New England Regional Turfgrass Conference

This week I attended the New England Regions Turfgrass Conference and Show in Providence Rhode Island.  This is one of the top regional turf shows in the country.  It brings turf managers, researchers, and vendors together to share information and ideas related to current research, the latest products or trends in golf, as well as experiences related to challenges we are facing in the golf industry.  The conference provides educational sessions and seminarscovering a variety of topics related to turf management, project/budget management, and professional development.  I thought I would provide a brief summary of the conference and how I feel it will benefit the club in the future.

The first day of the conference includes half day seminars on a variety of topics.  Each year I try to select one class that is related to business or personnel management, and one that focuses on turf management.  This year I selected a seminar on project management and another on surface sealing of putting greens.

The project management class was instructed by Bruce Williams CGCS, former superintendent at Los Angeles Country Club and Bob-O-Link in Chicago.  A few of the highlights from this class include determining when to do work in-house and when to hire a contractor, the role and value of a project manager, and the importance of communication during all stages of the project.

He shared a number of personal stories from his time at both Bob-O-Link as well as complete renovations of both courses at L.A.C.C.   A few things that stayed with me were his description of Jack Niklaus’s $50,000 wave (Those bunkers should be moved 20 yards down that way, or Move that tee over there so the water comes into play).  That led to a discussion about change orders and how the altering the original scope of a project affects both cost and time.  He also shared the importance of offsetting the cost of change orders by keeping close watch of how much labor and materials the club contributes in the form of repairs, use of the club’s equipment, fuel, etc. 

Another story involved the renovation of the practice facility at L.A.C.C.  The former commander of the pacific fleet instructed him to renovate the range for $500,000,  when the estimates were closer to $1 million.  Bruce explained that he “would rather do half of the project the right way rather than do all of it half-assed.” 

Finally, he made a point to spend time discussing the importance of communication during all phases of the project beginning with planning and approval, providing frequent progress updates, and most importantly upon completion.  He focused on clearly defining the end of a project so that the members could determine what they got for their money, and to celebrate the event with a special tournament or party.  Hopefully each completed project will serve as the foundation and inspiration for future work.

The afternoon class was presented by one of the top soil consultants in the industry, who discussed surface sealing of putting greens.  The material is a bit technical, but there is always more to learn about soil science and how it influences the health and performance of putting green turf.  The majority of the material dealt with the interaction of water and soil, and why some greens tend to remain wet long after rain events or irrigation.  The solution was developing effective aeration and topdressing programs based on your specific conditions.  I had already been looking into this over the winter as we look to review the frequency and nature of our cultural programs, and I intend to follow up with him over the next few weeks.

I will put together more entries for the blog that review the USGA presentations, explain some of the current research that I will utilize, as well as the time spent with architect Tim Gerrish at the Trade Show.  Keep an eye out for more entries in the next few days.