CGCS Soetaert on sinkhole

Just got off the phone with John Soetaert, CGCS at Annbriar Golf Course in Waterloo, Ill. The course made national headlines after a golfer was swallowed by a sinkhole on the 14th fairway last Friday, suffering a dislocated shoulder and bruises. The sinkhole was 10 feet across, marveled Soetaert, who was at the barbershop with his kids Friday afternoon when he got the call to return to work.

"I couldn't believe it. It was unbelievable!" he said of getting the call. He rushed to the course and sprung into action, fencing off the sinkhole. 

"It looks like he just fell through the earth," Soetaert said. "I crawled up to the hole. It looked like a Hershey's Kiss under the ground, a bell-shaped void." The sinkhole is smack in the middle of the fairway, so there's really only one worse place it could be—on a putting green, Soetaert said. 

The course has other sinkholes but none so drastic as this one. It's too early to estimate how long it will take to excavate and repair it, but Soetaert's hoping repairs won't take longer than a couple weeks. Since he and his grounds crew are fully occupied with the sinkhole, Soetaert had to call in reinforcements to help with pre-emergents and day-to-day maintenance. 

But he's just happy the golfer wasn't injured more than he was. "I've been working on a golf course since 1986 and I've never seen anything like this," he said.

For more of our interview with Soetaert, check out our April issue!

New employee at Ohio State University Golf Club

These photos just hit my inbox this morning. Brutus Buckeye is the newest proud employee out at the Ohio State University Golf Club in Columbus. Word around the maintenance shop is that Brutus is a hard worker and carries his weight... the only complaints so far is that he is always unavailable to work on game days, and also, they won't let him operate a string-trimmer because they can't find protective eyewear to fit his giant mascot head...

The timing of these photos really made me laugh, because this month's issue of Golfdom has a "turf school" theme. Had I got them two weeks ago, I would have probably tried to publish them! Heck, Brutus could have been my cover model! (OK, probably not... don't want to make it seem like we have an allegiance to one turf school!)

Anyway, look for more from Golfdom soon about your favorite turf school, as well as the obstacles those schools are having to overcome with tighter state budgets... in this month's issue!