Golfdom, February 2017

Before and after hole No 6 On the left an example of the bermudagrass decline that plagued Shadow Creek for years On the right the same hole after Cloninger mapped analyzed and properly diagnosed the root of the problem Continued from page 18 BUSINESSPERSON OF THE YEAR Mexico to work for a management company as a construction superintendent The next job took him to the Cayman Islands After a few years he took a job with a management company in Los Angeles to be close to his then girlfriend now wife Andrea It was the summer of 2011 Cloninger had just accepted a superintendent position in northern California when Shadow Creek called The superintendent job had opened up and they wanted to know if I would like to throw my hat in I said yes but I told them I just took a job that started soon and asked if I could interview right away Cloninger says They said Yeah come over tomorrow I got in the car and drove from Los Angeles to Las Vegas the next day and thought who knows Two days later he and Andrea were packed up and driving north toward Redding Calif when his cell phone rang The caller ID read Shadow Creek He gave Andrea a knowing look as he pulled the U Haul over They were six and a half hours into an eight hour trip And just like that a new eight hour trip began They turned around and went back the way they had just come to Las Vegas Shadow Creek and the beginning of a new chapter Shadow Creeks concern Shadow Creek underwent a complete renovation in 2008 to lengthen the course and rebuild the greens The fairways were sand capped at the time to help battle bermudagrass decline on fairways which had been a consistent struggle Consultants suggested it was high salinity causing the problem and advised the fairways be capped with 6 inches of coarse sand and sodded That fall the fairways were allowed to go dormant to establish a strong rhizome base without the influence of a perennial ryegrass overseed Only three years later and after only one season of overseeding it was clear the bermudagrass decline problem wasnt Continued on page 22 20 Golfdom February 2017 Golfdom com PHOTOS COURTESY OF TIM CLONINGER 2017 HERB GRAFFIS AWARD Cloninger used his education in GIS mapping to create aerial maps of where bermudagrass decline was hitting each year What happened over the years what the data showed was the bermuda was declining in the dry areas not the wet areas Cloninger says This showed a trend of the opposite of what agronomically you would think The hypothesis was wrong