Charbonneau Villager February 2026 19
Golf club
■ From Page 18
workforce for all the great work they do to make the Charbonneau golf course a desired place to play. As a resident in Charbonneau, I continue to feel a great sense of gratitude for the community, the golf course and all my friends and neighbors.
Staff update
In November 2025, Jackson Bensel, one of our two assistant pros, achieved his certification by the Professional Golfers Association of America( PGA) and is now a full-fledged PGA golf professional. The process for certification is quite involved but essentially each candidate has to take courses on various aspects of golf, teaching and business acumen. Candidates also must pick a major to earn extra credit in an area of their choice: teaching / coaching, executive management or golf operations. Jackson majored in executive management. Completing the entire program for certification can take up to nine years; Jackson completed his certification in three and a half years. Additionally, Jackson is enrolled in an online MBA program at the University of Miami Herbert Business School and is about halfway through that program. Jackson is now the third generation Bensel to become a PGA professional; following his grandfather, his father, Chris and his uncle. Jackson now has the certifications and degree to go along with the school of“ actual experience” that he has attended for the last several years working at the Charbonneau Golf Club. We are fortunate to have two Benzels managing our golf operations.
Not only has Jackson achieved this PGA milestone but our other assistant pro, Kaitlyn Howe, is in the process of finishing her PGA certification and hopes to complete the process in 2026. Kaitlyn has chosen to major in teaching / coaching, which will come as no surprise to any golfers who have taken lessons from Kaitlyn. The game of golf is in good hands when you have individuals like Jackson and Kaitlyn pursuing professional careers in the
It takes work to maintain our golf course.
industry. Congratulations to Jackson and Kaitlyn. Course update Course superintendent, Andrew Connor, and his maintenance crew have started to rework some of the tee boxes on the golf course that have gotten crowned in the middle and are no longer flat. While tees must have a subtle high spot to allow water runoff, over time with improper top dressing and divot repair the height can cause surface changes across the tee box. With the amount of play we get and the fact that each nine has five par threes, our tee boxes did not get the kind of attention they needed. Since Andrew has taken over as superintendent, he has made tee improvement one of his goals.
The process to“ flatten” the tee box takes anywhere from two-to-four days depending on the size. It starts by sod cutting the tee box turf and then rolling the turf up for reinstallation. The crew must then till the soil and regrade to level. The sod is then reinstalled and a vibratory roller is used on top of the sod to smooth out inconsistencies. The tee is then top dressed with sand to minimize any seams in the sod and firm up the turf. Depending on weather and how well the sod holds together, the tee can typically be reopened for use in one-to-two weeks. Our maintenance crew will concentrate on the Yellow course tee boxes over the winter, followed by Green and then Red.
Tee box improvement is just one more project the Charbonneau Golf Club is undertaking as we concentrate our resources on the continual upgrade of our golf course.