Dean Wochaski, Corporate Director of Golf Course Maintenance
Dean has been a golf course superintendent since 1981 when he earned a degree in Turf Management from the acclaimed agronomy program at Michigan State University. Dean has also been a Certified Golf Course Superintendent for more than 25 years. Dean’s career has grown from working at the local golf course level, to the regional level, to the national level. Mr. Wochaski and Matt Galvin have worked closely together on projects since 1992, analyzing golf courses for investment, jointly consulting for clients or diagnosing agronomic issues at golf courses in all types of climates. Dean has an impressive career, which includes:
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Managing superintendents and staff up to 1,000 co-workers.
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Developing annual budgets and managed P & L of M.
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Developed quality standards for the country’s largest golf course ownership firm.
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Ensuring high quality standards for golf courses while maintaining operational efficiencies.
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Negotiating vendor contracts resulting in savings over M.
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Hiring over 80 superintendents and assistant superintendents.
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Development of hiring criteria process created for superintendents and manager-in-training programs.
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Leading complete acquisition processes related to golf course maintenance for >40 properties including capital improvement needs, equipment needs, staffing, course condition, environmental assessment, and
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Managing over 10 golf course construction projects at various stages of construction. Providing guidance with construction costs, quality control, maturation and start-up of the golf course maintenance operation.
From 1984 through 2003 Dean worked for American Golf Corporation, rising to the level of Director of Maintenance for the world’s largest golf course management firm at the time. In 2003 Dean founded Golf Maintenance Solutions, which manages golf course maintenance departments as well as provides turf maintenance advisory services for golf courses throughout the United States. In this capacity, Dean and his associates have been retained by Morningstar Golf and Hospitality and serve as our in-house agronomic team, working with our own property-level staff.
David Seidl, Club Operations, Emeritus
David has more than three decades of successful club operations management experience, with a focus on high quality private country clubs. From 1985 through 2004 David served in the private club operations division at American Golf Corporation, rising to Senior VP and overseeing 60 private clubs throughout the United States. Notable clubs under David’s oversight included Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, site of numerous USGA, PGA and LPGA Championships, including Tiger Woods’ 1996 US Amateur Championship.
Later, David was also selected to lead American Golf’s international ventures into golf in the United Kingdom. Subsequently, in 2004 David joined Pacific Golf Management, a subsidiary of Lone Star Capital, to acquire and operate golf courses in Japan. From 2004 through 2010, as COO and later President of PGM, he expanded the portfolio of golf courses in Japan to 133 clubs, with 8,000 employees, 200,000+ members and 6 million rounds. In 2008 David returned to the United States following a successful initial public offering of PGM on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (since taken private) and continued serving as a Special Advisor and Director of PGM through 2010. David holds a BS in Economics from Ripon College in Wisconsin and currently resides in Florida.