I shouldn’t have been surprised to bump into Vanja Drasler at the GCSAA Conference & Show. The hurdles facing international attendees trying to get to San Diego were high. Yet there she was, smiling and asking great questions as always.
I realized I didn’t know enough about this enigmatic woman I’d bumped into often at major championships and GCSAA shows over the years. I decided to solve that problem by interviewing her. Here’s what I learned.
Drasler is Slovenian by birth but really a citizen of the turf world. Like many in our business, she did the expected thing after school and got an office job. She hated it. “I found out quickly that was not for me…staying inside all day.”
So she threw herself at the outdoors and explored landscaping and horticulture. “A friend of a friend worked on a golf course and I was intrigued,” she says. Within a few years, she rose from assistant at a course in Slovenia to superintendent as facilities in the Czech Republic and Austria.
She’s a lifelong learner, with a university degree in ag/hort as well as doing the UMass short course, the Great Lakes and Greenkeeper U online degrees, and the The Ohio State Program. Her life really changed when she met both Stan Zontek and Mel Lucas through the Slovenian Greenkeepers Association. She quickly found that friendships like those can take you places.
Honestly, she might have one of the best resumes I’ve ever seen. In addition to nearly 15 years of experience at some excellent European clubs, she had internships at both Harbour Town and Baltusrol and has probably volunteered or worked at as many championships as anyone I’ve met. Check this out:
Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, WI (2021)
The PGA Championship at Bethpage State Parks-Black Course, NY (2019)
The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, FL (2019)
Dell Technologies at TPC Boston, MA (2018)
Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews Old Course, UK (2017)
Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, AZ (2017)
The PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, NJ (2016)
Ladies European Tour Pilsen Golf Masters, Pilsen, The Czech Republic (2014)
RBC Heritage PGA Tour at Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, SC (2014)
The Barclays PGA Tour at Liberty National, Jersey City, NJ (2013)
U.S. Open at The Olympic Club, San Francisco, CA (2012)
Pebble Beach AT&T Tournament, Pebble Beach, CA (2012)
British Open at St. George, England (2011)
The Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond Golf Club, UK (2010)
“I try to do one tournament a year and I’ve done 14 so far.” Seriously, she’s been up-close-and-personal at a lot of clubs and met a boatload of great people. She does it because she’s passionate about learning and trying to be her best.
“It’s really important to me to connect with others in my industry. I worked with top superintendents in the U.S. and around the world and got to experience a wide variety of agronomic practices in different regions. It’s made me a much better superintendent.”
She does it mostly on her own dime. “People ask why I spend my own money to do this and it’s because it’s invaluable to see the best courses in the world be prepared. I learn something new every time. I’ve collected ideas and little tricks from each place.”
It hasn’t been unusual throughout her career for her to be the only female at a meeting or event. “From the beginning, I knew as a female in an industry with less than 1 percent women you have to prove yourself more. You have to work twice as hard.”
Drasler has lots of goals, possibly including the 2-year program at Rutgers, but she would clearly love the opportunity to be superintendent at a club in the U.S. “I love what I do now, but that’s my dream.”
She’s clearly passionate about what she does. “As soon as I started working on courses, I got swept up in the smell of the fresh cut grass and the deer running across the fairways. I loved sunrises and sunsets on the course. I never look at the time when I’m on the course. I lose myself because I love it so much.”
Drasler says with sincerity, “I get paid to do what I love. Not many people get that. It’s amazing.”