In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, RW pulls a highly classified but long-buried StoryTime out of the vault. It's the kind of story where everyone involved is no longer around to object.
I had the pleasure of speaking to the 2022 graduating class of the Rutgers Golf Turf Professional Management School back in March.
I somewhat invited myself, I guess, since Robert Moinichen, class president, had contacted me over the winter in search of a speaker and asked who the most recent Superintendent of the Year was. Well, we don't do Superintendent of the Year anymore, I had to tell him, but if you're really stuck I'd be happy to do it myself. As a Rutgers alumnus with deep roots in
I have lived in the Midwest for a number of years. Although some may group all the Midwest into one image, this does injustice to the amazing variety of landscapes (not to mention people) that are here. One common Midwest misconception I had heard was that Kansas is flat. When I drove across Kansas, from Missouri to Colorado, I walked away (drove away as it were) believing this. I remember the hours of straight and flat driving until finally catching a glimpse of the mountains looming far ahead.
California's ill-considered attempt to convert municipal courses to affordable housing is expertly explained by John Reitman in a recent news article featuring Craig Kessler of the Southern California Golf Association. Craig played a key role in helping to defeat the bill, defending municipal golf and citing the critical role the muni plays in recruiting future players. In Reitman's article, Craig said, " . . . municipal golf is the meat and potatoes we all grew up on . . ."
That's a smoo
Imagine for a moment your life as a Superintendent without the idea of intention. Think of all the cultural practices, data collection and measurements. Think of crew management and leadership development. Think of all the things that we accomplish during the course of the season that require vision, discipline and intention. If our daily processes are not rooted in our core values; and they are not the soil from which everything else grows, the season can be long indeed.
Goals and discipli
In this episode, RW and the Gang reveal how to get nitrogen, along with a short demonstration of the perfect job interview and included is an extremely in-depth segment of Unfiltered News. Storytime is a conflagration of Homeowners hit by Balls and if you stay to the very end, you will be rewarded with information that might save your turf from thinning like my hair.
Occasionally one finds glimmers of light and hope amidst a train wreck, including the one cast upon us by Covid, the ongoing political circlejerks here and in many other countries, and now the strongarm antics of the madman across the water (no offense to Elton John) in Russia.
A somewhat convoluted happenstance when researching our weekly Turf Blog & Social Aggregator a few months ago led me to contact Stuart Butler, senior greenkeeper at Royal St. Georges Golf Club in southeastern En
Tyler Bloom, former golf course superintendent and current golf course labor specialist/entrepreneur, offers his insight into how the golf course industry, chapters, clubs and superintendents can best navigate the current shortage of assistant superintendent candidates.
In this rather insensitive film, Momma crashes her bike, Buddy reveals his true name and the secret of his success, Tiffany tells a horror story, Bodell and Jimmy Cole explain why they jumped off the assistant superintendent ladder and Willy details how the Wilsons survived decades of pressure golf through existential mountain biking.
Learn how you too can ride the mountain bike to attain improved mental stability, physical wonderfulness and at the same time, attract assistant superintenden
Jess Atmore, golf course superintendent at Arbutus Ridge Golf Club in Cobble Hill, British Columbia, grew up on a golf course but took a non-traditional route to becoming a superintendent. With a recent need to fill an assistant position, he took another non-traditional route to hiring one. In yet another departure from the norm, he manages his staff like a hockey team.
Tyler Guy, golf course superintendent at Signal Mountain Golf & Country Club near Chattanooga, TN, joins Peter McCormick to add his take on "Work/Life Balance" to the ongoing "Assistant Situation" conversation. After speaking in generalities for about half an hour, Tyler went on a tear so we cut right to that.
Jaime Matthews spent 13 years as an assistant superintendent before burnout and family responsibilities dictated a career move. Two years ago he took a position with Bartlett Tree Experts and appreciates the training, feels valued by a family business (albeit a large one), and is very happy with the change.
He has no complaints about how he was treated at the golf course, maintains friendships in the turf industry and works with several local golf courses in the Hilton Head area. "We use a
The Assistant Situation conversation moves toward the "fixing" stage with "three old bald guys", Kevin Ross, Rick Tegtmeier and (almost bald) Peter McCormick. Both career superintendents and industry veterans, Kevin and Rick discuss points made in previous roundtables and add their own from their experience climbing the career ladder and managing staffs and budgets.
A thoughtful and thought-provoking conversation between Peter McCormick of TurfNet and Jordan Kitchen, MBA/AGS at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ancaster, Ontario. Watch or listen.
Mindful Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. The ability of an object to spring back into shape; elasticity. (Oxford Dictionary)
So much of our job as Superintendents depends on our ability to build resilience into our systems. We focus a great deal of time and energy on building the ability for our turf to recover quickly from inevitable hardship. The full range of our cultural practices, from nutrition, to hydration, air movement and proper light levels are all
In my work I come across the term landscape restoration on a regular basis. Not every day, but frequently enough, and it usually comes from a stakeholder with an environmental agenda. I think this is a great thing. First because I love to hear from any of my stakeholders, but also because I think having an environmentally sound landscape is a very good thing. But what even is landscape restoration? Like many of our landscape management approaches, this phrase means something different to everyon
The second "Assistant Situation" roundtable discussion held on Monday, March 14 hosted by Peter McCormick. Participants included Ryan Segrue (Shorehaven GC, Connecticut), Tony Nysse (Mountain Lake GC, Florida), Richard Brown (Orangeburg CC, South Carolina) and John Emerson (University of Delaware).
In support of Peter McCormick's Roundtable Discussion, "The Assistant Situation", we reached deep into the Rockbottum CC film vault and found Ludell's take on the situation from 2014.
Condensed (30:00) and full (1:22) versions of the first "Assistant Situation" roundtable discussion held on Sunday, March 13, hosted by Peter McCormick.
Condensed podcast:
Full podcast:
Condensed video:
At Rockbottum CC, we have been hopelessly addicted to opiates of the endorphin variety for decades. * See the Rockbottum Blog post "Exercise, Brain Function and Depression" column and attached films dated August of 2019 for actual science talk.
Endorphins, generated by the brain, are the safest, most effective mood enhancement drugs available, although there are certain corporations that would prefer you did not know that. In the past, these companies were successful at suppressing the use
Every now and then we stumble across an idea or quote that gives us reason for pause. It could be we stop because someone else has suddenly crystallized perfectly a fragmented notion we have been working through in our own psyche. On the other hand, the idea could be one of those lightning bolt moments that catch us completely off guard and forces a hasty retreat into our opinion bunker to reevaluate things.
Recently I came across a quote that seemed to fall somewhere in the middle. I had
In our constant search for inner peace on the golf course, we offer this film from our Boots & Ruck division, entitled: "Flappin' & Honkin' ".
Normally, our stories from the military days are off-limits, but there was just no other way to impart this particular piece of wisdom without data-mining the trauma zone in my skull.
So lace up your boots, shoulder your rucksack and come along for some campfire coffee, philosophy . . . and a tiny little woodstove.
No instant cof
