As someone who loves golf and has been lucky enough to play some of the great courses, I’m always interested when the major course rankings come out. Like everyone else, I want to see if others like the same courses I do.
But as a superintendent, former golf course rater, and someone who tries to keep our industry’s interests first and foremost, the rankings concern me. Because whether it’s ranking the top 100 courses in the country or comparing your course to one down the street, conditioning is going to be a factor even if you’ve been told a thousand times — promised, sworn to — that it’s not the case.
Whenever the ratings issues of the golf magazines come out, I ask, “Are the rankings really worth it?” Do we need to assign numerical values or say “this is better than that” about courses we already know are great?
Is there really any purpose — let alone a verifiable system — for saying that Pine Valley is better than Cypress Point or Augusta National?
Yes, there are reasons. They are bragging rights, members’ egos and the rater’s ability to check off another course from their bucket list. All of which are perfectly legit but have very little relevance in determining which of the greats is the greatest.
But a discussion about needing the rankings is for another time. Right now, I want to discuss how superintendents should deal with them. Because to repeat what I said above, you will never convince me that conditioning doesn’t factor into the ratings equation.
What do they mean by “aesthetics” if not conditioning? What are a course’s scenic values if not landscaping, vegetation, water features, etc.? All of these fall smack in your wheelhouse and are wide open to the individual rater’s interpretation.
Let’s say a rater is playing in the Southwest desert: Do they have an appreciation for the dormant (Bermudagrass) look? Or what about playing at a course that doesn’t elect to overseed or paint? Does color matter to the rater? Can this person — who, after all, could be just about anybody, I don’t care how many courses they’ve seen and played — see beyond the type of turf condition? Pardon me … aesthetics.
How about a course that didn’t have houses along its perimeter when it was built but they now line its fairways because a) it’s a development and that was always the plan, or b) the course is in what used to be farmland and is now suburbia? What do houses do for aesthetics? And isn’t it ironic that proximity to a good course can increase a home’s value, but proximity to homes can knock down a course’s stature?
It goes without saying that “ambience” is part of any course’s charm. Is it still charming if the interstate was added 50 years after the course was built? Or power lines? Or an airport? How do these affect the so-called “walk in the park?”
Conditioning also includes how firm, fast and rolling were the fairways, or how firm, yet receptive, were the greens and how true the ball rolled on them the day the rater played. What if it rained the night before and drainage is slow because the course isn’t built on sand? If it doesn’t play firm and fast “enough,” is the rating affected?
And what if the rater isn’t there at the right time of year? It makes sense that busy private clubs, that might want the prestige of appearing on the lists, must think of their members first and not let raters on until the off-season. So, the course may not be at its best, visually or condition-wise.
We all know how few golfers understand that, in agronomy, timing is everything. Turf transition, end of season, wear and tear. At certain points in any season courses are just flat-out tired. Now add all the extra COVID-19 traffic. Raters don’t want to hear excuses and courses shouldn’t have to explain how agronomy works, but is it fair to judge a golf course when it simply is not at its best?
Again, I’m not advocating for a ban on ratings, even though some courses elect not to participate. (Funny how it’s the ones that don’t have to worry, right?) But what is important is the effect that ratings — making them, not making them, dropping down or climbing — have on the superintendent. Because if the raters aren’t savvy enough to appreciate a course’s agronomic ups and downs, what about an entire membership?
“Clubs allegedly don’t care about rankings — until their position drops,” is what a superintendent at a top-100 club told me. I’m not at all surprised to hear that some clubs create “secret” committees to review a course purely for the sake of doing better in the ratings. For some courses, doing better means hiring a course architect and undergoing a renovation — if not a total rebuild.
If not making the ratings or dropping in them puts your job in jeopardy, we’ve got a problem. Maybe you haven’t explained to your membership that those greens they love weren’t built to be superfast.
You probably know better than anyone just how “good” the course you tend to really is: You don’t want to go bursting their bubble, but there are only so many Oakmonts and Los Angeles Country Club Norths. And very few daily-fee courses like Bethpage Black or Pebble Beach.
The same 100 to 200 courses are going to consistently make the ratings because they deserve to. Those same courses are also going to be in great condition most of the time because they hire the most qualified people they can find and give them the resources they request. Which isn’t a knock on you or what you do: It’s reality, but you’re sure to have to deal with golfers who can’t accept that where they play is perfectly nice and fun, just not rated “great.”
Augusta National isn’t a perennial top-5 course because the grass is so green and the sand so white. You and I know that. Do your members?
Probably the worst thing about aesthetics as a ratings category is what it does to those courses that aren’t the obvious top 100 or so, but are really close. With so many great courses, when it comes to deciding between one or another, if just a handful of raters hit that one after it rained or too early or late in the season, something as insignificant as slower-than-normal greens could make the difference. Often, it’s just hundredths-of-a-point that separate No. 100 from No. 101 in the rankings.
Ratings are here to stay. There’s nothing wrong with them, they make for good reading and endless arguments. If your course is one that already makes the rating grade or aspires to, congratulations and good for you. My only advice to you is this: Don’t do anything to the course for the sake of ratings that will eventually hurt the experience of your members.
The raters don’t pay your salary.
Tim Moraghan, principal, ASPIRE Golf (tmoraghan@aspire-golf.com). Follow Tim’s blog, Golf Course Confidential at www.aspire-golf.com/buzz.html or on Twitter @TimMoraghan
The political math alone tells you to be mindful of long-term sustainability on the golf course. Since only one out of 12 in the population play golf, the other 11 have no experience or understanding of what is involved out there. That means public opinion looks askance at what you are doing. And should it ever come to a jury trial in which the golf course is up for scrutiny in a civil case, the odds are against you finding a favorable judgment.
That might seem a harsh way of putting it. But the point is that part of what it takes today to be a golf course superintendent is to educate the public. Far too few everyday citizens have much idea of the environmental benefits of a well-managed golf course. Indeed, not enough golfers take the time to appreciate how their game contributes to the well-being of ecological systems — everything from flora, fauna and hydrology to ambient cooling and flood control.
You don’t have to be Rachel Carson, who published her landmark book “Silent Spring” in 1962, to make a difference. Small steps, aimed locally and designed to inform specific groups, can help considerably in getting the word out that your property is a net benefit to the community’s well-being.
Zach Bauer, in his third year as superintendent at Valley Country Club in the Denver suburb of Centennial, recently worked with the club’s membership director, Steve O’Brien, to hold a bird box building program for members. Actually, it was for their kids and grandkids, which made it even more fun. O’Brien drilled and cut the pieces for the bird boxes so that the participating youth could have a relatively easy time assembling them.
Six kids and 11 parents and grandparents participated, with each of the youth getting to work on a bird box as well as receiving a pair of binoculars, a bag of bird seed and a Valley CC bird watching club certificate. Afterwards, Bauer took the kids out for a little bird watching expedition. The Audubon Sanctuary-certified golf course provides a welcoming habitat for birds, both nesting and migratory. Among the more frequently sighted birds are robins, magpies, Western blue birds, mallards and bufflehead ducks.
Turning the golf course into a learning experience for kids is the goal of the First Green program. Started by superintendents in 1997, it is now run by the GCSAA and includes K-12 students, though the majority of the attendees are fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders. In the program’s last full pre-COVID-19 year, 41 half-day field trips engaged 2,000 students in various studies of golf course ecology. The hope is to have the program introduce them to both golf and practical science. Even if they don’t become junior golfers, students will at least have early exposure to the benefits of the golf course as a working landscape.
Another good way to make wildlife habitats known is simply through signage. If kept simple and uncluttered, such indicators can be informative as well as provide a bit of safety margin by way of subtly warning golfers to stay away from sensitive areas.
Increasingly, we’re seeing superintendents turn unplayed areas into lesser-maintained plots, whether for wildflower ground, bird habitat or native rough. The key is knowing which stretches of the layout are beyond the reach of most play. GPS tracking can be an essential device in developing verifiable boundaries for these out-of-play areas.
Cart-borne GPS units are readily available, but it’s more accurate and nuanced in detail to rely on small digital tracking devices the size of a USB thumb drive. These are worn by golfers to track movement during a round and help superintendents establish areas that are really those out-of-the-way areas.
None of this will reach wider public awareness without a determined effort to get the public informed and involved. Reach out to local garden clubs, hiking groups, birding clubs and land trust associations, for example, and develop times when you can give guided tours of the golf course. Work closely with municipal authorities in developing relationships so they are familiar with your property and learn to appreciate it not simply as a taxable asset but also as a wildlife refuge and stormwater management zone. Share the growing literature documenting the positive community value of having a golf course as a water filtration system and greenspace.
As a superintendent your job is focused on a well-defined property. Increasingly these days, however, stewardship of that land means communicating its value to outside parties. It also means anticipating potential friction by educating people in advance of a (potential) conflict as to the real value provided by the land you oversee.
Bradley S. Klein, Ph.D. (political science), former PGA Tour caddie, is a veteran golf journalist, book author (“Discovering Donald Ross,” among others) and golf course consultant. Follow him on Twitter (@BradleySKlein).
A Supreme Court justice once defined obscenity by not defining it. “I know it when I see it,” Justice Potter Stewart famously said in 1964. It seems that an organization’s culture might fit into the same category: difficult to define, but obvious once illuminated.
The difficulty in defining organizational culture is because it is so many things at once. An amalgamation of personality, values, reputation, purpose, style and traditions framed by a set of written and unwritten rules developed over time and considered inviolable. Put them all in a pot, let them simmer for a while — a few years or maybe a few decades — and what’s left is culture!
Culture then is nothing less than an organization’s heart and soul, and its importance rivals any other asset or advantage. It is the glue that holds the organization together. It inspires loyalty in employees and motivates them to act consistently and pridefully. It influences them to perform at a high level because they feel a responsibility to uphold their end of the cultural bargain.
Culture is also an important factor in retaining top performers. Randstad, the international employment and recruitment firm, lists toxic cultures with poor pay, limited career opportunities, lack of challenging work, lack of recognition and work-life imbalance as the leading reasons people leave their jobs. There is an urgent need to pay attention to the culture growing around your club or course or risk losing top talent.
If this amorphous entity known as culture is so critical, what steps can you take, what keywords can you prioritize for search engines and what KPIs do you elevate to bake it into your organization? If only creating or transforming culture were so easy. Every winning culture is part of a unique set of attributes and characteristics that cannot be invented or imposed. It must be discovered from within.
But that doesn’t mean you should sit back and wait for culture to reveal itself — or for it to form in ways that could be detrimental to your future success. The road to a sustainable and winning culture ensures that employees:
Understand the club’s/course’s vision and how they contribute to it. When everyone knows where their leaders are steering the ship, it’s much easier to get people onboard and for employees to feel good about rowing.
Know how their performance is measured and what their personal success looks like. What results are expected? Are there both quantifiable and qualitative measures?
Are consistently recognized for contributions that meet and exceed goals. Nothing is more motivating than recognition in front of colleagues.
Recognize a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Employees of color and minorities want to see evidence that their opinions and work is valued and that they’re on a level playing field.
Feel that their managers are taking steps to safeguard their health and well-being. In a post-pandemic world, employees want to feel confident that their job is not putting them and their families in danger.
Are rewarded through a set of personal, flexible, creative benefits. Baby boomers, millennials and Gen Xers think about benefits and perks differently. To make them meaningful, managers must understand what each employee values most.
In addition to helping retain top performers, an engaging and embracing culture also has competitive advantages, particularly when it comes to sustaining high performance. Bain & Company research found that nearly 70 percent of business leaders agree that culture provides the greatest source of competitive advantage. In fact, more than 80 percent believe an organization that lacks a high-performance culture is doomed to mediocrity.
Culture may not be the easiest thing to define, but you can take steps that encourage a culture in which your organization thrives. You can’t rush culture, but you’ll know it when you see it.
Henry DeLozier is a partner at GGA Partners, trusted advisors and thought leaders. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Audubon International.
One year later
Departments - Notebook
The Players Championship returned to TPC Sawgrass last month as its turf leaders reflected on a surreal experience.
Schools and businesses closed their doors, sending everybody home. Every sort of entertainment and diversion followed. Sports disappeared almost literally overnight. One day, we were watching conference tournaments, the end of the NBA and NHL regular seasons, The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, and the next day … we weren’t.
Plotts
Jeff Plotts and Lucas Andrews remember working on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass late on the night of March 12, a Thursday — a day after the pause — still planning every moment for the second round of The Players. Plotts, the director of golf course maintenance at TPC Sawgrass, was working under the impression that the course would be closed to spectators but competition would continue.
“We had a good night that night,” Plotts remembers. “Our team performed really well in a split shift and had the golf course ready to go for Friday. It was still light. It was probably 8 o’clock or so, maybe even a little later than that. Those are long days for us, Thursday and Friday.”
Plotts conferred with Andrews, the Stadium Course superintendent, then walked to his car and started to drive home.
“He had made it two minutes before he called me and said, ‘Can you talk?’” Andrews says. “I pretty much knew then that it was only when we were calling it.”
Andrews
After a single round of play, Hideki Matsuyama topped the leaderboard at 9 under. Not long after that, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that “as the situation continued to escalate, and there seemed to be more unknowns, it ultimately became a matter of when, not if, we would need to call it a day.” Plotts and Andrews were among the first to know.
“I think we all knew deep down inside as we were kind of talking about how things might fold out,” Plotts says. “There were a lot of meetings going on at a very high level that didn’t include Lucas or me, but internally it became evident that once Disney closed, there were going to be some substantial changes here to take place the next day.”
Plotts recognized the similarities between guests at Disney World and patrons at TPC Sawgrass — the sheer numbers, sure, but also the outdoor physical distancing — and he knew that however Disney acted, everybody in the hospitality industry would follow. Once Disney closed and TPC Sawgrass followed, attention turned almost immediately from the course to their crew of 100 volunteers.
“Our focus really became the volunteers,” Plotts says. “What do we do with the volunteers? How do we support them? These are young people, men and women, that are trying to find their place in our industry. To go through something like that and be that far from home” — 60 of the 100 volunteers last year were international — “it’s a little bit of a scary adventure. So we had to remain calm and just kind of reassure people that they were going to be taken care of, and that this is kind of part of life — that you’re going to have this kind of adversity and you’re going to have to overcome.”
Many of the volunteers were unable to change their flights to an earlier departure. Even without a tournament to work, their accommodations and expenses were still covered. “The Tour was very understanding,” Plotts says.
After the blur of that Thursday night, Andrews returned to the Stadium Course the next morning with his crew “and just aerated the greens, just to get a jump,” he says. “We knew there wasn’t going to be any golf being played through the weekend so we took the opportunity. We had an aggressive cultural program and targets last year, and those three extra days gave us an opportunity to get a leg up on the year, really get off to a good start for the summer.” More aeration followed throughout the year, with greens aerated three times each month, and tees, fairways and approaches aerated “four or five times” throughout the year. Andrews says his crew also topdressed weekly, “so that kept us really busy.”
In early May, Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass received the first slot on a rescheduled Korn Ferry Tour — Luke List won the new Korn Ferry Challenge by a stroke on June 14 — but the club had served as a host of sorts for regular play throughout the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic: About 90 players from the PGA Tour, the Champions Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour Latinoamérica descended on TPC Sawgrass for informal two-day competitions every week from late March to early June. “I think it was pretty smart of them,” Plotts says.
TPC Sawgrass never closed, Plotts says, and the club was able to avoid furloughing any crew members in part by not filling internships after the last round of interns headed home. Like many clubs across the country, the rest of the year was strong.
When the 2021 Players commenced March 11, emotions were in full swing. Plotts and Andrews were leading the crew again. Ten volunteers from last year were among the 75 working on the course. Television cameras caught every blade of grass.
“The closer you get to perfection, the more finite the details that you have to look at,” Andrew says. “I’m really, really, really proud of the team. We really pulled together this year and the guys that didn’t get to finish the tournament last year, they’ve been working with a chip on their shoulder to get it done. This has been really good for us as a team and I think it’s a really good step in the right direction for us moving forward. I’m excited for the new standards.
“We’re just looking forward to getting this one in the books and putting our focus on ’22.”
Matt LaWell is Golf Course Industry’s managing editor.
Who needs a show floor to reveal winners?
After nearly a decade on the floor at the Golf Industry Show, #GCITweetUp presented by Aquatrols turned virtual this year — with the best and brightest of turf social media recognized and honored on March 31, live on Zoom as part of the Super Social Media Awards.
Drew Miller, the program advisor for the esteemed turfgrass management program at Brentsville District High School in northern Virginia and on Twitter at @TurfgrassTiger, accepted the 10th annual Kaminski Award with many of the program’s hundreds of students cheering him on. If you don’t already listen to the program’s excellent Tiger Turf Talk podcast, download an episode or two — and maybe even call in as a featured guest.
A trio of talented superintendents (and tweeters) picked up Best Twitter Feed honors: Dan Grogan (@purdueturfy) of The Sagamore Club in Noblesville, Indiana; Jeff Sexton (@ECCSuper77) of Evansville Country Club in Evansville, Indiana; and Thad Thompson (@TerryHillsMaint) of Terry Hills Golf Course in Batavia, New York. All three manage to blend work and life in entertaining and informative daily doses.
Ryan Cummings (@RCummings38) of Elcona Country Club in Bristol, Indiana, and James Bledge (@JamesBledge) of Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club in Deal, Kent, in the southeast corner of England were both honored with Best Overall Use of social media for excellency in blogging and videography, respectively.
Elsewhere internationally, Morgan Creighton (@creighton_mm), a rising assistant superintendent around Calgary, Alberta, was honored with the Best New Program award for her continuing work building up the ever-expanding Women in Turfgrass Management.
Golf course architect Trey Kemp (@TreyKempGCA), who recently joined Kimley-Horn and Associates in Fort Worth, Texas, received top honors for Best Idea Shared for his ongoing #GolfCourseAerialoftheDay, which is exactly what it sounds like — and a welcome burst of color and design into your feed.
Longtime Florida turf pro and environmentalist W. Craig Weyandt (@grsfarmer), superintendent at The Moorings at Hawk’s Nest in Vero Beach, received the Conservation Award for his decades of earth-focused work in the Sunshine State.
Retired turf legend Matt Shaffer (@MattSha20619144, which might look like a bot account but most definitely is not), rounded out the awards. Shaffer, who retired in 2017 after a run at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, took home Rookie of the Year after a spirited 2020 debut on Twitter and LinkedIn — proof that you’re never too old to keep learning.
The upcoming U.S. Women’s Open Championship, which is scheduled for the week of May 31-June 6 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, will be played amidst an assortment of historical overtones.
It marks the 75th anniversary of the most prestigious event in women’s golf. It will be the first women’s professional event contested at the historic Olympic Club, which has hosted 10 USGA national championships, including five U.S. Opens.
It will also be an occasion for women in the turf industry to come together in support of the game they love and the industry that is their passion.
Troy Flanagan, the club’s director of golf maintenance, is planning to supplement a staff of 43 with 50 outside volunteers, about 25 to 28 of whom will be women.
Flanagan, who has been at The Olympic Club since 2014, began contemplating the idea of a more female volunteer corps around five years ago, after the club was officially designated as the host of this year’s Women’s Open.
“I just started thinking, ‘What a great thing to do,’” Flanagan says. “We have the Women’s Open, it’s our first women’s professional golf championship at The Olympic Club. We’ve had so many great (championship events) over the years. It’s the first women’s event we’ve done. Why wouldn’t we want to do something like this?
“And not just make it a volunteer experience, but make it another kind of educational/networking event. Being able to volunteer and help out, but then during the day do other things as a group.”
When the pandemic hit last year, the concept had to be shelved until the USGA assured Flanagan that outside volunteers would be permitted on site during the championship. With that assurance, Flanagan reached out to Kimberly Gard, a territory manager for Syngenta, with whom he has an existing professional relationship. Gard started making phone calls and in relatively short order Flanagan had all the volunteers he needed and more. Rain Bird is joining Syngenta as a sponsor of the program.
Flanagan is envisioning a week that will see the volunteers not only assisting with the tournament but also taking advantage of educational and networking opportunities.
— Rick Woelfel
Cipriano lands on prestigious writing list
Cipriano
Golf Course Industry editor-in-chief Guy Cipriano is among the top golf writers in the country. Again.
Cipriano landed his second award in three years from the Golf Writers Association of America, this time for his May 2020 cover story, “Driving Through,” about a five-day drive home across the country during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The story highlighted the importance of golf courses then and always, and provided snapshots of a handful of courses and superintendents well off the beaten path.
The story was recognized with a tie for second in the non-daily features category along with a story published in Golf Digest, and edged only by a feature published in The Golfer’s Journal.
Cipriano, a member of the GWAA, was previously honored with a second-place award in the special projects category in the 2018 contest for his three-part series about the flooding and subsequent rebuilding of The Old White TPC at The Greenbrier.
Trade publications are almost never recognized by the contest’s judges. Cipriano’s two awards are the only such honors for trade publications in recent memory, according to those judges. The annual contest started in 1957.
Tartan Talks No. 57
Matthews
W. Bruce Matthews III is a lifelong Michigander with deep industry roots in the golf-rich state.
A third-generation ASGCA member, Matthews joined the Tartan Talks podcast to discuss familial and personal longevity, why golf is a big deal in his native state, and working at courses originally designed by his grandfather, W. Bruce Matthews I, and uncle, Jerry Matthews.
The Matthews family has been designing, maintaining and managing courses since 1925 and Bruce is motivated to ensure they reach 100 years in the industry. “One of the fun things about this business is that you don’t have to retire,” says Bruce, who started his career picking and washing range balls and working for superintendent Roger Barton at the family’s Grand Haven Golf Club in the 1960s. “You can pick and choose your work.”
The way Bruce sees it, the family has stayed in the business through numerous booms and busts because it can relate to fellow Michigan golf enthusiasts.
“We’re known here,” he says. “If you look at my name in Mississippi or Colorado, nobody is going to know who I am. In Michigan, they know who we are, and they call us. It has worked out well even in slow times.”
Visit the Superintendent Radio Network Page on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular distribution platforms to hear the conversation.
Industry buzz
Syngenta has expanded its WeevilTrak monitoring efforts into Kentucky for the 2021 season. The University of Kentucky’s Dr. Jonathan Larson will lead monitoring in the state.
The Rutgers University Board of Governors recently appointed extension specialist James A. Murphy to the Ralph Geiger Chair in Turfgrass Science. Murphy joined the Rutgers faculty in 1991.
TRAVELS WITH TERRY
Departments - TRAVELS WITH TERRY
Globetrotting consulting agronomist Terry Buchen visits many golf courses annually with his digital camera in hand. He shares helpful ideas relating to maintenance equipment from the golf course superintendents he visits — as well as a few ideas of his own — with timely photos and captions that explore the changing world of golf course management.
An additional 5-gallon plastic fuel tank and two metal holding straps recycled from a former Buffalo Blower were added to this 2014 Toro Pro Force Debris Blower. A Y-shaped brass fuel line hose barb was used to connect the dual fuel lines. A plastic fuel line shutoff valve was slightly opened to drain both tanks at the same time, as the auxiliary tank is gravity-fed and the OEM tank is a siphon-type. The electric motor/pulley used to move the blower nozzle from side to side was repositioned because it was in the way of the auxiliary fuel tank — as a new custom-made steel bracket was designed and built in-house. This idea eliminated the use of portable gas cans being carried in the tow vehicle. It took about eight total hours and about $50 for materials. Brian Bressler, equipment/shop manager at the Medinah Country Club in suburban Chicago, came up with this excellent idea. Director of grounds Steven M. Cook, CGCS, MG, leads the talented turf team.
Nearly Unbreakable Fairway Aerifier Tines
Heavy clay soils with rocks have been breaking fairway aerifier tines at the Noyac Golf Club in Sag Harbor, New York. Superintendent Brian Goleski and equipment manager J.R. Wilson solved this situation by designing and building an iron forge to manufacture nearly unbreakable solid fairway aerifier tines. The forge was built from a large recycled metal pipe acquired for free, where Rutland Fire Bricks were laid on the bottom floor on top of firewall insulation. Chamber Safe Cement was applied by mixing and hand-troweling it over the insulation. Three vertical pipes, each with their own orifice and hand valve, that control how much heat is generated from the propane tank heat source, were welded on top of the pipe. A metal table was welded into place onto one end. 11/16th-inch diameter cold rolled steel is heated until it is “cherry red” and non-magnetic, which is then hardened with 30 weight oil to quench the hot tine to solidify the hardening. Each tine is cut to 10-inch lengths from each 12-foot-long rod. Total cost was about $200 and labor time was about a day, and the newly built aerifier tines last three times longer.
Terry Buchen, CGCS, MG, is president of Golf Agronomy International. He’s a 51-year, life member of the GCSAA. He can be reached at 757-561-7777 or terrybuchen@earthlink.net.