Barbie Thomsen is the new manager at Countryside Golf Club.

Thomsen new manager at Countryside

Countryside Golf Club president Shawn Boerboom feels he has scored a hole-in-one with the recent hiring of Barbie Thomsen as the new manager of the club and restaurant.

“She’s energetic and she’s motivated,” Boerboom said. “That’s just what we need.”

Countryside Golf Club will open for the season with food, drinks and specials from 4-8 p.m. on Thursday, April 5. Thomsen has been given approval to set the amount of hours she is able to give to Countryside.

“I have another job, too, and it’s nice that they are giving me a little flexibility here,” said Thomsen, who graduated from Minneota in 2006 as Barbie Derynck. Thomsen is also employed at Avera Morningside Heights Care Center in Marshall.

Thomsen and her husband Nate currently live in Marshall with their two children, son Teddy, 3; and daughter Calliope, 1.

“I heard from a friend that they were hiring a new manager at Countryside,” she said. “But I didn’t think I wanted to take on another job. And I was planning to go back to school, too.”

But after getting a call from Countryside board member Mike Fier, Thomsen decided to take on the challenge.

“Ever since I was in high school, I’ve loved golf,” she said. “And my mom and I were always talking about opening a small restaurant in Minneota and I figured this would give me some management experience if we ever decide to do that in the future.”

Thomsen golfed for the high school team in Minneota, completing on the varsity for a couple of meets as a seventh-grader and then for five years on the varsity after that.“We never made it to state,” she said. “But we did set the course record for a girls golf team (since broken). I had the scorecard laminated and I still have it.”

Although she doesn’t golf as much as she would like now that she has two small children, but she is excited to see some of her ideas for Countryside come to fruition.

“We want to do some new things, especially for the ladies,” she said. “We need to get more women to come out here and golf and have some fun. We’re looking at possibly having a Wine and Paint night.”

Thomsen will be in charge of the restaurant with ordering, preparing menus, and hiring staff.

“I’m working on creating some menu items now,” she said. “Some of the new things we will have are fried pickle appetizers, a few kinds of wraps, and French dip sandwich.

Brad’s Market will also prepare pork and brat patties for us to grill. We want to keep things as local as possible.” Thomsen is looking for more kitchen staff, as well as four or five waiters and waitresses. Besides overseeing the restaurant portion of Countryside, Thomsen will also be in charge of many aspects of the golf portion.

“I’ll be making sure tournaments run smoothly, holding events and things like that,” she said. “We will still have the Wynston Boe Tournament and the car shows out here.”

“We’re also hosting the Relay for Life tournament this year on June 9. And we’re thinking of some other new things, too.” Thomsen was officially hired March 12 and officially began duties a week after that.

“I’m really excited,” she said.

“I think it’s going to be challenging, but a lot of fun. My goal is to get the community excited about coming out here. Not just to play golf, but also to eat, have a drink and socialize.”

Barbie Thomsen

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