Michael Larsen, one of the IAA’s earliest graduates and biggest supporters, retired at the end of 2013. Larsen’s career in golf course management spanned 41 years, the last 31 spent at the sprawling 36-hole Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, MD where many IAA students interned and found employment as assistants after graduation.
Talk about a UMD legacy. Larsen and twin brother Bob graduated from the IAA in 1971 and 1969 respectively, while their older brother Randy was doing graduate work in animal science. The Larsen name might be familiar to younger IAA alumni who know Robert Larsen, Jr. a UMD Turf graduate in 1992.
After graduating from the IAA, Larsen started his career as an assistant at Baltimore Country Club followed by 10 years as superintendent at Hillendale Country Club in Phoenix, MD. He followed legendary superintendent Bob Shields at Woodmont who died suddenly in 1982. Yes, Bob was the patriarch of the same Shields family that works so closely with the IAA today. In his long tenure at Woodmont, Larsen managed several large renovation projects on both golf courses. Perhaps the most discussed and successful of those was the conversion of the south course fairways to zoysia grass in 1994. For the first time ever in Maryland, a golf course stripped the existing sod on 24 fairway acres and replaced it with zoysia sod. Zoysia is a more environmentally friendly turfgrass and has saved Woodmont countless gallons of irrigation water, fertilizer, and pesticide sprays in the past 20 years while providing excellent playing conditions. Reflecting on the project now, Larsen said “my members don’t understand turfgrass but they understand dollars saved.”
Known as a quiet leader and excellent agronomist among fellow superintendents, Larsen was a hands-on manager. He served as the President of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Golf Course Superintendents in 1984-85 and if he had the stomach for politics could have easily held national offices. Larsen said one of the rewards in his career was working alongside two Presidents of the PGA (Bill Clarke, Alan Wronowsky), two CMAA Presidents (George Burton, Bill Kendall) and being friends with two GCSAA presidents (George Cleaver, Bob Shields). Larsen is planning an active retirement and might return to the turf industry part-time after completing a long list of home repairs and projects.
