Growing up with Tamarack

Waubonsie grad, colleagues learn the ropes at golf course

August 7, 2008

You can tell how much someone cares for something by the lengths they will go to protect it.

Course general manager Eric Johnson, assistant general manager Alex Evans and superintendent Alan Kaler answer this call to action every year, Mission: Impossible style. Dressed in dark clothes, they set off at night on Independence Day in the most inconspicuous golf carts they can find.

Their charge: to discourage youths from taking part in misguided celebrations on the Naperville course.

"Most of it is harmless, but sometimes it can get a little bit ugly," said Kaler, 39. "We don't want to turn it into a competition, so we're lenient with the kids.

"We have a high-powered spotlight and one year there were kids climbing up into trees just breaking all the branches and throwing them on the ground. We just drove up to them, put the spotlight on them and they'd scatter like bugs."

The trio's covert rounds include some espionage-like intrigue -- that must help offset any barbecues or fireworks they might be missing.

Because Tamarack is woven into the surrounding neighborhoods, maintaining a symbiotic relationship with the residents comes with the territory.

"We need (the homeowners) and they need us, and they do their part to police the neighborhood," Johnson said.

All over the course

The Tamarack roots for Johnson, Kaler and Evans run as deep as any tree or patch of turf on the course.

Johnson lived in Naperville until sixth grade, when his family went to Florida. They moved into the Oakhurst neighborhood in Aurora a few years later, and Johnson attended Waubonsie Valley from his sophomore year on.

The former high school football player's zeal for the golf industry stretches back to 1994, when he started as a cart boy under head pro Dale Tallon.

Yes, that Dale Tallon, now calling the shots as the Blackhawks' general manager. Before he traded bent grass for sheets of ice, Tallon was teaching Johnson tenets of good business.

Evans, a 26-year-old Plainfield High School graduate, crafted his game at Tamarack at an early age.

He became even better acquainted with it starting in college, when he worked as a dishwasher and later in maintenance. About two years ago, he tried his hand in the financial sector. But Tamarack kept calling back to him.

Now he heads up golf operations. Even though Evans said he "didn't know anything," when he committed to golf as a career, he learned the ropes in a hurry.

"(Assistant general manager is) where you cut your teeth in this business," Johnson said. "If you make it through and put in the time and gain the experience that's necessary, ultimately you'll be super successful in this business because it's all about work ethic, and I'd say customer service and common sense. And he's displayed nothing but that."

Supplying the heartbeat

There is no one more familiar with Tamarack's land than Kaler. As a college student between 1988 and '90. Kaler, who was friends with the family who built the course, got hired to help with its construction. The Waubonsie graduate has been leaving it all out on the fairways practically ever since.

All three of them do, and they've all worn a number of hats in the last 20 years, at different stages of their lives.

So who better to shepherd Tamarack into a new phase?

Dallas-based Eagle Golf took over ownership of the course in November as part of a larger foray into the Chicago area. And this spring, Tamarack launched into $250,000 in renovations.

The changes will permeate the whole facility, from a brand-new bar and revamped clubhouse, to improved tee boxes and new ball washers.

"We're trying to get (the clubhouse) to the point where it's modernized enough so that people will want to have weddings or do business here," Johnson said. "Our bread's buttered with the golf course, though. It's what people pay to see."