I love trying to help golfers and laymen try to understand the agronomy side better. It’s actually one of my favorite things to do. I will help and help until I’m blue in the face. But what I hate, especially on this board, is when it seems like disgruntled Or know-it-all members are looking to get ammo to debunk, show-up, or even throw supers under the bus for something they don’t know a thing about. This makes me furious. Why even have a superintendent if certain members seem know better than the professional? Just have the members run the place and play superintendent. Save yourself thousands and thousands in salary and do it yourself. Boom problem solved. You think if he read this thread he be tickled pink?
Well said!
Really? I found the comments overly generalized and needlessly accusatory. What is it about the golf superintendent profession that shields its practitioners from questions, second guessing, and criticisms from people who pay for their services? Many of us who have advanced degrees, professional certifications, and many years of successful practical experience are certainly not granted these courtesies or protections.
Scott B notes something which I have observed over and over- you ask X number of superintendents a question on a variety of subjects and you are likely to get as many different answers. Part of this may be due to how they are trained, but more importantly, to the specific characteristics of the courses they maintain, not limited only to micro-climate, soil, water, and turf types, but also to membership composition, expectations, budgets, and the life cycle of the club and the course.
As an example, my home club has a highly regarded superintendent and his calling card is our Tifeagle greens. Right now they are firm, smooth, and running around 12' with minimal grain for their age, 19 years. He aerates deeply with a large tine three times annually- the Monday and Tuesday after the Masters, in June after the Member-Guest, and in August after the Member-Member (The Inferno).
The whining is loud and frequent through late May/early June, especially if the spring is cool and wet. It picks up again through the second punch, and the members become apoplectic when he's ready for the third and last one in August. Effectively, we have excellent greens for seven months, pretty good greens for two more, and crappy for three during the peak season.
Other courses in the area with similar grass punch between one and two times, often using a smaller tine that injects water and sand without pulling the cores as the first one. I am not aware of any which pulls large cores three times annually.
Unlike Mr. Emerson, I am not college educated in agronomy, though I have read the Beard book and have probably spoken to more than 100 superintendents in my life on numerous subjects (today I had a nice chat with our irrigation specialist who was on the site in 2001 before the course was grassed and installed part of the irrigation system; talk about a hard job keeping something that old with nearly 1900 heads).
I can't count the number of times I've explained to members why our superintendent prefers to be so aggressive with the greens. Most seem to be satisfied with the explanations, which brings to mind something that our guy does NOT do well- communicating regularly with the members. While the proof should be in the pudding and it does take time away from running the operation, but perhaps informing/educating the paying customer is a good idea? Respect goes both ways.