From the desk of GCM

A journey from Canada to Spanish Bay

For those who don't believe in fate or the whims of good fortune, I present to you the curious case of Jeff Steen.

Steen (left in photo) is the superintendent at Spanish Bay, one of Pebble Beach Resort's four golf offerings, a Canadian raised on the shores of Vancouver Island who now calls California's Monterey Peninsula home. I first met the 10-year GCSAA member in 2000 when we were paired together as volunteers on the maintenance team at that year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. We raked bunkers and filled divots that week and have kept in touch ever since, catching up when we can, trading e-mails or chatting when our paths cross at various conference and shows.

It's a relationship that was almost over before it began. In 2000, Steen was back in Canada, fresh off a stint as an assistant superintendent at a club in the Bay Area. During his time in California, he met Mark Michaud, then the superintendent at Pebble Beach, and secured a spot on the volunteer list for the Open. Even after Michaud left Pebble shortly before the event to take the job at Shinnecock, Steen figured they wouldn't undo the work that Michaud had done prior to his departure and made his plans to travel south for the tournament.

The scoop from Pebble Beach

What is it about places like Pebble Beach? Even on days when the weatherman swears up and down that rain will be in the picture virtually all day, what you see in the picture is what I woke up to this morning -- cool and crisp, partly cloudy but definitely no rain.

I'm making a whirlwind trip through town to visit with superintendent Chris Dalhamer and his staff and gather information for our preview story on preparations for this year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (the fifth time the storied course has hosted the event) that you can read about in our June issue. And any time you come to a place like Pebble Beach, you have to be careful how many times you bring it up. Even if it had been raining and even though it's going to be clear and near 80 today back in Kansas, letting people know you're visiting a place with some of the most spectacular golf scenery in the world tends to elicit, at the very least, a few dirty looks.

So I'll leave it at that for now. Heading out in a few to catch up with an old friend (I'll post more about that later today) before connecting with Dalhamer and his team tomorrow. Before that, some homework for you -- what do you want to know about Pebble Beach, their maintenance practices and their preparations for this June's tournament? I'll work as many questions from readers into my interview and then my story, so feel free to post your questions to the blog, send me a direct message via our Twitter account (@GCM_Magazine) or just e-mail me.

Sincere flattery: Redstone goes Augusta, part two

Here is the second part of our GCM Web exclusive feature, highlighting the work by Redstone GC superintendent Randy Samoff and his maintenance team to prepare their course for the PGA Tour's Shell Houston Open and to give golfers a little taste of what they'll see one week later at the Masters. You can read part one here:

The first thing Roger Goettsch did as he began to explore the idea of tweaking set-up at Redstone to mimic Augusta's conditions was pick up the phone and call Augusta National’s superintendent, Brad Owen, to explain the idea and ask if he could visit with him at his famed course.

The pair spent two days together, and Goettsch picked up plenty of ideas for “Augusta National West,” better known as Redstone.

“He understood we weren’t trying to steal their ideas. Our mission is different,” Goettsch explains.

Sincere flattery: Redstone goes Augusta, part one

The April issue of GCM was scheduled to include a feature written by free-lance writer Art Stricklin about Houston's Redstone Golf Club and the way they prepare their course for the PGA Tour's annual Shell Houston Open.

Scheduled the week before the Masters, the tournament had long been skipped by the world's best players who were content to rest up before the first major of the season. But ever since the maintenance team at Redstone, led by Class A superintendent Randy Samoff, began to tweak their preparations so their south Texas course would mimic many of the conditions that golfers would face at Augusta National — an idea that originated with Samoff's former boss, Roger Goettsch, CGCS, who now oversees maintenance at Barton Creek in Austin, Texas — more and more players have headed to Houston to play in the tournament and tune up their games for the Masters.

It's a well-written, intriguing story about how golf course conditioning can play a vital role in the quality of the field that is attracted to a professional golf event. It's also a story that, unfortunately, didn't make its way into that issue. In the world of publishing, we're slaves to the size of each issue of the magazine and in the case of April GCM, we just didn't have enough space to publish all the stories we wanted to publish.

But we weren't about to let this story die. So with the Shell Houston Open teeing off on Thursday, we're happy to publish the story in its entirety here on the blog. Part one posts today, with part two going live tomorrow morning. We hope you enjoy the story.

New office, new super bloggers

I'll be the first to admit it: Things have been extremely quiet around these parts over the last week or so. And if you've spent any time on this blog over the years, you know that's not our normal operating procedure. We pride ourselves on the fact that we post new, relevant content to the blog on an almost daily basis.

But this time, there are a few good reasons for our radio silence. First, we just wrapped up production on the April issue of the magazine, which will be hitting your mailboxes sometime after the first of the month (or earlier if you check out our digital magazine product). But the real time thief this week has been "the move." You see, the staff of GCM is moving offices, and for most of us, the move is the first in a very, very long time.

In my case, I had been in my previous office for nearly 11 of my 12 years at GCSAA. That meant over a decade of "stuff" to work through, trash and/or recycle before trucking it across our wing on the fourth floor of GCSAA headquarters. I'm settled in my space, enjoying a new view of Lawrence as I now look east out of our building (I will miss watching spring thunderstorms roll in from the west in my old office, though), but am still fighting my way through a few boxes and clearing out old file cabinets.

Digital success!

Check out this chain of events... shows you how quickly news can travel these days:

Yesterday Bill Newton, GCSAA's manager of media and public relations, posted a blurb about course changes at this week's Arnold Plamer Invitational at Bay Hill on www.GCSAA.org. He then went to the GCSAAmedia Twitter account (which now has 501 followers) and posted a tweet about this information being available.

An hour later, this story appears on Golf Magazine, utilizing the information Bill just posted and crediting GCSAA for the information.

Great work by our media department here. Here's the original blurb, it's GCSAA's "Golf Course Fact of the Week":

Wild weekend in Lawrence

The above title sounds like something a college-aged Seth may have written, but it really was a wild weekend here in Lawrence.

First, we had a freak snowstorm Friday through Saturday... it was 65 degrees in the morning, a blizzard by the evening. We got a couple inches here, while nearby they were reporting as much as eight inches of snow.

And then, Saturday afternoon, our No. 1 ranked Jayhawks went down in flames in only the second round, losing to Northern Iowa. And I'm sure I'll hear about it from all the turf schools represented in the Sweet 16... K-State, Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State, Kentucky, Tennessee... even Cornell! (I have Cornell making it to the Elite Eight, by the way.)

With all that wildness, I need something a little normal... let me check the ol' inbox... ah, here's one: 23 superintendents were honored for 25 years of certification.That's what I need, that's pretty harmless. That makes me so happy, I'm going to list all 23 CGCSes right here. They are:

Win with Phil?

You might remember last year Golfsmith did a promotion where, if you bought a Callaway driver before the Masters, and then Sergio Garcia WON the Masters... they'd give you your money back for that driver.

Well, Golfsmith is back again this year. But instead of El Nino, this year's golfer is none other than Phil Mickelson, two-time Masters champion. That's right, if Mickelson wins the Masters, Golfsmith will give you your money back  for that driver you bought.

And you know, I have been wanting one of those Diablo drivers...

Could I root for Phil if a free driver was on the line? I must say, the thought of Mickeslon winning seems a lot more reasonable than last year's promotion with Sergio Garcia...

What do you think? If you were in the market for a new driver anyway, would you take a bet for Phil to win the Masters right now?

Super bloggers, Friday edition

Editor's note: OK, so this post didn't actually post on Friday. Real life got in the way, so it's actually going live on Saturday morning. Not changing the headline, though. That's just how lazy I am!

With the weekend right around the corner and the staff of GCM hard at work on finishing up a jam-packed April issue of the magazine (stories on the Golf Industry Show, the economic rebound and it's impact — if any — on golf and carbon footprinting), it's a good time for two quick additions to our list of superintendent bloggers.

First up is Steve Cook from Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., just outside of Detroit. One of only a handful of superintendents to hold certification from GCSAA and the Master Greenkeeper designation from the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (at last count, there were 20), Cook's blog gives readers a rare inside look at turfgrass management at a major championship facility. The 27-year GCSAA member is also an accomplished photographer, and the blog features some of his best work.

Expanded Rounds4Research tees off again

Following a successful launch last year in North and South Carolina that netted the turfgrass research communities in those states $55,000, Rounds4Research is heading across state lines this month.

The 2010 version of the auction — which puts coveted tee times at some of golf’s most prestigious addresses up for bid — is set for April 7-21 and is expanding into three new state’s this year: Georgia, Texas and Virginia. Rounds at such courses as South Carolina’s Harbour Town Golf Links, North Carolina’s Sedgefield Country Club and Georgia’s East Lake Golf Club are up for bid.

In all, 260 facilities are offering more than 300 tee times and assorted golf packages, some which include meals and accommodations, through Rounds4Research.

“Obviously with three new partner states, this year’s auction will be bigger and better in every sense,” says Tim Kreger, the executive director of the Carolinas GCSA, which oversees the auction. “Golfers will find bargains and they will find the keys to a lot of doors that would not otherwise be open to them.”