Built in a heavily forested flood plain, SilverHorn GC took a hard hit from a 1998 flood that covered the course with 10 feet of water for nearly a week.

Six shooters Neil J. Thrailkill

A mentor of importance to Burger, SilverHorn superintendent Neil Thrailkill was heavily influenced by a noted golf course manager as well -- George L. Frye Jr., who schooled Thrailkill for a couple of years at Seabrook Island Golf Club in Charleston, S.C.

When Frye took the head job at Oak Hills in 1984, he brought Thrailkill along to San Antonio as his top assistant. Two years later, when Frye moved on to more fame as superintendent at the Ocean Course on South Carolina's Kiawah Island, Thrailkill was promoted to the head job at Oak Hills. In all, he had a hand in hosting a dozen PGA Tour events in his 12-year tenure there.

In 1995, Thrailkill joined O-Sports Development Co.'s creation of SilverHorn, which a year later came under American Golf Corp.'s umbrella when the latter assumed management of the facility. In 1997, the 15-year GCSAA member -- while still guiding the new course's development -- became a regional superintendent for AGC, tending to operations at 10 facilities in San Antonio, Houston and Austin.

Today he has cut back on the workload in favor of more family time. He looks after American Golf's two local layouts, SilverHorn and Pecan Valley, along with Riverside Country Club and Circle C Golf Club in Austin.

Pick of the litter
But SilverHorn is Thrailkill's baby. Indeed, he's seen the 5-year-old venue through thick and thin.

Built in a heavily forested flood plain, the facility features a 30-acre lake that receives the drainage from about 35,000 acres in northwestern San Antonio. In 1998, the fledgling course was inundated by a flood that covered parts of the layout with 10 feet of water for almost a week. In the words of Thrailkill, the place has really never been the same.

"That (flood) really changed the complexion of this golf course," he says. "It created challenges that linger today, like layering on the greens because of the silt, a proliferation of weeds and drainage areas that were filled in."

The silver lining for SilverHorn during that time was a veteran maintenance staff, many of whom were either there when Thrailkill arrived during construction in '95, or came on board shortly thereafter.

"We couldn't have brought the golf course back the way it is now without the group of guys I've got working for me," says Thrailkill, who mentions specifically longtime crew members such as Placido Nuñez, Benito Martinez and Lawrence Flora, who are now the key hands under his new first assistant, Kevin Shuey.

Although the lingering silt problems delayed the October 1999 overseeding and caused a poor transition into the following spring, Thrailkill says SilverHorn nevertheless will be at its best next February.

The thick forest of trees that lines SilverHorn gives the course an isolated feel that has drawn raves from golfers.

The 6,922-yard layout has some Hill Country flair, but mainly its setting and Randy Heckenkemper's traditional design among thousands of mature trees belie the venue's young age. In fact, unencumbered by any real estate development, SilverHorn offers an isolation that serious golfers covet.

The big lake and its tributaries bring water into play on more than half the holes, further intensifying the demand for accuracy in driving and approach shots.

A time to show off
Thrailkill's program for the GCSAA event is to quicken SilverHorn's Tifdwarf greens, which have proven to be good winter putting surfaces in the past.

"We can be aggressive because there's a possibility we'll be converting to TifEagle in the summer," he says. "Also, we'll be doing a lot of extra fertility for definition. We're going to do everything we possibly can, increasing frequencies on everything. We'll give GCSAA all we can. It's a big thing for us. When your peers are playing your golf course, that's probably the toughest thing you can have happen. It's a challenge we look forward to."

Thrailkill, who has been in golf course management 18 years in all, says the GCSAA tournament gives him both the opportunity to fall back on his experiences at Oak Hills and also to show off his employer's new look in the world of golf.