A new year brings renewed hope for better times ahead. It also is a time to reflect on the happenings of the previous 12 months.
The past year brought significant change to the golf industry. Such changes include technological advancements designed to make turf management easier and more efficient. The year also was marked by sustained popularity of the game in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
Much of what has occurred in the past year has been chronicled on TurfNet, which has listed the top 10 most read stories of 2023. Click on the headlines to read more.
No. 10: Troon acquires Invited Clubs' third-party management business
Troon, the world's largest golf course management company, expanded its book to more than 750 courses when it acquired Applied Golf, which managed 13 courses in Florida, New Jersey and New York, and 18 contracts of managed courses from Invited Clubs (formerly Club Corp).
No. 9: Owners find unique solution for struggling golf course
The owners of a troubled executive course on Long Island that closed in 2020 threw caution to the wind when they converted the property to a nine-hole daily fee with a luxury apartment complex for senior citizens. The innovative plan by the owners gave what is now known as Heritage Spy Ring Golf Club an immediate and much-needed infusion of revenue.
No. 8: Flooding comes with the territory at historic Country Club of Farmington
When Scott Ramsay, CGCS, took the reins at the Country Club of Farmington in Connecticut, he figured the golf course, which lies in a flood plain where the Farmington River Canal once was located, might flood every eight to 10 years. The course in fact flooded four times in 2023, the last when the area took on 8 inches of rain in a few days in September.
No. 7: After 20-plus years in Kansas, Gourlay is moving on to Boise's Hillcrest
The name Gourlay has been synonymous with Colbert Hills in Manhattan, Kansas for 25 years. As 2023 wound down, Matthew Gourlay, CGCS,who began working at the course in his teens when his father was superintendent there, announced he was leaving Colbert Hills for Hillcrest Country Club in Boise.
No. 6: Ancient earthworks site could gobble up Ohio golf course
Mound Builders Country Club in Ohio was built nearly a century ago on the site of an ancient Indian earthworks site that was erected 2,000 years ago as a lunar clock. The state supreme court decided the owner of the property - the Ohio History Connection - could cancel the club's lease on the property, potentially clearing the way for the OHC to open the site for public use.
No. 5: Police chase comes to an end when suspect wrecks stolen spray rig
In August, police were in pursuit of a Lincoln, Nebraska man for violating his parole when he crashed his vehicle.
Rather than give up, the man stole a maintenance vehicle towing a spray rig from Jim Ager Golf course where Bill Kreuser is superintendent.
The chase ended when the suspect crashed the rig into a police vehicle.
No. 4: Sketchy past comes back to haunt superintendent
Jim Watkins, who was working as superintendent at Rincon Municipal Golf Course near Savannah, Georgia, found himself out of a job after it was discovered that he had attempted to hire a hitman in 2011 to murder his brother over a dispute about their late parents' estate. Instead, the would-be killer was an undercover police officer.
No. 3: USGA smart ball measures putting surface metrics
Last February the USGA launched its smart ball, the GS3, that monitors turf and soil conditions.
The by-product of seven years of research and development, the GS3 is outfitted with sensors, accelerometers and gyroscopes that collect more than 15,000 data points that provide superintendents with metrics on things such as green speed, surface firmness and smoothness.
The GS3 is available from the USGA for $2,750 and includes one year's free subscription to the Deacon platform. Customers who renew the Deacon subscription will receive a new GS3 every three years.
No. 2: Golf course owner-operator killed in accident
On April 20, Adam Schloer died in an undisclosed accident while working at his Heritage Creek Golf Club in Bucks County, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia. After the accident, his brother established a gofundme account to help Schloer's family. To date, more than $43,000 has been raised.
No. 1: Florida golf course owner/superintendent opts for consistency of artificial turf greens
When Ben Best bought the nine-hole Suncoast Golf Center in Sarasota, Florida in 2014, there was almost as much bare soil as there was turf on the greens. In all those years, Best, also the superintendent at Suncoast, was never able to duplicate the same conditions during the tourist season that he produced in summer, leading him to eventually convert all nine greens to synthetic turf for the sake of consistency.