Superintendent Spotlight:
Matt Giermak holds himself to a lofty standard in his role as golf course superintendent at Bartlett Hills Golf Club.Having had previous career stops at the likes of Oakmont Country Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Chicago Golf Club and Bob O’ Link Golf Club, Giermak has helped produce nationally renowned playing conditions.
His goal? Bring those conditions to the public player.
“You learn a lot from [private clubs],” Giermak said. “Fast greens, everything’s firm and fast. I was always interested in trying to bring those conditions to the public sector.”
At his core, Giermak is a public golfer. Growing up in south suburban Oak Lawn, the 32-year-old would tail his older brother to Stony Creek Golf Course from the age of 3, eventually working as a sta member of superintendent Tim Scott for four summers in his teens.
At the behest of Scott, Giermak began his career journey that ultimately led him to Bartlett Hills in 2018. Despite the prestige that comes with working at top-end private facilities, Giermak was excited to return to his roots.
“Growing up at a public golf course and playing a public golf course, it hits home for me,” Giermak said. “I like that vibe and feeling here.”
Working with limited resources in comparison to his previous positions, the youthful Giermak relies on a secret weapon – data. He’s adopted a model pioneered by Micah Woods called the Turf GvX equation that guides his maintenance practices.
“I’ve been able to use a lot of data every single day,” Giermak said. “I can really dial in our fertilizer program, our chemical budgets.”
While using data to this extent is in many ways a “new school” turf agronomy practice, Giermak blends the numbers with the qualitative aspects of agronomy to achieve his desired outcome.
“It’s a science and an art,” Giermak explained. “You see the numbers are telling you one thing, but what’s the grass doing? You have to balance it a little bit, but the numbers have made it easier for me to provide consistent playing conditions.” —Casey Richards