Irrigation Parts Storage

These 22 buckets and lids were acquired from Lowe’s for $3.58 each and $1.38 each, respectively, Grass seed buckets could also be used. They are attached to the wall on two 4-foot by 8 ½-foot thick sheets of plywood using two ¼-inch diameter lag bolts for each bucket. The lids are snapped into place and they are cut into an easy opening for access while still allowing room for ample storage within. Each lid has a computer-printed and laminated labels — for water and wear protection — stapled to the lid. It took Brandon Crim, superintendent, at the Boise (Idaho) Ranch Golf Course, about three hours to build and mount this project.

Triplex Greens Mower Brush

This brush assembly, mounted to a 2004 Toro GM 3150, is used to work-in sand topdressing on the greens approximately two to three times every two to three weeks. Each push broom is 30 inches long placed end to end and bolted to two 4-inch by 4-inch by 31-inch long boards placed 5 inches apart. That is then bolted together to the 1 1/2-inch square tubing. The side arms are 2 inches by 20 inches by 1/8-inch thick with a 1-inch square stock “plug” that fits inside the 1 1/2-inch OD by 1/8-inch square tubing that is part of the mower’s grass catchers mounting brackets. Everything was then painted red. The brush assembly easily moves up and down automatically as the cutting units/grass catchers are raised and lowered. It took Brandon Crim, superintendent, and David Cantrell, equipment manager, at the Boise (Idaho) Ranch Golf Course, about six hours with $20 in parts to build and mount this project.

Let’s take a walk with a superintendent turned executive of an exclusive private club in a market filled with elite facilities.

Our group consisting of Ohio Turfgrass Foundation members meets Double Eagle COO Todd Voss at the old maintenance building. Before businessman John McConnell decided to build his dream golf course, the light blue structure housed horses. Double Eagle owns a Galena, Ohio, address. Galena was farmland when the course opened in 1992. Today it’s considered part of the bustling and expanding Columbus metropolitan area.

Double Eagle’s prominence also has expanded in the last two-and-a-half decades. Those who rank golf courses often place it in their Top 100 lists. Voss arrived at Double Eagle in March 1991 as an assistant superintendent. Twenty-one years later, he ascended to COO. He remains heavily involved in golf course maintenance, and he spends mornings walk mowing greens.

The club moved its primary maintenance operations to a pair of gutterless red structure behind the 14th green and 15th tee in 2013. The old, blue horse barn still serves a key purpose. It’s where Double Eagle stores chemicals, fertilizer and large equipment. Later, in a quiet moment away from the group, Voss is asked why the club kept the structure. Finding a more open and accessible person in the business than Voss might be tougher than landing a tee time at Double Eagle. Voss visited a dozen maintenance buildings when planning the project.

“Most great clubs have about 20,000 square foot of maintenance, whether that’s cold storage, whether that’s work space, but it’s about 20,000 square feet,” he says. “With our maintenance buildings, we were adding about 7,000 square feet per building. That still makes us a little bit short. By keeping the old building, it allows us a place to put some of the big equipment that just takes up space – tractors, sprayers, backhoes. It also allowed us to now have our fertilizer in a room that has a concrete floor, so that allows a forklift, which is more efficient.”

Do the math: 7,000 + 7,000 = 14,000. That 6,000-square foot difference meant Double Eagle either needed to build a third new building or keep the old one. Chemical and fertilizer storage also factored into the decision. Storing chemicals in the old building prevents Double Eagle from changing current codes and protects the club against potential fire damage, Voss says.

The tour then takes a few detours before visiting the new structures, first stopping at an expansive bentgrass nursery adjacent to the blue building. Native areas, a small pond and trees surround the nursery. The group passes a birdbox – one of 170 – on the walk to the nursery. Multiple emerging bentgrass varieties are tested here. Researchers, especially those from nearby Ohio State, know this part of the property well.

A left turn around more native areas brings the group to the par-4, 14th hole, where first-time visitors immediately notice an absence of markers on tee boxes. The group walks the hole, learning Double Eagle’s maintenance philosophies along the way. Poa annua, in Voss’s words, is “public enemy No. 1 at Double Eagle.” Native areas are left untouched. “What grows in our native areas, grows,” Voss says. Fairways are aerified twice per year; bunkers are viewed as hazards; inputs are limited.

After exiting the 14th green, it’s time to explore the primary maintenance compound. The new and existing buildings are painted red. Completing the compound required two years of permitting, and Voss asked thousands of questions during the stretch. Stories of maintenance building fires convinced him to place mowers and other equipment in multiple buildings. “Did I really want to put all eggs in one basket?” he says. Riding mowers, utility vehicles, walking rotary mowers and handheld equipment are stored in one of the new buildings. Walking reel mowers, staff offices, the equipment technician’s workspace, parts and breakroom are in the other building.

Perhaps the most exhausting and rewarding part of the maintenance compound project involved constructing a covered wash pad. The permitting process lasted nine months. Voss remained persistent, because he’s witnessed too much storm-related untidiness and commotion around the shop in his career. “Just being able to have all the guys wash stuff off at once … it’s time motion,” he says. “You can get it done quicker and easier, and it pays for itself.”

The remainder of the tour includes a stop at the pump station – “That’s our heart,” Voss says – the 15th green, a greenside bunker project on the 12th hole and six-acre irrigation lake built in 2007. The two-hour walk ends at the old maintenance building. Voss fields dozens of questions, and he doesn’t dodge any turf topic during the tour. His advice for colleagues planning a new maintenance facility?

“Ask around,” he says. “If you’re not getting the answer you want, you’re not asking the question correctly. When you visit places, ask them, ‘What do you like about your building? What don’t you like about your building?’ I took our drawing to every superintendent’s meeting and had guys look at it. Maybe you think something is a great idea and somebody goes, ‘This is pretty bad. Let me show you why this is bad.’ You then look at some of these amazing buildings that clubs have built.”

Tartan Talks No. 12

We turned to two ASGCA members to explain the three “Rs” of modern golf course architecture.

Restorations, remodels and renovations served as topics as we joined Steve Forrest and Shawn Smith at Hills & Forrest International headquarters in Toledo, Ohio. The pair revealed their definitions of the misunderstood concepts and implemented examples from their work into the discussion. The podcast also offers tips for superintendents seeking to protect the size of their course’s greens.

Enter bit.ly/2sn7iBE into your web browser to hear the first two-guest episode in Tartan Talks history.

Consuming media while producing media is part of an editor’s routine. Here are a few birdies and shanks and why they matter to our segment of this $70 billion industry.

Birdie. David Owen, author of multiple golf books, including “The Making of The Masters,” isn’t devoting 200-plus pages to the game again. But he recently released a book about a subject that could shape the industry’s future – water.

“Where the Water Goes” traces the past, present and future of communities and landscapes affected by the Colorado River. The basin supports $26 billion of recreational activities. Golf represents a big slice of that total. The seven states in the region support a combined 1,802 courses, according to National Golf Foundation facilities data.

A prominent writer with a golf background exploring an environmentally charged issue provides an external boost to the industry, and his chapter about Las Vegas offers examples of courses reducing water footprints for the greater good. Unlike some writers and scholars, Owen ends his work by presenting solutions to the water dilemma. He’s a proponent of city living in resource-starved regions, even claiming water efficiency gains are lost if they are reinvested in sprawl.

Any hack can reveal a problem. It takes a skilled player to help solve one. Owen breaks par with this book.

Shank. Author Malcolm Gladwell doesn’t like golf. He despises it, a point he makes early in his “A Good Walk Spoiled” podcast. “I hate golf,” Gladwell tells listeners. “By the end of this you will hate golf too.”

So much for objectivity.

Before clicking goodbye on golf-hating media, consider how suffering through 35 minutes of a biased podcast can help golf. We’re golf supporters. All of us, theoretically, should believe in the game’s economic, spiritual, physical and societal benefits. To fully promote our business, we must understand how opponents view golf.

Gladwell, who uses Los Angeles private courses as the impetus for his assault, views golf as “crack cocaine for rich, white guys” and suggests it creates “inequality and injustice.” He also takes a shot at golf course maintenance, telling listeners courses are “drenched in pesticides.” Yikes.

How do you counter the negative publicity? Start with numbers. Seventy-five percent of the 15,000-plus golf courses are public facilities. The median green fee was $37 in 2015. Golf contributed $3.9 billion to charitable efforts in 2016. Documenting annual pesticide and resource usage helps defend your course, and industry, against unsubstantiated attacks.

Gladwell has accumulated thousands, if not millions of fans/followers, because of his immense writing talents. Unfortunately, attention inflates egos. Agendas ensue, and we’re left with a podcast that steals its title from a John Feinstein book.

Birdie. I laud officials at Medinah Country Club and The Greenbrier for making members of their respective turf teams prominent parts of recent media events. Director of golf course operations Curtis Tyrrell and architect Rees Jones led a media tour of Medinah’s restored No. 2 course May 24, while The Greenbrier invited director of golf course maintenance Kelly Shumate’s entire team to The Greenbrier Classic Media Day June 5. The work at Medinah is featured on page 14 and the third part of our series about the incredible rebuilding efforts at The Greenbrier runs next month.

Every year it gets harder to identify and hire good assistants, interns and crew members. Blame the work ethic of millennials, rules against hiring immigrant labor and an overall poor public perception of the game, if you like. But don’t forget that growth potential in this business is limited and the work we do is hard.

Which means that when you do find good people, particularly good young people, it is extremely important to encourage and engage them. To get the most out of the best, you must let them think outside the box, propose new ideas, and push the boundaries.

But maybe more important, change the way you think andw act. So, it’s time to take an honest look at your habits and practices as the boss and see if you are allowing and pushing your people to be their best.

Do you pressure your staff to do what you do and think the way you do? Do you establish strict rules and practices or do you allow them freedom?

Are you a micromanager? Good workers hate that. A good leader tells his staff what is expected or what the overall goal is. Then they step back and let them get there. Giving step-by-step directions for every little task is a waste of your time and your crew resents it.

Do you only want “yes men” around you? The correct answer is “no.” A good leader encourages debate, brings his staff in to talk about strategy, and is comfortable asking for and accepting other options.

Think about the last time someone on your staff offered a truly new idea. How did you react? Did you listen with an open mind? Did you encourage debate? Were you willing to give it a try? Unless you’re a “yes man” to all those questions, you’re not a good boss.

I’m the first to admit that it’s my generation—50 and above—that seems the most locked into doing things the same safe way and won’t change. We’re slow to embrace the newest technologies, preferring the tried and true, or call it experience. At this age, we’re very comfortable and satisfied and, frankly, we’re always worried about losing our jobs. One of the most harmful truths I’ve learned in this business over the years is that many are scared about being unemployed that we stop being creative, repress our true identities and smother our strengths. When that happens, everyone suffers, including the golf course.

But I’m also pleased to note that it’s the superintendents in their 30s and 40s who are the most open-minded to doing things differently. So, there is hope.

What about the next generation? I fear that they feel in their 20s the way I did when I was starting my career and pressed to conform to practices and procedures established by those I worked for. It was made very clear to me that there was only one right way to do every job. Variation would not be tolerated.

We must change our collective and individual mindsets if we are going to engage young people. We must eliminate the “we don’t work that way here” mentality. At the very least, think about when you were starting out and your first bosses: Did they encourage your creativity or restrain you to the same old way of doing things? How did we learn from your own early experiences?

I don’t mean to say that every superintendent out there is doing things wrong. I often run across those who are open to bringing new perspectives to the table. From watching and working with them, I’ve gathered some ideas for hiring and leading the next generation.

Hip to be square. Don’t confuse being open-minded with being hip, cool or that you’re 28 again. You’re not! Real twentysomethings will see through your act in a heartbeat. They don’t want a contemporary, they want a boss, one they can learn from and emulate, but also someone who will listen to them, who wants to hear their ideas.

Lead by example. Don’t be afraid—or worse, above—to cut a hole, jump on a mower, spray or fix an irrigation break. I recall one well-known superintendent who had no problem grabbing a broom and brushing the greens along with the crew at a U.S. Open.

Ask for their ideas. If what you hear is really crazy, explain why but don’t condemn the thought. Applaud a willingness to speak up and push the envelope. During my early years at the USGA, an executive director often said during a meeting, “this might be a crazy idea, but…” This made it okay for others to offer their ideas, crazy or not.

Say what? Speaking of meetings, if the only voice being heard is yours, you have a problem.

Beware Yes Men. If all you’re hearing from your people is agreement with what you’re saying, that’s another problem. If that is the case, it is not enough to keep saying you want to hear new ideas, different thoughts, creative approaches. Prove that you mean it by actually listening to and trying some of their out-of-the-box suggestions. You have no idea how much respect and good will you’ll get by saying, “Let’s try that here.” In the words of General George S. Patton, Jr., “If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn’t thinking.”

Know your strengths, and know your crews’, too. It takes many different people, and talents, to form an efficient, effective team. If you’re a good manager but not as good building or repairing equipment, find those talents in someone else and make that person know that those skills are important to you and the rest of the team.

But discovering an employee’s strong points can take time and effort. Think about rotating a new employee through several different tasks for the first few months, giving you the opportunity to determine what he’s good at. Then nurture and help to further develop those skills.

• A job description is not carved in stone. Employees need to know what is expected of them. But a job description should have some flexibility and room for creativity.
• Tell people what needs to be done, not how to do it. Explain the task and you’ll likely be surprised by their ingenuity in handling it.

Finally, always be willing to offer support, praise, and respect.