"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these." George Washington Carver
So much of the information we ingest on a daily basis is based on judgment. Take to Facebook, Twitter, or even your daily newspaper, and you will find no shortage of opinions on any range of topics. In our race to share, like, or tweet, someth
Just back from a week-long tour of Sweden and turned on the Golf Channel coverage of Pinehurst. Brandel Chamblee and Frank Nobilo sat with Coore and Crenshaw, then with Don Padgett II and of course the topic was the "restoration" of #2. I think rather it is a transformation in that it offers the entire golf industry a chance to transform a culture that many leaders of the game now argue has taken golf down an unsustainable path.
Chamblee stated, "maybe we should call them putting surfaces, i
We recently visited with Super-Sod's Ben Copeland, Jr., in Fort Valley, Georgia. Ben is another of those forward thinkers, one of the sharp minds driving the leading edge in the turf business.
Like Mark Hoban, Chris Cupit, Mark Esoda and Anthony Williams, Ben Copeland is helping the turf industry to develop an aggressive defense mechanism by taking a proactive environmental stance. Testing new techniques and implementing successful variations customized to individual operations could res
Continuing with the theme of 'preparing now for career opportunities later' I started in my last article, consider this:
Spend more time networking and playing golf with members and business people instead of your superintendent peers.
Why do I say instead of your peers? Because your free time is extremely limited and you have to put effort where it will be most valuable to your career opportunities. I am not saying to abandon colleague communication at all, I mean we are all on TurfNe
In Part 3 of 'Chasing Rivermont", Megan Hartman from the University of Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin, arrives at Rivermont early one morning to implement test procedures.
Aided by Robert Nelson, Megan begins work on over 200 plots, using commercial products and Mark's special brew at varying rates.
The Rockbottum crew was there to record the initial phase and will report back on UGA's findings.
Ludell, Rockbottum Films' producer/director, tested Mark's compost brew and qu
On the morning of May 18th, 2014, I awoke to find my mom on the floor. She was unconscious. She had a pulse and she was breathing. She was face down next to her bed. From what I could figure she had tried to get out of bed on her own and passed out. I rolled her onto her back and tried to get some kind of response. None. At all.
I knew this was coming. I didn't know how or when, but I somehow I knew. Signs? Plenty of them. But still, there are things that just don't put themselves on the cal
'Chasing Rivermont' is a Rockbottum film series about a country club near Atlanta with a practical, comprehensive plan for facing the future of golf.
Chris Cupit, Owner/GM of Rivermont, grew up in the golf industry, thoroughly grounded in realistic golf management. Cupit is not one of the wild-eyed money people that burst into golf during the artificial growth spurt triggered by a foundation. He is very aware of the difference between the game of golf and the corporatocracy of golf.
As superintendents, we are masters of the plan. We are constantly generating schedules, programs and standards for our courses. We work with our management, architects, arborists and agronomists to chart the course for our properties and make them all they can be. But then life happens, nature happens, and our best laid plans go astray. It is at this point that the best greenkeepers shine. They are able to take the hiccups and trap doors and use them to their advantage. Whether it is a major ra
Last weekend, in the lounge of the GCS Rest Home and Asylum, we were watching a TV show about sunsets and separate outdoor bathtubs on the ED Channel, when they interrupted regularly scheduled programming to show a golf tournament.
We watched in horror as a skinny fellow in bedroom slippers marked his ball repeatedly, obsessively changing the alignment of a magic line on his ball. His behavior was apparently contagious, as we all began to flinch, twitch and squirm.
Nurse Diesel, our com
With the "hot 100" days of summer approaching, I thought it would be a good time for a post on preparing now for the inevitable job searching season that follows in the fall and winter. As we all know, the three summer months in most areas of the country are extremely busy on the golf course, demanding long hours and focus on saving turf conditions.
Year after year, the same thing always happens come September... a great job opens up and I get a multitude of calls to see how quickly a caree
I enjoyed watching last week's coverage of the PGATour's Major Event-The Players Championship. As a Turf Geek - a'la Dave Wilber - I am obsessed with any talk of turf conditions and especially when they ask for player comment and now with Shotlink Data - It is a GEEKS Dream! I wish the discussion included how nimble the Tour Officials and Agronomy Staff were at adapting to the situation at hand.
The focus of the talk was the weak putting surfaces. The commentary had so many angles to it from
There are times when wisdom dictates one must capitulate to the pressures created by the irrational Cult of Customer Service--so we shot this instructional film:
"How To Woo Your Members".
If you haven't read my last TurfNet blog post, it may help you here. I'm simply overwhelmed at the amount of amazing stories, offers of support and awesome advice that have come my way. Posting that piece was a deeply personal act, one which I wasn't sure that I should do. Really. It may read with ease, but it was far from easy to write.
I'm always trying to integrate work and life. I've never believed in the concept of work and play and life as separate things. I see them as coordinated a
From USA Today, 4/29/14:
The U.S. Department of Homeland security is advising Americans not to use the Internet Explorer Web browser until a fix is found for a serious security flaw that came to light over the weekend.
The bug was announced on Saturday by FireEye Research Labs, an Internet security software company based in Milpitas, Calif.
It is recommended that users and administrators "consider employing an alternative Web browser until an official update is available."
Th
With spring upon us (well, most of us anyway... it is still very cold with some snow on the ground in our neck of the woods), our thoughts turn to renewal, newness, and potential. The last one really struck me over this past weekend. As I was sitting staring at the instruments in my living room (upright piano, bass, fiddle and multiple guitars), I reflected on what tools like those mean to different people.
To artists, writers and musicians things like a blank canvas or a grand piano represe
Here at The Rock, we haven't had a confirmed case of Augusta Syndrome for years, mostly due to the economic climate. Our patrons just can't afford annual trips over there. The other reason has been the facial recognition software employed by Augusta Security Specialists.
This year we suffered an outbreak of AS when a dozen of our patrons chartered a Toyota Tercel and went on a pilgrimage.
Tilda Mae Wooten and her husband Tooten returned with a demand that we install a cupola on top of
A few weeks back I was reading through a blog I follow and fell upon this post: becomingminimalist.com i am flawed. It sums up the importance of owning up to our flaws and accepting them. It presents the premise that only when we face our flaws honestly and accept them, can we move forward and work towards change.
The blog spoke to me in a few important ways... the first reminding me of the power of awareness. Do you remember that old tag line during the little life lessons from the ABC aft
Awhile back I put together some suggestions on creating solid resumes (article here) and received quite a bit of feedback and questions regarding one of the points:
A true resume is one page in length and is meant to summarize your career. Create a separate document that has all the extra bullet points, call this a portfolio, career anthology, etc. Create a large link icon or text link to the more lengthy document on the resume. Now you have both options for the hiring person available at t
Rockbottum CC has a unique approach to meetings. We gather the BOD, Stockholders, CFO and all the Committees together to increase communication and save money.
