Call Tod Blankenship a giver.
After more than two decades in turf management, growing grass still runs in Blankenship's veins. Working as a superintendent? Not so much anymore, although he does retain his GCSAA certification. Still, the former golf course greenkeeper and turfgrass researcher at Oregon State University is branching out on his own, offering turfgrass consulting, management and research services under the label Tblankenship LLC for superintendents, universities, chemical companies and whoever else across the Pacific Northwest might be in need of such services.
"Independent research, precision management, remote mapping, digital analysis, consultation, or just listening," Blankenship said, describing his services. "I want to be out with the golf course guys, and I feel like there is a need out there."
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a former graduate research assistant at Oregon State while working toward a master's degree under Rob Golembiewski, Ph.D., Blankenship possesses a unique skill set. Besides working for three golf courses in Wisconsin and a research university in the Pacific Northwest, Blankenship worked the past five as parks director for the City of Wilsonville, Oregon. That was a match that, let's just say had exhausted its useful life cycle on both sides, prompting Blankenship to explore new opportunities. A superintendent for 10 years at Wisconsin River, Big Fish and Trappers Turn golf clubs in Wisconsin, the day-to-day rigors as a greenkeeper and the hardship that schedule can impose on a wife and two young kids made returning to work as a superintendent impractical. His wife, LuAnn, made sure of that.
"We decided I wouldn't be applying for too many golf course superintendent opportunities," Blankenship said.
"My wife knows what I went through and what we went through as a family and I knew she would be against that."
Although he is not too hot on the idea of being a superintendent again, Blankenship has a passion for helping those in the business and helping grow the game he loves.
Ultimately, he cares and he wants to help people. At Oregon State, his expectations were to deliver a quality research farm and provide the ability to help the superintendent do his job. On the research side, he showed an attention to detail and was diligent in his research. He was out there seven days a week at the farm.
After conducting due diligence, drafting a business plan and discussing his plans with Golembiewski and others, all that is left to finalize his plan is tying up some loose ends with the IRS. He has taken the test to earn a remote pilot's license and is eager to help integrate new technology that can benefit superintendents but that many might not have the expertise, resources or time to utilize themselves.
"I want to help superintendents integrate all these new tools," he said. "Whether we like it or not, they are going to be part of turfgrass management from now on."
Along with consulting, a large part of Blankenship's future likely will include independent turfgrass research, a job for which he is well suited as a former research assistant at Oregon State when Golembiewski, now a member of Bayer's Green Solutions Team, headed the turf program in Corvallis.
The Oregon State program is in solid hands with associate professor Alec Kowalewski, Ph.D., and research assistant Brian McDonald, but as turf programs in neighboring states face declining numbers in faculty and student population, there are opportunities for independent contractors to fill those voids in extension work and research. In fact, rather than view Blankenship as an interloper, OSU's Kowalewski welcomes another researcher to help cover such an expansive area.
"There is one place that does research on the West Coast, or at least the northern half of the West Coast," Kowalewski said. "We’re basically serving Oregon, Washington, Northern California, Idaho and Western Montana. If there is another person to do research in our area - great.
"If there is more capacity to do more research in Oregon, it’s going to be better for everyone. And Tod got his master’s degree here and did research here - he’s part of our program in my book."
Blankenship relied heavily on advice from his former mentor before hanging his own shingle.
"As I explained to Tod, if you look at the Pacific Northwest, Alec and Brian are filling a need for Oregon, but there are opportunities elsewhere in Washington, California and even into Canada to provide expertise and conduct research for that region," Golembiewski said.
"Ultimately, he cares and he wants to help people. At Oregon State, his expectations were to deliver a quality research farm and provide the ability to help the superintendent do his job. On the research side, he showed an attention to detail and was diligent in his research. He was out there seven days a week at the farm."
There is one place that does research on the West Coast, or at least the northern half of the West Coast. We’re basically serving Oregon, Washington, Northern California, Idaho and Western Montana. If there is another person to do research in our area - great.
When it comes to helping grow the game, Blankenship isn't just all talk. He and wife LuAnn are in the market for a nine-hole golf course that he said will be focused on bring fun back to golf and could serve as home base for his research and consulting operation.
"It might not be a traditional nine holes or 18 holes. I just want to try to get a club into people's hands. I know that sounds cheesy, but that's it. People don't have time for that five-hour commitment," said.
After watching the industry shrink for the past 13 years, he believes he would be getting in as a golf course owner at the right time.
"I don't think golf is in a race to the bottom. I believe we've hit bottom and are climbing out of it," he said. "Those who are still in it are in it for the right reason.
"It will be something I'll maintain and my family will be part of. No one is going to get rich, but that's how you have to make money in golf."
Blankenship has been around the game and the industry long enough to know that any venture as a golf course owner or independent contractor will require patience before those efforts bear fruit.
"He has no preconceived notions, he just needs to do quality work and contract research and provide that information back to the superintendent. It's a multi-faceted approach," Golembiewski said. "Nothing is going to happen overnight, and he understands that."
