Golfdom, August 2010

Change Veteran superintendent reflects on what he knew 22 years ago compared with what he knows now T he year was 1988 George H W Bush was in his first year as president Who Framed Roger Rabbit was the big moneymaker in movie theaters The Cure and R E M were slowly replacing the heavy metal bands on my car stereo It was also the year I began working on a golf course And 22 years and six golf courses later Im still working on a golf course So what does the wily old veteran know that the young punk back in 1988 didnt Well for one he knows whats good for his body and whats not Although in retrospect the younger guy probably knew but just didnt care as much as the older guy But more to the point what has the modern day superintendent learned in his 20 plus years on the links And am I a better superintendent for having learned these things Good questions and I shall try to answer them Let me say this Of course I know more now than I did 22 years ago I wouldnt be much of a superintendent if I didnt But what major things have I discovered And not just in maintenance philosophies but within myself What changes in attitude and practices are different What opinions did I have that I would scoff at today Heres a quick overview of a few of the more dramatic differences between young Ron and old I mean mature Ron Love thy Earth Mother Earth The big blue Im pretty sure I wasnt real concerned with the future of our planet 22 years ago I thought shed be fine In fact probably not many of us were real worried about the planet So this going green thing is a new fad But of course we now know Mother Earth isnt infallible She is vulnerable and she needs our help She needs buffer zones around wetlands She needs safer chemicals applied to her turfgrass She needs us to recycle and compost and reuse She needs us not to waste her water Lets face it she is very high maintenance kind of like we imagine Angelina Jolie might be High maintenance but worth the effort These love thy earth things are concepts that 1988 Ron couldnt have comprehended What have you done for me lately This section could also have been called Youre only as good as last month Ive learned that no matter how well youve kept the golf course over the years youre only as good as oh maybe a few months out Youd better not only have done well in the past but youd better have kept it up Im not faulting anyone for this mindset its just the way it is We all just need to be aware of that going in Keep raising the bar This kind of falls into the above category but is a little different We all learned years ago that technology and ingenuity would allow us to start doing our jobs better The bar started to rise then Water injection cultivation came along So did rollers light topdressers better and faster sprayers plant growth regulators and a zillion other things And of course when the superintendent at the golf course down the street raised the bar he inadvertently forced you to raise the bar as well Again not a bad thing but just the way it is Its fun to keep making the product better However in lean times like were Continued on page 54 w w w g o l f d o m c o m Golfdom 53 BY RON FURLONG CONTRIBUTING EDITOR