All golf courses, by root virtue, are instincted to grow forward.
Some very special courses, however, are just as much a living history of human existence.
Since debuting in 2007, The Journey at Pechanga in Temecula, California, has fast proven a Southern California must-play, revered for its rolling topography, bubbling streams, elevated tee boxes and rustic routing through native land. And while designers Arthur Hills, Steve Forrest and team no doubt deserve ample backslaps for the modern architecture, The Journey’s path was ten millennia in the making.
Built upon the ancestral grounds of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, the property was where tribe members lived, survived, thrived and died, long before the thought of getting a 1.6-ounce dimpled sphere into a 4½-inch cup entered the concept of human leisure or livelihood.
Today, maintaining both the striking aesthetic of the course while concurrently — and continually — being well-abreast of cultural practices, is a balance that requires constant education and communication.
Such scales were evident from the outset of course design and ensuing construction, which had a back-and-forth of assessing routing amid ancestral grounds before a final design path was agreed upon.
“And then Steve (Forrest) finally looked up into the hills of the property and, asked, ‘What’s up there?’ almost in desperation,” recalls Gary DuBois, a tribe member and the director of Cultural Resources for the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians
At one stage in the survey, evidencing the verdant surrounds, Forrest got himself lost amid the native landscape. “He knew where he was,” laughs DuBois. “He just couldn’t find a trail to get back down.”
After ultimately agreeing upon routing, the tribe and designers moved ahead carefully. “One of the caveats in moving forward with the course was that our Cultural Resources Department would oversee development,” DuBois says. “So, we worked very closely with Steve Forrest and his crew. And, of course, we have many, many oaks on the property, which are sacred to the tribe, and, at first, the designers were tagging all these trees that were in fairway areas. And the fact remains the same today as it was then: We don’t cut down healthy oak trees. Period.”
Seen as an occasional course quirk to nascent players (e.g., the fairway-centered oak on the short, par-4 seventh), the oaks can’t be addressed by Journey maintenance staff unless first approved by Pechanga’s Cultural team.
“From the beginning, everybody, the whole crew, is on board,” says Mario Ramirez, head golf course superintendent at The Journey. “And if my guys see something being done (which shouldn’t be), or anything with the sacred oaks trees, they report it to me.”
Being “on-board” is not without preface or preamble. All employees at the course and the adjacent, eponymous Resort & Casino go through a learning process upon their hiring and are educated about the tribe’s history and heritage.
“You have to do your studying and ask questions. From the beginning here, everybody, all employees, go through training, and it’s all explained to us about what is sacred ground,” Ramirez says. “So, from the beginning, we’re very aware, and learn that if you don’t know or are unsure about something — you ask. We don’t make those mistakes. There’s a culture here, and everybody takes it very seriously.”
From the Cultural Department’s end, continually educating staff is in itself a challenge, though DuBois is fast to laud the communication chain he currently shares with Ramirez, who has been at The Journey for more than four years.
“Employees come and go, which means the institutional knowledge goes with them,” DuBois says. “So, when new people come in with their own idea how to run a golf course — and those may well be good ideas — we need to educate them on the cultural component and ensure they know the background. And we impress upon them: ‘Whatever you do, if you’re gonna dig or even if you’re going to trim back some braches, you need to give us a call first.’”
Ramirez adds that the tribe is understanding and versed on course needs, although every project needs approvals.
“We don’t just go ahead with digging holes anywhere, for, say, a drain,” Ramirez says. “We need to ask permission, and then the Cultural Center will come and inspect an area and either give us the green light to move ahead or disapprove it for the reasons behind the ground being sacred.”
The Journey at Pechanga was built upon the ancestral grounds of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians in Southern California.
Pechanga homage can be seen throughout the property via kiicha homes (meaning “home” in the tribal language) across peripheral areas, along with informational and educational signage located behind the fifth green.
The most sacred ground on course property can be found on both sides of the top-handicapped, par-5 ninth; along the right side, a lengthy, wrought iron fence runs in stark contrast to of the landing area, separating play from sacred grounds to which even tribe members aren’t allowed casual access.
“On the ninth, the fencing protects the sacred ground all along the right side; none of us can go in there,” says Ramirez in earnest. “Nobody can, only with the tribe’s permission. And on the left side of the fairway on that same hole, those trees are also very sacred, and nobody can touch them.”
Noting that, back in the design and construction phase, the land upon the ninth was indeed the biggest area of concern before ultimate concession, DuBois says course staff is made especially aware of keeping golfers from going to find an errant ball beyond the gate.
“It is a bit of a choke point for the course,” DuBois says of a narrowed second shot, pinched between sacred areas. “It’s ceremonial ground (adjacent to the fairway), and some of the elders who are no longer with us, they consulted on that, and there was a big compromise in creating that hole.”
Buoyed by the dramatic topography, there is a genuine mysticism to the course.
“In certain places … golfers won’t play on them, walk over them or even see them, but there are burials out there; and we try to be low-key about those areas,” DuBois says. “Some people have said they feel an ‘otherworldliness’ on this property; that there’s something here.”
By paying homage to the history of the Pechanga people, Journey staff and modern-day tribe leaders — akin to the land’s indigenous ancestors — maintain a unique adoration for the land, bestowing respect to the grounds’ sustainability via environmentally-friendly practices.
“When we say this golf course is 10,000 years in the making, it’s true,” DuBois says. “Because, wherever Pechanga people lived in the pre-contact history, if there are sites to that effect on the golf course — we didn’t build on it. We believe this is one of, if not the most culturally-sensitive golf course in the country.”
Looking back, looking ahead
Features - PERSPECTIVE
Veteran superintendent Ron Furlong reflects on a year unlike any other — on and off the course.
Successful? This one seems out of place, right? I agree. But when considering the year from the viewpoint of North American golf courses, 2020 was often a banner year.
Calling 2020 successful at any level seems strange. Seems almost like something you don’t want to draw attention to. Surviving in a year like this, and even thriving — when so many businesses and industries have not — does temper one’s excitement.
For those in charge of managing golf courses, the year started out rather normally, then, as we all know, turned upside-down a few months in. For many of us, including the golf course in western Washington where I am the superintendent, this meant a complete shutdown of play and an uncertain future. It meant managing a golf course with no golfers — and with no idea when they were coming back.
And then they did come back — and boy did they! I’m writing this on the second-to-last day of 2020 and our golf course is still packed. It has been since we reopened in the spring. Golf experienced a resurgence during a year when very few industries did. But I think it’s OK to view this without guilt. Golf courses have provided a much-needed respite for many. Being on a golf course was an escape from the brutal reality of the global pandemic. Golf suddenly became a fairly safe place to put away stress and worries.
There were obvious advantages for many of our typical management practices. We quickly became acutely aware of the limitations that normal play with a crowded golf course puts on the maintenance operation. Mowers cut down their mow time. The sprayer could go out any time, anywhere, no longer limited to the constraints of tee times and a course full of golfers. Reentry times went out the window. Light topdressing of the greens, normally a logistical nightmare, became a breeze.
Managing greens with no play became an interesting endeavor. Although for us the empty golf course lasted only a few weeks, it was tricky not to keep the greens too lean and too healthy. The question of rolling frequency, tied in with mowing heights and mowing frequency became an interesting conundrum. How quick do you need greens when no one is putting on them? Maintaining firmness became critical. If they got too lean and too healthy, no doubt it would be difficult to bring them back to the level we would need them when golf returned. Thus, we ended up managing them similarly to how we normally do. If anything, we were able to keep them even more pristine and playable.
When golf returned, it returned in full force. At my course, we just missed setting a record for rounds played in a year (the course has been open since 1991 and only 1998 saw more rounds played). The transition from an empty course to an extraordinarily full one was stressful and demanding. We went from having all the time in the world for our maintenance to having less time than anyone could ever remember.
2020 budgets went out the window. No golf to more golf than ever — how does one allocate money? Obviously, labor was the most testing. Laying off most of the crew in March and April and then needing more labor than ever from May through the end of the year was a new challenge for most superintendents.
Because of COVID-19, there was a large labor pool to draw from, so securing seasonal labor was at least one thing that was fairly easy for many. Training workers who had never worked on a course became a vital component to successful 2020 course maintenance.
Having a reliable, trustworthy assistant was vital. Not only for training but just having someone to bounce ideas off for situations that we’ve never really had to consider.
So what will 2021 bring? Predicting the future is not something anyone can really do with any sense of certainty. The one thing that is safe to say is that 2020 — and what we all went though — can only make us stronger and better going forward.
Ron Furlong is the superintendent at Avalon Golf Links in Burlington, Washington.
Par 3 prince of Palm Springs
Features - Short Course Stories
Fitting snugly among homes and operating on a summer honor box system, Palm Royale Country Club provides a quaint alternative to the golf gaudiness in California’s Coachella Valley.
Home to 120 courses, the golf-rich Coachella Valley has no shortage of big-name tracks spread across the desert marquee. But to overlook some of the region’s brightest co-stars is to miss the deeper narrative of desert golf.
Opened in 1986 at the height of the valley’s modern golf build boom, Palm Royale Country Club in La Quinta, California, is just down the street from some of the area’s most famed courses. While not as long or lauded as its championship counterparts, the 18-hole par 3 spread instead hangs its flat cap on proving a thesis of what the game is meant to be: fun, timely, affordable and some good exercise across its walking-only grounds.
“We want to be the best-conditioned short course in the valley. That’s our goal,” Palm Royale golf professional Phil Boyland says. “We want to produce a product and a service which exceeds what people expect when they come play. We know people aren’t traveling to Palm Springs to come play here four times but before folks go out and play the big, championship courses, this is a really good place to come for a day and a warm-up round.”
Designed by the late Ted Robinson, Palm Royale is one of 15 local courses crafted by the prolific desert architect known as the “King of Waterscapes.” Across a scorecard of about 2,100 yards, the moniker doesn’t disappoint. Nor does the engaging test.
“But there’s enough trouble out here that you can’t just pitch-and-putt around.”
With holes ranging from 80 to 170 yards, Palm Royale sports bunkering on every hole and a water feature on half of the card. And while the likes of World Golf Hall of Famer and part-time desert resident Fred Couples may have gone course-record low with an 11-under 43 during an industry skins game back in 2017, most guests are aiming to rally for pars.
Palm Royale’s wedge world proves an ideal fit for kids, families, nascent players, older golfers and even local sticks looking to refine their scoring clubs. The concept of fast and fun overcomes a potent pair of golf obstacles for many.
“The common complaints about golf are, ‘It takes too long, and it’s too expensive,’” Boyland says. “We feel like we combat both aspects of that. Plus, you’re gonna get good exercise out here, and especially in this environment we’re in now with social distancing — here, come out, grab a pull cart, head to that first tee and just start walking.”
For many folks simply looking to get out of the house in 2020, Palm Royale found further palatability amid the pandemic months.
“We’ve been waiting for ya’ to come around,” Boyland says smiling. “No, we’ve been doing it this way for a long time, and, in this climate we’re in right now, it’s an attractive way to get outside, get some exercise and not worry about getting paired-up in a cart with a stranger or something like that.”
In a time-demand world, and in-step with the game’s cyclical turn back to concepts of playability and affordability, Palm Royale is well-positioned.
“For some, maybe this is a better fit than a few-hundred-dollar round which takes five hours. Here, we play in a few hours,” Boyland says. “It’s a great place for beginners, juniors, seniors and we do see a lot of good players here. A lot of industry guys come out here after their shift. Maybe they work at an exclusive private club nearby where they’re not allowed to play once they’re done for the day, so they come out here in the late afternoon and work on their short game.”
With residential condos almost more “in” the course than “on” across these intimate surrounds, a coalescence of home-to-course grooming makes for an essential maintenance mind meld.
“Along with the course, we also maintain the homes; outside the gate, everything,” superintendent Richard Jimenez says. “We’ve got three guys on the crew who maintain the homes, and then five who work the course.”
Having reduced its footprint with a turf reduction in recent years, enhanced D.G. (decomposed granite) routing and outlining has made the property easier to maintain, while concurrently resulting in improved course-to-residence distinction. A reinvestment in course conditions has also found Palm Royale on the upswing.
“When we started here, the course wasn’t the way it is now,” adds Jimenez, whose turf undoubtedly benefits from the walking only/cart path-free design. “We’ve done our thing by mowing the greens to the proper heights of 1/8-inch. We also leveled the tee boxes and made them larger.”
Close quarters call for a close rapport between residents (the HOA owns the course) and staff.
“Everybody here has a view of the golf course, and the course, that ownership, is part of what they bought into,” Boyland says. “There’s a community pride in how we run this course, how Richard and his staff maintain the course and the relationships here — with the condos kinda packed in — it finds people well-connected. There’s just a very good sense of community, and the homeowners have gotten to know Richard and his staff; whether it’s little a wave in the morning or a lady has some fire ants in her flower bed, there’s a real comfort of communication between the folks who live here and the people who work here. It makes life a lot easier.”
Perhaps best evidencing its quaint vibe and nod to the roots of golf purity, come the deep sizzle of the desert summer, guests need only plop a 10-spot in an honor box outside the pro shop in July and August.
“We’ve run the numbers and sitting in the pro shop and running the A/C all day in 115 degress, yeah, we go with the honor box system for those two months,” Boyland says. “And it’s very well-received. The locals know about it, they like it. Our grounds staff is here working, and I’m still here every day to check in and making sure nothing crazy is going on.”
Judd Spicer is a Palm Desert, California-based writer and frequent Golf Course Industry contributor.
Be thankful for what you have
Features - Spotlight
Ever take working in the United States turf industry for granted? You won’t after learning the plight of a determined agronomist from a nation with little golf infrastructure.
While seated in Starbucks, one of my favorite places in the United States, I realized that my desired career in the American turf industry was about to end prematurely. I had just left an appointment with an immigration attorney knowing I would no longer be permitted to continue working in the industry I learned to love. The attorney, frostily, like a doctor communicates a bad disease, told me that my profile did not fit any of the available visa types. He strongly encouraged me to take a step back and leave my dreams when my legal authorization expired. It felt bad, like a punch right in the stomach.
Immediately, I started looking back on everything I did until that day and the bad feeling was just getting worse. During the last seven years of my life, I lived and breathed turf 24 hours a day, dreaming one day I’d become a golf course superintendent. From my humble start at a small club in Brazil in 2013 to my last day at famed Merion Golf Club in 2019, I had lived an intense experience filled with lots of good memories, true self-determination and personal sacrifice.
Golf was always a passion of mine and I have been playing it for a long time. But it wasn’t until 2013 that I had my first contact with golf course maintenance. Like many others in this business, I accidentally ended up working at a small golf club located in my hometown in southern Brazil. With a business background, I was hired to assist in finances. As the work progressed, I was doing a little bit of everything, from customer service to tournament organization and eventually agronomics. This is not how it’s supposed to be in an organized work environment. Unfortunately, it is how things are for many clubs in Brazil. This experience immediately sparked a passion for golf course maintenance and working outdoors. More important, it introduced me to a whole new industry and the discovery of a new profession: the golf course superintendent occupation. The advent of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio boosted my desire even more and brought high expectations it could bring advancements to the local turf industry. Suddenly, I was seriously considering a career switch to prepare myself for this promising future.
It was clear I would need to start with a solid education, so I realized I needed to enroll in an American turf program. It was a very tough decision for several reasons based on my profile:
I’m in my mid-30s, a difficult age to start something from scratch.
Portuguese is my native language, and it could be a barrier.
As a Latin American native, I wasn’t sure how I would be accepted and if it could impact career advancements.
I’m married. I would need to leave my wife back in Brazil to complete a good preparation.
Lastly, it would be a big investment, especially considering an American dollar is worth six Brazilian reals.
The odds were against me, but I decided to face the risks and pursue my dream, knowing that if I didn’t succeed in the United States, I could obtain a strong education capable of leading me to a solid occupation in my local industry. To increase my chances of success, I had to give it my best. I started my preparation early by improving my English skills at night and working during the day at the club. You can’t find technical vocabulary for turf at any English school, so my personal method was early purchases of books recommended by my future Penn State advisor, Dr. John Kaminski.
It’s hard now to imagine that two years ago I concluded the Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program at Penn State University. It was by far the best professional education of my life. The fact that I was not successful in my previous academic attempts made me a frustrated and unconfident person. Through the program, I received a second chance to make things right and overcome many issues. The fact that I was studying turf, a subject I really loved, made things enjoyable and my dedication was growing every day. I earned a respectable GPA, collected scholarships, developed a network and even joined a champion Sports Turf Managers Association student challenge team. Suddenly, like taking a medicine for a headache, those bad memories from the past about academic performance were over. I’m proud of becoming the first South American graduate of the Penn State program.
In 2017, I accepted an internship at Carmel Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, working for director of greens and grounds Brannon Goodrich. His mentorship resulted in an internship exceeding all expectations. He split me between two golf courses, providing an opportunity to work with warm- and cool-season grasses, and involved me in every part of the agronomic process. I was also required to participate in meetings and watch boardroom presentations.
On one special occasion, I received a radio call asking me to show up in the office. Brannon wanted me to meet legendary USGA Green Section agronomist Patrick O’Brien, who was visiting Carmel for a consulting visit and bunker evaluation. Brannon had me shadow and assist Patrick throughout the visit. Suddenly, I was having a full day with an experienced USGA agronomist and learned plenty from our interaction, including the dynamics surrounding debates about bunker playability and conditions.
Merion represented my final job in the United States. The experience at such a historic facility, although much shorter than expected, was unforgettable. I arrived at Merion as an assistantant-in-training to reinforce East Course superintendent Patrick Haughey’s team during the final phase of a major restoration. It was a hot summer and my primary job involved moisture management on bentgrass areas. On one summer day, I was watering hot spots on the sixth fairway and, suddenly, director of grounds operations Paul B. Latshaw stopped by for a personal inspection. He gently asked for the hose and watered the areas by himself while showing me hidden dry spots and how he likes things to be done. At one point, I asked him about moisture and diseases relation. He looked at me and said, “Son, at this time of the year, in order to have diseases, we will need to have grass first!” I still carry that lesson in the back of my mind about priorities.
Raul Iurk’s final job before leaving the United States was at famed Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
Collecting wicker baskets — which Merion uses in place of flags — during the “Golden Hour” at the end of the day was another incredible memory. What I would now give to have another look at that course.
As I was gaining on-course experience, I continued my education through various programs and opportunities offered to ambitious turf managers. I participated in the GCSAA’s assistant superintendent certification program, attended the 2019 Green Start Academy and volunteered at a pair of PGA Tour events. These experiences forged my turf DNA.
Being disconnected from this industry and struggling to find opportunities back home in Brazil proved difficult. Having success and then seeing it stopped because of legal authorization could have easily resulted in “poor me” syndrome. But I prefer to use the time to rethink and try to backtrack possible mistakes.
For starters, my back-up plan was an enormous pitfall. The strong preparation did not lead to a great occupation at home. Even with the Olympics, the local turf industry did not evolve. Brazil has 117 courses. The number hasn’t changed since 2016. We still don’t have a public golf course. High-priced memberships and green-fee taxes are the rule and a major impediment to expanding the game. In such a restricted market, a solid turf industry can’t flourish, thus comprising the future. Lack of work organization, certified professionals, associations and a legislated herbicide market are just some of the obstacles. I prepared myself to the highest level for an industry that has yet to emerge.
Because work advertisement is non-existent and the industry is very limited, looking for jobs can be a hard task. You literally need to knock on the club’s door. I did it a couple of times and it was a frustrating experience. I started with the Olympic Golf Course, the place that once motivated me to seek professional development. They never granted a professional interview.
It came to my attention that the superintendent had left and the assistant was in an indefinite extended medical situation. Confident of my background, I reached out to them and made myself available. They replied with little enthusiasm. I wasn’t considered for a position. In another job interview, after a huge wait following my first call, I was offered a superintendent job at the salary of US $1,200 and under the condition I put aside the agronomic plan I traced for the course to follow the agronomic approach of a board member. This is just one example of the disrespectful practices in the Brazilian golf market.
The much-deserved respect and professional recognition is one of the reasons why I love the United States turf industry and hold it in such high regard. Also, if you are struggling, you have associations and a huge extended network of turf people willing to help you. This is also the same reason why I get sad seeing people take their jobs for granted. Many forget the benefits of an organized industry and how chaotic it can be without it. For me, just the fact you can open a professional website and choose between hundreds of job opportunities is a blessing.
I had a few misconceptions about my ability to succeed in the industry, beginning with age, nationality and language. I also arrived in the United States thinking the industry was saturated with talent. Conversely, many things were different. The industry had numerous opportunities available in all levels of the hierarchy and work organization. Plus, all the places I worked were inclusive. I saw a lot of people also in their mid-30s who had switched careers. That was a big motivator. My English also improved tremendously by the end of the program.
But I was late to the game. If I really wanted to develop a career in United States, I needed to prepare around my immigration process, as it was the most important thing to do immediately upon my arrival. The process is lengthy. There are many types of visas, and you should govern your decisions around their specifics. The system is hard to navigate even if you have professional assistance. Examples of visas available to those working in the turf industry include:
Raul Iurk, second from top left, quickly meshed with his Penn State classmates and remains in contact with many of them.
H-1B: This is the standard work visa. If you are planning to follow up with this type, you will be required to have at least a bachelor’s degree. A turf certification won’t work. Another important detail is making sure your home country is not on the restricted list. An employer sponsor is necessary for this type of visa.
H-2B: This is the seasonal visa. This visa is restricted to unskilled labor. Therefore, if you have a degree/certification or are already in a skilled occupation within any organization inside the United States, you will not be able to apply for this visa. An employer sponsor is also necessary.
Green card through labor sponsor: It is possible for any person regardless of nationality to get a green card (permanent residency) in the United States through the labor sponsor. The petition only can be placed by an employer requiring a labor certification process within the Department of Labor, proving the hiring will not impact labor availability. The overall process is extremely hard to navigate and it can take years to accomplish. If you are planning to navigate this option, be aware that you will burden your employer with monetary and time expenses and might not be a good approach for entry levels. Employers may pass along the costs through lower wages. With this petition, you will be tied to your employer until the process is completed. As a result, the employer wields an enormous amount of power.
EB-1: This is a priority worker visa. You may be eligible for a green card if you are an alien with a special talent in the field, willing to work in the United States in your area of expertise and the work will benefit the country. No employer sponsor is needed. However, the criteria of special talent or extraordinary ability is hard to prove. It is required from the applicant to match a certain number of criteria that can include awards, publications, professional memberships and involvement in the community. The good thing is that a solid educational program like Penn State can put you halfway there. I’m still trying to figure out more about this visa. Keep in mind the kind of club you are working for can be a huge factor when it comes to a labor sponsor. Large country clubs with numerous layers are more difficult to navigate whereas private clubs with a single-owner or limited membership facility can increase your chances of obtaining the proper visa.
Last year was very challenging for many people across the world to stay mentally healthy. For me, it just fed a permanent feeling of isolation through the removal from work imposed by immigration, leading me to symptoms of depression. To avoid an imminent mental collapse, I needed to find tools that could help me avoid this bad feeling and I was fortunate to find some. The virtual meeting format was highly beneficial for somebody in my situation. Events such as the Carolinas GCSA Conference and the Penn State Happy Hours provided opportunities to stay educated and updated about industry happenings and, most important, they kept me connected to the professional network I developed. With more time available, I reconnected with the game of golf. I had forgotten how beneficial it can be to your state of mind.
I now find myself motivated with a new mindset. I overcame some of the frustrations with positive thoughts and a sense of thankfulness for everything I had accomplished so far. Also, I viewed my situation as a forced, not definitive, pause. This has motivated me to keep looking into the future.
I’m staying connected with the industry in a way that will prepare me for a strong return if something changes. I’m using extra free time to work on my European citizenship. If I succeed, I will explore the European market as a method to accelerate my career. I’m also planning to expand my education with a bachelor’s degree in turfgrass science. Obtaining a degree would help my immigration petitions and, perhaps, create an avenue for my return.
The United States turf industry is where I want to be. The industry is inclusive, friendly, boasts distinguished associative participation and is always on the cutting edge of turf technology. Sometimes people don’t have the perspective to realize the industry’s greatness. Rejoining it would be an honor.
Raul Iurk is native of Brazil who completed the two-year turfgrass management program at Penn State University. He’s currently living in Europe as he navigates his way through the immigration process.
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.
During this summer’s Tom Weiskopf/Phil Smith restoration of the Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, project manager Tom Bush of Heritage Links worked with golf course superintendent Seth Miller on pulverizing the extensive root mass of the chemically killed existing 35-year-old turf in preparation for re-grassing with new Tifway 419. Conventional PTO-driven rototillers were initially used, but the productivity was too slow. Bush brought in a 9-foot-wide Cat RM-350B asphalt road pulverizer and production greatly increased to three to four acres per day, completed in 10 days at an 8-inch depth, with the smaller rototillers finishing the greens surrounds at a 4-inch depth. Mellowing out mounds, reshaping/eliminating bunkers, opening up views and establishing new forward tees were all accomplished with a shaper and bulldozer. The course was grown in on the perfectly pulverized sand-cap soil prior to re-grassing and then reopened to rave reviews.
Overhead Flagstick Holder
Crawford Model #H13010 Adjustable Overhead Storage Hanger (Northern Tools, two at $15.99/each) used for hanging spare and special event flagsticks at the Olde Florida Golf Club in Naples, Florida, conceived by Darren J. Davis, CGCS, and his team. Each bracket has a 50-pound capacity; the height adjusts from 12.75 inches to 21 inches; the 12-inch arms adjust in any beam direction; they have an easy length adjustment; mounting hardware is included; and there is a foam-type sleeve to protect the flagsticks from getting scratched. Twelve-inch wide shelving can also be used. Davis was the 82nd president of the GCSAA.
