POSTS FILED UNDER: 'Superintendent Spotlight'
How were you first introduced to Geoponics Earth Chemistries?
It was 6 or 7 years ago when I was working as a superintendent at a big operation in Greensboro, NC (Grandover Resort & Golf) which had bought the Agriox product for its courses. Honestly, I didn’t know much about what it was meant to do at that point, not the way I do now, so my evaluation was entirely based on what I saw rather than what I was told. After putting it out a few times, the best way I can describe it would be to say that the turf responded as though it had been refurbished, like fresh life had been breathed into it.
That is a perfect way to think about it considering it’s a soil oxygenator, right?
Exactly. These last few years I’ve gained a much more complete understanding of what it does, how it slowly releases oxygen into soil moisture. I can tell you when growing bentgrass in an extreme environment with high temperatures and humidity like we have here (Florence, SC) that can make all the difference.
Obviously you don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you start losing turf, because it is very difficult under stressful summer conditions to get it back, so if used as a preventative measure Agriox can really be a high priority tool in your shed. It has become that for me; I go out with monthly maintenance applications all season long, and I feel it is well worth every penny.
When you spray Agriox, which wetting agent do you use and why?
We always use it with some combination of the Geoponics products. Conditions are constantly changing out on the course, so you have to be quick to adapt and modify what you are doing. For me that means going out regularly and tweaking the mix ratio between the two surfactants depending on whether we want to move excess water through with Penterra or hold more moisture up in the root zone with Humawet.
One area where that particular product has given me an edge is with sod installations; it’s great for keeping the roots from drying out before they’ve had a chance to take hold. With budgets the way they’ve been the last few years, I appreciate their low rates and cost per acre as well.
Offering value is what we’ve set out to do as a company, so I’m glad to hear that. Cost has always been a big concern, but it seems like superintendents are more price conscious than ever. Have your purchasing decisions changed?
When you have your routine, you get kinda set in your ways and settle into a comfort zone. I’m probably as guilty of it as anyone, but these days you have to be careful with every dollar; you have no choice. No one has more money to spend than they did the last year, so you have to look for ways to save.
We use a lot of different brands, there are some products I am always going to use, but it has been well worth my time to have sat down with my Geoponics rep to learn about the line. I’ve ended up using a number of the Grizzly foliars as a result and have seen nice steady growth from them.
Which formulas have you used, and would you say you had a favorite?
I’ve used the Charge minors package, Nitron 30-0-0, and both Northern and Terrain. So far I’ve felt that the quality of all of them is just as good as any of the other more expensive premium liquid fertilizers, but the Carbotein has definitely become my favorite. It is so inexpensive that I put it in almost every tank, and I’ve applied it to almost everything around the course. It’s definitely one of the most effective fertilizers I have in my arsenal.
We’ve been told by many users that combining it with non-organic macro-fertilizers causes both products to perform better than they do on their own…
It mixes really well, and having used it with other foliars so often, I would say that I’ve noticed that myself.
Our customers commonly single Carbotein out among the nutritionals. Aside from its affordability, what do you think makes it so special?
My greens are pretty small, so my edges take a beating. I’ve steadily increased Carbotein applications there and in other areas where we get the most damage, like walk-ons and where the mowing patterns are constrained, and over the years the turf just keeps getting better and better, more full and wear resistant. I believe it’s all the plant extracts and amino acids helping the plant with photosynthesis that sets it apart from everything else. I’ve seen it do some amazing things on flowers too.
We get told that about the flowers a lot. In fact, we often end up bringing a case for the superintendent and one for their horticulturalist once it gets tried out on the ornamentals around a course. Are there any other products you use regularly you’d like to mention before we finish up?
Actually, yes. We switched from Green Toes to Blue Cobra for a marker dye and have found that on top of being a lot more affordable it is easier to handle and clean up.
As with many of our products, that one is very concentrated, so a little goes a very long way. I’m glad it has been a worthwhile change for you. Thank you so much for talking with us today. If a fellow superintendent wanted to discuss your experiences with you directly, would that be alright?
Sure, I’d be happy to talk with anyone about the company. As I said earlier, the time it takes to sit down and learn about Geoponics is time well spent since the products are absolutely worth the money.
Jeremiah Pierce, Superintendent
Florence Country Club
fccsuper@bellsouth.net
843-662-5309
December 16th, 2011
So, how did you first learn of Geoponics Earth Chemistries?
I was working as an assistant at a course in Myrtle Beach that was trialing Agriox. A number of superintendents around the area were trying out the new product which you kept hearing was “liquid aerification.” I was intrigued by the concept and was very interested to see what effect it would have, especially if it could give stressed out bentgrass any help during the heat of summer. I’m a big believer that you build a healthy plant from the bottom up, so a company that was talking about the value of increasing soil oxygen levels got my attention right away.
And what did you think of the results?
I saw a little something, but honestly there just weren’t enough applications done for me to really judge. We’re visual people in this industry, and sometimes that can work against a product. I understood that you couldn’t put something out that was meant to change the entire soil ecology a single time and expect to immediately see dramatic results like you do with some other treatments. Agriox is the kind of product you have to put into your program so that you gradually get those benefits over time. By working on improving the soil you grow stronger plants, and that is something worth investing some time to accomplish.
And since then, you’ve put in that time?
Agriox became an important part of my management program when I took my first head superintendent job in Southern Pines, and it is here in the mountains as well. In each case we’ve seen increased root mass, improved disease resistance and more efficient water uptake. I can tell you straight out that I wouldn’t manage greens anywhere without it. No way.
Sounds like you feel it’s been worth it.
Absolutely, but it took me a while to break out of the Old School way of thinking that comes from working under long-time veterans who tend to go with products that have been around and are known to work. Used to be when the money was there nobody really questioned what something cost, you just bought what you wanted, what you knew, but those days are gone and aren’t coming back.
With the peaks and valleys of the economy in recent years, you have to be willing to look outside of the box. I’ve cast aside that old attitude of “You Get What You Pay For” because cost effectiveness is about more than that, so you can’t afford to overlook any products just because they aren’t familiar. Now my motto is “Make Every Application Count.” My responsibility as a manager is to get every last bit of value I can out of every budget dollar, and that means instead of getting more for less you have to figure out ways to get A LOT MORE for less.
When it comes to buying Agriox, I know that I’m getting the bang for my buck that I need. When you account for all it does for you, helping you to get better results from all the other things you are doing, it turns out to be very economical.
It’s great to hear that you find the return on your investment to be worthwhile. Can you talk some about your personal experience with the product?
Sure. When I made the move to Hyland Golf Club they told me they wanted to limit core aerification to a single time in June. Summers can get pretty rough in Pinehurst, but I told them I didn’t have a problem with that because there are other things you can do to work on the root system. I felt comfortable saying that largely because I was intending to use Agriox to get extra oxygen into the soil anyway.
So we got the program up and running, and then there was a string of days where the temps were in the 90′s with low humidity and the greens were showing signs of stress. I had been making regular Agriox applications, but decided to go out before I was due to see if I could give them some relief. Well, by that afternoon they were actually looking perky like they do the day after they’ve gotten a flush from a nice rain. That was the moment I knew the product does exactly what Geoponics says it will.
I’m at a different course now, growing a different variety, but the results are still there. In fact, it’s been over a month since I’ve sprayed a fungicide on my greens, so you know I’m confident they are healthy, and that product is a big part of the reason why.
As you know, one of our main goals as a company is to reduce the need for chemical inputs, so that is exactly the sort of feedback we are looking for. Any time we hear success stories like that, where our customers see how powerful an efficiently running soil ecology can be, there’s really no greater reward.
I agree completely. Like I said before, I really feel that a healthy soil grows a stronger plant, and in my mind that is by far the best defense against all kinds of stress. It’s basic agronomics really: if you work from the bottom up, your tops will be enhanced. I have to give my crew the chance to succeed no matter what the conditions are, and the way you do that is by cultivating a resistant and resilient stand of turf.
The other major goal of our company is to improve water use efficiency. How has working with Geoponics impacted your moisture management program?
At the time when I first started using the Agriox product I was putting it out with the popular Cascade / Duplex mix which was a part of my normal program. Like most guys, I wasn’t looking to change wetting agents, but in talking to my Geoponics reps they kept coming back to the Penterra product because of how it was critical to get Agriox into the root zone where it needs to be in order to do its job.
Eventually I decided to evaluate it by putting it into a tough situation and see what it could do, so I did a trial on a fairway which had drainage issues and tended to stay wet. Again, it did just what I was told it would and pulled the water off the top quickly and down through the profile more effectively than any other surfactant.
I’ve used it regularly since then, and its helped me to get a consistency of play across the whole course at a fraction of the cost of what I was using before. It’s really unbelievable how much less it is; Geoponics obliterates the competition on price and rate. There’s a fine line between having too much or too little moisture in your root zone, whether it’s for plant hydration or for nutrient solubility when you apply a fertilizer. Penterra lets me make the adjustments I need to strike the right balance.
The key to that level of performance is in the activity. That formulation reduces surface tension on the dynes scale so far it’s almost unfair; it truly is an “industrial strength” product. And with a very high active ingredient level, the concentration insures a little goes a long way. Aside from Agriox and Penterra, which other products have you tried out or use regularly?
Even though I try to be open-minded about new things, in the beginning you are always going to be somewhat skeptical. After a while, if you have all good results, that goes away, but like most guys I’m only going to trial a product or two at a time. For me that meant trying out a few of the foliars here and there, and it turned out I liked what I saw.
Grizzly Iron is all I’ll use now; it really is the best one out there. The NitroN30 is great stuff too. I used to use Harness, which is a very good product, but what you are buying is a long chain urea either way, so why pay more than twice as much to get it and end up using drums at a time instead of cases? I especially like the liquid calcium product. When you’re managing 30 acres of of short-cut bentgrass fairways like I am, you’re going to want some Fortitude out there for stress relief and for just building a stronger plant.
I’ll tell you what product is one of my favorites ever: Carbotein. And I ain’t lying. It’s part of both my greens and tee program. In fact, I double apply my driving range tee, and with regular top dressing it recovers in no time even with tons of play. The turf density is excellent everywhere I spray it, which provides all sorts of benefits. I treat my fairways with it monthly, and now I don’t need lots of growth regulators, plus I’m seeing savings on gas and cutting back on time spent mowing, which means less personnel down time.
It’s funny, the analysis on that product (6-2-5) doesn’t make people think it can do that much, but its full spectrum of amino acids really gets the biodiversity of the microbes in the soil working for you, so we are constantly hearing from customers about how many amazing results they’ve seen as a result of using it. On every kind of plant imaginable, from roses to row crops, on flowers and ornamental grasses, if it grows in the ground, it responds to Carbotein.
It’s those basic agronomics again, working from the bottom up to build a healthy soil which makes for a more robust plant. I’ll be a Carbotein buyer for life.
We’ve covered quite a bit, and it goes without saying we are so grateful to have been given the chance to earn your business. Is there anything else you’d like to mention about the company or product line before we call it a day?
The way I approach the job is by evaluating what needs to be done, setting objectives, and then figuring out what it will cost to meet them. The Geoponics products help me to do that, not only because of their affordability, but because of the high level of the chemistry being used.
I’ve been really pleased with everything I’ve used, but one of the things I’ve liked most about the whole line from the get go is how it allows you to put a program together in a way that fits with the goals you have at a given time, and how adaptable it is to when those goals change. As I’ve played with the products and continued to learn, I keep discovering ways to get more out of them.
It’s exciting really. If you break down those walls of the Old School thought we mentioned earlier, you can get out of some ruts you don’t even realize you’re in. People like myself who have given Geoponics a chance have really seen a lot of good things as a result.
Thank you for saying that. I know you have made recommendations to people to try our products and have gone out of your way to talk to other superintendents about the company and what we are working towards, and we truly appreciate that a great deal.
Well, you’re more than welcome. I’m glad to help spread the word, and if there is any way that I may be of assistance in the future, please let me know.
This interview was conducted by telephone in early November of 2011. Geoponics Earth Chemistries would like to thank Mr. Cape for expressing a willingness to discuss his experiences with fellow superintendents. He may be contacted through his work email: aaroncape@reemscreekgolf.com
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Reems Creek Golf Club in gorgeous Weaverville, N.C. offers a secluded setting that captures the splendor and rustic beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It regularly wins four stars in Golf Digest’s “Places to Play.”
November 7th, 2011
By the time his service in the US Navy was coming to a close in 1980, Max Morgan knew it was time to make a career choice. Reluctant to transition into a job at a nuclear power plant, as his training would suggest, he decided to try something new. During a career counseling session, one of the other attendees made an offhanded joke that there was “an association for everything you can think of.” He didn’t know it at the time, but this comment marked the beginning of his journey down a long path that would lead him to the greatest heights of a profession.
“The only thing I knew I really liked to do was play golf. So after the class I went up to him and asked if there was anything in his book for greenskeepers. He said, ‘Well, here’s one. The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.’ Morgan wrote to the GCSAA for guidance and followed their advice that he go to school for training, deciding on Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Conway, South Carolina. It turned out to be a fateful choice since the campus sits a short 15-minute ride up US-501 from the heart of the Grand Strand, resort town and golf mecca Myrtle Beach. “I fell right into it, and the first thing I noticed was there was a golf course on every corner. And now we have three times as many as we did back then.”
His first job was working the course at Pine Lakes Country Club, and every position since has also been in a resort setting. “I definitely have a lot of resort background, so I am very in tune with what golfers expect out of a resort golf course.” In many ways it is exactly that, knowing what a patron wants and expects in exchange for their greens fee and giving it to them at a world-class level, that allowed Morgan to achieve his current position as the Director of Golf Course Maintenance Operation for the Myrtle Beach National Company.
Knowing The Golf Course And Leading By Example Have Been The Keys To Success
With a collection of nine premier golf courses to oversee, one might feel it safe to assume his job description changed significantly along with his job title, but from Morgan’s perspective that wasn’t the case. “My job is almost the same, except I have nine courses instead of one.” With all the ongoing tasks required to keep even a single course healthy and manicured for visiting golfers, many expecting to play the best round of their season, it would seem too much to expect any one person to stay on top of, but good work habits established over the course of more than 25 years working as a professional turfgrass manager make it possible. “I always show up at work when the guys show up. It helps me learn about the day-to-day operations of each of the golf courses.” When he’s there he isn’t merely observing. “My philosophy is that you never send anyone out there to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. Whether it’s raking bunkers or weedeating pond banks, I feel to be a good superintendent you have to be the best at every one of those jobs on your golf course. And it’s a good, friendly competitive thing; it’s not a ‘you better do it or else’ kind of thing.”
Over the years the use of competition as a team-building element has not only fostered camaraderie among course workers, it has served to make the day more enjoyable for all involved. Morgan’s challenges to see who could mow the straightest lines brought interest to an otherwise monotonous task, and on Saturday mornings his low-stakes walk mower races make staffers more enthusiastic about their work. “We’d each put a dollar in the pot, and whoever got done first would get the money. But you had to do the job right. The guys would go out and hustle around, and one of them would win the four dollars. I’d always kid them, ‘How come you can get done by 8:15 on Saturdays, but it takes you to 8:45 during the week?’ But it was fun.”
Using Golfers To Maintain The Course Has Made For Better Workers And Results, Playing Golf Has Made For Better Understanding and Opportunity
An in-depth understanding of the natural forces at work on a course are seemingly more important with each passing golf season, but one person’s efforts alone cannot cultivate a golf experience without rival. For that you need a group of workers that gives maximum effort and is invested in the results of their labor. This is no short order under any circumstances, but Morgan has found a way to significantly better his chances of finding just such an individual. “I try to find golfers almost exclusively because we use free golf as a benefit, and I have found that the golfers care so much more than the non-golfers, even in mowing straight lines or picking up cigarette butts. And the job means more to them because golf is very expensive to play and to practice.”
Morgan agrees that another important way a superintendent can learn about their course is to get out and play it to see it from the golfer’s perspective. But there is another, less obvious benefit from being out on the fairways. “If nothing more, if you don’t play golf you can’t play a competitor’s golf course around town and see what is out there. That’s one thing that being a golfer brings to the table. When we have meetings at other golf courses you get a lot of exposure to what else is out there, and that really helps us and our company. For us to see that maybe in some areas we are not as good and need to get better, or if we see that a course isn’t as nice as ours it makes us feel better about our work.”His personal enthusiasm for the game clearly has not waned since it inspired him to begin a career as a golf course superintendent despite never having worked in the field. If anything, it seems his appreciation for the game has been magnified by his love of the work he does to provide the best experience possible to his customers. And people notice. “Our courses are resort golf courses, but we have members, and we have staff members, and they all will recognize you for your golf skills as well as for your position. Scratch golfers normally get the most attention around the club, and the same is true for a superintendent. If they are a very good golfer people are going to know about that and respect him for it.”
In The World Of A Golf Course Superintendent The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
When asked how the golf course industry has changed since he first got involved more than two decades ago, Morgan’s answer is perhaps a little surprising. “The career side is exactly the same, in my opinion, because you still have to go to work and do the fundamentals.” And those basics cut across every market and apply to every golf course in operation anywhere golf is played. “You have to manage people correctly; you still have to turn in payroll; you still have to pay invoices on time; you still have to train and discipline people; you still have to hire. Most of what we are doing is the same, it’s slightly different, but in 20 years we’re still going to have to do the same things.”
That the work being done is the same everywhere might suggest that the results would be similar across the board, but clearly some courses are in better condition than others, regardless of budget or geography. So what sets the cream of the crop apart from the pack? “The agronomics are not the most difficult part of the job. It’s the managing of the facility and the people is the most difficult part of the job. You have to learn what N, P and K are and about air and root zone, but once you get the basics, from then on it becomes how do you do the basics perfectly? How do you do the fundamentals as economically as possible?”
In Morgan’s case the answer goes back to his work force and knowing his customers. By building a crew filled with people that care about their work, enjoy their jobs, and see the course from the player’s perspective, the rest falls into place. “There’s really not a lot of voodoo and magic that goes on at a golf course, it’s mostly just fundamental maintenance. If it is done correctly, and with golfers in mind, you’re pretty much good to go.”
Clearly there is an evolution at work within the industry, golf today is not what it was in 1980, but it has been more the result of gradual improvements as opposed to quick shifts. “Over time we’ll get some better mowing equipment; we’ll get some better pesticides; and we’ll get some better sprinklers. When you look back 20 years it seems like there were dramatic changes in the industry, but from year to year they occur very slowly.”
An Increased Awareness Of Chemical Use Has Impacted The Work Being Done, But Not To The Extent Some Might Believe
Everyone agrees that the better understanding of the science underlying the work done by superintendents and maintenance crews around the country has been very positive for the growth of the profession, but not all the modifications to turfgrass products have been beneficial when it comes to the workload and challenge of maintaining a golf course. “The most dramatic changes are the pesticides we use. They are safer now for the sprayer and the golfers certainly, but they are more specific, so it seems we have more individual pests than we used to. We have weeds we didn’t used to have because when we used to blanket spray the golf course we probably killed all our rye grass and a lot of the broadleaf leaves that we have now as a result of shifting over to pre-emergent herbicides.”
But for Morgan any added challenges that may have come about due to the development of increasingly more environmentally-friendly chemistries is clearly worth the time they require to address. And he believes the same holds true for his peers. “I don’t know any superintendents that don’t care about the environment. We like our fish in our ponds and our waterfowl; we like our snakes and reptiles. You know, that’s a part of the neat thing about working on a golf course. I certainly don’t want to do anything to jeopardize their well being, and I don’t know anybody that would. Environmentalism is very important, and I think it is an inherent part of this job.”
His belief that superintendents are not the environment abusers that many people outside the industry take them to be is nothing new. “I never knew of anybody that didn’t care. I guess maybe it just gets more exposure now.” The fact that more attention is now being paid to the work has helped to change this negative perception somewhat, but Morgan believes a greater understanding of the realities of how golf courses are actually maintained is still needed. “People don’t appreciate how much pesticides cost; if they did, they would realize we can’t afford to spray everything wall-to-wall all the time.”
The Secret To Success For Career Advancement Is Not Really A Secret At All: It’s The Golden Rule
When asked for a bit of advice on how to get ahead in the field, Morgan quickly returns to personal relationships, answering that you have to treat people both above you and below you in the organization with respect and dignity. “You’ve got to treat them as human beings that have the same issues you have at home. Other than that, you have to educate them; you have to provide them with the tools to do the job right.”
October 26th, 2007
A superintendent since graduating from North Carolina State University in 1982, Robert “Bob” Young has mastered practically every circumstance possible for a professional turf manager. Beginning with his first position at a semi-private course in the countryside of Enfield, NC, through a stint as Director of Golf Course Operations at Lochmere Golf Club and Devil’s Ridge (where he oversaw the new course’s construction), to the complete renovations at Greenville Country Club and of his current course, Raleigh’s highly-regarded Carolina Country Club, he has seen it all.
A big part of what he has seen change since that first summer at age 12 is the growing understanding of what his eventual profession actually requires. “We were thought of years ago as somebody that just threw a little fertilizer out there and mowed the grass. The mentality at that time was that anybody could do it. But our field is a lot more technical than that. You have to be a Jack-of-all-trades; you have to be a people manager; you have to make a dollar go a long way; and you have to have mechanical and electrical knowledge. Superintendents have educated the industry to the complexities, so the demand for qualified people has gone up.”
It isn’t just the perception of the turf profession that has changed either, he points out, but also the day-to-day reality of the work. “Now you have to be efficient with computers, too. Matter of fact, when I was in high school I made fun of some of my buddies for taking typing. ‘You’re never going to have to know how to type!’ I told them. ‘What are you going to be, a secretary?’ Little did I know I’d need to be typing everyday once I became a golf course superintendent.”
Thanks in large part to the efforts of the national, regional and local professional organizations he has long been involved with and served, including tenure as President of the Triangle Turf Grass Association in 2001, the true nature of the technically demanding and complex responsibilities of a golf course superintendent are finally starting to become appreciated. When asked about the reasons for this shift in the general perception of the superintendent’s role within the golf community, Young credits an increased awareness of environmental concerns in general as making a big impact. “We’re having to utilize our natural resources a whole lot better than we have in the past. Our industry has changed to where you have got to be conscious of the products you are using being environmentally friendly. You know, like with run off issues of nitrogen into streams. That’s where the industry has really changed.”
But there is still an overall lack of public awareness of what a superintendent actually does. “I get introduced to people outside of the club everyday, and they ask what I do. When I tell them I’m a golf course superintendent, they say, ‘Oh, you get to play golf every day don’t you?’ I say, ‘Nah, that’s not really what I do. That’s the golf pro, not me.”
But this misperception is harmless compared to some others. “If all you do is go out and play golf 3 or 4 times a year, you won’t know what is really done there. The general public thinks that because the golf course is nice and green we’ve GOT to be using a lot of chemicals and fertilizers, more than they do on their yard. So the perception is that we’re using more water, more chemicals and more fertilizer, more of everything, to get a product that looks that good. In fact, we’re not using more, but we’re utilizing the products better. We’re using water more efficiently by using surfactants, but they don’t know all that. All they think is that we’re just dumping stuff out there, so no wonder it’s green.”
On the positive side, research into how much of an impact golf courses actually had on issues of pollution was the result of this kind of thinking, he says. The work, which continues to be done at universities like NC State and Clemson, has not only increased the industry’s knowledge but also has led to improved products and turfgrass management techniques.
An additional result of an increased interest in the possibly negative impact chemical treatments have on the natural world is that his job has been made somewhat easier. Young says this is because opportunities to educate his members have increased as awareness has gone up. He goes on to explain that golfers will now ask what is being sprayed on the turf, when in the past they wouldn’t have. “They want me to post in the Pro Shop whether or not I’m spraying greens that day so the members will know what it is we’re using. And the more we can educate the public that a lot of the products we use are environmentally friendly, the better. It gives them comfort that when they go out on the golf course they know I’m not spraying DDT, or something else from years ago, that can cause them health problems from coming into contact with it. It just gives them peace of mind to know the products we use are not harmful to them.”
Products and turfgrass maintenance techniques have clearly become increasingly more technical over the course of his 25-year career. In the largely traditional world of golf, one might reasonably expect ownership and members to resist some of these advances, but Young explains that isn’t necessarily the case. “Any time you can explain to a Board of Directors or a Greens Committee why you are using a certain type of product, or why it makes sense to do something a little differently than you’ve done it in the past, and you’ve got good performance out of a particular product, they normally don’t have a problem with that.” After a brief pause, and the hint of a smile, he adds, “If it’s cost effective.”
Mr. Young hopes to stay at The Carolina Country Club until he ultimately retires, as he feels he has found a home there. When pressed to share a tip, he recounts a story from years ago about how the only time he’s ever had true success keeping golfers off his closed practice green was when he posted a skull and cross bones warning of pesticide use. It probably wouldn’t work today though, because his members would know better.
September 6th, 2007