The Southwest Kansas Pro-Am is 30 years old this year.
That's about as old as each of the host club's golf professionals.
Cole Wasinger of Buffalo Dunes is 31, and Ryan Martin of The Golf Club at Southwind is 26.
Wasinger assumed his position in May, and Martin in February.
With that in mind, it would be easy to assume they would be overwhelmed by their duties in this massive event. But these two seem to handle it like old hands.
"I've run big events before. This is going to be right up there with the biggest," Wasinger said.
And it helps that he's been involved in the event since he was a kid working at Buffalo Dunes and has even played in it a few times.
Now on the organizing side of things, Wasinger sees things a bit differently.
"It is a lot of work," Wasinger said. "Leading up to it — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday — is a lot of work. The actual event pretty much runs itself. We have a little bigger amateur field than last year with 55 five-man teams."
As of a week ago, they had 77 pros committed, which is enough to fill the amateur teams. And with a Nationwide Tour event in Omaha last weekend, and the Wichita Open next weekend, up to 30 other pros could make their way to Garden City during the off week, he said.
Wasinger said that he and Martin haven't had a lot to do with setting up this event. By the time both had taken their respective positions, the date had been selected, committees formed, and even the shirt and designs picked out.
"It's been relatively easy on our end," he grinned. "All we really have to do is pull out golf carts and make sure everything runs smoothly, just like a normal day. The committee does a tremendous job getting sponsors for all the different activities."
Martin agreed. "It's a good committee. There are a lot of people who have been working since the start of it. They've got a lot of the kinks worked out," he said.
Martin said his primary duties occur on tournament days managing the business side, just like any other day.
And just like a regular work day, both will be involved in another aspect of their jobs, junior golf.
Wasinger noted that a big change in one of the traditional Pro-Am events for the club pros is running the junior clinic on Wednesday. In the past, Greg Towne has been the instructor, but this year Wasinger and Martin will be the teachers.
"Ryan and I take great pride in our junior programs," he said. "This is a good way to get the two of us more involved as tournament hosts."
Martin said that their job in the junior clinic will be to teach about the shots.
"It's great for us because these are the junior golfers we work with in our programs," Martin said.
And, he said, it will give them both a chance to show off some of the knowledge and tips they've collected from their experiences.
Their "model" to hit the demonstration shots will be none other than Jay Osmon from Colorado, who shot a 56 in 2007 in Alamosa, the second-lowest 18-hole score ever recorded.
"I envision that in the coming years Ryan and I will take on a little bigger role than we did this year," Wasinger said.
This year, however, with the lateness of their hires, he's glad the committee had things pretty well in place so they can ease their ways into more prominent roles later.
Martin likes the challenge of trying to improve the overall event for next year, whatever those changes might be. He said both of them have worked with a number of different presenters in a number of different events around the country. They can adapt what they've learned to try in this event.
Wasinger said the committee is good about listening to suggestions about how to improve things. One change they implemented last year that is in play again is the amateur teams compete for daily prizes at each course. There's still the overall tournament prizes, but each day at each course is a separate competition among those teams playing at that course.
"It gives them more chances to win and gives them more to play for," he explained.
As the Buffalo Dunes pro, Wasinger is still in charge of the paid employees, just as he would be on any other day, just with more people in place.
"We have more staff everywhere," he said. "More food and beverage people because more people are going to be eating. The driving range and carts have more people, too."
Martin agreed, saying that his cart staff will be busy turning carts back around once the morning groups have finished so the afternoon groups are ready with no waiting. Whether gas or battery powered, all 70 carts are quite capable of 36 holes, he said.
Southwind will be hosting a number of events, such as the the women's Fry Eye/Garden City Telegram Shootout Wednesday morning and the long drive contest Friday evening.
The latter will feature Jason Zuback, the "Tiger Woods of the long drive world," Martin said. Zuback is a five-time World Long Drive champion with a 463-yard record drive to his name.
If that isn't explosive enough, Friday night will end with a fireworks display at Southwind as well, Martin said, a show that everyone is welcome to watch.
Both new pros are confident the event entire week will run smoothly, and both are looking forward to next year.
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