September-October 2015
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PUBLICATION OF THE CAROLINAS GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION CAROLINAS greenSEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2015 Chechessee Aims High in Low Country Plus Dad Goes to School Staring Down Cancer PERMIT # 535 # PERMIT COLUMBIA SC COLUMBIA PAID US POSTAGE US PRSRT STD PRSRT www.carolinasgcsa.org Control like this has always been out of reach. Until now. The New A Model Mowers from John Deere. Now your presence can be felt on every part of your course. That’s the control you get with the new A Model mowers from John Deere. Thanks to our TechControl display, no matter who is operating the mower, you can easily program these mowers to mow and turn at exact speeds, to transport at safe speeds, and to lock in fuel savings. You can also plug in service reminders and get diagnostic feedback quickly and accurately. And all of your operators can now mow in a more consistent fashion. The power to control your course is now in your hands. To find out more about our new A Models, call us or sign up for a demo at JohnDeere.com/Demo. Trusted by the best courses on Earth. Our exclusive, password-protected TechControl™ Display lets you program JohnDeere.com/Golf commands for your operators. REVELS TURF AND TRACTOR SHOWTURF GREENVILLE TURF AND TRACTOR NC, SC, VA, WV Hilton Head, SC Piedmont, SC 800-849-5469 888-746-8873 866-485-8873 RevelsTractor.com ShowTurf.com GreenvilleTurf.com OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS President William E. Kennedy, CGCS Chechessee Creek Club CAROLINAS Bluffton, SC (843) 987-2740 green [email protected] Vice-President David Lee Hope Valley Country Club COLUMNS AND DEPARTMENTS Durham, NC (919) 489-4308 4 President’s Message [email protected] 6 Executive Director’s Message Secretary-Treasurer P. Adam Charles 8 The Pat Jones Index The Preserve at Verdae 12 Turf Talk Greenville, SC (864) 676-1515 16 Headliners [email protected] 18 Government Relations Immediate Past-President W. Brian Powell, CGCS 34 Assistant Superintendents Old Chatham Golf Club Cary, NC 36 Local Association News (919) 361-1401 20 [email protected] 42 Industry News Directors 47 With Sympathy Danny B. Allen Camden Country Club 48 Welcome New Members Camden, SC (803) 432-5450 49 Our Friends [email protected] 50 The Clean Up Lap John W. “Billy” Bagwell Callawassie Island Club Okatie, SC NEWS AND FEATURES (843) 987-2131 Control like this has always been out of reach. Until now. [email protected] 20 Back to School, Dad Robert A. Daniel, III, CGCS Watson Pursues Degree at 44 RiverTowne Country Club Mount Pleasant, SC 22 Looking Cancer Square in the Eye The New A Model Mowers from John Deere. (843) 849-2400 Ext 2417 26 Kim Clark Wins Early Fight [email protected] Now your presence can be felt on every part of your course. That’s the control you get with 26 Chechessee Breathes Anew Chris DeVane the new A Model mowers from John Deere. Thanks to our TechControl display, no matter who Forsyth Country Club Renovation Marks New Era is operating the mower, you can easily program these mowers to mow and turn at exact Winston-Salem, NC (336) 760-8191 30 Venerable Biltmore Refreshes speeds, to transport at safe speeds, and to lock in fuel savings. You can also plug in service [email protected] Samuels Oversees Major Work reminders and get diagnostic feedback quickly and accurately. And all of your operators can W. Scott Kennon, CGCS 32 Get Ready for Triple-Header Myers Park Country Club now mow in a more consistent fashion. Charlotte, NC Big Golf Events Line Up (704) 529-5393 The power to control your course is now in your hands. To find out more about [email protected] 33 Winterkill Recovery Lessons and a Look Ahead our new A Models, call us or sign up for a demo at JohnDeere.com/Demo. Andrew S. Ramsey Cutter Creek Golf Club Trusted by the best courses on Earth. Snow Hill, NC Our exclusive, password-protected (252) 717-6927 [email protected] TechControl™ Display lets you program 33 JohnDeere.com/Golf commands for your operators. Charlie Spears Cherokee Plantation Yemassee, SC Cover photo: Published bimonthly by the Carolinas Golf (843) 844-9937 Key players in the renovation Course Superintendents Association [email protected] of Chechessee Creek Club Executive Director: Tim Kreger from left to right, back row: Brian J. Stiehler, CGCS Anthony Atens, landscape Highlands Country Club Carolinas Green: Highlands, NC superintendent, and Victor Editor: Trent Bouts email: [email protected] (828) 526-5371 Campos, second assistant; Design: Julie Vincent [email protected] middle, Matt Keller, facilities maintenance manager, Contact Information: Matthew Wharton, CGCS and Jimmy Murray, head 103 Edgemont Avenue REVELS TURF AND TRACTOR SHOWTURF GREENVILLE TURF AND TRACTOR Carolina Golf Club equipment technician; front P.O. Box 210 Liberty, SC 29657-0210 Charlotte, NC Corey Hall, superintendent, Phone: 800-476-4272 NC, SC, VA, WV Hilton Head, SC Piedmont, SC (704) 942-1370 Bill Kennedy, CGCS director of golf course maintenance, [email protected] Fax: 864-843-1149 800-849-5469 888-746-8873 866-485-8873 and Nate Stevely, assistant superintendent. www.carolinasgcsa.org RevelsTractor.com ShowTurf.com GreenvilleTurf.com PRESIDENT Bill Kennedy, CGCS Golf, Not Going Away Anytime in Our Future of the game. They currently have more work than they can do. I have also had the privilege to work with numerous contractors on the project. They too say their plates are overflowing with work all over the southeast. Too much work - when is the last time we saw that? Capital projects and purchases seem to be on the climb in addition to renovations. We are fortunate to be adding a new golf course in the Low Country for the first time in years. Equipment sales now seem to almost have a first-come first-serve mentality. There have also been multiple brand new clubhouses added in the area and golf course real estate seems to be attractive again. The GCSAA compensation and Jeff Bradley, bunker master for the Coore-Crenshaw design team, with Bill Kennedy, CGCS benefit report also tells a positive story during the renovation at Chechessee Creek Club. about the future of our profession. wo thousand and fifteen will have this summer. We are doing so under Golf is a great game and still has a to go down as one of the most the watchful eye of the Bill Coore and tradition of character that endures. Tinteresting years of my life. I have Ben Crenshaw design team. These guys I understand we have declined in had the good fortune of serving as your help bolster my confidence in the future participation over the last decade but the president as well as the opportunity to loyalists still carry the torch. We as an renovate the course I helped build 16 industry are doing our part to grow the years ago. On top of all that, the club “The good way outweighs game. I am proud of the resilience of our has a new managing partner serving as profession and, moving forward, I hope to our general manager. This will also be the bad and I believe instill in our young crew the passion that the year my daughter, Hannah, learns positive energy will serve I carry for the game and our profession. to drive. Any one of those occurrences The good way outweighs the bad and I could be deemed stressful but if you put us all well in the years believe positive energy will serve us all them all together, you better hang on! well in the years ahead. ahead.” I have heard the gloom and doom stories over the last decade about the future of golf. I am sure some of those stories are warranted and in some cases even Growers of: Bermuda understated. However, my experiences, both here in Beaufort County and on TifDwarf • TifEagle • TifGrand my many traveling opportunities, tell a Tifway (419)-Cer./Reg. different story. I am pleased to say I am Zoysia extremely optimistic about where the Cavalier • Palisades • Diamond game is going. I am not saying we are back to the early 2000s level of growth Certified/Registered Turf but I do see indicators of greatness Grown on MB fumigated soil ahead. John M. Brown: 803-263-4231 • [email protected] As I mentioned, Chechessee Creek Club is undergoing an extensive renovation P.O. Box 212 • 2024 Willow Swamp Rd. • Norway, SC 29113 • newlifeturf.com 4 CAROLINAS green September - October 2015 ARE YOU HITTING YOUR TARGET? INCREASE SPRAY APPLICATION ACCURACY WITH ■ Create larger droplet sizes that reduce drift ■ Reduce spray droplet bounce for optimized retention ■ Increase spray droplet spread for enhanced target coverage Distributed by: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Tim Kreger Superintendents Star in Great Under-told Story like some good courses, didn’t make it While I’m tipping my hat in admiration, through. But it could and would have let me also give a heartfelt nod to our been a lot worse if not for your abilities industry partners. Life was no cakewalk and your dedication. for any of them either. In fact, many felt the pinch and had to make hard decisions It’s a fact that superintendents manage letting people go even before golf courses the highest expenditure department at started wielding the axe. Many also went most facilities. That same fact made golf out of their way to give superintendents course maintenance the first target for every inch of breathing space possible finding savings and making cuts. True, when it came to settling accounts. there probably was some fat in some budgets in the industry’s heyday.