Myth: Golf course superintendents who consistently allow their personal work schedules to stretch to 60 and 70+ hour work-weeks are perceived as being dedicated to their jobs and are respected for this commitment profession-wide.
This is a dangerous myth that has cost more than a few superintendents their jobs through the years.
Why? Because the vast majority of those responsible for hiring superintendents are private-sector executives who require the managers they hire in their day jobs
"Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefulness, and gratefulness is a measure of our aliveness."
-- Brother David Steindl-Rast, Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Parallel Sayings
When life is throwing you a series of knuckleballs it can be close to impossible to find things to be thankful for.
As greenkeepers we face adversity on an almost daily basis. Unrealistic expectations, unpredictable weather, equipment malfunction...the list goes on
This episode of The Renovation Report, hosted by Dave Wilber, features Armen Suny of Suny Zokol Golf Design.
If you don't know Armen, you are in for a real treat. His candid, real-world and experienced opinion is one of the most unique and sought-after opinions in the industry. His blog, The Anarchist's Guide to Golf Design is a place for true unfettered ideas.
Some quotes from Armen during the show:
"Superintendents have much more sway in renovation projects than they ever th
Jon Kiger talks with Jeff Urquhart, golf course superintendent, and Robert McNeil, architect with The Northeast Golf Company (Saunderstown, Rhode Island), about the ongoing Master Plan restoration project at the 1891 Willie Park-designed Milton-Hoosic Club in Canton, Massachusetts. Two fairway bunkers on hole #9 were renovated this year. Milton-Hoosic is a 9-hole private club located south of Boston.
To download this podcast for offline listening, right-click or tap here and select "Save Li
This is one of those posts that there's not a cut and dry solution for every situation, but rather recommendations based on feedback from hiring professionals and potential employees. It happens often enough that I thought it worthy of a post.
It is commonplace in most professional industries to use your full first name on your resume, cover letter, website and other career materials. Some even use the middle name initial or "junior, III, IV," etc. The main idea is that people think it make
Today we are Speaking Frankly again with Dr. Micah Woods, Chief Scientist at the Asian Turfgrass Center in Bangkok, Thailand, on increasing the precision of nutrient management programs and understanding the value of light for high performance golf turf management.
To download this podcast as an .mp3 file, right click or tap here and select "Save Link (or Target) As".
In this episode of the Renovation Report, host Dave Wilber talks with Josh Reiger, gc superintendent at Spring Lake Golf Club and Tripp Davis of Tripp Davis & Associates (golf course architect) about the recently completed second phase of the renovation at SLGC.
Located about a mile from the Atlantic Ocean in Spring Lake Heights, NJ, Spring Lake Golf Club is a 1911 George Thomas design that was updated by A. W. Tillinghast in 1917. Spring Lake was the last course that George Thomas desig
This blog post is longer than most. Be patient with it; read it through several times to digest its contents because it holds the keys that can give your children a solid start in life.
You ask, "What need would a pre-college aged young man or woman have for a personal website?" The answer is not obvious until we start to take notice of the ultra-challenging world the young people of today face as they look to take their first steps into life's battlefield. For example:
Undergraduate tu
To start, I want you to please imagine a car. Imagine a Toyota Camry, XLE package. For those of you that have a little bit more imagination, maybe even a Toyota Avalon XLE. This car has leather interior, power everything, a full touring package and even a Bose stereo. I think we all would agree this is a nice car. This isn't some trumped-up entry level car with plastic goodies on top trying to convince you it is nice. This is a NICE car. But it isn't a Mercedes. The Mercedes (go ahead and imagin
In this episode of the TurfNet Renovation Report -- presented by Golf Preservations and Jacobsen -- host Jon Kiger talks with David Dore-Smith about the ongoing renovation started in April of this year at Copperleaf Golf Club, Bonita Springs, FL.
Copperleaf was scheduled to be renovated in 2020, but due to an overwhelming response to a membership vote in 2014 regarding the Master Plan, the renovation was accelerated to 2015. Agronomic issues being addressed include drainage, the overall ele
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Wen studied the people being herded through the course like cattle and for the first time, he became aware of the uncomfortable sense of being constantly observed. He felt like . . . a kind of golf lab animal, watched by cameras, computers and--Nanel Bree of the Corporate Golf Secret Police.
"What do I do now, Grandpa?" Wen contemplated.
"Boy, when you're riding something and you tell it to 'whoa' and it don't whoa, sooner or later, it's gonna kill you."
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Settled in front of the wall screen in the maintenance office, Wen glanced outside for a moment. Judd was toting his clubs, headed out to play with his buddies, and Kelly was watching a remote screen on her truck, making sure the retriever didn't run over some hapless golfer.
Wen reached for the keyboard and disengaged his system from the Corporate Net. Next, he silenced the ever-present computer voice and brought up surveillance data from the previous night, the cam
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Judd looked down at the headsets resting on the GV seat and noticed the monitor diodes were off. "Do something good instead of living off the corporate golf harlot."
"Like what, Judd?" Kelly said, her voice lowering to a whisper.
"You could join GOOG."
"Join what?" Wen dropped his feet to the GV floor and leaned forward.
"Are you in GOOG?" Kelly was aghast. "Are you really?"
"What's GOOG?" Wen demanded.
"Golf Only On Grass," Judd answered. "An organization dedic
In this episode, I speak frankly with Steve McDonald, owner/operator of Turfgrass Disease Solutions, Spring City, PA. Steve has a MS degree from the University of Maryland and has extensive training in turfgrass disease identification, extension, research and teaching in turfgrass science with an emphasis of turfgrass pest management.
Listen to lively banter about turf conditions this spring in the Mid-Atlantic, annual bluegrass weevil on bentgrass, disease management keys looking to the sum
Unfortunately, too few parents understand that their role model responsibilities to their children extend throughout every waking hour of every living day.
The imperative lesson to note here is that our children learn more from what they see their parents doing on a 24/7 basis than from being told by their parents what to do, or not do, in life.
The old cliché, "Do what I say and not what I do" has no place within a relationship between parents and their children.
Following is a list
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Wen decided to make the big move. "Sir, if you remember, we talked about my transfer to a natural grass course last year, and I've fulfilled all of the requirements."
Tai smiled and leaned closer. "Wen, there are less than a thousand grass courses left on this continent and we only own a few of those. The majority of those relics are classics, protected by historic preservation status because they were built by the old master architects. It takes a special kind of .
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Entering the shop, Wen ran straight for the tool room and began rummaging around for something that might help. He was on the verge of asking the computer's opinion when a picture of his grandfather entered his mind. Grandpa Bolton was a golf course superintendent back before the turn of the century, back when things were simpler, freer, and more fun. "What would Grandpa do in this situation?"
"Use a bigger hammer, boy."
Wen grabbed a sledge hammer.
The w
The following short story first appeared in the July, 2004 edition of SuperNews as "Blade Runner". (My choice was Golf In 2044, but magazine editors will not be denied.) It is a fictional piece dealing with one version* of how Golf could turn out.
This is part of our current emphasis at Rockbottum CC on the future of golf, the economics of golf, the environmental aspects involved in actual operations as well as public image, GCS fitness and family time. Future, Fitness, Fungicides, Famil
I lost my virginity on a cold December morning in the mid 90's.
I had traveled on Planes, Trains and Taxis to get to the event. And I was so far out of my depth, I didn't even know how far that "far" really was. I arrived for the date about 6 hours early. When I woke up from a seemingly short nap on the morning of, I had so much performance anxiety that I was unable to eat. "I should go home," I thought to myself.
I was to meet her just around the corner from where I was staying. S
I am going to interrupt the career-counseling theme of this blog series for these next two weeks to address the matter of how to more effectively meet our responsibilities to our children... because we will all be judged accordingly.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave the 2008 commencement address to the graduates at the University of Georgia. It has been judged, by some, as worthy of being considered to be the best commencement address given in our time.
Because commencement a
At the top of my list of golf course mistakes is one of those glaring errors that never seems to fade, but grows heavier and meaner with the passage of time.
