Pat Finlen, Director of Golf Maintenance Operations for The Olympic Club
By Jim and Joan Davies
A large contingent of Quivirans attended the PGA Open Tournament at the San Francisco Olympic Club in June. While there, a friendly face and former Quiviran, Pat Finlen, who is now the Olympic Club’s Course Superintendent, welcomed them. Pat believed this famous course was in as perfect and competitive condition as it had ever been during any of the five previous Open Tournaments held at the Olympic Club. While the 2012 tournament is now history, Pat’s challenges continued as he hurried to soften the course for regular members after the big event. Helping him and his staff with that task is another Quiviran, Miles Lilja, who is currently working as an intern at the Club.
Sharing some of his Lake Quivira history with us, Pat said his family moved to Lake Quivira in 1970. His proud sister, Kathy Simpson, lives on Apache Trail West now with her family. This is when his love of golf began. “I remember picking up balls on the driving range for Andy Devers when I was just 12 years old!” he recalled. “When I reached 15, I went to work with the maintenance staff after all of the college help returned to school. Then I started mowing greens and running a ditch witch for the new irrigation system that was installed in 1973.”
The Olympic Club in San Francisco hosted its 6th US Open In June.
After that, Pat did not work in the Pro Shop because golf course maintenance had captured his attention and passion. He worked one year at Alvamar Golf Club in Lawrence while he attended KU before transferring to Rockhurst College to finish up his degree. He returned to work on the LQ course in 1983, becoming our course superintendent in 1984. He left LQ again in 1986 for one year to build a course in Virginia Beach and then returned to care for our golf course and lake maintenance from 1987 until 1998, when he left for California. During those eleven years, both Brad Gray and Jeff White were fortunate to work with and learn golf maintenance from Pat. Jeff is LQ’s Course Superintendent and Brad is Mission Hills’ Course Superintendent. All three still communicate on a regular basis, and the visit to the US Open was like a reunion for the three course superintendent. Over 100 superintendents from sixteen different countries helped keep the course at championship condition during the tournament.
Before taking over the responsibility of caring for the prestigious Olympic Club Golf course in San Francisco in 2002, Pat managed two 18-hole courses along the Pacific coast in the town of Seaside, which is located next to Fort Ord. These courses, Bayonet and Black Horse, gave him the kind of experience needed to manage a course like the Olympic Club, which is also buffeted by the unique weather conditions along the Pacific Coast.
Pat’s heart is still with Lake Quivira. “My best memories of LQ are all about the people. From a career standpoint, many members and staff helped guide me and I learned greatly from them.” Pat recalls working with Roger Blessing, Leon Rieke and John Miller on the many sewer and street upgrades. “All of these gentlemen taught me the value of good planning, as it was very tough putting in sewers and new streets with so many houses and different grades to deal with” said Pat. “Certainly, John being the General Manager helped to influence me greatly with his patience.”
Left to right, Miles Lilja (Intern, Olympic Club), Jeff White (LQ Golf Superintendent), Andrew Crawford (Assistant Superintendent, Olympic Club), Brad Gray (Golf Superintendent, Mission Hills; past Superintendent, LQ)
He remembers also the time spent with Terry Williams. “Terry was the Greens’ Chairman, and we did numerous greens projects and irrigation upgrades to the course while I was there. Terry taught me a lot about business and to be patient and wait for the right time to make changes.” Terry also has good memories of their working relationship: “Pat was a great student and wanted to learn all he could about business and management.” Terry said at this year’s Open, Pat met with them for a few minutes every day.
Pat also has a soft spot in his heart and a lot of gratitude for the women of the Lake Quivira Garden Club. He said, “I can’t forget the LQ Garden Club. I spent many hours with the Garden Club volunteers with all of the planting that went in around the Lake and Golf Course.
“That taught me the most about giving your time to something you love, which the Garden Club members did.”
All of these experiences led him to become involved with local and national superintendent associations, which he has done since 1990. His work with these groups has resulted in his being chosen as the President of the Golf Course Superintendents’ Association, a position he will assume next February in San Diego. Since the group is headquartered in Lawrence, he is hoping to come home frequently to visit old friends and family here at Lake Quivira.
