The Whiteboard

It’s a wash

Beryl might’ve been classified as a tropical storm when it hit the northeast coast of Florida in late May, but its downgrade as it lost power was exactly what it caused on the Dunes Golf Club: a depression.

As the storm weakened, it should’ve spent less time pouring rain on the course and surrounding counties, but it lingered long enough to put down 10 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.

So much water came down that it washed out several dunes and overwhelmed the drainage systems, uncovering and damaging pipes in the process, closing the course temporarily.

Course maintenance crews are still working to repair the damage, according to general manager Jim Cocchi, but they should be wrapped up in time for a June 16 event.
 

Going international

GCI’s Pat Jones and Bruce Williams embarked on a whirlwind fact-finding tour of golf in Singapore, Bangkok and Tokyo in May, following the launch of the premier issue of GCI International.

As they traveled throughout Southeast Asia, Pat and Bruce kept us updated via Facebook and Twitter. Here are some of our favorite dispatches:

May 17- Got a great download from Alan Prickett, Jacobsen’s golf market guru in Asia, at lunch yesterday along with Bruce Williams and Mike Sebastian. Key finding: the issues facing golf in most Asian countries aren’t that different than the U.S. How do we get more people to play? How do you overcome competition for time? How do you revive courses associated with failed residential developments? Half a world away but the problems sound like home.

May 16 - Singapore is one of the most seductive places on earth. Yes, the hotel is marvelous but the people here are amazing. And lunch with Alan Prickett of Jacobsen was worth the trip. Beginning to get a hint of what GCI International can do in Asia, but pretty sure it’s going to require lots more fact-finding junkets to completely figure out. :0)

May 15 -Woke up to a hazy sunrise in Singapore to find a golf course out my window.
 

A courser on the course

Golfers are usually after birdies, but sometimes it’s the other way around. Birders were after Kington Golf Club in Herefordshire when a particularly rare species showed up in May.

A cream-colored courser had decided to stay for a few days just out of bounds along the 8th fairway, far removed from its usual haunts. The bird usually hails from North Africa and the Middle East, and hasn’t been since 1984 in Britain.

About 2,000 people showed up to see the small wader, with some bird watchers also keeping an eye on the games going on around them and applauding shots while lining up a perfect photo through a zoom lens.
 

From the field

GCI’s roving reporters attended BASF’s 2012 Agriculture Solutions Media Summit in early June and learned that the company has plans to introduce a new fungicide for the golf turf market in 2014.

Lexicon will be a combination of Xemium (a successful ag market product) and Insignia SC. Keep an eye out for more news on this new turf product.
 

From the feed

We’ve been hearing about the benefits of the Tee It Forward initiative from the USGA - oh, and also our own GCI columnists. Here’s how short tees made golf fun again for one member out there:

Our new short (3000 yrds) tees allow one of our members who is battling cancer to make birdies! Jason Haines@PenderSuper

I imagine it’s nice for the younger junior players as well. Good on you. Brian Jennings@GolfShaper1

Yeah. People are slow to move forward but once they do they LOVE it! #teeitforward #golf #fun Jason Haines@PenderSuper

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