Trust is a process

Bill Irving considers himself the turf pro equivalent of a player’s coach.

Now in his seventh season as the director of agronomy at Wolf Creek in Olathe, Kansas, about 30 miles southwest of downtown Kansas City, Irving (opposite, top middle) provides his superintendent, assistants, mechanics and dozen or so full-time crew members with as much freedom and respect as possible. Have scrap wood at home that needs to be pitched? Bring it in for the burn pile. Need equipment from the maintenance facility for some yardwork? Take it with you after your shift — “just know,” he says, “that you’re responsible for it when it leaves.” Celebrating a wedding or an anniversary? Or a birthday? Perhaps a big one like a quinceañera or a sweet 16? Go ahead and treat it like the big deal that it is.

Treating people like adults — like human beings, with full lives outside their professional work — seems like a simple and straightforward idea. But it remains an idea worth sharing because so many work environments still seem to think of the people they trumpet as their most important resource as unable to think and act for themselves. Culture is key and developing that culture can spark incredible results.

At Wolf Creek, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a significant clubhouse expansion project, those results include the sort of work environment where superintendent Sean Berger (top left) assistants Clayton Schwarz (bottom, second from left) Nick Reedy (bottom, second from right) and Austin Banzet (bottom, middle) and longtime crew members like Mike McClelland (top right) Edwin Carillo (bottom, far right) and Antonio Calva (bottom, far left) are provided with the freedom and trust that everything the course needs will be accomplished.

“It’s big, whether people want to think it is or not,” says Irving, whose player’s coach ethos extended to renting a mechanical bull for a recent holiday party. “Resources like that are few and far between, and we’re lucky to have them.”

For as fun as Irving can be, Wolf Creek can feel like a serious place. Tom Watson lives just minutes away and considers it to be his home course, and Irving estimates that more than half of the 260 members carry single-digit handicaps. Irving weighs every potential shot whenever walking or driving the course before ever-so-slightly altering it. He removed hundreds of trees over six years in an effort to open the corridors between holes. He purchased 150 ball pit balls to better determine how wind was blowing in certain areas, then presented his findings to the board.

“It’s interesting to see the evolution through the years — projects here, projects there — but for the longest time, they didn’t do much,” he says. “In our region, from St. Louis to Kansas City on down, if you got asked to play Wolf Creek, it was a treat. You were out in the middle of nowhere, widely regarded as the best greens in the region. A lot of that was because of Dr. Marvin Ferguson” — a soil scientist who designed course in the late 1960s and early ’70s and carried encyclopedic knowledge of turf.

On an overcast Monday morning earlier this year, a quintet of crew members was hours into hunching over that same turf, fitting sod cut from the 12-acre Meyer zoysiagrass farm on site. This is one of so many jobs this day, this week, this month, this season that Irving trusts them to do, do well, and do on time. He doesn’t micromanage because he doesn’t need to.

The player’s coach trusts his incredibly talented team.

Matt LaWell is Golf Course Industry’s managing editor.

Tartan Talks 74

Don Knott started playing golf as a master’s student studying building architecture at the University of California, Berkeley in the early 1970s. He never designed a building. Instead, he has spent nearly five decades helping design and renovate golf courses.

Two-thirds of Knott’s golf architecture projects have come overseas. It’s unlikely he would have seen places such as Japan and Australia had he stuck with designing buildings. His career path changed when he joined Robert Trent Jones II’s budding golf course architecture firm in 1973. He prolonged his career by forming a partnership with Gary Linn in 1999. That partnership still exists in 2022, with Knott joking on the Tartan Talks podcast that the pair considers themselves “semi-retired,” although they are currently building a short course in Idaho and remain involved in several overseas efforts.

“I’d love to do more fun, playable courses for the average player,” Knott says. “The golf world ought to go to shorter courses, more playable courses and courses that save money.”

To hear more of Knott’s candid thoughts and observations — and stories from his long-distance journeys — download the podcast on the Superintendent Radio Network page of any popular podcast distribution platform.

And the new name is …

Bayer’s Environmental Science Professional business announced it will become Envu as a standalone company, contingent on the successful close of Cinven’s acquisition of the business from Bayer. Pronounced “ehn-VIEW,” the name is derived from “environment” and “vision” and developed with input from both employees and customers.

“As a trusted industry leader, we know that ensuring continued customer success requires strong partnerships and a renewed perspective,” says Gilles Galliou, president of the Environmental Science Professional business at Bayer and future CEO of the new standalone company. “That’s why Envu will be dedicated to bringing customers innovative solutions to help them push their business forward and tackle the toughest challenges our environments face today.”

Turfheads Take Over returns

Writing is the physical act of thinking.

Doesn’t matter whether you’re sitting at your desk and pounding out sentences on your keyboard, or curling over the kitchen counter scratching pen onto notepad, or even in bed and under the covers, thumbs flying across your phone. We think, therefore we write. We think, therefore we are.

For the seventh consecutive year, we are opening our December issue to let you think out loud and share your story — whatever you and your team might have accomplished this year, whatever lessons you want to share, whatever anything you want to share — in Turfheads Take Over. Any industry topic that you think is relevant and important is fair. Topics covered in 2021 included:

• The financial realities facing those who want to build a career in the industry
• Boosting assistant superintendent engagement
• A superintendent’s relationship with architects
• The importance of first impressions
• Building a community
• Customer service
• Recruiting
• The ridiculous adventure of buying a golf course
• How to know when to retire

And you don’t need to be a superintendent or assistant superintendent to contribute. Over the last six years, architects, designers, teachers, students, researchers, consultants, sports field managers, and manufacturer and distributor representatives have all landed bylines in the issue.

There is no word limit but all submissions should be at least 600 words and include accompanying photos or images, and be sent to editor-in-chief Guy Cipriano (gcipriano@gie.net) or managing editor Matt LaWell (mlawell@gie.net). If you need any help writing or editing, feel free to call or send an email. We’re happy to help you through the process.

Turfheads Take Over VII will also include the second annual Turfheads Guide to Grilling, a printed insert sponsored again by AQUA-AID Solutions and packed with recipes submitted by Golf Course Industry readers and followers. Those that wind up in the cookbook will earn their grillers impressive #TurfheadsGrilling swag and an opportunity for a 2023 team cookout.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, Nov. 4. Keep writing.