Hendren's Hyperbole! -- Zhang fever!

It is U.S. Open week, by far the best week of the year! The U.S. Open is my favorite tournament and it is awesome that Sunday of the tourney is also father’s day every year. Nothing better!

In case you missed it I wanted to bring something pretty bad-ass to your attention. Paul Casey withdrew from the U.S. Open due to injury, which bumped up 14-year-old Andy Zhang to the field of 151 players competing this week. Zhang will be the youngest person to ever compete in the U.S. Open. Not only does Zhang get to compete in the best tourney of the year, he also played a practice round with masters champ Bubba Watson and Aaron Baddeley this morning. 

I can’t remember what I was doing at 14 but I do remember I wasn’t competing in a U.S. Open. I think this story is awesome and stories like this are one of the reasons I love the U.S. Open so much. Never in my life did I think I would be jealous of a 14-year-old kid but here I sit in Kansas City wishing like hell I could golf worth a damn!

I will absolutely be following this story through the weekend if Zhang makes the cut, just like the rest of the world.

-- Matt Hendren

Stonegate GC mourns passing of mechanic

Sad news out of Florida -- our condolences to Kipp's family and friends.

Celebration Golf Management, which operates eight Central Florida golf courses in the Central Florida region, recently mourned the unexpected passing of Steven Kipp, assistant mechanic at Stonegate Golf Club at Solivita.

Arto Rahmani, general manager of the Stonegate Golf Club, said Kipp was only 52 when he passed away.

“Steve Kipp was a close friend and colleague of Stonegate superintendent Mike Gwaltney for more than 28 years,” Rahmani said. “He was a friendly man, highly knowledgeable, a hard worker and really pleasant and someone you wanted to be around."

Stonegate Golf Club Team Members wore green ribbons to honor Kipp’s memory.

My little girl: yes to basketball, no on golf

True story:

I'm driving my daughter to her last day of pre-school. She grabs the basketball that I keep in the backseat and starts playing with it.

"Daddy," she says, "I like it when you go play basketball. But I don't like it when you go play golf."

Whoa. Golf is catching hell from my five-year-old? Is this one of the many obstacles golf has to overcome? Guilt trips from preschoolers?

I asked Evey what her problem with golf was.

"Dad, whenever you go play golf you have to drive far, far away. And you're gone forever. I don't like it when you play golf. I like it when you play basketball. You come right back home. So, you can play basketball. Or you can play football. But I don't want you to play golf..."

You won't find "guilt trips from 5-year-old girls" in any statistical data on rounds played, but it is entirely possible it is an epidemic!

U.S. Open Week!

Hi everyone,

It's been a crazy couple weeks here at Golfdom. I took a few days off in late May to unwind with the family (my daughter caught her first fish, then quickly reeled in two more for good measure.) Then last week I was in Chicago and Indiana on business. So I'm just now getting reacquainted with the home office.

It is U.S. Open week and as you know if you read this blog regularly, I will not be attending. It's with mixed emotions that I won't be there. It's hard work covering a major, but it's also a lot of fun... and let's face it, any time you can be at the U.S. Open and calling it "work," you make people jealous.

Could this be Phil's year? Magic 8-Ball: "Ask again later."

But we will keep a close eye on all things U.S. Open-related this week. Starting with this piece from GolfWeek's Brad Klein on the fairways at the Olympic Club. And here's a fun apparently outdated column from Rick Reilly at ESPN.com about some of the bad scores (and ensuing excuses) that come from U.S. Open qualifying tournaments. Update: here's Deadspin's take on Reilly's column, explaining how dated this column is. Ouch! I knew I shouldn't have linked it!

Here at Golfdom HQ we're less excited about who comes out as the champ and more excited about our friend Pat Finlen's moment in the spotlight as host of our nation's championship. Best of luck to all the men and women out there working their tails off to make the course look its absolute best!

From Seth's mailbox

Being the editor-in-chief of a universally* adored golf magazine such as Golfdom, I happen to get some neat gifts in the mail. Case in point -- this "Golden Bear" celebrating the launch of... Golden Bear Lemonade.

 

From AriZona Beverages comes this new Jack Nicklaus-branded lemonade. Hey, Arnold Palmer can't have all the fun, right? Golden Bear comes in three flavors -- lemonade with honey and ginseng, mango lemonade and strawberry lemonade.

Not only did I get a nice sample of Golden Bear lemonade (mmm, delicious!) but I also received a nice toy that my 5-year-old girl with enjoy. Many thanks to my friends at AriZona Beverages.

Now I just need Don Julio to put out a golf-themed tequila...

*Golfdom has no proof that the magazine is adored in other universes, but hopes that, if there is life beyond our universe, that they enjoy each issue of Golfdom as much as our moms do.

Golfdom on Tour!

I'm road tripping from Terre Haute to Kansas City today. If you're on that route and want me to stop by, text me -- 785-550-2560. Maybe I can get your name and smiling face in an upcoming issue of Golfdom!

Discussing innovative paths to sustainability

I'm at the 2012 BASF Agricultural Solutions Media Summit in Chicago today. We're midway through a day of great speakers and some terrific insights.

The meat of the program for me is a mere 40 minutes away as I write this -- that's when turf gets its own breakout session. Most of the focus so far has been on the Ag industry, but a lot of it applies to things we're seeing and doing in turf as well.

Like what Dave Long, President of Hilltop Ranch in California (seated second from left), said about sustainability during a panel discussion: "It's the right thing to do and it's economics -- doing more with less is better for business."

Perhaps most interesting to me was what Fred Below, professor of crop physiology, University of Illinois, said about spreading the message on  sustainability. "I wish I could tell you that (academia could spread the message) but we have been cut to the bone," he said. "It's up to the media -- you people have to get the word out. We have to educate you."

Hendren's Hyperbole! -- Enjoy the Moment

This is a little advice for all assistant superintendents and other maintenance employees who want more than anything to move up the food chain but feel they are going nowhere fast: ENJOY WHERE YOU ARE NOW! 

I know from personal experience that the grass is not always greener. I would argue that it is rarely greener. My fondest memories involving golf course maintenance work is when I was a grunt at a course in Kansas City. We worked long hours, tackled less than enjoyable tasks but we had a great time all day every day. I just assumed that all golf course maintenance staffs enjoyed their work as much as we did. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Not everyone involved in golf course maintenance has a passion for it like I do and my fellow maintenance workers did years ago.

I understand that when you set a goal for yourself it is natural to want the fastest path from point A to point B. I just want to make sure I do my part to make sure you take advantage of where you are today and learn everything you possibly can. There is nothing that can take the place on-the-job training. When the time is right I am sure you will find the right job for you.

So stop for a moment and appreciate what you're doing in this industry right now. Hopefully it gets even better in the future, but in case it does not... enjoy the moment!

-- Matt Hendren

Biggest greens maintenance change in the last five years? -- Pt. 2

Here are another 100 responses we got from our greens maintenance survey. We asked Golfdom readers, "what has been the biggest change in maintaining greens over the last five years?" A small window, but we saw a ton of answers... 

I'm unsure of the best way to post these... I've done 100 responses back-to-back now. But I could go 500-500 and be done with it... but is that too large of an information dump? Well, it's not like I'm wasting any paper here. Behold! The power of the internet.

Anyway, here are another hundred responses from you, the readers. We see here more love for Toro's ProCore, soil moisture meters, rolling... well, I'll let you have at it:

101	Repositioning of fiscal resources..... tight budgetary constraints as well as increasingly demanding clientele.... No one is feeling prosperous.
102	We have had two of the hottest years back to back that I can remember in 45 years working on a  golf course. We have had to resort to much more handwatering than ever before and returned to a more frequent spiking regimine.
103	For us it was rolling. We began this practice twice a week three years ago and green speed and smoothness have improved dramatically. We also were able to cut green mowing from seven days a week to five.
104	Rolling
105	Grooming to manage grain in Bentgrass and puffiness in poa
106	The advent of quick rollers.
107	Just learning to manage the (bent/Poa)turf that you have. More needle tining. More overseeding with the new varieties of bent.More use of Growth regulators. Higher height of cut with more rolling.
108	The most significant change we endured these past 5 years was the major weather changes experienced here in Southern Indiana. Extreme wetness followed by hot drought type conditions.
109	Alternating rolling and mowing has been the most signicant change for me. I can keep green speeds averaging at 9.5 and only Mow 3 times a week.
110	The increased use of "old" techniques such as brushing and rollling to improve playability while maintaining plant health.
111	Rolling was the most significant change for me, but it had been around since the very early days. I wonder why it took so long for the practice to be implemented by so many.
112	Smarter purchasing practices of chemicals and fertilizers, shopping for best value instead of the best price.
113	Solid tine aeration to a depth of 9-10 inches. 45 year old push up greens with heavy clay base and 5-6 inches of topdressing. It has made a huge difference in greens health.
114	Kin dried topdressing sand and the cassete options available for greens mowers
115	For us it was going to iron and trimmit applications with less fertilizer.
116	weather and fertility
117	The practice of drill and fill aeration every fall and more topdressing with straight sand.
118	Growth regulation, and rolling
119	Light frequent fertilization and more use of bio-stimulants

Hendo's photo outtakes

Hendo is constantly giving me hell. If he's not mad about one thing, he's mad about another. This is just his nature, and you learn to enjoy it after a while.

How do you enjoy it? You torment him.

For example, in this most recent issue of Golfdom, I had Hendren do a GIS products wrap-up feature for us. He pretty much nailed it, too, giving a superintendent perspective on the cool stuff he saw at the GIS. That's valuable to Golfdom.

We titled the story "Hendo's Hot List." No, we're not going to win a TOCA award for that title next year. But the idea I had... well, I thought the idea was solid. We use that title, then take a photo of Hendren touching something hot, or shooting a fireball out of his hands, or something...

Well, that was the idea. As you can see from the May issue, it didn't turn out as super-awesome as I had envisioned it in my mind.

But what the heck, you've got to try your luck every once in a while, right?

I'll mostly blame my model for this "concept" failing, and only partially blame the guy who came up with the concept.

What we published in the last issue was a photo of Hendo holding some fake-looking fire. We used about the best photo I got of Hendo for this concept.

What did some of the other photos look like? Well, I'm glad you asked...

Xonerate materials at your disposal

Arysta LifeScience North America has launched three educational and training resources for golf course superintendents following EPA approval of Xonerate. The resources were developed to help superintendents in the application of the new herbicide, which eliminates Poa annua.

The three resources at golf course superintendents’ disposal include a printed resource guide, online training module and iPad application.

“Xonerate is an effective tool for superintendents, but the new chemistry requires a shift in thinking for many superintendents and greens committees,” says Michael Maravich, Turf & Ornamental marketing and product manager for Arysta LifeScience.

The Xonerate resource guide, a printed comprehensive educational resource, provides proof of the benefit of Xonerate. The resource guide includes a section on identifying Poa annua, along with graphs, charts and trial data to illustrate Xonerate as the Poa annua solution, while informing superintendents of benefits of the product.

The Xonerate website, eliminatepoa.com, features a training module to educate Arysta LifeScience-approved distributors and eligible end-users about the use of the herbicide. The module outlines useful information about using Xonerate as part of the turf management program, including information about product chemistry, benefits, application instructions and weeds controlled. The site features animation of an application and time-lapse videos to show the product’s use in the elimination of Poa annua.

Green Start Academy now accepting applications

John Deere Golf and Environmental Science, a division of Bayer CropScience, today opened the application process for the 7th Annual Green Start Academy (GSA). Assistant superintendents from the United States and Canada are invited to submit their applications to be selected as one of this year’s 50 GSA attendees. Those selected to attend the program will be given the opportunity to network with peers and participate in discussions with industry experts on trending topics and key issues relevant to the golf industry.

“The professionalism and enthusiasm we see from GSA attendees has grown tremendously over the years, which underscores for us the demand for continuing education and career development programs,” said Jimmy Johnson, fungicide business manager and golf market lead for Environmental Science. “We are pleased to be continuing our relationship with John Deere Golf to provide this unique educational program to assistant superintendents. Programs like GSA are essential to the future of our industry as a whole.”

To be considered for Green Start Academy, assistant superintendents are required to complete an online application and respond to one of two pre-selected essay questions. Of the applicants, only 50 assistant superintendents will be selected to attend the sought-after event.

Golfdom's putting greens survey results

By now you've received the May Golfdom, and in that issue we boast that we received more than 1,000 responses to our last two survey questions.

Here are the first 100 responses to the question, "What is the most significant change in greens management in the last five years?"

1	Rolling more.
2	Alternating greens mowing with greens rolling
3	Turf growth regulator programs
4	Greens rollers
5	The ability to "dust" greens with the dual-spinner topdressers.
6	Air, Water and Nutrient management in the root zone leading to healthy turf that provides a firm smooth surface.
7	Getting away from the 'lean and mean' phylosophy. It created more problems than benefits.(IMHO)
8	More sand and verticutting
9	Regular use of growth regulators
10	improved mower technology, (i.e., hybrid mowers, electric mowers)
11	roll more
12	Supers getting dumber.
13	The interaction between mowing, rolling and the use of growth regulators.
14	For me it was a more aggressive verticutting program
15	The Toro 648 ProCore.
16	water moister meters
17	Aeration equipment/methods continue to improve to provide excellent results while creating far less disruption to the playing surface. Methods of aeration such as: Dryject, planetaire, and various deep solid-tine machines make conventional coring a thing of the past for many facilities, much to the delight of the golfing clientele.
18	Top dressing more often. At least 1 light dressing every 2 weeks. Verticut at least once per month.
19	rolling
20	I don't have the budget to use anything that is significant in the last five years!
21	providing the same conditions with less money
22	The loss of PCNB. It forced many of us to use a combination of fungicides that gave us better control and was easier on the health of the turf. A change for the better.
23	Moisture meter useage
24	TDR 300 Moisture sensor, Toro 648 with quad tine blocks, and better machines for light topdressing.
25	Height of cut on newer varieties: don't know how mechanics get mowers that low.
26	hybrid ultradwarf grrasses

NORTH COAST MEDIA'S LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT & GOLFDOM GARNER 16 TOCA AWARDS

Hey folks,

Exciting results from the TOCA meeting earlier this month. Below are the results. We're quite happy with our take... guess we better keep blogging regularly, huh?

Here's the press release:

CLEVELAND -- MAY 10, 2012 -- North Coast Media, LLC (NCM) continues to reap the rewards of its ongoing investments in Landscape Management (LM) and Golfdom -- most recently winning 16 design and editorial excellence awards from the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA).

At TOCA's annual awards ceremony, held May 3 in Nashville, Tenn., LM reaped nine honors and Golfdom seven.

"Once again, we won more total landscape and golf industry TOCA Awards than any other company -- strengthening our longstanding leadership position -- including bringing home two Gardner Awards for photography and new media," says NCM President Kevin Stoltman.

Since its relaunch in 1998, Golfdom has won more TOCA Awards for design and editorial excellence than any of its rivals. Golfdom's seven 2012 TOCA Awards include:

"2011 Plant Health Series" (April, May and June 2011), Editor-in-Chief Seth Jones and Art Director Carrie Parkhill Wallace -- Portrait/Personality: Photo of an individual or group;
"The Reinvention of Mark Woodward" (April 2011 cover story), Jones and Parkhill Wallace -- Printed magazines: Cover photo;
"Turf on Trial" (October 2011 cover story), Parkhill Wallace -- Printed Magazines: Cover page design;
"The Golfdom Daily" (www.golfdom.blogspot.com), Jones -- Best Blog;
"Home Course Advantage" (May 2011 feature on Commercial Country Club), Jones -- Writing for Commercial Publications: Operations profile;
"Dr. Wong gets the girl" (Golfdom's "Chip Shots," June 3, 2011) -- Writing for Electronic Newsletter: Original content; and
"The Golfdom Daily" (www.golfdom.blogspot.com), Jones -- 2012 Gardner Award: New Media.

Wells Fargo Champ photos, Pt. 2

Here are a few more pics from the Wells Fargo... a couple of these were shot by our own Pat Roberts. That shot of Mickelson was taken moments after he hit his tee shot so far right, it landed on the driving range! Reminder, I'm getting a frickin' laser beam shot in both of my eyeballs tomorrow, so things will be quiet around the Golfdom these next two days... if there is a turf emergency, somebody call my CELL PHONE!!!

Lazy, er, LASIK week

This is going to be an unusual week for your pal Jonesy, as I'm prepping to get LASIK surgery on Thursday. Fingers crossed it goes off without a hitch... my day ended early yesterday after they dilated my eyes for my pre-op exam. If all goes well, you won't be seeing me in any glasses other than sunglasses soon...

Here are a few pics from last week's Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club, including my boy Lervik photo-bombing Rory McIlroy...

 

David Withers (Jake prez), Jeff Kent (Quail Hollow super), Dave Wanta (Jake sales) and yours truly at the Jake tent.

Me interviewing Troy Murray (Jake sales) and Joe Guerra (Sequoia Golf) for that "Round of a Lifetime" story (see previous post).

Dave gives a demo on all the bells and whistles on Jake's Eclipse 2.

My boy Lerv photo-bombs Rory as the U.S. Open champ runs off the 17th green.

Check out the bunker faces

Sent from my iPhoneAnd then consider this: to get them looking that smooth, the crew has used a squeegee and a paint roller at different times to smooth 'em out...

Round of a Lifetime

Jacobsen Duo Tee it Up with Tiger at the Wells Fargo Championship Pro-Am

By Seth Jones

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Troy Murray and Joe Guerra won the lottery.

Murray, the director of corporate accounts for Jacobsen, and Joe Guerra, president and CEO of Sequoia Golf, won the first pick at the Tuesday night pairings party at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte.

Of course they selected Tiger Woods to join them for 18 holes the next morning.

“One of the most exciting times of my life was looking up at that board and seeing my name and Troy’s name (with Woods’) and thinking, ‘We’re playing with Tiger Woods tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. We better stop drinking wine!’” laughed Guerra.

The two had made a list of their top 20 picks, expecting to land between No. 8 and No. 20. The list was quickly discarded after being drawn No. 1.

What ensued the next morning was the round of a lifetime.

“From the very first tee there were people. But every next hole, there seemed to be another 100 people show up out of nowhere,” Murray says of the gallery. “For me, (the biggest crowd was) No. 16 -- the entire fairway, both sides, and the entire frame behind the hole, there were people as far as you could see. It looked like Augusta.”

And their playing partner?

“We were reluctant to go over and engage him in conversation. But he made us feel comfortable right out of the gate,” Guerra says. “(Swing coach) Sean Foley was the same, (agent) Mark Steinberg -- they were with us literally the whole round. (Caddie) Joe LaCava is one of the most personable guys around. I thought (Tiger) went beyond accommodating. He was like one of the guys, talking, joking, talking sports.”

Major Golfdom news!

Hey everyone -- 

This press release just went out to the world about an hour ago. I'm very excited to announce it to you all here -- Golfdom has changed ownership! North Coast Media, a new business-to-business publisher created by Kevin Stoltman (who was the vice president of Questex Media, the company that previously owned Golfdom) is the magazine's new owner, effective immediately.

I'm very excited, for Kevin, but also for Golfdom and my team. I think this move will be a shot in the arm for Golfdom. My phone rang a couple times already on this... the thing I keep telling people is, this whole thing is really great news for Golfdom and our sister publications.


OK, here's the press release below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NORTH COAST MEDIA LAUNCHES AS LARGEST
B2B PUBLISHING COMPANY HEADQUARTERED IN CLEVELAND
NCM’s Golfdom magazine -- featuring the industry’s favorite editorial team -- 
looks to build upon momentum in 2012

CLEVEAND, OH -- MAY 1, 2012 -- Today’s launch of North Coast Media, LLC (NCM) -- a spinoff of Questex Media Group’s Industrial & Specialty Group -- creates the largest B2B publishing company headquartered in Cleveland.

NCM comprises market-leading media brands Golfdom, Landscape Management (LM), Pest Management Professional (PMP), Pit & Quarry, LP Gas and GPS World -- along with their websites, enewsletters, social media and ancillary brands such as the Golfdom Insider, Golfdom TV, Putting Down Roots, the Golfdom Daily, Athletic Turf News and Inside Irrigation.

NCM's acquisition of the media properties includes a transition services agreement with Questex to ensure a seamless launch. The upstart will move one block, in late June, to its new headquarters:

North Coast Media
IMG Center
1360 East 9th Street, 10th Floor
Cleveland, OH 44114

Subsequent announcements will detail NCM's website launch and staff members’ new emails, and phone and fax numbers, as well as immediate investments in people and products.

"North Coast Media's brands, on average, have been serving their respective markets for 67 years," says NCM President Kevin Stoltman. "Most of these media properties were around long before we were born."

Golfdom magazine was founded in 1927 by World Golf Hall of Famer Herb Graffis and his brother Joe, making it one of golf's oldest magazines.

"Our entire NCM team recognizes this and truly covets our role as trustees of these industry treasures," Stoltman adds. "We pledge to do our best to continually advance these B2B media gems, as well as each of the industries, readers and marketing partners we serve."

Bucks for Turf

Our own Karl Danneberger, Ph.D., talks about a new program to help out the turf research department at OSU...

Yellow Ring

This email just was sent out via Golfdom's "Putting Down Roots" e-newsletter. Karl Danneberger, Ph.D., talks a little Yellow Patch:


The appearance of yellow to reddish brown rings is a common springtime occurrence on golf course turf. Yellow Patch, or cool temperature brown patch, is often associated with these rings. They occur on creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne), but the symptoms are most widespread on Poa annua. The patches can range from circular to irregular or scallop shaped, ranging from 1 to 3 feet in diameter. The yellow ring along the circumference of the patch ranges from one-half an inch to an inch in width. Yellow patch, caused by the pathogen Rhizoctonia cerealis , occurs under cool (50 to 65 F), wet, cloudy conditions. The disease is normally considered a minor problem, because with the arrival of warmer sunny conditions, the symptoms disappeared.

If daytime temperature increases (80s) and the yellow rings persist, the likelihood that brown ring patch is the culprit increases.  The brown ring patch pathogen was initially described as "Rhizoctonia-like." Researchers at the University of California, Riverside identified the pathogen as Waitea circinata. Previously, researchers in Japan identified the same pathogen as causing similar symptoms on creeping bentgrass and named the disease "brown ring patch."

Fungicides are available for the control of brown ring patch and, should you decide to treat, contact your local extension specialist or company representative for recommendations.



If you didn't get the email, jump over to www.golfdom.com  to sign up for all our e-newsletters, written by turf specialists Danneberger, Clark Throssell, Ph.D., irrigation specialist Joe Turk, and Golfdom staffers Beth Geraci and yours truly!

GCSAA Golf Tournament condenses dates

Right on, GCSAA! This is a great move!

From the announcement:

The golf tournament will begin with the four-ball competition Sunday, Feb. 3, with the golf classic and national championship being conducted Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 4-5. A new event, likely featuring a scramble or shamble format, will be conducted Monday, Feb. 4, for those not participating in the classic or the national championship. The Sunday, Feb. 3 four-ball is a stand-alone event and does not require participation in the new Monday activity or the classic/national championship. In recent years, the four-ball was held on Friday, with the classic and national championship conducted Saturday and Sunday.

GCSAA just hit a triple in my book... they can make it a home run (and their best number of participants in years) if they can now get Torrey Pines to be one of the host courses!

RBC Heritage

Heritage Aircheck from M Street Creative on Vimeo.
Nice video here about the RBC Heritage, and how it's rallied back from near death...

Take the Golfdom greens survey!

Take a minute to participate in our putting greens survey! Results will be published in next month's issue. Oh, and we'll select someone at random to win $100!

Here is the link to the survey:

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/U2N8DFDYB9WU

Golf Car Maintenance Webinar

Thanks to early warm temps throughout the country, the golf season has launched early, too. And just as important as the condition of your course is the condition of your golf car fleet. So tune in next week to Club Car's Webinar Golf Car Fleet Maintenance: Protecting Your Investment. Learn how to keep your fleet in top condition and maintain its value in the long run. Also, get tips on how to get the longest life from your golf car batteries, learn why daily inspection is important and more. The free Webinar takes place April 24, 2 p.m.-2:45 p.m. EDT. Your Webinar attendance also makes you eligible for a chance to win a free iPad! Register here.

Shout-out for Scioto CC in Columbus!

Cool news from the USGA yesterday -- that Scioto CC in Columbus will host the 2016 U.S. Senior Open. Congrats to the crew there -- Robert Becker, CGCS and Mark Yoder, CGCS, and company -- on the big news!

Here's the press release:

The United States Golf Association today announced Scioto Country Club, in Columbus, Ohio, as the host site of the 2016 U.S. Senior Open Championship. This will be the fourth USGA championship held at Scioto Country Club, which will celebrate its centennial in 2016 as the first 18-hole course in central Ohio. The dates of the championship are Aug. 11-14.

“The USGA is delighted to return to Scioto Country Club, especially on the occasion of the club’s centennial,” said USGA Executive Director Mike Davis, who made the announcement from the club on Tuesday morning. “Scioto Country Club’s rich history is associated with two of the USGA’s greatest champions in Bob Jones and Jack Nicklaus. Central Ohio, especially the state capital of Columbus, will be an enthusiastic setting for conducting a successful 2016 U.S. Senior Open.”

The good news keeps coming

Check out this story from northwest Arkansas's The City Wire.

An excerpt:


Scott Murphy, golf professional at Paradise Valley Athletic Club in Fayetteville, said the mild winter allowed people to play year-round – a sharp contrast to last year when snow lay on the ground for weeks at a time.

“Our golf course is in June shape and it’s early April,” Murphy said. “Business is great and sales are way up.”

Murphy said rounds of golf are up 50% from March and April of last year. Sales are up 50% or more in the pro shop, he said.

Hendren's Hyperbole -- Na to help with some maintenance at TPC San Antonio

If you have ever thought that professional golfers take themselves too seriously you obviously haven’t met Kevin Na. I don’t know if you remember last year’s Valero Texas Open but I know I will never forget it. Na carded an awesome 16 on No. 9. More than a few of those shots were from the woods on the right side of the fairway.

Na has graciously accepted an invitation to join the maintenance crew today at TPC San Antonio to clear out some of those very same woods. It’s nice to see a professional golfer take the occasional 16 and even better to see that some professional golfers have a sense of humor! Take a page from Kevin’s book, Tiger!

Speaking of humor in golf, yesterday I was watching the RBC Heritage while snoozing on the couch when I heard the funniest thing I have ever heard while watching golf. I was half asleep so I am not sure who said it but one of the announcers was talking about Pettersson and Knost as they were heading down a fairway after a tee shot and referred to them as “The group that is exercise resistant.”

That is the nicest way I have ever heard anyone call someone fat. I am absolutely going to steal that line and add it to my list of go to sayings. Good lookin' out, PGA Tour!

-- Matt Hendren

Back from Denver

I had a great time visiting a handful of courses over 24 hours in Denver. Thanks to all the supers who gave me their time (and Rockies tix!) while I was out there -- you know who you are and as soon as I'm done writing this blog, I'll begin hand-writing some thank you notes.

One thing I didn't want to bring back from Denver was a cold. I'm sure the gents who sat on either side of me on my Southwest flight are cursing me today. Sorry, guys.

Here's a pic from one of the courses I visited -- Saddle Rock GC in Aurora, where Mike Osley is the CGCS. Everything is on the verge of greening up there. Colorado just endured its driest March ever (they got nothing -- zilp, zilch, nada) so the guys are all praying for rain.

A great time in Denver, I look forward to getting back there soon!

Hendren's Hyperbole -- Farewell to a Friend

What’s up Golfdom fans?!? Hendren here after a great weekend of Masters golf. Congrats Bubba! I don’t know what was better, seeing Bubba win or the fact that Tiger keeps proving he is who I thought he was. Either way it was a great weekend. On another note, the entire Golfdom crew was in Kansas City last week, which doesn’t happen often. We had a great time watching the NCAA Championship game and spent some time at the Country Club Plaza. All in all the last ten day in Hyperbole Land have been top-notch.

I did get some sad news a couple of weeks ago. Rockwood Golf Club in Independence, Mo., is no more. Rockwood is the first course that gave me a shot as a superintendent and for that reason has always been a special course to me. Rockwood was a small budget course as of late but had a huge history. President Truman was a member of Rockwood back in the day and it was rumored that many of the gangsters of the 1930s also hung out at Rockwood.

I realize courses are closing their doors at an alarming rate during these tough economic times but I don’t think course owners fully realize the impact this has on maintenance staffs and superintendents specifically. To most course owners the course is just a business opportunity. Nothing could be father from how a superintendent feels about “his” course. Blood, sweat, and more hours than I would care to admit are spent by superintendents at their course doing everything in their power to produce a quality product.

I was reading an article in Golf Business recently that was about ways courses can overcome challenges while motivating and retaining employees. The majority of the article was about clubhouse operations, but course maintenance was touched on as well. The articles talked about how courses are starting to replace assistant superintendent positions with a “crew foreman” and slash the position’s salary by $14,000 while keeping all the responsibility.

News and notes: Phipps to GCSAA, Augusta Sand and Golf's Bounce-Back

Check this out: David Phipps, formerly the superintendent out at Stone Creek GC in Oregon City, Ore., has accepted a job with GCSAA as the Northwest Field Staff Rep. 

This is a great hire for the GCSAA, David is exactly the kind of guy you want representing the national association. Congrats David, enjoy the GCSAA Christmas party, look me up next time you're in Lawrence and can get away from GCAA HQ for a few hours, drinks are on me!

I was just on www.deadspin.com -- my favorite sports gossip site -- and saw that this guy got arrested at Augusta National for trying to scoop some sand out of a bunker. Beer is cheap at Augusta National, and with enough of it, things like grabbing sand as a souvenir make sense (or so I'm told.)

I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone pocket some grass at Augusta National. It's hallowed ground to so many people. That's just a rough way to get arrested. At least the guy I saw getting busted at the Phoenix Open got to go for a swim in front of thousands of fans before he was knocked in the dirt and cuffed. I bet if the guy had it to do over again, he would have headed for a green...

And the best thing I've read lately (even better than anything on Deadspin) is this story from Bloomberg News that golf is riding a bounce-back and growing for the first time in five years with increasing golf rounds, equipment purchases and yes, maintenance equipment. Toro, John Deere and Jacobsen are all quoted in the story.

"There's older equipment out there that has quite a bit of hours and courses are realizing that they need to go ahead and re-fleet and purchase new equipment," Denny Docherty of John Deere tells Bloomberg News in the story.

That's the kind of thing this industry needs right now -- businesses looking ahead, instead of looking down!

Bubba's our Boy!

Congrats to Bubba Watson on winning the Masters today!

Bubba has been good to Golfdom in the past, and he clearly is an advocate of the superintendent and one of those golfers who "gets it." I had a chance to chat with Bubba at Congressional during last year's U.S. Open, and this is what he told me about superintendents and their work:

"People don’t understand how hard it is. The superintendent can only do so much, then the weather has to do the other part. Every golf course is going to have little spots, no matter how perfect it is. That’s the key, is the weather. That’ll make the course or break the course, is weather. And that’s what the superintendent fears, is weather."

Bubba was a real gentlemen to talk to and gave me plenty of time to talk about course conditions and the work of superintendents. So Bubba is not only the Masters champion, but he's also a good dude, in our book.

Congrats Bubba!

Syngenta's Bell Announces Retirement

One of my great friends in the industry, and, in fact, a great friend of the industry, Syngenta's Margaret Bell has announced she will retire, her last day set for May 4th.

Margaret began working in the industry -- working in the green, pest control and ag industries at various times -- in the late 1970s. Since 2001, she has worked in marketing communications in Syngenta's Lawn & Garden group.

Margaret has worked closely with the trade media, helping us cover the industry and answering our many questions. She has also been active in the various associations -- GCSAA, TOCA, PLANET, Project EverGreen, among others.

Margaret has always been a fun person to work with. For example, she's constantly giving me a hard time on how my hair looks exactly the same (short) every time she sees me. She tries to convince people I travel with my barber. (She's not far off -- I am somewhat OCD about visiting the barber.) The joke is especially biting around some of my colleagues who are more, uhh, let's say folically challenged.