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Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association Honors Steve Sheets of Linville Ridge

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The Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association honored Steve Sheets with its 2015 Distinguished Service Award. Sheets is the director of development and operations at Linville Ridge. Tommy Clark (Course Superintendent), Walther Vliegen (General Manager), Scott Lutgert (Linville Ridge Owner), Erik Lutgert, Kurt Lutgert and Jamie Dockweiler (members) and Kurt Thompson (Director of Golf) joined Steve and his wife, Abigail, for the ceremony, which took place this morning in Myrtle Beach, SC.

The Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association (Carolinas GCSA) honored Steve Sheets with its 2015 Distinguished Service Award. Sheets is the director of development and operations at Linville Ridge Golf Club in Linville, N.C.

The award is the highest honor the 1,800-member association bestows, and it was presented to Sheets during the 2015 Carolinas GCSA’s annual Conference and Trade Show, held on November 18, 2015, in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Sheets has been at Linville Ridge since 1984 and has played an integral role in the success of the property.  The course, at nearly 5,000 feet above sea level, is home to the highest golf course east of the Mississippi River. Sheets also oversees POA, landscape maintenance and all new projects undertaken by the development.

“Steve a special man, I can’t say enough about him,” says Scott Lutgert, owner of Linville Ridge. “Whether it’s getting up at 4:00am or hopping on a mover if we are short on personnel, he will do whatever takes to get the job done and because of that, year after year, our course is always in world-class shape.”  Steve leads in a “quiet, yet dignified way and always demands the best from his people. Linville Ridge has been blessed to have him on our staff and on top of that, he is my good friend and fun to be around.”

“There are many people responsible for building what we enjoy as members of the Carolinas GCSA today and Steve Sheets is certainly one deserving of our thanks,” says Carolinas GCSA president, Bill Kennedy, CGCS, from Chechessee Creek Club in Okatie, S.C. “His contribution is one of the pillars on which our association, indeed our profession is built. He has given a tremendous amount in board rooms, in countless conversations with colleagues and with a parade of young people who have gone on to successful careers.”

During his time at Linville Ridge, Sheets served two terms as the Carolinas GCSA president and was also president of the Western North Carolina Turfgrass Association. While he was superintendent at Belvedere Plantation in coastal Hampstead, N.C., he served as president of the Eastern North Carolina Turfgrass Association. He is believed to be the only person to have led all three organizations.

While it has been more than 20 years since Sheets served on the Carolinas GCSA board, his influence continues to play out in the standing superintendents enjoy within the golf industry today says the Carolinas GCSA. He was an instigator of efforts to increase awareness and understanding of the role of superintendents among golfers and the general public. He helped establish the Carolinas GCSA’s Superintendent Image Campaign, which raises money to disseminate “proper information, not hearsay” about the work superintendents do.

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Steve Sheets