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BMW NZ Open: Day 2

Another day finished and the course keeps looking better and better. Everything was mowed again today. Some collar areas that were sodded earlier in the year are not looking that great so we kept off them. As Brendan said probably some of the areas are not that bad, but we are trained to see it. In the afternoon greens received another cut with six mowers instead of the normal four. This helped speed up the mowers time. Fairways divots were filled and greens sprinkler heads cleaned up. A few mor

Peter Braun

Peter Braun

Unconventional Tactics

If you've been paying attention to my columns and short films for the last 15 years, it has probably become apparent that I am not of the conventional mindset.  There's a reason for that.   I spent my formative pre-teen/teen years on a US Army Special Forces base, deep in the Bavarian Alps.  Known as Bad Tolz, it was 10th Special Forces Group Hdqtrs and had once been Himmler's SS Officer's Training School.   Years later, after too much walk-mow-cup-changing, I enlisted in SF and somehow mana

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson

BMW NZ Open: Day 1

Tournament week is here. Players are arriving and playing The Hills, workers are getting the course finished set-up and we are putting the final touches to the course. Everything was mowed today, as will be till the end of the tournament, and bunkers/water races were fly mowed. In the morning I mowed collars and then helped Scott finish mowing tees. In the afternoon we made a large batch of divot sand. This is for the guys to fill divots on fairways and tees at night after play is finished.   

Peter Braun

Peter Braun

NZ Open Approaching + A Hike

With the NZ Open this week and having the day off I decided to walk up Tobin's Track to get some pictures of the course from above. This track takes about 30 mins, but little did I know this short hike would lead to a 4 hour trip. Yesterday the Motatapu was held. This is another off road Marathon, bike race, 51km and 15 km races. The 15 km race is the Miners 15k. This travels the Miners Trail a few hills behind Tobin's Track. I had not explored much behind Tobin's so I decided to check it out. I

Peter Braun

Peter Braun

TurfNet RADIO "Direct" from Bangkok with Dr. Micah Woods

In this episode of Frankly Speaking on TurfNet RADIO, I connect with my old Cornell cohort, Micah Woods, PhD, half-way around the world at his home office in Bangkok, Thailand.   As the chief scientist at the Asian Turfgrass Center, Micah is the co-author of the Global Soil Survey (GSS) that informs the Minimum Level of Sustainable Nutrition (MLSN) efforts with Pace Turf's Dr. Larry Stowell.   Take a listen to this lively discussion about turfgrass nutrition, soil testing, the MLSN guideline

Frank Rossi

Frank Rossi

Know Your General Manager...

Industry data tells us that there are roughly 4,600 private golf clubs throughout the country, about 2,800 of which are operated through the general manager concept -- a category breakdown of which follows: The Good Guys (about 60% of all GMs): If general managerships are the best form of governance in golf (and they are), the reason for this is primarily because the majority of the time the professional men and women who occupy these positions are gifted and staff sensitive.   Job Prognosis

Jim McLoughlin

Jim McLoughlin

Not another travel rant; GIS from afar...

I didn't make it to GIS this year, a victim of two powers greater than I -- the weather and the airlines -- who consorted and conspired to befoul and befuddle my life yet again. No, this will not be another travel rant.  I have given up, raised the white flag; can't and won't fight it any more.  But a word or two of explanation might be in order. In nutshell, I arrived at Burlington (VT) airport on Monday afternoon full of expectation of another week of camaraderie and the latest in go

Peter McCormick

Peter McCormick

Riding with the boss...

I recently toured campus here at Drury University with my boss. The touring was nothing unusual as I try to see the whole campus on a regular basis. What was different this time was what I learned on the tour. I saw the campus through another person's eyes, and an important person's eyes at that. I came away with a conclusion that I didn't particularly like. Campus never looks as bad as when I tour with my boss. He saw things that I had seen, but had put a different priority on. He also saw thin

Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn

Website Series: Use career materials at your current club

Career websites have become increasingly popular over the last 6-7 years and I can tell you authoritatively that they work very well to increase your odds of attaining an interview or call back when you otherwise are not acquiring them. Print portfolios also have extremely valuable use during the interview process, leaving a professional and lasting impression with the hiring committee. I have way too many stories of past clients' success in the arena for anyone to discount this fact. So if you

Matt Leverich

Matt Leverich

The Day Our CEO Learned Customer Service

Once upon a time, back in '86, our struggling golf course was absorbed by a mighty Japanese course management operation.  They were inebriated with financial success and very quick to deny purchase orders of any kind, but especially the irrigation or insecticide kind.   Now it was about this time that the fearsome Fire Ant, (pronounced Far Aint) overran golf courses in the ATL area, especially courses with their shields down.  These little insectoid Visigoths and their mounds were everywhere a

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson

The Hills Better in Pictures

Two weeks from today the first round of the New Zealand Open will tee off. Here are some pictures of the course prior to the tournament. We have just started cutting fairways to be burnt in over the next two weeks. I will try to take as many pictures of the course just before the start of the tournament with it in the best condition. Enjoy!   Hole #1     Don't or face Sir Michael Hill     Hole #2   Hole #3   Holes 1, 2, 3 Hole #4   Hole #5     Hole #6  

Peter Braun

Peter Braun

Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon 10KM

New Zealand has some of the most spectacular scenery hence why Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings, chose to film the movies here. I have done many of the hikes in Arrowtown and plan on hiking to the top of Ben Lomond. The views are incredible from the top. So when I heard about a race in the mountains I had to look into it.     Rob and I had planned on running the race together, but he went back home for a new job so I ran solo. The Queenstown Rafting 10KM took place Saturday

Peter Braun

Peter Braun

Lucky or fortunate? It's a matter of intention...

Reading Paul MacCormack's recent blog post about the concept of intention got me thinking... as good blog posts do. In this case, it prompted me to think of the popular concepts of luck and good fortune, and how each may or may not be related to intention. I come from a long line of wordsmiths (writers, editors, a photojournalist, newspaper people, even a dictionary editor) who instilled in me a love of language and its various nuances. My maternal grandmother, an author of children's first

Peter McCormick

Peter McCormick

Rockbottum Banished From GIS?

Learn the shocking truth behind the biggest scandal to hit Rockbottum since Ludell got caught stealing goats!   Well, actually, it's not really that shocking and there's not much truth involved.  It's just that I've been practicing Yahoo-style click-bait headlines and I couldn't figure out how to fit Kim Kardashian into the headline.  

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson

Visiting The Masters Elevates Superintendents' Work Standards - Admission Is Free

I firmly believe that every golf course superintendents should attend The Masters championship as early as possible in their careers because they'll see a standard of maintenance excellence that's not available anywhere else in the world and unless witnessed would not be believed possible.   Granted, no golf course superintendent will ever have Augusta National's budget to work with, but that is not the point.   The point is that every GCSAA member who visits Augusta National will be reachin

Jim McLoughlin

Jim McLoughlin

TurfNet RADIO: Chat with Greg Wojick, about the Playbooks for Golf Coverage System

Check out this TurfNet Radio episode where I chat with Greg Wojick, former superintendent and founder of Playbooks for Golf. Greg and I talk about the new Coverage System from Playbooks. The Coverage System is the latest hand-held technology for the golf course superintendent, tracking fertilizer and pesticide use in a unique app format.  It even alerts you when the product efficacy window starts to close!   Presented by DryJect and TrueSurface.   Check Out Science Podcasts at Blog Talk Ra

Frank Rossi

Frank Rossi

Stem Girdling Roots (SGRs)

I have planted hundreds of trees in my career. Actually I think there is a real possibility I have planted in the thousands. Not multiple thousands mind you, but more than one thousand. I have also had to take care of those trees for many years after installation, and have had an opportunity to track many successes and some failures. My survival rate for the trees I have installed is very good, over 95%. Also as an ISA Certified Arborist, I have to study about tree culture, and am ethically boun

Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn

Death Just Wasn't Good Enough

When the picture was taken, nobody was thinking that it may be the last shot of me alive. Everyone just thought that it was funny that I kept asking for my phone. Ostensibly to tweet my status, but kept falling asleep because I was drugged to the hilt.   A few hours later I was "code blue". Completely unresponsive. Heart out of rhythm and racing. Blood pressure bottomed out. Not breathing on my own. For all basic definitions, I was dying. The hospital Rapid Response Team flooded the ICU.   I

Dave Wilber

Dave Wilber

Can't See the Canopy for the Bent/Poa/Fescue/Ultradwarf...

It has been interesting lately watching my 12 year old son, Lucas, embark on a new hobby. He has become consumed with all things bird related. He is watching, photographing, sketching, painting, feeding, and most importantly, enjoying birds. The other day as we were driving in town he remarked that he "never knew that there were so many birds around." We discussed that the birds had always been there, he just had not put his intention on taking notice of them before.   Intention is a powerful

Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack

Cricket World Cup

NZ is co-hosting the Cricket World Cup with neighbor country Australia. Saturday was the opening round of group play and I watched NZ beat by 98 runs Sri Lanka. Being the second most popular sport in the world this event is watched all over the world. Like most Americans the most popular sports world wide are not really known to us. We don't play them and have not taken time to see what sports are out there other than the ones we Americans excel at. Here is a quick break down of the sport cricke

Peter Braun

Peter Braun

GIS 2015 Career & Technology...

With the upcoming GIS in San Antonio, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss a few things related to careers and technology that are part of the week or worth checking out. Even if you aren't attending, with the internet you can access nearly all of the information from your computer. First of all, I'll be there for the entire week, leaving my office and computer for once. While it's a busy week of events, I really hope to visit with as many of you as possible. In addition to the Turf

Matt Leverich

Matt Leverich

Superintendents' Responsibilities To Support The Rules Of Golf: Part Two

Last week's message (see Feb. 5th blog) presented the Part One presentation on the subject of superintendents' responsibilities to support the Rules of Golf; namely, to maintain a constant golf course degree of difficulty, etc. The Part Two presentation is presented below:   SECOND RESPONSIBILITY: To ensure that golf courses are properly marked to support the application of the Rules Of Golf.   Every time a golf course is not adequately prepped to support the Rules of Golf -- a somewhat com

Jim McLoughlin

Jim McLoughlin


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