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re: Ask the Superintendent
Posted on 4/22/22 at 4:07 pm to Bawpaw
Posted on 4/22/22 at 4:07 pm to Bawpaw
quote:.
Why are there so many different variations of ‘sand’? Seems every course has a different texture, color, thickness
The river sand at River Ridge in Sealy was the best ever.
Coarse enough to where the wind didn't blow it out and it was easy to recover from a rain storm.
2
Posted on 4/22/22 at 5:33 pm to bopper50
Love the sand at Oakbourne, coarse and you can get a ton of spin
Much better to miss greens in the bunker as opposed to rough there.
Much better to miss greens in the bunker as opposed to rough there.
Posted on 4/22/22 at 5:59 pm to leblanc272
Question,
What kind of budgets do you usually have to work with ?
I was on the board of a small course for several years, our budget was limited but we spent every penny of it and some times we had to do an assessment.
What kind of budgets do you usually have to work with ?
I was on the board of a small course for several years, our budget was limited but we spent every penny of it and some times we had to do an assessment.
Posted on 4/22/22 at 6:21 pm to makersmark1
What is the average cost of maintaining a bunker?
_______________________________________________________________________
Vertical or horizontal sand?
I nominate LeBlanc for sainthood for having the patience to answer these questions! .
43 year Class A GCSAA Member here.
_______________________________________________________________________
Vertical or horizontal sand?
I nominate LeBlanc for sainthood for having the patience to answer these questions! .
43 year Class A GCSAA Member here.
Posted on 4/22/22 at 7:44 pm to Barrister
quote:
Who really decides pin placement?
So some courses have front / middle / back zones and the cup changer crew member decides. My rule is a at least a flag stick from edge, no ridges and 6 easy, 6 medium and 6 hard holes. We use zones that I draw based on the green design.
Posted on 4/22/22 at 8:27 pm to RMGC
quote:
I nominate LeBlanc for sainthood for having the patience to answer these questions! .
I second that nomination.
Posted on 4/22/22 at 9:25 pm to leblanc272
Do you know “Tex” Reed?
Posted on 4/22/22 at 10:20 pm to leblanc272
How bad do the greens have to be to “start over” or do you keep working on the bad greens? Quickest turnaround from bad greens to good?
Posted on 4/23/22 at 12:14 am to bopper50
I was a greenskeeper at New Orleans Country Club for a summer, the super told me the annual budget was 1.6 million, and this was in 2016 with most guys making 11 dollars an hour. Tough job, any time it rained heavily half the crew would be fixing the 99 bunkers most of the next day.
Posted on 4/23/22 at 4:16 am to SPE UVA
quote:
fixing the 99 bunkers most of the next day.
Which shape of bunker is easiest to maintain?
At our course, the smaller pot bunkers are much more consistent than the amoeba form giant bunkers.
How many bunkers do you really need to make it a challenge?
Architects love them for photographs.
Cross bunkering is a bad design feature. There should always be a way to hit a straight shot onto a green. As I get older, cross bunkering is a nemesis.
IMO, bunkers should be located where an offline shot goes, and only be as big as 20 feet in diameter.
Also
Posted on 4/23/22 at 4:25 am to RMGC
quote:
Vertical or horizontal sand?
I had to look that up.
I think our sand must be “vertical” because I find small rocks in it fairly regularly.
So does maintaining one bunker for one year cost X thousand dollars?
Posted on 4/23/22 at 7:00 am to makersmark1
Are artificial turf greens the future of golf? I’ve seen some really good ones designed to receive shots, and have to think the maintenance cost benefit would outweigh the initial investment. And the reduced watering is eco friendly. Of course I’d rather play great natural grass greens, but honestly I think I’d rather play artificial surface greens than natural grass greens in poor condition.
Posted on 4/23/22 at 7:05 am to RichJ
quote:
Do you know “Tex” Reed?
i do know Tex and still speak to him occasionally. he is a great guy, and fun to be around.
Posted on 4/23/22 at 7:12 am to bopper50
quote:
Why are there so many different variations of ‘sand’? Seems every course has a different texture, color, thickness
sand varation all comes down to where the source is. I buy top dressing sand out of East Texas or just recently out of Leesville. the sand matches the particle size we need for top dressing golf greens. Bunker sand has different requirements. presently my white bunker sand comes out of Alabama. the crushed quartz that everyone seems to like that drains well, doesn't move much with wind and rain comes out of Arkansas. I would like this sand, but the price tag with freight was out of our budget. Some guys use Masonary sand, and I have before. issue is that it has too many fine particles and packs down too tight and water doesn't perk well through it.
This post was edited on 4/23/22 at 7:33 am
Posted on 4/23/22 at 7:13 am to bopper50
When Tiger Droppings starts a Thread of the Year Award this one gets my nomination.
Posted on 4/23/22 at 7:16 am to bopper50
What kind of budgets do you usually have to work with ?
I have worked with budgets as low as $280K (2015) to 1.3 million. presently I have 1.3 million, but that is the whole casino grounds including parking lot, parking garage, beach, boardwalk, pool landscaping, entrance way, and golf course. I have also worked at a course where we only bought if we had cash in hand. so if it rained a lot, we didn't have a lot. Novemeber to February was brutal. Course budgets are all over the board. it depends on turf variety, acerage, amount of bunkers, equipment Lease or purchase, equipment maintenance, chemical budget, fertilizer budget, irrgiation, and of course labor.
I have worked with budgets as low as $280K (2015) to 1.3 million. presently I have 1.3 million, but that is the whole casino grounds including parking lot, parking garage, beach, boardwalk, pool landscaping, entrance way, and golf course. I have also worked at a course where we only bought if we had cash in hand. so if it rained a lot, we didn't have a lot. Novemeber to February was brutal. Course budgets are all over the board. it depends on turf variety, acerage, amount of bunkers, equipment Lease or purchase, equipment maintenance, chemical budget, fertilizer budget, irrgiation, and of course labor.
Posted on 4/23/22 at 7:24 am to BogeyTX
quote:
How bad do the greens have to be to “start over” or do you keep working on the bad greens? Quickest turnaround from bad greens to good?
another good question, but i really don't have that answer. Once again it comes down to what is causing the issue. is it Shade, drainage or lack or drainage, irrigation issues, pest issue, disease, weed infestation, miss management for too long, bad chemical application, golf pro / GM that thought he knew better, cutting too low, too much thatch, too much inorganic build up in the top layer? so many variables, but once you pinpoint the issue at hand, then a plan of attack and time of year comes into play. i had greens at Koasati that are 20 year old Tif Eagle. they are still pretty solid, but have incroached a lot of those 20 years. Greens renovation can be expensive, and the conversation usually focuses on time clossed and lost revenue. It all comes back to money.
Posted on 4/23/22 at 7:31 am to Big L
quote:
Are artificial turf greens the future of golf? I’ve seen some really good ones designed to receive shots, and have to think the maintenance cost benefit would outweigh the initial investment. And the reduced watering is eco friendly. Of course I’d rather play great natural grass greens, but honestly I think I’d rather play artificial surface greens than natural grass greens in poor condition.
I sure hope artificasl greens aren't the future of golf. I hate artifical turf for many reasons, especially on ball fields. you say eco friendly, but what about the disposal of that product and all the crumb rubber once its time to change them every 5-7 years. the cost will out weigh what we spend on maintenance. yes it would be easy to go pop a plug out and move a pin, but you will be very limited to your pin placements. the turf in those areas will be worn out quicker, and the inconsistency will start. seems start fraying and raising up, the heat coming off those greens would be miserable in our summeer climate. but i do think you will beging to seeing more artifical greens popping up.
Posted on 4/23/22 at 7:45 am to makersmark1
quote:
Which shape of bunker is easiest to maintain?
At our course, the smaller pot bunkers are much more consistent than the amoeba form giant bunkers.
How many bunkers do you really need to make it a challenge?
easiest bunker shape is flat. Gray plantation has flat bunker mostly. high faced bunkers that Arnold Palmer like to design with mutiple drop down fingers are a B&*^H to maintain. bunkers with a smooth flowing edge are easier to mow around and are efficient. if you have to fly mow or weedeat bunker faces, it becomes very time consuming.
Archeitects do have a tendancy to love bunkers.they really add contrast, but its about risk reward on each hole. not every hole is meant to be played with driver 7 iron or driver wedge. cross bunkering is to make you hit the shot the architect designed you to hit, not neccesarly the shot you want to hit. same reason a lot of par 3 have wide greens but shallow depth with bunker in front and on one side, with a small bail out to the other side. in Louisiana, our course are so flat they add a lot of bunkers to create a challenge. do we need a ton of bunkers, no, but if used correctly and porportinatly, you can create a great challenge and also keep it maintanable. Architects don't usually ask us Superintendents what we think. PEte Dye told me at TPC Louisiana that he designed it, and I needed to find a way to maintain it, he wasn't changing it. Tamahka Trails bunkers pre renovation were a nightmare from the very beginning.
Posted on 4/23/22 at 8:00 am to leblanc272
How important is the method used for ball mark repairs? I see some people delicately flatten it and some guys go at it like they’re tilling a garden. Do they all heal?
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