The 19th Hole: Deron Zendt

By |  September 27, 2013

Meet Deron Zendt, superintendent, Banyan Golf Club, West Palm Beach, Fla.

Deron Zendt

Deron Zendt

Deron, what can I get you from the bar? I’ll have a regular Shock Top or a Blue Moon, thanks.

Where are you from originally? Mifflintown, Pa. It’s a small town right between Harrisburg and State College. That’s how people know it — a small town you drive through on the way to Penn State.

You got your start in the industry at Riviera CC in Los Angeles, right? That had to be culture shock… To a 22-year-old farm boy from rural Pennsylvania? Yeah! I just remember thinking that L.A. was big… really, really big.

I know you love to play golf… what are your favorite highlights of playing? I had a hole-in-one during my time in L.A. It was at Tierra Rejada GC (in Moorpark, Calif.) I also love that my good friend Jim Rattigan (superintendent/general manager, Schuylkill CC, Orwigsburg, Pa.) and I won the Sullivan four-ball tournament at Lebanon CC (North Cornwall Township, Pa.)

What did you do to celebrate the hole-in-one? I did nothing, we had to work the next morning! It was late, the clubhouse wasn’t even open to grab a drink. That saved me some money.

NFL football kicks off tonight. Are you ready? I’ll have the game on, but I’ll probably only make it through the first quarter. What time does it kick off? …OK, I probably won’t even make it through the first quarter.

Who are your teams? Pittsburgh everything. Go Pirates! And the Penn State Nittany Lions.

What’s your favorite piece of equipment? Probably my (Toro Procore) 648 and (Toro Procore) 1298. They’re great machines, plus, once they roll out in late spring, it’s the sign of another golf season complete in Florida.

Any new tools or techniques that you’re impressed with? Man, I’m old-school. I still primarily use a soil probe. I should probably invest in a soil moisture meter to help with time and water
management.

If you had my job for a day, what would you do? I guess I’d do a series of articles on the things you don’t learn in turf school… for example, “how to manage a culturally diverse crew.”

That’s a good idea, I like it! Aw, man… the game was just delayed for lightning… Now there’s definitely no chance of me catching any of the game!

As interviewed by Seth Jones, September 5, 2013.

This article is tagged with and posted in People

About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 25-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


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