Fast times at Bethpage Black
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Everybody has an opinion about the weather, but Tim Gravert may be a bit more qualified than others to give one.
Gravert, a Morrison native, is co-superintendent at Bethpage Black Golf Course, which hosted the U.S. Open golf tournament two weeks ago. Daily drenching rains in Farmington, N.Y., wreaked havoc with the tournament schedule (it finished on Monday, June 22, a day late) and the golf course itself, making life miserable for Gravert and others.
“Mother Nature, she’s a [witch],” Gravert said. “In the weeks and months leading up to the tournament, we had the course set up exactly how we wanted it, but the weather was the one thing we couldn’t control.”
Had the course conditions been ideal, Gravert noted he would have spent his week watering. Instead he spent it pushing water off greens and fairways and filling and refilling washed-out sand traps.
“We worked like dogs to make the course as playable as possible,” he said. “That’s what this industry is about – adapting to the conditions that get dealt to you.”
Gravert has proved to be an up-and-comer in the golf business. He got his start in 2000 working at Morrison Country Club under superintendent Kevin Blean. When Blean went to Erie two years later, Gravert followed.
“He was the person who said I was good at this and should pursue it as a career,” Gravert said of Blean, who died a few years ago.
“He had a big influence on me.”
Gravert attended Iowa Wesleyan and Sauk Valley Community College after high school, but was unsure what he wanted to do next. That answer came with some help from Blean, who suggested Kishwaukee College in Malta and its turf grass management program.
After his first year at Kish, Gravert did a six-month internship at Atlantic City (N.J.) Country Club, beginning in summer 2003. There he got a taste of working on a golf course on a larger scale: an 18-hole private facility for high rollers.
“You need to be a VIP at casinos to golf there,” Gravert said. “It had a big budget, the course was really nice – I learned a lot there.”
Gravert’s boss at Atlantic City was Jeff Kent, who would turn out to be a very important person in Gravert’s life. Kent attended Cobleskill (N.Y.) College with Craig Currier, golf course superintendent at Bethpage State Park’s five courses (the Black, Red, Blue, Yellow and Green).
When Gravert graduated from Kishwaukee in 2004, Kent hooked him up with Currier. The two talked over the phone and Currier offered him a job as an assistant superintendent. He began there that summer, and two years later was promoted to co-superintendent of the prestigious Black course, which has hosted two U.S. Opens (the first was in 2002).
While happy with his position, Gravert yearns for more.
“I want to be in Craig’s position, where I have the final say,” Gravert said. “Working at Bethpage is great, and it’s helping me achieve my goals.”
For now, it’s back to work at Bethpage Black. He noted the course inside the ropes is returning to normal quickly, but outside the ropes, an area that was trampled by more than 35,000 spectators for five days in a row, is a muddy mess.
“It’s a disaster,” he said. “There’s not much grass left. The guy that we buy sod from is loving us right now.”
Gravert file
High school: Morrison (1999)
College: Kishwaukee (2004)
Job: Co-superintendent of Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, N.Y., site of U.S. Open
