After thirty years of walking on putting surfaces all around the world my feet can tell a firm green. I wear very soft soled Muck Boots that put my feet in close contact with the putting surface so as to assess the feel. A firm putting surface is truly a thing of beauty but what makes it so is that hollow sound.
I often use a stimpmeter to get a sense of ball roll distance on surfaces. For ease of measurement I simply flip the stimpmeter, roughly three feet in length to determine distance. It a
After thirty years of walking on putting surfaces all around the world my feet can tell a firm green. I wear very soft soled Muck Boots that put my feet in close contact with the putting surface so as to assess the feel. A firm putting surface is truly a thing of beauty but what makes it so is that hollow sound.
I often use a stimpmeter to get a sense of ball roll distance on surfaces. For ease of measurement I simply flip the stimpmeter, roughly three feet in length to determine distance. I
Success in any endeavor usually happens when talent, timing, motivation and knowledge are combined, producing positive results that draw positive attention.
While I may have been deficient in talent, timing and motivation, I did understand the part knowledge played in successful golf course management.
I could research something to death.
If I couldn’t find the answer, I contacted people in the golf industry who did know the answer; I tested, experimented and slowly gathered several notebooks
Success in any endeavor usually happens when talent, timing, motivation and knowledge are combined, producing positive results that draw positive attention.
While I may have been deficient in talent, timing and motivation, I did understand the part knowledge played in successful golf course management.
I could research something to death.
If I couldnt find the answer, I contacted people in the golf industry who did know the answer; I tested, experimented and slowly gathered several note
He could call it “The Teachings of Don . . .” No, that Carlos Castaneda fellow already used that one. Perhaps Don already has a title ready, one that will get across his message of common sense practical golf course maintenance strategies that result in lower overall costs yet still improve playability.
Everything I write seems to drift toward Hunter S. Thompson visits Golf in the Kingdom with Moe, Larry, Curly and Ludell on Halloween–with chainsaws . . . and guns.
It’s not often we ventur
He could call it The Teachings of Don . . . No, that Carlos Castaneda fellow already used that one. Perhaps Don already has a title ready, one that will get across his message of common sense practical golf course maintenance strategies that result in lower overall costs yet still improve playability.
I'd offer to help Don with the book, except his message might get twisted.
Everything I write seems to drift toward Hunter S. Thompson visits Golf in the Kingdom with Moe, Larry, Curly and Lu
Over thirty years ago I told Father McGuire, my NYC-metro area high school counselor, that I liked working outside. He replied, “Well, Frank, we have good farming schools here in New York state. You should learn to be a farmer.” So I enrolled in the Dairy Farm Management program at SUNY Cobleskill, where I quickly learned that dairy farming is half about cows and half about growing grass to feed them. After meeting Bob Emmons, professor of turfgrass science there, I quickly realized that I wante
I know no subject more disparate around the country than water management, especially of golf putting greens. In the desert southwest every drop is accounted for when water can consume up to $1 million annually. While in northern states water is applied gratuitously measured in minutes (not inches) with little regard for cost or precision.
Recently the use of moisture meters such as Spectrum’s Field Scout 300, provide an easy to use method for determining soil moisture and a defacto increase
I know no subject more disparate around the country than water management, especially of golf putting greens. In the desert southwest every drop is accounted for when water can consume up to $1 million annually. While in northern states water is applied gratuitously measured in minutes (not inches) with little regard for cost or precision.
With the simple poke of the meter into the ground golf course superintendents now have a number.
Recently the use of moisture meters such as Spectrums Fi
Its time for all of us to go through some kind of Transition.
For the Turfhead, it usually happens sometime before Memorial Day. Regardless of what sort of climate you find yourself going to war in, there is going to be a metamorphosis, wherein somehow, some way, your turf goes from something to something else.
Warm season grass jockeys have always understood things along these lines pretty well… and today are fortunate enough to have some tools to induce transition like the end of a long awa
It was in California, 1968, during the peak of the Viet Nam war protests, that I first heard the mystical rhythmic pulse of a big impact sprinkler calling my name, luring me into a career of nocturnal irrigationism. If only I had known that the glorious era of the Night Waterman was almost over.
After several years in in the cold, wet mountains of Bavaria, we arrived in the sunny San Joaquin Valley where Dad took a job at Sunnyside, an exclusive country club.
At Sunnyside, I was allow
It was in California, 1968, during the peak of the Viet Nam war protests, that I first heard the mystical rhythmic pulse of a big impact sprinkler calling my name, luring me into a career of nocturnal irrigationism. If only I had known that the glorious era of the Night Waterman was almost over.
After several years in in the cold, wet mountains of Bavaria, we arrived in the sunny San Joaquin Valley where Dad took a job at Sunnyside, an exclusive country club.
At Sunnyside, I was allow
As a survivor of several particularly vicious maintenance vs clubhouse feuds, I want to stress one thing:
That’s why the GCS should strive to create a productive working relationship with the clubhouse, except for F&B; they usually only respond to swift and forceful punishment.
Although I never used one, the GCS Blog has become my favorite tactic for insuring a strong relationship between clubhouse and maintenance operations. Chris Tritabaugh of Northland CC is a master of blog technique
As a survivor of several particularly vicious maintenance vs clubhouse feuds, I want to stress one thing: Nobody ever wins a fight.
Thats why the GCS should strive to create a productive working relationship with the clubhouse, except for F&B; they usually only respond to swift and forceful punishment.
Although I never used one, the GCS Blog has become my favorite tactic for insuring a strong relationship between clubhouse and maintenance operations. Chris Tritabaugh of Northland CC
Often spring comes and with it a good deal of Turfhead confusion about fertility. It may seem a simple reaction to whatever weather is or is not happening at the time. And certainly, warm or cool season climates have interesting spring weather and interesting challenges. That’s nothing new. So why all the questions, consternation, hand waving and intimate part length measuring that seems to go on every spring? I’ve tried to figure out what causes this and have a few answers.
(by the way, if yo
The golf car is not going away. The portable sofa is now inextricably linked to golf as our primary source of revenue; golf cars also provide young people with their only connection to golf through youtube fail videos.
Therefore, the GCS, the true heart of the golf industry, must search out and utilize newer, more effective ways to control the four-wheeled demon of the fairways,
driven by those who believe the golf course is merely a theme park with unrestrained electric versions of Kowalski
The golf car is not going away. The portable sofa is now inextricably linked to golf as our primary source of revenue; golf cars also provide young people with their only connection to golf through youtube fail videos.
Therefore, the GCS, the true heart of the golf industry, must search out and utilize newer, more effective ways to control the four-wheeled demon of the fairways, driven by those who believe the golf course is merely a theme park with unrestrained electric versions of Kowalsk
Not only has the season progressed rapidly in the Northern climate but the golfer expectations are ramped up as well. Often the pressure for peak performance is the greatest around US Open time. Now it seems with the weather a month ahead, the pressure is also ahead of schedule. DON’T GIVE IN TO IT. Be True.
When I’m talking about pressure to peak it is code for fast greens. You start pushing the greens now you are going to pay later. Do not push for speed now when you are pounding them with P
Not only has the season progressed rapidly in the Northern climate but the golfer expectations are ramped up as well. Often the pressure for peak performance is the greatest around US Open time. Now it seems with the weather a month ahead, the pressure is also ahead of schedule. DONT GIVE IN TO IT. Be True.
When Im talking about pressure to peak it is code for fast greens. You start pushing the greens now you are going to pay later. Do not push for speed now when you are pounding them with P
Do you understand golf course architecture?
A few years back, Ted, a GCS friend of mine, became entangled in a dispute between club members. It all started when a green committee member discovered the dark art of classic golf architecture by reading Brad Klein, Geoff Shackelford and Tom Doak and began to lord his superior knowledge over fellow committee members, the starter and the kitchen staff.
Following the pattern of a typical social struggle, the members without architecture knowledge be
Do you understand golf course architecture?
A few years back, Ted, a GCS friend of mine, became entangled in a dispute between club members. It all started when a green committee member discovered the dark art of classic golf architecture by reading Brad Klein, Geoff Shackelford and Tom Doak and began to lord his superior knowledge over fellow committee members, the starter and the kitchen staff.
Following the pattern of a typical social struggle, the members without architecture knowle
Here at the Rock, our long awaited VFCO (Vegan-Frootarian-Carnivorian-Omnivorsk) research findings are finally ready for publication. A little less than one year ago, our team of Rockbottum scientists set out to solve one of the most serious problems facing the modern GCS:
What to eat?
In any high-stress occupation, food plays an important role in long-term health, career adaptability and survival odds in the midst of an onslaught of Darwinian selection trials. Poor food choices plague the A
Here at the Rock, our long awaited VFCO (Vegan-Frootarian-Carnivorian-Omnivorsk) research findings are finally ready for publication. A little less than one year ago, our team of Rockbottum scientists set out to solve one of the most serious problems facing the modern GCS: What to eat?
In any high-stress occupation, food plays an important role in long-term health, career adaptability and survival odds in the midst of an onslaught of Darwinian selection trials. Poor food choices plague th
