"but I do know Hurdzan is a disciple of FE Taylor (I think those are his initials) and he believes his death set the field of golf course agronomy back decades, largely because Piper and Oakley did not grasp or embrace his ideas.
Tom MacW:
That's interesting. I'd like to know why Michael Hurzdan thinks Taylor's death set golf course agronomy back decades and also why he thinks Piper and Oakley didn't grasp or embrace Taylor's ideas.
Frankly, it was Taylor's (a Philadelphian) death that basically set Piper and Oakley and Hugh Wilson in motion to produce a book on golf agronomy "Turf for Golf Courses". The reason his death set them in motion to publish this book is Taylor's sudden death in 1915 left all Taylor's collected research on both grasses (for golf) and his novel invention of a putting green construction method (some say the precusor to the USGA spec putting green construction method) unsecured. Wilson immediately contacted Taylor's brother in law (an executor) to secure Taylor's research and publish it in the book or elsewhere. A good amount of Taylor's research is published in that book.
Probably half, or more, of the greens of Pine Valley were converted by Crump to the Taylor green construction method before Crump died in 1918. Crump had planned to convert all his greens to Taylor greens! Fredrick Winslow Taylor, by the way, was one of the original subscribing members of PVGC and was primarily from the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
Taylor was a most unusual man, to say the least. Putting green construction and golf agronomy was definitely nothing more than a side-line to him. He was the product of a very wealthy, extremely intelligent, aristocratic free-thinking Quaker family.
Taylor was world reknowned (and extremely controversial) for creating what became known as the "Scientific Management Method" which is basically the modern day employer/employee blueprint on which most all America labor management is now based on! Taylor was an efficiency expert par excellence. He was also an inventor, and made millions on various business and labor machine inventions.
Taylor had a personal gardener by the name of Robert Bender who apparently became the primary constructor of his putting green construction method and perhaps his primary researcher in golf agronomy and golf grasses.
So I'm not exactly sure why Mike Hurzdan believes Piper and Oakley were at odds with Fredrick Winslow Taylor or his ideas. We do have Michael's # and will certainly call him for more on that.
Perhaps the thing Michael Hurzdan is talking about, though, is the philosophy that appeared prevalent at that early stage of golf agronomy of liming (sweetenting) acidic soil. The obvious reason to lime or "sweeten" acidic soil was to allow things to grow more easily or more rapidly. Unfortunately, and in retrospect, that philosophy may have allowed too much to grow including endless weeds or whatever that competed with an acceptable golf grass and created problems that needed to be remediated.
Perhaps, that's what Hurzdan thinks set back golf agronomy by decades but at that early time those men were the last word in the world on golf agronomy. I don't think Taylor had come up with anything on golf agronomy they did not know or were in disagreement with.
Did Taylor (or Bender) completely disagree with "sweetening" acidic soil for golf agronomy? That's probaby the most logical question. If they did, then only that, as far as I can see, would've been what Piper and Oakley and the direction of golf agronomy did not heed!