Golfdom, May 2014

Continued from page 32 would take us around the course and point something out Theyd say We love this How do we get more of it and spread it The crew planted 20000 Carolina wiregrass sprigs by hand Think about planting all this wiregrass and not knowing if it would live or not laughs Robinson When we first started I thought Golly is this stuff going to make it I would have been happy with a 60 percent success rate But shoot every one of them made it John Jeffreys assistant superintendent on No 2 says that though this new look is more sustainable its not necessarily easier to maintain It takes skilled labor to manage the wire grass areas Jeffreys says Anyone can hop on a rough mower and mow rough just dont put it in a bunker But to tell someone to selectively remove these plants those plants but not these plants Its a difficult method We manage this course completely different now There was rough pine straw clear wooded areas no pine cones Its almost like going to two different properties even on different sides of the country Architect Bill Coore realizes the change he put the crew through at Pinehurst No 2 The renovation wouldnt have succeeded he says without their complete buy in When you change one of Americas finest courses like this you have to have everyone believe in it Its a total team effort Coore told Golfdom Change is not the easiest thing I can say that being a former superintendent Ben Crenshaw Toby Cobb and I are so thankful that these guys helped us in every way to succeed Because this is the exact opposite of what they were doing But one thing has not changed about this challenging Ross course the difficulty of the greens and the greens surrounds What may look like a well hit shot into any green may end up meandering off the back side into a bunker or to a significant elevation drop The greens and the greens surrounds no matter what we have 4 inch bermudagrass rough or wiregrass out there nothing has changed about the greens nothing has changed about the greens surrounds Robinson says The greens they Continued on page 32 30 Golfdom May 2014 Golfdom com PHOTO CREDIT SETH JONES U S OPEN This is the future of golf of where it had to go because the economy is dictating says Tom Rufty Ph D N C State University pictured with Danesha Seth Carley Ph D also of N C State These two superintendents Farren and Robinson who happen to be N C State guys really understand sustainability and theyve taken to this No matter what we have 4 inch bermudagrass rough or wire grass nothing has changed about the greens or the greens surrounds