Talking Ocean Organics with George Chavez, Superintendent, Pelham Bay and Split Rock Golf Courses, Bronx, NY

The 2^nd edition of our 2025 “Talking Ocean Organics” Newsletter takes us to the Pelham Bay and Split Rock GC’s in the Bronx. Our article will focus on George Chavez. George has been the superintendent at these two NYC public golf courses since 2017. We will explore George’s personal and professional journey, the iconic properties he looks after, and how he’s incorporated Ocean Organics’ products into his agronomic programs.



About George

George was born in November of 1979 in Chicago, IL. “My father Benjamin was a restaurant worker, my mom Maria was a homemaker,” said George, “I was one of seven children. I had four brothers and two sisters. When I was two months old, my mother moved back to Mexico and took me with her. My dad would send money to help support us. We lived in the middle part of the country in Quitupan, a small town of around 1,200 people.”

When George was 16, his mom Maria passed away. “I moved back to the states to New Rochelle, NY,” said George, “and over the next two years I finished high school and went on to study accounting at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, NY. Around May of 2000, a friend of mine called and asked if I would be interested in working on a golf course. My friend worked on the crew at Pelham CC, which bordered New Rochelle. I thought, why not give it a chance? It didn’t take long for me to realize that I loved the work and being on the crew and I really wanted to learn as much as I could.”

Superintendent Jeff Wentworth noticed George’s enthusiasm for the work and asked him if he wanted to step up in the ranks and make managing a golf course his profession. And George was ready. In short order, he applied to Rutgers University, was accepted, and spent the next couple of years learning all the ins and outs of turfgrass management. “Around 2004, Jeff promoted me to second assistant,” said George, “and that lasted a couple of years. When Jeff’s first assistant left in 2006, I was promoted to first assistant. I was Jeff’s first assistant from 2006 till 2017, when I left to take the job at Pelham/Split Rock.”



“Jeff put me in charge of running the golf course and all the in-house construction projects,” said George, “Initially we did tee and fairway expansions. The club hired Architect Mike DeVries and I worked side by side with Mike building a huge practice area. I learned a lot at Pelham. And I have to credit Jeff with my development. Everything I learned, I learned from him. He was my role model and was always such a professional in everything he did. Jeff is a smart guy. In early 2017, Jeff told me that American Golf, the company that managed Pelham/Split Rock, was looking for a new superintendent. So, I interviewed with them in February of 2017. I was a little nervous. I was told there were five other candidates being interviewed besides me. After the interview, they said they would get in touch with me in a few days. About two hours after the interview they called and offered me the position.”



George’s first challenge at the Pelham Bay and Split Rock golf courses was to improve the playability, especially the greens. “When I first started, some greens were about 30% grass and 70% dirt,” George laughed, “so my first task was to give the golfers good greens. After that was accomplished, we worked hard to improve the playability of the tees and fairways which were also in rough shape.” And going into his eighth year as superintendent and after a lot of hard work, George and his crew have given the golfing public two superbly conditioned golf courses to play on.

Pelham Bay and Split Rock Golf Courses

Both golf courses are located in Pelham Bay Park, on the northeast corner of the New York City borough of the Bronx. The park, at 2,772 acres, is the largest green space in NYC. It is three times the size of Manhattan’s Central Park. The park also contains Orchard Beach and Promenade, tennis courts, sports fields, playgrounds, a horse stable, trails for bike riding, walking, and jogging. The park officially opened in 1888.

Pelham Bay GC opened as a nine-hole golf course in 1899. The golf course was designed by Lawrence Van Etten. Van Etten was a civil engineer from New Rochelle who adapted his skills to include golf course architecture. Van Etten laid out the original 18-holes for two early private golf courses in Westchester County, Wykagyl CC in New Rochelle and Knollwood CC in Elmsford, NY. And he accomplished all this despite the fact that the game of golf in the late 1800’s was in its infancy with very few golf courses to play and players to play them.

In 1936, the great Bobby Jones ventured north from Atlanta to play Split Rock. His exact words were, “I must admit that what I saw, particularly at Split Rock, was exceedingly gratifying and entirely worth the visit. The work that John Van Kleek, supervising architect for the Park’s Department in charge of golf courses, has done architecturally there is splendid and I want to commend him very highly.”

Ocean Organics:

George has incorporated the following Ocean products into his agronomic programs at Pelham/Split Rock. George describes, in his own words, where the products are applied on the golf course, how he uses them, and the results he’s achieved.



Thank you, George, for your time in putting this article together.