It almost feels like we are just sitting quietly while AI takes over our turf careers. AI promises to help us work, but what if it intends to render us obsolete? Shouldn't we at least offer some resistance?
Contrary to popular narratives, Rockbottum Science states "AI does not think for itself, it's merely an improved algorithm." If AI could actually think, we'd already be dead. My Dad dealt with first generation AI, (Adolescent Imbeciles) and AI golf course personnel management was jus
In his latest Vlog, Nick Colombo highlights some of the sustainability initiatives at Sentosa Golf Club, including a bee sanctuary and a food and horticultural waste digester.
Fred Taylor, CGCS, retired in early October, 2023, after a 43-year stint working exclusively at Mankato Golf Club in his hometown of Mankato, Minnesota. Fred followed in the "bootsteps" of Boots Fuller in 1992, becoming who would wind up as only the third superintendent at MGC in almost 100 years.
Fred takes credit for all that goes wrong and give his staff credit for all that is right on the golf course. He has over the years served as a buffer between the staff and club membership,"runnin
It's that time of year when strange things happen, so it was no surprise when Freddy and Toad--effectively half of the Rockbottum CC crew--went missing while leaf-looking up on Dead Owl Ridge.
Taking a great risk, Bodell saddled up to go find Freddy and Toad in the dark forests of North Georgia . . . and now Bodell and Willie are missing, too.
Sam Moynihan took over the reins at Detroit Golf Club this spring just 90 days prior to hosting the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Soon thereafter somebody painted two greens with Roundup as a "welcome" present. The challenge was on.
A graduate of West Virginia University with a degree in agriculture, Sam kicked off his turf career with a stint at Muirfield Village Golf Club, first under Paul B Latshaw and then Chad Mark. He then moved over to Caves Valley Golf Club for the next five years as fir
In this episode, RW hands out the coveted Rockbottum Major Award for the best TurfNet Forum Topic ever. Momma has a lively discussion with a government official who mistakenly believes Social Security is an "Entitlement" while helping him realize the folks north of Richmond need to improve their listening skills. Also, RW explains how to achieve positivity on the golf course by being positive, not just sounding positive.
James Morgan was fresh out of Lake City Community College (now Florida Gateway College) and a summer/part-time stint at the Country Club of Orlando when he followed CCO superintendent Kasey Kauff to build Trinity Forest in Dallas. Morgan started as an assistant and was promoted to superintendent during his 5+ year stay at the Coore/Crenshaw layout. That Coore/Crenshaw connection led him to being selected to grow in Wicker Point Golf Club on Lake Martin, the first new golf construction in Alabama
As of writing today Kansas City is 6.49” below our average YTD rainfall of 27.42”. Additionally, over the last 6 weeks our average temperature has been 3F over average. In the last 28 days we have had 12 days over 80, 7 days over 90, and 9 days over 100. One of those days the high was 112F. Most people don’t dig into climate numbers to this extent, and it is important to know this isn’t just my opinion. But rainfall this summer is not the focus of this writing. Rather I want to share my sense of
Rob Munro is finishing up his third season at Cabot Cliffs in Inverness, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the #1 rated golf course in Canada. Rob landed there with a turf degree from Olds College in Alberta and Poa-and-bentgrass experience at Capilano Golf & Country Club on Vancouver Island, BC. This winter he will travel to New Zealand to satisfy both his yearning for travel and to also put another bullet in his agronomic holster. Have a listen and see why Lee Strutt, Director of Agronomy a
Rockbottum CC presents "Stay Away From The Homeowners", Episode #13 in the acclaimed Golf Course Employee Training Film Series.
Learn what could happen if you become entangled in a golf course homeowner encounter and how to politely break contact before Karen captures your behavior in a TikkityTok.
So much of what happens in our daily lives is taken for granted. When you walk into a grocery store and you want a certain item, do you ever pause to think about how it got there? How often do you reflect on all the steps along the way that brought that certain piece of fruit or vegetable or loaf of bread to the shelf in front of you? Our lives are often times so busy and distracted that the idea of pausing and reflecting on how something comes into being seems like a foreign concept.
Most
Our latest All Star of Turf is Jason Haines, whom many in the industry will remember for his high profile social media presence (as @PenderSuper) that suddenly went dark several years ago. As the golf course superintendent at Pender Harbour Golf Club and later Sunshine Coast Golf Club in British Columbia, Jason developed (by necessity) a low-input, minimalist turf maintenance strategy that he shared and brainstormed with his Twitter following of 8,000+ before deciding to step away from social me
There are two sets of stone steps at my home in Vermont. One, leading up to the front door, was freshly hewn at a local quarry when we built fifteen years ago. The other, old and trodden, was rescued from an old church about to be torn down. The new steps are all crisp edges and smooth surfaces, appropriate for a formal front entrance, a testament to craftsmanship and quality of manufacture. They are beautiful but at the same time somehow sterile.
The old steps are across the drive and lead
The following is a reprint from 2007 for a special request.
True confession: I was a teenage night waterman. It began innocently enough, with an impact Rain Bird fixation. As a pre-teen golfer and offspring of a pro/super/general manager, my playing time often was compressed to that golden hour just before sunset when the big impact-driven sprinkler heads began to appear on the course.
They stood tall, threw water over 100 feet and emitted a soothing, rhythmic noise that could be he
In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, a serious discussion breaks out amidst the usual goofiness, pointing out how golf is about to enter The Fourth Turning. The Rockbottum gang attempts to prepare for the onset of anti-logic perpetrated upon golf by the Rad-Greens and other irrational, oxygen-starved attention seekers. Join us for the brilliance of Ludell, Momma, Willy and Boof as they duel with a carpetbagger from out west somewhere.
There are divisive forces among us, like the Anti-Golf protestors who descended upon a golf course up north in much the same manner as the traffic blockers in London or the farm occupiers in Holland.
They portray golf as a bunch of carbon-drenched rich folks still living on plantations. (Never mind that carbon dioxide only makes up a tiny fraction of the atmosphere and turning 200 acres of turf into free housing would mean even more asphalt hot spots and increased surface runoff.)
Gol
As Superintendents & Course Managers we manage a great deal on a daily basis. Conditioning of all sorts, staff issues, weather, member and customer expectations, budgets and financial drama… by times the list can appear endless. But there is one thing above all that, and based on how we manage it, can have a deep impact on not only our operations, but on our overall well being.
It’s the very thing that has the biggest influence on just about every decision and prediction we attempt eve
