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A day in the life
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Editor’s note: During the 2007 Players at the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., GCM spent time shadowing superintendent Fred Klauk during maintenance activities on the afternoon prior to the start of the first round. The following are excerpts from a running diary of that experience that appeared on GCM’s blog during the week of the Players.
To read the complete running diary and other reports from a week at Sawgrass, click on “GCM blog” on the left side of the page.
3:01 p.m. — Klauk is surrounded by reporters in the media center who want to know how the course is handling the rain that has intermittently fallen throughout the day. He assures the horde that greens are still standing firm, that the Sub-Air system installed during the renovation has not been employed and that Subtropical Storm Andrea will not have a huge impact on course conditions over the next few days.
3:49 p.m. — Klauk’s radio buzzes. A player has jumped just ahead of maintenance and has begun a practice round on No. 3. Klauk takes off in that direction to head him off at the pass.
3:51 p.m. — Klauk finds the player, Jonathan Byrd, on the fourth tee. He climbs under the ropes, and as he approaches the player and his caddie, Byrd breaks into a smile and calls, “Mr. Klauk! Great to see you!” Klauk tells him that the tees have been closed, and asks if he might be willing to skip ahead to No. 5 so the maintenance work won’t disturb his practice round. He readily agrees, so Klauk gives Byrd and his caddie a lift to No. 5.
4:13 p.m. — Klauk rolls back to the first hole to check out the work that has already been completed. Generally, everything checks out, but he doesn’t like what he sees along the edge of the fairway bunkers. When edging the bunkers with leaf rakes, workers have pulled the sand toward the edge of the bunker. Damp from the earlier showers, clumps of sand have flipped up to the edge of the bunkers, so he walks along the edge, sweeping those clumps back into the bunker with his foot. This problem will become a recurring theme throughout the afternoon; he radios his assistants to instruct the bunker crews to edge with their rakes at a 45-degree angle with the teeth of the rake facing skyward.
4:22 p.m. — Rolling to catch up with maintenance, Klauk is asked how preparations for the 2007 Players differed from previous years, what with the course renovation, change of dates, etc. “It’s been much more intense. The expectations have been much higher,” he says. “With the new date and all the changes, I think everyone’s level of expectations has been greater. But everything has gone really well. The expectations were higher, but so was everyone’s intensity level. I’ve been very pleased.”
4:38 p.m. — As he pulls onto the fourth fairway, a crew of younger maintenance workers are tackling a fairway bunker, and Klauk sees his chance for a teaching moment. He hops out of his golf car, pulls the crew together and spends a few minutes extolling the virtues of “teeth up, 45 degrees.” The crew members give it a try, Klauk gives them a thumbs up and then continues on down the fourth fairway.
4:48 p.m. — As Klauk wheels his golf car toward the green at No. 6, fairway mowers, utility vehicles and riding bunker units are parked quietly behind the green. When he asks why, he’s told that the last player — Jonathan Byrd — is still on the seventh hole. “You guys get moving the moment he’s gone, understood?” he says as he drives past. When Klauk reaches the seventh tee, he sees Byrd walking off the green up ahead. He spins and waves frantically at the crew behind him. The equipment quickly fires to life and moves onto No. 7.
Pitchpro Golf LLC has made the first of several deliveries of its new divot tools to the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. Muirfield, among many other clubs using the Pitchpro divot tool, will make the devices available to members at no charge. Invented by Paul Blanks, an affiliate GCSAA member and the owner and operator of the company, the divot tool features a thinner and stronger shaft for a comfortable tool handle. The tool’s design is intended to differ from those of traditional two-pronged divot tools, which the company says can damage turf roots. The tools also can be customized with club logos. For more information, visit www.pitchprogolf.com. Newton, Kan.-based Sand Creek Station Golf Course, which opened last July, won two environmental and engineering awards for its accomplishments. The American Council of Engineering Companies awarded Newton City Manager James Heinicke its City Public Improvement Award, while the course’s gray-water improvement system also won Project of the Year in the environmental category from the Kansas chapter of the American Public Works Association. Additionally, Sand Creek Station was named as a finalist for Daily Fee Development of the Year by Golf Inc. James Houchen III, a seven-year GCSAA member, is superintendent at Sand Creek Station. |
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