Buried with creativity

Maybe Steven Tingle’s third book will be an autobiography. There’s plenty of material, particularly for an audience with an affinity for golf and golf course maintenance.

Tingle grew up on a golf course and by the age of 12 was mowing greens and cutting cups at daybreak. He loved it. But by the time he went to college, he was tempted by the clean shirts and air conditioning of the pro shop, and so landed a part-time job in one. He hated it.

Thus, for his last three years in college, he worked back where he belonged: on the golf course. After graduating, he went all the way back to the course he grew up on, then known as Springdale Country Club. And became golf course superintendent. His parents owned it after all. They actually built it, with the first nine holes opening in 1968 and a second nine four years later.

They also helped build the National Golf Course Owners Association, as founding members, in 1986. Tingle’s father, Fred, a keen intellect and former corporate executive in Manhattan — his subscriptions included everything from The New Yorker to Smithsonian — was elected president in 1990 and received NGCOA’s highest honor, the Don Rossi Award, in 1994.

By the time Fred Tingle died unexpectedly in 2005, his son was a certified superintendent. The golf course had been his life, and he was committed to making it his future too. So, you can begin to appreciate how he felt when his mother, Eunice, fired him in 2008. It was devastating.

“It’s your identity,” Tingle says, setting the head of every golf course superintendent nodding.

Exacerbating the shock and grief was the fact that he’d also divorced six months earlier and was raising his two children alone. There was also real fear. Remember what also happened in 2008. The housing market imploded, sucking the economy into a black hole with it.

The Great Recession hit as the Tingles were deep in negotiations to sell the golf course, and all prospective buyers suddenly vanished. In short order, Eunice Tingle had lost her husband, a daughter-in-law, and her grip on a payday approaching eight figures, not to mention the comfortable retirement it would have ensured.

That period wasn’t good for many people. But it was terrible for mother and son both. Already both emotionally strained, now there were grave economic tensions. Something gave, which is why, abruptly, the son found himself out of a job.

But all that is for Steven Tingle’s third book — if he wants to go there. For now, he is excited to see his second book about to hit the market, and he hopes people in golf course maintenance will be, too.

The cleverly titled “Buried Lies” is a novel, a golf course-based murder mystery. As in his first book, Tingle’s leading character is former cop and private detective Davis Reed, who gets pulled back into the investigative saddle when all he wanted was peace, an IPA and to quietly enjoy his own wit. For the setting, Tingle leans into his background at Springdale, now Springdale Resort, and his golf course superintendent experience.

Indeed, another main character is a superintendent, who is helpful enough until he finds himself among the suspects. For the record, that is not a scenario Tingle draws from personal experience. Although now long removed from the profession, he confesses there were times when he felt like leaving some golfers’ toes up in a bunker like the victim in his book. More nodding perhaps?

“I’m not sure anyone who has never been a golf course superintendent can truly appreciate what it’s like,” he says. “The golf course becomes an extension of yourself. So, when golfers mistreat it, or complain about it, it’s all you can do to not take it personally.”

Today, Springdale is the biggest thing happening in the tiny community of Cruso, North Carolina, and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The nearest sizeable town is Canton, once home to a paper mill that filled the Appalachian valley with a sour smell but paid workers well. The most famous landmark, which overlooks the course, is Cold Mountain, the peak that gave title to Charles Frazier’s best-seller and the movie starring Nicole Kidman and Jude Law.

Eunice Tingle eventually sold the course in 2018 but only after some hard years. Her son never returned as superintendent but with his mother aging and in declining health, he was present and dutiful in all other areas.

Along the way, Tingle himself turned to writing because superintendent jobs were hard to get when he needed one. He’d drawn nourishment from his father’s magazines all those years before, flicked through golf publications, and read his share of mystery novels. At some point, with prospects shrinking, he told himself that writing couldn’t be that hard.

He landed his first freelance assignment before he’d written anything more than a letter. He confesses asking Google, “How to write a magazine article?” To veteran writers, that is the equivalent of a golfer searching, “How to maintain a golf course?” In both cases, those in the respective professions might reasonably ask a question of their own, “Who does this guy think he is?”

It turns out, in Tingle’s case, the “guy” is the real deal on both counts. His early writing appeared in national golf publications like this one before he moved to broader fields, covering everything from food and travel to first-person accounts in a monthly Southeast regional column, Man About Town.

“Buried Lies” is available Oct. 15 and can be ordered in advance through major online retailers.

Trent Bouts is a Greer, South Carolina-based writer and frequent Golf Course Industry contributor.

Tartan Talks 99

Keith Cutten is a wonderful person to ask any golf course architecture-related question. Cutten, after all, authored “The Evolution of Golf Course Design,” a creative and insightful book released in 2018 that sold all 3,000 of its first-run printed copies.

So, when the rising Canadian architect joined the Tartan Talks podcast, we quizzed him about everything from impactful design figures to how the golf facility of the future might look. We also asked him to define design-build, a concept mentioned frequently in the industry and practiced by the busy firm Whitman, Axland & Cutten Golf Course Architects, which he operates with partners Rod Whitman and Dave Axland.

“Design-build isn’t a marketing scheme,” Cutten says. “It’s a complete ethos and how we build golf, and how we deliver things to our clients. What it means is that our clients see a lot of us.”

Strong relationships and results have led to Cutten and his partners receiving multiple new construction projects. Where are they working? And what type of golf are they designing and building?

For Cutten’s calculated answers, download the episode on the Superintendent Radio Network page of popular podcast distribution platforms.

Course News

Dye Designs Group has completed the redesign of four new holes on the Copper Creek Golf Course at Colorado’s Copper Mountain Resort. Holes 12 through 15 were reimagined by Cynthia Dye McGarey, DDG’s principal architect, and her son, Matt McGarey, the firm’s senior design associate… Hallō Properties is introducing The Dodger at Hallō Nelson designed by Doug Carrick. It will soon be Canada’s only Troon-managed golf course. Course construction is slated to begin in early 2025 and be completed in 2027.… Invited announced TPC Craig Ranch has launched several reinvestment initiatives. Renovations include an overhaul of the existing course and new turf varieties. Golf legend Lanny Wadkins will lead the redesign efforts on select holes. … The front nine of King’s North at Myrtle Beach National reopened earlier this month following a Brandon Johnson-guided renovation on its front nine. The back nine will be worked on in the summer of 2025. … Whistling Straits has been selected by the USGA as the host site for three future USGA championships, beginning with the 2028 U.S. Amateur. The 2033 U.S. Junior Amateur and 2037 U.S. Girls’ Junior will also be played on the links-style Kohler, Wisconsin, courses. … The Chicago Park District’s Jackson Park Golf Course is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The popular Tom Bendelow-designed municipal course opened on May 11, 1899, and was named after former President Andrew Jackson. The course is part of the larger Jackson Park, which extends along Lake Michigan on Chicago’s South Side. … Troon has been selected to manage Woodholme Country Club, a member-owned private club in Pikesville, Maryland, northwest of Baltimore.

Industry Buzz

Nufarm announced the EPA registration of Allstar Herbicide, a new herbicide for use on cool-season turfgrasses developed to control grassy weeds, nutsedge and broadleaf weeds. Allstar will be included in this year’s Nufarm Edge Rewards Program. … LebanonTurf announced the launch of ProScape 20-0-4 100% PCSCU SOP 8% Ca with .08% Mesotrione, the industry’s first mesotrione combination product that does not contain phosphorus and is designed for routine turf maintenance. … JSM Services, Inc. has joined Husqvarna’s Golf and Sport Turf dealer network. GST dealers are the exclusive providers of Husqvarna’s lowest height-of-cut products and features through mobile sales and service. ... New England-based distributor Valley Green announced it will begin operating under the Advanced Turf Solutions name starting Jan. 1, 2025.

People News

Mark Johnson, the director of environmental programs for the GCSAA, announced his retirement, effective Dec. 12. He was promoted to his current role in 2022. … Landscapes Unlimited appointed Marvin Cruz to direct company operations in Mexico and the Caribbean. Based in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, Cruz will further expand Landscapes Unlimited’s field teams and client base. … Landscapes Golf Management named Adam Brandow as manager of training and development. Brandow is a 10-year company veteran and previously worked in developing food and beverage programs. … AMGUARD Environmental Technologies promoted Duffey Clark to vice president of commercial operations for OHP. Clark will lead OHP’s sales, marketing and key account efforts in the ornamental, nursery and greenhouse markets. He also will serve as a member of AMGUARD’s leadership team. … Munro named Jeff Prell as its new national sales director. Prell has more than 20 years of sales leadership experience. Munro also named Aaron Presley as its new Eastern U.S. regional account manager. He has more than 15 years of sales experience in the landscape and irrigation industry. ... Envu added Dr. Adam Gore, who has worked the last six years at Clemson University as a horticulture extension agent specializing in turfgrass agronomy and weedy plant control, to its Green Solutions Team. Gore brings 18 years of turfgrass experience to his new role. ... Mark Claburn (Tierra Verde Golf Club), Steven Tierney (Golfpark Zurichsee, Switzerland), Kevin Ackerman (Royal Wood and Country Club) and Jim Pavonetti (Fairview Country Club) were selected as recipients of the 2024 Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards by the GCSAA. The annual awards are presented by the GCSAA and Golf Digest in partnership with Syngenta and recognize superintendents and golf courses around the world for their commitment to environmental stewardship since 1993.