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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    Talk about going out with a bang.   In one of his last official duties as the TurfNet Superintendent of the Year, Dick Gray recently rolled out a renovated and refreshed Ryder Course at PGA Golf Club.   New TifEagle greens, paspalum tees, Celebration Bermudagrass fairways and new drainage adorn the Tom Fazio design. At first glance, the project is no big deal; after all renovations occur all the time. But this is not your run-of-the-mill golf course upgrade project.   Gray, who is 74, is coming off his fourth renovation project in four years since he was hired by the PGA of America in 2013 to bring its 72-hole property in Port St. Lucie, Florida up to standard.   Yes, 74.   The aggressive $10 million plan actually started in 2013 when new management took over the PGA's flagship property located about an hour north of West Palm Beach along Interstate 95. That change in management included Gray, the property's director of agronomy, and general manager Jimmy Terry.    Both were brought in as part of a plan to usher in a new era as PGA Golf Club, which includes four 18-hole courses, a six-hole short course and one of the largest practice areas anywhere, approached its 20th anniversary in 2016.   The project included a renovated and expanded clubhouse and covered all or part of the Ryder, Wanamaker, Dye and St. Lucie Trail courses and put to the test Gray's philosophy of being "tournament ready every day," a mantra he has embraced since the early days of his career dating to the 1960s in his native Indiana at Pete Dye's famed Crooked Stick. And it's a philosophy he has maintained throughout his career at some of the best courses in South Florida, including Sailfish Point and Jupiter Hills, and the Dye-designed Loblolly Pines in Hobe Sound, where he was the construction and grow-in superintendent. Gray, who has a masters degree in restaurant, hotel and institutional management, also was the architect and general manager as well as construction and grow-in superintendent at the Florida Club in Stuart.   When it comes to building and rebuilding golf courses, Gray clearly knows a thing or two. But even his patience was tried at PGA, where he said conditions throughout were so bad when he arrived that he might not have accepted the job if not for his close relationship with the Dye family and an intense desire to help the PGA upgrade its brand.   "Dick Gray and his dedicated team have accomplished an impressive transformation that cements PGA Golf Club as a top golf destination in Florida," Terry said. "The renovations are shining examples of our dedication and commitment to provide great course conditions day in and day out to our club and PGA members, as well as guests."   PGA Golf Club opened in 1996, just about the same time Gray was carving out the Florida Club in Stuart and the Jack Nicklaus-designed Hammock Creek opened in Palm City, both just 20 miles south on I-95. Those three properties were the cornerstones of a building boom that ushered in a windfall of high-end daily fee golf along Florida's golf-crazed Treasure Coast a solid year before Tiger Woods became a household name.    Long after the Tiger effect has come - and gone - and after a recession that continues to gobble up distressed golf courses at breakneck speed, play dropped off and so did conditions. Enter Terry and Gray.   The project was a labor of love for Gray, whose commitment to fitness belies his age, and whose work ethic knows no peer. Gray knows a lot about growing grass and construction and he lives for sharing what he knows to make his team and the golf courses they manage the best they can be. So dedicated to the project was Gray that in the final run-up to the reopening of the Ryder Course and the impending winter golf season that Florida tracks depend on to make their hay, he declined the prize he'd won a year ago for being named the TurfNet Superintendent of the Year, a trip for two to Ireland and week of free golf, courtesy of Syngenta, the award's sponsor. His handiwork is gaining notice.   The Fazio-designed Wanamaker Course, which was restored in 2015, today is ranked No. 12 on the Golfweek's Best list of resort courses in Florida. The Dye Course made the list at No. 16. Time will tell if the Ryder layout will make the list.   The collection of golf courses that opened as the pride of the PGA to only become an embarrassment due to substandard conditions, finally has swung back in the right direction.   Now, that's going out in style.   The finalists vying to succeed Gray as Superintendent of the Year will be announced next week.
  • When it comes to facing - and overcoming - adversity, John Colo knows a thing or two. During the past several years, he's dealt with job loss and personal adversity that can test a person to their limits.
    "My biggest challenge was when I was let go from Hartefeld National Golf Club in August 2013 and then found out two days later that (wife) Peggy was diagnosed with stage III esophageal cancer," said Colo, now superintendent of the Hills Course at Jupiter Hills Club in Tequesta, Florida.   Rather than let such life-altering challenges keep him down, Colo, 46, prefers to be defined by how he gets up. His wife's cancer has progressed to stage IV and she continues to undergo treatment. Meanwhile, his seemingly endless supply of energy and positivity provide the couple's two teenage sons with an in-your-face lesson about overcoming misfortune that would make Norman Vincent Peale and Steven Covey blush.   "I'm just a glass half-full guy," Colo said. "I've never looked through rear-view mirror. My philosophy is to always look out the windshield and be better tomorrow than you were today."   To help keep him pointed straight ahead, Colo also has the luxury of a solid support network buoyed by a sibling.   Jim Colo is not just any brother. As twins, Jim and John are close.  As twins who happen to be golf course superintendents, they share a bond that others hardly can understand.    When John worked in Pennsylvania at Hartefeld National or the Country Club of York and Jim worked at The Alotian Club in Arkansas, they talked on the phone nearly every day on everything from labor and agronomics to club politics to checking on each other's children and spouses.   "We don't get too far away from each other in thought," said Jim, superintendent at Naples National Golf Club in coastal Southwest Florida since 2012. "We talk at least once a day. I've already talked to him once, and I'll talk to him again this afternoon. I'll ask 'What did you do at the course. How's Peggy? How are the boys?'We are both at clubs that demand perfection. It's about work and family, and we share that pretty closely."   The "elder" Colo echoed those sentiments - nearly verbatim.    "We talk once, sometimes two times a day," John said. "We talk shop every day. We talk about crew, hiring, equipment. Jim and I already have talked this morning, and I'll call him again this afternoon on my way home.   "Jim and I have always talked with each other - I think it's the twin thing happening - just about every day.  We are always talking shop.  It feels like the golf course has an extra superintendent working for them with the information and advice we discuss. We text and share pictures. We have great conversations on the phone on our way home from work - very open and honest.  Seems like Jim and I are leaving work just about at the same time.   "Jim has given me a lot of advice, guidance and a ton of support. It has been great to have Jim to lean on and discuss things with. We challenge each other." Natives of Painesville, Ohio, which is along Lake Erie northeast of Cleveland, the Colo brothers share a similar career path as well. Both are graduates of the two-year turf program at Rutgers.  I never lost my passion for the golf course," John said. "I knew what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do. I stayed true to what I knew, and I believed the right opportunity would be there to get back in the saddle as a golf course superintendent. John prepped early in his career for legendary Jim Loke first at Quail Hollow Country Club in Painesville, and again during the construction and grow-in of Bent Creek Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was a grueling time that served John well in the years since both on and off the golf course.
    "Jim showed me the ins and outs of the business then," John said. "He showed me a lot about turf - the hard way. And I learned.   "I learned how he dealt with the many chiefs in the clubhouse. I read his newsletters to the membership and I modeled what I learned from him and all the things that are thrown to you at one time. You have to keep moving forward."   Jim learned the trade in Florida under Steve Ehrbar, another Loke disciple and now his brother's supervisor at Jupiter Hills.   "Steve was Jim Loke's assistant at Quail Hollow," Jim said. "Steve worked for Loke, John worked for Loke and I worked for Bob Blaylock who worked for Loke, then I was Steve's assistant for seven years at Old Marsh."   Those experiences working for Loke and his prodigies helped toughen the Colo brothers for life on and off the course. When job loss struck John for the second time four years ago, he did what he had to do to get buy, staying busy driving a limousine and a UPS truck, plowing snow in the winter and working a landscape job in the summer so he could spend time at home taking care of his wife and their two sons. Still, he never waffled from what he believed to be his true calling - being a golf course superintendent.   "I never lost my passion for the golf course," John said. "I knew what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do. I stayed true to what I knew, and I believed the right opportunity would be there to get back in the saddle as a golf course superintendent. I had been away from the golf course for 20 months before landing a job as a superintendent, so I knew the challenge to get back after being away would be tough, but I knew I had the knowledge and the experience and a solid network to help me succeed."   That includes his brother.   Although they live in the same state, the Colo brothers are separated by 175 miles, so it's not exactly easy to pop in on each other, but they do see on another more often than they did when they lived 1,000 miles or more apart.   "We try to see Peggy as much as possible, and that's comforting," Jim said. "And we're there if they ever need help or help with the boys."   Said John: "We used to see each other only once or twice a year. We see each other a lot more since moving to Florida. One of the reasons we moved here was to be closer to Jim and his family."   It's a twin thing.
  • When summing up Paul O'Leary as a man and an agronomist, his successor at Ekwanok Country Club had two things to say: "He was a nice guy," and "He was a better superintendent than I was."   Those who knew him said O'Leary was a nice man and a great superintendent who could produce a top-notch golf course without spending a lot of money.   O'Leary, one of New England's most legendary superintendents, died Jan. 7 in Manchester Center, Vermont. He was 92.   A superintendent for 45 years, O'Leary was the head greenkeeper at Ekwanok, located in Manchester, from 1958 until his retirement late in 1994.   "He was frugal," said Joe Bushee, Ekwanok's equipment manager, who worked for O'Leary for more than 20 years. "He was all about saving money for the club.   "For the amount of money he spent, the course always was in excellent shape. He was very good at growing grass; that's for sure. He did a lot of renovations over the years, and he was very meticulous. When we built something, he was very particular as to how he liked things done."   Joe Charbonneau of Winfield Professional Solutions is a Manchester-area native and called O'Leary a lifelong friend as well as a mentor when the former was the superintendent at The Golf Club at Equinox, which is right next door to Ekwanok.   When it came to managing turf, O'Leary was one with the golf course, Charbonneau said.   "He was constantly on the turf. He had a feel for it," Charbonneau said. "Every day he was on every green, and he had Poa and bent greens, so he had to be on top of them, even in southern Vermont. I would ask him when he was filling his tanks how much N he was putting out there. He'd answer 'I don't know. About that much.' He just had a feel for it. He was an incredible guy."   Incredible on and off the golf course, and treated his employees with the utmost respect. Bushee caddied at Ekwanok and later moved onto the crew and eventually into the shop.   "I started as a part-timer," he said. "He kept giving me more and more hours. He trusted me with everything, and I really enjoyed working for him."   A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, O'Leary was old school through and through.   He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and liked to listen to the Big Band sounds of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. A man of deep faith, he attended church and prayed regularly at the altar of the Boston Red Sox.   O'Leary was introduced to the game like so many from that era - as a caddie. Later, he attended the University of Massachusetts and graduated in 1948 with a degree in agronomy. By 1950 he was the head superintendent at Warwick Country Club in Rhode Island.   A natural leader and mentor, he served on the board of the Northeastern GCSA and was instrumental in helping start the Vermont GCSA chapter.   "He was a turf gentleman," said David Berard, CGCS at Dorset Field Club in nearby Dorset, Vermont since 1987.   "He was very welcoming to new superintendents in the area. In fact, he administered my certification exam in 1995. He helped me off and on through the years with equipment issues and grinding. If you had a problem, he was always more than willing to help you out."   When Ted Maddocks succeeded O'Leary at Ekwanok on New Year's Day 1995, he immediately was cast into a unique relationship. For about 10 years after he retired, O'Leary, who would walk the property with his dog, Dan, popped in on Fridays for lunch with Maddocks and the crew, most of whom he had hired.   He was a welcome addition to the lunch table until health concerns eventually prevented him from attending. Maddocks is now the general manager at Ekwanok, and his son, Alden, is the superintendent.   "You had to have respect for him," Ted Maddocks said. "He was the superintendent here for 37 years."   The way Maddocks tells it, a lot of people had a great deal of respect for O'Leary.   When the elder Maddocks was superintendent, he and his family lived on the golf course in a home near the third hole. It was the same home where O'Leary and his family lived while he was superintendent.   Said Maddocks: "When I told people in town I lived on River Road on No. 3 on the golf course, they'd say 'Oh, you live in the O'Leary house.' It was never 'the golf course' or 'the Maddocks house'. It was always 'the O'Leary house.' "   When O'Leary retired, it signaled the end of an era at Ekwanok, Ted Maddocks said.    "Over the years, I made a lot of changes, and as I undid some things that he put into place, he never made a negative comment. All he would say was 'Ted, the course looks great,' " Maddocks recalled. "I cut down a lot of trees here, and Paul had planted a lot of them. I told him that when he eventually met St. Peter at the pearly gates, and St. Peter asked him what he did to make the world a better place he'd tell him 'I planted a lot of trees and made a beautiful golf course, but, God dammit, somebody cut them all down.'   "He was a very good superintendent, and I always said he was much better than I was. He did it with less money and got great results. I might have improved results, but I had to spend a lot more to do it, too."   O'Leary was preceded in death by his first wife, Rita, and daughter Anne. Survivors include his second wife, Elizabeth; daughters Kathleen (Joseph) Cassidy and Sharon O'Leary; sons Paul (Sherry), John and Kris O'Leary; and numerous grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
  • Winter has gotten off to a hot start throughout much of the eastern half of the country, putting superintendents on notice from Maine and Minnesota to as far south as Texas, Louisiana and Florida.   The National Weather Service recorded 3.5 inches of snow on Dec. 8 at Baton Rouge (Louisiana) Metropolitan Airport, and a coastal storm nearly a month later dumped the first measurable snow in three decades in Tallahassee, Florida, where it was colder on Jan. 4 than in Juneau, Alaska.   Also by Jan. 4, there were 5 inches of snow on the ground at the Clemson University's Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence, South Carolina, where Bruce Martin, Ph.D., conducts his research.   Prolonged cold throughout the Southeast has helped ease Bermudagrass into dormancy, making the cold a little more tolerable for superintendents there. Bermuda can withstand temperatures in the high teens to low 20s for a week or so, according to Martin, so many superintendents there have had covers out already.   "It's been cold here since Christmas, so the Bermuda is good and dormant," Martin said. "If it had been like last year, where we had green turf at this time, and then we got hit with this Arctic blast, that would have been bad news."   For those who don't have covers, the USGA Green Section says pine straw can be quite effective at protecting Bermudagrass from the effects of winter.   Superintendents into the northern tier of the transition zone who are managing Bermudagrass might have a harder time, Martin said.   "Covers are fine and dandy," Martin said. "But, if temperatures are in the single digits for five or six days, I don't know."   Gregg Munshaw, Ph.D., at the University of Kentucky noted soil temperatures of 30 degrees 2 inches below the surface at the A.J. Powell Research Center in Lexington. Temperatures like that probably won't kill rhizomes, but air temperatures could damage stolons. He suggests pulling a few samples now and placing them in a window with direct sun exposure to test their survival rate. He also suggests caution with pre-emergent herbicide applications in the spring.   Even in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, December doesn't usually mean large amounts of snow accumulation or severely cold temperatures. But late fall and early winter have brought near-record snowfall and freezing temperatures to many areas, and an early season storm dumped more than a foot of snow Thursday in the Northeast.     Snowfall totals from Detroit to Toledo to Pittsburgh to Philadelphia were well above the historic average in December. A total of 22.5 inches was recorded in December in Detroit, nearly twice the historic average of 12 inches. And Philadelphia tied a record when the overnight low on New Year's Eve slipped to minus-9 degrees Fahrenheit. From New Year's Eve to Jan. 2, the overnight low in Toledo was minus-2, minus-3 and minus-6, respectively and are expected to approach minus-10 over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. The Pittsburgh area, on average, receives about 8 inches of snow in December. In 2017, that number climbed to 14 inches.   Superintendents in northern states concerned about how these conditions might affect putting greens come spring shouldn't be worried just yet, says a leading expert on winter damage on cool-season turf.   "Snow is great. Even though it's cold, it's good insulation against these cold temperatures," said Kevin Frank, Ph.D., of Michigan State University.   "With as cold as it is, and the next couple days it's supposed to be even colder, there should be nothing going on under there."   Poa can survive under snow and permeable ice layers for 30-45 days, Frank says. Even with the two-week extended forecast calling for temperatures much colder than normal in the eastern U.S., there is little cause for concern just yet, Frank says.   "If you have any concerns about Poa greens, go out in next week or so and see what's under there. If there's snow and no ice, you're fine to let it ride until we get a melt in January, which we typically do," Frank said. "If you dig down and find crunchy ice, it still might not be impermeable. The only concern is if you dig down and find solid ice."   Superintendents managing bentgrass greens are more likely to have to deal with a broken water heater or furnace than winter damage, Frank said..    "Bentgrass will be OK for 90 to 120 days," he said. "If we don't get rid of it by then, we have much bigger problems on our hands."  
  • Tony Nunes symbolizes just about everything any golf course superintendent would want in an equipment manager.   He can build or fabricate just about anything. He teaches employees how to use equipment properly, then he drives the golf course to make sure they practice what he preaches. He is the go-to person to ensure that everything on the golf course and in the clubhouse at historic Chicago Golf Club is running the way it is supposed to. Tony is held in such high regard that when he was named the recipient of the 2017 TurfNet Technician of the Year, presented by Toro, his co-workers gave him a standing ovation and several members popped in to congratulate him.   If your equipment tech stacks up to Tony, nominate him or her for TurfNet's 2018 Technician of the Year Award, presented by The Toro Co. - the original award for golf course equipment managers.   Criteria on which nominees are judged by our panel include: crisis management; effective budgeting; environmental awareness; helping to further and promote the careers of colleagues and employees; interpersonal communications; inventory management and cost control; overall condition and dependability of rolling stock; shop safety; and work ethic.   Here's a tip: Use specific examples when describing what he or she has accomplished - the more we know, the better your tech's chances of getting noticed.   The winner will receive the Golden Wrench Award (a real gold-plated wrench) from TurfNet and a weeklong training session at Toro's Service Training Center at the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.   CLICK HERE to submit a nomination using our online form. All finalists and the winner will be profiled on TurfNet.   Deadline for nominations is April 15.   Previous winners are (2017) Tony Nunes, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Illinois; (2016) Kris Bryan, Pikewood National Golf Club, Morgantown, West Virginia; (2015) Robert Smith, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pennsylvania; (2014) Lee Medeiros, Timber Creek and Sierra Pines Golf Courses, Roseville, California; (2013) Brian Sjögren, Corral de Tierra Country Club, Corral de Tierra, California; (2012) Kevin Bauer, Prairie Bluff Golf Club, Crest Hill, Illinois; (2011) Jim Kilgallon, The Connecticut Golf Club, Easton, Connecticut; (2010) Herb Berg, Oakmont (Pennsylvania) Country Club; (2009) Doug Johnson, TPC at Las Colinas, Irving, Texas; (2007) Jim Stuart, Stone Mountain (Georgia) Golf Club; (2006) Fred Peck, Fox Hollow and The Homestead, Lakewood, Colorado; (2005) Jesus Olivas, Heritage Highlands at Dove Mountain, Marana, Arizona; (2004) Henry Heinz, Kalamazoo (Michigan) Country Club; (2003) Eric Kulaas, Marriott Vinoy Renaissance Resort, Sarasota, Florida.   There was no award in 2008.
  • For about a millisecond 10 or so years ago, Emerald Falls Golf Course had a bright future.   Designed by Jerry Slack, the course in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma opened to plaudits by raters and reviewers.   Then reality set it.   Recession and a real estate market that had caved in doomed the property near Tulsa just seven years after it had opened.   The loss of Emerald Falls is of little significance in and of itself. It's not Southern Hills, and few, if any, outside the Tulsa area will mourn its loss. But it is a snapshot of what was wrong with golf when money to chase that quest to "build a course a day" was all but free. And it makes you wonder where some people in the golf business turn for advice.   The history of Emerald Falls has been an exercise in bad timing, poor judgment and seemingly uninformed decision-making since the course opened more than a decade ago.   It is one in a long line of Exhibit A's of what can happen when real estate developers turn their focus on making a quick buck on land deals rather than understanding the nuances of a unique and tough-to-get-your-hands-around business like golf. It's a story you've read over and over in the past 10 years, and one you'll continue to read about again and again.   Located about 25 miles east of Tulsa, Emerald Falls was a real estate golf course that opened in 2007 . . . on the precipice of an economic recession that continues to influence the golf industry to this day.   
    The course was set for a redesign by Jack Nicklaus and, it was thought at the time, would open about a year-and-a-half later as the centerpiece of the resort. First Fidelity Bank thought otherwise."
     
    Few expenses were spared in building Emerald Falls, site of the high school state championships in Oklahoma in 2010. The greens were an A-1/A-4 bentgrass mix (no doubt a challenge to manage in Oklahoma's hot summers) and fairways were Zorro zoysia. Native rock mined during construction was used throughout the property to line ponds and as features on tees on the course that was named one of the best new layouts of 2008 by Golf Digest.   Like many real estate golf courses, the Emerald Falls was built not as a golf experience first, but to entice people into buying real estate and building homes in the surrounding development. When home sales lag and the brand new golf course does not turn an immediate profit, things have a way of spiraling out of control quickly in this business.    Indeed, the writing was on the wall.   The ensuing economic woes led owners Lucia Carballo Oberle and her husband, David, to close the course just seven years later, and those who played there have been waiting for a savior ever since. The new owner of the real estate development recently put to rest any thoughts of reopening the golf course. Instead, Capitol Homes, which bought the development last fall, plans to start building new homes on vacant lots around the golf course, which is being repurposed as a park that can be utilized by residents of the community and surrounding area.   Emerald Falls closed in 2014 when the Oberles announced plans to begin construction on an adjacent $122 million resort. The course was set for a redesign by Jack Nicklaus and, it was thought at the time, would open about a year-and-a-half later as the centerpiece of the resort. First Fidelity Bank thought otherwise.   With the Oberles already saddled in debt over the project - only 35 homes had been built on the 200 available sites - foreclosure proceedings ensued shortly after the closing, squashing plans for the resort and the redesigned golf course.    Loss of jobs is regrettable, but repurposing the golf course was the right move, albeit one that was avoidable. It's a sad story we've heard hundreds of times and will hear a hundred more on the course to self-correction.  
  • Jorge Croda, CGCS, has built a reputation, career and brand on his ability to resurrect golf courses from the dead in much the same way, according to the Gospel of St. John, Jesus did with Lazarus.   A native of Mexico, Croda, 54, first made a name for himself restoring the struggling Southern Oaks Golf Course in Burleson, Texas near Fort Worth. There he encountered a layout that in some areas had more weeds than turf, literally. In short order, he turned Southern Oaks around from an eyesore and what golfers there described as an embarrassment into a track that today is showing up on lists of some of the best daily fee courses in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.   Before putting his skills on display at Southern Oaks, he performed similar feats at courses in Mexico. Whether it was Croda personally, or the management company he formed that bears his name, he's had a hand in helping restore about 1:10 golf courses in his native country.   As if that were not enough, he also works help promote the golf course superintendent profession locally, as well as at the state and national levels, and does the same for members of his team, who, like him, are Mexican.  We're not done.   In an effort to help grow the game he is a certified First Tee coach, proving there is something everyone in this business can do to make it a stronger industry for themselves and others.   Not bad for an industrial engineer.   For his selfless efforts to grow the game as well as the people who work in it, Croda was named a finalist for the 2017 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.   Other finalists include Mark Hoban of Rivermont Golf Club in Johns Creek, Georgia, Chris Ortmeier of the Champions Club in Houston, Josh Pope of The Old White Course at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and Rick Tegtmeier of Des Moines Golf and Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa.   The winner of the 18th annual award will be named at 2 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Syngenta booth during this year's Golf Industry Show in San Antonio and will receive a trip for two and a week of free golf on the TurfNet members trip to Ireland in October, courtesy of Syngenta.     "When (Croda) assumed responsibility for the golf course in 2011, it was struggling. The Mark Brooks-designed golf course was known as exceedingly difficult and poorly conditioned," wrote J.J. Keegan, golf industry strategist and consultant, in nominating Croda for superintendent of the year. "It was just far enough away from the masses to discourage only the avid to make the drive. Today, it is more playable for all levels of ability, finely conditioned and has become one of the must-play golf courses in the region.    "The change from where it was then to where it is today speaks to Mr. Croda's dedication and passion in forming a team that was committed to excellence based on fulfilling the vision of a new owner."   A graduate of the Universidad Regiomontana in Monterrey, Mexico with a degree in industrial engineering, Croda spent the first half of his career conducting R&D in the agriculture industry, a field he said was wrought with stress. It was after a heart attack in 2000 that he realized he had to make some changes.   Shortly after, a friend invited him to help rebuild greens on a golf course, and it was then that Croda's life changed forever.   "I did it with no pay. I loved it," he said. "I had found my passion."   Croda's greatest contributions to the game, however, might be in how he gives back to help others.    For the past two years, Croda has been part of the GCSAA contingent that travels to Washington, D.C., on National Golf Day to meet with legislators and lobby on the industry's behalf, and he has been a North Texas GCSA chapter board member and GCSAA chapter delegate. He speaks at national and international events, promoting the role of superintendents throughout the world and last year was named his chapter's superintendent of the year.   He works just as hard to enhance the progress of members of his team, conducting career-development classes that include computer training and English language seminars to strengthen their employability chances in the U.S.   "Jorge has received many honors, and rightfully so for his efforts and hard work at Southern Oaks," said Ernie Abraham, the club's general manager. "Not only is Jorge a leader at our club, but for the golf industry as he volunteers himself to all ages of golfers including the First Tee program in Fort Worth, volunteering countless hours helping young people learn and appreciate the game of golf."    
  • Some golf course superintendents wear jeans and boots to work, while others opt for slacks and loafers. Mark Hoban might want to think about adding a lab coat to his wardrobe.   In four decades of managing turf in the Atlanta area, Hoban, 63, embraces what he describes as a holistic approach to golf course maintenance. A disciple of Palmer Maples, Hoban has been a leader in utilizing native turf to influence the appearance of a golf course as well as minimize the amount of water, fertilizer and pesticides they require.   Since 2005 when he was named superintendent at Rivermont Golf Club in the Atlanta suburb of Johns Creek, Hoban has expanded his quest toward sustainability to include research into and use of biological nutrients, including vermi-compost and organically enhanced topdressing.   If Rivermont is the barometer by which Hoban's success is measured, it would appear that he has discovered the end-all be-all of organic turf maintenance. He admits, however, that his program still is a work in progress as he continues to test the limits of how much water and synthetic additives he can withhold and still produce one of the Atlanta area's best golf courses.   "I can't wait for tomorrow. I want to do more of it, Hoban said of his drive to achieve sustainable turf management. "Unfortunately for me, I have my hands in a lot of different things. I'm a jack of all trades and a master of none. I can't wait that long for the answers. I want to find them on my own. I'm impatient.   Because of his role as a leader in sustainable turf management, Hoban has been named as a finalist for the 2017 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.   Other finalists include Jorge Croda of Southern Oaks Golf Course in Burleson, Texas, Chris Ortmeier of Champions Golf Club in Houston, Josh Pope of The Old White Course at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and Rick Tegtmeier of Des Moines Golf and Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa.   The winner of the 18th annual award will be named at 2 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Syngenta booth during this year's Golf Industry Show in San Antonio and will receive a trip for two and a week of free golf on the TurfNet members trip to Ireland in October, courtesy of Syngenta.   Hoban has developed a worm farm for use in creating compost that he brews into an organic tea fertilizer that introduce beneficial microbes, fungi and nematodes into the soil. He even has established an onsite classroom to further study the benefits provided by earthworms.   Those attending his classes have included Rivermont members, the club's junior golf camp participants, members of the community and scores of people from throughout the golf industry.     Hoban's latest work, in cooperation with University of Georgia microbiologist Mussie Habteselassie, Ph.D., has focused on trials to enhance microbial populations to determine the impact of synthetic chemicals used on golf courses. He also has several trials under way on tees, greens and fairways involving products from companies from throughout the country and around the world.    He also shares what he has learned through presentations at golf, garden and agricultural conferences at the local, state and national levels.   Hoban has a long history of practicing environmental stewardship on golf courses long before it was chic, cool or a public relations necessity.   He was the construction and grow-in superintendent at The Standard Club in Atlanta when the club physically moved to a new location in 1986-87 and guided the course to Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary status, the first course in the Southeast to do so.   A year after he took over as superintendent at Rivermont in 2006, he, in accord with architect Mike Riley and owner Chris Cupit, led a renovation that included converting almost 30 acres of turf to native grasses and sedges. It was the beginning of transforming the 1971 Joe Lee design from a typical suburban layout to an organic golf course that stood out from the rest in Atlanta.    "Mark has continued his research and has been a pioneer in organic approaches to turf grass care.  The University of Georgia and other researchers have descended on Mark's office and course to look at his worm farm, his compost tea brewer and his microscopes laden with Trichoderma and other unpronounceable critters, Cupit wrote in nominating Hoban for Superintendent of the Year. "A typical morning may see Mark on a tractor, looking through a microscope, brewing compost tea or on the phone with any of a number of scientists and researchers from across the country.   Despite his work during all or part of the past five decades, Hoban's work is hardly done. In fact, with pesticide regulations in place in many parts of the country and more sure to follow, he is barely scratching the surface.   "I still think this is the future of golf course maintenance, Hoban said. "Fortunately, I have just one owner and not 400 members with ownership, so that gives me the freedom to do this. Now, we still have to maintain a golf course, so if the greens die it will be 'to hell with that organic crap'. I'm more jazzed no about this than ever and what it holds, and it makes me want to get more into the research end of it.  
  • Overcoming the effects of a single major weather event might be enough of an experience to last a lifetime for many superintendents. But in just three years at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Chris Ortmeier has experienced not one, but two 500-year flood events. The second hardship came in the way of Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in southeastern Texas on Aug. 25, 2017, then stalled over land and dumped rain on Houston for several days.   By the time the rain had stopped, Harvey had dumped 34 inches in five days at the golf course, where 95 of 150 acres were submerged under as much as 15 feet of water. Near the pump house, water was up to the eaves of the roof, and boat was the best way to navigate the course.   It was a similar scene a year earlier when 15 inches of rain fell in a single day in Houston in April 2016, causing businesses and schools to close. By the time Ortmeier and his crew dealt with the effects of Harvey, they had the course back open for play 12 days after the rain had stopped.   "The good thing about Harvey was that by then we had refined the process of dealing with a flood," said the 33-year-old Ortmeier.   "As a superintendent, I am always looking forward. But looking back at what we've overcome, we did overcome some rather difficult things. So much of what we've accomplished is due to the hard work of the entire team here."   For the way he and his crew were able to spring into action and have things back to normal at Champions, Ortmeier was named a finalist for the 2017 Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.   Other finalists include Jorge Croda of Southern Oaks Golf Club in Burleson, Texas, Mark Hoban of Rivermont Golf Club in Johns Creek, Georgia, Josh Pope of The Old White Course at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and Rick Tegtmeier of Des Moines Golf and Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa.   The winner of the 18th annual award will be named at 2 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Syngenta booth during this year's Golf Industry Show in San Antonio and will receive a trip for two and a week of free golf on the TurfNet members trip to Ireland in October, courtesy of Syngenta.     "He has been forced to deal with the unthinkable flooding as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Chris guided his crews to bring all 36 holes back to member play quicker than anyone in the area," said Champions Club member Kyle Krahenbuhl in nominating Ortmeier for superintendent of the year. "Someone visiting the club for a round would not believe there had even been a storm event if not for the mountains of flooring and drywall removed from the devastated homes bordering the outside of the course which still remain piled for removal on the city streets. Chris's leadership in the days and weeks following Hurricane Harvey cannot be overstated."   Founded in the late 1950s by professional golfers Jack Burke Jr. and Jimmy Demaret, the Champions Club has a long history of excellence and major championship golf. The 36-hole facility was the site of the 1967 Ryder Cup Matches and the 1969 U.S. Open, the LPGA's Nabisco Championship in 1990 and on five occasions was the home to the Tour Championship (1990, '97, '99, '01, '03).   The club had the chance to take center stage again when, within days after Ortmeier and his team had the Cypress Creek Course opened and ready for play, club officials approached him about hosting the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur in Oct. 7-12 - just 44 days after reopening in the wake of a 500-year flood. The tournament originally was to be played at Quail Creek Club in Naples, Florida, but was moved after that area was affected by Hurricane Irma.    The request came straight from Jack Burke's wife, Robin, who was runner-up in the 1997 U.S. Women's Amateur, played on the 1998 U.S. Curtis Cup team and captained the squad in 2016.   "My first thought was why not move it to a place that didn't have a hurricane. The course in Florida had one and we had just had one of our own," Ortmeier said. "It was important to her to help out the USGA, so I told her 'let's figure out a way to get it done.' It seemed insurmountable at the time, but it turned out better than I ever could have projected to be honest. I'm glad we were able to pull it off."  
  • Mother nature wreaks havoc on golf courses with regularity.   Fire, flood, extreme heat and cold, hurricanes and tornadoes all are common foes of the golf course superintendent. But no one should have to endure what Josh Pope and his team experienced in 2016 and 2017 at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.   On June 23, 2016, just days before the PGA Tour's annual event at The Greenbrier's historic Old White Course, flooding rains washed out the course and led to the cancellation of the tournament. But that was only the beginning for Pope, the rest of the team at The Greenbrier and residents of southeastern West Virginia.   For what he endured and how he picked up the pieces - personally, emotionally and professionally, after all, some weren't so lucky - Pope was named a finalist for the 2017 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.   Other finalists include Jorge Croda of Southern Oaks Golf Club in Burleson, Texas, Mark Hoban of Rivermont Golf Club in Johns Creek, Georgia, Chris Ortmeier of the Champions Club in Houston and Rick Tegtmeier of Des Moines Golf and Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa.   The winner of the 18th annual award will be named at 2 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Syngenta booth during this year's Golf Industry Show in San Antonio and will receive a trip for two and a week of free golf on the TurfNet members trip to Ireland in October, courtesy of Syngenta.   As rain fell throughout the day and showed no signs of letting up, Howard's Creek that runs through the golf course overflowed and flooded half the greens on the 100-year-old Old White, parts of U.S. 60 that bisects the multi-course Greenbrier property and the tunnels running beneath the highway connecting the courses.   The next day, a marker noting the depth of a 1915 flood near the 14th green and 15th tee on the 1914 Charles Blair Macdonald design was 8 feet under water, making the Greenbrier Classic scheduled for July 4-10 an impossibility.   The flood was about much more than golf. It was a community-wide tragedy that washed away possessions, homes, memories and the souls of 23 neighbors. The remains of three of the nearly two-dozen drowning victims were recovered on The Old White Course.     The story of tragedy, loss and recovery is one that Pope has retold countless times at conferences, cocktail receptions and in passing.   "As far as I am concerned, there is no possible way anyone other than Josh Pope at Greenbrier Old White can win this award," wrote East Lake Golf Club superintendent Ralph Kepple in nominating Pope for the honor. "Hell, I think you should just name it after him! To take that disaster and rebuild it better than before while under an extremely tight time frame is one of the best stories ever."   Recovery over the next year with the help of architect Keith Foster was a complex relationship between trying to balance golf, work and personal tragedy in an area where the local economy is so reliant on the well being of The Greenbrier. Every step of the process was a constant reminder of the pain and suffering felt by so many.   "The focus was on the golf course and personal stuff," Pope said. "We'd come to work, then go home and help family and friends rebuild. I asked A LOT of my assistants. There was a weight on our shoulders to get the course back open. That helped bring the community back because of the economic impact of the (Greenbrier). It was huge to get golf up and running."   The race was on during the next year to make sure the course was ready for the PGA Tour, and the course opened for practice by the pros the Monday of tournament week. The pressure to bring the course back on time took its toll on Pope, who admits to suffering a minor breakdown in the final run-up to the tournament. Even when his boss, director of golf course operations Kelly Shumate, ordered him to go home, Pope felt he belonged at the golf course.   "My boss was next to me when it happened. I was hyperventilating because the tournament was 30 days out and we were still laying sod. I didn't think we'd be done on time," Pope said. "The stress level over the past year had finally hit me.    "I went home, took some deep breaths and took a shower, and then went back to work, even though I wasn't supposed to. I'm a high-anxiety person to begin with, and you know how superintendents are: We worry about everything, and I was worried about the golf course being done on time."  
  • Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet are cited historically as the first Europeans to set foot in what today is Iowa in the late 17th century. But when it comes to putting Iowa golf on the map, that credit goes to Rick Tegtmeier, CGCS, after the 2017 Solheim Cup at Des Moines Golf and Country Club, says one public official.   "In addition to providing the greater Des Moines area with a world-class golf facility, Rick's exceptional management has allowed the Des Moines Golf and Country Club and the state of Iowa to gain international attention as they hosted the Solheim Cup this year," said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey in nominating Tegtmeier for the 2017 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta. "This put Des Moines on the map and provided other great economic benefits to Des Moines and the state."   The Solheim Cup, won by the U.S. team captained by LPGA legend Juli Inkster, indeed was a big deal. It was named the top story in golf in Iowa by the Des Moines Register, one of the top five moments in women's golf by the PGA of America and could help launch Iowa into the LPGA spotlight on a permanent basis.   The tournament boasted full galleries, feel-good patriotism everywhere and a $32 million infusion into the Des Moines economy. At the epicenter of all of this was Tegtmeier and his team who together produced a venue that won praise not only from Northey, but from Inkster, 2007 Masters champion and Iowa native Zach Johnson, and what seemed like just about everyone else in the state of Iowa. In all, 25 people nominated Tegtmeier for the 18th annual award.   Other finalists include Jorge Croda of Southern Oaks Golf Club in Burleson, Texas, Mark Hoban of Rivermont Golf Club in Johns Creek, Georgia, Chris Ortmeier of the Champions Club in Houston and Josh Pope of the Old White Course at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.   The winner of the 18th annual award will be named at 2 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Syngenta booth during this year's Golf Industry Show in San Antonio and will receive a trip for two and a week of free golf on the TurfNet members trip to Ireland in October, courtesy of Syngenta.   The journey to the Solheim Cup was a long road for the club and Tegtmeier that began as far back as 2010 when the club adopted a master plan by original architect Pete Dye and his associated Tim Liddy. That plan included a massive renovation that began in 2013 and in which nine holes of the 36-hole property were closed and restored each year for four consecutive years.      That project was set into motion to improve conditions for the members, and would have taken place with or without the Solheim Cup.   Although the club voted to approve the master plan and the restoration project, shutting down nine holes per year over four years required Tegtmeier to be a master communicator and teacher to keep members abreast of what they were getting for their money. Throughout the process, he gave tours of the project, updated members at countless meetings and logged literally hundreds of blog posts throughout the duration.   "The work was for a lifetime for our members. The tournament was only three days," Tegtmeier said. "We worked hard to do it right for the membership, and the Solheim Cup benefitted from that."   Just ask Inkster, the Team USA captain.   "Players from both sides raved about the course conditions, in particular the greens and how pure they were," Inkster wrote in a letter nominating Tegtmeier for the award. "The 2017 Solheim Cup was an epic and historic display of women's golf played on an unbelievable state at Des Moines Golf and Country Club. I have been around a lot of golf for a long time, and can honestly say that the conditioning of the course for the Solheim Cup was among the best I have ever seen."   Staging a great golf course was only half the battle for Tegtmeier, who rolled out the red carpet for any superintendent in the state who wanted to be part of the event and help portray Iowa golf in the best possible light.   Nearly four-dozen of his colleagues with some tie to Iowa or Tegtmeier answered the call.   "The only professional event in the state is the (PGA Champions Tour) Principal Charity Classic. We don't have any other professional sports. Nothing," Tegtmeier said. "When you have event like this in state, it is supposed Iowa guys. In other places where they host big events, superintendents there get to be a part of that. In Iowa, we don't get that chance. I send assistants all around the country to get that experience, but my fellow superintendents don't get that chance. I went to the state conference and told them here's your chance.' "   The success of the restoration, the outpouring of support from within the industry and the product delivered for Teams Europe and USA all are directly attributable to Tegtmeier's abilities as an agronomist and manager, said Jim Cutter, general manager and chief operating officer at DMGCC.   "Rick is the total package; a leader who allows his subordinates enough space to learn and enough support to prosper and eventually be successful on their own," Cutter said.  "He understands the importance of his role as a fiduciary at the club. His team delivers an outstanding product on a daily basis. He is a lifelong learner . . . and last but certainly not least Rick is a true team player, always quick to help in any department where his help is needed."   Just ask other superintendents throughout the state.  

  • Top 10 stories of 2017

    By John Reitman, in News,

    From the loss of an old friend to recovery efforts after a devastating flood at the site, a lot happened in 2017.
     
    We've compiled a list of the 10 most-viewed stories on TurfNet in 2017. Click each headline to read the full text of each story.
     
    1. Turf community shocked by loss of Jerry Coldiron
    The TurfNet community and the turfgrass world at large were shocked Thanksgiving morning to learn of the death of Jerry Coldiron, Jr., CGCS, of cardiac arrest the previous evening, November 21.
     
    2. They don't get it - and they never will
    This year's Solheim Cup (shown on cover photo) highlighted much of what is good about golf. The event also shed light on some of the things that are wrong with golf, like the fact that those who don't live every day in the turf world have no idea what takes place behind the scenes to ensure such an event goes off smoothly.
     
    3. Assistant goes south for the winter to further career
    This has been anything but a typical winter for Brian Conlon. An assistant at Miacomet Golf Club on Nantucket Island, Conlon kept busy helping manage the golf course at one of Mexico's most posh resorts that is a retreat for wealthy business people and Hollywood celebrities.
     
    4. Penn State grad launches start-up to give new use to an old invention
    A product initially developed to control nutrients runoff on Florida farmland could help golf course superintendents use less water and fertilizer. And a business-friendly climate at a major university has helped bring it to market.
     
    5. Research pokes holes in golfer perception of putting green trueness
    It wasn't intentional, but recent research on putting green trueness might have pulled the rug out from underneath every golfer irritated by greens aerification. Researchers at Delaware Valley University have shown that recently aerified greens really don't affect  putting green trueness.
     
    6. Cal superintendent says economics dictate adopting new technology
    Life as an early adopter of new technology often means walking a fine line between being a cutting-edge turf manager and someone perceived as a someone who just likes the latest gadgets.
     
    7. Aussie bunker method provides consistent conditions, saves on labor
    An alternative method to bunker maintenance utilized during the 2011 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia minimizes the time workers spend hand raking by devoting attention only to disturbed areas, allowing superintendents to devote resources where they are needed most.
     

     
    8. Muirfield hits its Mark
    As a student at Ohio State and during the early stages of his career, Chad Mark always viewed Muirfield Village Golf Club as his dream job, but he never for a second entertained the idea that he might one day land a job there.
     
    9. Laurent has worn many hats through the years
    Fifty years after he started in the golf business as a teenager mowing greens in Indiana, Terry Laurent's career highlight didn't come while preparing for a major championship. It came while playing in one.
     
    10. A career-defining moment
    When deadly floodwaters washed out the Old White course at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and the PGA Tour event that was to be played there, Josh Pope played a key role in leading a revival of the 100-year-old layout and the tournament.
  • TurfNet in January will begin its 11th year of offering Web-based education. In conjunction with BASF and Grigg, TurfNet University will produce a minimum of 24 webinars in 2018.    The schedule begins Thursday, Jan. 4 with Anthony Williams, CGCS, of the Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas, who will present a career- and personal-development webinar entitled "Jumpstarting your career in 2018".    Williams will discuss how setting career goals for 2018 and beyond and working to attain them can help ensure career longevity.    When it comes to facing - and overcoming - adversity, Williams is something of an expert.   In a span of just more than two months in t2014, he lost his stepbrother in a car accident, his wife suffered - and survived - a massive heart attack and Williams himself underwent emergency open heart surgery. About a year later, his position at Stone Mountain Golf Club near Atlanta was eliminated, leaving him without a job.   His presentation in January will include how to establish realistic standards and how to go about working toward achieving them. He also will talk about how to market yourself, from self-promotion and public relations strategies in your current position and resume-writing and other career advice tips designed to help you realize your next opportunity.
  • Looming championships might make for a convenient excuse for a golf course restoration project. But truth be told, the famed Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio might be going under the knife even without the beckoning call of the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur and the Solheim Cup in 2021.
      Scores of mature trees and years of architectural updates and design changes had moved the course where Byron Nelson once was the club professional too far afield from what Donald Ross had envisioned when the club in southwestern Toledo hired him in 1916 to expand its original nine-hole layout to 18 holes.   Questions like "What are we doing?" and "What do we want to be?" had become common around the clubhouse said John Zimmers, 48, who became the club's superintendent last April after 18 years of managing the world's fastest greens at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh.   "Back in time" has been the overwhelming response to those questions.   "The history here at Inverness is unbelievable. The members have made a commitment to upgrade the facilities and the golf course and get it back close to what Ross had built," Zimmers said.    "This project is more for the members and everyday play. It's needed new bunkers for a long time and several holes no longer are part of the original design. The members wanted to take it back to the way it was in the early 1900s."   The club hired golf course architect Andrew Green to draft a master plan that included a restoration strategy of the course that Ross considered one of his favorites. Together with Zimmers, who rewrote the book on projects in nearly two decades at Oakmont, and McDonald & Sons, the Maryland-based golf course construction contractor that has moved more earth than Mount Vesuvius, Inverness has an all-star team in place to recapture the glory of Ross.   The project includes rebuilding all bunkers, some new contours, a few new tees and recapturing four holes that have been lost over time during previous restoration projects. The mounds, humps, bumps and valleys that Ross put in a century ago remain.   Although the new holes won't open until Zimmers says they are ready, most of the rebuild was completed through the golf season without a single hole being closed for play. Juggling the day-to-day management of the golf course and major projects is nothing new for Zimmers, who was seemingly always involved in large projects at historic Oakmont, where he prepped for the 2007 and 2016 U.S. Opens, 2010 U.S. Women's Open and the 2003 U.S. Amateur.    There, he oversaw projects like the building of numerous bridges over and a wall alongside the highway during a Pennsylvania Turnpike construction project, the removal of thousands of trees, the Oakmont East Course project that transformed a cozy nine-hole layout into what essentially is a permanent staging area for the U.S. Golf Association. The course has been the site of nine U.S. Opens and three PGA Championships.   Those many projects include working hand in hand with city, county and state entities, railroads and federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and FBI.   "Members here (at Inverness) ask how I'm able to do something like this and take care of the golf course, too," Zimmers said with a smile. "They don't realize, managing projects while taking care of the golf course is all I did.    "I've worked with Andrew and McDonald before, and between the three of us we have a lot of experience doing this. We lost some time because of the weather, so we didn't get finished. We'll get it done."   Changes to reclaim the glory days of Ross include reworking Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 8. The first is a replica of the second hold at Inverness that Ross built in 1916, while 4 is a recreation of the original No. 7, 5 is a replica of the original No. 13 and No. 8 is patterned after the original 6th hole, according to the Green.   Inverness has a storied past of its own. It has been home to four U.S. Opens (1920, 1931, 1957, 1979), two PGA Championships (1986, 1993), the 1973 U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Senior Open in 2003 and 2011.   Byron Nelson was the club pro there from 1940-44 and a grandfather clock in the clubhouse was a gift from Walter Hagen and other touring pros when the club became the first to let playing professionals into the clubhouse during the 1920 U.S. Open.   Green began working on the project with Zimmers' predecessor, Chad Mark, who left earlier in the year to accept the Muirfield Village job. The midstream change in superintendents was a concern for Green, until Mark's successor was named.   For those who think such a project might be just for the U.S. Junior Am or the Solheim Cup, the Master Plan includes new greens throughout the rest of the course as well, which won't be rebuilt until after the Solheim Cup in 2022, Green said. The project puts the course back on the map of great Ross designs.  
    There is such a deep sense of caring and ownership in the Inverness project from everybody. It's been so much fun and the end product is good because everyone is so invested in it."
     
    "When Chad left to accept an amazing opportunity to work for Jack Nicklaus, I wasn't sure what would happen to the project, because it had already gained tremendous momentum," Green said. "When we found out they were able to bring John into the fold, you knew the project was in good hands with his experience and knowledge and what he brings to the table. He leads with a quiet confidence to make sure a project is the best it can be, and the membership got right in behind. It has been a great relationship and a lot of fun. It's been great to work with someone who had the vision and could see the end goal."   Zimmers and Green had worked together before, the first time for the 1995 U.S. Open when Zimmers worked for Paul R. Latshaw at Congressional just outside Washington, D.C. Green was a volunteer then and was on bunker raking duty. He also spent time working for McDonald & Sons, and any time a shovel was moved at Oakmont, it usually was McDonald & Sons that was moving it.   "There is such a deep sense of caring and ownership in the Inverness project from everybody. It's been so much fun and the end product is good because everyone is so invested in it," Green said. "The membership has been fantastic. They all cared so much about what we were doing. Every time they came to play golf they found something new and exciting. They had a lot of patience for us working around them, and I think they appreciated us giving them space to play and enjoy the game. John always has done that at Oakmont, so he understands how that works, and McDonald, the majority of their work on renovations is done around play."   As Zimmers describes the changes that have been made at Inverness Club and those that have yet been made, there is an unmistakable spring in his step and a glimmer in his eye.   "I'm excited for the members," he said. "They are extremely proud of their club and they should be. I'm proud to be part of it."   For someone who has redefined the meaning of golf course renovations, Zimmers still has a passion for big projects, and he has a exudes a passion for Inverness and what is taking place there.   After 18 years on one of golf's grandest stages, Zimmers decided late last winter that it was time to try something new.   "Some people might say 'you stayed too long, you got burned out.' I never felt like that," Zimmers said.    What did begin to wear on him was the combined pressure of member expectations 365 days a year, managing the golf course and the constant wear of dealing with factors that had nothing to do with golf.   He left Henry Fownes only design in the capable hands of Dave Delsandro, a former assistant under Zimmers who returned to Oakmont a few years ago just to manage U.S. Open-related projects.   "These Opens are so big anymore. The 2016 open was something like 25 to 30 percent larger (in build out) than in 2007," Zimmers said.    "The Open is a monster. When you have to get 125 volunteers transportation, background checks, uniforms and whatever else, that is a job in itself. You're doing it at the end of the day and on weekends. You have to stay on top of it, or time gets away from you.   "I was not able to dedicate the time I needed to mentor and groom guys day to day who had come to work for me. I didn't have enough time, and that was unfair to them."     Then there was the human side. Zimmers says the pressure associated with 2007 Open had become so intense - there were wide swaths of dead or dying turf visible during a TV flyover that spring - that he temporarily lost sight in one eye. And exhaustion was a common theme for someone who worked 70-80 hours a week, not out of desire, but out of need.   "The things you have to deal with there, the turnpike, the railroads, those are not everyday things on the golf course that superintendents usually have to deal with," he said. "It can be overwhelming."   During Zimmers' years at Oakmont, his crews felled thousands of trees, transforming what had become a parkland-style course back to the wide-open look that Fownes created in the hills east of Pittsburgh in 1903.   He's started a tree-management program at Inverness, admittedly on a much smaller scale.    As members of his crew cut down trees and remove stumps on an unseasonably warm December day, plenty of trees marked with an orange "X" await the chainsaw. He admits to burning through seven or eight cans of orange spray paint and jokes that he should have an endorsement deal with Stihl. His crew has taken down about 70 trees so far, and although there is no hard number attached to the program, Zimmers believes the number could come in close to 200.   "The course will tell its own story," Zimmers said with a philosophical tone. "As we continue to change things, what it is supposed to look like will start to come out."   He's been a bit more philosophical since April. He and wife Tracey live in a remodeled home on the golf course, and today they get to do much more together than they did when was working those 70- to 80-hour weeks.   "Leaving Pittsburgh was hard. The Pirates, the Penguins, the Steelers, those are our sports teams. We have a lot of friends there. The biggest thing was leaving my staff. They're family," he said.   "I felt, after going through the last Open, with all the clean up and renovation, when this opportunity came along it felt like a good change of pace. This is a beautiful property with all the mounds and elevation, and it's a great membership that is very proud of their course.   "It was the right time."
  • Attendees at this year's Golf Industry Show in Orlando might recall a vehicle in the Toro booth the likes of which they'd probably never have seen before.   Code named Project Delta, the heavy duty contraption was obviously much more than a utility vehicle.   Part tractor, part utility vehicle, Project Delta promised a new level of toughness and simplicity when Toro officials were soliciting ideas in Orlando to name the vehicle that will be available next year.   Judges poured through thousands of submissions earlier this year before settling on the name Outcross, which was submitted by Curt Sheffer, superintendent athe Plantation Course at Edisto in Edisto Beach, South Carolina. Toro made their selection based on several factors including creativity, suitability for the product and compatibility with the Toro brand.   Sheffer will receive a trip to the Golf Industry Show, scheduled for San Antonio. The prize, valued at $3,000, includes attendance at the show, airfare, hotel accommodations for three nights, entry to the GCSAA golf tournament a $500 spending stipend.   The newly dubbed Outcross will be available through distributors in summer 2018.

  • News and people briefs

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Kohler introduces new generators to lineup
     
    Kohler has added three new portable generators capable of running on gasoline, propane and natural gas. The PRO6.4, PRO6.4E and PRO9.0E portable generators join the PRO9.0 in an expanding lineup of generators that can be paired with the Kohler Tri-Fuel Conversion Kit.
     
    The conversion kit gives users the ability to select between the three fuel sources by swapping out the fuel hose and turning a dial.
     
    Kohler dealers easily can configure the new generators with the Tri-Fuel Conversion Kit, while maintaining the products original warranty. The new models are backed by a three-year warranty and the company also offers a free loaner unit through participating dealers for any warranty repairs exceeding 24 hours.
     

     
    Advanced Turf adds two sales reps
     
    Advanced Turf Solutions has named Matt Welch and Don Lawrence to its sales staff.
     
    A former superintendent, Welch covers northeastern Ohio, and has 17 years of experience in the industry. A graduate of Ohio State ATI, he was previously a golf equipment sales representative at Century Equipment, the Toro distributor for Ohio.
     
    Lawrence, a Michigan State alum, also is a former superintendent and general manager at Red Hawk Run Golf Course in Findlay, Ohio. He most recently worked with Legacy Turf and Ornamental and will cover northwestern Ohio for Advanced Turf.
     
    Former superintendent named Harrells top sales rep
     
    Former golf course superintendent and long-standing member of the Florida golf community, Harrells Territory Manager Sean Klotzbach has been named Harrell's Sales Professional of the Year.
     
    Klotzbach joined Harrell's in 2012 after 20 years as a golf course superintendent in Florida and New Jersey. A graduate of Rutgers University, he manages accounts in Central Florida.
     
    Sales Professional of the Year is determined by a wide-range of leadership criteria from overall professionalism, embracing company philosophy and customer relationships to attitude in general and performance.
     
    In other news, Harrell's named Britney Rust and Hannah Pratt as their Sales Support Professionals of the Year. Both work in the marketing department for Lakeland, Florida-based Harrell's.
     

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