Page 16 - GM Winter 2021

uFEATUREuCHRIS DEW, AGS, 2021 CGSA/BAYER SUPERINTENDENT OF THE YEAR
Learn as People as you
Hole #4 at The National Golf Club, Woodbridge, Ontario.
We are pleased to announce that
Chris Dew, AGS, Superintendent at The National Golf Club, is the 2021 CGSA/Bayer Superintendent of the Year winner. Chris is well-known as one of the top superintendents in Canada and he sets the bar the highest for all of us to aspire to. Managing one of the top courses in Canada with superior playing condi- tions is no easy task. He delivers results year after year and to be able to give golfers what they want is the part that makes him most proud. He thrives in this environment!
Chris is known to his staff as the most humble, caring, and inspiring golf superintendent. He is a leader, mentor, and someone who makes coming to work enjoyable. Chris is someone who has taught his team to
always be available for anyone no matter who they are and is always willing to help people when they come to him. Great leaders help others reach their goals and that is exactly what Chris has done year after year. His ability to successfully train so many people in the industry and have so many members of his team become superintendents or leaders within the industry is a fine example of his mentorship!
One of Dew’s biggest passions was playing golf and it still is. He says, “My love for the game of golf started my journey as a greenkeeper and it didn’t take long to recognize how much fun it would be as a career choice. Not to mention the free golf.” He started his career at the age of fourteen as a greenkeeper working
with Ted Ellis at the Greenwood Golf and Country Club in Sarnia, Ontario, while attending high school. His passion for golf and the time at the golf course led him to the Guelph University Short Course for turfgrass managers. He also completed the short courses at Ohio State and Cornell Universities. He said, “Back in the day they always said our business was ten percent knowledge and ninety percent application. Well, I feel like I was one of the lucky ones as those percentages set me on a good path.”
Chris started at The National Golf Club in January 1997. For the past twenty-four plus years he has brought some of the highest standards to the golf course which has been ranked several times as the
16 • CGSA • GreenMaster