The Silver Bay Golf and Country Club – Part 5

Meet the Driven Dynamo
‘A superintendent, general manager, terrific golfer and champion curler. Meet Silver Bay Golf Course’s Norma O’Leary. Dubbed as the Driven Dynamo by the golf industry.’
– Golf Course Industry, March 2019.

In the spring of 1990 Norma O’Leary was hired as the golf course superintendent and club manager.

So what makes Norma a Driven Dynamo? A number of things. Her strong work ethic,
commitment to the course and golfers, an ‘I can do that’ attitude along with the ability to be successful in a profession in the golf industry rarely held by women. She is an advocate for more women pursuing positions in the golf industry. “I know how
rewarding the working is,” she says.

How did Norma gain success in the golf industry? By creating opportunities. Norma grew up on a farm across the road from the Dahlgreen Golf Course in Chaska, MN. She started working there when needed, doing things like picking up sticks and changing cups.  She became the assistant superintendent when she was in high school and was promoted to the head position while still in college.  It was then she first realized that the opportunity WAS there for her as a superintendent.
When thinking about what path to take after college Norma stated in an interview
“I loved working on the golf courses, but there were no women in the field,” she said, “so I didn’t think the opportunity was going to be there for me.”

So, O’Leary made her own opportunities. In the late 1980s, she took a job maintaining a course in Grand Marias, MN where she led the transformation of a par-31, 9-hole course into a par-36 play. “Just clearing the woods and lengthening some holes,” she humbly recalls. Then “I got a phone call offering me the superintendent’s job at Silver Bay Golf Course.”

If you have been out on the course, you most likely have seen Norma in action…..
preparing the course for protection against harsh winters, opening the course in the spring, excavating, and/or racing by on a cart to the endless demands a course requires.

Norma will be the first to say she doesn’t do it alone and gives credit to staff and volunteers. Golfdom magazine from August 2003 (Volunteers Stand Ready article) shared this: ‘When the course was short of funds Norma tapped a few of the golfers to provide their expertise, skills, and labor to keep the course in playable shape. “All I had for irrigation was an old, galvanized pipe that ran up each fairway to each green with old quick couplers; one by each green,” O’Leary recalls of her Silver Bay beginnings. “There were portable sprinklers to water every tee and green.” Over the course of the next three years, working with 13 volunteer members, she brought the irrigation to par. 

Golf Course Management Magazine’s article in January 2022 summed it up best: ‘A good superintendent will recognize that he or she is working for the golfers, and these are the people who will dictate whether you are doing a satisfactory job. Imagine the unique relationship that is established when you change the structure somewhat, so that your bosses are now working for you.’

Fun Fact 1:
Golfers will agree it can be a bit of a pain to scoop out your ball from the cup after a putt. Some even carry a ball suction cup at the end of their putter for assistance. The Driven Dynamo applied her creative side to the issue and designed a ball lifter mechanism that attaches to the flag and fits into each cup on the greens. Simply lift up on handle and the ball pops up. Now that’s brilliant!