In some ways, D’Ann Kimbrel certainly isn’t your typical golf course superintendent — or director of maintenance, in her case.
First of all, there aren’t that many female head golf course superintendents around. In Colorado, she’s one of just a handful.
Then there’s that dog that seems to tag along with Kimbrel most of the places she goes in her job overseeing the maintenance of the Dunes and Knolls courses at Riverdale in Brighton.
Chase, a 6-year-old border collie, is something of a fixture at Riverdale. He’s a goose dog, chasing geese away that try to settle in at Riverdale. But his presence goes far beyond that.
“He spends most of his time with me, but if I’m not doing something fun, he’ll find something more fun to do,” said Kimbrel, Chase’s owner. “He goes up to the pro shop every day for his bacon. He goes into (general manager Steve Bruening’s) office for beef jerky. I’ve got to put a sign on him, ‘Please don’t feed Chase.’ He just knows everybody here.”
Similarly, Kimbrel is a well-known and well-liked fixture at Riverdale, where she and the maintenance staff have long been recognized for keeping the public courses in very good condition.
Appropriately — since the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame is located in the clubhouse at Riverdale — Kimbrel will be recognized this weekend with the Hall of Fame’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She’ll be among a handful of honorees when the Hall holds its 42nd annual induction dinner Sunday (June 8) at the Club at Rolling Hills in Golden.
Three people will be inducted into the Hall of Fame that night — C. Paul Brown, Jim Johnson and Greg Mastriona. Receiving awards that evening, along with Kimbrel, will be Doug Rohrbaugh (Golf Person of the Year) and Colorado Golf Club (Distinguished Service Award after hosting the Solheim Cup last year). For more about this year’s inductees and honorees, CLICK HERE.
For the unassuming Kimbrel, the Lifetime Achievement Award comes as an unexpected honor.
“I was shocked,” she said. “I was floored. It’s quite an honor, and I was taken aback.”
Kimbrel came to Riverdale in 1988 after stints at Hyland Hills in Westminster and Bear Creek in west Denver. At first, she served as superintendent at the Dunes Course, then was promoted in the 1990s to director of maintenance, with her overseeing the Dunes and Knolls, with separate course superintendents working on her staff (Theresa Troup and Rob Neuhauser).
Kimbrel received a teaching degree from the University of Northern Colorado, where she played intercollegiate soccer and was an AIAW All-American in 1980 and ’81. But after working at a golf course during summers in high school and college, golf is where she found her professional calling.
“One thing led to another, and here I am 30 years later,” the 54-year-old said. “I was probably 18-19 years old when I first saw a green. I was just amazed by them. I fell into (golf-related work) but I just really loved it.”
Kimbrel’s superintendent’s skills were put to the test in the 1990s as Riverdale hosted the 1993 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship and the Nike Colorado Classic (on what is now the Web.com Tour) in 1996 and ’97. Stewart Cink, who went on to win the 2009 British Open, was the champion at Riverdale Dunes in 1996.
“That was really cool preparing the course for those events,” Kimbrel said. “There was a lot to that.”
And Riverdale officials received very positive feedback from hosting those big tournaments.
“The players were very pleased,” Kimbrel said. “(For the Colorado Classic), the first tour official came out a month or two before the tournament, and they said, ‘Oh my gosh, they’re going to love this place.’ We definitely got kudos.”
After the national Publinks was played at Riverdale, Kimbrel was named the Turfgrass Professional of the Year in 1993 by the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association.
It takes something to stay at one place of employment for more than a quarter-century. So what has kept Kimbrel at Riverdale since 1988?
She cites support from a strong management team and the financial backing from Adams County that the courses need to succeed. Beyond that, there’s the camaraderie of a maintenance staff that includes a handful of employees who have been working there for more than 20 years.
Despite being the director of maintenance, Kimbrel still very much enjoys personally doing work involving course upkeep.
“I’m pretty hands-on still,” she said. “I still enjoy the work.”
She’ll usually take an early-morning tour of the courses — with Chase, of course (pictured above) — to see any issues that may need addressing. She’ll often cut cups, hand water and do other routine maintenance. “That is a good day and the part of the day I enjoy the most,” she notes.
Of course, there are also plenty of more traditional management tasks — budgeting, invoicing, exchanging emails, meetings, etc. And given that last September’s flooding left the Riverdale maintenance building and the equipment in 8 feet of water, Kimbrel was busy over the winter dealing with those matters.
Though, as mentioned, female head golf course superintendents are somewhat rare, Riverdale has two of them as Troup is the superintendent at the Dunes and has been at Riverdale even longer than Kimbrel.
Kimbrel said she’s always been well-received and respected by her fellow Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents statewide.
“I don’t feel like (gender) has ever been an issue,” she said. “If anything, I probably get more attention.”
Asked if she sees herself as a bit of a pioneer in the role she plays, Kimbrel said, “I don’t really think of myself as that. I remember there was a gal at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) when I first got into the business and started thinking about doing it for a career, and I remember having a couple of conversations with her. But I guess I don’t think of myself that way. But there definitely aren’t very many of us.”
Besides her professional success as a director of maintenance, Kimbrel is a fine player. She maintains a handicap of between 5 and 6, and she’s won six CWGA team championships with Stacey Arnold. They’ve captured three Chapman titles, two Brassies and a Mashie.
“We are so fortunate. We have one of the best (state or regional) golf associations in the whole country,” Kimbrel said. “People who move out of state after playing in CWGA events are so disappointed. I’m truly grateful to be able to play in such well-run tournaments — and I hear that a lot.”
Kimbrel was inspired to play by several women who were regulars at Willis Case Golf Course — Carol Flenniken, Lynn Zmistowski and Katie Fiorella, all now members of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
“After college I picked up golf and I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get better at it,” Kimbrel said.
