Golfdom, October 2012

of the tournament 2012 U S Open champ Webb Simpson told the media The greens are perfect Its the way the golf course is meant to be played Quite frankly its more enjoyable to play it I think everybody is really pleased Immediately following the tournament Wood says the new greens were able to support 140 rounds of golf per day with no issues with agronomics The ball is still rolling good If wed done 140 rounds on bent around the pins would have been dead With the change in turf variety came a change in mowers When the new greens were ready to mow Wood switched to a John Deere 180SL The angle that the bed knife breaks the grass is very aggressive Were able to have the mowers at a higher height of cut which is healthier for the grass Wood says More leaf blade showing means more photosynthesis Were able to achieve a tighter surface because of the geometry of the mower Overseed order Turf selection in the form of sod and overseed is a consideration for Jeff Plotts CGCS Director of Golf Course Operations SCHIFF LESLIE BOTTOM OPPOSITE at TPC Scottsdale The 36 hole MARIE facilitys Stadium Course is home to the Waste Management Phoenix Open the KAITLIN PGA Tours most highly attended event During the tournament week an average TOP of 500000 spectators swarm the place OPPOSITE The facility was built specifically to support such large galleries Spectator mounds were built into the venue just STINNETT outside of the playing envelope The course is also the site of the Tours only ROB fully enclosed golf hole Number 16 on COURTESY the Stadium Course is often referred to as The Coliseum The par 3 Coliseum is surrounded tee to green by skyboxes PHOTOS and grandstands that hold 20000 spectators every day of the tournament It is w w w g o l f d o m c o m Golfdom 25 undoubtedly the loudest rowdiest hole in golf It also by its very nature of being enclosed by large tents and scaffolding has some major shade issues Although the tournament doesnt start until the end of January overseeding begins October 1st with an 80 20 mix of perennial rye to fine fescue On the 16th hole Plotts says well overseed 80 20 and then come back with additional fine fescue to aid in more shade tolerance The course is closed the second week of October to allow the seed to germinate On October 28th the scaffolding arrives at the course The next day construction on the grandstands that form The Coliseum begins a full three months before the event To cut down on the long shadows cast by the structures Potts requests that the roof and skirting of the skyboxes arent installed until the very last moment A mirror is erected to capture sunlight and reflect it back onto the seedlings Mowing is reduced to give the overseed a chance to grow in Even with so much prep Plotts says he knows the 16th hole and other areas will suffer turf damage To be proactive he orders his overseed from Seed Research of Oregon a full year in advance West Coast Turf grows two acres of overseeded 419 bemudgrass for Plotts every year to put back into the overseed footprint that we have out here to repair all the damage A quick recovery from the tournament is necessary Plotts says because this is all going on in our high season when we have our highest dollar per round Talk it through Through the seven years that Plotts has worked the event he says hes learned that planning and communication are key to successfully hosting a tournament Its not a magic trick good communication he says Its important to understand that all of the parties have a big job and everybodys job is important to them Our job is to host the largest tournament in golf Communication and planning for the next years tournament begins at 10 a m the Sunday morning of the final round Representatives of all of the parties involved vendors volunteers and staff sit down and take a SWOT Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats approach to the week that just ended Each of these areas is addressed before the final putt falls so that they can review what went well and what can be improved Later in the day Plotts meets with his staff to do the same and meetings continue throughout the year Communication with people is one thing but how about communication with equipment Cameron Craig Golf Operations Manager at Predator Ridge Resort in Vernon B C Canada has 166 golf carts at his facility equipped with the DSG Tag System a fleet management and tracking system that allows for electronic communication with players in the carts Continued on page 26 Today with these tournaments their biggest priority is a firm surface Dry it out as far as your turfgrass will allow trying to lower that threshold of the turfgrass RICK SLATTERY LOCUST HILLS CC