To Bump or Not to Bump?

The recent rash of wet weather has been hard on golfers who prefer to play the bump and run style. The pro shop staff will tell you that the moisture means the greens are "holding nicely". The trouble is, so are the fairways, and the rough, and lots of other areas around the course that are normally dry. After all the rain this month, there is not a lot of bounce in the course right now.

Wet weather can lead to challenging course conditions. Standing water creates instant water hazards and saturated ground can cause balls to plug wherever they land. The real question is how to play the next shot. One tendency is for players to simply bump their balls to a more playable positions before hitting the next shot. Some players will claim relief under "Winter rules" or the rule of "preferred lies", but such rules don't really exist in the the official Rules of Golf (RoG).

Since 2004 the RoG have not included direct references to preferred lies. Appendix 1 of the Rules of Golf does entitle local courses to set local rules against abnormal temporary conditions, but even these local ground rules follow certain guidelines. Relief is normally restricted to closely cut surfaces through the green: in other words - in the fairway. If one is entitled to relief due an embedded lie or standing water the sequence of subsequent actions is usually: declare, mark, lift, clean,drop or place.

If folks are just playing a casual game with friends, no one is likely to get too excited if someone simply rakes their ball out of the muck to set up on the first available dry spot. However, if people are engaged in any sort of match, be it a friendly competition for coffee, a round in the match play tournament, a Commercial League fixture or formal tournament play, its always best to play to the letter of the rules. Don't assume any right to relief without checking with your competitor(s) and/or rules committee.

Things get particularly touchy if players improve lies while in a hazard, sandtrap,  the rough or in the fringe. It is not ok to bump your ball forward to a better lie. If a ball has come to rest up against the collar of the fringe or lip of a trap, it still should be played from where it lies.  It can be tricky when water hazards have jumped their regular banks or edges. Hazards are generally marked by stakes of varying colors. Lateral hazards are red staked. If your ball is within the hazard it must be played as it lies, or, in the case of red stakes, players can drop a ball at point of entry with a one stroke penalty. If the the hazard has grown beyond its regularly defined boundaries and grass can be clearly seen beneath the ball,then Rule 25 dealing with abnormal conditions, like standing water, can be applied and players are entitled to a degree of relief.

The key point of clarification will be whether or not the ball is in the hazard because it was hit there or because the hazard has jumped its boundaries. Sometimes consensus is hard to find. Ownership seems to be the determining factor - as in if the ball belongs to you then relief is clearly warranted. If the ball belongs to your competitor then maybe not so much.

Hopefully with the coming of August the rains will now stop and the question of improving lies will, like the puddles, slowly drain away! The positive side effect of all this moisture is that the course is still lush and green deep into the summer. The fairways are nicely defined and the mower is leaving clear patterns to guide players' efforts to line up shots. Hopefully by keeping shots on the short grass the only bumping that will need to happen is when players tap in their short putts to post a good score!

Back With An Open Mind

Returning from this year's RBC Canadian Open, I read and heard many stories about the exploits of the golfers who provided fans with an exciting tournament. For my money however, Shaugnnessy Golf Course has to be considered the the real winner of the event. The course was in amazing shape with postage stamp greens, narrow fairways and punishing deep, deep rough. While I really enjoyed watching the golfers deal with the course, the real treat for me was observing the grounds crew and the way they dealt with a tournament of this size and scope!

Shaughnessy is definitely an old school course with a long history and a lot of money. Originally founded in 1911 in Shaughnessy Heights, the club moved to its current location at the gates of Pacific Spirit Park near the mouth of the Fraser River, in 1960. It features towering trees, tiny greens, deep gaping bunkers and narrow fairways. For the Canadian Open the grounds crew allowed the rye grass rough to fill in and grow up until it was a uniform mat 4 inches deep, spongy and damp. This rough was certainly a hot topic amongst the golfers. Many felt it was punishing and too penal. Shots that strayed no more than a few feet from the fairway were swallowed up, leaving golfers with few options other than hacking out to the fairway as best they could. To score well players had to be consistently long and accurate, while maintaining a delicate touch around the greens.

Most spectators were watching the golfers, and I'll admit to enjoying getting up close to see the likes of John Daly, Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvie and Luke Donald as they dealt with course conditions, but what really interested me was the way the course was maintained. After Wednesday's pro-am a small army of maintenance workers swarmed onto the course.  A fleet of mowers groomed tee boxes and fairways as a line of workers that spanned the width of the fairways advanced the length of the hole completing divot repairs. The result - within 3 hours of the last player completing their round, the course was essentially ready for the next day's play.

Early morning routines saw the sand traps watered and raked and all greens double cut by hand. Shaughnessy had the advantage of possessing a highly trained full time staff, the assistance of Dolf Canada and PGA Tour officials and a number of part time and student interns only too happy to be working on a national championship. On Saturday the rough bordering the fairways was "topped" - in other words given the lightest of touch ups in order to keep it a uniform length for the entire tournament. Other activity centred on the eighth green where, in the small hours of Saturday morning, vandals entered the course and poured bleach or some other caustic solution across the green. Course workers flushed the affected area with water and pin placements were adjusted to protect the integrity of the putting surface. Police were contacted and the area was scoured for forensic evidence. By the time the crew were done, unless one knew what to look for, the damage was very hard to see.

It was also interesting to see how the tone of the tournament changed day by day. Early in the week the atmosphere was much lighter as players and spectators mingled, joked and interacted with each other. Photographs were taken, autographs asked for and exchanged. On Thursday the pros got down to business getting very serious about their game. By the weekend the tension was palpable as players focused on posting low numbers and the galleries grew to big ones. In contrast, the attitude on the grounds crew stayed the same all week. The brown shirted, white hard hatted crew were all business all the time, emerging daily at 5 AM from their arena sized maintenance facility, swarming across the course like so many worker ants, only to disappear by 7:30 before re-emerging at 3:30 PM to prepare the course for the next day's play. The grounds crew maintained the same degree of effort whether they were grooming sand traps or topping the much discussed rough. They seemed to be men on a mission every day. Only on Sunday did the crew make an early appearance near the 18th green, likely to witness the final fruits of their labors.

I suspect the crew were pleased  that the course was such a major player in determining the final outcome. The final playoff put an exclamation point on this fact as both players were forced to lay up after missing the fairway. Seeing approach shots skitter to a nervous stop short of the hole or run through the green respectively, provided further evidence of how the course impacted play.  In the end, the event was won with a bogey over a double bogey, proving that the toughest competitor in the tournament was really the course itself!

Folks have asked whether I would do this sort of thing again. The answer is definitely yes. I enjoyed the golf, was fascinated by the spectacle of it all, and learned a lot about the operation of a grounds crew during a major tournament. It was reaffirming to see just how much of what we do at Links is similar, if not almost the same, to what is done at the professional level. While our course certainly doesn't have access to the same level of resources  available to a course like Shaughnessy, we share the same level of commitment to prepare the best course we can for our players. And as for that rough the pros were complaining about, you can find it on just about every hole here at home. So the next time you find yourself hacking out of the mounds or deep in the cabbage far from the fairway just keep an open frame of mind and tell yourself that you are mastering the same conditions that existed at this year's Canadian Open!

Snakes and Wormburners

Ever notice how a lot of golf terminology draws its inspiration from nature? When working course maintenance, a person gets to see all sorts of golf shots; both good and bad. Both sorts can be entertaining and frustrating in their own ways. Some of the skills of a good grounds crew are to keep a wary eye on the shots of approaching golfers,  to know when to applaud - and to know when to look away. What people call their shots can be both colorful and descriptive. Some of the more repeatable terms heard around the greens and tees occasionally reference critters that creep - snakes and worms!

Of the two snake is perhaps slightly more positive. Someone who drains a long hard breaking putt is said to have "snaked one in". A chip that runs up to the hole before diving into the cup is described as having disappeared "faster than a scalded snake". Snake carries some negative connotations too! A player having a particularly bad day might be feeling "lower than a snake's belly". According to Golf Digest the term snake can be applied to a right hander's snap hook - a low turning shot that rapidly sails into the rough or trees. Snake as a derogatory term can also be applied to a three putt. There's even a betting game where members of a group track persons who three putt. The first person to three putt is said to be holding the snake. The dubious honour is then passed on to the next member of the group to three putt. The unfortunate player left holding the snake at the end of the match has to buy drinks for the rest of the group!

At Links, the term snake can also refer to the real thing. The course is home to a number of common garter snakes. These reptiles are frequently seen soaking up some sun around the ninth tee box area or in other areas of the course with warm conditions. Snakes, like all reptiles, are ecto-thermic. They are cold blooded and  get their body heat from outside sources. The clippings half buckets, with their decomposing grass, generate a fair amount of heat and contain and attract all sorts of worms and bugs. Consequently they are favorite hangouts for garter snakes. On more than one occasion grounds crew have been startled by a beady eyed, forked tongue intruder. Not particularly dangerous, the common garter snake can range in size from 25 - 50 cm, and range in girth from the size of a pencil to that of a fat garden hose. They do bite, and while their venom won't kill humans, their bites can be painful and itchy somewhat like an insect sting! Garter snakes are carnivorous but their preferred prey are earthworms.

The humble worm has its own place in golf terminology. A viciously topped shot that runs hissing through the grass is commonly called a worm burner. A worm burner may be just a bad swing or it can be a good miss. Many worm burners achieve pretty good distance even though they never get very far off the ground. If hit at distance from the fairway, a worm burner can be a decent shot. Sculled across a green into a trap or the rough, a worm burner can inspire anger, despair and a flurry of profane and colorful language.

The real worms at Links perform valuable service. They work the soil and help to keep the turf healthy. Where they can be a problem is on the greens. In the early morning when moisture fills their tunnels, worms come out on the greens and bring their castings to the playing surface. If you've ever noticed little penny sized piles of mud on the greens then you've seen worm castings. Castings can get in the way of putts and can make a bit of smeary mess beneath the rollers of the mower. Those worms that don't get picked off by the birds end up spinning through the reels of the greens mower, either ending up chopped to bits or crawling through the half buckets as take out for the garter snakes.

Worms and snakes might not be the playing companions most players hope for, but they do have their place at Links. The trick, as with most things in golf, is to keep them in their place and to deal with them as you find them. While most of us might rather pass them by, you can be sure that the occasional snake and worm burner will always be par for the course!

Making the cut now includes links to some useful websites. See the link box at the top right corner across from the current entry to find links to Golf Canada for your handicap postings, the USGA bulletin on what to do if lightning is near and for a link to how to best fix a ball mark. Please feel free to recommend other god links as well!

Course Work

Many people think that working at a golf course must be a dream job.  I'm sure they imagine riding jauntily along on a smooth riding tractor,  enjoying the sunshine for a couple of hours and then setting out for a nice round of golf. While we sometimes get to do that sort of thing, there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes, and, depending upon conditions, the work is not always smooth or easy.

The recent swings in the weather have certainly made an impact on outside work at the course. After a "once in 40 year" rain event, the course had two weeks of dry weather, followed this past weekend by another four day rain. Soggy, bone dry, soggy does not necessarily provide for a consistent playing surface. It also requires course workers to adjust their schedules and their practice. Ideally the course receives ample supplies of water and sunshine in order to facilitate both play and good turf growth. Recently, the weather has been more a feast or famine scenario with either desiccating sun and wind or torrential steady rains. Both events have unique maintenance possibilities. Steady wind and heat are not so bad for people wanting to play but they put the course under a fair amount of stress. A lack of moisture causes the course to yellow, then brown out as the stressed grass goes dormant or dries out. Fertilizing can help fortify the turf, but fertilizing demands that the course be watered as well. Fertilizer without a good supply of moisture can lead to greens being chemically burned.

On the other hand, a surfeit of moisture, such as the rains we had last weekend can feed the turf but make it hard to manage. Once the ground reaches saturation point, water begins to pool, making both play and cutting the grass difficult. Just getting the mowers out can be a challenge, as their weight, combined with spongy conditions underfoot, creates the risks of equipment scalping, rutting or just plain getting stuck in the turf.  Since we are now solidly into summer, temperatures combine with the moisture to promote rapid turf growth. If we miss a day or two of mowing, the grass can quickly grow beyond optimal playing conditions. 

Once conditions have closed the course for any length of time, the pressure is on to get equipment back out on the course as soon as possible. Sometimes we are out before the waters have sufficiently receded. This can lead to the mowers pushing water ahead of the cutting units causing reels to plug, baskets to fill with soupy green sludge and unsightly and uneven cuts on the greens and fairways.  Players will notice lots of lumpy clumps of clippings, interfering with their putts and play, and strips of grass that appear to have been missed completely. Its really not that the operators are asleep at the switch, or don't know what they are dong. its more that the water being pushed ahead of the cutting units is causing the grass to lie down and miss being cut appropriately.

Fortunately grass and the grounds crew are quite resilient Both are able to bounce back quickly to get the course looking great. However, while the grass just does what it does naturally, the grounds crew have to know what they are doing and proceed appropriately. Proper mowing is the single most important element in keeping greens at their best. Proper greens maintenance requires daily mowing, changing the mowing pattern daily and maintaining the mower to proper specifications. Just going through the motions is not enough. Texas A & M's turf grass blog states that "good greens keepers need to have a feel for their greens and their equipment. Not everyone can mow a green. Some people just do not have the mental or physical dexterity required to mow greens. Greens mowing is a skill acquired through experience and observation. A good greens keeper needs to have an appreciation for a uniform, evenly cut putting surface.  The operator must appreciate the finished product".

Squatting down on one's hands and knees in wet muddy ground to unclog the cutting units can quite literally put a damper on one's appreciation for greens keeping, but all things considered, working at the course is still a fine way to spend some time. Whether it's sunny or wet, there is still some truth to the old saying that a bad day at the golf course still beats a good day at work. When that day of work takes place at the golf course you really can't lose!

Next week I am off to Vancouver to volunteer at the Canadian Open at Shaugnessy Golf Club. The course is not far from my childhood home in Kerrisdale. Growing up, I got to watch the municipal grounds crew at McCleery Public Links. In my teens I spent some time on the grounds crew at Marine Drive Golf Club, mostly shagging the practice range with a tractor members referred to as "the moving target". Happily at Links my work and hours now keep me mostly out of harm's way. I'll be serving on the Course and Grounds Committee and look forward to seeing just what practices go into making a national championship a great event for both players and spectators!

A Course By Any Other Name.......

Ever wonder about the name Fort St John Links? In North America the term links is often freely used to describe any sort of golf course. Historically though, a links golf course has certain characteristics that distinguishes it from other sorts of golf courses. 

Originating in Scotland, links came to be associated with golf from the term linksland - the sandy reedy grasslands that form the transition areas between the windswept coast and the agricultural land further in. Due to its sandy nature and its exposure to the wind, such land was not suitable for housing and its proximity to the sea left it too salty to support all but the hardiest of native grasses. Unable to farm or build upon it, Scots found the land suitable for recreation, and used the natural topography and landmarks as areas in which to knock around a few shots. An absence of trees, sandy pot bunkers, irregular terrain and the constant presence of the wind and sea have become the defining characteristics of a links course today.

True links golf requires a specialized set of skills. Players have to hit low accurate shots and when they don't, they are forced to deal with deep rough, rugged fairways and crazy bounces. The Open Championship, also known as the British Open, is always played on a links course. This tournament is the only major championship played outside of the United States. It attracts a diverse international field and presents North American golfers used to manicured well treed courses with a different and often frustrating sort of challenge.

When compared to a true links course Ft St John Links does have some similarities. While it is true that we are located hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean, we do endure blustery winds, challenging rough, and fairways that make the most of the natural terrain and grasses. We thankfully do have lots of trees and our bunkers are neither too deep or too numerous but the many mounds, gullies and uneven hitting surfaces provide a fair facsimile of a British Open venue. Add to this our seasonal drying trend and one can easily see how adopting the bump and run tactics needed in Britain can benefit local players too.

Russ and Len have now completed repairs to the number 9 ladies tee box. A new bridge and gravel path are the result of a long days effort. The greens are rolling quicker these days thanks to some mower maintenance involving a lowering the level of the cut and some sharpening of the reels and bedknives. The greens were recently double cut and rolled. The result is a faster smoother putting surface. The challenge now will be to keep them in this sort of shape through the height of summer. Expect to see fertilizer and water applied regularly. Your assistance and cooperation in repairing any marks you make upon the greens is appreciated!

Open season will soon be upon us with the Scottish Open playing this week, the British Open being held at Royal St Georges July 14 - 17 and the Canadian Open being held at Shaugnessy Golf Club in Vancouver, July 21 - 24. Links' Ray Asai and myself are both excited to be volunteering at this year's Canadian Open. Ray will be working as a scorer and I will be serving with the course and grounds committee. We look forward to sharing some stories about what what goes into staging a national championship when we return.

Sadly, being in Vancouver means that Ray and I will miss this years Links Open. Held July 23 and 24, this event promises to be the competitive highlight of Links' season. The grounds crew works hard to provide competitors with a well groomed and challenging venue. Be sure to ask at the proshop about when and how to enter! And for those of you who only play the occasional round Links is still your best value. Contrary to what a rival course posted in the paper our 18 hole fees are only $32.50 - still less than Taylor or Lake Point!

Of Bugs And Birdies

Generally speaking golfers don't like bugs. At links the mosquitoes and other flying pests can be very annoying, especially in the evenings. Many a golfer has had to back away from a key putt or readdress a shot because of a mosquito buzz bomb attack. Similarly, golfers need to be careful where they sit or lean lest they literally end up with ants in their pants. Ant nests can be found near several tees. If disturbed these nests can boil with activity as scouts and workers seethe to the surface to investigate and drive off unwelcome visitors. The good news is that most of the bugs at Links are benign. They might annoy people with their whiny buzzing and itchy bites, but they won't kill you.  

The same cannot be said of wasps and bees - especially if one is allergic to them. Bees are regular visitors to the course, flitting amongst the clover and dandelions. To our knowledge their are no natural hives on the course but we have had swarming events in the past. One year a massive swarm infested a small tree near the seventh green. Several calls were made to local apiaries but no one seemed to be missing any bees. Eventually the swarm just flew off on its own. Paper wasps and yellow jackets are a different story. Feeding off garbage and empty beverage containers these pests can be vicious. Paper wasps have been known to set up shop under the eaves of the sheds at each tee and near the washrooms and outhouses. These nests are knocked down and destroyed whenever and where ever they are discovered. Yellowjackets are more dangerous, as they make their nests underground in hard to get at locations! They need to be dealt with promptly. If they get a foothold near a teebox they can be particularly dangerous.

If you are using bug spray as a defence against these pests, be aware that insect repellents often contain some pretty potent chemicals. They will do the job but if you apply some repellents to your hands in order to rub them onto your face, ears or legs, be sure to wash them off before you grab your clubs. Ingredients in some bug sprays will destroy your grips and that's sure to bug you too!

Fortunately, the grounds crew has allies in the fight against things that bug golfers. The many bird species that call the course home have voracious appetites, and insects are always on the menu. Magpies, sparrows, robins and swallows all nest at and on the course. The Black Billed magpie is the largest of these species. Considered amongst the most intelligent of birds, magpies are believed to be capable of recognizing individuals and even of holding grudges against persons who harass them. They have been known to dive bomb golfers and seem to delight interrupting back swings or crucial putts with their raucous calls. They are omnivorous and opportunistic eaters, consuming anything and everything from bugs to garbage; whatever is easiest to find.

Next in size are the North American Robins. These feed exclusively on invertebrates and can be found most mornings feasting on the worms that rise to the surface of the greens after they have been watered. The smallest common bird at links is the common House Sparrow. These small brown birds were not originally indigenous to North America. They stowed away on transatlantic ships, and in some cases were introduced by eccentric English immigrants hoping to reproduce the bird songs of Britain in their new Canadian homelands. The herbivorous sparrows subsist on grains and grass seeds and have proven to be so adaptable that they are now amongst the most numerous species in Canada.

It is the smooth flying swallows that have the biggest impact on the course's insect populations. Swallows take their food while in flight, feeding exclusively on mosquitoes and other small winged bugs, Swallows hunt their prey at speeds of up to 50 km an hour and consume nearly their own weight in bugs every day. They are masters of navigation, twisting and turning inches above the grounds surface to several hundred feet in the air. These are the birds that commonly take residence in the bird houses set up around the course to mark the 150 yard distances.  In the mornings they glide effortlessly beside and in front of the greens mower, picking off any bugs taking flight to avoid the spinning reels. Its like having my own personal fleet of fighter support planes.

Any golfer will tell you that birdies are their friends. At Links we agree, though it is feathered friends, rather than sub par scores, that the grounds crew look for and appreciate. Our score cards may regularly bug us, but when it comes to dealing with winged pests, we can count on a birdie on every hole!