| I’ve recently been engaged in several discussions about how to change cups. It wouldn’t be such a bad discussion except for the fact that I’ve been doing it for 20 years now and one of my first-year guys seems to think I don’t know what I’m talking about when I correct his methodology. I came across him actually slapping the turf around the newly cut cup the other day, and this was after he had shoved the cup in with the flagstick and rolled back and forth over the hole with a piece of PVC about 72 bazillion times. I corrected him and he gave me a bunch of lip service about how his method was better at getting the area around the cup more level and the flag perfectly straight, yada yada yada. Oh, did I mention the part about him running his index finger around the soil area above the cup and below the turf for some reason? No wonder it has been taking him five hours to change cups. I think I’ll just send him a link to this article from examiner.com. Grand Rapids, Michigan correspondent Duane Shore posted an interesting article about whether cup cutting was an art or a science. Aside from the glaring omission about changing cups to relieve compaction around the hole, and the overuse of the exclamation point, it’s not a bad synopsis. He has good links to a couple YouTube vids of the process as well, taken at Candlestone GC in Belding, MI. Sorry, but the crewmembers are unidentified. Not to be outdone, the USGA has a more formal instructional video about changing the hole location. It’s animated, so there aren’t any unrepaired ballmarks, putter divots or scalped plugs to contend with – but you get the idea. Chance Leith is the publisher of Carolinas Golf Times, a golf blog site where I stumbled across a nice piece called ‘Pawleys Plantation’s recent resurgence based on hands-off maintenance.’ Tim Gavrich wrote the entry praising Superintendent David Eure for not succumbing to the pressure of providing year-round lush green conditions. All hail the bump-and-run! I was once asked by one of my employees, “How come every time you come out to check on us we’re taking a break?” I think the answer is pretty obvious – I’ve adopted this method of checking up on the course and crew, so they can’t see me coming. Not to mention the fact that they always seem to be taking a break …. |
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