Puetz
named General Manager at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club
By
Alex Webbe
Polo veteran Bob Puetz, of Mountain Center, California,
has been named as the General Manager of the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet
Club according to Dan Walker, President of the club’s Board of Directors.
Puetz will be replacing Ariana Nobel, who has operated as
the club’s General Manager for the previous three years. Ms. Nobel is stepping down to have her first
child but will be returning in the position of club Marketing Director in June.
Puetz, a native of Chicago and a regular on the polo
scene in the Midwest, began his professional polo career in the 1980’s at the
Oakbrook Polo Club in Oakbrook, Illinois.
Over the course of his playing career he achieved a 5-goal field
handicap and a 7-goal arena rating. In
the course of his career he has played polo across the country, in England,
Jamaica, Mexico and Canada. Over the
years he has played on winning teams from the United States Arena championship
to the prestigious Butler Handicap, competing at every level of the game.
He might be best remembered as the Polo Manager and General
Manager of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California from 1989 to 2002, during
the heydays of polo in the desert. Initially
assigned the responsibilities of managing the polo operations, including
marketing and recruiting of members, scheduling, stabling, billings,
collections, etc. he soon found himself assisting in the planning and
development of the Empire Polo and Events facility, overseeing the design and
development of five separate eventsLive areas including indoor and outdoor
facilities, night lit polo fields, expansive gardens, bar and restaurant and an
executive golf course all located on the 200 acre property.
For the last ten years Puetz was the vice president of
Brand Management for Wave House Holdings in San Diego, California, a restaurant
and event facility that features food, spirits, music and simulated surfing
machines in a Southern California beach setting.
His return to the polo community will be well received as
many of his former teammates and opponents continue to compete. His familiarity with not only polo operations
but club management, budgets, hiring, training and supervision of various
departments will serve him well as he takes the helm of one of polo’s most
respected venues.