Robert Murtaugh, CGCS at Perry Park CC in Larkspur, Colo., oversees the rebuilding of a tee. He invented a leveling tool by trussing together pieces of 2-by-6-inch lumber.

2002 Leo Feser award candidate

Whether you are performing everyday tasks, tackling a construction project or making emergency repairs, you are most likely trying to make your job easier, work faster and be more efficient. As we attempt to make everything on our courses perfect, solutions naturally evolve.

In the 1970s, a green speed of 9 was considered to be extremely quick. Soon the race for speed drove that number to 10, 11 and more.

This required shorter grasses and a special bedknife on the mower for a shorter height of cut. The old bedknives could not be lowered enough because they were too thick. Thus followed an invention to aid in the evolution of technology. A diligent equipment manager used a hand grinder to undercut the thickness from the bottom of a regular bedknife. This allowed the reel to be lowered closer to the ground for a lower height of cut and a faster green speed. About the same time, many equipment manufacturers developed a new bedknife known as an ultra-thin tournament bedknife. However, this new technology also shortened the life of a bedknife by more than 60 percent and increased the proportionate cost of equipment maintenance.

However, it doesn't take a manufacturer to make innovations.

For deep damage, Murtaugh, fabricated this prong tool from edging staples.

Ballmark repair fork
One simple duty that for me has constantly evolved over the years has been the daily changing of hole locations on greens. While this may seem simple, there was a nagging need to make this job more perfect. Nothing is more distracting on the surface of the putting green than misplaced plug settings from the previous day. Sometimes a plug can be set too low, causing what may be referred to as a "cereal bowl." Other times the plug is set several thousandths of an inch too high, resulting in a scalped plug the following day. Setting a proper plug has become increasingly difficult over the years due to the lowered height of cut. There is less tolerance for error when greens are being cut below 1/8 inch.

In the mid-'70s it was a common practice, and it still is today in some locations, to topdress the plug with sand or other material in an attempt to smooth the putting surface. However, adding sand to the plug area can leave sand on the green for as many as four or five days. Consequently you have three to five plug scars of topdressing debris on every green. As greens heights became lower the sand scars looked worse, and a new method was needed. Evolution was about to occur.

It is still important to set the plug at the proper elevation, with the similar amount of compacted soil at the bottom of the plug. Once this artistry is accomplished the final touches can be applied to the plug. Holding the plug in place with the thumb and using a ballmark repair tool, the outer perimeter of the hole is lifted upward. This creates a circle of lifted grass, which does several things in the process. First, it exposes small leaves of grass that had been tucked into the edge by the plug setter when the plug is reinserted into the hole. Second, it exposes a ring of soil or sand that can be washed away with water.

Once the area is clean, the lifted ring is gently pressed back down until the area is flat. Using a ballmark repair tool, the cut area is stitched inward and outward with a gentle sewing motion. The trick is to move small bits of grass blades and plant material across the old cut-out circle. The smaller the stitches, the better the plug scar is hidden.

After a herd of cows trampled across the No. 6 fairway, Murtaugh was forced to come up with a solution to fix the green before a mid-morning shotgun start.

Herein lies the need for invention. A ballmark repair tool is too thick and awkward to perform reconstructive surgery. It causes cramps in the inner thumb if used for a long period of time and is difficult to hold. One day at lunch, an idea popped into my head that was very simple -- use a dinner fork to sew plugs together.

A flat instrument works better, so we smashed the fork flat. We only needed two prongs, so we cut off the two outside tines. This proved to be the invention we needed to aid in the evolution of technique and to make the plugs nearly disappear from view. The fine delicate tines are very sharp and rigid. They are also placed closer together, which helps to make the stitches smaller and more delicate than those a ballmark repair tool can create. It still takes an artist and fine attention to detail, but with this new simple stainless steel invention, a better outcome can be achieved.

No bull
Sometimes inventions are a result of an emergency, as in 1996 when a herd of cattle found its way onto the sixth fairway. After moving the bovines off the course, we had to repair four greens. With only two hours to repair the damage before a mid-morning shotgun start, we needed some kind of tool that could quickly fork up several thousand hoof marks. The entire crew of 15 was called into action. We tried pitchforks, ballmark repair tools and the two-pronged fork, but nothing seemed to have the right width or depth to quickly repair the damage. Someone pulled a 12-inch wire staple out of a nearby landscape bed and began using it to pry up the hoof marks. It worked amazingly well. It wasn't quite wide enough, but it could be plunged to a depth of 11/2 inches, just to the bottom of the hoof mark.

I drove to the maintenance facility, where I fabricated two such stakes together with a small piece of metal welded into place to hold them together. After I built two of these tools, the crew quickly repaired the remaining hoof damage. We finished by running a verticutter and mower over the surface of the four greens. The shotgun went off as scheduled, and our guests were happy with the outcome.

What a drag
On a golf course, some repairs call for creating smooth, level areas, such as tee boxes. We have constructed several drags to smooth the turf. One is the tee drag. Made of metal tubing 1 inch by

11/2 inches, the drag measures 42 inches on each side. The front of the drag is a 3-inch-diameter metal pipe. The round pipe provides a smooth attack angle that reduces turf grab and scuffing. Inside the square are a series of cross bars made of 1-inch angle iron that are designed to move material on a flat level plane.

This device has been invaluable in renovating driving range tees and par-3 tee areas that become worn quickly. After the area is seeded and topdressed, the drag is pulled by a light utility vehicle. As it travels behind the vehicle, it distributes the topdressing into the divots and pulls the extra sand off of existing plants to make the area smooth and ready for regrowth.

Using metal tubing, this tee leveling drag, was constructed in the Perry Park CC maintenance facility.

This device has been invaluable in renovating driving range tees and par-3 tee areas that become worn quickly. After the area is seeded and topdressed, the drag is pulled by a light utility vehicle. As it travels behind the vehicle, it distributes the topdressing into the divots and pulls the extra sand off of existing plants to make the area smooth and ready for regrowth.

From car path to tee box
At Perry Park, we tackle many improvement projects ourselves. As we were using form boards to set concrete golf car paths, we got an idea. Why not use form boards to set the grade for new tee box construction? After we excavate and establish the subgrade to a close tolerance, 2-by-6-inch lumber is used to set the final grade and slope for the top of the finish grade. The forms provide a working area that is truly flat from side to side. We set a surface grade from front to back to provide surface drainage. If the hole is going uphill, we surface drain it off the back -- vice versa for a hole that is playing downhill.

Once the boards are set, the root-zone mix of sand and peat is installed and compacted with a bunker rake. When the area is filled and compacted we screed the top area as if it were wet concrete. We use a screed board made of two 2-by-6-inch by 20-feet pieces of wood. The board has 4-inch spacer blocks that hold the boards apart and rigid. It resembles a ladder truss that you might find in framing construction. We pull the 20-foot-wide board with a steel cable and use the bunker rake as the power to pull the grade over the surface again and again until it is totally flat and compacted. The area is then sodded, rolled and watered.

Inventions are often very simple. They make your course better and improve your average day. They are often developed or created out of a need to solve a problem or help in the evolution of technology. Not all ideas turn out to be good ideas, but you must dare to be inventive nevertheless.

Robert Murtaugh, CGCS, is superintendent at Perry Park Country Club in Larkspur, Colo., and a 15-year member of GCSAA. He presented this information at the Innovative Superintendent Sessions at the 2001 conference and show in Dallas.