gcm.typepad.com > 2010 U.S. Open

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This vacant lot alongside the 15th hole at Pebble Beach is the former home of the course's maintenance facility and where I spent many hours during my stint as a volunteer at the 2000 U.S. Open.


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Seems they're still storing a few pieces of equipment at the site of the old Pebble Beach maintenance facility.


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No real reason to include this shot other than I think it's pretty cool. Proof that any yahoo with a camera on Pebble Beach can get you some great photography.


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One recent change at Pebble Beach is the addition of native grasses to the bunker faces and surrounds. Provides great contrast and a rustic look to the course. Barenbrug provided the tall and fine fescues in these mixes, although there are other native varieties sprinkled in as well.


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The maintenance team has its own hospitality area, perched nicely on a mound overlooking the 10th hole. Far better digs than we enjoyed back in 2000.


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Assignment boards used in maintenance facilities at majors have come a long way, from no boards at all to dry erase to these professionally printed sheets hanging here at Pebble Beach.


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More of the professionally printed assignment sheets. There is a sheet noting cart assignments and one each detailing duties in both the morning and afternoon.


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One corner of the permanent maintenance facility has been converted into a game room, complete with ping pong and Foosball tables.


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That's Chris Dalhamer, CGCS, in the hat, going over some last-minute changes with members of the maintenance team prior to afternoon rounds.


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Crews begin rolling out on the course to begin Monday afternoon rounds.


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And yet another shot of crews leaving the maintenance area on Monday afternoon.


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Pebble Beach staffer Pete Bachman hand-waters a nursery green near the 10th tee. Crews cordoned off about a third of this green (you can see a darker green strip of collar-height grass in the background) for use as a practice green for players who will be teeing off No. 10 on Thursday and Friday.


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That's Bachman (right) chatting with USGA agronomists Stan Zontek (far left) and Pat Gross on the 10th green.


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Bachman takes a reading with a moisture sensor on the 10th green.


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Dalhamer (center) and Pebble Beach assistant superintendent Jack Holt (right, white hat) and the PGA join the discussion with Zontek and Gross on the 10th green. Also involved is the PGA Tour's Paul Vermuelen, a former USGA agronomist who is helping out this week, but he's largely hidden in this photo.


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A fleet of Jacobsen fairway units roll down the sixth fairway late in the day on Monday.


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The U.S. Open championship trophy made an impromptu appearance at the maintenance facility Tuesday afternoon, setting off a flurry of photo ops for the crew.


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I win the U.S. Open! I win the U.S. Open!


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By the end of the photo op with the U.S. Open trophy, the entire team assembled for a group shot. Somewhere near the center is the trophy.


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Superintendent Chris Dalhamer, CGCS led Tuesday afternoon's meeting, focusing his attention on the specific work he wanted each afternoon detail to focus on each day.


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Dalhamer recorded an interview with ESPN Radio Wednesday afternoon that will be a part of a special U.S. Open preview show the network will air.