Once Upon A Time, while wandering through the land of golf course operations, I encountered a dark and wicked force. Well, actually, I ran across a number of wicked forces, especially at country clubs, but there was one that was the wickedest.
After several brushes with this wickedness, I escaped and lived for many years in Happy Ever After as a GCS. But lately, I’ve had this nagging feeling that the wickedness has returned and is growing, unseen, like that Alien embryo that looks like an unc
My original plan for today involved writing an essay full of thought-provoking profound revelations about the future of golf and our place in it . . . but after 800 words of serious brow-wrinkling and eye strain, I realized there are lots of people in golf that can write serious intellectual golf business philosophy, so I hit delete and stared at my empty coffee mug.
That’s when Momma stormed in and barked, “Who cares what other golf writers can do? Do something they can’t!”
I realized Momma
I had the pleasure of working as a volunteer at The Barclays held on the Black Course at the Bethpage State Park. Getting up at 3:30am to assist ‘set-up man” extraordinaire, Rich Roble now with two US Opens and a FedEx Playoff under his belt. Set-up at this level is a lesson in precision. Cut a level cup to the exact depth and replace the plug so that when passed over by a mower set at 0.085″ it is neither high nor low. Any misstep and
Set-up Man Rich Roble
or inconsistency and you have prov
I had the pleasure of working as a volunteer at The Barclays held on the Black Course at the Bethpage State Park. Getting up at 3:30am to assist set-up man" extraordinaire, Rich Roble, now with two US Opens and a FedEx Playoff under his belt.
Set-up at this level is a lesson in precision. Cut a level cup to the exact depth and replace the plug so that when passed over by a mower set at 0.085 it is neither high nor low. Any misstep and or inconsistency and you have provided the professional t
Its that time of the year, time to core and top dress greens. At Mt. Juliet this happens twice a year, and accomplishes the same goals as most courses. The biggest difference is that this is all done by hand. Its a very labor intensive process but keeps equipment off of the greens and eliminates to downfalls of using the heavy equipment, such as unnecessary compaction and tight turning marks.
The process is fairly similar to any other course. First we cored the greens (with a Ryan aerator) and
Its that time of the year, time to core and top dress greens. At Mt. Juliet this happens twice a year, and accomplishes the same goals as most courses. The biggest difference is that this is all done by hand. Its a very labor intensive process but keeps equipment off of the greens and eliminates to downfalls of using the heavy equipment, such as unnecessary compaction and tight turning marks.
The process is fairly similar to any other course. First we cored the greens (with a Ryan aerator) a
To this day, I really don’t know what happened. I’ve heard some stories and have a few paper trail type details, but that’s it. After a string of 2,000 mile weeks, a notable in the golf world fumbling the ball and blaming everyone else including me and a bunch of other little and big things, I started not sleeping. For me, that’s nothing new. I’ve not really been into sleep that much and for what it seemed, my body didn’t need much.
But then came one big hassle after another and not only was I
We interrupt our currently scheduled series on Best and Worst GCS Hobbies for a special announcement: The 100 Days of Hell are almost over!
We can tell because of all the back to school ads and the sudden surge in expert football analysis offered by golfers once focused merely on green speed.
In addition, our local hunting store has awakened from fishing catatonia to prepare for deer season and I saw a bentgrass superintendent the other day–without the facial tics, the Thousand Yard Stare at
At Mount Juliet we have a weather recording station unlike any other I have seen. Every day at 10 a.m. various air, soil, and earth temperatures along with rain recordings are collected and sent into the meteorologist for tracking. Mount Juliet is one of the only golf courses in Ireland that is also a national weather station. Mount Juliet also has a rain recorder that tracks how much rain fell and at what time.
The post Mt. Juliet Weather Station appeared first on Cam Cooper from Ireland.
At Mount Juliet we have a weather recording station unlike any other I have seen. Every day at 10 a.m. various air, soil, and earth temperatures along with rain recordings are collected and sent into the meteorologist for tracking. Mount Juliet is one of the only golf courses in Ireland that is also a national weather station. Mount Juliet also has a rain recorder that tracks how much rain fell and at what time.
Source
My favorite hobby for the GCS is up next, holding down the #5 slot. It should be #1, but the judges decided my particular choice was lacking in several critical areas. (Most of which are related to beer, cars, motors, guns, fishing poles, attractive women and not wearing spandex in public.)
It may not be the average superintendent’s first choice, but there’s nothing like a little fear in your day to override that other omnipresent fear, the one that involves losing greens or hearing, “We’ve d
Last weekend I got to go see Hook Lighthouse. Its the oldest operational lighthouse in the world. I couldn’t have had better weather and the ocean was very calm and clear. Its located in Hook Head, County Wexford.
Another popular tourist attraction that I saw on the way back was the Loftus Hall. Its an old mansion that is said to be haunted. I’ve heard this story multiple times from many people; A visitor knocked on the door and the people took him in for tea and dinner. After dinner they were
Last weekend I got to go see Hook Lighthouse. Its the oldest operational lighthouse in the world. I couldn’t have had better weather and the ocean was very calm and clear. Its located in Hook Head, County Wexford.
Another popular tourist attraction that I saw on the way back was the Loftus Hall. Its an old mansion that is said to be haunted. I’ve heard this story multiple times from many people; A visitor knocked on the door and the people took him in for tea and dinner. After dinner they were
We’ve been busy at Mt. Juliet with hand topdressing tees. I’ve never hand top dressed anything before so this was another new experience for me. At Mt. J. we hand top dress greens, every other week (lightly) and tees after hollow coring. On Tuesday I was actually throwing the sand down with a shovel, following the aerator. We went fairly thick on the tees, and because of pop-up showers, it was difficult at times for the sand to dry out. After the sand was thrown down we raked them with a bunker
We’ve been busy at Mt. Juliet with hand topdressing tees. I’ve never hand top dressed anything before so this was another new experience for me. At Mt. J. we hand top dress greens, every other week (lightly) and tees after hollow coring. On Tuesday I was actually throwing the sand down with a shovel, following the aerator. We went fairly thick on the tees, and because of pop-up showers, it was difficult at times for the sand to dry out. After the sand was thrown down we raked them with a bunker
Something dark and evil has triggered a mysterious surge in the number of Irrational Member incidents on golf courses everywhere.
Irrational Member Syndrome, (IMS) can strike anywhere, especially during the summer stress period. Oddly enough, IMS is more prevalent at the finest courses, those that are maintained at such a high level that it is hard to find fault with the course playability, aesthetics or budget management. When the GCS at this type of facility is attacked by an Irrational Mem
Now men . . . Here at The Rock, we are proud to present the latest segment of Best and Worst Hobbies for the GCS.
Today, we cover #7, a hobby capable of combining work with fun and stress reduction.
Also, included free in the film are several tips for GCS success and one Rockbottum technique for smoothing over pro shop mistakes.
Mystic Order of Greenkeeper CEU points will be offered, if you can pass the MOG test administered at the TurfNet Trip to Bandon Dunes in October.
The pressure to produce flawlessly consistent playing conditions is stressful on biological organisms, i.e., plants and people. We seek any solution to enhance plant health when “backed into a corner” with weak turf, poor growing environments, stress from close mowing, etc. Sometimes these solutions help, other times they have unintended consequences.
All the rage this year about Bacterial Wilt/ Decline has me wondering about these unintended consequences when it comes to our obsession with pla
The pressure to produce flawlessly consistent playing conditions is stressful on biological organisms, i.e., plants and people. We seek any solution to enhance plant health when backed into a corner with weak turf, poor growing environments, stress from close mowing, etc. Sometimes these solutions help, other times they have unintended consequences.
All the rage this year about Bacterial Wilt/ Decline has me wondering about these unintended consequences when it comes to our obsession with pl
The common question that I seem to be getting in the last few weeks has to do with feeding greens. While there can’t be a universal rule set for all the different climates we all work in, there are a few things that I like to see happen for best practice summer stress conditioning.
For me, consistency is key. Set your feeding schedule and stick to it. Sure, sometime things happen, but when we are doing it right, there isn’t much Nitrogen involved and so growth isnt a big deal.
Speaking of gr
As a veteran of several rain free summers–while in marginal control of a golf course–I learned what most Golf Course Superintendents go through in the early days of August.
The GCS in the heat of August lives in a narrow, time-sensitive world, a place where attention to detail and quick reactions are critical.
During a hellish summer like this one, the GCS does not have time to read long articles full of charts and equations or watch another endless wobbly 7 minute video of talking heads discu
This weekend I’m off to Lahinch to watch a friend, Robbie Farrell, play in the South Ireland Amateur Open. It took us over three hours to make the drive out west to the course and made it late afternoon on Friday for a practice round. Alan Furness, who also works at Mt. J, will be caddying for him for the tournament. I got to walk around and see the course, and even hit a few drives. The course is unbelievable and I can see why its on so many peoples lists of courses they need to play when there
This weekend I’m off to Lahinch to watch a friend, Robbie Farrell, play in the South Ireland Amateur Open. It took us over three hours to make the drive out west to the course and made it late afternoon on Friday for a practice round. Alan Furness, who also works at Mt. J, will be caddying for him for the tournament. I got to walk around and see the course, and even hit a few drives. The course is unbelievable and I can see why its on so many peoples lists of courses they need to play when there
