This morning on the way into work I heard Mexican Radio by Wall of Voodoo which reminded me of simpler times in life when the biggest part of my day was listening to The Clash, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Devo and B-52's. During those times we also were in bad economic times with gas lines, double digit inflation and Billy Carter representing America to the world by urinating in airports ... fun times.
During these times it just doesn't seem to be as light hearted as it was then ... maybe it is the lack of light hearted music pretending to be about social times and unrest ... heck, even the economy even sounded better with Reagan's trickle down theory to make the middle class have their share of the American pie.
I heard yesterday how some of the members think the conditions this year are far superior to last year at this time ... I understand why they see it that way ... but I see it differently. I was raised around agriculture from working on a farm at the age of 10, to having a father who was a professor in forestry and horticulture, a mother who was a professor in ag economics, to my own numerous degrees in Turf, Soil, Water and Environmental science fields when I look at a problem, I see the long-term effects not the short-term gains. Which by the way our fairways were in much better condition last year at this same time.
Yes ... our fairways looked in the eyes of our summer members, better than last year because the green from the ryegrass was still there. They are also weaker this year because the ryegrass did not allow the expansion of the bermudagrass into these area thus not giving the 100+ days of recovery to improve the turf for next year.
Thanks to three years of chemical transition we have improved the quality of both the summer and seasonal conditions. As some of the longer time members will tell you summers in the past were quite terrible even so much so that the course had to be closed in Sept and they only played on temp greens. Additionally, those same members will tell you about bare areas even in the season since there wasn't a bermudagrass base to overseed into. This for now is not the case ... summers are better and the season's turf quality is nothing short of spectacular ... but bad turf management for short-term gains will takes those gains away ... not today, or even tomorrow, but in the long run. Sadly, it took seven years to recover the golf course to its present level, if we backslide, how long will it take to just get back where we are today? Do not worry we will not backslide overnight either.
I am an expert in this field and know what I am talking about. I serve on the national research board for the superintendents to aid in improving our field worldwide. But I wonder sometimes why when I can have people all around the world calling me for my expert advise why it seems that I can't make believers at my own golf course. I work for the membership and will always do what they request ... just like a doctor giving Chemotherapy, I can tell you what is best in the long run ... it is up to the patient (or member) to decide the direction we will go.
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