You'll never see a British Open course with fairways that appear striped, which happens when mowers cut them in different directions.
You won't see striped fairways at Whistling Straits during the PGA Championship, either.
The mowers will go in just one direction as they cut the Straits' fairways. After a cut, they will travel back to the fairway on a path through the rough so that the color of the fairways will be uniform.
"We're going to push everything in one direction. That's the look we feel is appropriate for this golf course. There should be no striping," said Mike Lee, the golf course manager for Kohler's four courses, including the Straits.
That will put added stress on the 12 mowers slotted for the fairways, let alone the workers manning the mowers. But that's normal considering crews are going to be expected to complete tasks in one day during the tournament that it usually takes four days for an average crew to complete.
Lee said the maintenance crew will include staff from the Irish Course, which will be closed during the tournament, as well as some from the River and Meadow Valley courses at Blackwolf Run.
"There's a lot going on at once and it only happens for about three hours in the morning and about three hours at night," said Lee. "That's why we need so much planning. They have to know what's going on before they go out there so it all gets done right."
Thirty love: A tour of the back room of the Whistling Straits maintenance building will find the following items:
Tennis balls, for the workers on mowers to use to get the attention of other workers on loud machines who might not hear them yelling -- for instance, to notify him or her that a machine is leaking hydraulic fluid that can kill the grass.
Aluminum cups. The cups in the holes at most golf courses are cheap and plastic, and they sound it when and if your ball finds its way into them. Not at the Straits. Expensive, aluminum cups were purchased just for the PGA. They ensure that crisp sound of the ball hitting the bottom of the hole every time. Perfect for TV.
Upside-down paint. It's used to paint the top of the holes so they show up better on television. That's not an easy task and Lee has crew members practicing the act every day.
"There's a lot of finesse involved," he said. "You don't have two tries. That's why you have to practice every day. There are no alternate cup locations."
A narrow strip of white paint is placed between the top of the hole and the beginning of the cup a few inches below the ground. The strip is created after a recessed metal plate is placed at the hole and turned as the paint is applied.
"The plate keeps it from going outside the cup," said Lee. "A cottage cheese or butter lid is also used to keep the paint from going inside the cup."
Rechargeable lights, which enable crew members to see while working before sunrise.
Thanks, but no thanks: Lee hopes to see many of the state's golf course superintendents at the PGA Championship. He just doesn't want them to be working.
Lee said there is enough staff and other volunteers to handle all the duties that week.
"What you need here is somebody who knows the golf course. As experienced as some superintendents are, they don't know this golf course," Lee said. "The people who work here know this golf course. They know where to park, they know where to lift up their mower and where to sit down and all those things."
Lee said it would take too long to train somebody from the outside. "Just to know how to get to 13 out here would take half a day of training," he added.
Saving money: The Kohler Co. is trying to cut down on excess waste so Lee has found some interesting ways to save money while preparing for the PGA.
Part of the new roads that spectators will walk on is made up of crushed up toilets. And a new bridge spanning the front and back nines was made up of old parts left over from building Blackwolf Run and other construction projects on the Kohler grounds.
Source: The Capital Times
