We have … cutting boards!

Shirts. Hats. Coolers. Golf balls.

If you have worked in the golf industry long enough, you have a closet or desk filled with “traditional” swag. It’s time to introduce something unique to the industry — but we’re going to make you work for it.

As part of the #TurfheadsGrilling campaign sponsored by AQUA-AID Solutions, Golf Course Industry is distributing 12x17-inch maple cutting boards for recipes with accompanying imagery that are selected for publication in the debut “Turfheads Guide to Grilling” appearing in the sixth annual December “Turfheads Take Over” issue. Recipes and high-resolution images can be submitted by entering bitly.com/GrillingSwag into your web browser or via email to editor-in-chief Guy Cipriano (gcipriano@gie.net). In addition to being eligible to earn a cutting board, everybody who submits a recipe will receive a #TurfheadsGrilling koozie. Deadline for submissions is Nov. 10.

Established in early 2021, #TurfheadsGrilling honors the connectivity and creativity demonstrated through grilling, smoking and barbecuing. The program is designed to inspire turfheads to celebrate the camaraderie provided by outdoor cooking.

Follow @GCIMagazine and @Solutions4Turf and use #TurfheadsGrilling to join the conversation on Twitter. Everybody in the industry is encouraged to participate in the program and submit a recipe.

Course news

One of the Gothic masterpieces of 1920s golf architecture is getting ready for a major restoration. Yale Golf Course, a university-owned and -operated property designed in 1926 by Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor, is going to be the focus of a new operational plan funded by Yale alumni and restored by architect Gil Hanse. The comprehensive plans, funded to the tune of some $25 million, include a complete restoration of the golf course, updating of the clubhouse interior and expansion of the driving range.

Golf course architect and former Augusta National superintendent Billy Fuller oversaw the first phase of a greens renovation and enhancement project at Westhaven Golf Club in Franklin, Tennessee. The renovation included the redesign of six new greens, a newly designed practice putting green, and a conversion of all putting surfaces to TifEagle Bermudagrass.

Rees Jones is currently overseeing a redesign and renovation at Westchester Hills Golf Club, in White Plains, New York, which started Oct. 5. The project will include the expansion of 14 greens, the creation of new greenside pitching swails, reshaped fairways, the renovation of all current bunkers and the addition of strategic new bunkers, and the installation of a new irrigation system.

Eagle Mountain Golf Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona, recently completed a four-month golf course renovation and enhancement project. Troon oversaw the planning and management of the project, which focused on enhancing agronomic conditions and bunker playability at the 25-year-old property.

Tartan Talks No. 63

Todd Clark grew up in a Kansas family that owned a golf course … with sand greens.

“Back in the day, in Kansas, there were a lot of them,” he says. “There’s probably a handful still around today. It’s an affordable way to play golf.”

The family no longer owns the course. But Clark and his family still play plenty of golf together.

Clark, the President of CE Golf Design, joined the Tartan Talks podcast to discuss a variety of subjects, ranging from primitive putting surfaces to multi-generation golf experiences. CE Golf Design is part of Kansas-based Clark Enterprises and the golf course design portion of the family business is going strong. Clark and his cousin Brent Hugo are handling 12 active projects in 2021. None of those projects include sand greens. On the podcast, Clark ponders designing a modern course with sand greens.

“That would be interesting, because today we would do it different (than in the past),” Clark says. “We would put in a lot of movement and do something so you wouldn’t have to rake it and roll it all the time and make it so it can receive a shot.”

Establishing a relationship with superintendents, placing tees in the right places, his experiences as a college father and working with the late Dick Nugent are among the other topics Clark discusses on the podcast, which is available on the Superintendent Radio Network page of Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular distribution platforms.

Industry buzz

Brad Coleman is the new superintendent at The Club at Pasadera in Monterey, California — where he is also a member — after working the last three years at San Jose Country Club. … Former superintendent Justin Ruiz is now the West Area territory manager for Quali-Pro. … Dr. Stacy A. Bonos received DLF’s 2021 Excellence in Research award for her contribution to the development of new turfgrass cultivars that deliver superior performance with less resource inputs.