From the first day of the season till the last, turf managers are always on the lookout for signs of forces trying to take over the course. This can range from grubs in the soil to dollar spot spreading across a fairway. Sometimes, however, we have to look at defending on other fronts.
At Mount Juliet, high traffic has started to show its teeth. Normally, golfers keep the buggies on the cart path and pull into rough from time to time to chase an errant shot. But this week we found evidence o
Shoshin is a concept in Zen Buddhism meaning "beginner's mind". It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject - even when studying at an advanced level - just as a beginner in that subject would. (Wikipedia) This is a concept that I always try to keep in mind. It's difficult because the ego really gets off on being an "expert". It's fun to set a goal, work hard to accomplish it, and bask in the glory of making it to the top of the mou
This just drives me nuts. A superintendent is squeezed between the egos of a green chairman and a few other "influential people" and his obligation to the membership that is paying the bills. A classic tale of what ails this business. The AF (Asshole Factor for those not familiar with the term) brought into stark relief.
The superintendent in question is managing one-year old greens. They're young, not ready for aggressive management practices. An amateur tournament is approaching. You kno
(once again...I'm skipping the plant phys. series to interject about a hot topic in my life. RSN, back to it but I can't ignore the voices in my head on this one.)
I'm reeling from the death of a friend. And I'd like to share with you about a wonderful person, Jeffrey McManus.
In the early 90's, I needed an email address and access to something called the internet for a research project I was looking into. That project fizzled. In the process, I discovered The WELL. Short for Whole Earth
Can you you handle the pressure of managing a golf course through a difficult summer? Learn how it's done from hardened veterans of several decades of Deep South summer campaigns.
At Rockbottum Country Club, we know precisely when to go deep and infrequent, because we learned the concept on pushup clay bent in temps of 100+, while experts with no actual GCS experience told us to dry 'em out.
"...because we learned the concept on pushup clay bent in temps of 100+, while experts with no
It's amazing what a simple email can do. Just a small electronic note started the communication that led to the single best day I've had in Ireland thus far.
Part of my plan while I'm here is to see more of Ireland's golf courses. I had heard a lot of buzz about Old Head of Kinsale, on the south coast just past Cork. Jon Kiger had told me that TurfNet had previously visited there, and said that the staff at the club was very nice and welcoming. So, I emailed the superintendent, Neil Deasy, t
You will often hear me speak about "high performance surfaces". These are putting surfaces that provide consistent Championship conditions on a regular basis. Championship conditioning produces smooth, true, firm and fast surfaces, pushing the limits on chemical, biological and mechanical technology. Sometimes pushing the limits too far!
During the persistent warm and wet, and now warm and dry conditions covering much of the country, often the high performance surfaces can fail. Catastrophic
A few posts back we talked about words that should be banished from your lexicon (Speak No Evil). The first word on the list was can't. Its one of those words that we use and hear so often that it becomes commonplace. But have you ever really stopped to think that it really doesn't stand up to scrutiny? Think about all of the things in greenkeeping that people have told us we can't do: roll constantly, water for an hour at a time, grow bentgrass without poa, and this list goes on and on.
It'
To many of us, the term unplugged commands visions of MTV and rock bands doing acoustic sets with adoring fans gathered around.
But of late the definition leans more toward disconnecting oneself from the "collective electronic consciousness", so aptly stated by Urban Dictionary. An alternate definition is "to be seperated (sic) from the borg-like creation of being constantly connected through digital communication tools".
As I sit here on a Friday night anticipating our long-awaited es
The course has been tightening up over the last few weeks in anticipation of the Captains' Prizes event, which is very much like a club championship but carries the weight of a member-guest event regarding perfect maintenance.
Over 200 golfers compete for the Captain's and Lady Captain's prizes on a Friday afternoon and Saturday in late June. The event concludes Saturday evening with the awarding of the Prizes at a festive banquet which usually continues into the early hours with dancing and
A recent study, published in Golf Digest, reveals the most important individual in the world of golf.
Watch the following Rockbottum CC Commentary to find out what it said without the bothersome task of reading the study.
Nothing like the a steamy summer. Golf turf is under heat and disease stress from Miami (if you have Paspalum) to Minnesota (if you have Poa annua) and over to Maine (do they have grass in Maine?). In times like these someone on the staff is attached to the spray rig.
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high humidity only makes a few people happy-people who sell pools and people who run turf diagnostic labs that process turf disease samples.
What started as the kind of growing season where it was said, "if you ar
Most golf maintenance training videos are so dull they can cure incurable insomnia, but Here At The Rock, we strive to produce cerebral training films.
Rather than just handing out the information, our technique requires the viewer to think, to search for subliminal clues hidden in what would seem to be an ordinary conversation.
See if you can find the Two Teaching Points of this Rockbottum CC Training Film:
1. How to help your Equipment Manager/Tech win TurfNet's TECH OF THE YEAR.
I was chatting with Larry Stowell of PACE Turf the other day about the state of the industry in general, our businesses in particular and the challenges of making sense of the rapid technological change today.
In his unique role as "maestro" of his and Wendy Gelernter's turf research clearinghouse (for lack of a better term, as PACE Turf — like TurfNet — defies definition in a concise sentence or less), Larry has long been a voice of reason in our sometimes heated or volatile Forum discussio
Last weekend was full of sightseeing. From the historical village in Wexford to Carton House Golf Club in Maynooth, I got a little taste of history in Ireland, and some sport as well.
On Saturday, Alan and I made our way up to the Irish Open, being hosted at the Montgomerie Course at Carton House. This course is one of two at the resort, and is celebrating its tenth birthday this year, along with the honor of hosting the Irish Open, Irelands only European Tour stop. We arrived a bit late, bu
I have been tossing this idea around for a spell. What are the common demons we all fight from time to time? We have covered a couple of them already; dealing with the unruly golfer, and the burn out syndrome, but I want to get more specific and clarify things a bit. The demons Ill be speaking of are the ones that bind us together, and tear us apart.
I am in the throes of battling one as we speak. It is a subtle bugger that can sneak up on you over time. It adds up slowly, kind of like weigh
(I know in my last post I promised a continuation of the Plant Physiology stuff, but am taking a break for a more relevant thing, we will return to the geekery rsn (that's real soon now...non-nerd).
Ok, so... the phone has been ringing off the hook as unseasonably hot weather hits most of the Western US. In particular, the Sacramento area is getting a real wallop but isn't alone. I put this out to my Sacramento Turfhead friends and wanted to share. I hate ambulance chasing, but here are 10 ti
It has been interesting to watch the shifting in preferred 'social media' platforms (I'm beginning to hate that term) over the past year or so, between personal blogs to Facebook to Twitter to the TurfNet.com Forum (and sometimes back again). And Linked-In is in the midst of that somewhere.
Some guys have posted on their blogs that they have "moved" to Twitter and will be posting in their blogs infrequently at best moving forward. "Easier and more convenient" are commonly cited reasons. Perh
At every golf course I've ever worked at, theres always been a pest that seems like the 'chief' problem. At Egypt Valley it was the skunks; at Teton Pines it was the voles; and here at Mount Juliet, its the crows. But each one of the problem creatures were not actually the real pest. The real offenders were what these troublemakers were looking for to eat. Last week this became very apparent to me by way of finally seeing what the crows were looking for.
Since being at Mount Juliet, I have n
Prompted by several very intelligent Stimpmeter comments on the TurfNet Forum, the following RockBottum Country Club VLOG sheds light on a possible strategy to suppress the spread of the POS. (Privately Owned Stimpmeter)
NOTE: It was necessary to credit The TurfNet Forum, as very few intelligent comments ever originate from Rockbottum Country Club, especially where the POS is concerned.
My friend Josh, a fellow student at Michigan State, decided to visit Dublin this weekend. Hes studying abroad in Spain, and took this weekend off to visit some of his friends and myself. I took a bus up to Dublin after work Saturday morning, and met up with him, and another friend in the afternoon. The name of the game this weekend was to see a couple sites and do some relaxing.
We began at the Guinness Storehouse. This building was the original site of Arthur Guinnesss brewery. Now, its a m
