Our latest All Star of Turf is Michael Morris, CGCS, 36-year Director of Buildings and Grounds at Crystal Downs Country Club in Frankfort, Michigan. A native of Frankfort, Mike is one of the few golf course property managers who has spent his entire career at one course, in his hometown. He is also a rarity in obtaining a BA and MS in English and film studies at Michigan State before realizing that life on the golf course spoke to him more than a future in academia.
He is known internation
For the first time in nearly three years we are almost finished a full, in-person conference season. From the GCSAA Show, the BTME, the Carolinas and all shows in between, we have made the transition back to meeting face to face and by all accounts it’s been well received. After two plus seasons of virtual and hybrid education, everyone appears to be genuinely happy to be back at our respective events, shaking actual hands.
For me personally, it’s been a quiet return to travel and speaking.
Our grounds management efforts, no matter the purpose or location, require funding to carry out the goals we are expected to perform. Some fortunate grounds managers amongst us may have ample budgets that readily support these expectations. My personal experience, and that of many peers I have heard from, reflects a different financial reality. Usually, we are expected to make dollars stretch, or simply forgo some of the grounds improvements we propose. Here at the University of Kansas, I am, fo
In this episode, RW gets tangled up in AI when he tries to use Chat-GBB to write the radio show and that failure results in a spirited rant aimed at those we entrusted with getting out the water conservation message.
Just as the way forward is revealed, Count Noomskool of the World Globalar Golf Forum arrives and waves huge sums of money at Momma, in order to subjugate Rockbottum CC's verboten individualist attitude.
(This podcast has been archived. Please contact us if you'd like to l
In this first "It's not just about the grass" segment of TurfNet All Stars of Turf, we recognize Scott Dodson, CGCS, and John Taylor. Both career superintendents, they are perhaps better known as the founders of the Golf Course Hockey Challenge, an annual 2-day/4-game tournament that has attracted as many as 16 teams of hockey playing superintendents, assistants and suppliers over a 25+ year run.
Dodson has been at the Park Country Club in Williamsville (Buffalo) NY for 30 years. Taylor is
Jordon Bowling found his calling into turfgrass management a little later than most, at 22 with a six-month old son to boot. His brother-in-law, Chad Kuzawa, was an NC State turf grad making the rounds of some clubs in the southeast and convinced Jordon to visit from his home in Michigan and shadow him for a couple of days. That set things in motion.
He enrolled in the turf management program at Wayne Community College in NC and worked at Wedgewood GC, then Country Club of Virginia, Carolin
Chad Allen, finishing up his first year as golf course superintendent at the Club at Chatham Hills near Indianapolis, IN, has a unique background and training as a substance abuse and addiction counselor prior to shifting to turf management. A recent attendee of both Green Start and the Syngenta Business Institute programs, Chad employs a "bottom up" management style that centers on listening to and engaging his staff in the processes of managing the golf course.
A fascinating conversation
A new Rockbottum film has surfaced: "Khaki Pants on Parade."
While we were trying to shoot a pleasant little film entitled "Downrange with RW", one of my extra personalities got loose and hijacked the whole thing. Momma could have stopped it, but she enjoys a good tirade . . . especially when it targets that Khaki Pants Crowd. Must be the time of year.
Jim Surico, senior assistant superintendent at North Jersey Country Club in Wayne, NJ, is admittedly a "glass half full" kind of guy. As such, when asked to name something he doesn't like to do on the golf course, he came up blank. "Ooh, I don't know, tough question... There really isn't anything I don't like to do, even dealing with members..."
Now THERE is a guy who is going to have a successful career as a superintendent.
Surico talks us through his career from Rutgers University to
Recently, Fester N. Boyle, our Club President, and our Head Pro Hugh Jass Bedendorfer, withdrew Rockbottum CC from USGA membership and joined the PGHA, or "Progressive Golf Handicap Association." The PGHA has designed friendlier, more progressive golf rules to help equitably grow the game, as opposed to the hidebound, stuffy old USGA/RAA rules. They have also included rules to help guide the Golf Course Superintendent toward a more inclusive and safe golf course environment.
Fester and Hu
It’s hard to believe, but The Mindful Superintendent blog turned 10 years old this past week. Way back on Dec. 30th, 2012, with the support of TurfNet and my wife and editor, Jill, the Mindful Super began this journey (New Beginnings). It’s definitely been a heck of a ride thus far.
As I look back on what the last decade of personal reflection and writing has brought into my life, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I’m so thankful for all the ups and downs, ins and outs, the good and the bad.
Hard to believe that I have now been at the University of Kansas for a full calendar year. Regardless of anyone’s tenure at their current job, every one of us was new at some point. We can all relate, albeit to different extents, to the dynamics accompanying completing one year at a job. It is a significant milestone. The title of this blog addresses this significance in two ways. First is the passage of one years’ time. Groundskeeping is affected by the annual seasons, requiring us to experienc
Jared Viarengo of Applebrook Golf Club in Malvern, Pennsylvania, bucked a trend early in his career by also becoming general manager at the club in eastern Pennsylvania. Since then, Viarengo's role has expanded as the club's director of grounds and director of club operations.
In this broadcast, Viarengo discusses how his career started in the field of psychology and how he eventually returned his roots on the golf course, where he had worked during summers since high school.
He also
It’s been a spell since we last connected via this blog; August 19th to be exact. We were exploring the idea of Mindful Resilience and what it takes to build this capacity within ourselves. It is an interesting topic to dive into at the best of times, and even more so in the worst. Little did I know then how many of these concepts would take center stage in my life of late.
On September 24th Hurricane Fiona arrived on the shores of Prince Edward Island. As an island on the eastern coast of
In this short film — originally produced six years ago — Rockbottum CC predicted "The Reset", long before Klaus and his cronies went public with their version. In Part One of Skeletal Golf Theory 101, we took a hard look at the "business" of golf. We did not rely on data, just anecdotal analysis gathered over 50+ years in all facets of the industry.
As our economy reacts to the latest spending spree carried out by politicians, perhaps it's time to study SGT 101.
You just never know.
Our latest Rising Star of Turf is J. Richard Brown, newly minted golf course superintendent at Florence (SC) Country Club. Richard got the nod for the Florence job after ten years "apprenticeship" in the South Carolina golf market, starting with five years at various courses in Myrtle Beach before becoming the senior assistant at Orangeburg Country Club, where he remained for the ensuing five years.
Richard participated in one of our Assistant Situation roundtable conversations earlier this
Some career superintendents make their marks by hosting major tournaments or pushing the agronomic envelope. Others quietly go about their business of growing great grass while also navigating the potholes and pitfalls that invariably spring up in private clubs over time. John Carlone, CGCS, has done that over 37 years as a golf course superintendent at two clubs in one of the toughest markets in the industry: Long Island, NY.
Fresh out of the University of Rhode Island (where he had a nota
Rockbottum Radio presents our annual Halloween broadcast, with not one, but three spooky golf stories.
These stories are full of scary messages and at least one real good golf course management tip, so send out the crew, close the office door and settle in for some golf trauma as only Rockbottum CC can share.
(This podcast has been archived. Please contact us if you'd like to listen to it and we'll restore it.)
Sean Tully of the Meadow Club in Fairfax, California, has made a name for himself as a fan and ultimately an expert on classic-era golf course architecture, particularly Alister MacKenzie designs.
The Meadow Club, where Tully is director of grounds maintenance, is in fact the first course in North America designed by MacKenzie and one of several in Northern California. Tully's expertise in the field has resulted in many opportunities to speak at other golf courses in the region, often to e
When the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Huns, and Norsemen invaded, they typically came during the day. But the Golf Vandals are an entirely different bunch. A cowardly, mindless tribe, the Golf Vandals favor the cover of night. Agitated by their ever present hand-screens, they can quickly become hysterical when faced with reality.
You can use techno-wizardry to neutralize the GV, but remember: While they are easily frightened, they will return in greater numbers.
NOTE: The counter-measu
In this episode of Me Maintenance, Peter McCormick chats with Zach Bauer, golf course superintendent at the Valley Country Club in Centennial, Colorado, just southeast of Denver. Zach had gone into this year on the heels of myriad construction/renovation projects (both golf course and clubhouse) with depleted groundwater, very dry soils and dessicated turf. Coupled with the short staffing and increased play prevalent within the industry, he started waving the white flag of desperation on Twitter
One of the most brilliant Rockbottum films ever produced was "The Brass Monkey Alert", shot somewhere around 13 years ago. Suppressed by powerful forces in golf, the film was banished to the cold darkness of the censored TN film vault, along with that film we made about a magazine.
But now, emboldened by modern times and a crusty "I don't care anymore" attitude that comes from hitting a certain age, we are unleashing The Brass Monkey once again. Watch to the end to learn some important ti
