Dave Dudones, Superintendent of Westchester Country Club

SEPTEMBER 2021 • VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 5

Westchester Country Club

Talking Ocean Organics with Dave Dudones,

Superintendent of Westchester CC, Harrison NY

This 5th edition of the “Talking Ocean Organics” Newsletter takes us to the iconic Westchester CC in Harrison, NY. Our article will focus on Dave Dudones who’s been the superintendent at Westchester CC since 2014.

We’ll talk about Dave’s personal and professional journey, the special property he looks after, and how he’s incorporated Ocean Organics products into his agronomic programs.

About Dave:

Some people gravitate to the turfgrass industry through part time summer positions at the local golf course or finding their vocation while attending college. Dave did that too but, in actuality, he was literally born into the business.

Dave is the 5th generation of the Worthington family to be involved in the turfgrass industry. His great-great grandfather, C.C. Worthington, was an inventor and avid golfer who hired his good friend A.W. Tillinghast to design and build his first golf course, Shawnee CC, located in Shawnee on Delaware, PA.

Worthington, after being shown a homemade gang mower by Tillinghast, tinkered with and improved upon the design and formed the Worthington Mower Company. The company, which provided high quality mowers and tractors for commercial use, was eventually sold to Jacobsen in the mid-1940’s. Dave’s grandfather, Ed Worthington Jr., founded the Ed Worthington Corp. (a turfgrass supply business headquartered in Saranac Lake, NY) in the 1940’s, a company that Dave’s mom Janet Dudones took over in the late 1970’s. Dave stayed very busy helping out with the family business throughout his formative years.

“While at Cornell, I worked on a research project funded by the MetGCSA on how to eradicate moss on greens surfaces. Moss had become a huge issue due to the banning of control products that had always kept moss at bay. It was end-user funded research so the results were immediate

and impactful.”

Although he started out as biology major at SUNY Cortland in 1993, Dave ended up transferring to SUNY Cobleskill in 1996 where he received his bachelor’s degree in Plant Science/Turfgrass Management in 1997. Dave continued on with his education, receiving a master’s degree in Turfgrass Science at Cornell University in 2001.

I loved his brutal honesty...

At Cornell, Dave was a graduate research assistant working with Professor Frank Rossi. Dave commented, “Frank was a rising star as a researcher. He opened my eyes to a lot of things and I loved his brutal honesty. It is a great trait to have and I hope that I took some of that with me into the golf industry. While at Cornell, I worked on a research project funded by the MetGCSA on how to eradicate moss on greens surfaces. Moss had become a huge issue due to the banning of control products that had always kept moss at bay. It was end-user funded research so the results were immediate and impactful.”

“Every greens spray has Stress Rx^®, XP^™, and Guarantee^®Natural in the tank. All the grass, especially the bentgrass, has been much healthier under this program.”

Dave’s first professional stops included internships at Westchester CC and with the USGA. Assistant’s positions followed at Engineers CC in Long Island and Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ.

In 2002, Dave came back to Westchester CC to work for Joe Alonzi. “I called Joe and he told me to come back,” Dave laughed, “Joe said that working at Westchester for three years would be like six years anywhere else.”

In January of 2005, Dave was hired as the superintendent at North Jersey CC in Wayne Township, NJ. And there was much to be done. In his nine years at the club Dave was at the forefront of a major multi-million-dollar renovation project that included new tees, bunkers, the re-contouring of fairways, major stream and pond stabilization, a new driving range and short game facility, and a new maintenance facility.

In 2018, Dave began using Nautilus^® and has been happy with the results. “It’s given me the conditions and the moisture uniformity that I

had been looking for.”

In 2014, upon Joe Alonzi’s retirement, Dave was hired by Westchester to run the show.

Dave describes Westchester as his “dream job.” Westchester is a huge property with homes and a hotel. Dave and his people are responsible for 45 holes of golf, two 18’s and a 9-hole course, and a beach club. They are also responsible for all roads that run through the property which includes paving and repair plus plowing in the winter time. Dave reports, “We have a crew of 57 employees. There is a superintendent for both the West (Championship) Course and the South Course. We also employ an Assistant Director who’s responsible for managing the construction projects. We have two assistant superintendents, an equipment manager with two assistants, and of course the crew.”

Westchester CC, over the years, has hosted numerous PGA, LPGA, Senior PGA, and USGA tournaments. This past August the club hosted the US Woman’s Amateur.

“It was an amazing event. It was played on the West Course. There are practice rounds on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday, it’s stroke play. By Wednesday it’s match play for the 64 remaining players. And it goes till Sunday when they crown the champion. The weather was great. The fairways and greens were firm and fast. I had my crew plus around 20 volunteers and we had to prepare the course every morning and evening. It’s a long week but it went well,” Dave remarked.

Dave has had his wife Dana at his side since college. “I met Dana when I was at SUNY Cortland. I had played rugby at school and had a job resurfacing the ice at the hockey arena under a work/study program. So, I was out on the Zamboni between periods of a hockey game and Dana was in the crowd. She remarked to her girlfriend that she had seen me the night before in a local bar and was checking me out. Her girlfriend told Dana that she knew me. She was my next-door neighbor. So, Dana and I first met that night after the game.” Dave laughed, “Dana is a great girl. She understands the long hours required to be successful in this business. We try to blend both work and family and it’s worked for us. You have to combine the two.”

Dave and Dana have three beautiful girls, Kylie 16, Taylor 14, and Avery 13.

Besides his family, the only other thing in life Dave loves unconditionally is his swimming pool. You can find him floating around in it when he can find the time.

About Westchester CC

Westchester CC was the brainchild of John McEntee Bowman, president of the Biltmore Hotel chain. In 1919, Bowman purchased 583 acres of land from the Hobart J Park estate. He envisioned a community for millionaire sportsmen, a residential development built around a golf course and an eight-story hotel for fulltime residents and luxurious rooms for well-heeled travelers. Private homes on the grounds would be serviced by the hotel with meals, maid service, and landscaping. The Westchester Biltmore CC opened on May 15, 1922. Total cost for the project was $6,000,000 but the facilities were without equal. In addition to the golf and beach club on nearby Manursing Island (in Long Island Sound), there was a brokerage office in the clubhouse, three polo fields, a bridle path, a horse track, and 20 tennis courts.

Travis was a firm believer in “thinking” and “strategic” golf

with the golfer given opportunities to avoid difficulty with well

thought out and executed shots. Westchester CC’s West Course

is a prime example of his philosophy.

Bowman hired world-renowned golfer and architect Walter Travis to design the golf courses. Travis had wins in three US Amateur’s and one British Amateur on his resume along with the original design and renovations of close to 50 golf courses.

Some have referred to Travis as a penal designer which may be a bit harsh. Travis was a firm believer in “thinking” and “strategic” golf with the golfer given opportunities to avoid difficulty with well thought out and executed shots. Westchester CC’s West Course is a prime example of his philosophy.

The West Course at Westchester CC has hosted 2 USGA Women’s Amateurs, 43 PGA tour events that began as the “Thunderbird Classic” in 1963 and ended as “The Barclays” in 2007, a Senior PGA Championship, and a LPGA PGA Championship.

The South Course was originally designed for high handicappers and the ladies. Over the years and many renovations later it is an excellent tract for low handicap golfers as well.

Ocean Organics at Westchester CC

Dave incorporated Ocean products into his agronomic programs about 4 years ago.

“I have 45 greens on the property plus the practice greens,” Dave reported, “The West Course is predominantly bentgrass with the other greens being mostly annual bluegrass. Every greens spray has Stress Rx^®, XP^TM, and Guarantee^® Natural in the tank. All the grass, especially the bentgrass, has been much healthier under this program.”

Dave also never seemed to be able to find the right wetting agent for his greens. In 2018, Dave began using Nautilus^® and has been happy with the results. “It’s given me the conditions and the moisture uniformity that I had been looking for.”

Thank you, Dave, for your time and your insights in putting this article together.