Larry Bent, Head Golf Professional
If you have taken a lesson at McNary Golf Club in the past 40 years, there is a good chance they were given by Larry Bent. The Head Professional at McNary has spent most of his life on a golf course. As an 8-year old in Canada he began fishing golf balls out of the at the course near his home. Understandable, the owner, Alf Tate, didn’t like this very much, so he called Bent’s mom. They agreed to put him to work shagging golf balls on the weekends for stealing all the balls. He did such a good job Alf took Larry under his wing and taught him all he could in the golf business. Alf turned out to be a father figure to Larry and at age 15 Larry was giving lessons and doing club repair. After moving to Woodburn, Oregon at age 20 to take care of his very ill mother, Larry found a job working for McNary’s Pro, Mike Renshaw in 1976. Since that time Larry has been a fixture at McNary Golf Club. As he says, “My job here has been a life time of relationships with all of my family at McNary Golf Club. All of my education has come from great people working with me to develop my skills in the customer based industry.” Today, Bent spends much of his time in the golf shop, selling and ordering merchandise. He also helps market and run high quality tournaments.
Dave Bashaw, Course Superintendent
Dave has been employed by the McNary Golf Club since 1979. He oversees all of the maintenance needs of our golf course. In addition to supervising the grounds crew, he also performs the work himself; and, reports back to the club board monthly. Maintaining the course is much more than the ever-present mowers we are most familiar with. Irrigation maintenance, tree and shrub care, chemical applications, and periodic aeration of the greens, fairways, and tee boxes are among the other required work. The fabulous condition of our course is directly attributed to Dave’s hard work, expertise, and experience in turf management. Dave and Sherry, married 32 years and Salem residents, have two married daughters, Kelsey and Katie, and a son, Michael who plays basketball for Clackamas Community College. Dave and Sherrie are proud grandparents of Conner and Travis. Dave, born in Goldsboro, NC, while his Dad served in the U.S. Air Force, wouldn’t trade living here for anywhere else. Golfing about 20 times year, Dave is not particular about the brand of his clubs or balls; however, his lifelong search for golf’s ‘holy grail,’ clubs and balls that always go straight, continues! In Dave’s spare time he assists Sherrie with coaching volleyball at Blanchet Catholic. He also runs every other day, picking it up again at age 50 to get back in shape. Once completing 2 marathons in his youth, “way back then,” he now competes in 30-35 running events yearly, mostly 5 and 10K’s. Our community’s beautiful center piece, McNary Golf Course, and all of us who live here, are the beneficiaries of Dave’s hard work and drive….thank you, Dave!