Carey Hofner

Never let it be said that Carey Hofner is afraid of a challenge. When Rick Woelfel caught up with her for the Wonderful Women of Golf podcast, Hofner was checking in from somewhere in Montana, where she is finishing a grow-in for a private client who is building a par-3 golf course on his estate.

The project was already well underway when Hofner was brought on board in May of last year. An Ohio native, she earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Ohio State, has a master’s degree from Penn State and is now working on a second.

“I just love being in the mountains,” she says. “Growing grass in the mountains can be challenging, but it’s very rewarding when you can actually get it done right.”

Hofner, who works for Casa Verde Golf, took on her current project after spending five years at The Club at Cordillera, a 54-hole facility in Edwards, Colorado, just west of Vail. Her tenure included two years as a superintendent. When the Montana project presented itself, she was open to a change.

“I was in Vail, Colorado, for 12 years before I moved here last year,” she says. “I wanted a new part of the country, they had this open, and I said, ‘Why not?’ My only request when I decided to move up here was, ‘I have to be in mountains.’”

The layout Hofner is helping to create features six greens and an assortment of tee boxes and some green approaches, but no fairways. Hofner calls it “the most scenic property I will ever work on.”

“The landscape you have up here is unreal,” she says. “Every tee shot you have on this property has a different backdrop and it is just amazing. I have three major mountain ranges around me and it’s pretty spectacular.”

One of the unique elements of the Montana project is that Hofner is essentially flying solo as a turf department of one, although there are occasions when Casa Verde brings in a crew. Apart from flying solo, the top tussle Hofner faces on a daily basis has to do with the elements.

“The biggest challenge here for me is actually the wind,” she says. “Just because of the location where we’re at. We’re kind of on the side of a mountain, the wind just gusts right through it.

“The water situation is quite unique as well. That’s always been a concern. ‘Are we going to run out of water?’ So, we make sure we have plenty.”

Hofner relies on Spiio sensors to help her deal with her water issues. “What I use them for is how much (the greens) are holding moisture,” she says. “I can see how fast they’re drying out.”

Earlier this season, Hofner found herself dealing with water issues of a different sort. “I didn’t have the water in past months I typically would have,” she says. “I was seeing a lot of soil. When it rained or snowed, I just saw mud and then I had mud everywhere. It’s starting to come around and I have an idea of what it should look like.”

Away from the inland mountains, Hofner has volunteered at the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions the past two years.

“This past year was very humbling,” she says. “At first, they didn’t know if the tournament was going to even go on (because of the Maui wildfires), but that staff is one of the most resilient staffs I’ve ever met. It was very humbling to see that positive outlook on what was going on.

“They came in for one common goal. And the goal was to provide the best playing surface you could ever expect for the best of the best.”