Responsibilities?

John Paquette, Indian Hills Country Club, Northport, NY:

"We are clearly responsible for working as hard as we can to provide the beautiful conditions in these photos...

But, what about these photos below......??? Who?

Please help us to keep IHCC looking and playing it's best!!!"

Visit John's blog at ihccgrass.blogspot.com/.

Not goodbye yet...

Joel Kachmarek, Tacoma Country and Golf Club, Lakewood, WA:

"Yesterday we officially said goodbye to John Harbottle III during a beautiful service at St. Charles Borromeo followed by a reception at the Club. For me, yesterday can be summed up in one word... hard. It was hard to hear Scott Alexander's eulogy. It was hard to see the Harbottle family, and for me it was the first time I'd seen them since John's passing. It was hard not to cry... so I did... often. It was hard to say goodbye to John, so you know what?... I'm not going to.

It will be quite some time before I can say goodbye to John Harbottle III. John and I have unfinished business. We have to complete the current Master Plan. That will take time and throughout the process I will be trying to get in his head and carry things out the way he would have wanted. I will be thinking about John and trying to think like John for some time.

Let me tell you, yesterday was hard for me and a lot of people. And I mean a lot of people. It was one of those days when you realize that there are just some very special people in this world. Like John, there are those people who just connect with others wherever they go.

It was one of those days when you say to yourself, "There is no way this many people will come to my funeral'. So in a way, it was one of those life-changing moments where you look hard at yourself and ask 'am I doing all right'? And I mean that like 'am I doing things right'?

You see, there were over a thousand people at John's funeral, and they weren't there because he was some great golf course architect. Fact is... John was a great golf course architect, but everyone came to say goodbye to John because he was a great person.

Because his job took him all over the world, he met countless individuals. So he had the rare opportunity to connect with so many more than most of us, and it's obvious that he had the gift to connect better than any of us. So if you want to have a thousand people at your funeral, a good start would be to start being like John. Work hard. Love your Lord. Love your family. Treat people the way you would like to be treated. That's what John did and people took notice. People respected him. Yesterday, that was so obvious.

If you were lucky enough to be there, you saw one of those life-changing moments. You wished it was yourself that passed and not John. You wished you could be more like John. Mostly, you just wished John was not gone. Many of you want to have some closure and are saying goodbye. Many of you can. I am not ready. I am going to think of him, and try to think like him and finish this master plan. In addition, I am going to try and be more like him because he was just that kind of man that a man aspires to be like... I tell 'ya I'm really going to miss him.

I love the picture below. It is of the 6th hole with John's new bunkers which actually today are not yet complete. One of our members has the software to make them look finished by adding the sand digitally. Don't they look beautiful.

June 14th is the day we install the sand into the new bunkers and I'm sure John will be proud of them since I know he'll be watching and making sure I have the right depth from edge to center. Soon we will see the finished product that is John's vision. There is no doubt we will love it."

Visit Joel's blog at tacomaturf.com

100 Days of M.I.G.S.

Frank Tichenor, Forest Hills Field Club, Bloomfield, NJ:

"The 2012 Heritage Tournament is in the books and I am happy to have received the compliments I did regarding the condition of the course this past week for both the member member and the WNJGA tournament.

"To quote my old boss, Pete Pedrazzi, 'those conditions are attainable but not necessarily maintainable'..."

I was also asked a number of times if the greens are going to be like this the rest of the year. To quote my old boss, Pete Pedrazzi, 'those conditions are attainable but not necessarily maintainable'. Rest assured we will do our best to keep the greens rolling at a nice smooth pace but we will not jeopardize their health in the quest for speed.

So thanks for the compliments but the bigger thank you goes to my staff who did an amazing job in a short week to get the course in shape for these tournaments.

I have written before about the 'horrible hundred' days between Memorial Day and Labor Day and have also mentioned the acronym M.I.G.S — which stands for mow, irrigate, groom and spray. This concept was given to me by Ted Horton quite a few years ago and it is as relevant today as it was then. These are the things we need to focus on in the next few months. Major projects will have to wait until the fall for now we are in maintenance mode.

While our focus is now on maintaining, this is not to say that we will not be doing any improvements. Recently some of our crew members started upgrades at the tee stations. We are using recycled pavers from the pool to clean up these areas and will be putting these in during the next month or so."

Visit Frank's blog at fhfcgreendepartment.blogspot.com.

Wetting Agents...

Neil Radatz, CGCS, Hawks Landing Golf Club, Verona, WI:

"The extremely dry, warm and very windy weather that we are having is really drying out the golf course. In order to help move water into the soil profile we make use of wetting agents to help. What happens in the soil, especially the greens and tees since the soil profile is primarily sand, a coating can developed around the soil particle that inhibits water from attaching to it and will not allow the soil to wet.

You can see in the photos that the water tends to run off the surface and not infiltrate into the drier areas. And when you pull a core sample from this area there is very little moisture in the sample.

Over the last two nights I sprayed a a wetting agent on the greens that we tried last year to help alleviate the water repelling off the soil and allow the soil moisture to be more uniformity throughout the soil without holding to much water keeping the surface soft and wet. Asking a lot of one product but from the results I noticed last year on the few greens that we tried it on I was happy with the results.

Today, after a good watering in the product last night we worked on any additional dry areas on the greens. You can see in this photo the differance in which there is much less runoff and the soil core actually has some moisture in it.

There are many different types of wetting agents that I use on the golf course for different situations and issues. The tees are all sand and do not hold any water in this case I use a product that actually holds the water near the surface. This product would not be a good choice on the putting greens since it could lead to a softer surface and not allow the water to move readily through the profile. But in the case of the tees it works fairly well in keeping some water where the roots are to reduce running the irrigation for long times. I have yet to apply any wetting agents to the fairways and have plans to do so next week but in this case I use a different product that allows the water to move through the profile.

Wetting agents do not make our job easier but do aid us in applying water in the extremely dry, warm weather we are experiencing now. Allowing for the water to get into the soil profile to keep the turf much healthier without keeping the surface too wet."

Visit Neil's blog at hawkslandinggreens.blogspot.com.

Tee Leveling

Doug Ayres, Corral de Tierra Country Club, Salinas, CA:

"The 13th tee was expanded and leveled on Monday and sodded with big roll sod on Tuesday. No need to wait for the seams to heal; the rolls are so big that the sod is stable and ready to be played on Wednesday.

Speed of completion for a job like this makes it more palatable for the membership since the downtime for the area is minimal. The area for the black tee was expanded 4 yards back, the blue area was enlarged by 400% and the white tee is better than ever.

The surface will be firm for awhile but with topdressings and aerification your tee should be easier to push into the ground soon."

Visit Doug's blog at corralmaintenance.blogspot.com

Lost Ball Finds a Home...

Jim Alwine, Stockton Golf and Country Club, Stockton, CA:

"I was checking out the fairway surface on #2 and needed a golf ball to test a few lies against the solid tine aerification we just preformed. I asked Manuel if he had a golf ball and he said, 'I know where one is.'

He led me to a nest near the lake and a Pro V that looked a little out of place. I used it for my tests and returned it for hatching."

Visit Jim's blog at sgccturf.blogspot.com.

Playing in the sand...

Joel Purpur, CGCS, Park Ridge Country Club, Park Ridge, IL:

"This past week we began preparing our nursery, for which will eventually be a healthy stand of turf. The first stage of the work is to add a sand/soil mix that will provide the roots with optimum growing conditions as well as allow for proper drainage.

In the photos the sand/soil mix is being spotted on the nursery and then leveled off using the Sand Pro. We will continue work in the coming weeks including continuing to level the soil as well spread the new bentgrass seed."

Visit Joel's blog at parkridgeccgrounds.blogspot.com.