Inside the Ropes
With Freddie Dickman, Director of Agronomy and Resort & Wilderness Property Grounds
FREDDIE DICKMAN, DIRECTOR OF AGRONOMY AND RESORT & WILDERNESS PROPERTY GROUNDS
The Broadmoor will once again play host to the prestigious USGA U.S. Senior Open, June 25-29, 2025. The streamlined execution of this acclaimed golf event is the culmination of years of detailed preparation, a formidable team of dedicated resort staff, and the indispensable expertise of some of the very best in the business. Our very own Freddie Dickman leads the way out on the course, ensuring we are completely ready, “inside the ropes.”
Welcome, Freddie! What is your position here at The Broadmoor, and can you tell us a little bit about what you do?
My official title here is Director of Agronomy and Resort & Wilderness Property Grounds, so I oversee the golf courses and all of the grounds here at the resort, as well as the Wilderness Properties. I’m also helping out at The Oasis at Death Valley (one of our sister properties) and I’ve even helped out at Coachella, which is one of Mr. Anschutz’s projects as well. I also assist at the Hemingway Ranch and Eagles Nest Ranch. It’s really neat to be involved in all of these different projects. I just collaborated with the team up at Cloud Camp, helping out with the mules...yep, I spent this spring at livestock auctions finding mules! I do some weird stuff...that’s why Mr. Bartolin always tells me that I don’t really have a job description...haha.
Did you require any special training or education for the role you’re in?
I attended Indiana University, where I actually earned a degree in Marketing. After college, I had a job in Chicago for a couple years, but really didn’t like where things were going, and decided that I wanted to get back into the golf business. (My dad was actually a golf pro, but I decided to get into the agricultural side of the profession. My family farmed in central Illinois—my grandparents—and I always liked that side of agriculture. It was a good way to combine golf and agronomy.) So I quit my job in Chicago and enrolled at Arizona State in their Agribusiness program, and while in Arizona, I built golf courses for twelve years. I was based out of the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale...and then The Broadmoor called me. I came up here, interviewed and took the position...and I’ve now been here for 28 years.
How many are on your team? Do you have a ‘typical’ day you can share with us?
We have quite a few...I’d say roughly 60 over here in golf maintenance and about 40 in Grounds. Rachel (Clark) has about 11 [read her feature]. And no, I don’t really have a typical day here, but that’s what makes it such an interesting and truly great job for me.
The golf course is where people not only get to play golf, but also enjoy the surroundings and beauty of the outdoors. Do you ever get approached with compliments/feedback?
We get a lot of positive feedback, and the most important thing is that the team knows about it. We have very high expectations and goals, so it truly makes all of the hard work worth it. When guests walk around and compliment the grounds... and even players who are out on the course letting you know that it’s never been in better condition...it just really makes you feel good. I love it when I bump into guests who are a little more savvy about horticulture; those are always really good conversations.
What are some of the challenges of having to combine beauty and functionality on the golf courses and surrounding areas?
There’s definitely a balance, because out on the golf course, you always want it to look good...but the most important thing is playability. So for golfers, that means a firm surface. We are pretty much on the edge, trying to keep things as dry as possible, while still keeping the landscape green. Unlike the main hotel, we can’t just keep watering to make sure that things are super-lush; it would just be way too wet for golf. Leading up to the Championship, we need to make sure the courses are even firmer. The course plays better when it’s firmer, so that will be a big challenge. Even though we have an irrigation system, we do a lot of hand watering. There will be guys out there with soil moisture meters each day, taking readings. We have a baseline where we want to be as far as moisture goes, so we can take a hose and hand water to make sure that everything is as consistent as possible and where it needs to be. It’s all about evapotranspiration. Just remember, when you get thirsty during the afternoon, so do the plants - they also want a drink of water.
Are there any special preparations or mandates regarding the golf course/grounds that the USGA requires you to complete for the tournament?
We’ve been prepping for the past three years for the U.S. Senior Open. Ben Kimball from the USGA has been working with us to achieve where we need to be “inside the ropes” for the players (whereas Russ Miller [read his feature] takes care of all of the operational stuff “outside the ropes.”) This will be our third Championship working with Ben and we have a great relationship with the USGA.
We are all on an app with the USGA that shares information (in real time) from the golf course; in fact, our Superintendent Michael Sartori was out there this morning. We have a very high-tech golf ball developed by the USGA that can measure green speed, the firmness of the ground, roll, smoothness, and trueness, etc. The USGA is going to come in for the tournament with the same technology, with their own agronomy tech, and will be out there doing the same thing that we’re doing. This allows us to be more prepared and in alignment with them, if you will. We have a daily meeting with all of the Superintendents and the USGA to go over the information to prepare the course for the next day. This technology ultimately also lets us create a better playing experience for our members and guests, not just for the Championship.
We are going to have some very long days, but they are going to be fun. Our crew is really amped up right now for the Championship...it’s like our Superbowl. We’re going to pull staff from other areas of the golf courses and grounds crew to work with the East crew, taking our usual 15 or so total up to around 100 (including the volunteers we have coming in for the event). And the operation goes morning and night. We’ll have team members arriving here to the course at 3:30am during the Championship. They’ll come in and have a light breakfast, then we all go out and prep the course. After course setup we will all gather again around 5:30am for our big breakfast. The staff can then take off, but have to be back here again around 5:00pm for our dinner meeting, and then we go out and work on the course until 10:00pm-11:00pm. Then we get up the next morning and do it all over again!
What are some potential difficulties your team will face during this tournament, and what have you learned from hosting prior ones here?
Well, honestly, we’ve gained so much experience from everything we’ve done in the past, and every little bit adds up to our goal of perfection each time we do this. That’s hard to achieve, of course, but we really just try to dial everything in as we get closer to the actual event. It’s just really important to stay calm and lead the crew; everything is well thought out and I have a great team behind me that helps give out daily assignments, etc. Michael Sartori and Scott Metz do a phenomenal job planning and executing our agronomic plan. The weather is obviously out of our control, so if it ends up being a rainy week for the U.S. Senior Open, well, there’s nothing we can do about it.
Other things, like getting the grandstands set up, have already been in progress for weeks. The grandstands and tents are really hard on the golf course, so there ends up being just as much work after the Open as there is beforehand. For example, the length of the grass out on the roughs (outside of the greens) is typically mowed at 2 inches for our members and guests, but we’ve let it grow to 3, and it will eventually get up to 4 for the Championship. We can’t have our golfers playing 4 inch roughs, so immediately after the Championship ends, we have to get everything on the course back to the way it was before the tournament. Everyone will want to play the East Course because that’s where the Championship was played. Immediately after the Championship, we’ll be out there reseeding and doing aerification...and if we end up getting good weather, then things recover fairly quickly.
Well, we’ve now seen them and met them, but this interview wouldn’t be complete without mentioning your canine companions.
You mean these two?...under my desk sleeping right now?...haha. They are worn out..haha. I try to get out and walk the course every day during this time of year, and they are right alongside me. They are 12 years old, so they were around for the last Championship, and they will be working this one as well. Before them, I had Bo (points to
Can you share with us what your favorite, and least favorite, parts of your duties are?
The job is really just fun because there are so many different parts of it, which is really one of the best things about it. I love the staff—they really make the job—they are such a great crew. There’s really nothing “bad.” Long hours are part of it, but I grew up in this business. Hospitality in general means long hours. And I don’t mind the early hours, either. I love coming in and turning the lights on and making the coffee. My dad was a golf pro, so I used to head off to the course with him when I was a kid at like 5:00am. With this job, you often see the sun rise and set most days. I think people who work in this industry are people who love being in the outdoors, too, for the most part. The Broadmoor is truly a beautiful place to work...every day I am out here taking pictures on my phone.
So what if someone were to inquire about pursuing a career in the field of Golf Course Horticulture and Maintenance...what advice would you give them?
Well, it’s important to get your degree, and then you really need to figure out the right fit as far as what kind of golf course you want to work at. The Broadmoor is great, obviously, but not everyone wants to be at a big, high-end establishment. I’ve found that talking with our interns, some of them want to be at a country club, while others are looking to be out on a small course in Iowa somewhere. It’s really important, as an intern, to really dig in and ask questions; get involved as much as you can. I see the ones that have their notebook out, are asking questions, taking photos, texting me about what they’re fertilizing, etc. Also, finding a good mentor...networking and building up connections are important, too. We have a board down the hall with photos of all of our prior interns, and we keep up with them after they leave us here at The Broadmoor. It’s really great to see where they land and what they are up to.
Managing a golf course is an integration of technology and science, and honestly, just looking at and understanding things in your environment... or feeling what’s under your feet. I feel like at this point in my career, I could almost walk around blind and be able to “feel” how the golf course is.
If you’d like to chat with Freddie and learn more about his role here at The Broadmoor, please reach out to him at to him at 719-471-6105 or [email protected]