Mid-Atlantic Association of Golf Course Superintendents N E W S L E T T E R

VOLUME XXXXII DECEMBER 1989 NUMBER 10

DECEMBER 12 - ELECTION MEETING - HUNT VALLEY C.C. Hunt Valley Golf Club was founded by

Richard B. Edgar in 1969 and opened for play in 1970. Dick acquired the land, hired Ed Ault as the golf course architect and built the course for McCormick Properties. In 1975 the third nine was added. This was designed by Algie Pully.

In the early eighties Richard sold his interest to McCormick & Company, the spice people. McCormick owned the course until 1983 at which time it was sold to American Golf Corporation.

From 1969 to March 1989, Bob Orazi, C.G.C.S. was Hunt Valley's only Superin-tendent. In March Jim Witkowski was given the title of Golf Course Superin-tendent.

Jim received his B.S. degree from the University of Nebraska in 1981 and has been a member of the G.C.S.A.A. since 1979. Jim worked as Assistant Superin-tendent to Bob Hadwick at Dub's Dread Golf Club in Kansas City, Kansas.

Hunt Valley is a busy golf club with a golfing membership of over 750 golfers. From April to October, golf outings are scheduled each Monday. Hunt Valley plays in excess of 60,000 annually.

The greens were U.S.G.A. constructed and consist of poa and penncross mix. They have been on a T.G.R. program for 2 full seasons. This is a gradual conversion to all bentgrass by eliminating the poa. We hope to have a monoculture of bent-grass within 2 more years. Greens are mowed daily during the regular golfing season and receive approximately 6# N per year.

Tees consist mainly of bluegrass/rye-grass mixtures. However, you will find many having straight bentgrass, zoysia, and bluegrass areas. Due to the play demands and restricted tee space, several holes will have an area of zoysia grass for play during the warmer months and bluegrass areas for play during the cooler months. This program seems to be work-ing quite well.

Fairways are mowed three times per week during the growing season and consist of ryegrass. Prograss is being used to eliminate the poa. They are mowed at

Nominating Committee Report by George Renault, CGCS

The nominating Committee, consisting of the chairman, Mike Larson, CGCS, and Ken Braun submits the following "Slate of Candidates" for the MAAGCS office in 1990.

President Vice President Treasurer Secretary

William Neus, CGCS Nick Vance, CGCS

Steven Potter, CGCS Kenneth Ingram, CGCS

Bob Orazi Regional Superintendent

American Golf Corporation

3A inch and receive 31/2 pounds of N per year.

If you've never played Hunt Valley, try to schedule the blue nine as one of your nines. I think you will enjoy the beauty as well as the challenge this nine has to offer. Please call the pro shop for tee times at (301) 527-3304. The cocktail hour begins at 5:30 with dinner being served at 6:30 p.m.

Your hosts for the day will be Jim Witkowski, Superintendent, Bob Orazi, Regional Superintendent, Greg Jones, Head Professional, and John Haines, General Manager.

DIRECTIONS: Exit 83 North off the Baltimore Beltway, exit east on Shawan Road (exit #20A) to York Road, turn right. Turn left at the first traffic signal, Paper Mill Road. Proceed for approximately 3 miles to Phoenix Road, turn left. Club is located approximately Vi mile on the right.

For Director (2 or 3 year terms, 1 for 1 year term): David Anderson, Nathaniel Binns, Dean Graves, James Kelly, John Laake, CGCS, and Scott Wagner.

Directors currently serving on the board are: Donn Dietrich (2 years remain-ing), Joel Ratcliff, CGCS (2 years remain-ing), and Lou Rudinski (1 year remaining).

Nominations will be accepted from the floor.

PENN STATE PROUD by Lee C. Dieter, CGC5

Penn State's annual GOLF Turf Con-ference sure brought back a lot of good memories for me. My first turf confer-ence was at the Nittany Lion Inn in 1958. The conferences were golf oriented then and the attendees were all superin-tendents and students from the Univer-sity. Penn State has brought us back to the concept of a conference devoted entirely to Golf Turf. A conference where Golf Course Superintendents and students can meet, learn, and go back to their courses with information that is relevant to our profession.

In the 60's when we were all trying to get more support for turf research and were forming Turfgrass Councils to draw the industry together, we abandoned our traditional meetings for the conference and show approach. The big shows these conferences have become while fulfilling our overall goals, have fallen short in

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Mid-Atlantic Association of GoK Course Superintendents

N E W S L E T T E R

President's Message-

Published by this Association to aid the advancement of the Golf Course Super-intendent through education and merit.

Lee Dieter, C.G.C.S. Editor

1989 Officers and Directors President Walter Montross Vice President William Neus Secretary Kenneth Ingram Treasurer Nick Vance President Emeritus . . . George Renault Educational Steven Cohoon Membership Donn Dietrich Golf Thomas Regan Social & B e n e v o l e n c e — . . Joel Ratclifi-Editorial & Publicity Lou Rudinski Finance Steven Potter

Many thanks to Mitch Williams and Manor Country Club for hosting the November meeting; it was a job well done. This article will be the wrap up to my term as President. Thanks to all of you for this privilege. It's been an honor to follow many of my colleagues whom I have grown up to respect and admire over these past 18 years in the business. We set out to accomplish many tasks this year on behalf of the Mid-Atlantic. I believe the ball is rolling to make our organization better and stronger than ever. Of course, it is the members of the Board of Directors who unselfishly give their time towards achieving these tasks. They, as well as those with whom it has been my pleasure to serve, have been tremendous. I am also proud to ^ ^ ^ consider them friends. With this thought I am happy to turn over ^ ^ ^ the reins to Bill Neus who will ably lead this organization Y ^ H k through next year.

Please join me on December 12th at Hunt Valley with our host Bob Orazi. This is our election meeting and it is important to vote for those candidates who will lead us in years to come.

Walter Montross, President

FRINGE BENEFITS by jack McClenahan

Some stories need to be told. Some are difficult to tell; but, I want you to remember Artie, not this writer's poor attempt in the telling.

This summer I was standing near a golf course shop marking time until someone from the crew came by. An old battered station wagon pulled in and stopped. The driver's door opened slowly, and a cane preceded a gimped-up leg out the door. A weary voice came next. It said to me, "Hey, Mac, how's it going?" The face cracked a grin, but because of a stroke, it smiled only from the right. It was Artie. Artie, a long time crew member, retired, looking tired and looking old.

bet you know them, too. They're the guys who worked on golf course crews. They were the stayers; faceless to the mem-bers, even though a lot of them worked at the same course all their working lives. Sometimes they stayed on the same job; doing the job well, and, well, mostly just staying. Over the years I often wondered why they stayed in the low paying, dead-end jobs.

After Artie gets out of the car, we start sharing remember whens. I wonder why he stayed as we talk. He talks of the days when he cut straight lines on dew covered greens, of early morning light and of the sun breaking through. He talks of the sun making rainbows through irrigation mist before it is folded into night.

Sometimes the Arties talk about the cycle of the day, sometimes about the cycle of the year; the overcoming of yesterday's winter night by sun-stirred crocus. They always talk about the spring and the smell of new mown grass. They

talk about how this year's battle will be won. They talk of summer droughts — summer heat — sometimes summer de-feats. They talk of summer twilight and fall and falling leaves, and crickets or some such thing. One more winter, one more spring. The cy.cle of the day — the cycle of the year are different than the cycle of life. Artie's life is in late Decem-ber. He has little hope for another spring.

Artie tells me, "You know Mac, I really do miss the golf course. It's tough now, but I loved it." (He grins again and again he grins only from the right.)

We finish our fond remembering whens. I say to Artie, "It's so great to have seen you again. How's life really treating you?" His grin is gone. He is quiet. He looks at me; I look at the ground and make a feeble effort to fill his emptiness

a touch of Irish wit. Artie rescues me at last from my

monologue. He says, "Mac, would you give me a hand?" We walk over to his wagon and start taking empty gallon milk jugs from the back. We take them over to the water spigot and fill them, and load them back into his spent station wagon. He opens his door, gets in the car, pulls in his cane, rolls down the driver's window and says to me, "It's been real tough, Mac. I can't afford even to get my pump at home fixed. It's been down for weeks. You know, though, I still miss the golf course." He looks at me, I look back to the ground. Again he rescues me; with a wave he pulls off and drives down the road.

I think I know why they stay at the job until the winter of their lives. They are bonded to the land. Bonded to cutting straight lines on dew covered greens in the early morning light.

I wonder if members here remember Artie. I wonder if Artie remembers them while reading their post cards from sunny climes; while digging through club trash for empty milk jugs and other small favors. I wonder if they remember Artie was the one who cut straight lines on dew covered greens and could see rainbows in irrigation mist at twilight. I would tell them he drags a leg and smiles only from the right. And he drinks water from their empty milk jugs at night.

PENN STATE PROUD (Continued from page 1) what we need as Superintendents. The subjects are all too often too basic to interest us as golf turf professionals or so broad that we^are lost in the search for a

of the audience—ll was so refreshing to attend a meeting where I had to listen attentively for fear that I might miss something that was presented. I think the other programs can benefit from these innovations. The golf course sessions of our regional and national conferences must give us more to take home to our courses. We shouldn't have to attend seminars to feel we've picked up the kind of information we need to grow in our jobs and in our careers.

A true golf course turf research facility, one of the few of its kind in the country, the Joseph Valentine Center for Golf Turf Research, is where the research our industry needs the most is being accom-plished. The scope of the work being done there is broad and fundamental to our abilities to grow golf turf in the 90's. We can be proud of the staff at Penn State and the work they are doing for our profession and our industry, Penn State Proud.

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M i d A t l a n t i c A s s o c i a t i o n o f G o l f C o u r s e S u p e r i n t e n d e n t s

N E W S L E T T E R

Lee C. Dieter, C.G.C.S. , Editor 5106 N. 33rd Street

Arlington, V A 22207 (703) 538-6489

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