Whiteboard

A path to follow
Wear areas made by golfers following the same line are common turf problems for supers everywhere. If you re-turf the area it looks good for a week. Roping off the area looks ugly and gets in the way of play. And redirecting traffic just moves the wear to another area. However, GCI’s agent at work in the Land Down Under reports a possible solution.

 “We have one area, a crossing between the bunkers on the 8th which has been a major problem since our bunker upgrade two years ago,” says Peter Daly, superintendent at The McLeod Country Golf Club in Brisbane, Australia. “It is a high traffic area that funnels the traffic through a narrow pathway to and from the green. Consequently, any work done would soon be pounded into the ground.”

Daly considered widening the crossing, but he believed a new track would be created as everyone tends to walk on the same line. Recently he came across Grassprotecta, a new product from Geofabrics. It is a heavy-duty and UV-stabilized grass protection mesh. The idea is to lay it on top of the turf and allow the turf to grow up through the mat creating a very strong stable surface. The mesh is designed so you can play a golf shot off it, and it will distribute the wear of the high amounts of foot traffic over the whole of the grid.

“The original path was dug away with all turf and topsoil removed, we shaped the sub soil surface to distribute any water into both bunkers to use that as drainage,” he says. “We then brought in sand to widen and lift the crossing. This was put down in layers and packed tight, then another layer put on and packed and so on until the right height and width was achieved.

“We then repacked the bunker faces and topped with bunker sand and packed this as well, thus helping support the actual crossing. This was also done in layers. The area was watered and turf laid over the crossing. Then the Grassprotecta was laid out, cut to shape and then pegged down. We let the turf take root and grow through the grid.”

Well, five weeks later and the area is back in use. Daly is amazed at how well the matting distributes the wear. And once the turf grew through it was impossible to lift the matting. Most importantly, the golfers are happy and Daly even had some play a shot off it with no problems.

“Overall, I think this is a great solution to some of our areas,” he adds. “It will be interesting to see this long term and also how it goes through winter as the couch is already slowing down its growth rate. But as a solution to traffic wear problems, the cost wasn’t too high and it was easy to put down and get back in play very quickly.”

Roll Call
Pinehurst Resort, Village of Pinehurst, N.C., announced that Kevin Robinson has been named superintendent of Pinehurst No. 2.

Forsgate Country Club, Monroe Township, N.J., announced the addition of Scott Barnaby as head golf professional, and Mark Mazzola and Bobby Gage as golf professionals.

George W. “Buster” Bryan, a founder of both The Dunes Golf and Beach Club and Caravelle Hotel, and past PGA of America President Gary Schaal of Murrells Inlet were inducted into the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

Chris Spencer has joined E-Z-GO as vice president, engineering.

Update
Bad news from the world of South Carolina politics. The Creek Golf Club superintendent Weldon Davis lost his bid to run for a state rep seat in the June Republican primary. Opponent Eddie Tallon, a retired state law enforcement division agent, received about 80 percent of the vote.

GCI’s Pat Jones threw the spotlight on Davis’ march to the state capital in the May issue (“Run, Weldon, Run, page 66). At the time, Davis told Jones he had concerns that his opponent would outspend him in the days leading up to the primary, but he would not fight fire with fire. “I’m not taking money from lobbyists,” he told Jones. “It’s been offered, but I said, ‘No thank you, sir.’ When big money gets into small political races, they’re going to want something sooner or later. That’s what I’m running against, so why would I do it just to get elected.”

Undeterred by his recent defeat, Davis says he plans to stay involved in politics.

Greg Nathan has been promoted to senior vice president, membership, of the National Golf Foundation.

Check this out! 
Looking to jumpstart attendance at your next tournament?

Then you’re going to want to check this out.

I received this promo piece in the mail the other day encouraging me to purchase VIP ticket packages to attend the Bridgestone Invitational (Aug. 3-8) at Firestone Country Club, which is a chip shot to the south of GCI’s global headquarters.

What struck me as super cool was that this flier was personalized. Sneak a peek at how they integrated yours truly throughout the marketing message. My name even appears on the sample scorecard. And now check this out, what was really neat was it looked like a personalized Web address for me to register and purchase my tickets.
So what’s the take-away tip? It doesn’t take a lot to get noticed. In fact, a little personalization could go a really long way in getting your next event noticed. — MZ