Christmas Blowout

Nope its not another Christmas Sale but it is a first in my career at Wild Horse.  We charged up irrigation on December 14 and then blew out on December 18.  There was another year about 10 years ago that we charged up and blew out again before spring charge-up but that was in February.  Never did I think it could happen in December, but this weather pattern had left us high and dry!  We were able to run through 4 irrigation cycles and get plenty of moisture back in the soil.  The turf at this point of the winter looks pretty good since we have not had much in the way of very cold temperatures.  Just waiting to see what the next couple months bring.

Irrigation on #18

Starting the blow out on the chipping green

Winterization

Brrr! its cold out today which means winter must be just around the corner.  We always fear what winter might bring to our turf and causes us some angst not being able to control much of what mother nature deals us.

We have completed a heavy topdressing on back nine greens and will finish the front on Monday 13th.  The idea behind this last-minute topdressing is to bury the crown of the plant under a protective covering of sand.  This insulates the crown from temperature swings and prevents desiccation.  The crown of the plant is the growing point that must remain at a reasonable moisture level through the winter to do its thing come spring.  To further benefit the crown of the turf we have raised the height of cut, fertilized, and aerated recently to make the plant as healthy as possible going into winter.  This helps the plant produce and store carbohydrate reserves in the crown which act as a plant antifreeze and also gives the turf energy to get going in the spring.

We will be placing covers on greens knobs in the coming week to protect those extremely vulnerable areas.

Also we have not blown out irrigation lines yet as this is another way we try to prevent winterkill. This time of year is a bit nerve-wracking hoping we schedule blowout early enough to avoid prolonged freezing temperatures but late enough to provide irrigation until the last possible moment.  We want to have moisture available to the plant throughout the winter so we water heavily just before blowout to ensure the soil is at full water holding capacity.  We are scheduled to blow out irrigation on November 20-21 about a week later than normal.


We have also been doing some subtle reshaping work on certain bunkers which you can see below.  If you glanced at the photos you probably didn't notice any difference but if you look closely at this greenside bunker on 11 you will notice in the second picture where we have pulled some sand away from that middle top lip.  The sand has blown up against the lip and negated the sharp overhang lips that you see on the right side of the bunker.  This is somewhat unique of our "blowout" style bunkers and many courses prefer and work hard to keep sand right up to the lips.  Not here however as Proctor and Axland are the finest at creating those harder edges that look more erodible i.e. natural like pits carved by wind and water erosion.  Not only does the lip look more natural now, but by pulling back the excess sand that had accumulated at the top we have reduced the chance for a plugged lie in the face of the bunker.

The next two pictures highlight the same before and after on the large bunker right of 18 fairway.  The shadows help define the harder dropoff edge that was created.  Also lots of sand was pulled back down into the belly of the bunker.  

Finally here is a picture of 8 fairway bunker after the work was completed.  Unfortunately I didn't take a before picture, but you can see by the shadows the lip we created on this bunker.  These are subtle things you probably didn't notice until now but we are always trying to keep the course looking as intended from the architect's point of view.  Dan Proctor visited with me a couple summers ago about redefining some of these edges and I did some last fall, but finally found a process that I think works better at accomplishing what we want which is a natural looking sand trap.

October

The golf season is winding down but there will be a few more good days to play and the course is looking pretty.  The greens are healing nicely from the aerification of last week.  The holes were small and the topdressing has worked in nicely leaving a good surface to play on.  We have raised the height of cut as we prepare for impending winter so greens aren't summertime fast but they still roll smooth.  Our mowing schedule on everything has slowed and we will only mow a couple more times on fairways and tees.  This is the time of year when we try to go easy on the grass to allow it to go into winter as healthy as possible.

One nuisance you have probably noticed this fall is the worm castings, but there is not much that can be done to prevent them.  This year they seem to be particularly bad perhaps because of the recent rains.   We hate them as much as you because they are unsightly and gum up our mowers but usually it is a short-term problem.  They are really active for about 2-4 weeks, but this cold snap should start sending them down in the soil as they too prepare for winter.


Below is a picture taken after the cross country meet showing the impact of hundreds of runners on the turf.  I show this not because I am upset about it but it is a good way of showing what golf carts, mowers and golfers do to turf.  This picture illustrates it better because the traffic is concentrated in one area and at one time, but the same compaction is occurring all week every week during the season.  I know golfers get tired of the mess associated with aerification but this is why we aerate so often-to counteract the subtle stress turf sustains due to traffic of all kinds.

Again this fall you have seen these rectangular spray strips.  We are once again trying some different rates and timing of Roundup application in hopes of controlling Poa annua.  You might wonder why we have done these trials in various areas and not just in a single fairway.  We want to test our applications under various conditions of soil types, traffic, and soil moisture to see if there is differences.  Also each area will have different percentages of bluegrass vs. rye so we can see how much injury occurs to each type of turf.  And finally Poa has many different varieties within its species so we want to see if one type is affected more than others.  Each area treated will have differing types and abundance of poa plants.

Glorious

Say it every year but man September is just perfect here in Nebraska.  And the golf course is enjoying the last days of summer.  This is the time of year when superintendents can catch their breath a bit and enjoy the fruits of their labors.  The weather, the shortening days, and the turf growth habit come together to make the course as good as it gets.
It has been another great season here at Wild Horse and we hope you can make it out a couple more times before the snow flies.  It is indeed glorious out there today with the emerald green fairways surrounded by the purple and orange hues of the native grass roughs.  Makes for some inspiring golf.  Enjoy!!

Aeration Schedule

Hard to believe but we are on the downhill side of summer which means aeration will soon be taking place.

We will start poking fairways on August 13.  We usually try to do 3 or 4 fairways per day and get done as quickly as possible-probably by August 16.  We try to get cleaned up as quickly as weather allows- the plugs must be dry to start dragging and blowing them.  If you play those days there will probably be 1 or 2 holes that you encounter full cores that haven't been broken up.  We appreciate you patience with this process.

August 28-29--Greens Surrounds.  9 per day

Sept 5-6--Tees

October 2-3--Greens with small tines similar to last fall.

Dog Days of Summer

It is now the height of golf season as July is the month with the highest number of rounds played at Wild Horse.  But it is probably the worst conditions for growing grass as high temperatures and ample humidity can cause turf to suffer.  We have not been lucky enough to catch any rains recently so the rough and edges of fairways are starting to brown off quickly.  Our efforts to keep irrigation out of the rough is readily apparent now as the first cut beyond the fairways is brown and crispy.  Below is a good example of where irrigation is and where it isn't.  There are still some areas that receive some irrigation overspray but without rain even those areas are becoming parched.   This is definitely makes finding and hitting balls from the rough much easier but the "look' of the fairways may not be as consistent due to a few brown spots here and there.  But all in all the course is holding up well and golfing conditions are great.

I posted a video of this critter on twitter about a week ago under the caption of "Omaha rattler".  Every year we have one or two people swear they saw a rattlesnake.  Not to say it couldn't happen but most of the time they are probably seeing this critter-a hognose snake.  It very much looks like a rattlesnake from its markings and its diamond shaped head.  It will even twitch it's tail rapidly which  can look and sound almost like a rattlesnake. These guys are generally pretty timid although this one was a bit feisty.  I attribute that to him being the largest  specimen I have seen.  Really a cool snake to have on the property-keeps you city folk on edge.  Ha!

Oh I barely recognize you with your haircut!  You can see we have knocked down some areas of rough similarly to last year. You can read about why we do so in a previous post on rough management called Gnarly "Wooga"

https://whgcturf.blogspot.com/2016/07/gnarly-wooga.html

Got a Leak?

That's the question we get most times when someone sees us doing a project like this.  No, not a leak- we are just making work for ourselves by moving sprinklers around to 1) get better coverage on turf and/or 2) limit the amount of overspray into the rough.  We have probably done nearly 40 of these over the past few years as we try to maximize our irrigation efficiency by placing the heads in just the right spots.  Also we cannot completely eliminate irrigation overspray into the native areas but we have made significant progress over the years in minimizing the amount of irrigation spraying into the rough.  It is little projects like this that can make incremental improvements to the course in the long term.

Poa control

Revisiting the test strips we talked about earlier this year  http://whgcturf.blogspot.com/2017/03/test-strips.html.  This picture clearly illustrates the spray path that we took last fall.  Outside of this pattern you can see the abundance of Poa seedheads (whitish splotches).  So it sure looks like we might be on to something with Poa control using Roundup.  We will once again pick some spots to attack again late summer and early fall and hope we can achieve great control like you see in the rectangle below.

Irrigation Driven Sump Pump

We have been wanting to improve the drainage in front of 6 green for several years.  During large rains our "French drain" sump fills with water and must be pumped out with a transfer pump.  In an ideal situation electricity would be available somewhere close and a simple electric sump pump could be hung in the catch basin.  But this area on 6 fairway is not near electricity so instead we used unique system developed by Turfdrain that allows us to move water without electric power.  In this application, irrigation water is run through a siphoning valve that then sucks the water out of the sump and pumps it through the outlet pipe.

This first picture shows the excavation of the old gravel fill sump.  This was complicated by the water still in the sump and the caving of the banks but Richeson Irrigation dug us a nice hole.

Here you see the new catch basin draped in erosion cloth to prevent contamination.  To the right is the 1" line that ties into the irrigation system.  To the left is the outlet piping that will carry the water up and over the hill to the east.  As you can see we backfilled with sand which should move water better into the sump and not get as clogged with sediment like the previous gravel layer.

The project nearly complete-just waiting for the sod..

 
Finally here is the working parts of the system.  You can see the float ball that will automatically open the siphon valve when water reaches a certain level in the catch basin.

We have been pondering doing this sump (which almost always holds water after any large rain event) for some time now and we are quite excited to have this really cool system installed and ready for the next thunderstorm.  Kudos to my crew that knocked this out in a day.

More Accolades

Recently Wild Horse received some more accolades that can be seen at the following links.

golfdigest.com/gallery/americas-100-greatest-public-courses-ranking

https://www.nebraskagolf.org/top-10-you-can-play-in-nebraska/

It is an honor to be highly thought of by these sources and others that have included us in their best golf courses listings.

So how does a course get into such lists and what role does maintenance play in that regard?  Each publication or panel of raters has criteria for rating courses and most of it is based on the design of the golf holes and how they challenge the golfer.  Criteria can vary from one source to the next which can account for the differences in course rankings from one list to another.  As with all rankings there is the subjectivity of each rater that can make the difference between being 56 or 78, but that really doesn't matter much.  If Wild Horse is included in these lists it must generally be a highly regarded course among the best in the state and nation.

At the stockholder meeting this year I talked about what I feel the maintenance team's role in this ranking game is.  We are the coach that hopefully maximizes the "talent" of the course.  Wild Horse is a great design with variety, strategy, and fits well into our prairie landscape.  So we have plenty of "talent" to work with.  Then we try to maximize the golfers' experience by providing great playing conditions that contribute to the design of the course.   For example the greens and fairways have some slope to them but are not overly severe.  Therefore we try to maximize those slopes and run-up areas around greens by keeping them firm and fast as possible. 

Along with playing conditions, we strive to keep the architectural merits of the course relevant and intact.  What exactly does that mean?  That means keeping bunkering looking as intended by maintaining the "blowout" look.  It means keeping mow lines in their place.  It means examining teeing areas and adjusting if necessary to weather conditions and/or player capabilities.  It means managing the native vegetation and topography to visually accentuate the golf holes.  Some of these things probably are not consciously recognized by most golfers, but together these things create a product that subconsciously "feels right" to the player.  Then when they are done with their round they say that was fun. 

We hope that our work solidifies each golfers' perception of Wild Horse as a top-notch facility-one that they want to return to often. That's what we are trying to accomplish.

Greens aerification update

We have poked holes in all the greens during the cruddy weather we have been having the past few days. It hasn't been pleasant to work in but it is great timing because we aren't in your way and you aren't in ours.  We hope to get our topdressing out Monday if we don't get too much snow tonight.  Then we hope for some warm weather to help greens heal up quickly.

Even though we see it often, it is truly amazing how quickly and easily new roots find these channels in the soil.  The new roots love the freeway without compaction and water and air are readily available. 
As most of you know we are seemingly always poking holes but there is really no substitute for this critical practice if you want to maintain high quality turf.   We realize it can be an inconvenience for you playing the game but we try to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.  And the week of less than ideal playing conditions pays off in a season long stretch of great conditions coming in the months ahead.

Course Update April 2017

It has been a warm April and the course is looking pretty good for this time of year.  We are starting to wrap up aerification with fairways and surrounds done.  We had planned to do greens this coming week but the weather looks not promising so we will postpone greens aeration until May 1 and 2.

Greens are looking good right now and we have heard some "slow" comments about them.  True they are not down to midseason height yet but we like to give them until after aeration before we shave them down.  This is for two reasons-- the higher height of cut will help them heal faster from aeration and also aids in root development now.  Once we get down to summer height, root development will be limited by less leaf surface.  Leaf surface area has a strong correlation to rooting depth.  For example a 3 inch high lawn will have about 3X the root mass of a 1 inch lawn. So we use this time in April to build up a root mass to help us through the summer months.

This is a busy time with aerification, fertilizer apps, pre-emergent weed control, and  root disease control to do right now.  We always consider this time fame in April as the setup window for all the good that is to come this summer.  We are excited about where the course is right now and are looking forward to a great season

Aerification Schedule

It's that time of year again! 

April 3-14  Fairways doing 1 or 2 holes per day weather permitting

April 17-18  Greens surrounds

April 24-25  Greens- 3/8" solid tines.  Same size as last year no cores pulled.

May 8-9  Tees

Test Strips

     Ouch that looks bad!  What is going on here?  We did some experimenting last fall in an attempt to find a cheap way to knock out Poa annua.   This is glyphosate (Roundup) applied at light rates.  We were confident the glyphosate application would not harm the bluegrass enough to cause damage but we were hoping to find the rate that would kill poa and not the ryegrass also.   The green rectangle you see above is one rate and the diagonal line that looks worse is 2x that rate.  As you can see the 2x rate caused some damage to the ryegrass but that strip should respond quickly when the remaining bluegrass starts to grow.  The picture below shows a 4x rate that we tried to see if we could get better poa kill and maintain some of the good grasses.  This area was predominately poa and ryegrass so it took this application pretty hard.   It looks like this is too much, but you never know until you try.  There are still a few remaining bluegrass plants  that should hold it together but we will be reseeding this strip this spring.  The jury is still out on how much poa we killed.  Many times it will look dead but come back.  By mid summer we should see what we gained from this type of poa control strategy.

So why would we take the risk of using glyphosate in an attempt to control poa?  There are two reasons.  First, the cost of light glyphosate treatment is next to nothing so it would be a huge cost improvement over the alternative we will discuss later.  Also poa has a tremendous diversity in its population so strictly using one control strategy tends to fail over time as resistant strains of poa can by selected.  By employing different strategies better overall control should be achieved which is Weed Resistance 101.

The picture below illustrates our preferred poa control strategy (although not our exclusive one).  The white splotches below are poa annua plants that are succumbing to our Prograss applications from last fall.   Pretty effective but the cost is nearly $450/acre so finding a cheaper alternative would be beneficial. 

Now you know why we have some odd looking strips scattered in fairways.  These are our test plots to evaluate poa control strategies.  Hopefully you see why we experimented last fall and although the strip on 17 fairway may not have worked as we hoped, we learned something in the process and might be able to dial in an effective rate for poa control in the future.

Ice Damage

Here's a picture from this winter in front of 6 green.  We had a deep line hydrant break and ran water into this sump and it froze as you see here.  This next picture is what that area looks like now.  It is pretty apparent that there is some ice damage that occurred around the edges of this frozen pond especially right up next to the path (just above my dog in the pic).  We rarely have ice damage in this climate but in other areas of the country it can be devastating if certain conditions exist.  The interesting thing is that you see the middle of the pond is undamaged because it was under water.  Apparently the grass was able to breathe enough under water but not under the ice cover near the edge of the pond.
This particular area has a large percentage of rye because it is chronically wet and receives a lot of traffic from carts as they exit the fairway.  Both of those conditions favor ryegrass over bluegrass, but ryegrass is much more susceptible to ice damage than bluegrass.  So this is an interesting turfgrass ecology lesson as each species finds its niche in certain microenvironments on the course.  If you look closely at other low areas that might hold water and ice during the winter you will see that they are almost purely bluegrass since over the years the rye has been killed by ice. This area will probably receive some seed in a couple of weeks and recovery should happen fairly quickly because there are some surviving bluegrass plants that should fill in the voids. 

My Profession

Really thought this video represented the golf course superintendent's profession very well.  Hope you enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnzYq1d0Zjw&spfreload=5

Hot Cold

Well the worst possible weather situation has occurred again this past week.  Highs of 79 on the 21st down to a low of  1 degree on the night of the 24th.  As we talked about in a previous post  this is the type of situation you fear in February.  The warmer than normal temperatures wake the grass up and then whammy.  We will have to wait and see what kind of an effect this has on the turf.  In January there was a temperature swing from -20 to 60 in ten day span-a drastic swing for sure.  To put that into perspective that would be like going from 100 down to 20 in July.  That would be a shocker!!  Turf is able to withstand extremes like that in mid-winter because it is dormant but as we near March grass starts to break that dormancy due to higher sun angle, daylength, and temperatures.   This is when damage to the plant can occur as the crown starts to hydrate and then freezes during a quick cold snap.

Before this last week the turf was brown but there was lots of green ready to spring up.  We expect some slight damage from this cold snap but will wait to see the full extent. 

Warmer temps are on the way and we should be able to open the course Friday March 3 in the afternoon.

Ball Roll Study

I attended an interesting session on greens trueness and measuring that parameter while at the Golf Industry Show.   For many years now golfers and superintendents (even though they won't admit) have been closely monitoring green speeds which has become somewhat of an evaluation critique of greens conditions.  Fast greens=good; slow greens=bad.  That really shouldn't be the end-all measure of a green.  In my mind a smooth, uninterrupted, straight-tracking roll of the ball is indicative of a good green.  This is referred to as the trueness of the green.  But how do you measure such?  Doug Linde from Delaware Valley University set out to find a way.   One method was simply to observe the ball roll and determine the number of hops and/or snaking action the ball made as it rolled.  There were obvious differences from one course to another as expected.  The other method of evaluating trueness was using a "putting device" similar to a stimpmeter to roll a ball from eight feet into a hole.  In that case 90-100% of the balls rolled "true" into the cup no matter which green they were on.  So that measurement could not statistically differentiate between greens like the visual assessment did.  Even after greens had been aerated 90% of the balls rolled into the cup with this device proving that a well struck putt will nearly always go into the hole no matter the green condition.  For comparison sake the average 10 handicapper will make 27% and the average pro will make over 60% of that same 8 foot putt.

So what do these studies prove?  First is that there is a difference in trueness of ball roll easily determined by the naked eye.  You have probably noticed that if you have played different courses.  We all strive to get that perfect billiard ball roll on a green but it may not happen.   However, the second study proved that even if ball roll isn't perfectly smooth, putts can still be consistently holed with the proper stroke. 

We have always prided ourselves on having the "truest" greens around and have felt that the golfers appreciated it.  The "eye test" certainly is important to the golfers evaluation of greens condition, but what may be more important is that no matter how "untrue" the ball roll appears it is still possible to putt it in the hole.   So next time you have to play on aerated greens remember that the most important aspect to making putts is a consistent stroke.

Twitter?

The apocalypse might be near as I have joined Twitter.    I have always been hesitant to join Facebook,Twitter, Instagram and other social media, just because so much information on it is useless.  But I also realize that there is a lot of great information that can be valuable to me and others. I hope to use it to give updates on course conditions here at Wild Horse and also highlight other golf related topics.  So follow me @Josh Mahar5 to get some what I hope is useful info! 

Warm Weather

Amazing stretch of weather we are having.  What does that mean for the golf course?  It is always scary to have big warmups in February because the turf can start to grow and then you can get a major cold snap.  These wide swings in temperature during dormancy break can be potentially dangerous, but it appears there are no below zero type arctic chills ahead in the near future.  Also the ground is thawing and there is adequate moisture to avoid desiccation.  So this unseasonal weather isn't scaring me as much as it could in other years.  We have been watering greens with our deep-line system just to be safe, and they appear in good shape as of now.

Crazy as it seems, we are likely to start charging up the regular irrigation system today.  That will be one of the earliest charge-ups ever.  There was a year we irrigated on February 10.  Unfortunately it was  necessary to blowout again, but the turf was extremely dry that winter and needed irrigation badly.  We are not in dire need of irrigation right now, but it looks like by next week if this trend continues our turf might need a drink so we will be ready.

We have considered opening the course early on a limited basis but at this point we are sticking with our normal March 1 opening date.

Enjoy this spring-like weather and hope it gets you in the mood for golf.

Sustainability

Just got back from attending the Golf Industry Show and as always it has me excited to start to the season.  So too does this nice weather!! 

The biggest takeaway from the education sessions I attended was that the old way of doing things is now the new way!  Golf experienced great growth in the 80s and 90s and maintenance budgets were flush.  The level of maintenance and "extras" zoomed skyward and it became an arms race in conditioning.  Then 9/11 happened, the economy dipped, and supply overtook demand in the golf market.  Maintenance budgets leveled or constricted causing much angst among superintendents.  But in reality this reduction in resources might actually be a good thing.  Staffs have been reduced making prioritization critical to success.  "Fluff" outside of the playing surfaces is no longer a high priority.  Fertilizer and chemical applications are more scrutinized and watering practices are more conservative.  These thing together have a positive impact on protecting the environment.

I never liked the idea of over maintaining a course so it is refreshing to see many courses reverting to amore conservative style of maintenance before the golf boom.  Obviously there is a sliding scale of maintenance from Augusta to the local 9-holer, but overall sustainability is the buzzword. 

Wild Horse was built before sustainable became the buzzword in golf course maintenance but we have done many things that help it stay that way.  What are some of those ideals?  First and foremost is that the soil is great and we were able to build push-up greens thereby eliminating internal drainage and a special greens soil mix that might need to be replaced someday.  Also this allows us a never-ending supply of free topdressing.   Secondly the emphasis was on the playing corridors and the rest was left natural.  Therefore we can concentrate our irrigation and agronomic practices on the playing surfaces.  Also the climate helps keep pesticide inputs especially fungicides to a minimum. So Wild Horse has some built-in features that make it sustainable but we compliment those with our maintenance practices.  Our turf is kept lean and fertilized only to satisfy its needs.  Irrigation is used only to replenish evapotranspiration.  We try to run a lean crew also to keep our labor costs down.  All of these things make us "sustainable" which simply means that our resources i.e. water, fertilizer, pesticides, equipment, and money will not run out during Wild Horse's existence and the environment will continue to support our golfing grounds.

Winter

Not a whole lot new on the golf course as of late so here are some random musings to entertain your thoughts in the middle of winter.

Wild Horse has been blanketed with snow for over a week now which is a plus for our turf.  In addition it has received a couple of rains.   Rain in December and January in Nebraska?  Another sign of global warming?  Maybe, maybe not, but it seems  clear that the earth is warming considering the last few years' record temperatures.  How much man's influence is having on the weather is up for debate but most impartial observers would concur that the past few years have been extremely warm worldwide.  Perhaps the ice storms so prevalent in Oklahoma and Kansas will become more abundant here in Nebraska.  Lets hope not! but at least last week's storm moved on quickly and the moisture was good for the turf.

Winter is Conference and Show time for the turf professional and I recently attended the Nebraska Turfgrass Conference.  After you have been to these for 20+ years it is hard to come up with much new on the turf front but each session provokes evaluation of our current program and how we might improve it.   Many times though the most interesting sessions cover subjects other than turf but are relevant to our profession.   Here are some of the most interesting tidbits from those sessions:

In a session about retirement I learned about distributing your retirement income efficiently.  Most retirement discussions focus on building wealth for retirement but this was different.  How will you distribute that wealth once you retire?

There are no native earthworms anymore.   They have all been replaced by European species that have naturalized here.

One of our commonly used insecticides for grubs (imidacloprid) is 1/2 as toxic as caffeine.  Most chemicals get a bad rap but are really very safe!

A TV meteorologist provided insight into forecasting.  For those of you who have a keen interest in weather google Bering Sea Rule  and North Atlantic Oscillation Index which can provide clues for our weather here in the northern plains up to 2 weeks in advance.

The beetles are coming!  The beetles are coming!!  Emerald ash borers are now in Nebraska and will probably move west endangering all ash trees.  You may have seen this in the news and it will have a very damaging impact on our landscape.

Growing degree day models are becoming more important to turf managers for plant growth regulator applications, insect issues and disease prediction.  We have used these for awhile and modeling is becoming better at pinpointing application schedules.  Timing in turf management as in life is everything!

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln continues to be a strong turf research school and just built a new research facility on east campus.  It also is developing students for the real world through a rigorous internship program.   I'm proud to be a graduate of such a highly regarded program!

Golf architecture is heavily influenced by a superintendent's work.  How a course is presented greatly influences the design intent of each hole.

These are just a few of the various ideas presented during the conference.  Many did not have to do with turf management directly but golf course management is much more than just turf.  Many disciplines play a significant role in my job here at Wild Horse.  Hope these tidbits got you to thinking about anything!  Thinking is good!