I’ll start this post with a healthy dose of honesty. I’m tired. This year has been one chock full of a very many things, a lot of goodness, hardship, tough conversations, and wonderful connections. Now one could say, “well, that’s life”, and that is true… but 2019 was a solid one. As I sit down to write the last post of the year, I simply cannot deny the fact that the cumulative fatigue of the year has caught up with me.
When I find myself strung out, writing is tough. The flow of ideas an
In this holiday episode of Rockbottum Radio, among zero-environmental impact mowers and white-lightning eggnog, it's the annual Christmas dinner for the crew and a twisted attempt at caroling ("In the fairway we can build a snowman..."). Aint Feemy runs over a slow-play golfer with her cart for calling her a Boomer. And, for Storytime, RW tells about his most memorable Christmas (1977, after two seasons as an assistant superintendent), when he also discovered Clarence the angel and Mr. Potter.
Check out our Top 3 Skeletal Golf Tips of the Year!
#1: Dustin Riley of Oconomowoc Golf Club in Wisconsin, is this year’s big winner. Dustin wins the Rockbottum “Iron Skillet”* for his amazing tip on reframing tees to fit your spray rig. (See TurfNet Forum) Instead of just topdressing heavy or capping and leveling a tee designed and built by somebody with no GCS experience, Dustin explains how to reframe the tee to the specs needed to match your spray rig. This is brilliant SGT thinki
The email from GCSAA said that it would take 8 minutes to do my Member Needs Assessment. Mine took 22.
Because I am slow and because I am wordy. I also took the time to use my Twitter feed and tweet about doing it and to encourage others. And I emailed three influential supers in my world and asked them to weigh in. So let's call it an even half hour. At my current billable office rate, that runs the abacus to about $100.
A year ago, I wasn't a GCSAA member. I had taken a break for j
Holidays are all about traditions, so it's appropriate that I sit here this Thanksgiving morning contemplating and writing. It's what I do, for some reason, like splitting wood on New Year's Day.
(Reading this after Thanksgiving? You may want to skip to here.)
This is an odd Thanksgiving for us, with no bird destined for the oven, no casseroles or side dishes in the making. Daughter A is rotating off with Hubby's family (at her chagrin, I'm sure), but a tradeoff for Christmas. My mothe
In this short film from our "Boots & Ruck" division, we explain how you can take a mental break by practicing "Forest Bathing".
*Note: If you absolutely cannot remain clothed to Forest Bathe, we suggest you at least keep your boots on.
It should go without saying that accomplishing work is why our teams have jobs. It should also go without saying that while at work we should all be working. In this post some of the atmospheric factors that may encourage more work will be discussed. I say some because improving the desire to work is not cookie cutter. Every team is unique and comes with their own dynamics, motivations and deterrents for work. And, even when everything seems to be coming together, it is challenging to maintain t
I can sit here and say that it isn't my fault. It is. But for the sake of my own argument, let me suss it out.
I didn't want to get pet hair all over my nice clean pants. So I hung them in a different spot so they would be ready to pack. It made sense to me at the time. But after a few decades of packing and being on the road, you develop habits. And hanging those pants where I did was out of my usual checklist. I should have known.
So I went on to think about the outfits I wanted to p
All superintendents have to-do lists. It doesn’t matter how one manages them — smartphone, tablet, app or even manually on a piece of paper — they guide our days and can shape us as much as they shape our courses.
Many of us live and die by these lists. The blueprint they provide us is essential to what we accomplish on any given day, week, month, or over the course of the season. But what is your relationship to that list? Is it a positive source of clarity and organization? Do you pause a
In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, RW seeks to avoid offensive discourse by installing a special Podcast Offensive Warning Device (POWD), which emits a BS alert when anything potentially offensive is emitted.
The screen-free gang at Rockbottum CC receives the worst-ever Social Credit Score, forcing Momma to retain a Social Engineering Expert -- Horton Pantslow -- to bring Rockbottum CC into the modern era. A mandatory staff meeting after lunch ensues.
The first lesson of Horton's sem
While working as branch manager for a large landscape contracting company one of the maxims I heard was “re-work kills us”. I agree with this completely, but also know there are other production related issues that kill (diminish) my team’s ability to successfully complete our work. For this blog post I am not focusing on equipment failures, budgetary shortfalls, non-professional meddling, or even the weather. I want to start a discussion around how my team stops itself. For some actions, or la
Now that the US Government has admitted UFOs are real, (See The Youtube, F-18 gun camera) I feel safe in pursuing the link between UFOs and golf. The photo below, taken two years ago on a golf course in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, by Rockbottum Dave, is unretouched. Dave was doing his Irrigation Tech thing, when he accidentally captured a shot of a UFO. (Is it “a” UFO or “an” UFO?) We featured this photo in a short film, but viewers assumed it was just more of our filmic trickery and ignored it.
I walked into the Lobby of the Embassy Suites with my heart racing. I was meeting with Ron Whitten, the author of a bunch of great golf books and all the architecture stuff for Golf Digest. Ron had asked me to meet him and tell the deepest personal story I have. And while I have told bits and pieces of it here on TurfNet, this is another level of exposure. And I wanted to run. Away. Far.
"You are a fucking disaster, Wilber", my head screamed. Loudly.
Three hours later, I emerged from R
In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, RW reveals who is poaching our assistants, equipment techs and crew members, while explaining how to defeat the Mole People with careful use of the TurfNet Jobs board.
In "Storytime" he tells about the time the Mole People almost got him.
Also, Boof gets into it with Aint Feemy about her yoga pants, the gang provides a few tips to help determine whether your course is operating under Skeletal parameters or has just hit Rockbottum, and the Anti-Golf
Chicago, IL is fabulous city. Because my home in Springfield, MO is relatively close (8 hours drive, which in the Midwest US may as well be next door) and because I have a sister who lives there, I make the trip 2-3 times a year. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the city is the architecture, including that of the landscape. One of my favorite classic landscape architects, Frederick Law Olmsted, practiced there, and work of one of my favorite current garden designers, Piet Oudolf can be seen there (
Not long ago, a group of some of the smartest folks in golf maintenance approached a powerful entity about presenting a class or a panel or a Ned Talk dealing with the mental pressures faced by the modern turf pro. I don’t know the backstory on this, but from what I surmised from a few tweets, it was received with a negative vibe. However, I do know that in Rockbottum CC Philosophy 201, a basic tenet states: “Insecure folks, when presented with a great idea, will often suppress it until they
And so it was, that in the last days of August, as the members became even more snippity and finicky and fickle, Rockbottum CC came to the rescue like . . . Batman. (1965 Batman, not the current Dark Knight--he's too much like a board member.)
Because our mission, as it has always been, is to lighten it up and keep you from shoving a golfer’s head through the new sheetrock in the restroom on #4.
A few weeks back a good friend, Michael Vessely (Culver Academy) reminded me of someone special who has had a profound effect on my life. He was not someone I ever met in person, but nonetheless always felt a deep connection with. This person had that kind of effect on all those he touched, met, and taught. I’m speaking of cultural icon, instructional painter, and humanitarian, Mr. Bob Ross - creator and host of The Joy of Painting television show that aired for many years on PBS.
You
Rockbottum Radio is back from summer hiatus with a primer on how to get the big money as a big-time superintendent (and all the stress and pressure that goes with it). Be careful what you wish for!
Randy waxes nostalgic about the days when golf course maintenance was relaxed, laid back and without the negative energy prevalent today.
And in Storytime, Dad made the big time and what they learned during the short time they were there.
I've always been baffled by the human condition that causes people to take one side or position, non-negotiable, unbudging. I am especially baffled by a stubbornness of opinion so great that it causes someone to crash, all the while thinking they are "on the right side", their only side. I'm reminded of a story I heard once where an airplane pilot who was "not a GPS guy" flew a plane equipped with GPS mapping into the side of a mountain. He spent three days crawling with two broken legs before h
