From the desk of GCM

Fire and rain test superintendents

By the time the Colorado wildfire practically arrived at his doorstep, Shea Gunkel already knew the enormity of the moment.

A wicked week of weather and raging fires, ranging from tropical storms in Florida to the blazes in Colorado, has challenged golf course superintendents on multiple fronts.

The top image is from Andy Jorgensen, CGCS, at Top of the  World Communities in Ocala, Fla., where sink holes on the golf course created major issues. In the same state, the famed No. 17 island green at TPC Sawgrass became a true island after the course was pounded with more than 14 inches of rain in a 51-hour period.

Gunkel, a nine-year GCSAA member and director of golf course maintenance at Kissing Camels Golf Course at Garden of the Gods Club in Colorado Springs, watched as wildfires (the second image above) came within one-half mile of the 27-hole facility on Tuesday. Today, troubles remain. The property is still in jeopardy as firefighters continue the fight.

Gunkel is putting up his own fight.

Updates to Alliance for Accessible Golf tookits

The National Alliance for Accessible Golf, which counts GCSAA as one of the official "Friends of the Alliance," has issued updates to two of its signature resources, the Toolkit for Golfers and, most notably to superintendents, the Toolkit for Golf Course Owners/Operators.

The primary update to both toolkits includes information to reflect the 2010 Accessibility Guidelines, which went into effect March 15 of this year. The owners/operators toolkit was designed to provide guidance in making golf courses more accessible to golfers with disabilities, specifically Title III which requires public accomodations — including golf courses — to provide goods and services to people with disabilities on an equal basis.

Developed collaboratively by the organizations represented on the Alliance, including the American Therapeutic Recreation Association and Indiana University's National Center of Accessibility, these toolkits detail golf adaptations for a wide range of disabilities, provides real-life success stories of individuals with disabilities and lists a number of resources for persons interested in pursuing golf.

Both toolkits are available in PDF formats and can be downloaded from the Alliance's website.

Wholly cow

Golf's version of Bigfoot continues in Bonner Springs, Kan.

This is no legendary hairy monster, though. Instead, it's a four-legged creature that roams Sunflower Hills Golf Course in Bonner Springs, on the outskirts of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The attraction?

A cow.

In April, a tractor trailer accident on Interstate 70, near the golf course, culminated with a horrific crash in which the vehicle burst into flames (the driver died two weeks later). Inside the trailer were dozens of cows, but all of them were rounded up except one that wandered onto the golf course.

Catching this cow, however, has been a challenge.

"Never seen anything like this,"  Sunflower Hills GC superintendent Michael Yadrich tells GCM.

The cutting edge stakes its claim at Olympic

If you spend any time around a U.S. Open, it’s tough to miss the impact that technology has had on the event. From real-time, online scoring and live video to the latest in club and ball advancements, technology has revolutionized the way we watch and the way we play the game of golf.

And logically, it also has revolutionized the way the golf course is maintained. In fact, this week’s U.S. Open on the Lake Course at The Olympic Club in San Francisco may very well be the most technologically advanced Open ever as it relates to golf course management.

Consider, for example, the way the greens are being cut this week. During the 2011 Golf Industry Show in Orlando, The Toro Co. — which is the primary supplier of golf course equipment for Olympic — unveiled the eFlex family of greensmowers, cutting units powered exclusively by a lithium ion battery. After nearly a year of refinement, the company announced that it had begun shipping those units to customers just one week before the Open, and a fleet of 10 eFlex 21s are in use this week on the Lake Course (one shown in the photo here), the first real-world use of these mowers anywhere in the world.

Round two course set-up notes, etc.

Here are the course set-up notes from the USGA for the second round of the 2012 U.S. Open on the Lake Course at The Olympic Club in San Francisco:

COURSE SETUP: ROUND TWO OF THE 2012 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

 The following are details on the course setup for Round 2 of the 2012 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club, from Mike Davis, USGA Executive Director.

Weather Forecast for Friday (provided by Jake Swick with Thor Guard Weather) – There is some very light fog early this morning; generally look for hazy conditions again today. A few high clouds will pass by this morning; otherwise, expect lots of sunshine. Winds will be light in the morning before picking up in the afternoon; however they will be less than yesterday. Look for comfortably warm temperatures today and more of the same on Saturday. Increasingly, it is beginning to look like we will see some low clouds and possibly a little fog early and late on Sunday with partly sunny skies in between, followed by even more clouds, fog and maybe mist for Sunday night and Monday morning.

An early morning tour of Olympic

 

I spent Friday morning — and by morning, I mean a 3 a.m. wake-up call — with the maintenance crews at The Olympic Club who were preparing the course for second-round action at the U.S. Open. Much more to come from that experience, but wanted to start with a little video of the fairway mowers rolling out of the maintenance facility at about 4:20 a.m. Clearly, my cinematography skills could use a little work (turn the phone next time, Scott), but you get the idea.

First-round course set-up notes

Here are the course set-up notes for today's first round at the 2012 U.S. Open. The USGA sends these out each day, so we'll post them to the blog when we get them.

COURSE SETUP: ROUND ONE OF THE 2012 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

 The following are details on the course setup for Round 1 of the 2012 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club, from Mike Davis, USGA Executive Director.

Weather Forecast for Thursday (provide by Greg Quinn and Jake Swick with Thor Guard Weather) – Low clouds will burn off slightly faster today with partly sunny skies anticipated by lunchtime. Expect more mostly sunny skies this afternoon as well with temperatures finally getting back toward 60 degrees. The wind will be similar to yesterday. Less wind, more sunshine and warmer temperatures are in the forecast for Friday and Saturday. For those days, it is predicted to come out the west – southwest and will pick up in the afternoon to 10-20 mph.

Green Speeds – This morning’s green speeds averaged 13 feet on the USGA Stimpmeter immediately after the cut and roll. They will likely settle out in the mid 12s by midday. 

More photos, video from Olympic

 

With the first round of the 2012 U.S. Open off and running, and very few red numbers filling the leaderboard (Kevin Na is the unlikely leader as I write this), a couple of items from a mainteannce perspective to let you know about.

The first is this video from GCSAA TV focusing on the volunteer program that has bolstered the golf course management efforts of Pat Finlen, CGCS and his permanent staff here at Olympic this week. Our partners with EPIC Creative were here earlier in the week and filmed several pieces that they will be posting on the GCSAA TV website throughout this week, and we'll be highlighting those on the blog as well.

The second is the addition of new photos to the photo album that you can find in the center column of our blog. It largely covers shots I took Tuesday and Wednesday in and around the maintenance facility. Right now, those photos aren't exactly officially uploaded to that album yet, so why don't you watch the video a few times before checking those out. 

Fire damages New York facility

Dan Wilber tried to be a firefighter, but the flames and smoke impeded his gallant effort.

Wilber, director of facilities and operations at Millbrook Golf and Tennis Club in Millbrook, N.Y., now is in recovery mode. Wilber and his wife Colleen, who helped him try to save the maintenance facility during a fire on May 29, were not hurt. Equipment, however, wasn't so fortunate.

"We lost 80 percent of my fleet," Wilber tells GCM."Fairway mowers, seeders, sprayers ... some of them were only a month old, like the utility vehicles, turbine blowers, and walking greens mowers. We lost all of them."

Wilber estimates the loss to be just less than $1 million.

Recon trip to Olympic for Merion's Shaffer

Inside the maintenance facility at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., a countdown clock has been marking time until the first tee shots of the 2013 U.S. Open. It's been doing so for awhile now — when it was first turned on, it showed 999 days until D-Day — and after more than two years, Matt Shaffer, the club's director of golf course maintenance, admits that he's "getting a little sick" of looking at it.

At some point this week, though, that feeling will likely change. The days left will become more meaningful and when the final putt drops on the 2012 U.S. Open here at The Olympic Club, Shaffer and his crew will officially find themselves on the clock as the next hosts of one of golf's biggest events.

That's largely what brought the 31-year GCSAA member out west this week, a chance to spend a few days checking out the operations of Pat Finlen, CGCS and the maintenance department here at Olympic and see exactly what he has in store for him come next June in suburban Philadelphia.