Andi Meadows of TPC San Antonio appeared on the latest episode of Wonderful Women of Golf, sharing the story of her escape from a FEMA trailer following Hurricane Katrina, her professional climb abroad and now in the United States, and the joys and challenges of raising three daughters. “I only learn by making mistakes,” she told Rick Woelfel. “Everything turns into experience, so I’m able to make decisions based on experience rather than just off of somebody telling me, ‘You need to make this decision.’ It doesn’t make sense to me that way. I need to work through and experience the trials and the errors and all that. There’s no box, and I can grow as much as I want to. I highly respect that type of management style.”
Rick also dialed in to Beyond the Page to discuss his recent magazine feature about a trio of industry professionals — one a superintendent, one an assistant, and one an architect — who moonlight as high school golf coaches. “They felt a need to pass along their love of the game to the next generation,” Woelfel said. “Apart from giving back, I think they all got a lot out of it themselves.” And Outside the Ropes columnist Tim Moraghan dived a little more into his column about questions to consider before bringing aboard new hires.
On Reel Turf Techs, Trent Manning called across The Pond — flying might have been more fun but also more time-consuming — to talk with Christopher Fogg, the turf equipment manager at The Richmond Golf Club, whose path to his current position started with walking dogs and gardening. (I mean, isn’t that how everybody gets into equipment maintenance?) “The only reason why I got the mechanic role was that there was me and this other guy and they had to decide between us who was going to be the spray technician and who was going to be the equipment manager,” Fogg said. “I said to them, ‘I kind of have this background in fixing mowers,’ and off we were.”
Dr. Jared Hoyle makes his record-setting third appearance on Talking Turf Weeds, this time to cover spring broadleaf weed control. The Corteva Agriscience turf and ornamental territory manager discussed how his 3-year-old daughter plans to plant little unicorn toys “to grow big unicorns” later this season, his old and new home lawns, and, more pertinent to the topic at hand, what turf pros can do to tame spring broadleaf weeds. “Regardless of where you are, there’s going to be broadleaf weeds,” he said. “And now is a good time to make sure you have a plan in action.”
Guy Cipriano is back from way out west and an incredible trip to seven different courses in and around the burgeoning golf market that is St. George, Utah. Guy recapped all seven courses during the latest episode of Greens with Envy, our ongoing travelogue of where we’ve been, what we’ve seen and who we’ve talked with. Among his evergreen tips: “One of the first things I do when I go somewhere I haven’t been is I
study real estate prices and cost of living,” he said. “It weaves
greatly into what our readers do. It gives you an idea of what golf
course maintenance teams and superintendents could be fighting to bring
personnel in. It’s important to visit and talk with people.”
Guy also wrapped up our month of podcasts with the 81st episode of Tartan Talks, our monthly series with members of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Kevin Norby returned to discuss his rather busy last five years, during which time he has guided projects in all four contiguous U.S. time zones. Among other topics, Norby covered his approach to how to tactfully communicate interruptions to projects. “What I try to do is engage people directly,” he said. “If you have somebody who is really passionate or really outspoken about an issue or a change to a particular golf hole, I like to call that person up, tour the course, take the superintendent with me and make them part of the process. What happens is that you engage them and make them part of the process, and oftentimes they become your greatest ally.”