Sadly the typical scenario goes, greens die, fans installed, trees removed. It is a death spiral whose main goal is job survival. The large loud fans look like progress. Any intelligent customer can see that tree removal could have been done first so it is best kept on the down low until the greens recover. My contention is that tree removal would have been enough in the first place. No one who spent the money on the fans will ever admit that they weren't needed. The fans get the glory, they "earned" it.
John,
I cant wait for your answer to this. Please explain to me then why Oakmont, who removed 4000+ trees in the last 15 year or so, to the point where there isn't really any left on property, still has the need to use fans? You cant comment on the Superintendent-JZ is widely considered one of the best in the business for providing US Open conditions on a daily basis and the fastest greens in the country. I was there in 2010 for the Women's Open and portable fans were set up and they have continued to use them because of the response in the turf. Not a tree on property, still using fans. Please tell me what your theory is.
Anthony,
At the risk of making Jaka sound like a smart guy, it really is pretty simple. Oakmont does not need fans, they just need to dial the greens down to 10.5.
Merion flattened 2 or 3 greens for speed. Oakmont is using fans to maintain speed. This is the entire point of Don's thread,
"How loud should we speak up?"The standard reply from the industry is "that is what the members want."
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=57300.0In the words of Don, "Speak Up".
Oakmont was
THE "thought leader" in the industry when they took out all of their trees. Many of us read the story about how they took out trees in the winter at night so that members do not get upset. Now maybe Oakmont can be the "thought leader" and remove the fans and dial down the speed of the greens.
I am a lucky guy, Yale does not have the money to rip out all the trees (many are gone) or redo greens, so they peak out at 10.5, I think. Too much money is a real problem in golf, imo.
This kind of reminds me of a visit to the doctor. "Mike, lose 10 pounds or go on blood pressure medication." I lost the the 10 lbs rather than go on medication.
Oakmont has a similar choice, more fans or less speed…. I get it, members are stupid, don't understand…
I just finished doing the winter cut on 5 acres in Connecticut as our lawn guy got sick this fall. I really do appreciate the greenskeepers here and elsewhere this fall!