Industry
Merion has a distinct heathland feel
“Merion will be a stern test for the players in this year’s US Open, and I particularly look forward to watching them play the 265 yard par 3!”
was to see this style of bunker and not the manicured perfect edge, and how much more economical it would be to manage in terms of labour and time. We visited Merion in mid-November and they too were moving into winter. The greens were being managed between two and three millimetres and would stay at that height all year round. Both the US Open venues discussed, at length, that they managed their nutrient levels on the greens with spoon fed applications every ten days or so, depending on laboratory testing which they were able to do onsite. Merion will be a stern test for the players in this year’s US Open, and I particularly look forward to watching them play the 265 yard par 3!
It was certainly interesting seeing these courses and learning about the management of them, marvelling at the couple of million dollars they have to spend on maintenance annually. You are left wondering what you can bring back to your home club, as we certainly don’t have budgets of this magnitude. What struck us all were the little things around the staff room; notices reflecting staff birthdays, signs encouraging customer service, simply smile and say hello to members and make them welcome. Recipes for success such as “take pride in yourself and your work”; “bloom where you are planted”; and my favourite, “inspect, don’t expect”.
These management tools don’t cost pounds or dollars and, if UK facilities are going to survive and grow, we can certainly learn a lot from our American cousins about customer service and offering a greater experience beyond the condition of the course. The Lion Tour 2012 concluded at
Penn State University, home of the Nittany Lions. Jacobsen had very kindly enrolled us on the three day conference organised by John Kaminski and the Turf Grass Faculty at the university. Over the final days we listened to well
Bunkers at Merion are irregular shaped with ‘wild’ banks
38 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013
delivered talks, such as shade problems on Poa Annua greens by Karl Danneberger, and management of Creeping Bent by Dr Dernoeden. Curtis Tyrell gave us a superb presentation on preparing for and hosting the Ryder Cup at Medinah back in September.
A particularly poignant moment was the tribute to the late Stanley Zontek,
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