The US Open and Green Speeds

This week the 109th US Open is being held at Bethpage Black in NY. Will Tiger repeat? Personally, I hope so...

But lets talk about green speeds.

If you ever watch golf on TV and listen to the commentators, one subject they like to talk about alot is "green speeds". Why? Who cares, right? Well, almost all golfers care about this subject, and the better the golfer, the more important green speeds are. This week I have been hearing talk about the greens "rolling 13" at Bethpage...

What does that mean? Well, that means that the greens are rolling 13 feet off the Stimpmeter. What's that, right? Well, contrary to some peoples beliefs, a Stimpemeter is not ALWAYS used just to whack a surly Head Golf Pro...sometimes a Stimpmeter is a tool used to measure green speed. See here as our model Craig holds it:

It was designed by Edward Stimpson in 1935, and is used worldwide. Basically it is a long aluminum v-shaped track with a grove on one end that the ball sits in. As you gradually raise the tool, the balls rolls out of the grove and down the meter. The distance the ball rolls away from the tool is measured in feet, thus giving you a "speed". So, Bethpage's greens are rolling on average 13 feet away from the Stimpmeter.

To get a green speed reading...

The challenge is that one must find a level spot on the green to measure. You cannot take accurate readings on the slope of a green. With todays designs it is hard to find level spots
on greens--especially at Fossil Trace. To get an accurate measurement, after finding a level spot, you roll 3 balls one direction and take the average, then turn around and roll 3 balls the other direction and take the average, then average those together and you will get your reading. (I know, you are thinking "just get to the pictures")...

It sounds confusing but it's pretty easy--that is unless you cant find level spots...

We could never get away with greens rolling 13 at Fossil Trace. Our greens are way too undulated. Here, we have determined that greens rolling 10-10.5 are ideal. If we have them faster than that, then play slows down, people shoot higher scores (Jim Hajek), and we lose area on the greens which to place hole locations. We try to cater to all golfers, not just the pro's! Take a look at these pics of us "Stimping" the greens:

So there you have it. Now go and impress your friends this week while watching Tiger tear it up at Bethpage and lay some knowledge on them about Edward Scissorhands. I mean Stimpson... And no relation to Jessica Simpson...

Jim Engh, Jim "magic" Hajek, me

Jim Engh is the architect of Fossil Trace. On occasion he will visit us whether it's to tour the course with a potential client, to play golf, or like in this particular case he was being interviewed by a Denver Post writer for an article. Look for it in this coming Sundays paper. If you are not a golfer, you may not realize the uniqueness that is Fossil Trace. There are no other courses like it.

There are many things I love about working on a golf course. One thing is the early mornings and watching the sunrise (I am usually at work anytime between 4:30-4:45 am this time of year so I see most sunrises). Another thing I love is the opportunity to view wildlife. No, I am not talking about Jim Hajek's escapades in his retro-nicker golf outfits, I am talking about this:

Ready for sun!

These chilly cloudy mornings are getting old! For the past 4 days I have arrived at work to find cold, cloudy mornings--some with rain. Here are some pics from this morning...

Bucky rolling #1 green:

Rolling #10 green with Columbines:

So what is with the fan?? This is a question I get alot. On 15 green we have a large fan located off to the side under the cottonwoods next to the wall. This fan comes on by a timer and runs everyday during the season. The purpose is to keep air moving across the surface of the green. The location of this green sits down in a hole and there is little air movement. If there is no air movement Bentgrass does not do well. During the first few years after opening this green was always struggling so we made the decision to install the fan. Now it thrives!


Changing cups

Hole locations are changed daily during the season at Fossil Trace. This is a simple yet important process. If the hole is not moved often, the grass around the cup would thin out and die from all the daily traffic. Plus, it adds variety to the way the holes on the golf course are played on a daily basis. Here are some pics of the process. Thanks Jay for the demonstration!

Cutting the new hole:

Removing the old liner and putting the new plug in the old hole:

Finished product:

Welcome

Welcome to the fossil trace maintence blog. This will be used as an area for me to post what we are doing here at the course. Feel free to comment, email me, call me or whatever if you wish...

Today, June 2nd, it is raining. When I arrived this morning around 4:45 am, we already had an inch in the rain gauge. It is 8am now, and we are approaching an inch and a half. We had a USGA qualifier event this morning scheduled, but the course is closed. It was a womens event, and the girls are up at the clubhouse waiting to see if the rain is gonna stop anytime soon. According to the radar, they may be waiting for a while...

Our seasonals were sent home and the remaining full-timers are working on small projects here around the shop such as prepping our tournament flags, painting cups, cleaning, etc.

I hope that you will enjoy this forum and find it useful, fun (yes, golf maintenance IS fun!!!), and sometimes educational. See you soon!