A very wise man once told me that if you keep hearing the same thing repeatedly from different people, there is some truth to what they are saying. I used this during my career as a Golf Course Superintendent to FINE TUNE what we were doing in our department. Here are some of the things that Board Members, Committee Members, and just members in passing would say; and what I did once I heard the same thing repeatedly.
“The entrance to the club, pro shop area, clubhouse and pool areas just don’t look neat, clean and inviting.” We were already spending many man hours on the lawns, trees, and bushes in these areas, that took away from the golf course work. I investigated what it would cost to hire a Landscaping company to come in toward the end of every week and take care of those areas. I put together a proposal for the next Golf Committee meeting and it was accepted. From then on, it became a budget item, and we could spend more man hours on the course. Members loved what they saw.
“The rough is too long!” Spring and fall grass growth in the Mid-Atlantic area can be fast and furious. Rain, bad weather, or lack of manpower can put you behind on weekly mowing. Smaller mowers are great for striping around fairways, etc. but take too long during these seasonal periods. I always kept a set of “Jacobsen Blitzer Units” at the ready. It would only take two hours at most to make two passes around every fairway on Tuesday and Friday.
“Why are there so many clumps in the fairways?” Most Superintendents practice dragging the dew from fairways, but I also made sure to start cutting after 10:00AM in the morning when things were getting drier. At one point I had three fairway machines, and it only took two hours to mow 24 acres. This was also very important on spray days.
“Why are you spraying when the pool is open, or we are playing?” I made a proposal to the Golf Committee about having more sprayers to take less time and it was accepted. It was great to have the speed of so many sprayers at once.
“The bunkers are too firm, too soft, have rocks, lips that are too high, etc. etc.” About 45 years into my career and many bunker redo’s, I finally decided to try, and redo bunkers MY way. This is a long story for another time, but I will give you some of the details that have kept the bunkers at The Elkridge Club in place for over 20 years. Most bunkers last about 12 years. Fortunately, I was working toward putting a Seth Raynor original back to its former glory and had the ears of the Golf Architect and the Golf Committee chairman. Here are some of the things that made these bunkers work. Call me if you want more details but at some point, I will go into this more fully later.
o Squarish / Rectangular bunkers with no step downs.
o Almost completely flat bunkers with a 1 to 3 percent tilt to help see them from a distance.
o Grass slopes could not be steeper than a national mower, or else a Sidewinder could not mow them.
o The use of filter cloth and “Enka Matting”
o Four-inch drainpipe and stone that would stay porous when placed in drains.
o Drains that would connect to larger drains, not out in the rough.
o The Sand used had same percentages make-up as the new greens sand.
o Bunkers were only raked with debris rakes by hand.
o I had a bunker irrigation plan on my irrigation computer if they started to dry out.
There are many more, but my goal was to please the people who saw or had concerns. I also found that my proposals were widely accepted and made for more care on the golf course and to refine what we were doing. I can’t thank enough, the person who told me about hearing things repeatedly from many folks.
-Mark S. Merrick, CGCS Retired
Introducing ‘Merrick Mondays’, a segment where we hear from Mark Merrick, our resident brand Ambassador, Chief ‘Cool” Officer, and general source of wisdom and secrets of the universe, to spotlight a dose of interview-style content, weekly.