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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    In the wake of World War II, a horse by the name of Assault made history in 1946 as the first and only Texas-bred thoroughbred to win horse racing's Triple Crown.   Not since Assault, with Warren Mehrtens aboard, has another horse from Texas won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. But after 71 years, Texas finally has another Triple Crown winner.   On Tuesday, Dec. 19, Anthony Williams, CGCS at TPC Four Seasons in Irving, Texas, became a winner of one of golf's triple crowns when he was named the Overall and National Private course winner of the Environmental Leaders in Golf Award. Williams, 53, also was the winner in the resort division in 2005 at Pine Isle Resort and the public course division a year later at Stone Mountain Golf Club, both in Georgia. He is the first superintendent to win the award in all three domestic categories.   It is the second time Williams, who worked 30 years for Marriott before starting at the TPC facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex earlier this year, won an ELGA in his first year at property.    "It is not lost on me how rare this is," Williams said. "To come back after being retired in a different category and a different state and achieve level of stewardship is rewarding."   Jay Neunsinger of Boundary Oak Golf Course in Walnut Creek, California was the National Public Course winner., and Scott Main, CGCS at Mauna Kea Resort in Kohala Coast, Hawaii, was the National Resort course winner. The awards, which are presented annually by GCSAA and Golf Digest in cooperation with Syngenta, recognize golf course superintendents and their courses for overall course management excellence and best management practices in the areas of water conservation, water quality management, energy conservation, pollution prevention, waste management, wildlife and habitat conservation, communication and outreach, and leadership.   Winners will be recognized Tuesday, Feb. 6, during the Opening Night Celebration of the 2018 Golf Industry Show in San Antonio. Winners will also be featured in upcoming issues of Golf Digest and GCSAA's official monthly publication, Golf Course Management magazine.   The 2009 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year, Williams has a long list of awards to his credit including: Georgia GCSA Superintendent of the Year (2014), GCSAA Excellence in Government Relations Award (2014), Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association Environmental Communicator of the Year (2011), GCSAA President's Award for Stewardship (2010) and the J.W. Marriott Award of Excellence (2008).   "We'll add this one to the trophy case and move on to the next one," Williams said.   "Everything I know about stewardship and character, it's not in me not to try to take a property to the next level. It's the best way to produce the best playing conditions and healthy club financials."   ELGA chapter winners (facility, location, chapter): > Stephen Britton, CGCS, TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, Potomac, Maryland., Mid-Atlantic AGCS. > Mark Condos, Las Positas Golf Course, Livermore, California, GCSA of Northern California. > Matthew Gourlay, CGCS, Colbert Hills Golf Course, Manhattan, Kansas, Heart of America GCSA. > Gary L. Heath, Glendoveer Golf and Tennis, Portland, Oregon, Oregon GCSA. > Gary Ingram, CGCS, Metropolitan Golf Links, Oakland, California, California GCSA. > Bobby Jaeger, Lake Tahoe Golf Course, South Lake Tahoe, California, Sierra Nevada GCSA. > Andrew Jorgensen, CGCS, Candler Hills Golf Club, Ocala, Florida, Florida GCSA. > Mark Krick, CGCS, Fox Hollow and Homestead Golf Courses, Lakewood, Colorado, Rocky Mountain GCSA. > Mark D. Kuhns, CGCS, Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, New Jersey, New Jersey GCSA. > Wayne Mills, La Cumbre Country Club, Santa Barbara, California, GCSA of Southern California. > Jim Pavonetti, CGCS, Fairview Country Club, Greenwich, Connecticut, Metropolitan GCSA. > Charles "Roby" Robertson IV, CGCS, TPC Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona, Cactus & Pine GCSA. > Ian Schlather, TPC River's Bend, Maineville, Ohio, Greater Cincinnati GCSA. > Carl D. Thompson, CGCS, Columbia Point Golf Course, Richland, Washington, Inland Empire GCSA. > Marc Weston, CGCS, Indian Hill Country Club, Newington, Connecticut, Connecticut AGCS.   ELGA merit winners (facility, location, chapter): > Michael Bednar, Palouse Ridge Golf Club, Pullman, Washington, Inland Empire GCSA. > Dave Davies, CGCS, TPC Stonebrae, Hayward, California, GCSA of Northern California. > Troy Flanagan, The Olympic Club, San Francisco, California, GCSA of Northern California. > Darin Pakkala, Crystal Springs Golf Course, Burlingame, California, California GCSA.    
  • A culturally diverse workforce is an inevitable byproduct of today's global economy. Failing to recognize what makes people of different cultures and generations tick, however, only serves to limit productivity, says Amy Wallis, Ph.D.   The director of global initiatives and a professor of practice in the organizational behavior wing of the Wake Forest University School of Business, Wallis told a room of superintendents at the ninth annual Syngenta Business Institute that they would be better off trying to understand the differences between workers from different cultures and generations, rather than squashing them.   "As the world has opened up in terms of labor markets and where companies are doing business and the way people move in and out of countries, we need to understand global issues as leaders," Wallis told the group.   "We can't allow ourselves to fall into stereotyping and thinking there is some cookie-cutter approach to working across differences. Trends we see when we look at groups of people are going to help us interpret and understand behavior and differences in behavior."   In its ninth year, the Syngenta Business Institute is a 3 ½-day event held on the Wake Forest University campus in Winston-Salem, North Carolina is part of Syngenta's ongoing effort to grow the professional knowledge of golf course superintendents and assist them with managing their courses. Through a partnership with the Wake Forest University School of Business, the program provides graduate school-level instruction in financial management, human resource management, negotiating, managing across generations and cultural divides, impact hiring and other leadership- and professional-development skills.   Other than during SBI, golf course maintenance is not a market the Wake business school faculty typically deals with. But instructors in the program have worked hard to understand the nuances of the relationships that superintendents must manage, including those that go up the chain of command as well as those that go down.   "You work with some of the most diverse workforces I have ever seen, and you are trying to access some of the most diverse client groups I have ever seen," Wallis said, referring to a largely Hispanic workforce, and the golf industry's efforts to attract more women, minorities and people from younger generations into the game.   "When I leave after talking with a group of people, I know I have been successful if I leave them with more questions than answers. My success is that you walk away with a bunch of things to think about that you hadn't thought about before. That will get you to keep exploring and learning."   Such questions and uncertainties about issues so critical to the golf business are why Syngenta invests in educating two-dozen or so superintendents each year at Wake Forest.   "Superintendents have the opportunity many times a year to learn about agronomy. But what they don't get to hear about or understand is how to work with their teams and how each person in their team can be different," said Stephanie Schwenke, Syngenta's golf market manager. "That can be based on age. It can be based on gender. It can be based on culture, and it can be based on the the way they were brought up and what they were exposed to in their lives. So, I think the culture and the generations session opens everyone's eyes that everyone is not just like me, or not just like you. Not everybody grew up the same way I did with the same culture or the same skills set. So it's understandable that there are different motivational factors for their team if they can understand how to work with them."   Wallis compared cultural traits to an iceberg: Only part of the iceberg is above water, but there is a larger section beneath the surface that cannot be seen and is poorly understood.   "By failing to recognize the differences between different cultures and generations, we waste the opportunity to learn from them," she said.   Team building is a critical component to success for every turf operation, but, more often than not, superintendents who march through SBI each year admit the session reveals they don't have the skills to reach across cultural and generational lines to maximize productivity.   "The biggest take home for me has been dealing with cultural and generational issues and trying to understand that better," said SBI attendee David Groelle of Royal Melbourne Country Club in Long Grove, Illinois. "Understanding how people from the U.S. differ from people from other cultures - I think it would help with retention, and efficiency on the golf course and how they work and what is going through their heads vs. what is going through mine. I never really thought about it that way, but when i heard it, it made sense."   Carlos Arraya, superintendent at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis is both a millennial and a millenial, two groups noted for embracing team building vs. autonomy.   As such, he already adopts different tactics used by older colleagues.   "I am embracing my leadership style, it's a lot more collaborative," Arraya said. It's encouraged me to be more collaborative and embrace the cultural and generational differences we discussed and embrace my leadership style, continue the path i;m going and know that it's ok to be a little different."   For Syngenta, partnering with Wake Forest to bring up these questions and provide ways to address them strengthens the golf industry in general and individual teams specifically. To date, 234 superintendents have gone through the program.   "We want to provide superintendents with answers and solutions to negotiations and managing different generations and the workforce challenges they have," Schwenke said. "We want to be in this business long term and we want our customers to be in this business long term, and we know we have to go beyond providing solutions in a jug. We have to give them different skill sets."
  • Bayer Environmental Science recently named Burgess Perry head of marketing for the company's North American division.   In this role, Perry is responsible for leading the marketing initiatives of the business unit for the United States and Canada, focusing primarily on the needs of customers in the turf and ornamental, vegetation management, professional pest management and vector control markets.   "Burgess joins the Environmental Science team with exceptional marketing experience and industry expertise," said Mark Schneid, head of Environmental Science North America. "He will play a critical role in sharpening our focus on the evolving needs of our customers so that we can continue to deliver the kinds of solutions and information they need to excel in their jobs. With his leadership, we will advance the best-in-class solutions and partnerships our customers have come to expect from Bayer."   Perry has more than 27 years of experience at Bayer, and most recently served as director of marketing excellence for crop protection and seeds in North America.   Perry has extensive marketing and sales experience as well as proven expertise in product management, business development, supply chain and procurement. Prior to Bayer, Perry held positions with Aventis and Rhone-Poulenc Ag Co. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University and earned an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.   "Successful marketing strategies come from truly understanding the needs of our customers," Perry said. "I'm energized to be taking on this role as we continue to enhance the ways we connect with and serve our customers as part of the Bayer mission of Science For A Better Life. These insights inform the decisions that will shape the future for the industries we serve."  
  • The world is full of zingers. Everyone knows the type: they can't wait to discover someone else making a mistake, then ratting them out in hopes of getting them in dutch with some higher authority. It must be some deep-seated feeling of self-loathing or lack of self-esteem in which happiness only can be found in making others as miserable as they are.   Golf has its share of zingers. TV golf viewers, sitting at home wringing their hands just waiting for an improperly placed ball, illegal drop or some other version of golf fake news have cost players a chance at major championships and untold earnings.   The USGA and R&A finally have pulled the rug out from underneath those couch-dwelling tattletales, and it's about time. Beginning Jan. 1, the game's ruling bodies no longer will accept TV viewers' calls, emails, letters or smoke signals as they attempt to turn in rule-breakers like Lexi Thompson or Craig Stadler. Instead, the game's various stakeholders, including the PGA Tour, European Tour, PGA of America, LPGA and Ladies European Tour will have to monitor TV video in a search-and-destroy mission for rules infractions.   There is some good and bad to this.   It's about time golf's governing bodies told viewers at home to mind their own business. Applying irregular penalties to select video clips turned in by random viewers ignores other potential infractions that are not captured by TV, thus applying different rules to different players.   What other sport allows viewers at home to decide the outcome of a contest? Other than the recent drama that was the University of Tennessee trying to hire its next football coach, which was complicated by "fans" staging a revolution on social media to block at least one hire, the answer is "none."   Handing out stroke penalties for infractions that someone in Timbuktu noticed on their 50-inch LG cost Lexi Thompson a chance to win a major last year at the LPGA's ANA Inspiration and torpedoed Craig Stadler's chances at Torrey Pines in 1987. Things turned ugly in 2013 when Champions Tour player David Eger - from his home in Florida - turned in Tiger Woods for an improper drop during the Masters.   That still leaves the game's competitive bodies pouring over video looking for infractions. Do we really want to subject golf to hours of instant video replay? Does anyone want to relive the debacle during the 2016 U.S. Open and what caused Dustin Johnson's ball to move?   The USGA and R&A also have adopted a new rule that eliminates a 2-stroke penalty for signing a scorecard when the player is unaware of the penalty.   "The level of collaboration with our partners has been both vital and gratifying as we look to the future," said Thomas Pagel, USGA senior director of the Rules of Golf and Amateur Status. "As technology has continued to evolve, it has allowed us to evolve how we operate, as well."   David Rickman, Executive Director Governance at The R&A, said, "This has clearly become an important issue in the sport that we felt we should address at this stage ahead of the implementation of the updated Rules of Golf in 2019.   "We have concluded that whilst players should continue to be penalized for all breaches of the Rules during a competition, including any that come to light after the score card is returned, an additional penalty for the scorecard error is not required."   The new protocols also recognize the importance of limiting video review to material obtained from the committee's broadcast partner. Other video, including that from an individual's smartphone or camera, will not be used.   Just ditch video replay entirely.   Golf is a game built on integrity and self-reporting of violations. For the most part, it works. Professional golfers largely adhere to those unwritten rules, with the obvious exception being when they are unaware that they have committed an infraction in the first place.   If that model worked for the first 500 years, why change it now?  
  • Not many in a managerial position would care to admit that one of the reasons for poor employee performance sometimes might be staring back at them in the mirror.   Too often, people are cast into managerial roles without the tools necessary for the job, says Sherry Moss, Ph.D., professor of organizational studies at the Wake Forest University School of Business.   "How do we get employees to do what we need them to do?" Moss said.    "Everybody who is promoted into a management position needs this kind of training that we are going to talk about. But unfortunately a lot of people don't get it, and a lot of people learn it through the school of hard knocks."   Her presentation was delivered to a room of 26 superintendents at the ninth annual Syngenta Business Institute. The 3 ½-day event held on the Wake Forest University campus in Winston-Salem, North Carolina is part of Syngenta's ongoing effort to grow the professional knowledge of golf course superintendents and assist them with managing their courses. Through a partnership with the Wake Forest University School of Business, the program provides graduate school-level instruction in financial management, human resource management, negotiating, managing across generations and cultural divides, impact hiring and other leadership- and professional-development skills.   Helping ensure peak performance among employees is the result of a multi-step formula that includes setting clear expectations, proper training, aligned incentives and providing all of these in the proper conditions.    If the process goes off the rails during any one of those steps, a project or the relationship between a superintendent and a team member could be irreparably harmed.   Employees want a strong leader who provides performance feedback. That is especially true of younger generations. But there is a wrong way and a right way to provide feedback. In fact, although feedback, when delivered correctly, can have an immense influence on employee performance, Moss said. Not all bosses know, or care to know the right way to communicate feedback to get the most from their employees. In fact, feedback, Moss said, has an equal chance of having no effect or even a negative effect as it does a positive effect, because of how, when and where it is delivered.   Different manager types use feedback differently, and there are three types of managers that use negative reinforcement, says Moss. They are the conflict avoider, zero-tolerance manager and the micromanager. While all operate differently, their tactics often can produce similar undesired results.   Conflict avoiders often can distort their message - when they get around to delivering it. Zero-tolerance managers usually are too emotional and micromanagers who see just one way of doing things - their way . . . or else.   The session was an eye-opener for John Ballard, CGCS at the University of Louisville Golf Club in Kentucky.   "I think I learned more about my own leadership style," Ballard said. "I'm one of those people who it's my way or the highway. I learned that it's ok for people to be different, and there are different ways to manage."   Even rewards for positive behavior can carry negative consequences, or reinforce unwanted behavior. According to Moss, using incentives to intentionally produce a desired behavior can lead to diminished performance, encouraging unethical behavior or shortcut, promoting short-term thinking and it can become addictive.   Still, feedback can be a helpful tool . . . if used properly.   "It's always nice to evaluate yourself. That's important," said David Groelle, superintendent at Royal Melbourne Country Club in Long Grove, Illinois. "As you listen to (Moss), you're obviously thinking 'where do I fall in this?' And I think evaluating my management style can also help me understand why things don't go the way I want them to sometimes. Now that makes more sense."   To help maximize employee performance, Moss said, constructive feedback should be: specific and descriptive, focus on behavior, not on the person, use good timing, compare performance to a standard, not to a person, specify replacement behavior, manage emotions and should be delivered in person. After all, no one wants to be yelled at in front of their peers.   One of the key tools Moss unleashes each year at SBI is a way of providing feedback known as the DASeR Approach, which is an acronym for "describe the exact behavior", "acknowledge how the behavior makes you feel or affects you", "specify the desired replacement behavior" and "reaffirm the value of the employee and their ability to change their behavior".   This approach can be unfamiliar territory in the "get good, or get gone" world of golf turf management. As younger superintendents, like 39-year-old Carlos Arraya of Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, enter the market, there is a shift toward a more synergistic style.   "This has taught me to embrace my leadership style, which is a lot more collaborative," Arraya said. "It's encouraged me to be more collaborative and continue the path I'm on."  
  • In his quest to find a wife-mandated hobby to relieve work-borne stress, Ryan Cummings turned to an unlikely source.   For the past year, Cummings, 39, in his fourth season as superintendent at Elcona Country Club in Bristol, Indiana, has been spending many of his Sundays playing a game that has its roots in 15th century Scotland, and it's not golf.   "As many hours as we spend on the golf course, and trying to balance work and family life, my wife came to me on day three years ago and told me I needed to find a hobby," said Cummings, superintendent at Elcona Country Club in Bristol, Indiana. "One day about two years ago, a member on my greens committee came to me and said he need a fourth for ice curling. In the back of my head was my wife reinforcing that I needed a hobby."   His team competes in a league that meets in the Compton Family Ice Arena at the University of Notre Dame.   Cummings had no previous experience with curling, nor did he possess any real understanding of the rules. What he had was a desire to learn something new that would serve a dual role as a diversion from the many hours spent on the golf course.   "It's a release, absolutely," Cummings said. "It gets me off the reservation."   Cummings' curling exploits were among the many fun facts superintendents shared with the group during this year's Syngenta Business Institute in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.    Curling is first mentioned in Scottish history in the 1600s. Cummings doesn't begin to take it as seriously as those Scots did. He threw his first stone - which weighs 43 pounds - with no preparation or warm up. His team - which goes by the name Game of Stones - doesn't have uniforms and they never practice, and that's OK.   His team last year consisted of one other inexperienced rookie and two members from his club. Despite the temptation, he never discusses the golf course with them while on the ice.   "I don't think about the golf course when ice curling; not one bit," Cummings said. "And that is odd, because our team is composed of two members at my club, so the temptation is there for them to ask me questions about the golf course. I tell them that this is ice curling, and if they don't mind, let's not talk about the golf course. They respect that."   Andrew Updegrove, superintendent at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, learned woodworking from his grandfather Rick Flack. Today, he has converted his garage into a workshop, and thanks to a tree-management plan at the club, has filled his 19th century home with handmade, rustic furniture.   "I looked on YouTube and Instagram to see what people were making, and taught myself how to do it," said Updegrove, 33. "I've made a dining table, a bed, coat racks, end tables and a coffee table.   "I'm probably driving my wife a little nuts with all the wood in the house."   All of his furniture is the byproduct of a Gil Hanse-led master plan that has included removing as many as 4,000 elm, walnut, beech and cedar trees.   "We have just about every kind of tree you can think of," Updegrove said.   Crafting handmade furniture also allows him to turn off work, even if just for a while.   "It allows me to unwind and get away," Updegrove said. "I can spend five hours out there in the garage, and it seems like 20 minutes."   He enjoys the process so much he is considering selling some of his work. And just how does his handiwork compare with store-bought furniture?   "My house was built in the 1800s and nothing is square or even," he said. "That's my work: Nothing is square or even, but it works. I go for the natural look of stuff. . . . It's a little more rustic, so it doesn't have to be square. It can be a little off."   Carlos Arraya of Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, site of the 2018 PGA Championship, has taken an artistic approach to writing poetry since he was a teenager trying to find a way to cope with the loss of his maternal and paternal grandfathers within a short time of each other.   "It's hard to communicate how you feel as a teenager about those things," Arraya said. "As any teenager trying to find their way you feel lost, and i got lost in my poetry, and putting my emotions on paper and took away that anger that I might have expressed on a physical side."   A fan of Edgar Allan Poe, Arraya put down his pen while attending turf school at Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, Florida, but picked it up again and began writing a detective novel after he earned his associate's degree and started working for John Cunningham, CGCS, at Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto, Florida.    "My desire was not to look for the way something was written, but to look for the hidden message of the person who wrote it," he said. "What were they trying to communicate? What were their feelings? Poetry truly is an art, like a painting."   When he met his wife, Noemi, in 2012, he discovered a new genre.   "My writing turned from grief to love," he said. "I joke that she probably wishes now that she never read any of it."   Today, putting pen to paper provides Arraya, 39, with stress release he cannot get elsewhere.   "It allows me an outlet like people go to the gym or go swimming. I go to writing," he said. "In this business, we say we are on all the time, and this allows me to be off, and I'm onto something I'm enjoying, and I can think about something totally different than what's going on on the golf course."
  • When Chambers Bay opened a decade ago, it was touted as an all-fescue golf course. By the time the U.S. Open was held there in 2015, many of the putting surfaces had begun to succumb to the pressures of Poa annua, which is the Pacific Northwests dominant turf type.   Those mixed-stand greens, a problem exacerbated by an abnormally warm spring, made for a dramatic U.S. Open in which the turf, not the golf being played on it, took center stage.   Officials in Pierce County, Washington, which owns the course, have withdrawn from the 2019 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship while a transition to Poa annua putting surfaces continues. The event will be played at the Pacific Dunes course at Bandon Dunes on the Oregon coast. The four-ball championship will now return to Chambers Bay in 2021.   Hot, dry conditions prevailed in the run-up to the 2015 U.S. Open forced the ground crew to water more than usual, providing conditions that were perfect for a Poa annua invasion. Players complained about putting conditions throughout the tournament with one pro comparing the greens to putting on broccoli.   The decision was made this past summer to allow the Poa annua to overtake the fescue and sod where needed. The process will continue into next year as course and USGA officials monitor the progress and where new sod will be needed.   The USGA and Chambers Bay also are working together to recontour several greens and improve spectator viewing areas in hopes of securing another U.S, Open.   Chambers Bay was the site of the 2010 U.S. Amateur and 2015 U.S. Open championships, while Bandon Dunes has hosted the 2006 Curtis Cup Match, the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur, the concurrent U.S. Womens Amateur Public Links and U.S. Amateur Public Links Championships in 2011 and the inaugural U.S. Womens Amateur Four-Ball Championship in 2015. 
  • Sean Anderson Card Sound GC, Florida   Tom Barrett MacArthur, Florida   Garrett Bodington Sebonack GC, New York   Tim Busek The Manor GC, Georgia   Tim Christians Makray CC, Illinois   Jim Colo Naples National GC, Florida   Jorge Croda Southern Oaks GC, Texas   Paul Culclasure Kilmarlic GC, North Carolina   James Cunnginham Trump National GC, New Jersey   Mike Dachowski Shelter Harbor CC, Rhode Island   Matt DiMase Abaco GC, Bahamas   Stanley Elliot Cypress Landing GC, North Carolina   Michael Golden Sterling Farms CC, Connecticut   Brian Green Lonnie Poole GC at NCSU, North Carolina   Jason Harrison Hamilton Farm CC, New Jersey   Lukus Harvey Atlanta Athletic Club, Georgia   Mark Hoban Rivermont GC, Georgia   Jason Hurwitz Fox Chapel CC, Pennsylvania   Gary Ingram Metropolitan Golf Links, California   Greg Jones Champions Run GC, Nebraska   Jared Kalina Ballyneal CC, Colorado   Carson Kamps Palma Ceia GC, Florida   Tim Kennelly Baltimore CC, Maryland   Scott Kinnan Farmington CC, Virginia   Scott Krout Superstition Mountain CC, Arizona   Wayne LaGasse Fox Hop Yard GC, Connecticut   Pat Lewis Sierra Star GC, California   Dan Meersman Philadelphia Cricket Club, Pennsylvania   Robert Mitchell FarmLinks GC, Alabama   John Nelson Merit Club, Illinois   Bryan Nuss Jack Frost GC, Pennsylvania   Chris Ortmeier Champions Club, Texas   Kyle Peterson Conestoga GC, Nevada   Josh Pope Greenbrier, West Virginia   Steve Rabideau Winged Foot GC, New York   David Renk Lookaway CC, Pennsylvania   Eli Rodriguez Cobbs Creek GC, Pennsylvania   Chris Swim Lakewood CC, Colorado   Rick Tegtmeier Des Moines G&CC, Iowa   Frank Tichenor Forest Hill Field Club, New Jersey   Marty Walker Compass Pointe CC, North Carolina   Adam Winslow Glades G&CC, Florida   Buck Workman Cateechee GC, Georgia  
  • The drought in California might be over, but managing water use likely will be a way of life forever for golf course superintendents - and everyone else with a spigot - in the country's most populous state.   Since one of the worst droughts in California's history ended in 2016 after five years, the California's reservoirs are brimming with water. The rising cost to deliver that water coupled with erratic climate conditions and uncertainty about future supplies as well as a groundwater system that still is overtaxed and might never recover all have combined to help providers and users, as well as lawmakers realize that long-term management of the state's water supply is a necessity.   For all those reasons, a law that has been in place since the early 1990s but largely forgotten since, is taking center stage as Californians plans how to manage the state's urban water supply.   "Because of the compelling nature of water in California and because of all the droughts we've had, and because we're seeing evidence of a climate that is statistically, whatever the reason may be, warmer than it used to be and not as stable as it used to be, California is now on a three-year rolling basis of reviewing this particular ordinance," said Craig Kessler, director of governmental affairs for the Southern California Golf Association. "Since this ordinance was adopted in 1991 or '92, it was reviewed every 10 years. That was reduced to five years, and now is every three years.   "This is important, because it takes almost three years to do it, so we're almost in permanent review of this ordinance."   That is how important water is in a state of 39 million people and that some project could swell to nearly 60 million by 2050: stakeholders there are seeking - in perpetuity - more efficient ways to use it.   Thanks to people like Kessler and others, golf has a seat at that table and they stand collectively as an example of what can be accomplished when industry stakeholders work with government officials, utility providers and even environmental groups.   Known as the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance, the legislative rule was adopted in the early 1990s to "reduce the water footprint of landscape pallets of all kinds," Kessler said. That includes back yards and golf courses and everything in between. Among the goals of the ordinance is to reduce that water footprint by reducing the number or irrigated acres of turf throughout the state. And a popular target for such a philosophy is golf.  
    They're not anti-turf or anti-golf. But the goal is to reduce the amount of irrigated turf across the state."
     
    What people like Kessler, Mike Huck and Jim Ferrin, CGCS, are doing is ensuring that water providers, lawmakers and environmental groups know that golf course superintendents already are well-schooled on water-use efficiency, with many throughout the state already operating for several years under voluntary cutbacks of up to 20 percent.   Throughout the review process, an independent technical panel of 11 people, comprised mostly of public utilities and environmental groups, establishes and makes recommendations to the California Department of Water Resources. That group, which includes Kessler, will meet in early December and will submit its final recommendations to the CDWR in January and an updated version of the ordinance will be in place, Kessler predicts, in about a year. Huck, an irrigation consultant and an expert on California golf's water issues, drafted the language in the current set of recommendations that relate to golf.   For the purposes of the ordinance, golf courses are lumped into a group - known as special landscape areas - with other entities like parks and cemeteries, where there is no substitute for turfgrass. The rule applies to new and rehabilitated (i.e., renovated in golf vernacular) properties and is aimed primarily at residential landscapes, Huck said. Under the current language of the rule, the SLAs are exempt in that each is allotted a certain amount of water and can manage it how they see fit.     The last time the ordinance went through the review process three years ago, there were some who wanted to permanently reduce the amount of water available to golf courses by 20 percent. Since so many already are operating under voluntary cuts, that 20 percent would actually be 64 percent of the maximum allowable water under allocation. That would be devastating for many golf courses in California.   "We've been lucky to get 100 percent of maximum allowable water under allocation. If we get .8 of that and they tell us to cut by 20 percent, now you're getting close to .6 and you're going to have turf loss with that," said Ferrin, who oversees Timber Creek and Sierra Pines golf courses in Roseville, near Sacramento.   "The problem with golfers, they hear water reductions and savings and they see courses go brown just a little bit, and there is a pushback. They stop playing. The public doesn't like it. They don't like the hard surface. . . . What do you do when you go brown? That message sure hasn't been embraced by golfers."   Kessler, a former attorney, and others were able to intervene on behalf of the state's golf industry and keep water use at 100 percent of maximum allowable water under allocation during the last review. That the panel came so close to adopting a measure that might have doomed many golf courses shows what can happen when those who don't understand how the industry works are making decisions - without input - that affect its future, Huck said.   "They're not anti-turf or anti-golf," Huck said. "But the goal is to reduce the amount of irrigated turf across the state."    Kessler can't overstate how important it is to show water providers and lawmakers how willing the industry is to work with them for a positive solution, which for many golf courses will include further reducing the amount of irrigated turf under management.   "This is an example of an industry proactively getting out in front of inevitability and writing a regulatory protocol that is most consistent with (an industry's) ability to thrive and gives you the time to do it," Kessler said.    "If we wait, we fought back the .8 (maximum allowable water under allocation) a couple of years ago, and maybe we'll be able to do it again, but at some point we'll lose that and we may lose more. . . . We just want golf courses to thrive and do business, and in the case of superintendents, keep their jobs. It's an evolutionary way of reducing your (water-use) footprint, which ultimately makes you competitive in your business because you're going to have to do that just to accommodate the cost of water in most places in California."  
  • 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.
    Coldiron, 60, was a native of Kentucky and an alumnus of Eastern Kentucky University with a BS in horticulture and turfgrass management. He spent his entire 25-year superintendent career with Boone County (KY) Parks & Recreation, retiring in 2006 as director of golf course maintenance for Boone Links and Lassing Pointe Golf Courses. He never forgot his Kentucky roots; following UK sports was a favorite pastime.
    After retirement from active golf course management, Jerry and his wife Susan relocated to Boca Raton, FL, so Jerry could embark on a second career in sales with Hector Turf of Deerfield Beach, FL. As long-time fans of Jimmy Buffett's music and lifestyle, Jerry and Susan's move to Florida and Jerry's new sales territory covering the Caribbean islands for Toro and Club Car was a perfect match. When he had to wear a necktie, the knot was usually loose; Jerry's favorite attire was shorts and a Life is Good t-shirt.

    Jerry and Susan's adopted South Florida "Jimmy Buffett lifestyle" suited them well.
    Jerry was a long-time active TurfNet member, joining in 1996 when online discussion and communication was in its infancy. He actively participated in the Forum, contributing over 400 posts to various turf- and non-turf related discussions. Our Beer & Pretzels Gala was a highlight of Jerry's year, providing a platform where he could work the crowd, grinning, laughing, bear-hugging and backslapping friends old and new.
    "Jerry embodied the true TurfNet spirit of sharing, caring, compassion and camaraderie," said Peter McCormick, TurfNet founder. "He was a real pillar of our community, to coin a phrase. Always humble, Jerry loved to have fun and pump others up, encouraging everyone to live life to the fullest and enjoy every day. Over the years he became one of my very best friends. I still can't get my head around this."

    A TurfNet contingent visiting the Atlanta Children's Shelter in 2006 to present a donation check from a fund-raiser. Jerry was right in the center of it.
    Above all else a family man, Jerry and Susan were married for 36 years and raised three sons, Josh, Jake and Jared. Josh and wife Natalie had Jerry's first grandchild, Ellie Taylor, last year. All now live in Florida.

    Jake, Susan, Josh, Jerry and Jared at Josh's wedding to Natalie in October, 2015.
    Jerry was very active on social media (Jerry Coldiron on Facebook and @CaribeTurfman on Twitter), his posts chronicling his many adventures and sporting events attended with Susan and the boys. Sunrises, sunsets and family were favorite topics, with #blessed, #laFamilie, #floridays, #PayItForward and #EmbraceLife his often-used hashtags.
    The family has set up a tribute website (jerrycoldironembracelife.us) and established a fund to continue Jerry's legacy of positivity and embracing all life has to offer. The fund (and ultimately a foundation) will fund one or more awards to be given annually to recognize an individual or individuals within the golf turf industry who live lives of positivity, caring, sharing and compassion for others... or who are experiencing personal hardship due to illness, natural events or job loss (not to compete with Wee One)... or who do something special for the natural world (a special thing to Jerry).
    Alternatively, donations can be made to United for Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief or St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. Details for each are at Jerry Coldiron Embrace Life!
    Jerry's obituary can be found here.
    A funeral mass will be held at 12:30 PM on Saturday, December 2nd at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Boca Raton, FL. A Celebration of Life will follow the mass at the Mercy Center at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Jerry's life.
  • John Deere recently launched a redesigned web site that makes it easier for customers to find the information they need.   The web site is mobile friendly and functions on a variety of screen sizes, from smart phones and tablets to traditional desktop computers. It includes easy-to-find links for all of John Deeres industry segments including golf and sports turf, agriculture, construction, lawn and garden, landscaping, forestry, engines and drivetrains, government and military, and rental markets.   Features of the site include: > Concise product information and easy-to-use navigation. > More useful tools for those who shop for and own Deere products and services. > A product-centric focus on helping users accomplish key activities such as identifying the right machine for their use or locating a dealer. > Easy spec-to-spec comparisons across John Deere and competitive models.   The site separates professional turf equipment into two categories, golf and sports turf, making it easier for superintendents and sports turf managers to find information on products specific to their respective markets.   "This redesign benefits all of our customers whether they are farmers, ranchers, construction contractors, landscapers, loggers and all others whose work is linked to the land," O'Hanlon said. "Our customers want to quickly find the information they need, whether they are searching from their desk or from a jobsite."   The new-and-improved site also includes customer testimonials, and sub sites for options like parts, financing and John Deere's loyalty program.   The global launch of the site, that draws about 2.5 million viewers per month, includes 33 John Deere sites in 16 languages and approximately 2,300 product pages.  
  • Nearly 10 years ago, a pair of visitors arrived at the Bear Trace at Harrison Bay golf course, and each year, like clockwork, they return. If only golfers were as loyal.   Since 2010, Harrison Bay State Park near Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been a nesting site for a pair of bald eagles and the many offspring they have hatched and reared there. That, in and of itself, is nothing unique. Bald eagle numbers are on the rise nationwide after spending years on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services list of threatened and endangered species.   What is unique are the lengths state officials in eastern Tennessee have gone to help educate people on the ways of bald eagles.   Through the miracle of technology, park and golf course officials at the state-owned layout on the banks of the Tennessee River have worked to educate people on the nesting habits of bald eagles and offer insight into the remarkable comeback of this once endangered species with the help of an elaborate system of cameras, microphones and cables that help stream the sights and sounds of life in a nest 100 feet above the golf course to viewers around the world.    After technical issues with the camera derailed those efforts last winter, the infamous if not famous Harrison Bay Eagle Cam is up and running again this year.   Once the birds were on the nest, federal regulations made it impossible to go up and make repairs and get the cam online last year. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, that would have constituted harassing the eagles, an offense punishable by fines of as much as $250,000 or two years of imprisonment. The fine doubles for an organization.   "We can't really say why the camera stopped communicating," Bear Trace superintendent Paul Carter said in his blog, "but we believe it was a wiring issue going up the tree."   Elliot and Eloise, so named by Carters daughter, Hannah, had been nesting in a tree above the ground at the golf course when Eloise failed to return last winter and a new female showed up in her place, and hatched a new generation of eaglets.   This year, Elliott and Eloise are back and making repairs to the nest. Two other females, one of which was around last year, also have been spotted in the area debunking a popular belief that bald eagles choose a single mate for life.    Angelo Giansante, a ranger at nearby Hiwassee/Ocoee State Park, and a former Army ranger, had the duty of shimmying up the tree to retrieve the camera and reinstalling it after repairs had been made, along with two other cameras, including a new one that will be used as a backup if needed. Matt Vawter, a ranger at Harrison Bay State Park, is the IT person who built the network and web site that brings the world of bald eagles to computer screens around the world.   Thanks to the USGA and the fundraising efforts of the Friends of Harrison Bay, the park has been able to upgrade video equipment each year. The program's popularity has grown each year, with hundreds of viewers checking in from around the world to watch from the time eggs are laid to the eaglets hatching and eventually leaving the nest - about five to six months after hatching or when the adults tire of feeding them, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.    Historically, Eloise has laid eggs in early winter and eaglets have hatched in late winter or early spring. According to the National Eagle Center, bald eagles can live up 20 years in the wild, but as many as 80 percent die before age 5.  
  • It is difficult to imagine blowing up a Thomas Bendelow-designed golf course, starting over from scratch and making the contemporary version not just a new, but an improved experience for golfers. That is exactly what is happening in Denver, where the City Park Golf Course, a 1913 Bendelow classic, is being completely reinvented by architect Todd Schoeder and Hale Irwin so the property also can be utilized as a stormwater-detention area to alleviate flooding in the adjacent Park Hill neighborhood.   "Its principal function is to remain an 18-hole public golf course," said Pamela Smith, CGCS, director of agronomy for the city and county of Denver's golf division that includes eight properties. "And every once in awhile, a few holes will serve as stormwater detention for a brief period of time."   City Park Golf Course's construction closely coincides with the installation of the city's original stormwater drainage system. Although both historically have helped move water into the Platte River and eventually downstream and away from the city, each is inadequate to handle 100-year or even 10-year flooding events.    Rebuilding the course and reconfiguring the layout so it can accommodate state-of-the-art drainage technology and hold excess water during what otherwise would be catastrophic flooding for surrounding neighborhoods is a key component for the city's long-term flood-control plan.   "There is a 102-inch drainpipe out on the golf course, but it is underground," City Park superintendent John Madden, Jr said. " During a significant rain that pipe fills to capacity and there is nowhere for the water to go except out on the street."   The course closed in November for construction to begin and will reopen in May 2019. The redesign will include a stream meandering through the property as part of the detention system that promises to move water off the course after a 100-year event in a matter of hours, Madden said.   Schoeder, of iCon Golf Studio, is an expert on Bendelow architecture, and players there might be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the new City Park layout and a classic-era Bendelow design, said the 47-year-old Madden, a veteran of several major construction projects throughout his career.   "Conversations always occur around change. There is a lot of history at City Park Golf Course. A lot of people play there and have made a lot memories," Madden said. "I'm not an architect, but I know what I like, and when I go from a Tillinghast course to a Bendelow course, obviously there are some differences.   "Todd is really trying to save and incorporate Bendelow characteristics into the new design, honoring and respecting that traditional Bendelow feel and deliver that into the new project."   Just as important in the current golf climate, there are aspects of the project that will help Madden and Smith adopt a more sustainable management system at City Park. USGA-spec greens with T1 creeping bentgrass - selected for its drought and heat tolerance - will replace the old push-up greens. Turf selection, along with new drainage, new bunker construction and state of the art irrigation will help Madden use water more efficiently.   "That represents a whole other level of management and ease of operation," Madden said. "With the new irrigation system, we are going from field controllers to decoders and we'll be utilizing current industry standards to help Denver golf meet its goal of providing affordable and sustainable golf where we can conserve water and energy."   New putting green construction also will result in a golf course that is more player friendly and has more pin options, said Smith, a 10-year veteran of Denver municipal golf.   "Over the years, we've received a lot of complaints that the slopes on the greens are too steep, and golfers can't keep their ball on the green. If we push green speeds past 8.5 we don't have very many pinnable locations."   Irwin, a Colorado native who reportedly played City Park as a youngster, wanted to get involved in the project when he heard about the well-publicized plans.   The project will include removing more than 200 mature trees, and planting more than 700 new trees. That, along with closing the course for a year-and-a-half, has been a source of anxiety for some Denver residents, but mitigating flood damage is of utmost importance to city leaders.   "It's part of being a good neighbor," Smith said. "Taking an existing property and having it function as a golf course and redesigning it for stormwater detention is part of the landscape for many metropolitan areas. City Park Golf Course will provide an exceptional 18-hole golf experience while protecting our community from uncontrolled storm water."  
  • Ask experts whether the active ingredient in the world's most widely used weed killer causes cancer, and you're not likely to receive a definitive answer.   "Maybe," "probably" or "perhaps - in very high doses" seem to be the most popular answers when experts are asked whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, is a carcinogen. Until now.   A recent study, published in the November issue of Journal of the National Cancer Institute concluded there was no relationship between glyphosate and cancers including "any solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies overall, including non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and its subtypes."   The study also concluded there is "some evidence of increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia among the highest exposed group", but that the association was "not statistically significant".   The research is part of the Agricultural Health Study that has been tracking the health of farmers, farm workers and their families in Iowa and North Carolina.   In a summary of the results, the researchers, led by Laura Beane Freeman, principal investigator of the Agricultural Health Study at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said that among 54,251 pesticide applicators studied, 44,932, or 82.9 percent, used glyphosate.   "Glyphosate was not statistically significantly associated with cancer at any site," researchers wrote in the summary.   The results of the study are almost certain to impact a host of pending legal proceedings against Monsanto. Currently, nearly 200 plaintiffs have claimed that exposure to glyphosate is responsible for them getting cancer, according to published reports.    Concerns about the safety of handling and working with products containing glyphosate have circulated for years in 2015 when the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that the active ingredient in RoundUp was "probably carcinogenic."   As a result of that report, California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, in July, added glyphosate to its list of cancer-causing agents and the state will require all products containing the chemical to carry a cancer warning on their label by next year.   Since the results of the Agricultural Health Study research have been published, Monsanto, as well as advocacy groups from the agricultural industry, have filed suit against the California agency to stop the amended warning labels.  
  • Editor's note: A few weeks ago, we came across a story about Monty Elam, a legally blind golf pro who had graduated from Penn State's World Campus with a degree in turfgrass management. Recently, TurfNet caught up with Elam to learn more about his inspiring story.   There was a time in Monty Elam's career as a teaching professional when his input was not always welcomed by colleagues during annual budget meetings with club owners and managers from other departments.   "Superintendents never cared about my experience during budget meetings," Elam said. "They didn't care how much experience I had because I was a PGA professional, not a superintendent. It was almost like they were saying 'I'm the agronomist, so you need to go sit over there and be quiet.' "   Like a lot of things in Elam's life, that seems like oh so long ago.   Elam, 52, has been a teaching professional since 1992 and has been a card-carrying member of the PGA of America since 1995. Legally blind for the past 10 years, Elam doesn't give many lessons these days, but limited vision has done nothing to affect his ability to run a golf operation. And for the past seven years, he has plied his trade as director of golf at Whiteford Valley Golf Club in Ottawa, Michigan.   His story is an inspiring record of triumph over adversity. Oh, and his opinions at those meetings carry a little more weight now.   Last spring, Elam earned a bachelor's degree in turfgrass management through Penn State's online World Campus and is working toward a master's in the same field. His hope is to spend his retirement teaching future turfgrass managers.   A self-described lifelong learner, Elam studied turf management for several reasons. Expanding his knowledge base gives him more credibility within the industry and throughout the operation at Whiteford Valley. He loves the science behind growing highly managed turf - and keeping it healthy - and it gives him options for the next phase of his career after his wife, Lisa, retires from her teaching position in the Toledo, Ohio public schools in the not-to-distant future.   "I'd like to teach turf management or soils," he said. "My wife has about seven more years to work, then she can retire. That opens the doors to moving.   "Teaching is what I want to do. If I have to move to do it, that's OK."   It would have been easy for Elam to fold the tent on his PGA career as well as his emerging plans to teach future turf managers, but that's not his way.   Ten years ago, Elam, then the owner of Blackberry Patch Golf Course in Coldwater, Michigan, had just undergone what was supposed to be routine laser surgery to remove blood vessels that had formed on the backs of his eyes. But something went horribly wrong, and both eyes were overexposed to the laser.    "I couldn't see at all for six months," he said. "You learn a lot about yourself in six months. Things you took for granted, from boiling a pot of water to going to the bathroom, you don't take for granted anymore.   "And things you once thought were important, they're not important anymore."  
    Honestly, I can say the biggest regret I have is buying that golf course. We bought it when it was overpriced, during the golf boom. It put a strain on us financially, and it put a strain on our marriage. If this hadn't happened, I can't say my wife and I would still be together."
     
    Doctors, Elam said, assured him that his vision would return to normal. When it didn't, he was referred to the Cleveland Clinic.   Eventually, he regained partial sight in his left eye, a sensation he described as relatively normal close-up, but increasingly cloudy the farther away an object appears. To this day, he remains completely blind in his right eye.   That reality, coupled with a sinking golf industry, was enough to get him out of the business of owning a golf course. Ironically, he had to lean on his wife heavily for support.   About 100 miles separated the Elam's home, then in Bowling Green, Ohio, and Blackberry Patch. Each week, he would leave for the golf course on Monday morning and return home on Saturday evening, spending weeknights in hotels or in members' vacant summer cottages near the golf course, leaving his wife and twin daughters at home.   When he returned home for the weekends, his mind often was elsewhere, usually on work. It was not an ideal situation for anyone involved.    "I was gone all the time," Elam said. "Even when I was home, I wasn't really here mentally."   Life now is a lot different. Elam can't drive a car. He can play golf - with help. Some people would resent such a fate, but Elam embraces it and welcomes the positive changes it has brought to his life.   "Honestly, I can say the biggest regret I have is buying that golf course. We bought it when it was overpriced, during the golf boom," he said. "It put a strain on us financially, and it put a strain on our marriage. If this hadn't happened, I can't say my wife and I would still be together.   "This whole thing has made us really close."   He even manages to get out and play golf a couple of times a month with help from his wife or daughters.    "I can see the top of the ball in the grass, but someone has to stand behind me and help me aim and watch my ball," he said.   "I'm OK off the tee, and my second shot's not too bad. Where I have problems are pitch shots from 20 to 30 yards. I can't see the pin, so my shot is based on what someone tells me. Same with putting. I have to walk to the hole and back and feel the undulations underneath me.   "I'd like to have my vision back to play golf. How I played then, and how I play now, there is a big difference. I'm still able to do everything at the golf course. I work the counter. Until a customer gets close I can't see a face, but I function OK. Nobody knows I'm blind, and they don't need to know"   Until now.  
  • Delaware Valley University professor Doug Linde, Ph.D., likes to incorporate as many real-world learning opportunities as possible into his curriculum. His students like that, too.   Each year, as part of a course he teaches on irrigation, his students simulate an irrigation system installation by putting together all the piping above ground around the university's research putting green. The exercise allows students to put everything together - even if it is above ground - so they have some degree of experience when they have to tackle such a project in the field for the first time.   The putting green and research plots are just steps away from the classroom located in what Linde called the "farm machinery building" and thus make for a convenient diversion for outdoor learning opportunities.   "We do all sorts of things out there," Linde said.    "There is a big demand for experiential learning. I try to do as much of that as I can."   This year, those students got to take part in a real install project after Linde decided it was time to replace the practice green's aging irrigation system. A host of industry vendors and partners got together in mid-October and donated pipe, irrigation heads, fittings and expertise to make the project happen.   Mike Hartley of Turf Equipment and Supply Co., a Jessup, Maryland-based Toro dealer with outlets throughout the mid-Atlantic, quarterbacked the project and the company donated the pipe and sprinkler heads. Harco furnished fittings and contractor George Ley, principal of George E. Ley Co., supplied the know-how.   Hartley said helping Delaware Valley students complete such a project aligns perfectly with his Tesco's goals and philosophy.   "Education is part of Turf Equipment and Supply Company's mission," he said.   About 20 students worked with Ley and Hartley on the project in a series of work stations so all students got to "touch" the project. Linde estimates donations of product and labor totaled about $6,000 to make upgrades to the 5,000 square foot green.   "We had 20 students and four industry reps spaced out in work stations on this project," Linde said.    "It was a great example of how the industry helps education."  

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