For the second consecutive year, TurfNet is providing a small-but-dedicated crew to help prepare for the Irish Open.
Four people with TurfNet connections will volunteer for superintendent Bernard Findlay at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, scheduled for July 6-9 at Portstewart Golf Club in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.David Escobedo, golf course superintendent at Westbrook Village Golf Club in Peoria, Arizona, is being sponsored by membership donations from the members of his club. Westbrook is a 36-hole facility, and temperatures should be topping 100 degrees there when Escobedo is experiencing the milder climate in Ireland.
Marty Richardson is already in Ireland as the TurfNet/TOCA student intern. He will take a brief leave of absence from The Island Golf Club near Dublin to help work the Irish Open. Richardson already has major tournament experience at the 2016 Ryder Cup Matches at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
Dana Chase is a equipment manager from Glen Ellen Country Club in Millis, Massachusetts. He was on last year's TurfNet Irish Open trip and crewed for the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in Wales. He said the focus this year should be on equipment maintenance rather than repairs, as was the case last year.
Rounding out the team will TurfNet's Jon Kiger, who will spearhead the 2017 TurfNet on Tour blog that will chronicle the group's activities on and off the course.
The TurfNet contingent will be part of a group that also includes volunteers from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Ireland and the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.
"This will not only be a huge help for us," Findlay told Greenkeeper International magazine, "but it also means members of the separate organizations, who don't often get the chance to mingle, will be able to come together to exchange ideas and build friendships."
The blog is which is sponsored by IVI Golf and Tru-Turf. Kiger will tackle bunker maintenance in the morning, divots throughout the day and debris cleanup in the evening."Most of the coverage of maintenance at tournaments in the U.S. focuses on the majors where there are literally hundreds of volunteers and dozens of full time staff," Kiger said. "While we understand and respect that those numbers are needed in many cases, the reality is in much of the rest of the world tournament conditions are delivered with a smaller combined crew. Our goal in going to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and hosting the blog is to have our members experience this smaller volunteer setting and understand where this event fits into the local superintendent community. We're also looking forward to making friends from around the world and seeing some of the top golfers play just a few weeks before the next major."
The TurfNet on Tour 2016 Irish Open blog won second place (to another TurfNet blog on Olympic Golf preparation) in the recent Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association annual communications contest.