The mentors in my life have been a strange lot, coming in all shapes and sizes. Some have been quiet, while others never shut up. Most of the lessons were of the hidden sort, revealing themselves over time rather than cracking me upside the head. They have all played a part in shaping my life thus far and, if I am lucky, will continue to do so.
As superintendents we all have had teachers and mentors along the way. They taught us the nuts and bolts of the turf industry and, if we were fortuna
Ludell Hogwaller is this week's guest commentator.
When a skirmish breaks out like the one on the TurfNet Forum concerning the audio validity of analogic vinyl music in relations with digitized recorded media, I have to jump in with both achilles heels.
I can easily comprehend folks falsely claiming that friction driven gang mowers are obsolete or debating as to whether the Night Waterman will ever be a viable career, but I cannot sit idly by and listen to vinyl music suffer slander at t
The pathology papers are among the most popular at these meetings each year and this year was no exception. As I penned on Day One the the potassium effects on anthracnose was a highlight and it continued with an excellent presentation by Professor Ingugiato from UConn on Summer patch.
It makes sense that a root infecting fungi such as Summer patch would be worse when rooting is further restricted by compaction
Professor Ingugiato investigated the role of compaction, cultivation and M
As a GCS, I dealt with many of the same challenges that the modern superintendent handles on a daily basis: Disease pressure, irrigation breaks on Friday afternoon, other courses stealing my equipment tech and members suffering from Augusta Syndrome well into October.
But the one thing that beat me was shade.
I could grow bent in the shade, and fescue and St. Augustine and Centipede, but I was never able to grow good bermuda in shade. I removed a great deal of golf course shade, often
Watching my wife designing holiday cards for clients and friends reminded me of an important topic related to todays modern world: the hand-written note. Yep, when it comes to our industry, it still works, and possibly now more than ever. It can be used in seeking another position or improving your standing with members at your current club. Before we get into it, I'd like to include a snippet of an article from the Harvard Business Review (full article) about the topic that sums it up quite wel
The first day of scientific papers at the Turfgrass Science Division (C-5) is reserved for graduate student research presentations. Many of these bright folks are standing up in front of their scientific peers for the first time. I sat for over 7 hours listening to the latest in turfgrass research in 15 minute snip-its (that is the allotted time each presenter is given). It was GREAT!
Presentations ranged from bio-informatics (using molecular techniques to decipher plant responses) and herb
I'm inspired by Frank Rossi's latest TurfNet blog post today wherein he talks about being a Turf Geek.
I am. I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter to a lot of people. Certainly being very much into turfgrass has been misunderstood for as long as anyone has ever tried to grow or manage the turfgrass animal. And when I was bitten by the bug, sure has hell, no one (and I mean no one) understood me. There was a constant questioning of why I would even care from just about everyone in my life.
Tu
I am away from Cornell for the next five days in Tampa, FL at the Tri-Societies Meetings, i.e., Agronomy, Crops and Soils. This meeting will be attended by more than 5,000 scientists and professionals interested in the SCIENCE of crop production. You may wonder, what the hell are you doing at a meeting of Agronomists, aren't you in Horticulture?
I figure if I have a Ph.D., I have got to be a MAJOR turf geek!
Yes in NY, and when I was in WI, and many other states Turfgrass Science is i
I like to go places, see things and meet people. I just hate the process of getting there and back.
How much do I hate it, notably airline travel? Let me count the ways... I hate time inefficiency. I hate waiting around. I hate delays, mechanical or weather or otherwise. I REALLY hate missed connections and cancelled flights.
I hate a whole day to get somewhere, another whole day to get back, and then another day to recover from the process.
I hate being herded like cattle. It's i
Home, sweet home for the week. Chrome Lake cottages.
A chilly tee-off on Bandon Trails Monday morning for Butch Sheffield, Matt Crowther,
David-Dore-Smith and Matthew Tacilauskas. That was the last we saw of fog.
Dan Meersman says hey to Mia, Ken Nice's constant companion.
Bandon Trails clubhouse.
Shawn Potter (from trip sponsor Syngenta) with Mike Meersman
on Bandon Preserve par-3 course.
Matthew Tacilauskas, John Gall and David Dore-Smith
on the Bandon Dunes cour
I was lucky enough this past week to sit in on a wonderful discussion with a good friend and former professor of mine. Based on the title of this post you might think that we were discussing weight loss, but you could not be further from the truth. The talk itself revolved around those unexplainable moments in our lives, often referred to as 'thin moments', when the barrier between our everyday reality and a larger, more universal reality is shattered. Something cracks through the haze of our ev
The Bandon Dunes Agronomy staff joined us Tuesday afternoon for a round on the new 18-hole Punch Bowl putting course, which is adjacent to the Pacific Dunes clubhouse.
Jon Kiger marshals the masses.
Dan Meersman chats with Jeff Sutherland, Pacific Dunes superintendent,
while Dan's father Mike listens in.
Frank Tichenor with Ken Nice, Bandon Dunes Director of Agronomy.
A beautiful afternoon for putting competition.
Every amenity is provided.
A little ledge? N
Walter Hayduke, the newly elected Green Chair at Rockbottum CC, returned from the TurfNet Bandon Dunes Trip, convinced he had witnessed the future of golf.
Walter was so enthused by what he saw at Bandon, he became a Speedy Golf Evangelist and rewrote the Rules of Golf and the Rockbottum CC Employee handbook on the bus ride home.
Speedy Golf is now mandatory for all Rockbottum employees and Ludell was forced to produce the following training video explaining how golf can now be properly
The TurfNet group was hosted by the Bandon Dunes Agronomy staff at the main maintenance facility at 6:15 Monday morning, well before sunrise. Ken Nice, Director of Agronomy, spoke to the group about the various maintenance challenges at Bandon, the biggest one being... wind, and how it moves sand around the golf course.
The superintendents from the various Bandon courses were available for group and individual Q&A.
Breakfast was provided by trip sponsor Turf Drainage Company of Amer
While most of the TurfNet group is out playing Old Macdonald today, the two industrious TurfNet staffers are hard at work in the Pacific Dunes grille. Since this is one of the two or three times each year that Peter McCormick (l) and Jon Kiger get together face-to-face, it's time for strategizing.
That's a real Mac on the right and a fake one on the left (the computer, not the guy).
No, it wasn't our groups racing around the Old Macdonald course on Saturday and Bandon Dunes on Sunday. It was the 25 professional Speedgolfers competing in the 2013 Speedgolf World Championship.
It was insane. These guys pack up to six clubs in a feather-weight bag and then run from stroke to stroke. Most are golfers who also happen to be runners, but there were some marathoners who also took up the game to compete. There were two Olympic athletes in the field.
The winner, Rob Hog
The groups teeing off early Sunday afternoon got off to a wet start... but then the weather turned beautiful for late afternoon post-round beers.
Bill and Doug Middleton (Ocean Organics, trip sponsor), Mike Cook of Davey Tree (lunch sponsor),
and Scott Schukraft at the first tee on the Bandon Dunes course.
Superintendent of the Year Dan Meersman (l) and his dad Mike flank Dave McCormick, bro of the Maestro.
Our international contingent, Matthew Tacilauskas, David Dore-Smith a
We secured two tee times early Sunday on Bandon Preserve, the 13-hole par-3 course that opened just prior to our visit last year. This gave a couple of groups a head start on their afternoon tee times on the Bandon Dunes course, while two other groups played Pacific Dunes on Sunday.
From Bandon Preserve:
Dan Meersman contemplates his next bunker shot while his father Mike chips up.
Mike Cook, Doug and Bill Middleton, John Gall and Scott Schukraft on the Preserve.
Bill Midd
As we've explained Bandon Dunes isn't exactly easy to get to. Most attendees flew to the North Bend/Coos Bay airport from San Francisco on Saturday.
Always trying to multi-task, I flew to San Francisco on Friday and filmed some TurfNetTV Tips and Tricks segments with 2010 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Thomas Bastis, CGCS at the California Golf Club of San Francisco. Thomas demonstrated his drone-based camera (view from the drone shown below) for one of the segments.
Thomas Bastis and
Those arriving on Saturday afternoon played the Sheep Ranch, a little-known and quirky "golf course" abutting the north edge of the Bandon Dunes property. "Golf course" is in quotes because it is not your typical course. No specified teeing grounds, no set routing, no sign, no clubhouse. No pars or scores. Access through the swinging gate is via prior arrangement with Greg, the superintendent/gatekeeper, on behalf of the private owner.
We had the place to ourselves, on a gorgeous late afte
The sun was still low in the sky this morning as we crossed the lakeshore of Chicago on our way to O'Hare, the first leg of the seemingly interminable cross-country journey to Bandon Dunes. Yes, folks, you have to want to go there. It's a long way from anywhere. Everywhere.
The city of Chicago was just awakening, the amber glow of streetlamps yielding to the sunrise. Most of the near-endless Monopoly board of homes and businesses, schools and ballfields were in shadow, with the treetops ba
I have 18 or 19 years worth of newsletter columns hanging around in my archives, so I thought I'd dust one off every once in a while, as some are timeless...
Our industry seems to have gone to the dogs in recent years. Border collies, various retrievers and even an occasional stray have become course staples for goose control, often turning into key crew members and companions in the process. Perhaps it was Greg Stent's poignant essay on his beloved canine companion Ted (Superintendent New
Before we begin, a disclaimer on resume advice: Everyone has an opinion on what should be included on a resume, and there's not necessarily a right or wrong approach. If you give your resume to someone for review, they will always come back to you with their own take on what should be highlighted or changed. My recommendations are not the only way to go, they are merely observations and thoughts specific to our industry and how it relates to resume content. It is important is to study the differ
