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FRONT 9 |
Superintendents break the mold
New Tahoe-area resort earns environmental honor
GCSAA surveys 2005 turf grads
Throwback prairie layout to host PubLinks
New-look Augusta awaits GCSAA members
Spurned pro takes on insurance giant
USGA getting serious about equipment standards
Northwest superintendents develop environmental program
IA promotion targets efficient irrigation
Fund-raiser honors Illinois turf pioneer
Letter to the editor
People in the news . . .
Superintendents break the mold
The golf course superintendent profession has achieved some notable individual milestones lately.
In last month’s Front Nine, GCM reported that 10-year member Candice Combs, CGCS, had been named head superintendent at San Diego’s Torrey Pines Golf Course and thus stands to be the first woman superintendent to host one of golf’s major championships when the U.S. Open comes to Torrey’s South Course in two years.
In the meantime, Eric Greytok, the 33-year-old superintendent at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., site of this summer’s U.S. Open, is the youngest golf course management professional to prep for that prestigious event twice — he did it for the first time in 2000 at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
And then there’s Mike Petty, a superintendent for two decades in the Arizona desert who hosted his 15th and final Chrysler Classic at the Omni Tucson National Golf Resort & Spa in late February — one of the longest tournament course management relationships ever with the PGA Tour.
Glass ceiling shattered
Mark Woodward, CGCS, retiring member of the GCSAA board of directors, president of the association in 2004 and currently golf operations manager for the city of San Diego, said in the March GCM that that the selection of Combs sends a message to the golf industry that GCSAA is serious about promoting diversity within its membership.
“Torrey is such a beautiful place that I just bless every day I’m here,” says Combs, former longtime superintendent at Balboa Golf Course who has had a working relationship with the PGA Tour event in San Diego since 1978. “Being able to host the U.S. Open is just the icing on the cake.”
Youth has its gig
Despite his age, Greytok has been around the block more than a few times when it comes to big-time golf course management. The nine-year GCSAA member cut his teeth as an assistant at such venues as Merion Golf Club, Congressional Country Club, Riviera Country Club and Pebble Beach. Then, a half-dozen years ago he became the head superintendent at Pebble in time to prep the historic links for the Open.
“I’ve been really lucky — lucky to work for both Paul B. Latshaw (at Merion) and Paul R. Latshaw (at Congressional and Riviera) and also Mike Giuffre (Congressional). All are highly respected by the PGA Tour as agronomists. Having them as your mentors, to guide you through your career, is very fortunate.”
Greytok literally followed in the footsteps of the elder Latshaw, Paul B.’s father, when he took the job at Winged Foot in 2001, shortly after the USGA began considering the club as host of its fifth Open and first since 1984.
“Most of it is timing, being in the right place at the right time and having the opportunity to work at the facilities that I have,” says Greytok, who prepped for the 2004 U.S. Amateur at Winged Foot. “I had goals I wanted to reach and I think having those great golf courses on my résumé helped tremendously.”
A great run ends
For Petty, the Chrysler Classic is good enough, thank you — or was, that is. The curtain came down on the PGA Tour event, a staple of life in Tucson for 60 years, a little more than a month ago. The departure makes way for the popular World Golf Championship event, the Accenture Match Play, which has been moved to the South Course of the Gallery Golf Club just north of Tucson.
The Chrysler Classic and the match play championship had run opposite each other for the last several years, with the latter being held at La Costa Resort & Spa near San Diego.
Tucson’s PGA Tour event had been hosted by Tucson National for 30 years, the last 15 under Petty’s watch. To be sure, life will be different for the 18-year GCSAA member, who has been at the resort facility since 1987.
“It’s kind of interesting. There are mixed emotions,” he says. “On one hand, it’s a lot of work and we’ve been doing it a long time, so there’s some relief. On the other hand, we’re going to miss the tournament. Obviously, you miss the challenge. It’s also been such a neat community event on the level that it has been as the Tucson Open.”
Petty says that there are some options being discussed of the possibility of future championship tournaments at Tucson National. Meanwhile, the Conquistadores, a nonprofit civic organization that had run the Tour event in Tucson since the mid-1960s, apparently will have an active role with the Accenture Match Play, mostly in hospitality and ticket sales.
For now, Petty will have to get used to not having a Tour event and its issues on his mind year-round.
“Our maintenance practices won’t have to be worked around the tournament any longer,” he says. “I guess my main concern is will my staff perform at the same level without that pressure? Is everyone still going to be motivated to achieve that level without the event?”
Petty says the early answers to those concerns have been positive. He also notes that the final corresponding tournament action in Tucson and La Costa provided some very interesting results.
As the sun set on the Chrysler Classic — won by Kirk Triplett — the Accenture Match Play Championship was being won by Geoff Ogilvy, who just happened to be the defending champion at Tucson but was unable to defend after he qualified for the WGC event.
Furthermore, finishing a surprising fourth at the Match Play was 46-year-old Tom Lehman, who just happened to redesign and configure part of Tucson National’s new Sonoran Course in 2005, as well as do some renovation work on the resort’s tournament layout, the Catalina Course.
“Kind of strange, huh?” Petty says.
New Tahoe-area resort earns environmental honor
Old Greenwood in Truckee, Calif., recently became the first golf facility in the United States to receive the prestigious Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design award from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that oversees a national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings, directed the award toward Old Greenwood’s Natural Resource Management Center.
The resource center is designed to serve two golf courses at the year-round resort. The 11,500-square-foot building comprises course maintenance facilities, a fuel/wash station, irrigation/fertilization pump house, material recycling bays, storage islands and offices.
Old Greenwood, located in a Ponderosa pine forest ecosystem, is a Tahoe Mountain Resort property. Joel Blaker, a 17-year GCSAA member, is the CGCS at Old Greenwood, which includes a Jack Nicklaus signature layout that is ranked among the country’s top new upscale public venues.
GCSAA has completed its second senior survey of students who graduated between Sept. 1-Dec. 31, 2005. The highlights included:
- Slightly more than half of the respondents had already secured a postgraduation job, either as an assistant superintendent, second assistant, crew foreman or technician.
- Eighty-four percent said becoming a golf course superintendent was their long-term goal.
- Meeting the right people was listed as the greatest concern of those surveyed, followed by job security, understanding and mastering workplace politics and earning enough money during their first years of employment.
- Most respondents with jobs had had at least two positions on the golf course, such as general crew member and intern.
- As for GCSAA improving or expanding student services, most respondents cited a more comprehensive Web site and a more progressive student networking strategy.
Throwback prairie layout to host PubLinks
Murphy Creek Golf Course, a sprawling prairie links layout in Aurora, Colo., will host its first USGA championship, the U.S. Amateur Public Links, in July 2008.
Designed by Ken Kavanaugh to reflect the rural tone of architecture in the 1920s, the 6-year-old venue features length, generous fairways and wide corridors, as well as an old barn and farm implements located throughout the course.
Murphy Creek has been the site of many local and state events, along with four U.S. Amateur qualifiers. The superintendent is John Magnuson, a seven-year GCSAA member.
New-look Augusta awaits GCSAA members
Augusta National Golf Club is offering complimentary daily admission to the Masters for all Class A, A-Retired and AA Life GCSAA members who have a valid gold GCSAA membership card.
Eligible members can present the gold card along with their driver’s license at the will call booth each day of the tournament (April 6-9) to gain admission. The will call booth is located just inside Gate 3A off Washington Ave. Superintendents who exit the grounds anytime during the day must re-enter through Gate 3A and repeat the process.
GCSAA members who attend the Masters this year will note a different look to the famed Augusta layout, particularly in terms of length, with an emphasis on accuracy. Construction work that began a couple of months after last year’s event included
the addition of 155 yards to the venue, bringing its total to 7,445 yards.
The project focused on six holes — 1, 4, 7, 11, 15, 17 — with all of the tees being moved back and features added to stress accuracy off the tee.
“Since the first Masters in 1934, this golf course has evolved, and that process continues today,” said tournament and club chairman Hootie Johnson in a 2005 release announcing the changes. “As in the past, our objective is to maintain the integrity and shot values of the golf course as envisioned by Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie. Players’ scores are not a factor. We will keep the golf course current with the times.”
The seventh hole has probably been altered the most. The par 4 was lengthened 40 yards (to 450) and trees were added to both sides of the fairway. The green also was re-grassed to accommodate the possibility of a right-rear pin placement.
Significant changes have also been made to two pivotal holes in many past Masters. The long par-4 11th is now at 505 yards with new trees on the left and the fairway shifted more to the left. The tee at the par-5 15th has been moved 20 yards to the left and the hole has been stretched to 530 yards.
Spurned pro takes on insurance giant
American International Group, one of the world’s largest insurers, is being sued by a former golf professional at a course once operated for the exclusive use of AIG executives. She says she was fired because she got pregnant.
According to The Associated Press, Joan McDonald, who was the pro at Morefar Back O’Beyond in Brewster, N.Y., from 2001 to 2004, claims she was fired soon after informing the club’s general manager that she was pregnant. She says the club falsely claimed it let her go because it was eliminating the job of head pro.
USGA getting serious about equipment standards
Comments by Jim Vernon, chairman of the USGA’s equipment standards committee, during the association’s annual meeting in February reflected a strong emphasis on the direction the committee is heading in response to how far the golf ball travels today.
Increasing concern among golfers, golf course designers and others in the industry that modern equipment has reduced the need for skill in the game has been directed at the committee, which regulates clubs, balls and other equipment to assure compliance with the Rules of Golf.
“We regulate not just for the most accomplished golfers, but for all golfers of all abilities,” Vernon said in his report. “In short, we are to remain vigilant to ensure that improvements in technology do not diminish the skill necessary to play the game.”
Citing data compiled by ShotLink and provided by the PGA Tour, the committee report noted, for example, that “driving accuracy has ceased to be a factor in predicting success on the PGA Tour.”
In 2005, the USGA addressed the issue in a number of ways, such as declaring that it is considering limiting the moment of inertia of drivers, asking manufacturers to submit ball samples that fly 15 to 25 yards shorter than today’s balls, examining the effect of grooves and face treatment of irons on shots from the rough and researching the effect of distance on the so-called “de-skilling of the game.”
The equipment standards committee concluded in its annual report that it would pursue an even more aggressive agenda this year to more accurately reflect the state of the industry and the game.
Northwest superintendents develop environmental program
Oregon and Washington superintendents are spearheading an effort to recognize facilities in their states that use chemicals with restraint, monitor water quality and encourage wildlife and habitat.
The Northwest Golf Course Environmental Alliance was unveiled recently at a meeting of the Northwest Turfgrass Association’s environmental committee. The initiative is intended to promote environmental accomplishments and change the perception that golf courses are polluters.
“By promoting strong environmental guidelines, we want to dispel the belief that golf courses are polluting the environment. We’re not. We’re actually beneficial,” David Phipps, superintendent at Stone Creek Golf Course in Oregon City and one of the program’s organizers, said in a news report.
Those courses seeking certification by the alliance will have to meet three main requirements:
- A set of environmental guidelines that was developed for courses in the Northwest about five years ago must be followed, including best management practices for irrigation and fertilization, pest management programs, water quality and wildlife habitat.
- Courses that haven’t achieved Audubon International status must apply, as well as work with local communities on projects such as watersheds, birding tours and education outreach.
- Courses must submit to biannual testing of streams and ponds. Proof of tests for three years is required when a facility applies for the alliance’s certification.
“We’re putting some teeth into this program, so when someone does achieve certification it’s going to mean something,” Phipps said.
IA promotion targets efficient irrigation
The Irrigation Association has tabbed July as Smart Irrigation Month to raise awareness of the importance of using irrigation efficiently. IA members from all segments of the industry will display a Smart Irrigation Month logo in July and also share tips and promote products and services that highlight efficient irrigation. “While the irrigation industry is bringing increasingly efficient technology to the marketplace, irrigation consumers have an important role in choosing efficient technology and using it effectively,” said association executive director Tom Kimmell in an IA release.
Fund-raiser honors Illinois turf pioneer
Central Illinois is rich in tradition with high-caliber superintendents who are not only agronomically well-versed, but are also quality men and women of integrity.
The Central Illinois GCSA (CIGCSA) has upheld those standards for many years, beginning with one of the association’s founders, James Brandt, CGCS.
Brandt, now retired and a member of GCSAA for 55 years, worked diligently with his colleagues to create an organization for his fellow superintendents to discuss turf issues and to create comradeship among them. He went on to help establish the Midwest Turf Foundation and the Illinois Turf Foundation to provide arenas for men and women to grow in their fields by putting research at the forefront, pushing for professionalism and showing everyone that by talking to your peers we can all do a better job.
All that is why the CIGCSA began the James W. Brandt Scholarship fund-raiser golf tournament three years ago, with the 2006 edition on tap for May 15. The golf outing helps give back to the next generation of superintendents and continues to honor Brandt’s work. The tournament is held at Danville (Ill.) Country Club, where he worked for 35 years before retiring. J. Michael Hart, CGCS, and a 29-year GCSAA member, has held up the tradition of keeping Danville CC up to the standards that Brandt set.
CIGCSA and Helena Chemical Co. created a different format for raising money for the scholarship foundation. Helena Chemical has worked with many industry manufacturers and distributors to donate products, tee prizes and raffle giveaways to help offset costs and create money for the scholarships. Only 25 teams can play. Each team has one CIGCSA member, and most include a superintendent and members of his or her green committee or other club members. The top teams in each flight of the scramble format, low net and scratch, receive cash and product prizes for the courses represented by the winning teams, all donated by sponsoring companies. There are also hole-in-one prizes on all par 3s.
Key to the outing are the manufacturers and distributors who open up their wallets and warehouses to fund this event. The sponsors of this year’s event include: BASF; Battery Specialist Club Car; Bayer Environmental Science; Becker Underwood; Birkeys Turf Equipment of Jacobsen; Cleary Chemical Corp.; Dow AgroScience; Erb Turf Equipment of John Deere; FMC; Helena Chemical Co.; Jacklin Seed; Lebanon Chemical Co.; Monsanto; NuFarm Riverdale; ProSource One; Roots; Syngenta Professional Products; and TPEC of Toro.
— By Trent Severns, ProSource One
I think you missed the ball in the article on spray drift in the December 2005 issue of GCM (“Spray drift,” page 28). It missed the question, “Are there any new approaches to this problem?” It should have addressed shielded spray booms.
I am in charge of an 18-hole municipal course, which is located on the highest point in the area. I have winds that promote drift by 9 a.m. I purchased my first shielded boom in 1998 to spray herbicides, and that was the first time in 25 years that I was able to spray the entire course. I purchased a second unit two years later to use for fungicides.
I have found the following advantages to using shielded spray booms:
- The system allows me to spray in winds up to 20 mph without worry of drift. It allows me to spray when I need to and not be dictated by windy conditions.
- With the spray booms shielded, the sprayer is not covered with residue and the operator is confronted by less residue. There is also less rinsate generated when cleaning the equipment.
- Since the sprayer generates a smaller droplet, better coverage is obtained, especially in spraying herbicides on weeds that have many small leaves, such as clover.
- The smaller droplets allow the chemical to dry faster on the leaf surface, thus there is less odor.
- The small droplets produce more even coverage, allowing the use of a lower rate to get the same results with less cost.
- The best thing is that the public does not see the spray nozzles and doesn’t smell the chemical and therefore doesn’t really know we’re spraying.
I feel that any IPM program must include shielded spray booms just to make sure the pesticides are applied only to target areas and minimize chemicals in non-target areas.
Robert Gosewehr
Superintendent, MeeKwon Park Golf Course
Mequon, Wis.
Veteran company management team member Rob Neill is the new vice president of Syngenta Professional Products for North America. Most recently vice president of marketing for Syngenta Crop Protection, Neill will oversee the division that creates pest and vegetation management solutions for the golf, lawn and landscape, and ornamental industries. Neill has been with Syngenta and its legacy companies for more than 24 years, serving in global product management and directing marketing in the United Kingdom and Latin America.
Paul Bogin, chief operating officer for the PGA of America the past 16 years, will retire June 30. He is the PGA’s second longtime executive to step down within the last year. Jim Awtrey, who was the organization’s CEO since 1993, announced his retirement in October. As COO, Bogin directed myriad PGA operations, from marketing, communications and broadcasting to golf properties and tournaments to membership programs and special events.
Tom Chisholm, a member of the board of trustees of The Environmental Institute for Golf, serving as chairman in 2004, will be inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame on May 21. Besides his service with GCSAA’s philanthropic arm, Chisholm, a retired vice president of the Eaton Corp., was a member of the USGA’s executive committee in the mid-1990s and was president of the Golf Association of Michigan in 1989-90. In recent years, he has focused on promoting the research, education and improvement of playing conditions.
The new president of the National Golf Course Owners Association is Henry DeLozier, vice president of Pulte Homes/Del Webb. DeLozier, who specializes in assessing and assisting in his company’s response to the growth of community development, noted during NGCOA’s state of the industry session at the Golf Industry Show in Atlanta that homebuilders were responsible for almost 60 percent of the new golf courses that opened in 2005 — a 12 percent increase over the year before.
John Turner, a sales representative for Bayer Environmental Science, is the 2006 recipient of the Midwest Regional Turf Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award. Bayer’s former national formulator account manager, Turner took on a new role as senior sales specialist for the lawn and landscape division, covering the upper Midwest.
American Golf Corporation has two new faces at the top of its executive ladder. Tom Ferguson is the company’s new CEO and Paul Major is the new president. Ferguson comes to American Golf after stints with such firms as the Paragon Group, the Aureus Group and, most recently, Goldman Sachs & Co. Major, formerly with National Golf Properties, has had a variety of roles with AGC, including overseeing the company’s strategic disposition program.
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