[Dave_Wilber]

Hello GCA Gang !

Haven't checked in here in a while. Always interesting to do some catch up reading.

A few people have told me that they'd like to see something I wrote for Ballyneal posted here. I had hesitated, but now that this piece has gone out in several of their mailings, I think the time is right.

(and obviously, even though Tom Doak had said it when talking about Ballyneal here, there's a bit of a change for me. I won't be stopping my consulting and soil testing practice, but I will be cutting back to take care of my favorite clients in an effort to do better and more focused work. I'm excited not only to be part of the dream team that is going to make Ballyneal special, but also very excited to have the opportunity to be part of the ownership team. Not that many turfheads get such a shot and I'm humbled by it. I've interviewed and offered the "superintendent's" job to a capable and hyper-talented young assistant and we will continue to assemble our dreamteam of turfheads---email me if you are interested)

[Dave_Wilber]

Ballyneal
…….a philosophy of agronomy

by Dave Wilber, Director of Agronomy and Head Greenkeeper
Ballyneal Golf and Hunt Club


My first trip to Scotland was in 1996. My career as a turfgrass consultant had lead me to work on the construction of Kingsbarns Golf Links, just outside of St. Andrews in Fife. I had no idea that my understanding of preparing a golfing surface was about to change in a dramatic way.  My first steps onto the Old Course at St. Andrews were with Walter Woods, who had retired from just over 25 years of directing agronomy at the courses of St. Andrews’ Links Trust. Within seconds of being exposed to them both, Walter and The Old Course had simultaneously shown me that I really knew nothing about links golf and the surface that it is played on.

I applied every bit of myself to understanding and learning what had previously been explained to me by my American peers in the business of golf turf as “behind the times”. It was completely clear to me that what I was exposed to was not at all lagging, but was in fact seriously misunderstood. The quality and composition of the surface at first glance was odd. With uniformity and often artificial aesthetics being the key measurements of good playing surfaces in the States, I now had to look deeper. In time I began to realize that the true links golf surface is unique and intricate and not at all a mistake of outdated technique.

I’ve made the “traditional” surface my personal area of interest, first by seeking knowledge and then by relating that knowledge to others. Since my initiation and my self-imposed internship to learn the true depth of linksland turf, I have had a chance to travel extensively to gain knowledge of linksland grassing and to apply that knowledge. I’ve gotten to work with Tom Doak and his team at Renaissance Golf Design to help them marry their outstanding desire to create interesting golf, with my desire never to let the “old school” traditional surface die as a key factor in supporting great golf design. We’ve been blessed with some great sites to advance with. Ballyneal represents an unrealized pinnacle.

Ballyneal’s own natural characteristics and Tom Doak’s routing of the property allows for one of the best opportunities I have ever seen to grow linksland grass in a non-coastal situation.

I remember making a list of observations on my first visit to the property:

1.   Outstanding sandy soil, perfect for supporting the specific turfgrass varieties that would create a traditional golfing surface of Fescue, Browntop, Smooth-stalked Meadowgrass and anything else that volunteers to withstand some mowing and endure the climate of Ballyneal’s Dunes.

2.   Available irrigation water of good quality (so as not to bring salts to harm turf) and limited quantity (so as not to invite too much irrigation).

3.   Hydrology (water movement in the soil) based on strong, natural drainage characteristics that would not demand installation of an extensive drainage system to maintain a dry rootzone (thus a firm surface) after an irrigation or rain event.

4.   A design that would allow for maintenance in the minimum. No stripes, a limited number of heights of cut, simple irrigation needs.

5.   A demand that the ball be alive and interact with the turf in a way to give great shots reward and to encourage shots hit offline to be met with deserved trouble.

6.   Natural landforms that didn’t have to be created in such a way as to look good above ground but be underground nightmares because of contrived shaping.

7.   Landforms to interact with that aren’t maintenance hassles, but yet shouldn’t be grassed just to be green.

8.   An absence of “man-made nature”, like huge lakes, wetlands, waterfalls and absurd landscape plantings that only make the cost of maintenance unreasonable.

9.   No impact of playing surfaces from Golf Carts.

10.   A limited amount of play from an exclusive membership to make the escape to Ballyneal memorable because the golf course is properly prepared.

When I finished making this list, I realized that I didn’t just want to make Ballyneal another project to consult on, I wanted to make it a lasting legacy, a personal challenge in growing grass and a place to teach nearly forgotten methods of keeping the green to upcoming golf course superintendents.

Our methods of growing grass at Ballyneal will be simple and traditional. We won’t care as much about green grass as we will about playing characteristics. We won’t be concerned as much about speedy greens as we will about truth in the roll of the ball (but we’ll still enjoy a wee nip of speed!). We won’t focus on fertilizers and chemicals, but we will fight for healthy sustainable soils and do so with limited inputs. We won’t irrigate much and when we do, we’ll do so with precision. We won’t talk about “environmentalism”, we’ll be part of the environment. We’ll be growing essentially the same grasses on tees, greens and fairways with the only real difference being height of cut and irrigation technique.

There have been some failures with development of the traditional surface on some of the new courses (and some old ones) in America who want to embrace a return to firm, dry and fast conditions but have never had the guts to sacrifice for playing conditions. I’ve studied or been involved with nearly all of them. In every case where the surface hasn’t performed up to snuff, it is because compromise was the order of the day (too green, too much water, too many golf carts, etc.). Ballyneal won’t be a compromised situation.

Quality turfgrass demands only what it needs and when it receives too much of a good thing, it won’t toughen to do well in the extremes. Holyoke, Colorado isn’t the easiest place in the world to grow grass, but it is far from the toughest and it has unique extremes. We won’t be too verdant and we won’t go too far in being firm, dry and fast. We’ll rely on the dramatic design and the amazing terrain of Ballyneal to carry the aesthetics and create etchings in your memory. The turf sward should be the part that you interact with only to support you working the ball through the challenge of your round. It shouldn’t be your constant enemy or your lingering distraction.

Ballyneal won’t be for everyone and many will not understand it. I’m an aficionado of linksland grass. My influences are places like St. Andrews, Royal Melbourne, Pacific Dunes, Machrihanish, Lahinch and many others a lot of American golfers don’t understand. My teachers are the forgotten greats of Greenkeeping and the ones they’ve passed the torch to as they form my current network. My job will be simple: create exactly the playing surface required to support and enhance Tom Doak’s design and Ballyneal’s matchless property.

I was born and raised in Colorado. What an exciting thing to see the possibility of such an amazing project without having to cross an ocean to get to it! I can’t thank Rupert and Jim O’Neal (also born and raised in Colorado) enough for the opportunity to be a member of their team. I couldn’t be more excited about what Ballyneal will be!

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Dave,
I had this, I just haven't had the time to transcribe it from fax, but thanks for posting it!

[Dave_Wilber]

de nada, sir!

I should have known you already had a copy!

[RJ_Daley]

Nice article Dave.  But, I'm going to be a bit of a smart ass and ask you to tell us what kind of grass or seed mix and % you are going to grow there.  

I'm sure you know that the all fescue original turf at Sand Hills has had some pretty tough winter kills in the past and overseeding has introduced bents to the mix.  So how is the humidity there in Holyoke Co. regarding disease problems for fescue?  I personally think that Wild Horse has it right (FWs Award-American-Midnight 9/16ths, surrounds are Jamestown II and Tiffany at 1/2, greens SR1119 and Providence).  Low mow blues in the fairways gives it all the firmness you can desire, and lies that are not country club tight, but definitely consistent and most compatible with the weather and sand based ground.  Tees also are blues and FWs and tees heal fast.  They handle cart traffic very well too...

[Dave_Wilber]

I'll be a smart ass right back and say WOW...five whole posts until we got to the topic of grassing.

The basics are in the post. The specifics are not something we are gonna let out just now because I don't feel like giving away something I've worked so hard at. I'll probably feel different when we are grown in.

I've studied this at length, know what everyone else has done, etc, etc. And I really don't wanna get into past history of dead grass and stuff here, because ultimately that discussion leads to a critical road of how individuals did or did not do the right thing for links golf.

I know exactly what we are gonna do and exactly how we are gonna do it and I can tell you that the beginings of success come from exactly how we do (and do not) handle soil from the very first teaspoonful moved.


(I'm temped to tell you all about how Compost Tea is the answer Mr. Daley...just to poke fun at you for telling me that in the end, that's what my philosophy comes down to    )

[Dave_Wilber]

>>
 I personally think that Wild Horse has it right (FWs Award-American-Midnight 9/16ths, surrounds are Jamestown II and Tiffany at 1/2, greens SR1119 and Providence).
>>

Last I remember...Jamestown II is a fescue, right?

We'd have a tough time keeping that kind of thing on greens, tees and fairways. It's a wonderful place, however and certainly fun to play. After the first few holes, I didn't give the grass second thought and that's the way it should be.

The mind boggles at the concept of Low Mow Blues or Bluegrass Fairways being something new. Heck, Chip Ramsey (bless his heart) was mowing his bluegrass fairways at 7/16 in Vail in the early 80's. What an amazing surface.

[Norbert P]

  Great mission statement. 

  Against professional advice, I just planted a blend of Red and Chewings fine fescue grasses in my front yard.  It is slow to germinate but was warned about this but I'm finally seeing some monocots.  Who says "watching the grass grow is boring"?  I'm like a kid in a sand box.

  Compost tea?  Hmmm...  great idea. 

  BTW... Were you a consultant at the Rawl's course in Lubbock?  If so, what were the grass choices there and how are they doing?
(I'll be there in June)

  Thanks again for the report, Slag of Oregon

[RJ_Daley]

Honest Dave, that is a typo.  I actualy know that the surrounds at WH are the fescues named.  I know that the greens cultivars mentioned are bents too.  I also know that the greatest challenge out there are the fescues.  With them already getting 80s everyday out there in NE-CO., and up to 95-100 many days in June July Aug., whereas the north sea coasts of the old sod courses get somedays and nights in the 40s at the same times, that fescue is going to struggle in the heat and humidity. If you can find 45 finer FW acres of blues in Nebraska than Josh is growing, I want to see it.

Can I at least pry out of you whether you are going to make use of some of that ubiquitous feed lot organics to ammend into your sand-soils?

[TEPaul]

Dave;

Nice to see you on here again.

Have you read Nicholas Park's articles on linksland agronomy and basically how it sort of came to be ruined in even many parts of Europe? Parks was the captain of Lindrick G.C. in England. Ron Prichard gave me his articles at Baltusrol after our get together there.

He talks a lot about the playabilities of that original linksland and heathland agronomy which was basically just solely two strains of natural fescue and bent (festuca/agrostis) only---with a stress on natural--in other words it was what was on the linksland and could survive on the heathland before and during early golf. He said it was an excellent surface to play on probably much like what you're thinking of doing at Ballyneal.

But he explained why it was compromised and basically ruined. Very simple really---those two strains of natural fescue and bent was ALL that could survive in the extremely acidic natural soil of the linksland and heathland. Those two great original strains of grass had NO COMPETITION because nothing else could survive in that highly acidic soil! But for whatever reason early golf agronomists, particularly in America just took to sweetening soil by liming (lyming) it (probably because some of them were agriculturalists and botanists interested in making EVERYTHING GROW). So they sweetened acidic soil as a general policy and habit and probably still are and everything grows in it and they evolved an entire industry out of combating in every way possible everything else that grew.

So he appears to say just basically let nature alone in those acidic conditions as the soil of the linksland and heathland probably has been for eons--and these two strains will again predominate as they'll have no natural competition again as it once was in early golf and even before it!

It's also the reason he said that the linksland and heathland never could be used for farming anyway (too acidic).

Is what Parks said standard agronomic knowledge with people like you or is he onto something that golf agronomy has simply gotten too complicated and away from nature's way because somewhere along the way they forgot what nature's way in some places really was soil-wise--eg acidic? Is this where that phrase comes from that Americans try to grow grass while some in other parts of the world (acidic soil?) try to stop grass from growing?

Of course he did mention that many sites in this world obviously do not naturally have the highly acidic soil that the linksland always did naturally and when that presents itself you're basically into another ballgame.

[Dave_Wilber]

Hi Tom.

Yeah, I've read some of that stuff. Pretty much stopped reading when I got a ways into it.

Pretty much all of the soils I've tested and seen test of from linksland situations are alkaline and the alkalinity is further defined as Calcareous. This makes sense, since corals and other sealife that would have mineralized the linksland steppe are Calcium rich organisms.

John Phillp gave me a good example of this at Carnoustie one day where he showed me where "potato fertilizer" (calcium removing Ammonia based fertilizer) was applied in the 50's and 60's and the result was soil that wasn't working very well.

Jim Arthur has another interesting take on all of this in his 1997, _Practical Greenkeeping_ book, wherein he relates the moveability/solubility of Calcium to time induced acidic soils that in many areas were acidic because of high Aluminum to nearly toxic levels that were high enough not to allow anything other than fine bladed turfgrasses to grow. No question that there is real merit in that, as Arthur asserts that the best pH "is the one you've got" and counsels not to go making dramatic changes in soil chemistry without understanding what dramatic effects you'll have on soil biological foundations and function.

Tom...there's no one answer. You know this!!

[Dave_Wilber]

Slag,

Yes, I worked on the Rawls course, did the grassing spec and the soil stuff for Team Doak. Credit for what is there goes to Eric Johnson, the superintendent. Look him up when you are there. I'm due there myself soon and will enjoy seeing the place.

Greens are Creeping Bent (SR Varieties). Tees and Fairways are Tifsport Bermuda. Rough is Common Bermuda and some Bahia, possibly some fescue thrown in for some contrast.

Enjoy!

[Mark_Guiniven]

Great article Dave. Over the next few weeks I hope to see your work with the soils and grasses at Cape Kidnappers. Can I ask you what you made of the New Zealand turf scene while you were here? Mike Clayton believes NZ should have an excellent climate for bents and fescues; yet many clubs and even the turf institute have given up and are developing poa annua regimes based around the work of Joe Vargas and Tom Cook. What is Paul Delaney's mission statement like at CK?

[Dave_Wilber]

Mark...since this is the Ballyneal topic, I won't take too much room on this. My take on the NZ turf scene is that everyone's confused a little, but they'll get it sorted out, I'm sure.

The native grasses at Cape Kidnappers, or perhaps I should say the Sheep Grazing Grasses, were lots of Browntop Bent and some neat Fescues all mowed frequently and to perfection by the 4 legged crowd. It's a perfect area for both. Of course those grasses didn't get any irrigation.

We continue to hope that the ownership will support and encourage Paul to irrigate as little as possible. It's really the only way for the course the play like Tom's vision. I've heard some stories of folks thinking that the owner will accept nothing but emerald green. Let's hope this isn't the case, or the place will never be what it could really be.

Lotsa folks giving up on Fescue world wide. Examples of it are right in this topic. It's a shame. Because instead of giving up on Poverty Grasses that do well in extreme situations of minimal input, we should be giving up on all the rabid and manic technology of too much fertilizer and too much water. In some cases we don't always have control of the water, but the fertility stuff, well there really isn't an excuse. Excess and Fescue don't mix. They never have.

Hope you enjoy Cape Kidnappers. I'm dying to go back!

[Mark_Guiniven]

Thanks for taking the time Dave. I'll try and report back once I've played it. Simply from a player's perspective it's wonderful to hear about this kind of work, or the work Bruce Grant and John Sloan do in Australia, or Walter Woods in Scotland. It's the agronomy that power these great designs and allow architects to keep that width in our courses. Here's to your continued success.

[Marc Haring]

Funnily enough, there’s a big discussion going on about fescue greens in the British Greenkeepers (BIGGA) site at the moment. The prognosis is, don’t water unless your grass is dying out big time, don’t feed for colour or growth but simply for survival (especially nitrogen), ensure a free draining surface through aeration and drainage and try not to cut too often (> five times a week) and never below 3/16ths. The last one is the one that causes most of the headaches.

The Channel course at Burnham & Berrow has got just about the best fescue greens I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing and Painswick (no irrigation) has a got a whole bunch of fescue in there but the surfaces are not that great, I guess due to lack of budget for top dressing and stuff.  

[TEPaul]

Here's something I'd like to get to the bottom of. At Sunnybrook GC in Philadelphia a few new greens were built by Hurzdan & Fry apparently almost exclusively as sand based! When I asked how deep that sand layer was I was told about 2 feet or so. What would be the purpose of that other than really good drainage? I'm also told the drainage is perhaps too good and maintenance has to watch those greens carefully in the heat as they need constant syringing because they obviously drain too well and probably heat up (sand heats up faster than a sand soil mix---also confirmed by HVGC's super Scott Anderson who mixes sand and soil to topdress to keep his stressed greens cooler).

Michael Hurzdan is supposed to be very interested and very knowledgeable on green agronomy both today and historically. Can anyone shed some light on why he'd want to build almost straight sand based greens of that depth in the countryside of Philadelphia---other than for really good drainage that time may have shown is too good? Good drainage is good but obviously greens need to retain some moisture in some form of a moisture perching method somewhere down by the base of the root structure.

Why would this be any less of a problem than what NGLA and PVGC initially ran into when both courses during and slightly after grow-in were trying to grow grass on basically straight sand (natural) and their agronomy although OK for a short while eventually just began to burn up and become clumpy and sparse?

At that time the most valuable things to both Macdonald and Crump were as many truck-loads of topsoil as they could get!

[RJ_Daley]

Tom, Dr. Hurdzan has been an advocate of the California Green construction method and a simplified version of that for many years.  He presented a section on it in a seminar I took from him in 1992.  His book "Golf Course Architecture" has many pages (314-20) on the CM methods and he compares other methods too.  A ring of moisture barrier containing the core of sand from the ammended surrounds soil is important to keep moiture from getting sucked out of the core.  My understanding from his comments was that the USGA method has extra costly steps that don't do anymore to promote good turf health than a properly constructed CM or SCM greens.  All that of course dependant on the super's understanding of how to manage the particular cultivar in CM conditions.  

I am a little skeptical that he has 2 ft of sand on the greens you describe.  His book specs 12-14 inches generally and perhaps the rest is subgrade build up to raise the green high enough to drain well above existing grades.  

However, Dr. Hurdzan has always seemed to me to be one that would experiment with new ideas, and maybe there is some other internal construction method he has employed besides moiture barrier, if he used 2 ft of sand as stated.  

Back to Ballyneal, I'd ask Dave if in deed they have fescue FWs in mind, how do you keep the poa from dominating and then having the large patch winter kill that Sand Hills experienced.  Doesn't fescue submit to poa at an even faster rate than bents and blues?  How many years can a fescue surface in that environment be kept the dominant or highest percentage of species?  Isn't the excess of weather hot-to-cold and big snow to none and desication in that region that is the uncontrolable, not so much the inputs of ferts and chems?

[Brian Phillips]

Dick,

If I am not wrong the depth of the sand can also dependent on the particle size of the sand used.  If the sand is fine then it might be necesarry to have a deeper rootzone.

At Kingsbarns (Dave can correct me if I am wrong) the minimum depth of the rootzone is 600mm as they used local sand.  This was tested by Ann Murray at ETL and this depth was recommended to achieve the best results.

Although the USGA recommend a depth of 300mm for their greens it has been proven by a number of researchers that this is not always the optimum depth even if using the perfect USGA particle size sand.

Brian

[Tom_Doak]

In the case of Ballyneal the soil on the greens is beautiful sand down to China so depth is not an issue.

Dick, I for one hope that Dave does NOT reveal his grass specs any more than he has done so already.  Why should he?  So everyone can take pot shots at it and tell him how it isn't going to work?  The man knows what he is doing, and I am 100% confident that you will be blown away by Ballyneal in two years' time.  [You'll also find out that some of what you've been taught about turfgrass is not true.]

Tom P:  As Brian said, different sands can require different depths because of how they hold water.  I don't think that was the problem at NGLA or Pine Valley in the early days ... their problem was probably just that they didn't have enough water or enough organic material incorporated into the sand to make a go of it.  We all talk about "pure sand," but in fact the preplant materials used in grow-in are quite complex and specific to the site.  Peter Lees was good, but he was no Dave Wilber.  

[RJ_Daley]

Tom D., I'm not trying to take pot shots at Dave, that would be farcical.  I am an amatuer/hobbiest, and he gets the big bucks as a learned professional for what he does so very well.  I am trying to state what I have learned and ask if it jives with what his education both in school and on the long road he has travelled would indicate regarding the turf he'd like to present a Ballyneal.  If one can't bring questions based on conversations with other supers in the area, and must just listen, then this is a lecture, not a discussion.  What is the point of turfnet, TEP turf trials, regional university turf research stations, GCSAA discussion groups, and professional journals if the concept of what works well in various regions under various weather and soil conditions are merely proprietary or secret info., not to be shared?  

As I said above, IMHO there isn't a better fairway playing surface in Nebraska than the blues that Josh has been managing at Wild Horse.  It is proven to work.  It isn't some secret that his blue FWs are American-Award-Midnight, and his fescue surrounds are Jamestown II and Tiffany (which are harder to manage for sound reasons).  It isn't the seeds that are the secret, it is the turf manager's knowing what cultural practices and inputs works for his regional conditions.  

[Don_Mahaffey]

Dick,
poa is a shallow-rooted, water loving, high nitrogen loving plant. In other words, it loves all the turf management techniques that produce the dark green, checkerboard stripped courses we see on TV. Dave has generally laid out his management plan and it's not one that poa is going to like very much. That part of CO is very arid and I seriously doubt that there's a lot of poa alive on that site at this time. Good clean seed, combined with the balls and patience to do just enough to get good turf coverage and keep it that way will be what keeps the poa a non issue.

I applaud this approach to golf course management and I am rooting for it's success. Dave spends a lot of time talking/writing about sustainability. Well, I believe that for the long term sustainability of our game we need more models like Ballyneal and fewer like Augusta. We should be applauding courses that provide good sufaces with a maximum of knowledge and a minimum of inputs. IMHO, our business really has it backwards when we alternate weeks between fertilizing our courses and then spraying growth retardants to regulate growth. If we want to grow tight/dwarf-like turf, we need to limit inputs like nitrogen and irrigation, not fertilize, overwater, and then try and limit growth with some chemical.

Trying to grow links turf in the heart of America is a noble undertaking, and for the good of the game I hope this group gets it done.  

[A_Clay_Man]

Dave- Can I use this?

The mind boggles at the concept of Low Mow Blues or Bluegrass Fairways being something new. Heck, Chip Ramsey (bless his heart) was mowing his bluegrass fairways at 7/16 in Vail in the early 80's. What an amazing surface

I'd put it on a license plate, or something.

Are you looking for more turf-heads? I'm not talking novice, either. A buddy's buddies, is real good and is looking. Let me know and I'll try to hook you up.

[RJ_Daley]

Don, thanks much for the insights.  This sort of comment was what I am trying to get to in asking the questions above.  Now, you say that the arrid climate of NE CO will be helpful to limit poa along with near water and itrogen starvation.  OK, but it is no more arrid and cool than Mullen, and Mullen never was a high fertility program either.  Yet, poa became a factor after about 5-6 years.  Winter kills were quite substantial by spring May 2002.  Dry cold wind dessication is also a huge factor.  Just this year there were days in the 70s followed by rain and night hard freezes.  

Not that winter kill is unplayable, or overseeding can't be done after turf is killed by above factors.  I played SH opening day 2002 and found it just fine, just a little ugly.  And, like the underlying sentiment seems to indicate, the expectation of green lovely turf has tainted the more objective analysis that even if there is winter kill about, and browned out areas in summer, if the turf can come back from dormancy, or re-establish itself in its own cultivar and species, after winter kill, then so be it, play on.  

The one fellow from that area that I'd like to hear from is the previous super at SH.  He now owns and manages a mom and pop course in Ogallala.  If I were Dave, he'd be my absolute first line of inquiry as to how to approach the Ballyneal seeding and management.  I have every confidence Dave has a great plan.  I am rooting for him because it is this kind of approach that will do more good for the game than 100 Masters broadcasts from ANGC.  I just don't think when forming your plan that you can ignore other's experiences on such a tricky subject as fescue on the prairie, which is not the north sea...

[Dave_Wilber]

There simply isn't room here or time in my schedule to dive into the whole theory and practice of sand management, debate fescue, deal with winter turf management techniques and the like. But I do have a few things to say and hopefully I'll say them without sounding like an arrogant ass. The truth is (and anyone who's ever been paid a red cent for doing it understands this) growing grass is something to be humbled by. There just isn't one answer. It's taken 12 years of truly independent consulting practice to affirm this.

Dick: You can be assured that I've done my homework. I've got a gift for drilling into people's heads. And I'll continue to do this each and every day so that I don't convince myself that my own personal emperor has new clothes. And I'm trying to be professional and polite and NOT talk about the work of other superintendents be they currently employed or not. I guarantee you this: Our owner at Ballyneal deserves a minimum of chest beating and a maximum of hard work. After all he's paying the bill for all of this and he's understood from the very beginning that we aren't doing anything but brown grass, thats gonna be green now and then. And like I said, my one quick visit to Wildhorse left me impressed and I think your support of Josh is a wonderful thing. But seriously, you have no idea what a high or a low fertility program really is so saying some of what you are saying is a lot of stretching.

Don M: Thanks for the nice words.

Regarding Sand Hills: Again, I simply won't go into review of management practices here...thus making judgement on those involved in growing grass there now or in the past. There's much to learn and we fraternal turfheads can share this info without doing it in a rather public place like here. People's careers and lifestyles are at stake and we aren't talking about "amatuer/hobbiest" types. I'm a huge fan of Sand Hills. I love the place. Dick Youngscap's efforts have helped us all learn much. So have the efforts of all the guys who worked their asses off growing grass there. I got to sit and talk with Bill C. and Ben C. there on Ben's porch and we talked all about grasses and water and all that kind of thing and it was just amazing how much Ben wanted SH to play the way we all would expect he would want. But that was Ben. Some members who will go unnamed had different ideas. And Mr. Youngscap perhaps another set. Hard situation and I applaud them for making the effort they have.

Adam: Have your friend contact me. Print licence plates if you want I don't think anyone would ever understand.

Brian: Just a data point that ETL did the testing but Mr. Woods, Dr. Miller, Mr. Wilber, Mr. Phillips and of course Mr. Parsinen did the groundwork to figure out what to do with those soils. It was hard work and we didn't all agree all at once.  

The key thing is that those wre mimum depths of capping and soil/sand placement. Not perched water table work. USGA greens are total perched water table situations and there just isn't any way to compare the sand depth issues between those two situations.

Tom Paul: Wish I could comment on the project you reference, but I've never seen it and don't know anyone there.

Lastly: It would be wonderful if we could have a Links Golf Turfgrass Recipe for this climate or that climate. It would be a bunch easier. But that would be akin to having a Links Golf Architecture Recipe. And I'm sure you'd all say what an absurd idea that is. I've had the opportunity to travel a bunch and a lot of that is due to the fact that I was willing to be away, to be out there spending time with turfheads everywhere I could be. I've been good at some of the aspects of the business of consulting and some of them are beyond me, but the learning part is something I've embraced. I've seen some common threads in a bunch of different climates with a bunch of different grasses and most of it really isn't rocket science.

We've debated firm, dry & fast. We've waxed about brown grass being a good thing. We've jabbered about our dislike of stripes. But the sore fact is that for the most part, the American golfer is still just beginning to embrace these concepts. A lot of that is because some of the institutions of information gathering and higher learning haven't done the job of creating useful info. Sad fact. I'd love to see it change. It might be that guys like Don and Ron Mahaffey and a bunch of other rebels might help make some changes. It might also be that the Legends of guys like Bruce Grant and Walter Woods won't pass before they get handed down. I'm committed to making Ballyneal a place of learning and doing. So that the emerging Traditional Turfhead has a developing support system and isn't out there swinging at high pitches all alone.

Just as most of the people who see The Old Course never really understand it, we know that a lot of people won't understand Ballyneal. That's ok. It shouldn't keep us from doing our jobs and creating the best golfing surface that we can for our owner, members and Tom Doak's design.

It's pretty cool that this much interest exists here. Facinating, in fact.

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