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Breakroom... Common-sense cure to ‘stressure’There was a time when my life in golf course maintenance was relatively laid back and stress free. That was until bentgrass greens invaded the Deep South, followed by cable TV, recurrent droughts and a new enhanced (and expanded) version of summer. I have since come to the conclusion that what is required to improve the health of the golf industry is similar to the human body and physical exercise. Getting started on the road to fitness is painful at first, but eventually will get better if you stay focused on the long-term goal. Adjusting to life on a bentgrass plantation required learning complex spray procedures and working longer hours on weekends, frantically dragging a hose and wiping tears from my eyes. The drought cycle that began in 1986 – coupled with Atlanta’s warm-wet-spongy air density and 120 straight days of potential green incineration in less than four hours – made things even more challenging. (We always posted a countdown to Sept. 1 on the duty roster blackboard . . . it wasn’t any cooler in September, but at least it wasn’t August.) Before the advent of southern-fried bent, I was one of those superintendents who claimed our profession was not a stressful one;When cable TV debuted in Georgia, golfers suddenly were subjected to an unending parade of overseeded, peaked-out, high-budget tournament-conditioned beauties. This sparked demands for TV grooming standards 53 weeks out of the year. (This seems similar to waving a beautifully air-brushed, surgically altered Playmate of the Year centerfold in front of the wife and demanding that she “raise the bar.”) When excess carbon dioxide helped supersize Atlanta’s summers and brought us the drought of ’98, I invented a new word: stressure. (Although compared to 2007, the summer of ’98 was cool and refreshing.) Before the advent of southern-fried bent, I was one of those superintendents who claimed our profession was not a stressful one; I scoffed at the idea, falling back into my hardened military mindset and driving on – until I noticed a pattern. I always made these no-stress claims in early spring, after I’d had an entire winter to recover . . . kind of like when women tell us how painful childbirth is, and then they do it again. By late August, I usually disavowed all previous statements and retracted my stubborn position that golf maintenance was a stress-free way to earn a living compared with military service. The latter has built-in stress-reduction devices, such as firing automatic weapons, jumping out of aircraft and blowing up stuff. (None of which, I’ve learned, are popular on a golf course.) What can golf course maintenance professionals do to counter stressure? Visiting with belligerent members while wearing a hockey mask and revving a chainsaw can reduce stress, but it has a negative side. Intense exercise is good, as is spending time with the course Labrador retriever, but we also should consider long-range strategies by preparing for changing weather, business and regulatory climates. Because it appears we probably are about to weather more climactic extremes, it might be wise to consider converting Deep South greens back to Bermuda. It probably would be as socially unpopular at some southern courses as Gen. Sherman’s sightseeing tour through Georgia 140-some years ago, but the new Bermudas likely would lessen total manhours worked and flow with the climate, rather than against it. Water shortages and restrictions only will increase in number and intensify in their magnitude, so we need to aggressively and visibly correct golf’s erroneous image as a heavy water user. Artificial teeing surfaces and rationed fairway water on landing areas would leave plenty of water for greens, while showing a strong reduction in overall water consumption. Visiting with belligerent members while wearing a hockey mask and revving a chainsaw can reduce stress, but it has a negative side...It also makes sense to clean up and improve operating efficiency at the turf care facility, especially considering the increased scrutiny of government inspections. Superintendent Steve Hammon of Traverse City, Mich., has developed a plan for designing turf care facilities. Hammon’s plan includes underground equipment hoists, PVC sleeves for future communication cables and irrigation lines that run directly into the mix/load area. Hammon also recommends painting the shop floor, enabling high-speed Internet access and running air lines to the wash station. In hindsight, I probably made a mistake in choosing an oak tree as a combination TCF/equipment hoist and relying on hollering for communication. I had no shop floor to paint, my mix/load area was wherever I ran out of spray product and my wash rack compressed air lines consisted of a backpack blower. I wish Hammon had told us this stuff sooner. While there are things superintendents can do to alleviate stressure in the shop, helping the game’s ailing business climate in the same manner is another matter. One of my untreated multiple personalities, Mad Golf Prophet, predicts a further reduction in the total number of golf courses, simply due to natural selection, but this is a good thing. MGP also firmly believes the golf industry soon will experience a strong upward spike, regardless of the potential for recession triggered by liquidity and a half-trillion in debt for urban renewal in Iraq. MGP’s past predictions, while somewhat Orwellian, were based on rampant slow play, too many golf courses built as bait for real estate sales, uncontrolled technological advances of balls and sticks, painful green fees and predatory golf corporations guided by spreadsheet zombies rather than golf industry professionals. Turns out, the slowdown wasn’t just in golf. For example, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that over the past 10 years the number of hunters has dropped 10 percent, fishermen 15 percent. Even with their high levels of loyalty, these and other outdoor activities have proven to be susceptible to urban sprawl, time constraints and screen addiction. MGP insists that golf, although stressed, has adapted and is regaining momentum. Stress adaptation makes things stronger in the long run. That’s how weight-lifting and endurance training work. Randy Wilson can be reached at rwilson@turfnet.com. |
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