Fans at Southern Hills...Mechanical that is.

[John Kavanaugh]

I just got an email from our super saying that because he saw some fans at Southern Hills before the tournament he thinks maybe we need them on all our greens in Evansville, In.  Could anyone please tell me how the fan program at Southern Hills is structured, how many greens, how often they run, etc..etc..Our guy seems to think fans need to run 24 hours a day from May to October.

Note:  We also already have sub-air under all 18 greens.  I do not think I can live with the noise of the fans all year round.

[TEPaul]

Fans are the new big thing, you know. Now Pine Valley has them.

[Michael Christensen]

Due to global warming, we will probably have fans in Michigan and Wisconsin during the summer too.  Maybe Al was on to something here....anyone know of any publicly traded companies that build these fans...could be a good investment.

[John Kavanaugh]

It is the same company that sells sub-air...They sell you sub-air and then come back a couple of years later and say you need fans too.  It pisses me off until I have trouble breathing.

Note:  Our super aeriated in the first week of July and now he wonders why we have problems...I do not know where he hears this stuff.

[Tom Zeni]

From the Golf Channel - The rule of thumb that Southern Hills is using is that any green that is surrounded on three sides by trees, get fans to move the air.

[Clyde Johnston]

Fans are the new big thing, you know. Now Pine Valley has them.

Heck, we use them down here just to cool the tourists off.

[Michael Christensen]

actually I liked the fans at TPC Las Colinas....they were pretty good backstops for fliers over the greens!

[Craig Van Egmond]

The fans are only temporary.....

"One only has to see the motorized fans, 50 inches in diameter, around most of the greens at Southern Hills. The tournament arranged for Precision Air Systems out of Pompano Beach, Fla., to deliver 21 of these massive fans for the PGA Championship.

They deliver air that is about 10 degrees cooler and will help keep the greens alive. The fans have been running 24 hours a day since Tuesday. Workers will remove them Thursday morning before the first round, replace them after the round and repeat the process until the PGA Championship has a winner."

[JR Potts]

It is the same company that sells sub-air...They sell you sub-air and then come back a couple of years later and say you need fans too.  It pisses me off until I have trouble breathing.

Note:  Our super aeriated in the first week of July and now he wonders why we have problems...I do not know where he hears this stuff.

Hence the importance of a well planned tree removal program.  Maybe the Oakmontisiataiopnad of golf isn't that bad after all.  Besides, Oakmont doesn't have any fans.    

[mike_beene]

We have them and they dont look good,but whether the greens need them or not they are a lifesaver for those of us who walk in August.

[mike_beene]

Ryan,I dont know how one would survive Southern Hills with no shade.The breeze isnt that refreshing.

[JR Potts]

But doesn't Mickelsen say that the ball flies further and straighter in the extreme heat so he likes playing in it.    Besides, isn't it like Vegas and unlike Chicago....dry heat?

[mike_beene]

Tulsa humidity would be more like Chicago than Vegas.Maybe a touch more humid than Dallas,but much drier than Houston,Atlanta ,DC,etc.

[JR Potts]

Thanks!

Pardon my ignorance but I've never been to Oklahoma.  In fact, the odds of me going to Oklahoma in my lifetime..... approximately 4%.

[mike_beene]

"News of the discovery had spread to all of civilization and parts of Oklahoma" The reality is both Ok City and Tulsa are nice places and some of the most golf crazed anywhere.Dornick Hills isn't much more than an hour from DFW.

[Bill_McBride]

I'm assuming the greens are bent?

There's a really good course in Ponte Vedra, FL, Plantation Golf Club, that has a whole lot of fans that look like R2D2 around the greens in the summer.  They are extremely annoying but apparently are necessary to keep the bent grass alive.

I would die first.    They are the most annoying thing I can think of.  But you do get a free drop if one interferes with stance, lie or line of sight if you can convince your opponent you are playing a chip shot!  

[mike_beene]

Yes ,they are bent.Other than Dallas National's subair,it seems most of the bent green courses in Dallas use fans.Seems like Oak Tree uses them.Ok City and Tulsa have a shorter hot season than Dallas,although we only got to 99 today.

[Craig Van Egmond]

Ryan,

       Mike is correct about the humidity here in the land of the heat index. Although the temp may be around 100, the heat index, or the what the temp feels like is about 110 degrees. Its nasty stuff.

      Many of the golf courses in the area do have fans, like Forest Ridge in Tulsa and Karsten Creek in Stillwater, however in the 3 times I have played Southern Hills they have not had fans.