For any golf course superintendent/course manager changing club, there’s an ideal set of circumstances to walk into. Then, there’s the opposite, and that’s what faced Stu Sheridan when he officially took the reins at County Sligo Golf Club on New Year’s Day.
Walking into a literal building site, he had just over three months to get the course ready to host the West of Ireland Championship, so there was going to be no easy settling in period.
He had to hit the ground running, and he had to be running fast.
From Naas, Sheridan’s career started when a post-secondary school FÁS course took him to nearby Naas Golf Club and, working under David Behan, found that he immediately took to the challenge. With Behan’s encouragement, he studied at ITB Blanchardstown, gaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Horticulture, majoring in Turf Grass Science and Golf Course Management.
From there, again with Behan’s support, he enrolled in the Ohio Programme, run by Ohio State University, which plucks graduates from around the world and places them in top-tier US clubs as part of their internship programme.
Sheridan found himself working between Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village in Ohio, and Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill in Orlando. Two venues that need no introduction, even to an Irish audience. After a year, now fully qualified, he’d developed a taste for North America and wasn’t quite ready to return home.
“Vancouver was a place my wife and I had always considered and it had a great reputation – and a somewhat similar climate to Ireland – so we reached out to an Irish assistant there, Eoghan Buckley, and he helped me secure a position at Seymour Golf & Country Club, a really nice private club in North Vancouver,” Sheridan explained.
“A year later, a management position became available at Capilano Golf & Country Club – it’s a fabulous course in West Vancouver, top five in the country, up on the side of a mountain with fantastic views of the city and North Shore mountains – and I ended up staying there for 11 years; five as Assistant Superintendent, and six as Course Superintendent.”
Under Sheridan’s watch, the club embarked on several key projects, the most dramatic being the construction of a new first tee complex complete with tunnel underneath to ease traffic flow.
“That was a $9 million project, including a new Pro shop, so it was really cool to be involved in – just a fantastic experience overall,” he recalled.
“We also built a new putting green, undertook a full bunker renovation, and completed many other projects. “But Ireland was always calling.”
Sheridan’s wife is also from Naas, and with an eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter, the time was right to return. However, the golf course at County Sligo was undergoing a major renovation programme under the guidance of highly acclaimed architect duo Mackenzie & Ebert, with changes to almost all of the 18 holes on the Colt Championship Links.
“It was super exciting for our family to return to Ireland, but also an exciting time in the club’s history, working with Mackenzie & Ebert on phase one and looking forward to phases two, three and possibly four.
“But it was a little hectic at the start with everything that was going on. For example, the team had sodded some areas back in November before I’d even started, and we were still laying sod in other areas in the first week of March with the West coming up in April.”
The West of Ireland Championship is an event cherished amongst the County Sligo membership and within the wider community like few others nationwide, so Sheridan and his greenkeeping team were under the microscope. When the golf course underwent its last major renovation programme in the late 1990s, the Championship moved along the coast to Enniscrone for three consecutive years.
There was no such plan in place for the 2025 Championship. “I had to create an elaborate spreadsheet to determine the height we should be cutting specific areas at, how much we should be fertilising, where we were putting down sand and how much. It was challenging, but it all came together.
“All the way through, there were great lines of communication with senior management and Managing Council, and they understood that we were doing everything we could, but we were still relying on the weather.
“We fortunately had a warm, dry start to April which then brought a different set of challenges, as we quickly had to focus on keeping new sod alive. However, it did provide some growth which was the most important thing, and we had very minimal Ground Under Repair for the Championship. “
And we received great feedback from the players on both the course changes and the conditioning, especially in the couple of dry days leading up to the Championship.
“It was a huge credit to Martin Ebert, DAR Golf construction, our Links team, and our own member David Dunne who Chaired the construction planning committee.”
Managing the golf course through this transitionary period with a tight and very strict deadline wasn’t the only challenge, of course. For the previous 11 years, he’d been working on Parkland terrain and for the last six had a staff of 40 (41 including himself) to call on.
County Sligo manages to maintain 27 holes – the 18-hole Championship Course and nine-hole Bomore Course – with 11 full-time staff, rising to 14 during the summer months.
“It’s the inputs that are different really,” he says of the parkland-to-links switch. “It’s about trying not to fertilise too much, especially on the greens. I’m fortunate to have a great network with the likes of Brian McDonagh at Lahinch, Gary Johnstone and Ger Morgan at Portmarnock, Alan Hammond at Royal Dublin and Keith Murray at The Island.
“I’m able to pick their brains and we’re all willing to help each other out. The Irish turfgrass management industry has been incredibly, and unsurprisingly, welcoming to return to.
“What’s really amazing though, is how quickly the courses dry out. We want them to be brown, firm and fast, we just don’t want to let them go too far.
“It’s definitely more of a hands-on role at the moment. My goal is to reach a point where I can focus more on long-term and capital planning, and member outreach and communication, because that’s where I can most bring my experience and value. This will come in time as we work to solidify and add to our team in the coming months.”
Phase two of the renovation masterplan will start in Autumn, and two new greens will be constructed, but the hardest part of the job is complete.
“Hopefully we’re welcoming an Irish Open or an R&A event here at some point in the near future too,” Sheridan adds, “that would be fantastic for the club and golf in the Northwest.”
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