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From the TurfNet NewsDesk


  • John Reitman
    Jorge Croda came to Southern Oaks Golf Club near Fort Worth, Texas three years ago with a reputation for whipping downtrodden golf courses into shape back in his native Mexico.
      Two years later, he converted into a thing of beauty a course that was in such bad shape it was dragging down home values in the surrounding neighborhood.   Now, with a golf course they can be proud of, members are getting a glimpse into why Croda is so successful. Hint, the answer goes far beyond agronomics.   He works not only to provide an enjoyable golf experience for his members, but also promotes life and professional skills for his crew, is active in a church golf league and has become a certified First Tee coach to help grow the game.   "Jorge is a very unique individual in that he has the rare quality of being respected by peers, colleagues, friends, family and from my perspective, is truly able to connect with young people," wrote Kevin Long, director of The First Tee of Fort Worth, in his nomination letter. "The excitement he demonstrates when working with the participants in our program is truly impressive. His knowledge of both the game of golf and the fundamental life skills and character development aspects of our program makes him an effective instructor, role model and mentor. Jorge's ability to engage and build positive relationships with anyone he is around is truly inspirational and a valued aspect of his abilities in The First Tee program."   Croda saw hiring and training his own crew as the first step toward reviving the course when he came aboard at Southern Oaks three seasons ago.   For his philosophy as an agronomist, manager and member of the community to be successful, he says, it must reflect the mission and values of the club.   And just like Croda's resume since coming to Southern Hills, the club in Burleson promotes an atmosphere that values teamwork and volunteerism.   "I have known Jorge for approximately five years. We met when he joined the parish golf league at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Keller," said Tom Schneider, who also nominated Croda. "Jorge was immediately liked by all the players in the league.  We quickly came to realize that not only was Jorge a great player, but that he also genuinely cares about others.  He always takes the time to offer a piece of instruction where appropriate, sharing his vast knowledge of the swing and short game with his friends in the league.  His presence in our parish golf league has made a major impact. His contributions, in playing, helping others improve their game and always being an encouraging member, have helped our league to win the last three years after having lost for the previous 10 years."   He shows similar penchant for coaching his workers, for whom he provides computer training and English language instruction to improve their employment opportunities in the U.S.   "We need to understand (other) cultures. We need to respect that," Croda said. "I teach that to my crew. For Mexican workers in the United States, the motivation is to do better. You can come here, and you can better yourself.   "I need to understand more about this culture in the United States. If I learn more about it, I can do a better job. If I just say, 'no, no, no, this is my culture and you need to understand me,' that's not true."    
  • Since Matt Crowther, CGCS, arrived on Martha's Vineyard 20 years ago, golfers at Mink Meadows never cease to be amazed at the conditions he can provide with minimal inputs at this nine-hole layout in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. To that end, chemical salesmen wish they had half the relationship with him that environmentalists do.
        Mink Meadows member John Verret said there was a time before Crowther's arrival that Mink Meadows was more like a goat track than a golf course, but no more.   "He could grow grass on cement," Verret said Crowther's agronomic skills.   While greens and tees are managed in what Crowther called a "traditional" manner, fungicide apps in the fairways are practically an afterthought (instead, he uses bacteria found naturally in the soil), and insecticide use occurs less than infrequently.   "Initially, I was spraying preventively the first few years, but since then I've all but eliminated fungicide sprays," Crowther said.   Annual bluegrass weevil might be the Northeast's major pest problem, but Crowther keeps apps to a minimum, typically limiting his exposure to the perimeter of the fairways in hopes of creating a buffer that thwarts the pest's advance onto the golf course.   This year, he plans to spray for white grubs, which attract skunks looking for an easy meal. Although that might be a pretty traditional practice for many superintendents, it will be Crowther's first insecticide application for grubs in a dozen years.    "It makes you feel good not spraying chemicals all over the place," he said. "But, it's disheartening on September 1 when the fairways look good, then on September 15 when it looks like someone came through with a Rototiller."   He even has switched from granular fertilizers to liquid in response to new local fertilizer regulations that went into effect last year.   It hasn't been difficult to get buy-in from members, many of whom also are in tune with the environmental philosophy that prevails on the island.   "Matthew has been at Mink Meadows golf course since 1995," wrote Mink Meadows member Richard Barbini. "When he arrived the course was a simple 9-hole course on a resort island. His environmental stewardship and professional skills have transformed the course to be considered one of the best in the area. No small feat considering these other courses have far greater resources."   Nowhere is that disparity in resources between Mink Meadows and some of its competitors felt than in its irrigation system. While many of the components have been upgraded through the years, much of the piping is left over from the 1990s and the main line was installed in 1936.   Member George Santos has seen the good and the bad at Mink Meadows since he was a caddy there in the 1960s. Crowther brought a new level of professionalism to the course when he started there in 1995.   "For years the course was pretty rough with a partial irrigation system that was manually operated. In addition, the equipment to maintain the course was old and outdated," Santos wrote in his nomination letter. "Matt was involved in putting in a new fully automated system.   "Matt Crowther has been an asset to the club since the day he started at Mink Meadows."   Crowther's signature also is evident at just about every ballfield on Martha's Vineyard. He began coaching when his son, now 24, began playing baseball and soccer on the island 20 years ago and he noticed what poor condition the fields were in.   "The field was just clumps of fescue and dirt, and the ball bounced all over. I wanted to help fix the field and ended up on the board of Friends of Vineyard Soccer," he said. "Then, when he started playing baseball, I saw how all those fields were in horrible shape, and I worked on all of those, about six or seven fields."   The culmination of that work was the formation of Vineyard Baseball Inc. and Vineyard Baseball Park that is home to the Martha's Vineyard Sharks of the Futures League featuring college players focused on a career in professional baseball.   "Matt is the go-to guy for every field project on the island, including the high school football and baseball fields and every little league park out there," Verret said. "He is always there to help."  

  • It's hard to imagine anyone has had a passion for golf quite like John Cunningham, CGCS. He has built a career providing championship conditions across three Top 100 clubs, works tirelessly to educate himself while also promoting the careers of those who work for him, and shares what he knows with golfers in a way that makes sense to them.
      The way Cunningham sees it, the golf course can't be at its best unless everyone working their is operating at their peak.   "John is in his fourth year at Bellerive (Country Club in St. Louis), and is constantly striving to make Bellerive the best. Not just the golf course, but the Bellerive experience," wrote equipment manager Chris Rapp. "In order for the Bellerive experience to be the best, it is necessary for the team to be the best."   Cunningham says he learned that philosophy from his mentor, legendary South Florida superintendent Dick Gray.   "Early on in my career, he told me "you always have to make sure you water your horses, because those are the guys who get things done,' " Cunningham said.    Cunningham doesn't look at himself as a manager or supervisor. Instead, he views his role more like that of a coach of a team.   "We are coaches. That's what we do. We coach our staff, peers, members," he said. "I've always approached it that way."   Cunningham has built a career on coaching all the constituencies of a golf course operation, including equipment managers and the non-golfing public.   A decade ago, Stephen Tucker, had the idea of creating a trade association for golf course equipment managers. focused on professional development and education for golf course equipment managers. Soon after, the International Golf Course Equipment Managers Association was born.   It was Cunningham who, despite managing the challenges associated with being a superintendent at places like Black Diamond Ranch in Florida, TPC Las Colinas in Irving, Texas (home to the PGA Tour's AT&T Byron Nelson Classic) and Bellerive (site of the 2013 Senior PGA Championship and will be the host to the 100th PGA Championship in 2018), stepped in to help Tucker and his association take that next step.   Cunningham and other superintendents in the Mississippi Valley GCSA, along with Rapp and Tucker, worked together to develop a series of semi-annual meetings for other equipment managers from throughout the chapter, providing education, certification and even sponsoring a trip to the Golf Industry Show each year for one mechanic in the region.   He also served on a task force that eventually recommended the GCSAA absorb the IGCEMA, a move that members believe helps further them on their path toward career development.   "To me, this is the definition of a leader," wrote Tucker, equipment manager at Four Seasons Orlando near Walt Disney World. "He has given his time and effort to a cause that benefits the people around him. John didn't get paid more to do it. He didn't ask to be on the GCSAA committee. He's not looking to be an equipment manager. He did it for me, he did it for Chris, he did it for the others out there that he could see the bigger vision we were trying to create.   "To me there isn't anyone as committed to seeing others succeed than he is. I see it with his assistants that have moved up in the business, I see it in his staff when I visit Bellerive and I see it in his colleagues, GM and his greens committee chairman, whom we played golf with."     The consummate coach and teacher, Cunningham's drive to educate others began long before he started at Bellerive. While at Black Diamond Ranch, he held field days for local school children (and their teachers and parents) to teach them about mole crickets and the environmental achievements of superintendents. At Las Colinas, his equipment manager Doug Johnson was named the winner of the TurfNet Golden Wrench Award. And he's famous for conducting weed-pulling competitions on his staff and more.   He's a voracious reader and tries to instill that in others.   "I've always believed in looking outside yourself and being a good coach and delegator," he said. "There are a million and one books out there to help you do that. At Christmas time, I give out books on how to better yourself."
  • Matt Gourlay, CGCS, is Exhibit A that one does not have to work in California, Arizona or Texas to be focused on saving water.
      In the nine years he has been a superintendent at Colbert Hills in Manhattan, Kansas, Gourlay has cut water use by 71 million gallons per year, from 110 million gallons annually to 41 million gallons. For those keeping score, that is a reduction of 63 percent. At a current rate of $3,000 per 1 million gallons, the savings add up quickly.   Such frugality, Gourlay says, is reminiscent of some other courses golfers might be more familiar with, thanks to TV.   "We are going for more of the Pinehurst look," said Gourlay, whose official title is director of golf. "In fact, we were that way before Pinehurst became the model everyone is trying to emulate."   Unlike at Pinehurst, which turned back the clock for USGA championships, Colbert Hills did so out of necessity. Like most golf courses not named Pinehurst, Pebble Beach or Augusta, Colbert Hills has felt the effects of a slow economy and declining interest in golf. As a result, Gourlay's 2015 budget was cut by 20 percent, according to Colbert Hills board member Zac Burton, who nominated Gourlay for the award.   "It all stemmed from budget issues," Gourlay said.   "Water is an issue for us," Gourlay said. "We have to buy it all from the city. We removed between 700 and 800 (irrigation) heads, reduced the amount of fertilizer we use on greens by 90 percent and 75 percent on tees.   "Like so many courses, a lot of times we're just trying to stay afloat in the economy."   Budget cuts did little to affect conditions on the golf course. As a matter of fact, they were better than ever, said Burton, who belongs to other high-end private clubs in the area that have larger budgets than Colbert Hills. Despite those disadvantages, conditions at Colbert Hills outshine those at those other big-budget clubs, Burton said.   "I believe there's no one in the industry that faced more challenges than he did this year," Burton wrote in his nomination. "Never once did I hear a complaint. Never once was an excuse made. And in spite of all these challenges, he delivered the best course conditions at Colbert Hills we've had since the facility opened in 2000.   "Matt's official title is head superintendent, but in reality, he's the lifeblood of the course. He's involved in some extent with every facet of the club because he genuinely cares about our customers' experience."   Those challenges didn't dampen his spirits either.   "Due to difficult revenue-generating conditions, Matt is tasked with working with a limited operating budget," said Colbert Hills GM Steve Lambert. "The funds he has to work with are similar to what I saw 20 to 30 years ago, yet Matt never complains about restricted resources. He just goes out and gets the job done."     The home course to Kansas State University, Colbert Hills enjoys most of its success during the height of the college football season. When the Wildcats are enjoying success on the field, so is Colbert Hills.   Snyder, who has been coach at K-State for all but four years since 1989, has won 65 percent of his games in Manhattan.   "Everyone in Manhattan owes their success to Bill Snyder," Gourlay said.    Gourlay also deflects credit to his largely homegrown staff.   "This is the best group I've ever had since I became superintendent nine years ago," said Gourlay.   "Almost everyone on staff is a K-State student or alum, and they are among the brightest people in the business."   Lambert has been GM at Colbert Hills for nearly three years, and it didn't take him long to discover what he had in his superintendent.   "After the first few weeks of my arrival in Manhattan, it became readily apparent that I was working with a special individual," Lambert said. "Not only is Matt a superior manager of turfgrass conditions, he is an outstanding leader of personnel."  
  • Call it the career that almost never was.
      Former University of Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer remembers the 1994 season as if it were yesterday. The Volunteers were coming off a 10-2 finish in 1993 and entered the next year with national championship aspirations. But an injury-plagued season nearly derailed his head coaching career before it got started, Fulmer told a packed room at this year's Tennessee Turfgrass Foundation Conference and Show in Murfreesboro.   The Vols eventually rebounded after a 1-3 start in '94 to finish the season 8-4. That was a blessing not only for Fulmer, who went on to win a national championship four years later, but also for many of the hundreds of young men who played for him during his 17-year career as head coach in Knoxville and scores of at-risk children nationwide whom he strives to help to this day.   Since 1998, Fulmer has been the national spokesperson for the Jason Foundation, a nonprofit entity that promotes awareness, outreach and education for the prevention of teen suicide. His commitment includes The Phillip Fulmer & Charlie Daniels Golf Classic that helps fund the foundation.   During the 1997 football season, Fulmer received a letter from Clark Flatt, whose 16-year-old son Jason had committed suicide that summer. Jason's father describes his son as a normal 16-year-old who made good grades in school. There were no outward signs of trouble Flatt could pick up on, but he also did not know what to look for then. Now, he does. While trying to make sense of his own son's death, Flatt has read enough research to learn that four of five teenagers who attempt suicide show warning signs of a problem. And he, along with Fulmer, Daniels and others work with the Jason Foundation to provide parents, friends, teachers, counselors and others with the tools necessary to detect at-risk children, and tell them where to go for help. To date, the annual tournament has raised more than $1 million for the Jason Foundation.   Such tragedies have been in the back of Fulmer's thoughts for many years, partially explaining his zeal for this cause.   "As a father, mentor of young men and as a coach, (suicide) was something I was always afraid of," Fulmer said at the TTA show. "Just how far can you push a guy? You don't know all that's going on in the world with them all the time. It was always a concern for me."   With good reason.   According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are - on average - 5,000 suicide attempts by children in grades 7-12 every day and one of them succeeds every two hours. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people age 10-24, and more teens and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza and chronic lung disease combined.   Those are startling facts, says Fulmer while explaining why he wanted to get involved in helping the Flatt's foundation that provides information on recognizing warning signs, risk factors, resources and where to go for help (including a toll-free hotline).   "It's about education and awareness in preventing teenage suicide, not responding after it happens," he said.    The 79-year-old Daniels joined the tournament about five years ago, which has helped expand the foundation's reach even further.   "That added a whole new dimension," he said. "Now we have a lot of people in country and western music behind it."   The American Football Coaches Association also backs it, and in 2007, the Tennessee legislature adopted the Jason Flatt Act, making it mandatory that teachers and counselors in Tennessee schools receive annual training on suicide prevention. Since then, at least 15 other states have passed similar measures.   "I can't tell you how many young people we've helped through the hotline that goes straight to the hospital, because we're not professionals in that. If it helps save one young person it's been worth it, but there have been hundreds who have been saved."   Chalk it up to part of the family atmosphere Fulmer preached during his 17 years as the Vols' head coach.   "Helping young people has been very fulfilling, but that's not why you do it," Fulmer said. "You do it because there is a need."   Fulmer's chances of helping young people, whether they be at-risk teens or the many Tennessee players whose lives he's touched - and vice-versa - almost were grounded before they ever had a chance to take off.  
    Helping young people has been very fulfilling, but that's not why you do it. You do it because there is a need."
     
    Fulmer, who was a guard for the Volunteers under former coaches Doug Dickey and Bill Battle, was in his second full season as head coach of the Volunteers after succeeding Johnny Majors midway through the 1992 campaign. The Vols were fresh off a 10-2 finish and a No. 6 ranking in 1993, and there were national championship aspirations in the air in '94.   That campaign began with No. 13 Tennessee and 14th-ranked UCLA kicking off the season in the Rose Bowl. The Vols lost that game 25-23 and Fulmer's honeymoon in Knoxville officially was on shaky ground.   After a 41-23 win over Georgia the following week, an injury-plagued Tennessee team followed up with a 31-0 loss at home to hated Florida and a 24-21 setback at Mississippi State. Forget marriage counseling; suddenly the once rosy relationship between Fulmer and the Volunteer Nation was seemingly headed straight for divorce court.   The week before playing Washington State, Fulmer visited with Dickey to lament his team's injury woes that included starting quarterback Jerry Colquitt and backup Todd Helton (who later starred with MLB's Colorado Rockies) as the Vols' season began spiraling out of control.   "Coach, I don't know if we can beat Washington State. Fact is, if we don't get some people healthy, I don't know if we can win another game. Coach, if we don't win another game, are you still going to love me?" Fulmer said in recalling his conversation with Dickey. "He looked at me and said, 'Phil, we're still going to love you, but we're sure going to miss you.' That was a crossroads."   The coaching staff identified where changes needed to be made both in coaching style and player personnel. Coaches and players blocked out all the negativity, and that family atmosphere Fulmer preached reached unprecedented heights. The Vols rallied to win seven of their final eight games, including a 45-23 win over Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl, then went on to post a cumulative record of 45-5 over the next four seasons, culminating with the 1998 national title. The ascension of a third-string freshman quarterback named Peyton Manning didn't hurt, either.   "Out of the ashes of that 1-3 start," he said, "we laid the foundation for the most successful era in modern Tennessee football history."   And it almost never happened.   His former players and coaches as well as countless teenagers around the country and their parents should be grateful it did.  
  • News and people briefs

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Lebanon combo product offers 1-2-3 punch
      LebanonTurf recently launched Proscape Fertilizer with Acelepryn plus Dimension, a combination product with fertilizer, insecticide and herbicide that controls and protects against grubs and crabgrass all season long.   Proscape Fertilizer with Acelepryn plus Dimension is designed for just one spring application in most environments. Applications include golf course fairways, tees, collars and roughs, plus athletic fields, established home and commercial lawns, office complexes, parks, playgrounds, schools and day-care facilities.    Proscape fertilizer features patented MESA, Meth-Ex and Expo nutrient components. The Acelepryn insecticide (chlorantraniliprole) combats grubs, caterpillars and weevils, as well as chinch bugs and billbugs. Also, the Dimension herbicide (dithiopyr) kills and prevents crabgrass, goosegrass and Poa annua, among other unwanted grasses and weeds.  
    Registration open for Asian turf conference
      Registration for the Sustainable Turfgrass Management in Asia 2016 conference, at Pattaya from March 7 to 9, is open. All the information is on the conference website, www.asianturfseminar.com.   Slides and handouts from last year's show are available for download, and photos from the 2015 conference give a preview of what to expect in 2016. Other speakers for this year's event include Jim Kerns, Ph.D., of North Carolina State, and Elizabeth Guertal, Ph.D., of Auburn University.   In advance of the show, here are a few things Micah Woods, Ph.D., of the Asian Turfgrass Center has been up to.   > three most-viewed posts from ATC's Viridescent blog: 2 similar approaches to fertilization, with one notable difference As clear as mud Silica and Green Speed   > TurfNet webinar on MLSN Guidelines: what they are, and how to use them.   > Three episodes of Frankly Speaking on TurfNet   > Article in GCM China.   > The 2015 Global Soil Survey.   > The Turfgrass Zealot Project on TurfNet with Dave Wilber.   Click here for more information on this year's conference.  
    ASGCA names Donald Ross winner
      Michael Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and author of several books on golf, has been named the recipient of the Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects.    The award, given annually since 1976, is presented to a person who has made a significant contribution to the game of golf and the profession of golf course architecture. It will be presented to Bamberger at the 2016 ASGCA Annual Meeting on April 24 in Bethesda, Maryland.   A native of Patchogue, New York, Bamberger was introduced to golf in an eighth-grade gym class. He first played on the public courses of Suffolk County and on the Patchogue-Medford High School golf team. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania he became a newspaper reporter, working for the Vineyard Gazette, on Martha's Vineyard, and later for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Since 1995, Bamberger has been a senior writer at Sports Illustrated.    His books on golf include "The Green Road Home" (1986), about his experiences as a caddie on the PGA Tour in 1985; "To the Linksland" (1992), about an extended honeymoon trip Bamberger and his wife, Christine, made on the European golf tour and through coastal Scotland; and "Men in Green" (2015), a then-and-now look at various golf legends from the 1970s. He is the inventor of The E-Club, a utility golf club for which he was issued a patent.   Bamberger joins an impressive list of journalists who have received the Donald Ross Award, including Bradley S. Klein, Herbert Warren Wind, Peter Dobereiner, Charles Price, Dick Taylor, Ron Whitten, George Peper and James Dodson.   Riverside Turf launches Sod Services
      Riverside Turf of Charles City, Virginia, recently launched Sod Production Services.   Sod Production Services was formed to fund research for and market new turfgrass varieties to licensed sod producers to grow proprietary grasses, and to offer agronomic consulting services to the turf industry. Al Hunter has joined Sod Production Services as its director of business development. The first grass in the Sod Production Services portfolio is PremierPRO Bermudagrass.   Hunter will work with Riverside Turf's Brian Walker to create a new business model in the turfgrass licensing segment that focuses on a team approach to sod production, sales and distribution with a dedication to science-based claims, customer support and agronomic consultancy.   PremierPRO is a dense, fine-bladed Bermudagrass developed by Milt Engelke, Ph.D., at Texas A&M and Virginia Lehman, Ph.D. for wear tolerance.  
     
  • The Toro Company is making a good thing even better.
      The Bloomington, Minnesota-based manufacturing of turf maintenance and mowing equipment has instituted innovations and updates to its reel-cutting systems that have been integrated into what the company calls its new EdgeSeries reels that will be available on all Greensmaster walk and riding mowers and Reelmaster fairway mowers. The units also will be available as after-market replacement parts.   The EdgeSeries reels feature updated blade materials for longer reel life, thus reducing maintenance costs and increasing productivity. The new reels also provide changes to blade angle and helix that the company says can result in a cleaner cut, reduced disease stress and improved fuel efficiency.     "The material properties itself, the hardness is often thought of as the key element in edge retention. Actually, the microstructue of the steel is ever more important," said Tom Langworthy, Toros senior program manager for greensmowers, in a video promoting the reels.   "We did a lot of testing both in the field and in the lab to ensure that we didnt just meet, but that we exceeded all of our standards we have today."   The EdgeSeries also can reduce backlapping and grinding.   "Simply put, these reels cut our reel maintenance labor by more than half, thanks to the composition of the reel material," said Jim Gloor, equipment manager at May River Golf Club in Bluffton, South Carolina, where the new reels were part of a trial program. "We put a relief grind on them, and backlap them, and they go out with no issues at all. I've been doing this for 32 years, and I've never had a reel like this."   Low-friction seals and bearings also are available on cutting units for select Greensmaster and Reelmaster models. The new system also is designed to yield greater fuel efficiency and maximize the overall productivity of the cutting system.   "Thanks to the reels, the sustainability of the aftercut appearance for our fairways is much greater than anything we've used in the past," said May River superintendent Chris Johnson.   Toro's EdgeSeries reels are available in a number of sizes and blade configurations to fit Toro Greensmaster and Reelmaster models.  
  • The next time a 20-something assistant arrives late for work, or a new intern is more concerned with sipping coffee with his buddies in the break room when he's supposed to be on a mower on the back nine, don't blame him or his upbringing. Instead, it might make more sense to blame tech toys like his iPhone or some traumatic event such as 9/11, according to an expert on managing people across cultural and generational lines. 
      An overly active social life nurtured by electronic devices that easily keep one connected to friends and family, as well as stressful childhood events such as a climbing divorce rate among their parents' generation and the terror attacks of 15 years ago, are just a few examples of some of the experiences that might have helped shape the lives of Generation Y, defined as those born between 1980-1995, said Amy Wallis, Ph.D., of Wake Forest University during the recent Syngenta Business Institute. That doesn't mean Gen Y'ers cannot be convinced to carry out the duties for which they are being paid, it just means their supervisors likely will have to meet them halfway, or more.   "Things that are important to you are not important to them, so trying to use what is important to you as an incentive is not going to help them change their behavior," Wallis said.   "The observation with this group is they are less achievement oriented. Is it more important to you to be the best at what you do, or enjoy what they are doing? With this group, it's more important to enjoy what they are doing. It doesn't mean they are not competitive, but competitiveness is not what is most important to them."   Oh, there is one other problem.   "Millennials are fundamentally narcissistic," Wallis said. "This gets in the way of their ability to adapt."   An intensive four-day educational and professional-development program presented by faculty from the Wake Forest School of Business, the Syngenta Business Institute is designed to help superintendents expand their knowledge in non-turf curriculum like management, negotiating and accounting principles.   Wallis's discussion on managing employees from varying cultures and generations generated a lot of feedback from many of the two-dozen superintendents in attendance, some of whom expressed frustration with what they perceive as a lack of work ethic from those hailing from Generation Y. Complaints ranged from being late to work to being lazy once they get there.   "Some people think that being an assistant (superintendent) means wearing Oakley sunglasses and driving around the golf course all day with a dog in the cart," said one attendee who, for the sake of his (former?) assistant, will remain nameless. "There's a lot more to it than that."   But what those from one generation view as lazy or even disrespectful, those from another view it as perfectly normal.   "Very few people walk into their supervisor's office and say 'how can I make this person angry today?' " Wallis said.   Those who manage others should think of culture (yes, generations are cultures) the way a sea captain might view an iceberg.   "What we don't see below the surface is far bigger and more significant than what we see above the surface," Wallis said. "The culture we see tends to be behavioral and reflects the beliefs people enact on a day-to-day basis. What we don't see are people's values and what they think about things. Those might be subconscious values, bias and thoughts and ways of conceptualizing the world."
    You were all 20. You know how likely you were to adapt to something an older person is telling you. It's just developmentally difficult to trigger someone to do that."
     
    Generally speaking, Wallis said, those who make up Generation Y (also known as Millennials), exhibit dramatically different traits, compared with Generation X (born between 1965-1980) and Baby Boomers (1946-1964). That can be problematic for those who don't have a doctorate degree in psychology, but nonetheless must manage Millennials on a daily basis.   "Typically, the argument for finding ways to adapt and meet in the middle is a stronger argument than this is my house, and we are going to do it my way,' " she said.    "You were all 20. You know how likely you were to adapt to something an older person is telling you. It's just developmentally difficult to trigger someone to do that."   Economic factors also have helped influence how people from different generations behave, Wallis said. Baby Boomers lived through three distinct economic periods, industrial, service and knowledge-based, while Gen Xers have experienced the latter two. Millennials, however, have lived only in a society marked by the exchange of information through digital media. This group also grew up with a more relaxed attitude toward authority figures, meaning they have a different take on the relationships between employer and employee, often viewing themselves as equal to their superiors.   Baby Boomers and Gen X'ers are characterised by traits such as independence and loyalty to their profession, but those coming after them are not.   Some on-the-job characteristics of Millennials are:   > want a job that lets them exercise personal values and beliefs, > are not willing to give up their lifestyle for a career,  > multitasking (i.e., checking Twitter or texts while talking to you) is a way of life, > want to be part of a team, > need constant feedback (especially praise), > have little patience for ambiguity, > loyalty to their boss is No. 1 reason they stay in a job.   Many at SBI admitted they find it far easier to manage those from different cultures than Millennials, even if a language barrier exists. One superintendent (who also shall remain anonymous to protect his staff from shame) admitted that the Spanish-speaking members of his crew openly mock their American counterparts for what they also perceive as a lack of work ethic.
    Very few people walk into their supervisor's office and say 'how can I make this person angry today?' "
     
    Convincing or coercing them to change their lifestyle habits, Wallis said, pretty much is a fruitless labor. The key to getting them to work on time and to work harder when they are there is to tap into what makes them tick. In fact, in the case above, she said Millennials likely would be far more motivated if they knew others were poking fun at them than by a scolding from their superintendent.   "The social pressure of showing them how they embarrass themselves probably has more weight than saying you are going to write them up if they come in late," she said. "They are more concerned about their social image and relationships than any monetary rewards.   "How do you use that relational style to get people to change their behavior? Because you're not going to do it by pushing on the task."    All hope, however, is not lost for Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers managing a staff of 20-something ne'er-do-wells, Wallis said. But whereas a 50-year-old superintendent might be fixated on making sure all greens are mowed and bunkers are raked before the first foursome of the day goes out, Millennials might be equally concerned, or more, with their morning cup of Starbucks and whether that oh-so-clever Tweet from the night before has any "likes". Finding the key to unlocking that untapped potential likely will be the job of the supervisor, not the employee. And showing some willingness to change might be just the ticket to convincing them to follow suit.   "The dilemma is that I can change what I do, but I can't change what you do," she said. "We all have a responsibility to meet people halfway and adapt on both sides. You need to consider that being in a leadership position, you are role models that people look to see what they are supposed to do. You are in a better place to adapt and model that than a person a generation (or two) behind you."  
  • Now clear of a legal hurdle that nearly endangered its existence, municipally owned Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica, California, is undergoing the first of a multi-phase renovation designed to bring it back to its glory days.
     
    The Alister MacKenzie-designed course, opened in 1932, is owned and operated by the City of San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, though it technically occupies part of a 412-acre park in adjoining San Mateo County.
     
    Sharp Park was at the center of long-running challenge by various environmental litigation groups claiming that the layout was degrading the habitat of the endangered California red-legged frog and the threatened San Francisco garter snake. A succession of claims made by a coalition comprising the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and Wild Equity Institute have now been rebuffed, with the federal court in the Northern District of California ruling that the facilitys maintenance practices are consistent with standards established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
     
    San Francisco Public Golf Alliance, a citizens action committee that successfully undertook the legal defense, is now turning its attention to a long-term upgrade of the course. Initial stages of work, undertaken in-house with local contractors and funded by the city, included a new frog pond south of the course, an upgrade to the pump house, renovation of a culvert, rerouting two cart paths away from wetlands and the dredging of cattails in the channel between environmentally sensitive Laguna Salada and Horse Stable Pond.
     
    That work follows a $12 million overhaul of a water-delivery system, funded by local and federal agencies, that brings recycled water to the golf course. Irrigation-pipe laterals servicing four holes have now been completed, with more work anticipated as part of the upgrade.
     
    Richard Harris, who with fellow attorney Bo Links is co-founder of the S.F. Public Golf Alliance, reports that architecturally detailed restoration plans are now being developed by Tom Doak, in collaboration with Jay Blasi. Preliminary construction estimates for the work, involving greens, tees and bunkers, are in the $8 million range, plus soft costs for permitting, and likely would take 3-4 years to complete. Work on the project is being funded through a partnership of the S.F. Public Golf Alliance and the privately funded Alister MacKenzie Foundation.
     
    At the same time, discussions are underway at the governmental level among officials from San Francisco and San Mateo County that could see the county take over daily management of the course, though not ownership of the property.
     
    - by Bradley S. Klein, Golfweek
  • News and people briefs

    By John Reitman, in News,

    AmeriTurf, Performance Nutrition reach distribution agreement
      AmeriTurf will begin offering Performance Nutrition fertility and disease-control products through its coast-to-coast distribution network.   AmeriTurf is a specialty-products distribution company based in Italy, Texas. With headquarters in Hazlet, New Jersey, Performance Nutrition is a subsidiary of LidoChem that produces fertilizers, soil amendments and other turf-specialty products.    Among the Performance Nutrition products that AmeriTurf will make available through its national distribution network are: KaPre RemeD8 seed treatment and fertilizer additive that delivers microbes and enhances fertilizer uptake; KaPre Exalt blend of concentrated fulvic acid and plant-based surfactants; KaPre ExAlt that releases nutrients and micronutrients bound in soil; Nutrol bio-pesticide, tank buffer and water soluble fertilizer.  
    Colorado Golf Association honors Lyon
      Dennis Lyon, CGCS, recently was named the Colorado Golf Associations Superintendent of the Century.   Lyon, who worked as manager of golf for the City of Aurora, Colorado for more than 30 years before he retired, received the award during the associations recent 100th anniversary celebration that honored those who have made significant contributions to golf in Colorado.   Lyon has won a long list of awards including the USGA Green Section Award (2011), GCSAA Col. John Morley Distinguished Service Award (2013) and the USGA Ike Grainger Award (2011) for his 25 years of volunteer work on the USGA Public Golf and Green Section committees. He was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2011, was president of the GCSAA in 1989 and the Colorado Golf Association in 2002,    During its 100th anniversary celebration, dubbed the Century of Golf Gala, the association also recognized Hale Irwin (male player of the century), Barbara McIntire (female player of the century), Charles Kline (golf professional of the century), Will Nicholson Jr. (man of the century) and Judy Bell (woman of the century).   The event was held in mid-November at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
    Floratine names agronomist for southeast region
      Floratine recently named Pat McHugh, CGCS, as corporate agronomist for its southeast region.   McHugh has more than 41 years of experience in turfgrass agronomy and will be responsible for evaluating customers turfgrass and soil conditions to help them develop customized nutrition programs that best fit their specific needs.   A former superintendent, McHugh achieved certification 27 years ago and has managed a variety of courses throughout his career. He is the founder of North Carolina Turf Support, an organization that specializes in providing services for turf nutrition, physical and chemical properties of soil, water analysis and both national and international consulting.  
  • People who care about honeybees know that insecticides and pollinators usually are a bad mix, but herbicides used to control weeds can spell even bigger trouble for bees, according to university research.
      Jeff Harris, bee specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station researcher, said herbicides destroy bee food sources.   "When farmers burn down weeds before spring planting, or people spray for goldenrod, asters and spring flowers, or when power companies spray their rights-of-way, they're killing a lot of potential food sources for bees and wild pollinators," Harris said.   The direct effect of these chemicals on bees is so much less of an issue than their loss of food supply, he said.   "Disappearing food is on the mind of beekeepers in the state," he said. "That is even more important to them than losses of bees to insecticides."   Johnny Thompson, vice president of the Mississippi Beekeeping Association, is a cattle and poultry farmer in Neshoba County who has been in the bee business for the last 10 years. He said rather than eradicating weeds, he mows them so the food source is available longer to bees.   "Before we got back into bees, I sprayed pastures by the barrel to kill weeds. As a cattle farmer, weeds are a nuisance," Thompson said. "I'm trying to grow grass for the cows to eat and not weeds, but as a beekeeper, those weeds are not weeds. That's forage for the bees."   He now uses the bush hog more than he sprays herbicides to keep the food supply for bees intact on his land.   "If you kill everything the bee has for food, you may as well go in and spray the hive directly. The bees are going to die," he said. "All the emphasis is being put on insecticide, but the greater risk to bees are the herbicides."   He has made management changes for the sake of his bees' food supply, but he recognizes the tension between current agricultural management practices and pollinators' best interests.   "When you travel through the Delta or the prairie part of the state in February, the row crop land is purple with henbit blooming. By the end of March, it's all gone because farmers burned it down with chemicals to try to kill everything in the field before they plant," he said.   "They burn it down early because weeds in March or early April are a reservoir for insect pests to the crops that will soon be planted," Thompson said. Crops in the field, especially soybeans, are great sources of bee forage, and farmers and beekeepers can coordinate to protect both of their interests.   "We moved bees to the Delta this summer to make soybean honey," Thompson said. "We're working with the growers to try to put the bees in areas that are fairly protected and won't get directly sprayed."   But farmland is not the only place bees find food. Yards, roadsides, golf courses and power line rights-of-way are other places bees forage when plants are allowed to bloom naturally.   "We need to stop looking at them as weeds and instead look at these plants as forage," Thompson said. "I can manage around the insecticides, but if herbicide use means there's nothing for a bee to eat, there's no reason to put a hive in an area."   - Mississippi State University
  • What a difference a year makes. About an inch-and-a-half of snow fell last December 22 in Columbus, Ohio; and this year, the temperature in Columbus on that day was a balmy 57.  It has been pretty much like that since mid-autum and into the first couple of days of winter. With temperatures throughout much of December topping the 50-degree mark on 14 occasions so far this year and projected to be above normal through the first week of 2016, the phones at the Ohio State turf pathology offices of Joe Rimelspach, Ph.D., and Todd Hicks have been ringing off the hook from superintendents concerned about unseasonable disease pressure.   "You have to change your mindset right away," Hicks said in an Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Turf Tips video. "You're going to have to get away from the mindset that it's the end of the year, time to shut the doors, work on machinery, dream about next year and forget about last year. You're going to have to be more like our folks down in the transition area of the country. Where you're going to have to be concerned, maybe not on a weekly basis, but you need to be looking at your greens and tees and some of your other critical areas every week, every other week, something like that and checking to see what is going on out there."  
    This is not the year we put our feet up and forget about spraying anymore."
      Warmer-than-average temperatures throughout late fall and into winter, Hicks said, means cool-season turf will continue. Those temps also usually mean rain, and the result is conditions that are optimal for diseases such as pink snow mold, dollar spot and even anthracnose as well as leaf spot, which typically is associated with spring.   "We're going to see some growth. It may be slow," Hicks said.   "But it's sooner or later going to catch back up with us. These 50- to 60-degree days and 40- to 30-degree nights leaves us wide open for a couple of pathogens, and they're usually big hitters."   Many superintendents and sports turf managers, Hicks said, are concerned whether their snow mold application made in November will now be enough to get through the winter and into spring.   "If you're worried now, go ahead and hit it again," he said. "Make sure you're not going over label, not only rates, but also limits."   He noted to make sure any offseason apps don't conflict with a summer spray program.   "This is not the year we put our feet up and forget about spraying anymore," Hicks said. "You're probably going to have to look at it up until spring if this weather pattern continues."   Others were concerned about whether to continue mowing and its effects.   "The concern is that if you're using products that are local penetrants or contacts, those are going to be removed with mowing," Rimelspach said.     "If it's growing and you can keep mowing without causing ruts or problems with soft turf, keep mowing as much as possible."
  • During the Syngenta Business Institute held earlier this month in North Carolina, we asked superintendents what gifts for the golf industry they'd like to see underneath the tree this holiday season. We took the option of wishing for more golfers off the table so everyone wouldn't have the same response.
     
    John Cunningham, CGCS
    Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis
     

    As the former superintendent of TPC Las Colinas in Irving, Texas, site of the PGA Tour's AT&T Byron Nelson Classic, Cunningham has a lot of tournament experience. What he would like more of at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, which will host the 2018 PGA Championship, is more business education like SBI.   While national and regional conferences offer plenty of opportunities to learn the latest in agronomic research and developments, business education isn't as plentiful, he said. That's especially true given the current state of the golf business, he said.   "We get our fix at the (Golf Industry Show). We spend a lot of time talking about agronomics and aerification and fungicides and moisture management, and those are all very important, and we have to have those," Cunningham said. "But it's important for me and everyone else in the industry to be a better business leader because the golf industry isn't what it used to be, and every dollar is important."   Paul Carter, CGCS
    The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, Harrison, Tennessee
    There are budget cuts and then there are budget cuts. And nowhere are budgets more affected during tough times than at publicly owned entities.   Paul Carter, who oversees the grounds at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, a state-owned golf course in a state park near Chattanooga, would like to see golfer expectations fall into line with the resources he and other superintendents have to work with during a challenging economy.   "I'd like to see some realization from the golfers and the golfing industry that times have changed," he said. "Golf courses are not going to be immaculately maintained, not the majority of them. Our budgets have been cut, so therefore the expectations of golfers need to be cut."   Reducing the amount of managed irrigated turf has helped many, including Carter, redirect resources where they are needed most.   "I'm glad to see more people getting involved in environmental programs," he said. "Not every square inch of the golf course needs to be maintained."   Paul Latshaw, CGCS
    Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio
    There is no questioning the fact that the golf industry has seen better days. Course closures have outpaced openings every year since 2006, and the number of rounds played is a slow, but steady decline.   Several factors are responsible for this slide, including how long it takes to get around the golf course and other family commitments.   "We have to do something about the pace of play," Latshaw said. "Anyone who has kids, that's all they're doing is driving their kids around to different sporting events. For that person to come to the golf club and spend five hours playing golf, that's a problem.   "What we've seen at our club is people coming out at 4 or 5 o'clock and hitting golf balls on the range for two hours and going home. Our driving ranges gets more use than it did five or six years ago."   The industry could do a lot to save money and shorten the amount of time it takes to play by taking some air out of the golf ball and making courses shorter, Latshaw said.   When Greg Norman won the 1995 Memorial Tournament, Muirfield Village Golf Club was playing at about 7,100 yards, compared with 7,392 yards this year.    "Something needs to be done with the golf ball," he said. "We all talk about more affordable golf, and the easiest way to do that is to have less area to maintain.    "Everything is better for the game if the golf ball is rolled back. If you want more affordable golf and you want to reach new demographics, you have to do something with the cost of the game. From my point of view, the more area there is to maintain, the more it's going to cost to maintain it. I work for Mr. (Jack) Nicklaus, and has been beating that drum for a while, and he's right."  
  • Whether it's mapping golf courses or delivering packages to doorsteps during the holidays, drone use is on the rise nationwide. In fact, one golf industry expert on drone use estimates that 1 in 20 golf courses are now operating unmanned vehicles. For those currently using, or considering a drone, there now is more to operating one than just breaking it out of the box and launching it skyward.
      Dec. 21 marked the first day that drone owners are required by federal regulations to register their vehicles with the Federal Aviation Administration.   The new rule, which came about in the wake of the formation by the FAA of an industry task force, applies to all private users with drones weighing between 0.55 and 55 pounds. Registration, which costs $5 per vehicle, can be completed online or by mail, and requires owners to provide personal contact information, including name, email address, home address and a credit card number. There is a 30-day grace period in which the FAA will wave the registration fee. New drone owners in the future must register their vehicle before flying it.    Commercial users, defined as those who are paid to provide a service to someone else, currently are exempt from the federal rule. That means golf course superintendents using drones even for purposes such as course/club marketing, monitoring agronomic conditions, managing restorations or archiving aerial imagery of the course, must register those vehicles to be in compliance with the new law. Firms that provide those same services for hire are not required by law to register their vehicles.   The new rules are based on recommendations of a task force that included drone makers, groups such as the Air Line Pilots Association and International Association of Chiefs of Police, and retailers like Walmart and Amazon.    One of the driving forces behind the new legislation is the increasing use of drone flights near airports. The FAA says it receives reports of drones flying near airplanes and airports every day. FAA guidelines require drones to stay more than 5 miles away from airports and large groups of people in places such as stadiums, remain below 400 feet in altitude and be within sight of the operator at all times.  
    If you're a bozo who is going to fly one near an airport, I doubt you're going to register it."
      Joel Pedlikin of Greensight Agronomics, a drone-enabled chemical- and water-management services company for the golf industry, believes the new rules are a good idea in theory, but questions how many drone users will register their vehicles. It is expected that as many as a half-million drones will be purchased throughout this holiday season, he said, calling into question the FAA's ability to monitor its own rules.   "The FAA already doesn't have the people or money to enforce the rules they have now. Where are they going to find time to enforce new ones?" Pedlikin said. "They don't have the resources to enforce that. So, how many people are going to register? It seems pretty unlikely to me that a lot of people will register.   "If you're a bozo who is going to fly one near an airport, I doubt you're going to register it."   Those considering shirking the new rule should be aware that failure to comply with the FAA could result in civil penalties of up to $27,500 and criminal penalties of up to $250,000 and imprisonment for up to three years.   New legislation regulating drone use has been pending since the passage of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, which charged the agency that regulates air traffic in the United States with developing a comprehensive plan for safe use of unmanned vehicles. That plan will be rolled out in incremental phases.   There has been talk within the drone industry, Pedlikin says, about future changes to vehicle set up that could help eliminate the problem of irresponsible users operating drones near airports.   "To me, flying near airports is the biggest concern of where drones are likely to do damage," Pedlikin said. "You don't even have to fly one into an engine to cause a problem, just flying it in front of the pilot on a final approach."   Geo-fencing capabilities could mean drones come pre-programmed to steer clear of places like airports. Some level of geo-fencing already is available on some higher-end models, Pedlikin said, but can be more problematic on cheaper models.   "There is no telling where in the country a unit would be used, so they would all have to be pre-programmed to avoid any airport anywhere in the country," he said. "That's a lot of work and a lot of data."   Such changes, he said, likely would increase the cost of a vehicle by $50-$100.   "You're talking about a lot of memory, and someone has to determine one geo-fencing definition. This isn't simple; it's a complicated process."
  • Scott Griffith is a man seemingly from a different era. In a time when protesting college students seek safe spaces from diversity of thought, and political correctness has run amok, Griffith stands as a testament to what one can become with hard work, dedication and a desire to overcome seemingly unbeatable odds. 
      The superintendent at the University of Georgia Golf Course for the past nine years, Griffith, 40, lived on his own during some of the most formative years of his youth while growing up in the rural South, and despite a childhood that redefines the word modest, he managed to put himself through college twice.    Griffith prefers to play his background close to the vest, so much so that he almost refused to sit for this story until wife Kim convinced him to embrace his past rather than run from it; so much so that some of his friends in the industry and superintendents he has worked for in the past are unaware of the road he's traveled to get to where he is today. They know of the square-jawed Griffith's exploits on the football fields of southeastern Alabama, they know of his time in the U.S. Marine Corps and they know of his service to the industry where he currently serves as vice president of the Georgia GCSA. But not all of them know that he lived by himself in government-subsidized housing while completing his last two years of high school, or that if not for the benevolence of a local farmer who often shared his good fortune with disadvantaged youths, things might have turned out very differently for Griffith.   "All of these experiences gave me self-reliance. I had some help along the way by people who cared, but I didn't expect that. I knew it was all on my shoulders to make it," Griffith said. "I knew if I wanted to be successful, I would have to do this on my own, I couldn't wait for someone to do it for me.   "The most important thing this has shown me is you can do anything if you have enough discipline and mental fortitude to do what you want to do."   One of those former bosses previously unaware of Griffith's life experiences is Fred Gehrisch, CGCS at Highlands Falls Country Club in Highlands, North Carolina. Griffith worked for Gehrisch years ago when both were employed at Newnan Country Club near Atlanta.   "To come from a background like that and be that successful is pretty impressive if you ask me," Gehrisch said. "He doesn't use it as a crutch, or to gain any kind of attention."   If he did, no one could blame him.   Life was tough for Griffith almost from the start.  
    I learned to be independent very early. I would jump on my bike, and I was gone from dawn until dusk."
      His parents divorced when he was just 6 years old. Soon after, he and his mother left their home in Midland City, Alabama, for a new start in North Carolina. But that new start often meant the same old problems for Griffith. His mom remarried, to what Griffith soon learned was a verbally abusive alcoholic. With both adults working, Griffith often was left on his own.   "I learned to be independent very early," he said. "I would jump on my bike, and I was gone from dawn until dusk to some sort of practice, or just hanging out with friends."   By the time Griffith reached junior high, the culture at home was beginning to take a toll, and he chose to return to Alabama to live with his father.    Back in Alabama, Griffith blossomed into a promising running back on the football field, and by the time he reached high school private Abbeville Christian Academy came calling looking for a running back. His 4.5 speed (in the 40-yard dash), while not fast enough to catch the eye of many college scouts, was more than enough to make plenty of defensive players in the area whiff when trying to make a tackle. He also figured it was why there was never any mention of money from school administrators, which was a good thing, because the Griffiths had none to spare. Griffith's dad drifted from job to job and the two lived in a low-income development.   "I always thought I was on a scholarship," Griffith said. "But I later found out someone was paying for me to go to school there."   That someone was local farm Jack Jones, who raised cattle and grew cotton and peanuts on 2,000 acres across the state line in nearby Fort Gaines, Georgia. Jones, who also was an assistant coach on the school's baseball team, made a habit of sharing his wealth with kids who came from less-than-perfect backgrounds and in whom he saw promise, and Griffith showed plenty of that.   By his junior year in high school, his dad was getting remarried and planned to move from the area. But Griffith didn't want to move. He had friends in school and was the local football hero. He talked his father into letting him stay behind alone where his landlord moved him into a smaller low-rent unit under his father's name.    "He was getting remarried and moving, and I didn't want to go," he said. "He knew he couldn't fight me, and reluctantly allowed me to stay where I was. He wasn't a bad guy; he just couldn't keep a job.   "There was a bottom, and I didn't want to be there. You know what you need to do to get out of there. There are kids today who can barely tie their own shoes. I never was like that. I knew I had to do it myself."   And do it, he did.   Griffith went to school during the day and worked at night tagging lumber for Great Southern Wood to pay his rent of $24 per month. In between he managed time for sports, especially football. Later, he took a job on Jones' farm, still not knowing that his employer also was his benefactor.   "I learned not to ask a lot of questions," Griffith said. "I knew something was up every time there was a class trip to pay for, and someone would come to me and say Don't worry about this, Scott. It's taken care of.' "   Eventually, he did begin asking questions and Barbara Lindsey, Abbeville Christian's headmaster, finally told him Jones had been footing his bills, but wanted to remain anonymous.   "He is in that small percent of heartfelt people who you have all the faith and trust in the world in. There are only two people who fit that for me," Griffith said, noting that his wife of 17 years is the other. "He had a heart the size of a mansion. And it wasn't just me; he helped many more before and after me. I thought he might have been doing it because I was good at sports, but he did it for people who weren't into sports too. He was just a genuine person. I think he felt like he was giving back to society that way."   Indeed.   Griffith and a group of his classmates went on from Abbeville Christian to Troy State University, now Troy University, where he contemplated pursuing a career in football until he saw the size of defensive players at the college level. Without Jones in his life, Griffith doubts he would have ever made it out of the fields of southern Alabama, much less to college.   "Living in a rough rural area and you don't know anything other than poor, you don't see a path to take to get to a higher level," he said. "Because I went to private school, I was surrounded by people who were successful, and that showed me the path and a different way to do things. It showed me there were possibilities out there."   Griffith worked his way through school taking jobs at restaurants like Kentucky Fried Chicken and Country's Barbecue because he could eat for free. And while a student at Troy, Griffith joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves to help him regain his focus. Despite a commitment of six years to the Marines, he missed just one semester of school.   "You don't know what you can do until you are pushed to your limits, and the Marines does that for you," he said. "Every Marine believes he can take out an entire army."   After graduating from Troy with a degree in business management, Griffith and his new wife moved to the Atlanta area to be closer to members of her family. It was that move that finally pointed him to his life's calling. Desperately in need of a job any job he answered an advertisement for part-time help at Newnan Country Club.   "I needed a job just to get my feet on the ground," he said. "It didn't take me long to fall in love with it."   A co-worker told him he could study turfgrass management at nearby Gwinnett Technical College and advance his career.   "I was that person who didn't know you could get a degree in turf," he said.   He quickly worked his way up through the ranks thanks to superintendents like Jim Miller and Gehrisch.    "He's one of those guys I have a great deal of respect for. He's a class act and one of the hardest-working guys in the business," Gehrisch said. "I always told him to work for successful people, because they will teach you the best habits. He was smart enough to make the right decisions in his career."   One decision Griffith regrets is falling out of touch with Jones when his professional career took off.   "One of my teachers tracked me down years ago to tell me he had died," Griffith said. "I carried some guilt for that."   Despite that guilt, the lessons learned through his hardscrabble life and the kindness Jones bestowed upon him have, coupled with his wife's own modest upbringing have provided the Griffiths with much fodder for raising their own children.   "I can tell you one thing; our kids know the value you of a dollar," Griffith said. "There is always the danger that if you never had it growing up, there is a desire to give your kids more than what you had, to overcompensate and go overboard. Knowing where the bottom is helps us raise our kids. Someone who has never been at the bottom might not understand that. You have to steer your kids away from that kind of life.   "If I'd had some parental guidance, I probably would have been a better person, but I don't regret it. I'm happy where I'm at."  
  • Everyone knows that inclement weather has an adverse effect on the amount of golf rounds played. It's pretty simple, actually; it's hard to play golf in the snow or rain, or freezing cold temperatures, or hail or lightning, during a tornado or in the eye of a hurricane. What seems to be up in the air is how much favorable weather actually drives golfers to the course.   It will be a few weeks before the rounds played report for November comes out, but when it does come out, that report might shed some light on the relationship between favorable weather and an increase in rounds played, if indeed there is one at all.   According to Pellucid Corp., the Chicago-based golf analytics firm run by Jim Koppenhaver that makes its hay crunching all the golf data so you don't have, the number of golf playable hours in November increased by 49 percent, compared with the same month in 2014. Golf playable hours in Pellucid's measurement of the total number of daylight hours compared with factors that influence play such as precipitation, humidity, daylight variances, etc. In other words, the amount of time in a day over the course of a month when someone could comfortably play golf if so inclined. And a 50-percent increase in the amount of time available to partake in any activity is significant.   In the meantime, the relationship between the amount of golf playable hours and actual number of rounds played were pretty similar in October, with both figures being roughly flat compared to the same month last year.   Rounds played, according to the Golf Datatech Monthly Rounds Played Report, rose just 0.6 percent compared with October 2014. That left year-to-date rounds played up just 0.7 percent for the first 10 months of the year. Public access courses (up 1.4 percent) faired better in October than private clubs, which saw a drop in rounds played of 2.5 percent. For the year, rounds are up by 1.3 percent at public access facilities and down by 1.7 percent at private clubs, according to the report.    Golf playable hours through November are up by 3 percent compared to the first 11 months of 2014.    Regardless of what news the November Rounds Played Report brings, it's unlikely the last two months of the year will be able to much to move the needle to 3 percent on rounds played, leaving participation throughout 2015 like most other years in recent memory flat and uninspiring.   There was some good news in October, with double-digit increases occurring in eight states, including Ohio, where play was up 22 percent, Michigan (18 percent), Missouri (16 percent), Washington (14 percent), Indiana (12 percent), Oregon and Kansas (11 percent), and Kentucky (10 percent).   The biggest losses in October were in South Carolina, which experienced catastrophic flooding, and play was down by 20 percent, which almost seems like a moral victory. Other double-digit losses occurred in Texas (down 12 percent) and North Carolina (down 10 percent). Everyone knows that inclement weather has an adverse effect on the amount of golf rounds played. It's pretty simple, actually; it's hard to play golf in the snow or rain, or freezing cold temperatures, or hail or lightning, during a tornado or in the eye of a hurricane. What seems to be up in the air is how much favorable weather actually drives golfers to the course.   It will be a few weeks before the rounds played report for November comes out, but when it does come out, that report might shed some light on the relationship between favorable weather and an increase in rounds played, if indeed there is one at all.   According to Pellucid Corp., the Chicago-based golf analytics firm run by Jim Koppenhaver that makes its hay crunching all the golf data so you don't have, the number of golf playable hours in November increased by 49 percent, compared with the same month in 2014. Golf playable hours in Pellucid's measurement of the total number of daylight hours compared with factors that influence play such as precipitation, humidity, daylight variances, etc. In other words, the amount of time in a day over the course of a month when someone could comfortably play golf if so inclined. And a 50-percent increase in the amount of time available to partake in any activity is significant.   In the meantime, the relationship between the amount of golf playable hours and actual number of rounds played were pretty similar in October, with both figures being roughly flat compared to the same month last year.   Rounds played, according to the Golf Datatech Monthly Rounds Played report, rose just 0.6 percent compared with October 2014. That left year-to-date rounds played up just 0.7 percent for the first 10 months of the year. Public access courses (up 1.4 percent) faired better in October than private clubs, which saw a drop in rounds played of 2.5 percent. For the year, rounds are up by 1.3 percent at public access facilities and down by 1.7 percent at private clubs, according to the report.    Golf playable hours through November are up by 3 percent compared to the first 11 months of 2014.    Regardless of what news the November Rounds Played Report brings, it's unlikely the last two months of the year will be able to much to move the needle to 3 percent on rounds played, leaving participation throughout 2015 like most other years in recent memory flat and uninspiring.   There was some good news in October, with double-digit increases occurring in eight states, including Ohio, where play was up 22 percent, Michigan (18 percent), Missouri (16 percent), Washington (14 percent), Indiana (12 percent), Oregon and Kansas (11 percent), and Kentucky (10 percent).   The biggest losses in October were in South Carolina, which experienced catastrophic flooding, and play was down by 20 percent, which almost seems like a moral victory. Other double-digit losses occurred in Texas (down 12 percent) and North Carolina (down 10 percent).
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