After a long wait, the newly minted co-general manager of the golf course, Mike Pittman, says Quarry Oaks will be welcoming back golfers starting on Friday.

Familiar faces, new roles

Heading into the 2026 golf season, Pittman says, when the announcement came out about the new roles he and Angela would be taking on, the outpouring of support meant a lot. “It was great, I mean, everyone’s been super supportive. We have poured our hearts and souls into Quarry Oaks for the last 10 years. We’re going on 11 now, and we feel like we’ve taken it from what it was to what it is now. We’re very proud of that. We’re looking forward to continuing that momentum forward.”

Getting ready for opening day

As the weather very slowly grinds toward actual golf weather, Pittman says preparations have been ongoing to have Quarry Oaks ready for the public starting Friday. “We’ve been ready and ready to go, like, mentally for a while now,” he says with a grin. “It’s just Mother Nature hasn’t really been cooperating. But the weekend looks good. Looking forward to opening tomorrow. We are getting a lot of inquiries as to what’s going on, and that’s great because golf’s in a really good place right now. Everyone’s chomping at the bit to get out. We’re super excited for tomorrow.”

The work of the Pittmans and those around the course has not gone unnoticed, as Quarry Oaks has become a premier golfing destination, which is a real point of pride for everyone. “The numbers are definitely showing that’s where you can kind of gauge what’s going on. I remember eight or nine years ago, we were sitting here, and we had, you know, 250 golfers in one day, and that seemed like a busy day for us. Last year, we were pushing through 400 in a day. So, I mean, the golf course and what we’ve been doing around here have definitely been a good change. I feel we’ve introduced a new cart fleet a few years ago, and we did some major upgrades to our completely renovated our bathrooms this year. So, little things like that people do notice.”

The shape of the course

When people do get out onto the course, Pittman says it may take a little time until it’s built up into what golfers are used to. “People have to understand it is spring, right? Grass really hasn’t had an opportunity to grow yet. So, the conditions are early spring conditions. All in all, after talking with Kyle, our superintendent, he’s very optimistic about the season. He says the course wintered very well, and he thinks that conditions will be almost mint in no time at all. So we just need some sunshine, and we’re good to go.”

As for what golfers can do to help make sure the course is in good shape to start the year and beyond, Pittman has some suggestions. “Well, the biggest thing this time of year for us is that the frost is still coming out of the ground even now. So, especially this year, because it hasn’t really been that warm yet. So, I mean, the course is wet, so we do have a 90-degree rule, and a lot of people think that 90 degrees means that you can drive anywhere on the golf course, but if we actually stick to that 90-degree rule and stay on the car path as much as we can at times, that definitely helps the growth of the grass. With that being said, too, our cart paths are still having the frost come out of the ground, too. So lots of action on the car path can also create ruts and stuff like that. So there’s really nothing, you know, just go out, come to Quarry Oaks, have a good time, you know, and we’ll take care of the rest.”

Features beyond golf

“So our restaurant will be open as well tomorrow,” Pittman says proudly. “We’re super excited to see all the people coming back to enjoy some good food. We got some great new items on the menu this year. Our calendar is quite overwhelming at the moment. It’s going to be a really busy season here. Lots of events, lots of meetings, so it’s going to be an awesome season, and we’re so pumped to get it started tomorrow.”