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Rockbottum Radio: Skeletal Secrets for Great Greens... and other Turf Blasphemy

In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, RW finally reveals all of his Skeletal Golf secrets for great greens (Bent or UD) along with the backstory explaining why they were kept secret. The Mad Golf Prophet offers up his Last Prediction ever and confesses how he knew this supply line dislocation was coming. Finally, a Halloween tale for Storytime that is too spooky, even for Rockbottum.

Buddy's Mask Experiment

In this time of turmoil and division, we offer something to bring us together:  Rockbottum Storytime. Thirty years ago, Buddy began to wonder which mask was more effective.  Was it the common dust mask?  The surgical mask?  Or perhaps the trusty bandanna?  It had nothing to do with spraying or virus prevention or looking cool, it was entirely due to Buddy's office trouble.  Located next to the crew restroom, Buddy's office was plagued with sudden waves of a malodorous stench capable of pene

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson in Storytime

The “F Word”...

As I was scrolling through Twitter the other day I stumbled across this quote. I read it through and thought, hmmm, that makes sense. Then I foolishly realized that I had said it during an interview with my esteemed colleague and friend Frank Rossi earlier in the week. I don’t relay this to sound uppity or anything, just to make the point that even when one knows something to be so, they don’t always recognize it, even when it comes from their own mouth.  Frank and I were discussing a few d

Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack in Introspection

Invasive Species

In this cerebral film on Skeletal Golf Theory, Dave Wilson reveals a new way to recruit the next wave of golfers, while other Rockbottum CC inmates pile on with their wisdoms, tips and helpful hints. Momma demonstrates her highly efficient, low cost, environmentally friendly method for dealing with Invasive Species.  

Is Your Crew Sustainable?

Based on the title of this blog you may be thinking how your team works with native plants, resource conservation, or uses alternative fuel. I am thinking of sustainability from a different vantage point. Crew sustainability asks 'can your team survive?' Put another way, this blog asks can you survive AND be successful over the long term? The landscapes we manage are constantly changing. Most often our responsibilities are increasing while the resources we are provided by our parent organization

Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Teamwork

Rockbottum Radio: A Failure of Leadership...

In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, RW reveals an important secret to leadership success, while Jelsik gets a rough mower stuck in the lake and Boof loses his radio. Cletus is forced to put those nasty water jugs back out, Ludell makes his illegal mushroom burgers again and the beer cart driver quits. Momma inspects the bunkhouse and the winner of The Turpentine Corncob is announced.  Just a normal day at Rockbottum CC. Presented by DryJect.

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson in Podcast

Easy Street...

“Superintendents are their own worst enemies.” — Anonymous Greenkeeper Many of us know this to be true and can think of a time in our careers when we made things more difficult than they needed to be. Perhaps we suffered through expectations that simply weren’t realistic, constantly aimed for perfection, or tried to do it all on our own. Our jobs are demanding enough to begin with, but by times we layer more on and suffer because of it.  I revisited this notion recently as I made my wa

Buddy and Randy Retire From Golf

On this episode of Rockbottum CC, (the longest running webisode on the whole dang internet) a mysterious leak at Jelsik Muldoon's GMO lab results in retirement fever sweeping over Rockbottum.  Roy Dell takes advantage of the crisis by attempting to gain control of the club while Willy prepares to hand over the reins of power to Bodell and Jimmy Dell, who have encountered the secretive head of an evil organization known as Turftruth or TurfPoof--hard to determine because they exist only on t

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson

Being a Good Employee Is Not Easy, But It Is Simple

All of us want to be good employees and work with good employees, but how does that happen? Companies utilize many ways to quantify employee performance and determine who is measuring up and who is not. There are job descriptions, annual evaluations, coaching sessions, employee reward programs and other approaches to get the best out of people. But far too often there is disagreement over who is doing a respectable job. The lack of clarity can be frustrating for employees who are doing a satisfa

Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn

When The Police Show Up . . .

1969, Southwest of Fresno:  It was nearing midnight on a chilly Friday in October, when an old school bus rattled into the driveway of the Polvadero Country Club, a nine holer out in the middle of the nowhere known as Kettleman Hills.  The bus was loaded with high school football players being delivered home after an away game in Kerman.  Fernando the driver was skillfully circling the empty clubhouse parking lot when his headlights swept across a woman standing alone, holding a shotgun at port

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson

Quiet Place...

Most supers I know have at least one special spot on their properties that is their quiet place. It usually has a nice view, is set apart from the line of play, and generally brings with it a sense of peace. I happen to have more than a few spots like that (I like to pause often) and I recently found myself in one of the more unique spots reflecting on this post. The spot I speak of is actually on an adjacent property to the golf course, but is used to be part of our operation. This propert

Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack

Rockbottum Radio: "A Fool's Name is Like His Face . . ."

In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, RW discusses working for corporations and the increasing complexities of lengthy supply line disruptions in modern times.   Ludell returns from the future to explain how Gen Z solved the problem of professional politicians... and reveals what golf can expect from corporate water tech. In Storytime, RW tells the tale of his first encounter with corporate indentured servitude:  Woolworth's. Presented by DryJect.

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson

Adjust Your Brain . . . Naturally

Are your stress levels cranked up to "Berserker" and beyond?  Is your brain simmering in stress soup courtesy of too much input?  If so, take a few moments to learn The Rockbottum CC Method* for Adjusting Your Brain Chemistry Naturally--and become a happy and relaxed human for several hours.  *NOTE:  Does not require beating a golf vandal senseless, although . . .   

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson

Landscaping IS Infrastructure

Infrastructure is a hot topic in our country right now. While it seems to me many different voices agree we should be investing in infrastructure, there seems to be significant differences over how much we should invest. Perhaps even more importantly, there are differences over what even defines infrastructure. While most agree roads and pipes qualify, past that agreement ends. For those of us in the Green Industry, the components of our work are rarely considered infrastructure. Not only is thi

Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn

Less is… Space

I’ve been thinking about less a lot lately. Exploring the idea of subtraction, but more so about the notion of addition by subtraction. Our culture seems bent on development, expansion and constantly adding to what already exists. Opposition to this idea can leave you in the company of a very small minority, but what about the virtues of simplicity, unlearning and removal? How many times in your life has taking something away left you with something far more precious and manageable? How many tim

Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack

Close Encounters of the Golf Kind

According to Ludell's contacts in the intelligence community, June of 2021 will see a huge release of UFO film, video, and documents formerly classified beyond Top Secret. (They will, however, continue to suppress the mysterious connection between golf and Alien Space Ships.) If you can handle the truth, watch this explosive film from RBCC, the longest running webisode on the whole dang internet.  

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson

Your Grounds Crew Can Do So Much More…

Early in my career I was the Head Groundskeeper at a hospital in Northern Virginia. Like many hospitals mine was invested in community health and each year held a major screening and education event for the area. Because of the size of the event, volunteers were looked for from all areas of the hospital. Being eager to help my organization, I volunteered. The day of the event I checked in to get my assignment and was seriously disappointed to be assigned trash detail. While this was not the end

Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn

Pick a pattern...

As superintendents we are very familiar with patterns. They affect our jobs in a great many ways. We fine tune mowing patterns on a daily basis. We keep schedules and time clocks to maintain the work patterns for our teams. And we keep meticulous records of all of our comings and goings in order to recognize flaws in the pattern in order to make any necessary corrections to keep our operations running smoothly. One pattern we tend to follow more than any other, some would day even religious

Paul MacCormack

Paul MacCormack

The Crew Restroom Dilemma

Has your crew been ill-tempered lately?  Kind of . . . on the edge, showing signs of unrest?  Have you heard them muttering phrases like, "Took my stapler" or "Aye, Captain Bligh" while they work dark to dark? Could be you're working them like a rented mule, while you and the assistants attend tea parties at the clubhouse, Downton Abbey style.  Maybe the pay is too low, especially if somebody's lazy brother-in-law is sitting home making more on unemployment, running up high scores on Call o

Randy Wilson

Randy Wilson


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