January February March_2020 Newsletter

GREYSTONE GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB

22

GREYSTONE EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHTS

CHAD ELDRED DIRECTOR OF EQUIPMENT TECHNICIANS

JOSH WHITEHEAD GOLF SERVICES SUPERVISOR

Chad has been with the Greystone Course Maintenance Department for almost 18 years. Born and raised in a small town of Eaton Rapids, Michigan, Chad knew growing up that he wanted to work in the golf industry. He loved being outdoors and watching the course transition through the seasons. As the Director of Equipment Technicians, Chad is based out of the equipment shop. Anyone who visits the shop will meet Stella, Chad’s dog. It has been almost four years now since Stella joined the Greystone family and Chad says that she is up and sitting by the door first thing in the morning waiting for him to get ready. Stella usually makes morning rounds on the course with Chad; running ahead through the wood line looking for anything that will provide her a chase. In the afternoon, she will lay outside the shop doors and bask in the sun. In his free time, Chad, enjoys spending time with family and friends on Smith Lake, playing golf, mountain biking, traveling, woodworking, and restoring a log cabin he purchased in 2017. He also does volunteer work for the Alabaster City Fest and Transverse Myelitis. With his 40th birthday coming up this next year, Chad said that he hopes to cross off one of his bucket list items like playing Pebble Beach, sky diving, or attending the Porsche School of Driving! WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT CHAD: He used to tip the scales at over 300 lbs. He credits his weight loss in part to his first summer here at Greystone working on the course maintenance crew.

Josh was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and moved all over the south while growing up. He said that he lived in Wilmington, North Carolina for the longest period of time. It is while living in Wilmington that he began to play golf. His childhood ambition was to be a professional baseball player and he would practice hitting and throwing every day to improve. As luck would have it, Josh pursued golf as his career. Josh first came to Greystone in August of 2013 as the Assis- tant Golf Professional at Founders and then at Legacy for a year. Eventually, he made his way back to Founders and in January of 2017 he began to work with the Outside Services Team. Josh returned to UAB at that same time to complete his college education. He will graduate in May with a degree in marketing. In his free time Josh enjoys spending time with his wife, working on his game, and drinking coffee at his favorite local coffee shop; Seed’s Coffee Co. When asked if he had a dream trip or something that he has always wanted to do, he said that playing golf at Pebble Beach would be at the top of his list. ONE THING YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT JOSH: In 2015 he was blessed with the opportunity to go to Nairobi, Kenya for two weeks to minister to locals at five golf courses and to teach golf. During that trip his group worked with two schools in Kibera, a slum of about one million people. He said that it was one of the most rewarding experiences for him.