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Interview with Steve Sheets, Linville Ridge Golf Course Superintendent

May 2007

1. What are your earliest recollections of Linville Ridge?
   I was living at the beach at the time. I came up to Linville to interview for the Golf Superintendent position on May 10, 1984, and when I got there I couldn’t believe that there had been a golf course built on a mountain.
2. What struck you about this place the first time you saw it?
   I was in disbelief that a golf course had been built on a mountain and I thought to myself, “Wow! What a great place to be a Golf Course Superintendent . . .on the top of a mountain!”
3. Please describe the challenges involved with maintaining the golf course.
   
   • When I got to Linville, the golf course was only two years old and it needed to mature, so that it was in the best playing condition for the members and it took some time.
   • Our challenge is that we have a short building season to ready the golf course. Throughout the cold winter months there is little to no maintenance, so we begin in March and open the course in May. This is a very short window of opportunity to get to course in the best playing condition for our members.
4. Please describe changes that have been completed, are in progress and will be undertaken in the near future.
   Would prefer to defer this question to Bobby, however we have changed the bunkers around the greens and in the fairway on the first seven (7) holes.
5. What is the course's single most impressive feature?
   I don’t think that you can choose just one. The character of the golf course, in general, is that it is built along a mountain ridge, the elevation on Hole 4 makes it the highest golf course built east of the Rockies, and the long-range views are incredible!

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