South Florida simmer

Rob Uzar has played Hammock Creek Golf Club in Palm City, Florida, probably 50 times — an impressive feat for a Sunshine State superintendent who recently wrapped up his first year at a new tract, and who carves out plenty of time for four kids at home, a Walt Disney World annual pass, and a weekly online gathering for folks who love turf.

Of course, most of those rounds happened back when he was a high school golfer, long before the start of his turf maintenance career.

“Growing up, we would play 16-17-18 cross-country as one hole,” Uzar says during a course tour in late April. “You could tee it up one more time. I would always wait until my second shot here, because you would have to clear all those trees to make it to 18. They were a little smaller back then, but you still had to hit it over them.”

Uzar takes a different approach now on Hammock Creek, a Jack Nicklaus and Jack Nicklaus II design that opened in 1996 and was renovated in 2013. He respected the course during his rounds as a South Fork High School Bulldog. But he knows the course now, and he knows what it needs. For starters, plenty of natural woods for area wildlife, like sandhill cranes, redtail hawks, blue herons, a bald eagle (maybe), osprey, owls, ibis, “billions” of rabbits, armadillos, lizards, moles, even coyotes — but, oddly enough, no gators. (Uzar has yet to spot one on the course.) Also, new range tees, a new tee box on 14, repaired cart paths, and a new loader, finally.

“I’ve been here just over a year,” says Uzar, who in his scant free time co-hosts Turf Talk on X Spaces with his friend and fellow Florida turf pro Ty Robb. “It feels like a long time. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot done since I got here.”

Uzar did land one more highlight for the course: The third annual #TurfheadsGrilling cookout.

Uzar submitted a recipe for smoked pulled pork, heavy on the spices — a half cup of brown sugar?! — for the third annual Turfheads Guide to Grilling, published in our December 2023 Turfheads Take Over issue. That simple list of ingredients and instructions earned him and the Hammock Creek maintenance team a morning and afternoon filled with burgers, brats, sides and more.

Bill Brown, the director of marketing and brand developer for longtime #TurfheadsGrilling sponsor AQUA-AID Solutions, joined us for the event, which featured national sales manager Russ Warner behind the Nexgrill and account manager (and scratch golfer) Jimmy Clark talking strategy with Uzar. Maintenance team members filled up for lunch and had plenty of leftovers to take home. Uzar was quick to highlight the work of every member of his 15-person team, including foreman Antonio Jacinto, who has worked at Hammock Creek since before it was built and knows every square inch of its 140 acres, and mechanic Dave Brown, who helps the course ever avoid a bad cut.

Want us to visit your course for the fourth annual #TurfheadsGrilling cookout next year? All you have to do is create and submit a recipe that winds up in our next recipe guide, which will be published in our December 2024 issue. The deadline is Friday, Nov. 1 — you have plenty of time! — and everybody in the industry is welcome to participate: superintendents, assistants, equipment technicians, crew members, researchers, sales folks, and beyond. Everybody who sends in a recipe and corresponding photo will receive #TurfheadsGrilling swag, and those selected for the guide will receive a gift box and a chance to have us come grill for you and your team in 2025.

Maybe next year we can even grill some gator — if anyone finally finds one.

Matt LaWell is Golf Course Industry’s managing editor. He picked up some delicious mushroom burgers while shopping for this year’s cookout.