Get read on green

When he started as the superintendent at TPC Scottsdale about a year ago, Dustin Peterson wanted a way to communicate about what was going on around the course with the outside community. Like the larger golf community has embracing social media, he started a Twitter account and hasn’t looked back.

“I decided to set up a work-related account. I focus on only doing industry stuff,” he said. “I think my main goal would be putting things out there others can learn from, and see what we’re doing.”

Peterson originally thought of the feed as a tool to make the course’s general practices more visible. But he ended up realizing it could also highlight the special efforts the team puts in to create a sustainable, environmentally friendly golf course.

“As far as sustainability goes, I definitely like putting out as much as I can about what we’re doing on the course because of where we are,” said Peterson. “We’re in the desert, so water is the ultimate asset we have out here.”

With that high a premium put on water conservation and sustainability, he’s never at a loss to have something on the course that shows the work his crew is doing to not only help the course thrive, but be a benefit to its surrounding community. He just keeps his smartphone around and takes photos as he goes through his day, uploading them to the Twitter feed with a short note – like the recent tweet he made about brand-new misting emitters that will cover some dry mounds on the course, barring the need for heavy watering cycles at night there with micro-irrigation.

“It goes just right along with everything else on the course,” he said. “There’s so much wildlife and water-related sustainability that’s just there, right in front of us on a daily basis.”

TPC Scottsdale’s blog also brings crew practices into the spotlight, with photos and more in-depth descriptions from Peterson and the assistant superintendents. The blog also serves as a training tool for the assistants, providing an opportunity for them to learn to highlight good maintenance practices as well as communicate knowledgeably with players and the community about them.

Peterson and his crew make an impact beyond the golf course as well, especially when all eyes are on their turf during a tournament.

“It’s good for people who aren’t in our industry but who are following us, as well,” he said. “With the Waste Management Phoenix Open out here, it draws a lot of followers during the tournament. That’s interesting because you can go behind the scenes and see the different things we have to look at, and the choices we have to make. It goes so far in getting the word around.”

Regardless of his audience, Peterson tries to keep the message simple, and adds photos to each tweet or blog post, since it’s easier to really show the effects of turf practices that way. Keeping the goal of overall education at the forefront benefits not just superintendents trying to hawk sustainable practices, but grows the game, he said.

“Even though there’s not so much of a bad rap for golf as there was maybe years ago, it’s still happening quite a bit,” he said. “I think a lot of the mentality is that people don’t really know. But if they see one golf course doing this, they can assume others are doing it. The more people that see this kind of work, the more it’s going to help the industry, really.”