Mmmmmm297 Dividen D Drive • Peachtree City, GA 30269 • 1-800-233-3853 • Fax 1-800-277-7701 UNIFORMS • APPAREL CIRCLE #109
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MAINTENANCE Giedd: Time to pull back on maintenance spending? By PETER B LAI S pull back, do fewer things, and no one was in, greens seed- ILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Are would really care." ed and the rough the gobs of money golf Giedd speaks from 27 years experience shaping done," Wcourses are throwing into in the golf course maintenance business. Giedd remembered. their maintenance budgets today really He graduated from Virginia Tech Univer- "We took it from worth it? Maybe not, according to Ken sity with a bachelor's degree in agrono- there, doing the Giedd, director of course maintenance my in 1969 before heading into the Army. rest of the work in at the 63-hole Kingsmill Resort here. The government stationed him in Seoul, house or contract- "Grooming standards have increased South Korea and made him superinten- ing it out. There at Kingsmill. "The tournament is sort of to the point where it seems many of the dent of the 8th Army Golf Club. Giedd Ken Giedd were some long staring over your shoulder 12 months a things superintendents do are simply a oversaw a major reconstruction of the days those last six months, but we got year," said Giedd, who begins serious way to keep up with the Joneses course, where eventual Tour players Or- it done." preparation six to eight weeks before [competition]," Giedd said. "But I think ville Moody and Bob Eastwood served as Today, Giedd oversees the Woods, the event. we're close to the point of diminishing head pro and assistant pro, respectively. Plantation and River courses, the nine- Anheuser Busch was successful in returns. Superintendents do a lot of stuff Giedd was eventually reassigned and hole, par-3 Bray track, plus the land- getting the dates for the event trans- to satisfy the owner or greens commit- named club manager of the course at scaping of the resort's entire 750 acres. ferred out of hot, sultry July and into the tee. I'm not sure golfers really see much Fort Lee in St. Petersburg, Fla. He manages 75 employees and a $2 cooler climes of late October for the 1997 of a difference, though. I think we could After his discharge from the service, million annual budget. event. While that pleases Kingsmill's Blacksburg Country Club brought Giedd "Anheuser Busch has a progressive marketing department, it could create back to his native state as head superin- capital budget, too," he added. "We're some headaches for Giedd. tendent. "All the Virginia Tech professors putting in a new practice green in "We're on the northern end of the were members of the course and several August and just finished a new driving Bermudagrass zone already," he said. of them were on the greens committee," range last year." "When we start scalping it down for the Giedd remembered. 'That was pressure." The resort is also finishing up work tournament in late October, it's going After a two-year hitch at Blacksburg, this summer on a $10 million expansion to be tough to keep it alive through the Giedd moved to the Hermitage Country to its conference center and sports winter. We'll do some experimenting Club in his hometown of Richmond. club. Landscaping responsibilities at this fall to see what works and what The course hosted the 1950 PGA tour- those facilities will also fall under doesn't. October will be great for the •Reduced turf clippings nament and provided Giedd with his Giedd's jurisdiction. players and spectators, but it could •Aggressive tillering &fill in first professional tournament experi- 'The nice thing about working for a make it tougher for us." ence when the Senior Tour stopped company this size is the resources you Of course, excuses like the cold •Improved mowing quality there in 1983-84. have access to," Giedd said. "For won't hold much weight with golfers if •Very dark green color Kingsmill hired Giedd in 1985 just as example, we have a sodium problem with conditions are less than ideal the next •Better versus brown patch work on the Arnold Palmer-designed the irrigation water here. The engineers time they visit Kingsmill. "The superin- Plantation course was winding down. and environmental people at Anhueser- tendent's job has become much more •Durable under traffic The Plantation and Pete Dye-designed Busch have helped solve that problem. demanding since I first started in the •Establishes new performance River Course gave Kingsmill 36 holes. We've also pulled out all the old under- business," said Giedd, who has orga- standards The complex stayed at 36 until July ground storage tanks, built a fertilizer nized monthly gatherings for Williams- 1995 with the opening of the Tom storage area, piped the equipment wash- burg-area superintendents for many Clark/Curtis Strange-designed Woods down area into the sewer system and years. "Now a phone call to those guys course. While Giedd had a limited hand built a new chemical storage area. is often about the best I can do. in the construction of other courses, "The only disadvantage is that things "The biggest change is the govern- Tcirf Type the Woods layout was his first opportu- can move slowly in a corporate environ- mental and environmental regulations a Perennial nity to be involved from the outset. In ment and you don't have the freedom to Ryegrass superintendent has to deal with. A fact, his involvement was more than he do some things that you might in a superintendent today has to be able to originally expected. smaller organization. But the pros far juggle more responsibilities. It doesn't The builder filed for bankruptcy outweigh the cons." seem so long ago, 1968 I believe, that halfway through construction of the Another pro Anheuser Busch brings they were just introducing the first Woods course. Giedd was put in charge to Kingsmill is the PGA Tour variety riding greens mower. The job has of the project six months from the who frequented The River Course gotten more complex and there is a lot TCIRF TYPE PERENNIAL RYEGRASS projected opening date. "The irrigation during July's Michelob Championship more money involved." TURF TYPE PERENNIAL RYEGRASS PUBLIC OPINION POLE: "1 IB IT"..» 10W Back of green Southern is taking yet another step towards Pattern Middle of green innovation in the golf course industry. 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