Yep, this place is awesome

Having a blast, my caddie is awesome!

Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G

At Pineurst # 2

Putting shame in the game... with my game.

Awesome course, crazy tough!

Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G

Time is running out!

To nominate someone for the Herb Graffis Business Person of the Year award!

Get your last-minute submissions in here.

Hendren's Hyperbole! Episode 42 -- Buried, literally, in a bunker

I don’t know about you but for me golf is a sacred time reserved for me, my buddies and occasionally my dad when he can fit me in. It is a four to five hour vacation from normal life. No honey-do lists, no diapers to change, just a time to recharge my batteries. Golf is a time to hang out with good friends, enjoy a few cocktails and swear like a sailor.

At least that is what I thought until I discovered Sunset Hills Memorial Golf Park in Bellevue, Wash. Sunset Hills Memorial Golf Park is a cemetery that features a complete golf hole which allows committed fans of the game to be buried or placed in a permanent golf setting, the nation’s first golf-themed memorial park.

If you've been pondering nominationg someone for the Graffis award...

NOW IS THE TIME!!!

Only two days left to get your nominations in!

If you know someone who has been creative, insightful, daring, bold or just downright brilliant when it comes to getting the most out of the golf course, nominate them for the Graffis Business Person of the Year award! It's a short form to fill out. We're only accepting nominations until this Friday. Winner gets an all-expenses paid trip to the Golf Industry Show in Las Vegas as well as a feature story about them in an upcoming issue of GOLFDOM.

Nominate your candidate here: http://www.golfdom.com/awards/business-award

The benefits of turfgrass video

Great video from the folks at BASF about the benefits of turfgrass. Cool graphics, too!

Rocking the Irrigation Association show

Well, I'm not sure that I'm rocking the show, exactly, but I am here in San Diego checking out my first IA show. So far, so good.

If you're here and you want to talk golf with me, shoot me a note and we'll meet up! Text me at 785.550.2560 or direct message me (@golfdom) on Twitter. No kidnappers, please.

Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G

See you at the Irrigation Show!

Golfdom will be on the ground in San Diego next week reporting from the Irrigation Show. Stop by and see us, we'll be at booth 1355 with our sister publication, Landscape Management.

Deadlines and Nitrozymes

Wow, I'm glad that's over. We just finished up a big Golfdom deadline. You guys are going to love our new issue, it's got a good variety. Very different than last month, when the whole issue stuck to one theme (Turf on Trial). This month, we're all over the place with Golfdom goodness.

I just got off the phone with Dick Duggan, superintendent at The Meadow at Peabody in Peabody, Mass. We were talking turf products. Dick likes using Turf Vigor from Lebanon Turf. And if you say it in Dick's Boston accent, you say it, "Turf Vig-ahhh."

He also dropped a new one on me: Nitrozyme from Growth Technology. "It's a good product, check it out," he told me. "If you don't try new things, how will you know?"

Well said, Dick, well said.

Hendren's Hyperbole! Episode 41 -- I'm on Golfdom TV!

Hey everybody, here's the video I did while in Orlando checking out the RG3 Robotic Greens mower. I'm pretty pumped with the way it turned out! Seth tells me this video will be sent out in next week's Golfdom Insider, but he was cool with me posting it here first.

And no, that's not an illusion... my shirt always does that cool 3-D wavy effect, like you're stuck in the Matrix, when you look directly at me. That's just how I roll! (Seth has asked me to stick to the solid-colored shirts in the future. Jerk.)  

Golfdom contributing editor Matt Hendren, a superintendent with the city of Kansas City, Kan., flew to Orlando to take a look at an autonomous robotic greensmower and to talk with Sean O'Brien, the superintendent utilizing them on his greens.

Our cab got sideswiped in Louisville, yet neither of the drivers seemed even remotely upset. Impressive!

Sent from my iPhone

GIE Day 2

It's been non-stop here today. Saw Toro's newest Z Master Commercial 2000 Series today, as well as Bobcat's new compact excavator. The day's winding down!

Sent from my iPhone

Notes from the GIE and EXPO

Lots of action today at the GIE! Mowers and aerators galore!

Sent from my iPhone

Hendren's Hyperbole! Episode 40 -- My degree in RG3

Sean O'Brien, director of grounds, Hawk's Landing.

Last week I had the opportunity to take a trip to Orlando to Hawk’s Landing Golf Club as the guest of Precise Path Robotics to check out the RG3 robotic greens mower. The RG3 is the industry’s only autonomous, robotic greens mower and features the industry's best warranty on any greens mower. Look for more information in the November issue of Golfdom!

Going to check out the RG3 was my first of hopefully many assignments for Golfdom. It was a great trip and if you followed some of my posts form Orlando you already know Precise Path rolled out the red carpet. I had my own town car awaiting to take me to and from the airport! I realize I may be showing my cards here a little bit but I thought that was AWESOME! One of my favorite movies is "Made" featuring Vince Vaughn and it took everything in me not to rip off a scene from the movie and make sure to let all the ladies know, "I’m a tall drink of water and I need to stretch my *&#@ out!" as I climbed into my “limo.”

While in Orlando I got to go to dinner with the gentlemen from Precise Path and also had the privilege of attending a media session where I learned everything I could ever possibly want to know about Precise Path and the RG3. I also got to golf with the gents from Precise Path -- I was surprised that Golfdom was the only industry mag to take Precise Path up on their offer for golf! Let me tell those other mags, you guys missed a nice golf course, Hawk's Landing was sweet (although the weather was blustery that day) and you also missed my EAGLE!

At the end of the trip I received a diploma for completing RG3 University. I’m pretty sure the RG3 diploma is on the same level as an honorary degree from Harvard or Princeton so I am now being sought out by several Fortune 500 companies!

All joking aside, the trip was awesome and the RG3 is a great product and a glimpse into the future of golf course maintenance. Make sure to check out November’s issue for all the details, as well as next week's Golfdom Insider e-newsletter for a Golfdom TV interview I did with Sean O'Brien, director of golf at Hawk's Landing.

-- Matt Hendren

We're here in Louisville for the GIE and EXPO!

We're here and getting ready for the big show! Be sure and stop by our booth (# 3018) and say hello. Maybe you'll even see these two jokers -- Pat Roberts and Marty Whitford!

Kershasky joins Reinders Inc.

Reinders Inc. announced recently that Jerry Kershasky has joined the company to help serve the Chicago market. He will be a Territory Manager in the Soft Goods Business Group responsible for sales and product support.

For the past 37 years, Jerry has been the superintendent at Westmoor Country Club, a Championship 18 hole course in Brookfield, Wis. As superintendent he coordinated the effort in gaining membership approval and then supervising a major course renovation in 2008 that included an XGD drainage install and the fumigation and regrassing of greens.  He worked closely with Lohmann Golf Designs of Marengo, Ill. to establish a sustainable course design. This renovation project was instrumental in lowering the annual golf course operational budget.

Turk's Irrigation Tips

If you get Golfdom's e-newsletters, then you already received today's "Inside Irrigation" email. But if you didn't, below is what you missed!

You can subscribe to Golfdom's e-newsletters by clicking here.

Turk's Tips

An irrigation professional of 25 years shares his most valuable tips for maintaining problem-free irrigation systems.

By Seth Jones

Joe Turk owns and operates Turf Assist, which services golf course irrigation systems in San Diego, Palm Springs, Riverside and the Orange County area of California. He first started working on irrigation systems when he was only 17, and now, 25 years later, he finds himself busier than ever trouble-shooting systems on golf courses.

"I don't like making people feel bad when they mess up their systems," Turk says. "So I try to tell them, 'Hey, instead of doing this, next time, do this.'"

Turk says that the customers who do the below tips regularly are some of his worst customers, because he never has to visit their courses.

"The guys who do this, they have it going on," Turk says. "I never hear from them. That's fine with me, I'm impressed."

Back up your irrigation database

When was the last time you backed up your database? Stop reading and do it right now, you might thank me later. Guys get busy and they think their computers will take care of them. Then, the computer crashes and guess what -- the last backup was six months ago. The computer can't help you unless you back up often.

Check out this interview with your pal Seth!

I had a feeling it was going to be a good week for Golfdom, and this just caps it off!

Scott Morrison from TurfHugger.com contacted me for an interview on the Herb Graffis Business Person of the Year Award. You can read that interview right here:


http://turfhugger.blogspot.com/2011/10/herb-graffis-business-person-of-year.html

Thanks, Scott, for your interest in the award. Now, everyone, think of a worthy nominee, and go here to nominate them!

http://www.golfdom.com/awards/business-award

Borman to accept Carolinas DSA

It was just announced that Chuck Borman will accept the Distinguished Service Award at next month's Carolinas GCSA conference and show. It's a great gesture by the Carolinas to one of the great personalities in our industry.

I worked at GCSAA during Chuck's brief stint as the association's COO. You could always hear Chuck coming from about a mile away because he has this loud, booming voice, and he simply must greet every person he sees. "Hi Judy, how's it going? Dave, what's happening? Ed, how's the family?" And you'd hear this while he was on the other end of the wing!

My first impression of Chuck was, "Who is this loud guy we hired?" But then I quickly learned that the man can motivate people and get them working toward a common goal. The Carolinas very obviously benefited from these qualities.

Another thing about Chuck: great taste in cars. He's a Chevy muscle car fan, which I can appreciate.

Here's the press release, below. Congrats, Chuck, from all your friends at Golfdom!

Long-time golf industry administrator, Charles M. “Chuck” Borman, CAE will receive the Distinguished Service Award from the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association next month. Borman led the association as executive director for a decade over two stints beginning in the late '90s. Under his leadership the association experienced significant growth in membership, services and revenues. The Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor the 1,800-member association bestows.

Borman will be honored at a special presentation during the association's annual conference and trade show in Myrtle Beach, S.C. that runs Nov. 14-16. The conference and show itself tripled in size during Borman's administration, today providing more than 100 hours of formal education and occupying some 100,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space.

Wisconsin assistant wins Toro greensmower

A lot of assistant superintendents in the news lately, eh?

Here's a press release from Toro about an assistant superintendent winning a Toro Greensmaster TriFlex Hybrid riding greensmower.

Two thoughts before I turn you loose on the release:

1. "Petrifying Springs Golf Course" is a great name for a golf course.

2. The other day I entered a drawing for a giant flat-screen TV at my local Dairy Queen. The very next day, DQ called me. "Mr. Jones, this is Amanda from Dairy Queen, I have good news," she said. I took a breath. "Yes?" "You entered our drawing... and you won a Dairy Queen hat! We'll re-enter your name in the drawing for the TV..."

Here's the release about Lori Stanek, who did way better than a Dairy Queen hat:

The crew at Petrifying Springs, including Lori Stanek, assistant superintendent, on the mower, and David Hassel, supervisor of golf conditions, to her left.

Toro would like to congratulate Lori Stanek, assistant golf course superintendent at Petrifying Springs Golf Course in Kenosha, Wis., on winning a new Toro Greensmaster TriFlex Hybrid riding greensmower. The giveaway was part of Toro’s “Master the Greens U.S. Tour” equipment demonstration series hosted at golf courses across the country this summer.

“I attended the Master of the Greens tour because they were previewing the new TriFlex mowers from Toro. When I found out I won the mower I was in total disbelief,” recounted Lori Stanek. “This is a great opportunity for Kenosha County to have a quality mower.”