East Lake's Bentgrass Greens

[John Kavanaugh]

Thanks for posting that link Ken.

I guess I was expecting to see worse than that, but then again pics and seeing them in person can offer differ greatly. I've played on greens with massive 100 sq ft areas that were completly devoid of grass...

Hope they are ready to go by Thursday...

Of course the greens are not that bad.  This is a perfect example of a media blitz supporting the need to replace grass or spend money to fight heat and invoke change.  It is a tragedy happening all over the country.

The above is my exact quote with zero edits.  I knew this was the case because it is exactly what is happening at my club.  It has gotten so bad that if the greens start looking good the super tears them up again so he can continue to look like the hero.  I call it Mulchausen by Proxy Syndrome.

[wsmorrison]

"...I knew this was the case because it is exactly what is happening at my club.  It has gotten so bad that if the greens start looking good the super tears them up again so he can continue to look like the hero.  I call it Mulchausen by Proxy Syndrome."

Mulchausen by Proxy, now that is very funny, John (though not so for the golf course or membership).

[John Kavanaugh]

For those who do not know Munchausen by Proxy is a very sad and real disease made famous by the movie the 6th sense.  It is when a parent, usually a mother, keeps a child ill so they can feel needed.  I am seeing it more and more in the superintendent field in that some supers are not happy unless they are fixing something or tearing something up.  If there is not a problem, they find one.  If they can not find one they create one.  Thus Mulchausen by Proxy is born and I can't find the cure.

[wsmorrison]

John,

Not to be a dork, but it is a syndrome and not a disease.

[John Kavanaugh]

John,

Not to be a dork, but it is a syndrome and not a disease.

I thought of it as a disease because it is brought on by the mental illness of a super and not his criminal intent to harm a course.  I thought it could be treated through medication.  Mulchausen by Proxy is like a virus transmitted through contact with the ads in SuperNews.

[A.G._Crockett]

John,

Not to be a dork, but it is a syndrome and not a disease.

I thought of it as a disease because it is brought on by the mental illness of a super and not his criminal intent to harm a course.  I thought it could be treated through medication.  Mulchausen by Proxy is like a virus transmitted through contact with the ads in SuperNews.

LMAO in GA.  I'm showing this to the super at my club TODAY, and with an accusatory tone!

[Kalen Braley]

John,

You will hate this article...

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/columns/story?columnist=sobel_jason&id=3014630

[John Kavanaugh]

John,

You will hate this article...

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/columns/story?columnist=sobel_jason&id=3014630

Why would I hate the article when anybody could have read the same thing on here from me a full two days ago.  Big time media is always the last to know.

[John_Cullum]

I believe Barney is exactly correct in his assessment that when the Superintendent becomes convinced the greens are going to fail unless (insert thing super wants). At that point the Super becomes invested in failure, and he has the innate ability to let failure happen.

Predicted failure probably comes along more often than surprise failure. Its human nature

[Brock Peyer]

Stewart Cink was on the radio this afternoon and said that the greens are slower than what they are used to but they are rolling smooth.  He was also quick to point out or remind the talk show hosts that the Pros play slow greens all the time when they are at home during the Summer.

Not sure if Stewart was drinking the tour cool aid or if they are smooth but slow.  We'll see, I hope that it isn't as bad as they say.

[James Bennett]

Lets see, it is a huge field playing in this event of ......

30 players.  Yes, only 30 players.

I think that this works in East Lake's favour.  The greens won't deteriorate that much from first out to last out.

Now, if it had been a 150 strong field, then any shortfall in the grass health would really start to show up by the end of the day.

James B

[Gary Daughters]

I have 2 leftover passes good for any day.

IM if you want them.

[Michael Christensen]

there were still excuses being made last night...... AAC super said "micro-climate" of East Lake was part of the problem...funny how Druid Hills, Peachtree and Piedmont DC's vicinity to the hot city of Atlanta didn't affect their greens

One question that hasn't been addressed....why should the members give up their bent grass greens (that have worked very well for all these years) for a new bermuda strain type green??  This one week out of every year must be more important than the member play the other 51 weeks...what a joke!  

[noonan]

It appears they have velcro on the greens and balls.

[Craig Sweet]

Interesting all these posts that suggest a big conspiracy on the part of the Super....oh well, ignorance is bliss...

Mico climates do exist.  Further more, no two golf courses are the same...even if right across the street...often the soil, the strain(s) of grass, the air movement, the sun/shade from trees, can be different...the "maintinence meld" developed and followed over a period of time can have a totally different affect on one than the maintinence meld on another...

Perhaps John Kavanaugh could put together a grounds crew with some of the other arm chair quarterbacks that post here, and go run the maintinence department at one of these courses?  I would wager ALL the grass would be dead within two years....

[A.G._Crockett]

One question that hasn't been addressed....why should the members give up their bent grass greens (that have worked very well for all these years) for a new bermuda strain type green??  This one week out of every year must be more important than the member play the other 51 weeks...what a joke!  

Michael,
I have wondered this all along; it's why I expressed disbelief early in the thread that it would ever be done, though it surely seems to be a certainty.

The only thing I can figure out is that due the corporate nature of the memberships, the dynamic is not the same as at an individual membership club; most of the golfers at EL may have another club that they consider to be their primary golf home?

The other thing may be that this week IS more important than the other 51, at least financially.  Who knows?

That said, I just have a really hard time imagining the Tour finishing the season every year on bermuda, even really good Champion, after not playing on it for months and months.  Just kinda weird.

[G Jones]

there were still excuses being made last night...... AAC super said "micro-climate" of East Lake was part of the problem...funny how Druid Hills, Peachtree and Piedmont DC's vicinity to the hot city of Atlanta didn't affect their greens

One question that hasn't been addressed....why should the members give up their bent grass greens (that have worked very well for all these years) for a new bermuda strain type green??  This one week out of every year must be more important than the member play the other 51 weeks...what a joke!  

Unlike the other 3 courses you mention (which are rolling with lots of small hills), the whole course at east lake is decidedly in it's own mini "valley", and the air tends to just sit on the course if there is no wind. From the clubhouse and lake it is uphill to the west (to the far end of the property) and similarly uphill to the east. It is also nearer the centre than all of them (aac, pdc and peachtree are quite some distance out)altho druid is almost as close - and its greens aren't always great in the middle of the summer).



Some random East Lake trivia -

the back half (at the far end of the property) is 20ft higher than the front half (at the far end of the property).

Also, standing at the clubhouse and looking west, the sun sets on the corners and center of the property on the exquinoxes (can't spell i know) and solstices.

The valley across the fourth fairway (which sticks slightly into the 8th fairway) is an old confederate trench that guarded the road that ran along the high ground from short of the 3rd green to just in front of the 5th tee.

Bobby Jones' family's summer house when he first visited east lake (at age 6) was where the 2nd green is today. A green of the old course (it was totally changed when he was about 11) was where the pond is today infront of the 2nd green (down the hill from his house). That is where bobby jones said he learnt his short game, carrying practise golf balls in his cap.

His first hole in one, he would joke, was on a 3 hole makeshift course he created with a couple of friends when he was 6 or 7, in the field to the left of the approach to the 10th (over the road).

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