Voykin receives Superintendent of the Year award

After 55 years in the golf industry, Paul Voykin, superintendent at Briarwood Country Club, Deerfield, Ill., received "the greatest honor of his life" when he was named Superintendent of the Year during the GCSAA's International Golf Course Conference & Show in February.

Superintendent at Briarwood Country Club for the past 43 years, Voykin was modest when presented with the award. "I'm just a greenskeeper who tried to please the men and women at my club," he says. "I have perseverance. I don't give up."

Among his career highlights, Voykin is credited with helping start a trend toward allowing native grasses to flourish on courses, thereby reducing the amount of maintenance and pesticides needed to maintain a golf course and adding to the course's natural beauty. He also played the lead role in the renovation of Briarwood's original 18-hole course in 2001-2002.

Voykin started his career at an 18-hole golf course at Jasper National Park in Jasper, Alberta, Canada, when he was 21 and his brother was 19. "We saw an ad in the paper and started off cutting greens with hand mowers. It just clicked," he remembers. "I knew that was what I wanted to do." Voykin dedicated the award to his brother, who passed away last year.

Copyright United Publications, Inc. Apr 2004
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