A few days ago, my aging dumb-phone was overwhelmed with a barrage of text messages, all worded the same: Billy Jack is Dead.
There are quite a few folks aware that the character of Billy Jack was my hero and role model and they wanted to sympathize with me. Joe, my best buddy from high school, (Known as Jo-dell in Rockbottum Land) assured me he was handling the news in an honorable way, by wearing a black tee shirt, blue jean jacket and walking smartly around the house singing "One Tin So
In addition to being a "science blogger guy" for TurfNet, I am also a TurfNet Member. I'm a TurfNet member because I learn a ton of stuff from the webinars, the forums, and of course my fellow bloggers as well as Randy's Vlog!
I am personally psyched about the upcoming "Quality of Cut" week. I can't wait to hear the scheduled industry leaders try and explain the mystery of reel mowing. I researched and read about the history, development, and latest innovations of the reel mower in the mid-2
"One forgives to the degree that one loves." Francois de La Rochefoucauld
I had planned on a different post this week, but the recent death of Nelson Mandela changed my mind. I am not sure if there has been another person in my lifetime who has effected as much positive change as he did. He was many things to many people; a revolutionary, a saint, a shrewd politician... but for me personally his greatest lesson came in his ability to forgive.
Mandela spent 27 years of his life imprison
I'm pretty sure that the whole "what do you do in the winter?" thing has pretty much been beaten to death in the popular turfgrass press. After all, pretty much everyone knows that you spend your winters spinning tunes in the shop and inventing new ways to mow, blow and go. Right? Wrong!
It's almost like we have to tell each other that we really do actually do things. Sadly, we leave out the whole southern part of the US (and the world, really) when the notion is constantly entertained that
The Powers-That-Be in Golf do not want you to see this video.
We stumbled across this film while preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the date TurfNet first told us to shoot a video. The date was 15 December, 2005, and the video was Golf Car Control.
That first short film ended up getting over 100,000 hits and without thinking clearly, TurfNet asked for more.
The video you are about to see followed Golf Car Control, but was quickly suppressed and buried deep in the vault, due t
Recently a thread in the Forum was started relating to its use, and I offered some advice on mobile devices. I really enjoy viewing TurfNet from my iPhone due to the mobile version of TurfNet, which I had saved as a Webapp. In fact, it makes browsing the Forum just as easy as pulling up the Twitter app and viewing my feed from others in the industry. After thinking about this, I thought I would put together a tutorial in case very few out there knew about it. If you already use it, great... If n
Momma has a standard method for dealing with NTV events. (Nocturnal Teenage Vandalism)
I've never figured out how her method works, but I do know it dates back to her military service.
Momma was in one of those PSYWAR/PSYOP units and refuses to do things in a direct manner.
I was fortunate enough to take a few days off last week and take a fall trip with my extended family. This trip has grown into an annual family ritual that we all enjoy. This years edition took to the beautiful town of Mahone Bay, located on the south shore of the province of Nova Scotia.
While it was great to get away and recharge a wee bit, there was something else that caught a great deal of my attention while in this town. Mahone Bay is an old town with a rich shipbuilding heritage.
A few months ago, our training videos suffered a drastic drop in sales. We quickly determined the cause to be that McCord fellow's golf-specific safety training videos.
He has usurped our share of the market at the top of the training video world, so, in true info-mercial form, we are retaliating with a veritable blizzard of marketing, propaganda and borderline untruths.
"Too Many Hats", the video once ordered destroyed and later banished to gather dust in the Rockbottum CC vault, has returned for a short run.
For our Holiday Feature Film Fest, we salvaged what was left of "Too Many Hats"* and now offer it to you for entertainment while you feast on a turkey deep-fried in a trash can full of boiling oil.
"Too Many Hats" guest stars Peter, Jon Kiger, John Reitman, Dr. Nilknarf, Buddy, Esmarelda, Anthony Williams, Mike Mendias, Momma, Johnny Merrick, a fly
When we Turfheads are turned out into the pastures of the real world, all kinds of interesting things happen.
I hear the stories all the time. Chiefly, how, if X, Y or Z business would be run like we run our operations, there wouldn't be any hassles. Because, really, when you want to execute, we all know that a turfgrass professional is the one to call. Think about it. In some form or another you have had reason to say to the real world that they just need to think like "we" do.
My 10-ye
Over the past two weeks we have been on the road at trade shows throughout the country, last week supporting NYSTA in Rochester, and this week the Carolinas GCSA in Myrtle Beach. These events are great for superintendents to further their education and network, plus see the latest technology for the industry.
As an example, last week in Rochester we ran into a couple of former superintendents, Greg Moore and Paul Boyd, that have partnered to offer the Air2G2 service to a 15-state territory. Th
While it is easy for the international Golf Course Superintendent Community to get the wrong impression of Rockbottum CC, we strive to present an accurate image of our golf course, our personnel and our philosophy of golf course operations.
Our reputation as Ivy League intellectuals dabbling in daily fee golf merely to produce entertainment is a fallacy. We are not just producing entertainment.
We are a literal treasure trove of brilliant minds, a conflagration of golf philosophers, sav
Another nugget from the archives...
A discussion took place in the TurfNet.com Forum this past month about interns and their university-imbibed book knowledge but lack of any semblance of practical work ethic. Many have their sights set on the Superintendents Desk but with little or no understanding of the work. Yes, sometimes manual labor required to get there.
Isn't this the age-old gripe of one generation about the next? Those young kids don't know what work is. They have everythin
The mentors in my life have been a strange lot, coming in all shapes and sizes. Some have been quiet, while others never shut up. Most of the lessons were of the hidden sort, revealing themselves over time rather than cracking me upside the head. They have all played a part in shaping my life thus far and, if I am lucky, will continue to do so.
As superintendents we all have had teachers and mentors along the way. They taught us the nuts and bolts of the turf industry and, if we were fortuna
Ludell Hogwaller is this week's guest commentator.
When a skirmish breaks out like the one on the TurfNet Forum concerning the audio validity of analogic vinyl music in relations with digitized recorded media, I have to jump in with both achilles heels.
I can easily comprehend folks falsely claiming that friction driven gang mowers are obsolete or debating as to whether the Night Waterman will ever be a viable career, but I cannot sit idly by and listen to vinyl music suffer slander at t
The pathology papers are among the most popular at these meetings each year and this year was no exception. As I penned on Day One the the potassium effects on anthracnose was a highlight and it continued with an excellent presentation by Professor Ingugiato from UConn on Summer patch.
It makes sense that a root infecting fungi such as Summer patch would be worse when rooting is further restricted by compaction
Professor Ingugiato investigated the role of compaction, cultivation and M
As a GCS, I dealt with many of the same challenges that the modern superintendent handles on a daily basis: Disease pressure, irrigation breaks on Friday afternoon, other courses stealing my equipment tech and members suffering from Augusta Syndrome well into October.
But the one thing that beat me was shade.
I could grow bent in the shade, and fescue and St. Augustine and Centipede, but I was never able to grow good bermuda in shade. I removed a great deal of golf course shade, often
Watching my wife designing holiday cards for clients and friends reminded me of an important topic related to todays modern world: the hand-written note. Yep, when it comes to our industry, it still works, and possibly now more than ever. It can be used in seeking another position or improving your standing with members at your current club. Before we get into it, I'd like to include a snippet of an article from the Harvard Business Review (full article) about the topic that sums it up quite wel
The first day of scientific papers at the Turfgrass Science Division (C-5) is reserved for graduate student research presentations. Many of these bright folks are standing up in front of their scientific peers for the first time. I sat for over 7 hours listening to the latest in turfgrass research in 15 minute snip-its (that is the allotted time each presenter is given). It was GREAT!
Presentations ranged from bio-informatics (using molecular techniques to decipher plant responses) and herb
I'm inspired by Frank Rossi's latest TurfNet blog post today wherein he talks about being a Turf Geek.
I am. I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter to a lot of people. Certainly being very much into turfgrass has been misunderstood for as long as anyone has ever tried to grow or manage the turfgrass animal. And when I was bitten by the bug, sure has hell, no one (and I mean no one) understood me. There was a constant questioning of why I would even care from just about everyone in my life.
Tu
I am away from Cornell for the next five days in Tampa, FL at the Tri-Societies Meetings, i.e., Agronomy, Crops and Soils. This meeting will be attended by more than 5,000 scientists and professionals interested in the SCIENCE of crop production. You may wonder, what the hell are you doing at a meeting of Agronomists, aren't you in Horticulture?
I figure if I have a Ph.D., I have got to be a MAJOR turf geek!
Yes in NY, and when I was in WI, and many other states Turfgrass Science is i
I like to go places, see things and meet people. I just hate the process of getting there and back.
How much do I hate it, notably airline travel? Let me count the ways... I hate time inefficiency. I hate waiting around. I hate delays, mechanical or weather or otherwise. I REALLY hate missed connections and cancelled flights.
I hate a whole day to get somewhere, another whole day to get back, and then another day to recover from the process.
I hate being herded like cattle. It's i
