Old Erie Golf Club owner and superintendent Matthew Woodcock called in from Durhamville, New York, for the latest episode of Beyond the Page. The very busy turf pro relayed his long history with the course (he grew up about a mile away and collected balls as a kid), how he and his wife, Jill, went from regulars to running the place, and how he handles nine holes without any fairway irrigation. “I’ve kind of done a little bit of everything,” Woodcock said. “When we were in the middle of trying to buy the course, I had some people saying it wasn’t a good idea. I had some people trying to show us what the challenges were going to be. I called my sister because I knew she would be 100 percent honest with me and I asked her, ‘Do you think this is a good idea?’ And she said, ‘Out of all the things you’ve done up to this point, it makes sense.’”
Few turf pros better reflect the sweep of the Women in Turf movement than Noel Popoli, who landed her current position at The Olympic Club in San Francisco not long after volunteering there as part of the historic 2021 U.S. Women’s Open crew. At the time, Popoli was the senior assistant superintendent at Century Country Club in Purchase, New York, but her week on the grounds had her dreaming about the West Coast. “I called (director of golf maintenance) Troy (Flanagan) and told him, ‘I loved my time out there and I would love to send you my résumé,’” Popoli told Rick Woelfel on the latest episode of Wonderful Women of Golf. “And it kind of went from there. Luckily, I must have done something right that week.”
Does anybody schedule better golf course road trips than editor Guy Cipriano? His encyclopedic knowledge of courses, superintendents, and their stories paid off again with a great couple of Virginia course visits sandwiching a recent sojourn to Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters. The Olde Farm in Bristol and the Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech in Radford are separated by a little more than a hundred miles but share more than you might think. Managing editor Matt LaWell and senior contributor Lee Carr discuss all three courses with Guy in another fun episode of Greens with Envy.
How can one turf equipment manager handle seven courses, 126 holes, and more than 9,000 acres of land? (No, seriously, read those numbers again.) Trent Manning calls Jason Fontana of Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, to learn about process and details on the latest episode of Reel Turf Techs. “I have 14 total (technicians), two in each shop,” Fontana said. “It’s a great team. They’re on autopilot — they were already on autopilot when I got here and they pretty much stay busy on their own. We have our meetings, but I don’t have to line them out for the day or anything. They’re real efficient on their own. With two in each shop, they make sure things don’t get missed.”
The month wrapped up with the 82nd episode of Tartan Talks, with golf course architect Gary Browning calling in to talk with Guy about rebuilding Kananaskis Country Golf Course outside Calgary, Alberta, after a massive flood. “This was new ground for me to be covering,” Browning told Guy. “When I started it, I didn’t quite know where I was going to start. As we started to get into it, it was very apparent it was a big golf course contract, it was a big job, we had to roll up our sleeves and make it happen.” Work was normally at least a little easier thanks to the specter of the Canadian Rockies. “You have to see them to believe them,” Browning said. “Thirteen thousand feet, strikingly rugged, just beautiful and you never get tired of it, that’s for sure. They’re 45 minutes away and they feel like you are in your backyard.”
