Golfdom, March 2017

A FOREST FOR THE TREES Continued from page 26 is the willingness of Robert Underwood Colonial Williamsburgs VP of operations to allow Landscapes and the whole team to bring things to him and say We uncovered this issue that we didnt know about To his credit and Colonial Williamsburgs credit he allowed Landscapes and us to correct these things Grode agreed It turned out really well considering all the moving parts and that comes down to the people involved Randy is such a hands on superintendent He was there every day interacting with our crews Billy Fuller offered a lot of really great input mostly stuff that had nothing to do with bunkers And Greg Muirhead does such a good job working with everyone involved I found it admirable how he worked with everyone toward solutions Waldron has been on site since April 2016 Thats when he joined BrightView the former ValleyCrest Golf Maintenance Several greens have been given softer contours Modern greenspeeds made the original amount of pitch too difficult which earlier in 2016 partnered with Colonial Williamsburg to handle maintenance for all 45 holes at the Golden Horseshoe While Waldrons arrival coincided with the onset of construction last spring his longterm strategies required little adjustment My attitude toward renovation is to get things in place that will help me not do so many of the routine things that take up valuable time Waldron says Not shoveling bunkers for example means staff is freed up to tackle the detail stuff that really makes a course jump Another example he says was chronic drainage issues Why not correct those now while the golf course is closed Heres another one The tree removal we undertook here There was good bit of it on the front end of this renovation which means we wont have to remove them later when were open for play By taking out those trees which were dead or dying anyway were getting a lot more sun on areas that were struggling That means less sodding each spring Thats called seeing and appreciating the forest despite the trees and it represents a removal strategy most anyone can get behind Even Rees Jones G Philip Hall is with Landscapes Unlimited The Best Equipment On Earth Introducing The NEW F 15 from Air Force 2 stroke Engine 60cc for All Angle Mowing 15 cut and weighs less than 25 lbs www seagousa com 800 780 9889 Seago scours the globe to bring the finest specialized turf care equipment to golf courses everywhere Look to Seago for Mowers Edgers Water Removal 28 Golfdom March 2017 Golfdom com