Imagine this: You are the dining manager at a world-class golf club, a place known for its excellent, thick chocolate milkshakes. Players and visitors who have visited golf clubs around the globe come to you and say, “I hear that your milkshakes are the best!” This is exactly the scenario that Lisa Walker-Straten, manager of the dining room and so-called “Halfway House” (located between the ninth and tenth hole) at the Castle Pines Golf Club (CPGC), often finds herself in. The recipe for this shake (shared in this issue on page 29) is a long-standing favorite at the club, so it would seem that there would be no need to tamper with perfection. But for Lisa, there was one problem: the famously thick shakes were hard to drink.

“We let the ice cream soften just enough that we generally don’t need milk in the shakes, and we serve them with a spoon,” said Lisa. “But it was hard to drink it. So, I talked to the purchasing manager, and we found bigger straws, which work great with a thick shake.”

It is a small detail, the kind of thing that might go unnoticed, but one that makes an already delicious treat even more fun. This sort of attention is indicative of the kind of passion Lisa brings to her job. Taking a day of golf from good to great might be as simple as making sure favorite snacks (Snickers and Pay Day candy bars, peanut butter crackers, etc.) are always on hand. It has also led Lisa to tap into her creative side as she designs the “snack wall” each year. This Pinterest-worthy feature is a place for golfers to grab a snack or a treat on the go, and Lisa works to make sure there is a little something for everyone. The wall is built around a theme – last year’s wall featured vintage and classic candy. This year, in honor of the BMW Championship the club is hosting later this month, the snacks are in BMW colors – things like gummy candies and milk chocolate blueberries.

“As I worked on this year’s snack wall, I looked for things that had BMW colors, black and white check, and anything car-themed,” said Walker-Straten. “I even found just the right gummies on a trip home to Merrillville, Indiana, where Albanese [candy company] is located.”

The snack wall is a perfect photo-op, and visitors to the Club will often snap pictures to show family and friends. “I feed off of the excitement people have for my work; it keeps my job interesting.”

Feeding people is the focus of Walker-Straten’s job. She started out in 1998 working for a catering contractor for The International golf tournament, previously held at the CPGC. A few years later she took employment in the dining room and the rest is history. It is not all about food, however. After 18 years in various positions at the CPGC, she said it is the people that are her favorite part of the job.

“I love my relationship with the members,” she said. “I started out seeing people come in with their kids, and now those kids have kids. Seeing families spend time together really warms my heart. It is a very rewarding job.”

Summer is, of course, the busy season at CPGC, so that means thousands of sandwiches, soups, chili and other tasty treats will be produced and consumed under Walker-Straten’s careful supervision. She says she loves each day and really lives in the moment, but she is also excited for what is on the horizon. She is certainly anticipating an uptick in demand for those famous shakes come August 20, when the BMW Championship kicks off.

“It will be great when it is here,” she said. “We’re going to go through a lot of ice cream.”

 

By Lisa Crockett; photos by Terri Wiebold