Wanted: A weekly series by the supers

[George Pazin]

If there is one area I think many are woefully ignorant - not in a rude sense, but in a knowledge sense - it is how a golf course is maintained. A quick read of many threads will yield opinions of golf courses' conditions that sounds like the poster knows how to evaluate the current condition, but I suspect many do not know what it takes to achieve it. I know I don't.

Here are some potential topics:

- Grow-In stages: How long till playable? How long till some sort of basic long term maturity?

- Firm and fast tourney conditions: Can you go in and out of this? Can you maintain this reasonably often? Is it more or less cost effective than soft and green?

- Environmental impact: What are some of the newer, "greener" approaches to maintenance? Do you like them, agree with them?

- How different is it to setup for a PGA level tourney from your local club championship? How about a major? How far out do you have to start preparing for these?

- Evolution of greenkeeping techniques: How have they changed since the 80s? The 50s? The 20s?


These are just a few areas I think we could all benefit from a round table-type discussion.

Just a thought...

[Jeff_Mingay]

George,

This is a good idea.

One of the great experiences I've had in this business has been working with Duane Sharpe throughout the initial construction and continued evolution of Blackhawk, in Edmonton AB. Duane and I continue to learn a lot from each other, with regard to the relationship between architecture and course maintenance.

Duane's been involved with course construction and grow-in at a couple places, most notably at Blackhawk. He's a great guy to provide some perspective from the green-keepers point of view. In fact, I'd love to see him write an "In My Opinion" piece here about his experiences at Blackhawk. I know it would be fascinating. Duane's a superintendent who really thinks about, and sincerely attempts to maintain and even enhance the course designers vision. 

I just don't think he has the time. I'll press him! 

[George Pazin]

Thanks, Jeff. Perhaps you could share a little about what you feel you've learned from Duane.

[Pat Brockwell]

Dear George,
     Your tag line suggests, IMO, that you are one of the most intelligent posters on this site.   As far as maintaining a golf course and the topics you pose, there are no "pat" answers.  What is necessary is an understanding of the fundamentals of plant science, soil science, chemistry, electrical engineering, plumbing, psychology, human resource management, customer relations/service, golf course architecture/strategy, golf, meteorology, combined with an intimate knowledge and relationship with the specific site.  Couple all of that with a willingness to totally expose oneself and all of your decisions to the scrutiny of all who play or live near your course.  From there, you just go for it and try to figure it out, cause you'll always be challenged and surprised by nature, human and Mother.  I know an old super with 40 years experience that got into fertilizer/chemical sales.  I introduced him to my boss one time.  I was bragging on his deep experience as a way to explain why we were out on the course together, and my boss said something like "you must know it all" when my humble friend said "Well, I sure know a lot of things that DON'T Work"  As time passes, I know more about my course, and I'm not trying to figure it all out on a daily basis, and that helps.  I've made some miscalculations along the way, but one of the things I think I'm pretty good at is not repeating mistakes, not more than two or three times anyway.  I hope this thread has legs, thanks George.

[Jamey Bryan]

I'd like to add my wholehearted support to this idea.  I'm a complete dunce when it comes to the process of properly maintaining a golf course, but I'm a veteran with the problem experiences (meant light heartedly, lest there be a misunderstanding).

This is a subject I'd really like to further.

Jamey

[TX Golf]

PLEASEEEE!!! I love this idea. I think that the idea of maintaining a golf course is sometimes under-appreciated because the majority of us don't have the slightest clue of what goes into it and the difficulty of doing it properly. I would love to learn about the entire process. While we all are GCA junkies, I also believe that a properly maintained golf course is even more important than the architecture itself. (I know there are going to be many that disagree) While the top golf courses in the world are defined by great architecture, (which we all appreciate) the majority of courses lack this special and rare characteristic. These "lacking" courses are the ones enjoyed by the majority of golfers. Ninety five percent of golfers don't give a shit about architecture, but they will go home telling their friends that they just played a perfectly maintained course with quick and smooth greens, and hit a drive 295 (because the fairways were fast and firm). Sorry to harp on the issue but I would love if someone would grab this idea by the horns and educate all of us.

Robert

[RJ_Daley]

You'd probably get plenty of info if you could get on one of these discussion forums...
http://forums5.gcsaa.org:8080/~gcsaaforums

But it is a members only discussion...
Golf Course Management Magazine does offer non-members subscriptions.

Here is GCM blog...
http://gcm.typepad.com/

[George Pazin]

Thanks for the input (and thanks for the links, Double D ).

I'll try to maybe kick off a thread each week - anyone interested can message or email me with topic ideas.

Pat, I'm continually evaluating new taglines, but your wisdom has stood the test of time.

[Pat Brockwell]

I would like to revisit an idea I've posted before; We do not maintain the golf course, we continually produce the golfing product.  It's always changing after all.

[Mike Nuzzo]

George,

I always ask Don to guest host my blog.
He has a lot of great information and experiences.
He is just very busy.

I'll keep asking him.
I will say that Wolf Point is so worth visiting to see the maintenance alone - easily so from Pittsburgh.

Cheers

[Ryan Farrow]

Mike, George has got the best maintained golf course ever made, down the street on Hulton Rd.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Ryan,
No one is taking anything away from the course down the street from George. What we did at Wolf Point could be considered different, be that good or bad. All Mike is saying is the course is worth a look if one is interested in the study of golf course design or maintenance.

George,
I think you just got a taste of why supers are sometimes hesitant to get involved in maintenance discussions on a forum like this.

[Adam Clayman]

George. May I suggest the first topic be a frank discussion on killing grass? It always shocks me how uninformed people (even members of this forum) are when they think a brown patina is dead grass. When I hear supers spout the same line there needs to be several threads.

[George Pazin]

George. May I suggest the first topic be a frank discussion on killing grass? It always shocks me how uninformed people (even members of this forum) are when they think a brown patina is dead grass. When I hear supers spout the same line there needs to be several threads.

Your wish is my command. See my new thread shortly.

Don, I can certainly understand why many would hesitate, but I hope ultimately they will see the benefits of learnin' the rest of us a bit.

[Sean McCue]

A lot of maintenance issues or perceived issues can be dealt with by effectively communicating with the membership, by telling them what will happen before it takes place. I have started a maintenance blog at our club that details ongoing maintenance issues, as well as other things such as course setup, tournament prep and golfer etiquette.

This has been a very valuable tool for me to use by keep the membership in the loop as to what is going on at the club.  I have tried to keep my post short and to the point with pictures showing what I am describing.  Additional I have also kept the technical speak to a minimum, so that I do not loose my audience right from the start.

My blog address is www.cccpgcm.blogspot.com

[Jeff_Mingay]

Thanks for the link, Sean.

Your blog is EXTREMELY well done. Congratulations.

Keep up the good work,

[Josh_Mahar]

Sean,
Your link is impressive-very well done.   

Josh Mahar
Superintendent Wild Horse GC

[Steve Okula]

Sean,

Wow, that is impressive.

Where do you find the time?

[JMEvensky]

Sean,

Wow, that is impressive.

Where do you find the time?

Ditto.

We looked at doing something like this-not remotely as elaborate.I can't imagine the time required.

[Tom Yost]

Sean:  Outstanding site!   The members at your club are quite fortunate.

I have to agree that effective communication is key.  When people don't know what is going on, speculation leads to mis-information being cast about.  A resource like this is priceless.

I liked the articles under the topic titled "Getting Away From The Augusta Syndrome."

[Sean McCue]

Jeff, Josh, Steve and JME,

Thanks for all the positive comments.

After the initial setup and becoming familiar with how to input items into the blog, the actual daily time spent is rather short.  It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to present things to my membership that peak their interest as well as keep them informed as to our daily struggles and successes.

The concept of using this blog as an information tool was my idea and was quickly embraced by the membership.  I chose to go to a blog format, because the website the club was using was in my opinion a disaster and I wanted to create a professional looking forum to present information.

I try to plan out in advance three or four topic ideas with room for items that come up on a daily basis.  Most of the time, I will limit myself to 10- 15 minutes of time creating a post.  This usually occurs at lunch time when I am in front of my computer or at night when I am at home.  I have also been known to post from my Blackberry out in the field. 

Time is precious, but I believe it has been well spent keeping my membership informed as to what is taking place on the course. 

You might have noticed there has been a heavy emphasis on irrigation issues at CCCP.  I strongly believe that the blog has been extremely helpful in creating awareness of the need for a new irrigation system. 

We have just started our irrigation renovation project and I will be blogging it in great detail.

[Sean McCue]

Tom,

Sorry I forgot to include you as well.

[Scott Stambaugh]

A lot of maintenance issues or perceived issues can be dealt with by effectively communicating with the membership, by telling them what will happen before it takes place. I have started a maintenance blog at our club that details ongoing maintenance issues, as well as other things such as course setup, tournament prep and golfer etiquette.

This has been a very valuable tool for me to use by keep the membership in the loop as to what is going on at the club.  I have tried to keep my post short and to the point with pictures showing what I am describing.  Additional I have also kept the technical speak to a minimum, so that I do not loose my audience right from the start.

My blog address is www.cccpgcm.blogspot.com

Sean,

I'm a little late to this thread- very nice job on your blog.  A few questions-

-Is the membership OK with private club information on a public forum site?

-Do you feel a majority of the membership value this?

-Do you get an increased volume of emails or does the blog seem to satisfy most potential questions?

Thanks.

Scott

[Sean McCue]

Scott,

You are the first person I have heard with any concern with club information being available on the public side of things.  Given today’s golf market with the competition between private clubs for members, I believe that on some level my information being out there might help sway potential members to our club due to the highest level of maintenance being performed.

The members that really care about what is going on at the club value the information.  I have a couple of members that almost on a daily basis make a reference to a blog post of mine.

The emails or comment I receive are 50/50 member/ non member.  Most of the comments are more in the way of “I had no idea” and “fascinating information”.  As far as satisfying concerns they have not been verbalized.

[Eric Johnson]

Sean,

Very well done.