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Turf flourishes in Bluegrass Country
The proverbial “Mouse That Roared” echoes through the
turfgrass industry’s educational sector as much as anywhere. For every notable turf management program at major universities across the country, there are countless others at smaller institutions — smaller in scale, perhaps, but no less viable for the profession.
A case in point is the golf and turfgrass management program at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. Established almost as an afterthought about a dozen years ago, it has become a trusted font of well-prepared superintendents and other turf managers.
The WKU program evolved from the vision of an agriculture mechanics teacher, O.W. Dotson III, who saw a need for a course in golf course mechanics. The university took it from there, enlisting the help of the Kentucky Turfgrass Council to survey a need for a turf program as well.
Within a few years, a noted turf educator and researcher, Haibo Liu, Ph.D., was sharing space with Dotson’s mechanics classes, developing a curriculum for two- and four-year turfgrass management degrees. A two-hole golf course (USGA-spec bentgrass greens and bermuda fairways) was built on university property to serve as an outdoor classroom.
“They patterned the Western program somewhat after those at Horry-Georgetown (South Carolina) and Lake City Community College (Florida) and just kept getting more students wanting to do actual turf management,” says the current head of the WKU program, Paul Woosley, Ph.D.
A Western Kentucky alum (1996) who did graduate work in turfgrass management and plant physiology at the University of Kentucky, Woosley took over the WKU program five years ago when Liu was lured away by Clemson University. Woosley promptly added sports field turf to the program’s main disciplines, golf course management and lawn care.
The WKU program emphasizes teaching and is turf management-specific. The number of students is maintained at about 40. Five to 10 graduate each year, with most moving on to the golf course industry. Woosley says the focus is on quality over quantity — graduates well prepared to enter the field.
Woosley, a four-year member of GCSAA, notes that the
program has about eight classes that are turf-related in both the mechanics side and the management side. Also, four credit hours of co-op work or internships during the summer months are
required. And, in one of its more unique features, all students have their turn in the program’s legacy, the mechanics lab.
“The nice thing about those who want to be superintendents is that they still take the mechanics classes. They learn about small engines, how to weld, sharpen reels, maintain equipment ... it makes them more marketable,” Woosley says.
Like similar programs at UK and Eastern Kentucky, WKU has an integral relationship with the Kentucky Turfgrass Council, which complements university and federal monies with its own financial support — and maybe more so. Woosley was the first doctorate student of Dave Williams, Ph.D., in the UK agronomy department back in the 1990s. Williams also is the executive secretary of the KTC.
“Paul is doing a great job ... He takes his job very seriously,” says Williams, a 12-year GCSAA member who points out that while KTC provides funds for scholarships and educational wherewithal, the students in turn provide manpower and support to KTC conferences, trade shows and fundraising short courses.
“You can talk about the courses offered or the number and quality of students, but the bottom line is how they perform out of school,” Williams says. “Paul’s graduates are highly respected in the industry. That’s the ultimate measure. That says it all.”
— Terry Ostmeyer, GCM senior staff writer
Textron’s leading golf car company, E-Z-GO, recently made a five-year, $1 million commitment to the Club Managers Association of America and The Club Foundation.
Teen rounds up a real winner
One gets the feeling that Chicago teenager Erik Mendoza will go far some day in the world of golf ... or the National Basketball Association.
Mendoza, 14, recently earned a berth on a 12-person basketball team (more than 200 tried out) that will tour Europe this month. He then earned the money to pay a $5,000 fee and to provide expenses for the trip by building and selling sets of a unique backyard game he calls Rodeo Golf.
The game, which includes golf balls attached to nylon ropes that are tossed bolo-style at a series of horizontal PVC bars representing different point values, is a variation of one Mendoza saw a few years ago when he was with his family at a music festival in Michigan.
“It’s the same kind of concept. We changed a couple different things ... different features,” he says, noting that he resisted the temptation to call the game Golf Shoes because of its similarity to horseshoes.
The game, which sells for $60 per unit plus shipping and is featured on a high-quality Web site Mendoza created to promote his fundraising, has had good feedback thus far from his customer base.
“People will ask how do you play the game and I’ll explain it to them,” he says. “They’ll go home and play it and then e-mail me back and say they had a great time.”
Assembling more than 200 units of Rodeo Golf can be labor-intensive and time-consuming for an active and busy high school freshman. He does the work in the family garage when there’s time. Each set comprises more than two-dozen pieces. In all, his inventory of materials, which he says “made my head spin,” includes a few thousand feet of rope, 4,000 feet of PVC pipe, 5,000 PVC connectors, 5,000 golf balls, 2,300 cuts made with a chop saw and 5,600 glued PVC joints.
Then there’s the packaging, local deliveries, long-distance shipping and, of course, dealing with such details as sales taxes.
“It’s been quite an education for a 14-year-old,” says Erik’s stepfather, Steve Sammons, chief marketing officer for a Chicago photographic firm.
While Rodeo Golf actually isn’t much like the game itself, Mendoza says real golf is one of his favorite sports and he enjoys playing it whenever he can. But nowadays, basketball is his thing.
Mendoza’s age-group team will begin its tour in London on July 10 and in the ensuing two weeks will visit Ireland, Wales and other cities in the United Kingdom. His Web site will provide updates on how the tour is going.
Once life returns to normal back home, Mendoza says it’s likely he’ll continue to fill orders for Rodeo Golf. The world of business isn’t so bad, he’s discovered.
“I’ll probably keep on making them,” he says. “There’s a couple of things I’d like to have and then money for my bank account for college and things like that.”
For more about Erik Mendoza, Rodeo Golf and who knows what else the young entrepreneur might have in the works, visit www.rodeogolf-usa.com.
— Terry Ostmeyer, GCM senior staff writer
A new study of golf participation in the U.S. has found that the number of core golfers (eight or more rounds a year) in the nation is higher than previously reported by the National Golf Foundation. The new number is estimated at 15 million, compared with 12.5 million reported a year ago. Also, despite an increase in junior golfers in 2006, the total number of golfers (at least one round annually) in America now stands at 28.7 million, down 2 percent from the prior year. The new research is the result of a recently formed USA Sports Participation Study, a collaborative effort among four associations that previously had done sports and fitness surveys separately.
Support for Institute grows
Quintero Golf & Country Club in Peoria, Ariz., hosted its second annual fundraising event recently to benefit The Environmental Institute for Golf, as well as one of GCSAA’s affiliated chapters.
A portion of the event’s tournament proceeds went to the Cactus & Pine GCSA’s Environmental and Golf Foundation. A silent auction, meanwhile, contributed $35,000 to The Institute, GCSAA’s philanthropic organization.
Quintero owner/developer Gary McClung and Dana Garmany, chairman and CEO of Troon Golf, co-hosted the event. Both also are members of The Institute’s advisory council.
Also, Tom Crow, founder of Cobra Golf and a former EIFG trustee, has donated $100,000 to The Institute and committed to another three-year term on the advisory council.
Whistling Straits, Carnoustie set off majors
This month’s major championships are a clear indication that it’s not getting any easier for one segment of the world’s top players and a lot harder for another.
The drama opens on Fourth of July week with the U.S. Senior Open at challenging Whistling Straits off Lake Michigan in Kohler, Wis., and continues two weeks later off Scotland’s North Sea coast with the 136th British Open at arguably its most forbidding venue, Carnoustie.
Michael Lee, CGCS and manager of golf course maintenance at Whistling Straits, describes the signature Straits Course as a unique, “singular creation” of designer Pete Dye and owner Herb Kohler. It’s also the darling of the PGA of America and the USGA, with one major (2004 PGA Championship) under its belt and four more on tap over the next dozen years.
Lee, course superintendent David Swift and their staff can handle that kind of big-time pressure because, like the game itself, they play it as it is at the Straits. Lee notes that other than shortening the layout to 7,068 yards for the Senior Open (from a max of 7,600), nipping and tucking some fairways and accommodating the USGA’s new “step” rough cut, there is little difference between the tournament setup and agronomics of the PGA three years ago and now.
“The USGA was at the 2004 PGA here and coming off the success of preparing the course for that, they won’t accept anything less,” Lee, a 21-year GCSAA member, says. “So, we’ve looked at all sorts of different ways just to streamline things. There’s always a better way to do things.”
Probably the biggest change since ’04 is that the approaches to the slick Providence bentgrass greens now favor the bump-and-run shot following a thorough thatch removal program on the fairways and greens surrounds.
Whistling Straits has also had minimal staff changes over the last several years. Lee, who also prepped Kohler’s other destination gem, the River Course at Blackwolf Run, for the 1998 U.S. Women’s Open, has been on board for 14 years. Swift, who is Class A and an eight-year member of GCSAA, has spent all of his eight-year career at the Straits.
“Actually, I think our last full-time hire was six years ago,” Lee says. “We’ve got a fun dynamic here.”
Fun may not be the 50-and-over crowd’s word for it, however. Shortening the layout by 500 yards still leaves 7,000-plus. The
Stimpmeter will read 12. The first cut of rough will be 4 inches deep, the second cut 6 inches and really deep fescue thereafter. The days of soft setups in senior majors appear to be over.
“It’s been interesting what has evolved over the last three years,” Lee says. “The USGA has an aggressive plan for this championship. From our perspective, we’ve been very impressed with their approach. At the yardage and the setup, it’s going to be a very difficult championship.”
Carnoustie rough gets new teeth. Considered the most formidable layout in Scotland, Carnoustie will feature some new challenges as well for its first appearance on the Open rotation since 1999 and only its second in the last 32 years.
The course’s famous (or infamous, as the case may be) four finishing holes just got tougher as links superintendent John Philp and head greenkeeper Sandy Reid led a remodeling project in parts of the rough down the stretch. There are more dips and swales and a new, naturalized fescue and bentgrass turf combining to create tighter tee shots and stiffer consequences for wayward drives.
Also, agronomic improvements to the Carnoustie greens — about 60 percent bentgrass and 40 percent fine fescue — will ensure Stimpmeter readings from 10.5 to 12. Overall, the course will feature the Open’s traditional fast and firm summertime conditions.
— Terry Ostmeyer, GCM senior staff writer
While turfgrass management has been the most frequently mentioned undergraduate major among GCSAA superintendents since 1998, disciplines in horticulture, business administration and plant and soil science all have increased markedly in the ensuing nine years.
— From GCSAA’s superintendent profile report
Small in stature (5 feet, 1 inch) but huge in heart, LPGA star Mi Hyun Kim, after winning the SemGroup Championship, donated $100,000 to the tornado-devastated town of Greensburg, Kan. — people she has never met in a state she has never visited.
Chapters amp up promotional presence
The long arm of outreach by GCSAA-affiliated chapters was in evidence recently at high-profile events across the country promoting golf and its community impact.
One example was in Richmond, Va., where state and national golf and turf leaders gathered on May 15 as Gov. Tim Kaine proclaimed it “Play Golf Virginia Day,” in the wake of the findings of a survey commissioned by the Virginia Golf Council to determine the economic impact of golf on the state.
The short answer was $3.1 billion annually, 40,000 jobs and a positive environmental significance.
Present at the proclamation were leaders of the nation’s major golf organizations, including Steve Mona, CAE, GCSAA’s CEO, along with key Virginia legislators and officials. Among those representing the state’s allied golf organizations were members of the Virginia GCSA and the Virginia Turfgrass Council.
In discussions on golf’s environmental impact, Mona noted that GCSAA and its affiliated chapters are collecting golf course data to develop programs and resources to further enhance golf’s compatibility with the environment.
“Water quality and availability are critical to the economic health of the game,” Mona said. “Golf is an efficient consumer of water, using significantly less than other industries in the Commonwealth while generating dramatically higher revenues per acre than other industries.”
Down the interstate a piece, a week or so later in Raleigh, N.C., Gov. Mike Easley proclaimed “Golf Day in North Carolina” and pointed to the sport’s $2.1 billion economic impact on that state last year. The event was sparked by the efforts of a coalition of the state’s major golf associations, including the Carolinas GCSA.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition was Chuck Borman, executive director of CGCSA, who thanked the governor for helping raise awareness of the role golf plays in the life of a state.
“We hope this will be the first of many Golf Days in North Carolina and we invite Tar Heels everywhere to join us to celebrate by getting to their favorite golf course and teeing it up,” Borman said.
Meanwhile, out in Sacramento, Calif., representatives from four GCSAA chapters had a highly visible presence in the community’s third-annual “Play Golf America Day” at Haggin Oaks Golf Course. Sam Samuelson, president of the Sierra Nevada GCSA, is CGCS at Haggin Oaks.
Participants in the activities received a free ball mark repair tool courtesy of the GCSA of Northern California, which was assisted in demonstrating proper ball mark repair techniques by members of the Sierra Nevada GCSA and the GCSA of Central California. The California GCSA distributed literature highlighting the various career benefits of becoming a turfgrass professional.
“‘Play Golf America Day’ was an excellent venue to demonstrate ball mark repair techniques,” said Jim Irvine, Class A Retired, of the Northern California chapter. “Attendees seemed genuinely interested in learning how to successfully repair a ball mark, especially those new to the game.”
Cancer claims Irrigation Association leader
Ken Mills, immediate past president of the Irrigation Association and a 43-year employee of Rain Bird Corp., died of cancer May 3 in Tucson, Ariz. He was 65.
Mills rose to the position of vice president of the turf division during his career with Rain Bird. He was president of the IA from November 2005 to November 2006 and was noted as an advocate for innovation within the association and the industry. He also instituted an annual survey of attendees and exhibitors to glean new ideas for the International Irrigation Show.
The PGA of America has entered into a partnership with Disabled Sports USA to develop a nationwide initiative offering golf as a sport for rehabilitation and recreation for members of the U.S. Armed Forces severely wounded in the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terrorism.
Euan Grant, former head greenkeeper at St. Andrews’ Old Course, has joined a new development featuring designer David McLay Kidd (Bandon Dunes) — Machrihanish Dunes Golf Course on Scotland’s Kintyre Peninsula. Grant will assist in the course construction and will
remain as greenkeeper upon the venue’s opening.
ASGCA headlines Forrest, Hurdzan
Steve Forrest of Toledo, Ohio, was elected president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects at its 61st annual meeting in Atlanta. Forrest, a partner in the firm of Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates, has been in golf course design since 1979 and has been a member of ASGCA for 19 years. He will also head the organization’s executive committee.
ASGCA also honored one of its past presidents, Michael Hurdzan, Ph.D., with its prestigious Donald Ross Award. Hurdzan, with Hurdzan/Fry Golf Course Design in Columbus, Ohio, and a past chairman of GCSAA’s philanthropic organization, The Environmental Institute for Golf, was cited for his efforts to educate the golf industry on environmentally sensitive development and for promoting affordable, accessible golf.
The society also elected five new Regular Members and six new Associate Members. The Regular Members include Ty Butler, Charlotte, N.C.; George Clifton, Deland, Fla.; Paul Cowley, St. Simons Island, Ga.; Gil Hanse, Malvern, Pa.; and Brian Lussier, Morrisville, N.C. The new Associates are John Cope, North Palm Beach, Fla.; Jim Engh, Castle Rock, Colo.; Ted Robinson Jr., Laguna Beach, Calif.; Phil Smith, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Bryce Swanson, Montclair, N.J.; and Ken Williams, Toledo, Ohio.
GCM scoops up TOCA awards
GCM maintained a dominant presence at the Turf and
Ornamental Communicators Association annual meeting recently in Savannah, Ga.
The magazine garnered five first-place awards and four merit awards out of more than 430 entries in TOCA’s 2006 contest. Also, GCM Editor in Chief Ed Hiscock was elected TOCA president.
The first-place awards:
• John Fech, University of Nebraska horticulturalist, for his
article, “The Dangers of Decay” (May 2006), in the Writing, Ornamental Feature category.
• Darcy DeVictor, GCM associate editor, and Seth Jones, senior associate editor, for “Going Mobile” (November 2006), in Writing, Product Information.
• Scott Hollister, editor, for his article, “Makeover at Medinah” (August 2006), in Writing, Operations Profile.
• Hollister, for his GCM blog post, “Hammer Time at Lions Gate” (June 28, 2006), in Writing, Web site, Original Content.
• Jones, for his photos in “Big Hearts in the Big Easy” (July 2006), in Photography, Picture Story.
The merit awards:
• Terry Ostmeyer, senior staff writer, for his article, “Lines in the Sand” (February 2006), in Writing, Environmental Stewardship.
• Roger Billings, senior art/production manager; Kelly Neis pre-press/production specialist; and Becky Drager, publications designer, for the November 2006 issue, in Design, Overall Magazine.
• Hollister, for his lead photo in the PGA Championship
preview (August 2006), in Photography, Portrait/Personality.
• Billings, for the October 2006 cover, “Cutting Edge,” in
Photography, Print Magazine Cover.
Editor’s note: The following is the first edition of a new feature in Front Nine — a monthly collection of stories about superintendents and the world of golf course management gleaned from various media reports.
Superintendents on front lines of Florida water crisis
Water restrictions in South Florida were ratcheted up in mid-May, and golf courses were among those businesses feeling the biggest pinch because of the shortages. This May 16 story from the Palm Beach Post chronicles the restrictions and how several superintendents — including GCSAA Director Robert M. Randquist, CGCS — are coping.
www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/sports/epaper/ 2007/05/16/a1c_golf_extra_0516.html
Keeping it green at Stewart Creek
An article in the Calgary (Canada) Sun features GCSAA Class A member Sean Kjemhus, superintendent at Stewart Creek Golf and Country Club in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, who earned the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association Environmental Achievement Award. Kjemhus also is the International winner of the 2004 GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards.
calsun.canoe.ca/Sports/Other ports/2007/05/08/
4162408-sun.html
Topdressing for success
The May issue of Club & Resort Business magazine calls attention to technology and agronomic ingenuity combining to help sound practices co-exist with solid P&L and tee sheets, featuring GCSAA members Bill Larson, CGCS at Town & Country Club in St. Paul, Minn., and Dave Bocci, CGCS at Bellingham (Wash.) Country Club.
www.clubandresortbusiness.com/article/650
Got a geese problem? Release the (plywood) hounds
A column in the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger tells about the effective use of plywood dogs painted black in keeping Canada geese off golf courses, featuring Matt Dobbie, GCSAA Class A superintendent at Bamm Hollow Country Club in Lincroft, N.J.
www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/columns0/ 1179203778258460.xml&coll=1
The USGA awarded 90 grants in May totaling more than $1.95 million to non-profit organizations to support affordable and accessible golf programs and facilities in its continuing “For the Good of the Game” initiative.
The awards are expected to reach about 80,000 economically disadvantaged children and disabled individuals. The funds will be used for instruction, golf course and range access, equipment, transportation and construction of accessible golf facilities.
Oregon prep flags fly high
For the second year, the Oregon GCSA presented custom souvenir golf flags to members of the boys and girls championship teams and the top 10 individuals in each of the Oregon School Activities Association’s seven classifications. The flags, which are used during the state tournaments, include both the OGCSA and GCSAA logos.
“As golf course superintendents, we are committed to enhancing the enjoyment, growth and vitality of the game of golf,” says David Phipps, president of the OGCSA and Class A superintendent at Stone Creek Golf Course in Oregon City, which hosted the 4A Boys and 3A/2A/1A Boys tournaments.
Adds Peter Weber, the activities association public relations director: “We appreciate OGCSA’s commitment to high school golf by providing these flags. This definitely adds to the overall experience for our student-athletes.”
Other venues hosting the state championships were OGA Golf Course in Woodburn, Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis and Eagle Crest Golf Course in Redmond.
Passing noted
Richard E. “Richie” Valentine, part of a 70-year family legacy of golf course management at famed Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., died at his home in Bryn Mawr, Pa., on May 25. He was 78.
Valentine was superintendent at Merion for 27 years. He prepped for the 1971 and 1981 U.S. Opens and retired in 1990. Valentine had followed in the footsteps of his father, Joseph Valentine Sr., who was superintendent at the club from 1918 to 1962.
A member of GCSAA for 47 years, Richie Valentine was a founding member of the Philadelphia Association of GCS. He trained and mentored many superintendents during his career and was an avid promoter and recruiter for the Penn State agronomic programs and the Joseph Valentine Turfgrass Research Center, which honors his father, who was instrumental in the formation of what would become the university’s renowned Golf Turf Management Program.
Valentine is survived by three sons, Richard J., Thomas and John; a brother Victor; a sister, Estelle Patricia DeStefano; and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Pat, who died in 1981, and his brother Joseph Valentine Jr.
Memorials can be made to the American Heart Association in care of the Memorial Fulfillment Center, 777 Penn Center Blvd., Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 1523
Letter to the editor
I am a graduating turf management student at Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Myrtle Beach, S.C., a member of its Turf Bowl team at the GIS in Anaheim and a GCSAA member. I was first in my class (4.0 GPA) and can’t wait to continue my path to become a Certified Golf Course Superintendent.
It was nice to see the article in the May GCM promoting the Turf Bowl competition and recognizing its winners from Iowa State. I do, however, have to take some light-hearted exception to the comment that it was a “two-school race.” Our team finished sixth, a mere 11 points behind the fifth-place Purdue team, and I scored the second-highest total on the business case study essay (I had the highest score last year in Atlanta).
No other two-year program finished in the top 50 at Anaheim. We beat the likes of Penn State, Rutgers, Ohio State, Clemson and four graduate program teams. Considering we are located in a golf Mecca, this speaks volumes about our program. Iowa State and Purdue are strong programs and deserve the recognition. At the same time, GCSAA, GCM and the golf industry as a whole benefit greatly from graduates of two-year programs that are a somewhat ignored part of the golf course maintenance educational system.
The two-year programs have strong academic curriculums, plus a majority of two-year students work full time and attend school full time (as I did), which often produces outstanding future superintendents who aren’t afraid of hard work and busy schedules. We also are able to apply what we learn on a daily basis and benefit from some of the best “professors” in the industry — our bosses, the superintendents. Most four-year programs require one or two summer internships and that’s often the most in-the-field experience they graduate with.
Both types of institutions serve the industry well and, regardless of the type of education, we all enter the workplace ready to face all the challenges a golf course can throw our way.
Andrew Erskine
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Corrections
• David Pillsbury was incorrectly identified in “The Rebirth of Sawgrass” in the May issue of GCM. Pillsbury is president of PGA Tour Golf Course Properties. In the same article, the variety of the greens turf at the course, Mini Verde, was misspelled.
• Daniel Judy, a Class A GCSAA member, was incorrectly identified as a Superintendent Member in the May issue’s “On the move” section. Judy is superintendent at Warrior Hills Golf Course in Leesville, La.
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