Post Open experience wrap up

These past few days at the nation's championship has been a great experience. I've been to the Masters twice and had a very high expectation. I wasn't let down. 

First I want to give the USGA major props for having a super, I mean a super duper organized event. Everything was well thought out...from parking, trolleys to the gates and a quick ticket scan and I was in. Once inside and standing on the hallowed ground of Pinehurst, you could feel the excitement of what is surely going to be a tournament to remember. However, unlike the Masters, you better bring an empty credit card if you want to get something to drink or eat. My buddy ordered a beer (none for me of course as I was an angel) and for a quick second I thought I was in South Beach when she told him what he owed. Yet, just like South Beach you sorta expect it. 

Walking amongst the golfing world and just listening you can learn a lot. If you just listen, most of the time people have no problem telling you how they feel.  What I heard more often than not is how "fried, baked, burnt, scorched, toasted, or ruined" the USGA can really make a golf course. There is a huge gap between how the USGA and Joe Public thinks a course should be set up to play. I've also been bouncing around on my social media sites checking in with my online family and even with the people who have an idea about golf there is a wide difference of opinion. My environmentalist leaning friends are saying "brown is good and that's the way it's supposed to be" while my more moderate friends are understanding of what the USGA has done to the course, but don't believe it's a setup that will be tolerated outside of a special event. 

In the USGA's defense I will say that anyone vying for a Saturday or Sunday slot could of played the old #2 and won if they were striking the ball and rolling greens well. The course just didn't penalize the player much for not making every shot perfect. With the course setup the way it is now, with the massive roll literally everywhere, only the very best player that has their ENTIRE game finely tuned into the course will win.  I saw so many perfect shots in the middle of the fairway make a puff of dust when it landed and then roll 30 yards right into the junk. So just because you hit a shot that 90% of the time would be a great, during this tournament it might end up horribly bad. 

Here's my take on the debate. I like what the USGA has done. Remember, this tournament is to find out who the very best player is in the world right now. This course, the way it is setup is punishing! At 7500 yards and a par 70, it's borderline capital pumisent for even a good golfer. For those who qualified to play this weekend, it's going to be extremely hard, but not punishing. But there's a difference between the US Open and everyday... and I think even Pinehurst knows it. 

This setup isn't sustainable for regular golf. I'm not talking environmentally sustainable, I'm talking business sustainable. When us Joe Public, mid to high handi-cappers play golf we have a hard enough time hitting the ball straight, let alone trying to  hit it 300+ yards to a rock hard, no grass, ultra tight, 20 yard wide fairway. Also, us divots whacking Hall of Fame wanna be's want to have fun. It's that birdie or the 3 wood that stops on green that keeps us coming back. Our expectation isn't to have a perfect round, although we'd love to, it's to have a chance at the high five or the "nice shot" which rings in our ears as fuel to press on with a game that can drive a man mad. If people had to play this sort of setup all the time they'd walk away from the game (even Bubba said so today on live tv), that's how hard Pinehurst #2 is setup. Sure they might come play the course once, maybe twice just to say they tried to concour it, but after walking away feeling like they got beat with a rubber hose they wouldn't come back. All of this isn't even considering the amount of damage maintaining a course this way will do if you run 30-40,000 rounds over the nearly dead grass. Golf, like any business, can't sustain itself without loads and loads of repeat customers. So in the interest of trying to find our nation's champion, Pinehurst, which has the ability to become a course with serious teeth to fight back, and the USGA, who has the expertise to setup a course to separate the men from the boys, have combined their assets to create a special event. This is a setup that will be far and few between because there's only one #2, but also remember this is a resort course. Which means they want people to want to play it, not get abused by it. 

I have been told that directly following the women's open that the bent grass greens are going to be replaced with MiniVerde.  On that following Monday after the women finish up I'd almost guarantee you that the Irrigation system won't be shutting off for a few days.  When #2 opens back up and the people come back to play, they'll want a glimpse of the course's fury, but not all of it. Pinehurst knows this and that's what they'll give them. The course itself, in superior shape, is hard enough. So don't expect it to stay burnt, baked and crispy for very long after the Pros leave. 

Hot! How hot?

Its so hot at Pinehurst even the weeds are wilting. 

Sorry it's not super clear, but check out the shadow. It's Africa hot on the course today. 

Hazards....not so cut and dry

One of the big things everyone is talking about here at Pinehurst is what is deemed as the boundary of the hazard. 

Almost all of the bunker hazards have these "fade to black" edges that are going to cause some players to question are they in or are they out. Remember what happened to Dustin Johnson when he played at Whistling Straights a few years ago? He "assumed" he was not in a hazard and it cost him the tournament. In speaking with a rules official about the clearly non-defined edges of some hazards he said it would be a judgement call by the course official. This is coming from a guy who is the head of his country's rules committee and has done multiple Opens, British and US. Look for there to be rules officials all over the course to answer the question, "am I in or not?"

On other news, the course is still drying down and is baking in the 90+ degree heat. Here are a couple shots I took today to give you a perspective of conditions. 

In this pic you can see the maintenance staff hand watering the greens in the back ground. 

Another important note to remember is that the women are playing their US Open next week, right behind the men. It will be very interesting how the USGA will manage the course in anticipation of back to back Opens. One way I observed that they are managing the course is with what is called a Clegg meter. This device measures the firmness of a surface as compared to other areas. 

It's hard to see but in this picture they are measuring the impact point where most of the players shots hit the green to see if it is drying out too much. Too dry and the green becomes a rock, too wet and the players can throw darts at the flags. 

The relative values of the Clegg meter are only good at telling you what is acceptable for a specific location. There are no "rules" on what is an acceptable range for maximizing playability. The USGA literally goes out and has players hit balls to a spot and then measures the firmness. Then they either say it's too wet and they want it firmer or not. 

To give an example of how unkept the hazards are, in this picture there is a pine tree growing out of the face of the bunker. 

I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be acceptable in most places. The good news is that I haven't observed a player unable to advance the ball out of the srub areas this far, but I've seen lots of them in it. 

Ruff around the edges....a US Open like most have never seen

Today is one of those great days of my job where I get to take advantage of some of the perks to my profession. Today I'm visiting the Little Putter Boy's play ground, also known as Pinehurst. Which, as you probably know is host to this year's US Open. 

After rummaging through a tent the size of a football field filed with every nick-nack and logo'd thing you can imagine (I needed an official US Open hat of course) I ventured out to Donald Ross's legendary #2 course. I'm going make a pre-tournament call to say this tournament setup will turn this course into someone's nightmare. 

This course isn't just dried down for the tournament, it is built to be this way. Pinehurst's #2 is a total throw back in time when the ideals of the game were centered around playing it as it lies and threw the green. The single row irrigation line down the middle of the fairways is DESIGNED PURPOSEFULLY TO NOT BE ABLE TO MEET THE WATER DEMANDS OF THE NORMAL "PERFECTLY CONDITIONED" COURSE we all associate with USA golf. This is the way they wanted it. I had the pleasure of speaking with a senior rules official while on the course today. I was asking some questions about this and that regarding expectations to Par....he just smiled and said "just remember when Stuart Cink finished his final match at Shinnecock Hills a few years back and was questioned about Par, he said "Par doesn't matter, lowest score wins."  Eluding that the course is going to severely test the players. 

To get an idea of how different the course is now as compared to then check out is picture. Gone are the days of perfect grass everywhere. Honestly, any player that played today had a chance to win on the old course of lush grass and secondary rough cuts. The brutal fact is that now the course puts an even higher premium on accuracy off the tee. And on those 550+ par 4 holes, those layup shots better be spot on as well. 

To say Pinehurst wants the course to play like the day Donald Ross designed it is an understatement. The only areas with 100% irrigation coverage are the tees and greens. Everything else outside of the single head down the middle of the fairway is left to it's own or had the water turned off for a while. Oh and by the way, it was over 90 degrees at the course today....brown is going to be ok for this tournament. However, I did see the staff hand watering the bent grass greens to keep them from frying, at least for now. It's going to an interesting event. 

Lastly, I have to say that just like Augusta National, TV will not due the greens contouring justice. These "turtle back" greens look like the backs of turtles that have gone through Chernobyl and have severe growths under their shells. The wicked mounding on top of the turtle back greens and the run-offs that roll forever are going to play havoc with the errant shot. 

My new putter boy hat...

If you get a chance to watch some of the tournament, I'd do it. These type of setups are far and few between. 

First assault, 100 day war - 2014

This year's first assault on the 100 day war (a.k.a - summer aerification) has gone pretty smooth so far. At the last minute I modified the game plan a little bit due to a lack of available irrigation water from the City.

I didn't want to totally shred the golf course and not be 100% certain I would be able to nurture the course back to health, so I cancelled the heavy verti-cutting of the playing surfaces. Despite the mild set back, the vast majority of aerifications and standings are taking place.

With all the rains as of late (none of which have hindered our closure thank goodness), it looks like the City's irrigation supply is building back up quickly.  We should be able to accomplish our agronomic goals throughout the summer in the long run. 

The most valuable commodity

If you were to think about what is the most precious "thing" you need to have in order to have a great golf course what would you think of? Would it be people, fertilizer, machines or maybe even pesticides? I would say a good water source. 

As many of you know the Club receives reuse irrigation water from the City of Naples. I got a phone call from the City reuse water people on Tuesday that I've been waiting for, but also dreeding. It wasn't good news, the City is out of water to supply us with for irrigation. Anyone that has lived in Naples for a while knows that this time of the year it gets really hot and really dry. 

This time of the year I can usually consume 750,000 gallons of reuse water every night to keep up with the water needs of the course. Due to the reduced flows of incoming sewer supply from the vast majority of City residence leaving to go back north for the summer, I'm lucky if I get enough reuse water to irrigate the course 3-4 days a week. Needless to say the course is going to start showing signs of drying down. 

The course a few weeks ago with plenty of irrigation water. 

The extreme potential of what could happen, but we are no where near this. Not to worry though. Once the rains come and we start watering a little more the grass will green right back up. 

As a result of the limited suply of reuse water, my team has been forced to rely on our emergency well pumps to supply water to our crucial areas of the course first, such as greens and tees, and then water whatever we can afterwards. It's important to know we only have 24 million gallons of water to last the entire year so we can go hog wild using the wells right now. If we consume the backup supply quickly and the dry period lasts for a while we will be in a pickle. 

The good news is the rainy season is just around the corner and then the City should be able to build its reserves back up and supply us the needed resource. Until then, a little brown isn't so bad. 

Teaching others to blog

Today I gave a 20 minute talk, seemed only like 2 minutes, to a group of Superintendents about how blogging can help them communicate.  My talk concentrated on how effective and easy blogging is. I shared a lot of my experiences with how the Club's membership has used the blog as the go to source for information about the course. There was a lot of "holy crap, that's looks really easy to do!" 

All I kept saying was "You're right & your membership will love it!"