CARLYLE - Steve Polsom is the grounds superintendent of the Carlyle Golf Club.
While his talents and work ethic are well known and greatly appreciated by everyone, not much else is known about him.
Polsom, 69, grew up in the town of Zehner, and he graduated from Scott Collegiate in Regina. In 1979, he started selling for Brandt Industries, specializing in industrial golf equipment. In 1982, he attended the University of Guelph in Ontario and graduated with honours in golf course turf management.
The following year, he started working for the Flowing Springs Golf Course just outside of Regina, helping them rebuild their course. In the spring of 1986, he became the course construction superintendent of the White Bear Lake Golf Course. Together with Bernie Shepherd, he built the original front nine, seeding the new greens and fairways.
The next year, he was employed by Golf Kenosee. He reseeded and reshaped the Avonlea Golf Course, and then returned to Brandt Industries. In 1992 and 1993, together with Larry Palmer, Polsom built and shaped the back nine at White Bear. He then started working in the oilpatch.
In 1999, he and Larry Palmer were hired to seed the new grass greens at the Carlyle Golf Club. He returned to Brandt Industries and then in 2000 received a call from Tim Lequyer, then the Carlyle Golf Club president. They needed someone look after their new greens and Polsom was formally rehired.
Twenty-two years later, he is still employed at the Carlyle course and simply has no desire to retire.
“It is such a great working environment at the Carlyle Golf Club,” said Polsom. “The crew that I presently have – Rick Burnett, Roy Lequyer, Grant McDonald, Kiara and Alexis Scammell, Lainie Levesque and Jackie Rutledge – they are simply the best. I also wish to thank Larry Palmer for his knowledge, expertise, and mentoring over the years.
“Gord Jarvis has been a good friend who has planted many of the trees we now have on the course. I also can’t forget Al Smith, Gord Thomson and Kaysha Turner for their prior years of service.”
While only a nine-hole course, the Carlyle Golf Club is famously known for its friendly family layout and immaculate greens that are rated second to none.
“In all my years of supervising a golf course, I have never seen such a late spring with poor weather to start the year. However, the tide has turned and the course is now in excellent condition,” said Polsom.
Polsom is married to Tracy, who is a teacher at the White Bear Education Complex. They own a residence at Moose Mountain Provincial Park. He no longer works in the offseason and will be travelling in the winters, visiting friends and relatives in the United States.
His regular golfing foursome consists of Burnett, John Pott and his good friend Roy Lequyer, “even though he beats me all the time.”
He enjoys sailing, archery, bow hunting, target shooting and fishing. He also likes kayaking, camping and cross-country skiing. He owns a Harley Davidson “Fat Boy” motorcycle.
“I can’t forget to thank the loyal membership of the Carlyle Golf Club. In all my years working here, I have never had a cross word said to me about myself or the course. Carlyle is indeed a great town and a great place to work,” said Polsom.
