So why am I doing this? For more reasons than one would probably expect.
My family is originally from Colderu' in the North of Italy. My grandfather immigrated to Mexico in 1883 to help bring Italian knowledge of agricultural practices to that country. Having the opportunity to explore the roots of my ancestors is a great privilege. Italy and Spain have some of the richest history and culture in the world and I am looking forward to exploring and learning more. I am also excited to soak up
From the archives of Superintendent News, April '03: A collection of worker's excuses worth remembering.
I have fond memories of life as a GCS; working outside, playing golf, free turf advice from almost everyone and a nearly endless list of incredibly inventive worker's excuses.
TARDINESS
"Sorry I'm late, Boss, but when I got home at dawn this morning, my wife started shooting at me with her .45 and--hear that? See, I ain't lying, here she comes now."
"Not my fault I'm late. Al
Even if you haven't heard of Jay Blasi, you've probably seen his work. From Chambers Bay to Santa Anna Country Club to Sharp Park, Jay Blasi is one of those people who have been involved with bringing interesting design to Modern Golf.
Dave Wilber talks with Blasi about Jay's story, his development as a staff architect with RTJ2, and his transition to independent architect with Jay Blasi Design. Some great tips are given for planning and executing renovation and restoration work.
Yet a
Welcome to the next chapter of TurfNet on Tour! This blog series was originally established to showcase TurfNet's contributions to the maintenance team for the Irish Open at the K Club in May.
Longtime TurfNet member Jorge Croda, CGCS from Southern Oaks Golf Club in Burleson, Texas is headed back to Europe (we say BACK since he joined us on the 2015 TurfNet Members Trip to Ireland.) While there he will visit a number of course managers in Italy and Spain so it only seemed right to continue T
Drury University covers right at 100 acres in midtown Springfield, Missouri. If I had to summarize what Drury looks like, I would say it is a traditional landscape with primarily traditional architecture. When our community is asked to describe the campus landscape, most people remark on our many trees, and the park-like setting we reside in. Without a doubt, Drury University presents an image of a vibrant landscape that is in harmony with the built environment it resides in. In an effort to tru
Pokémon Go has not been the drive for my summer adventures. Learning the links golf management is the fuel getting me out and about. No disrespect to any Pokémon trainers out there, I grew up wishing Pokémon were real and now look; however, this summer is geared to training in real golf links of Ireland.
This weekend I made a trip to Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links. I met course manager Fintan Brennan and his son, Mike (who is also Fintan's assistant/deputy) after volunteering at the Irish
In one day, we looked at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal's Hale End Youth Academy, and Tottenham's White Hart Lane. Each place was so interesting and had so much going on, I couldn't fit it into one post. So, here is Part 1 of 3:
Remember that blog post I had at the beginning of summer about the Emirates Stadium reconstruction? Well, we were able to visit the stadium this week to see how the pitch is progressing.
Paul Ashcroft, Head Grounds Manager at Emirates Stadium and Hale End Youth Ac
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, I have a great conversation with Sarah Glenn Jackson, a recently married Texas Tech graduate who for six months has been the assistant superintendent at Plantation Golf Club in Frisco, Texas.
I first became aware of Sarah via Brian Cloud's GCSAA blog and immediately knew her experiences as a female assistant in a vastly male industry would make for good conversation. She didn't disappoint!
In this episode of The Ladder, host John Reitman chats with Dr. Pat Vittum of the University of Massachusetts about two "winter" programs offered by UMass/Amherst: the bi-annual 12-day Green School (coming up in October) and the six-week Winter Short Course for turf managers offered in January/February of 2017.
Find out how this type of program (among others) can springboard your career in turf management.
A weekend full of fun and a good ol' Irish experience. I was lucky to have been a part in the making of this weekend but I was not the luckiest one you see.
I do not mean I was out on the drink all weekend; work was still to be done. Sunday morning was an early start on the golf course to prepare for the club Presidents Prize. The bunkers having been washed out made for a set-up difficulty you wouldn't particularly enjoy on a Sunday. When the others left I chose to stay for a couple m
If you have been following Arsenal's Twitter feed, you'll have seen that the first team is back for preseason training this week.
There are still a few key players missing, thanks to their countries' successful runs in Euro 2016, of course. Aaron Ramsey (Wales), Mesut Özil (Germany), Laurent Koscielny (France), and Olivier Giroud (France) are all currently taking part in the semifinals of the competition.
The rest of the non-injured players are back and working hard for the start of
Croke Park (pronounced crow) is the largest stadium in Ireland and hosts the Irish sports of Gaelic football and hurling. On Sunday, June 26, I volunteered with the Croke Park ground crew for two Gaelic football matches.
(l-r) myself, Kyle Daves and Sam Kingston
Sam Kingston, a regular volunteer, is responsible for bringing in other volunteers who help with simple prep before the match begins and then repair pitch marks on the field during the match. This day only three were able
We are now a couple of weeks removed from the 2016 edition of the US Open golf tournament. Hopefully John Zimmers and his crew got some much needed rest, and the USGA has slinked back to their lair to plot their next revenge against Dustin Johnson (I'm not saying the word conspiracy, but you know)
After the dust of a Major settles and we have moved on to our next set of tweets showing a dozen fairway mowers cutting all at once and balls being dropped into 10" rough, what are we to do with o
Rockbottum CC News brings you an update on the Rivermont Organic Golf Field Day, along with a nematode story that could have a powerful effect on warm season golf.
Join Hector Velazquez and myself as we go deep into the world of Hector and Hector's Shop!
Do you know Hector? You should. He's breaking ground in an often forgotten, overlooked and misunderstood world. The world of the golf course equipment fleet is not only huge, it is a place where a ton of money gets spent. And wasted.
Hector and I talk about what's what in his world. From his background to his travels as a teacher, his life as an educator and of course his job as a father and husban
From the Rockbottum CC archives, first published in October of '05.
Since I probably will never again work in a supervisory position on a golf course, I have decided to reveal my most guarded trade secrets. (No, not the special fungicide recipes I acquired from top Atlanta superintendents by means of industrial espionage.)
I'm referring to the survival secrets that allowed me to grow "good greens" in a difficult environment and remain well below the clubhouse complaint radar.
Before
My travel to Dublin over the weekend consisted of many adventures, and even more ways of transport.
I took the bus to Dublin and back home to Baltray. I then hired a taxi to meet up with TurfNet's Jon Kiger (here on vacation), with whom I toured for the next two days..
Jon and I took the train to Howth, a seaside village with postcard-perfect sights. There we boarded a ferry boat which sailed around Ireland's Eye, an uninhabited island but populated by many birds and seals on the rocks. It
It's been a week now since the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in what you have no doubt heard called the Brexit vote. The final tally was 52% Leave to 48% Remain. Great Britain had been in the EU since it was formed, in 1993, and all the way back since 1973 when it was called the European Community.
While visiting the nearby town of St. Albans a few weeks back, I ran into campaigners from both sides of the aisle. I will admit, the Leave campaigners outnumbered
One of the disadvantages of being a groundsman is that not everything can be controlled, and that is best exemplified by the weather. The weather can be a groundsman's best friend or absolute worst enemy.
I really wasn't planning on writing an entire post based on the weather, but it really has been that bad. It has been a very atypical summer of weather according to the locals. There has only been one week of straight sunshine, and its been cloudy and raining off and on since.
The main
Are you fed up with golfers wearing those razor-wire spikes, refusing to keep all four tires on the path at greens and tees, and not repairing their ball craters?
Then do something about it. Order the HackerZapper from Rockbottum CC today!
In this episode, I speak frankly with field agronomist extraordinaire Steve McDonald, owner/operator of Turfgrass Disease Solutions in Eastern PA. We start with the growing season of 2016 so far for the always-tough Mid-Atlantic region, and then move on to some of the latest thinking on annual bluegrass weevil management, summer disease prevention and some great conversation on techniques to manage the not-so-low-maintenance native rough areas.
Recorded June 13, 2016.
Presented by DryJec
I am never ever ever ever (did I say never ever?) going to take away from the hard work of any golf course superintendent, any staff member or any volunteer for any event. Ever.
And this is especially true in 2016 with John Zimmers. I've admired John for years for all kinds of reasons. His commitment to Oakmont is a model of what adapted stewardship in our business needs to be. That is to say, John brings Oakmont exactly what Oakmont needs. And like any upper-end country club job, it is pol
