Supers and Green Speed - If Gammy didn't fire the high school kid...

[Mike_Sweeney]

Last summer, my mother-in-law "lost" her five acres in Connecticut, as it was brown and patchy during last summer's very humid period.

The high school kid who cuts the lawn did not get fired, and is back this summer.

Last summer, a number of Supers on Long Island and elsewhere lost some greens, and some lost their jobs.

This summer, the humidity has been better, but green speeds at a few clubs are slower. The main reason given appears to be that Supers are protecting their jobs.

Is there a way to balance this equation out, where Supers can do their job and not have to live in fear of the Greens Committee?

A a first step, I actually do read the Super updates on the newsletters and websites, but they do seem to come infrequently. Who is responsible for educating the membership? Super or Greens Committee or both?

[Dean Paolucci]

Mike - The Member facing responsiblity is clearly on the shoulders of the Green Chair and Committee.  Further the Board needs to be drinking the Kool Aid to have the tone properly set.  The Super is responsible to educate the aforementioned parties so they are armed with the knowledge to address the Membership.  Communication and accurate information is the key.  The Super shoud not be delivering the message to the Club members.  First, the Super does not have the time to individualy adddress 250 or 300 Member inquiries.  Second, those inquiries rarely come from a credible source. Third, the Super is the highly trained SME (Subject Matter Expert) charged with the responsibility of caring for the course.  Fourth, the Board and Green Committee need to create an environment of trust to allow the Super to stretch the limits of the course to acheive the optimal desired conditions as set by that governing body.  Fifth, that same governing body needs to accept responsibility (not the Super for carring out a directive) for a forced decision.  Sixth, the Club needs to provide the resources ($ and manpower) to allow the course to be streched under adverse conditions.  All and all, the Super is not the adversry here but the ally and should be trusted as such.

[TEPaul]

"Is there a way to balance this equation out, where Supers can do their job and not have to live in fear of the Greens Committee?"

MikeS:

Yes there is. The way to do it is to face reality if one wants green performance and firm and fast conditons and an acceptable "look". It's pretty simple really and the likes of Matt Shaeffer, particularly, at Merion, and others like John Goesslin of Aronimink or John Zimmers at Oakmont can explain it to any club anywhere or any green committee anywhere.

Matter of fact, those guys, particularly Shaeffer, appear to be more than willing to explain it to any club, either generally or in fine detail who ask them how to do it.

The first step is to give the super the necessary resources to in mechanisms, material and man-power to do it and that translates directly into MONEY.

They are even willing and able to explain how much more money and how it needs to be applied "on-course".

Failing that, those superintendents will explain that these clubs just need to face reality and readjust their expectations of what they can have.

This is what it all boils down to and those supers will tell anyone that even they couldn't do what some clubs expect their supers to do with what they are giving them to do it.

Need more be said?  

[Michael Hayes]

I spent 9 years in the private club side of the greenkeeping business and now less than a season working at a "resort" with one owner.  

Communication is so much easier, I play golf with the owner every other Sunday, and it is my "green committee" meeting.  It lasts twice as long (3:45), but we get 10 times as much accomplished.  I had a great relationship with my green committee chair at the private club; we were on the same page.  But we had to manage the other members of the committee and the other board members, who thought that their position on the house committee enabled them to mandate the needs of the course.

 At the private club, I wrote monthly newsletter articles, held a question and answer forum on our website, and spent about 5-7 hours per week "educating" membership on the putting green or first tee.  Now, it is harder to get the word out, but our players, are not so concerned about the future, they just enjoy the 3 days of golf while on vacation.  I don't spend much time at all putting out fires, I develop plans to help the course, justify and compromise with the owner.  The end result is that I love my job more than ever and can't wait for those "green committee" meetings.

Michael Hayes
Happy in my own private Idaho

[Adam Clayman]

Mike Sweeney-

Did any of these clubs, with the slower greens speeds this year, disfigure their greens through renovation, so they could speed them up?

To me that would be perfect irony.

Also, I hope no supers out there take umberage to you equating a kid cutting grass to thier profession.

[Steve Curry]

Mike,

A good freind of mine, super has been told by his green chairman, "I can explain slow greens much more easily than dead ones."

I don't know if the onus can solely be applied to the super trying to save  the job.  Could just be they are having greater success getting the point across.

I have been thinking about a thread on consistency that addresses this issue in part.  One of the best ways to save greens is knowing when to back off on the turf.  Too many of our drastic turf loss issues come from over doing it.  The overriding factor in many cases is the need for consistency.  Pushing too hard!

[Mike Hendren]

Mike,

This calls to mind a great story from my good friend Joe Kennedy, the superintendent at Vanderbilt Legends Club from grow-in.  

Joe's first job was at a small course in North Carolina.  His first year three of the greens died during the summer.  He was invited to attend the year-end dinner and assumed he was going to get canned or at least chastised.

In fact they honored him and expressed their appreciation for a job well done.  When Joe apologized for losing the three greens, the club's manager responded that they typically lose six or seven every year!

Mike

[Patrick_Mucci]

Mike Sweeney,

It would appear that most are in the defensive mode this summer, with a "better safe than sorry" position.

I'm not so sure that you can adequately educate memberships.

Clubs that seem to devote an inordinate effort to do so appear to be clubs where things are tentative.

If the power base was secure why would their be a need to embark on a global educational process ?

If the announced directive given to the professional was to produce fast and firm playing conditions within the context of what Mother Nature allows, I would think that the membership would be satisfied with the ebb and flow of green speeds and problems encountered.