From the desk of GCM

The future is now at Hawk's Landing

Neatly dressed in a blue blazer, blue dress shirt and khaki slacks, Sean O'Brien definitely does not look the part of a revolutionary.

Trust me, though, that's exactly the role being played by the director of grounds at Hawk's Landing Golf Club at the Marriott World Center in Orlando. Whether intentional or not, O'Brien (left) placed himself squarely on golf course management's cutting edge when he and Marriott Golf agreed to let Hawk's Landing serve as a demonstration facility for Precise Path's RG3 robotic greensmowers, making it the first facility in the world to have it's greens maintained on a day-to-day basis by, well, robots.

"Anybody who is honest with themselves in this industry knows this is the way we're going," the eight-year GCSAA member said. "The thought of being one of first guys (to utilize robotic greensmowers) is exciting. My team got on board with it, my two mechanics were on board with it, so we just collectively decided to go with it. It's been awesome."

Kohler's Tier 4 emission-compliant engines

With an eye on the future, Kohler Engines launched its new Tier 4 Final emission-compliant, heavy-duty diesel engines for the industrial, construction and agricultural markets today.

The announcement took place in Italy, where Kohler and Lombardini, a Kohler company that is based in Italy, showcased the new engines. The Kohler 1.9-liter KDI1903TCR and the 2.5-liter KDI2504TCR engines, according to Kohler, offer optimized fuel consumption, limited emissions and "remarkable" performance without the use of a diesel particulate filter (DPF).

The new diesel engines, Kohler says, offers increased compatibility and fit existing and new equipment designed by manufacturers, and the direct injection system offers equipment owners the ability to save up to $1,400 on fuel and $116 on oil per year.

Tier 4 regulations, which could have significant impact on golf course maintenance equipment, will affect all diesel engines over 25 hp beginning Jan. 1, 2013. GCM wrote about Tier 4 and its potential impact on superintendents in last month's issue.

"It was a challenge Kohler and Lombardini were determined to win," Francesca Rubbiani, marketing director for Lombardini, told those in attendance at the unveiling of the Kohler engines. "It is a true matrimony between engine and machine. Total reliability is not to be forgotten."

By the seashore

Greg Lyman, GCSAA’s director of environmental programs (at center in the photo), led members of the Society of Environmental Journalists on a "green" tour of Miami Beach (Fla.) Golf Club Saturday, with the assistance of MBGC's superintendent, GCSAA Class A member Rick Reeves (pictured left). Also pictured is Perry Beeman of the Des Moines (Iowa) Register.

The storied 128-acre layout (film and television star Jackie Gleason was a course regular during the golden age of golf on Miami Beach) is one of only a handful of golf courses in the country that has been renovated with seashore paspalum turfgrass from tee to green.

More than 500 journalists from around the globe who cover beats ranging from climate change to endangered ocean species converged on Miami last week for the society’s annual conference. The Insider: Environment column in the December issue of GCM will have additional details about MBGC and the SEJ tour.

Take two: The future of greensmowing?

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Precise Path welcomed a few of us industry editor types to Orlando and Hawks Landing GC at the Marriott World Center earlier this week to showcase the company's RG3 robotic greensmowers.

One of the new features the company has been working on with the RG3 since the last time I saw them in action — several years ago, I got a look at the unit as it was tested at Woodland CC in Carmel, Ind., near the company's headquarters — is a clean-up pass. Basically, a hard wire is installed around the perimeter of the green that the unit then follows in making a pair of laps around the edge of the green, working from the inside out.

This video offers up a quick look at the RG3 making that clean-up pass around one of the practice greens at Hawks Landing. More on my visit with Precise Path next week.

Future Leaders Forum underway

The fifth annual Future Leaders Forum is happening right now at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Golf great Annika Sorenstam is the featured speaker at the event,which is sponsored by The Toro Company and Disney. The program began Thursday and continues through Saturday. The event is designed to help students broaden leadership skills, prepare for college, and explore career disciplines within the golf industry.

Sorenstam is addressing 50 participants from The First Tee, a nonprofit youth development organization whose mission is to impact lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.

"With Toro's strong commitment to growing the game, this program has connected young leaders with professionals in the industry to better understand the business of golf and the role they play in ensuring the game's future success," says Mike Hoffman, chairman and CEO of The Toro Company.

Borman to receive honor

Former Golf Course Superintendents Association of America employee Charles M. "Chuck" Borman, CAE, will receive the Distinguished Service Award from the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association.

Borman worked on two different occasions at GCSAA, first as membership services director. He returned in 2001 as chief operating officer before going to Carolinas GCSA, where he served as executive director until his retirement in 2009.

Borman will be honored Nov. 14-16 during the association's annual conference and trade show in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

GCSAA makes a splash at Asia Golf Show

As you probably already know, GCSAA has signed on as an official supporter of a pair of golf industry conferences and trade shows in China — the Asia Golf Show/PGA Merchandise Show-Asia in Guangzhou and the China Golf Show/PGA Merchandise Show-China in Beijing.

The former of those two is takaing place this week, and GCSAA has a contingent at the show — a group that includes GCSAA president Robert Randquist, CGCS, and GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans — as the association is presenting five education seminars during the event. That contingency has been sending back updates, photos and videos to GCSAA HQ in Lawrence, so I thought we'd share a few of those so you could get a flavor for what's taking place this week in southern China.

A look at the future of greensmowing?

 

It's not often you get the opportunity to gaze into an industry's crystal ball and get a glimpse of what the future might hold, but that's exactly what I did today at Hawks Landing GC at the Marriott World Center in Orlando.

The course is currently serving as the world's only "demonstration course" for Precise Path's RG3 robotic greensmowers, which first came to the attention of superintendents back in 2009 at the Golf Industry Show in New Orleans. The machines are on the cusp of full commercial availability, but since February of this year, Hawks Landing's director of grounds Sean O'Brien and his team have been using four RG3 units as the primary cutting units on the facility's putting surfaces.

It was a fascinating learning experience (even if my poor editor's brain could only process about a third of what I heard), and I'll have much more on the blog later. But for now, enjoy the video of the RG3 in action earlier today, mowing one of the practice greens at Hawks Landing.

Stephen Best, 1969-2011

It was late January of this year, just a few weeks before I would head to Florida for GCSAA's conference and show, when Brian Cloud, the association's field staff representative in the South Central Region, clued me in on the story of Stephen Best.

At the time the director of golf course maintenance at Sky Creek Ranch Golf Club near Dallas, Best was in the middle of a battle with Stage 4 melanoma — skin cancer — and his story had galvanized the golf course management family in North Texas. The former president of the North Texas GCSA wasn't shy about sharing his story and how a complacency for using sunscreen and vigilance for the first signs of skin cancer in a profession that demands both had led him to where he was. He wrote about it in his chapter's newsletter, and was a vocal evangelist for proper sun protection and regular exams whenever he found himself among fellow golf course management professionals.

Cloud wanted me to see the story Best had written for the North Texas newsletter and wondered if GCM would have an interest in adapting that story for a national audience. We certainly did — I had actually been pursuing a story on skin cancer and its prevention for several months, and Best's story fit the bill perfectly for our audience. We published "Surviving skin cancer," in the July issue of the magazine, making Best eligible for GCSAA's 2012 Leo Feser Award.

GCSAA comes to China

As you read this, industry leaders in golf, including GCSAA officials, are in China.

GCSAA Chief Executive Officer Rhett Evans and GCSAA President Bob Randquist are there for the 2011 Asia Golf Show/PGA Merchandise Show-Asia at the Guangzhou Jinhan Exhibition Center. The three-day event begins Thursday, and the show is supposed to feature more than 100 exhibitors. More than 7,500 people are expected to attend. Other golf officials in attendance include PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka, GCBAA Executive Director Justin Apel and PGA of Great Britain & Ireland CEO Sandy Jones.

GCSAA is an official supporter of two major golf industry trade shows in China, and will conduct GCSAA education annually at the events. GCSAA officials are scheduled to return in March 2012 to China for the China Golf Show/PGA Merchandise Show-China in Beijing. Reed Guanghe, a subsidiary of Reed Exhibitions Greater China, conducts both shows.

Evans, Randquist, and Michigan State University Associate Professor of Turfgrass Science Kevin Frank, Ph.D., will participate in five GCSAA education seminars this week.