SEPTEMBER, 1969

Qotf

(Gourde
O F

Superintendents
N E W

E N G L A N D ,

.dissociation
I N C .

S p o n s o r s a n d a d m i n i s t r a t o r s o f the L a w r e n c e S.
Dickinson Scholarship Fund — A w a r d e d yearly
to d e s e r v i n g Turf M a n a g e m e n t S t u d e n t s .

LABOR PAINS
"The one thing I hate about all this emphasis on a college
education is that it takes up so much of my valuable time."
The speaker was a labor-stripped golf course super who
admits that the loneliest day of the holiday season is Labor
Day. "Everyone deserts me", he moans.
Labor. It's an .ugh word, as far as the meaningful work
schedule of the super is concerned. The effect on his finished
product is too severe to mention. And it is one problem with
which he dreads to live.

NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the G.C.S.A.
of N. E. will be at the Mt. Pleasant
C. C. in Boylston, Mass. Dick Blake
is the super and has been there for
the past eight years. He has a long
record of officers' jobs held in both
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. At
present he is the First Vice President
of the New England and also a Director of the National. Sept. 9, 1969
should prove to be a rewarding day
for all. If you do not plan to playin the Super Championship you can
tour the course and inspect the
newly installed "automatic irrigation
system."
DIRECTIONS: Route 495, get off at the Northboro exit
and go west on Route 20. In Northboro center take a right
on Church St. and follow signs to the club.
Directors' Meeting
10:45 A . M .
Regular Meeting
11:15 A . M .
Buffet Luncheon
12:15 P . M .
Golf
1:15 P . M .

MEETINGS C O M I N G UP
September 29, 1969, joint meeting with the New England
Club Managers at the Manchester C. C. in Manchester, N. H.
This will be the only notice before the meeting. Let's show our
interest and be at the Manchester C. C. on September 29,
1969. Contact Lou Duval for more information.
October 27, 1969, Superintendent-Pro tournament at Brae
Burn C. C.

Solutions? There aren't too many. "What we need to drum
into our club presidents and owners is the need for more
permanent help", one superintendent let it all hang out. "We
just have to sit down together and iron out this snag in the
operation. A sudden dropoff in manpower in the height of
the working season (September) just about undoes everything we have accomplished before that fatal hour."
It has been proposed that the club establish sort of a swing
shift setup in matter of maintaining the golf course and clubhouse. "I'm all for shifting my help inside to the clubhouse
for the winter", was one suggestion by a super laid bare by
the collegian recall of his summer help. " I f we could arrange
a year-round system for six or eight of my men, it would do
the trick. But I have to convince my members of this fact.
It isn't easy:"
There is an age-old fly in the ointment, buzzing the personnel program of the super. Country clubs still insist that help
be paid scab wages and be forgotten when it comes time to
dole fringe benefits. The general feeling is that part-time
workers can be had at minimal rates during the popular summer golfing months.
"That's where they're wrong", the super counters. " I need
a full complement of workers during September and October.
This is the height of our growing season, not to mention the
fact that it produces the ideal weather for the building of new
tees, greens and launching of many other improvements. It
just doesn't work with a skeleton crew."
This seems to be the biggest obstacle in the profession's
perennial battle to swing management over to a sensible outlook on a practical conditioning program. Most club members have it in their uneducated heads that June, July and
August are the peak months for maintenance.
Until the country club realizes this fallacy, the labor problem will present a definite drag on the progress of its course.
Truly, this is the time of year when the superintendent has
labor pains. Let's hope he is delivered from this awkward
and cumbersome feeling.
•— Gerry Finn

ourSe

•Superintendents

-Association•
WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

Pauline and Bobby
ciarone,
Scotch

winners

Muc-

of

tournament

the
held

at the Easton C . C .

Tournament results at Easton C. C.:
Low gross, tie at 87
Mr. and Mrs. William Carter of the Foxboro C. C.
Mr. and Mrs. Paul ICelliher of the Marlboro C. C.
Men's Tournament: Low gross, Mel Wendell at 76
Low net, Phil Cassidy at 72 after matching cards with
two others

"Lawrence S. Dickinson Fund", Chairman Phil Cassidy
reminds us that the money is coming in slowly for this noteworthy scholarship fund. More monies are coming in from
other parts of the country rather than from our own section.
I am sure that all dealers will want to contribute as well as
the members of the G.C.S.A. of N. E. Let's all try to make
out that check this week and mail it to treasurer Lucien Duval. His address can be found on the back of this publication.

MONKEY BUSINESS
It all happened recently in the workyard of the Longmeadow
Country Club.
Donald Pipczynski, a UMass turf student out on placement
call for Longmeadow superintendent Leon St. Pierre, drove
his sleek Corvette into the parking area one morning. Several
minutes later the place was under attack.
The invasion consisted of one spider monkey, a four-monthold addition to the Pipczynski family who somehow had
lodged himself beneath the chassis of Donald's sports car.
The monkey was spotted on the rear fender of the vehicle
by another LCCworker. "Evidently, the little rascal thought
my car would be a good hiding place", Pipczynski revealed.
" I can't imagine how he held on when I drove to work. It's
more than 30 miles from my home in Hadley to Longmeadow.
And I don't drag my feet when I hit the freeways."
Anyway, the monk survived the ride and became the hunted in an all-out search by Longmeadow workers who finally
trapped him in a golf car storage building.
" I got ahold of a jungle hat and used a banana to lure hm
down from the rafters", Pipczynski revealed. " H e got away
with a couple of bites before we finally collared him. Then
I stuffed him in that jungle hat and drove him home."
St. Pierre welcomed the incident as a bit of comic relief.
"At least it got our minds off the wet wilt for a few hours,"
he quipped. "That rascal made monkeys out of a lot of
people."
— Gerry Finn

The curse has completed its cycle. Winter — she was a
devil in angel-white clothing. Spring — it never released its
predecessor's grasp on the grass. And summer — he just
swelled up into one giant rain cloud and showered us into
saturation.
Thus, has the weather whistled a graveyard tune for golf
course superintendents. It has been one unceremonious blast
after another as far as the elements are concerned. Certainly
the turn of the atmospheric hands has done nothing to deter
the suicidal rate among us.
The latest sucker punch is translated into wet wilt, a gathering of the rains which produces a strangulation of the plant
once the sun gets to popping its rays in the ill-fated direction.
Fortunately, for the most part, golfers have learned to understand the uncertainties of the weather and what they can
do to the well-thought plans of the superintendent. At last
report, club members were taking the young floods in stride.
At last they agreed the super was blameless.
_What thejdeluge _did_do^ though, was.jpoint up a vital function of the man in charge of the course . . . that of taking
a just stand in matter of allowing the layout to remain open.
More than one club had to throw in the sponge along the way
of a wave of storms which reached the exaggeration stage of
producing rain on one course for 24 consecutive days.
Under such adverse conditions it remained for the super
to make the big decision. And most of them acted wisely. At
an average, courses were closed for one-two days a week depending on the individual spillover of excess moisture.
The dark days of July — when the storms came in clusters
-—• proved the culmination of an exasperating year.
Few, if any courses, had escaped the ravages of the snow
months when winter kill wrought more damage in New England than it had in many a revolution of the season.
"What gets me", snapped one prominent super, "was the
fact that we were just getting the upper hand on the winter
wreckage when the rains came on in full force. This has been
my most testing year in the profession. If I can survive this
one, I can face the future without a fear in the world."
The occasion of the pooling of rain water proved once and
for all that the superintendent was faced with one of the
greatest setback years in golf history. But in the long run,
it appeared his patience and knowhow would prevail. At press
time most courses were turning the problem corner and heading back to lush times.
Winter kill and wet wilt . . . There was nothing except
improvement in the periscope of the super as he set his sights
on fall.
— Gerry Finn

Steve Butler, Leo Brown, Dave Clements and Max Mierwza
at Easton C . C .

Maine Golf Course Superintendents Association
Editor

— Norman

Pease,

Purpoodock

Club,

Cape

Elizabeth,

Maine

SEPTEMBER MEETING

C O M I N G EVENTS

On September 9th we will travel to Biddeford Pool to visit
with host superintendent Jack Small at the Abenaki Golf Club.
Jack has been at the Abenaki club for eleven years and is
one of the few superintendents who doesn't have members
after him every spring to open the course. Abenaki is a nine
hole private resort course, in good condition, that sits next
to the ocean. Members don't usually start arriving before
Memorial Day and most are gone shortly after Labor Day.

October 7. .Nat in as Golf Club, Vassalboro, Paul Browne,
host superintendent.

This meeting is the annual equipment field day. We believe,
from talking to the salesmen, there will be many pieces of
equipment for you to see and talk about. Jack Small has arranged for a clam and lobster feed to take place on the rocks.
Mark September 9 on the calendar and let's have a big
turnout.
Directions to Abenaki: From Route 1 in Biddeford take
Route 9 to Route 208. Take 208 to Biddeford Pool and turn
left at the fire station.

October 10. Brunswick Golf Club, Superintendent-Pro Tournament.

SUPERINTENDENT-PRO T O U R N A M E N T
On October 10, the Superintendent-Pro Tournament will be
held at the Brunswick Golf Club. The tournament is listed in
most pro shops. Once again the tournament will be a selected
drive alternate shot affair.
At the August superintendents meeting it was decided that
pros must play with members of the superintendents association. A person who is a pro-super must play as a pro and
can play only with a member of the superintendents association.
MURPHY'S LAWS (from the HSAF Newsletter)

MEETING SCHEDULE
11:00 - 12:00
1 2 : 0 0 - 1:00
1:00

Business Meeting
Lunch
Equipment Display

Golf for those who want to play

1. In any field of endeavor, anything that can go wrong, will
go wrong.
2. Left to themselves, things always go from bad to worse.
3. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the
one that will go wrong is the one that will do the most
damage.
a -j ... .
4. If you have several jobs to do in the day and you save the
easiest for last, it will give you the most trouble.
5. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously
overlooked something

AUGUST MEETING
On one of our frequent wet days at the beginning of August
the Maine superintendents met at Purpoodock Club in Cape
Elizabeth. The back nine that day was under water and closed
although some walked a couple of holes that were on high
ground. Many left their clubs home due to the weather, so
there was no golf tournament.
The educational part of the meeting was very enlightening.
Sam Clapper gave a very good talk on irrigation and showed
us some new sprinkler heads. Come see us again, Sam.
We can use more speakers of that caliber, Harold.

GOLF OF THE FUTURE (R. Armor in Mid-Atlantic Newsletter)
Once golfers trudged around the course,
But now they ride in carts.
A first step, but this is how
All human progress starts.
Someday machines will swing the clubs,
And tour the course in par.
And golfers then will have no need
To leave the clubhouse bar.

Maine Golf Course Superintendents Association
Editor

— Norman

Pease,

Purpoodock

Club,

Cape

Elizabeth,

Maine

SEPTEMBER MEETING

C O M I N G EVENTS

On September 9th we will travel to Biddeford Pool to visit
with host superintendent Jack Small at the Abenaki Golf Club.
Jack has been at the Abenaki club for eleven years and is
one of the few superintendents who doesn't have members
after him every spring to open the course. Abenaki is a nine
hole private resort course, in good condition, that sits next
to the ocean. Members don't usually start arriving before
Memorial Day and most are gone shortly after Labor Day.

October 7. Natinas Golf Club, Vassalboro, Paul Browne,
host superintendent.

This meeting is the annual equipment field day. We believe,
from talking to the salesmen, there will be many pieces of
equipment for you to see and talk about. Jack Small has arranged for a clam and lobster feed to take place on the rocks.
Mark September 9 on the calendar and let's have a big
turnout.
Directions to Abenaki: From Route 1 in Biddeford take
Route 9 to Route 208. Take 208 to Biddeford Pool and turn
left at the fire station.

October 10. Brunswick Golf Club, Superintendent-Pro Tournament.

SUPERINTENDENT-PRO T O U R N A M E N T
On October 10, the Superintendent-Pro Tournament will be
held at the Brunswick Golf Club. The tournament is listed in
most pro shops. Once again the tournament will be a selected
drive alternate shot affair.
At the August superintendents meeting it was decided that
pros must play with members of the superintendents association. A person who is a pro-super must play as a pro and
can play only with a member of the superintendents association.
MURPHY'S LAWS (from the HSAF Newsletter)

MEETING SCHEDULE
1 1 : 0 0 - 12:00
1 2 : 0 0 - 1:00
1 ;00

Business Meeting
Lunch
Equipment Display

Golf for those who want to play

1. In any field of endeavor, anything that can go wrong, will
go wrong.
2. Left to themselves, things always go from bad to worse.
3. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the
one that will go wrong is the one that will do the most
damage.
uo
4. If you have several jobs to do in the day and you save the
easiest for last, it will give you the most trouble.
5. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously
overlooked something

AUGUST MEETING
On one of our frequent wet days at the beginning of August
the Maine superintendents met at Purpoodock Club in Cape
Elizabeth. The back nine that day was under water and closed
although some walked a couple of holes that were on high
ground. Many left their clubs home due to the weather, so
there was no golf tournament.
The educational part of the meeting was very enlightening.
Sam Clapper gave a very good talk on irrigation and showed
us some new sprinkler heads. Come see us again, Sam.
We can use more speakers of that caliber, Harold.

GOLF OF THE FUTURE (R. Armor in Mid-Atlantic Newsletter)
Once golfers trudged around the course,
But now they ride in carts.
A first step, but this is how
All human progress starts.
Someday machines will swing the clubs,
And tour the course in par.
And golfers then will have no need
To leave the clubhouse bar.

o r

N E W

E N G L A N D ,

I N C .

Skogley describing "Turf
University of Rhode Island,
at the recent Field
Day on August 19.
Golf Course Superintendents, landscape
men and other fine
turf managers
from
all over New England
attended.

WE GET IDEAS
It all started here, right here in the incubator of the Golf
Course Superintendents Association of New England. So,
don't let anyone tell you different. We get ideas-. And it just
might be that .we set the pace.
For instance, did you know that John Campbell, the man
who makes the green grass grow all around-round-round at
St. Andrews, will be the big-splash speaker when the National
get's to convening the annual conference of supers next year
in Houston?
If you're from and of New England, you know that Mr.
Campbell got his U. S. lecturing baptism on this side of the
Atlantic right here at the University of Massachusetts Fine
Turf Conference last March. And it was at the lead of the
New England Association that communication was initiated
to bring the sodding Scot here.
There is also being bandied about the national scene the
proposal that an award be set up to honor the Golf Course
Superintendent of the Year. Here, too, there is strong recall
of initial proposal. We started barking for such formation
of that title long ago.
Now there comes to light the fact that the national is mowing close to the brink of entertaining another New Englandfostered idea . . . that of taking the annual conference to the
holy land of golf — St. Andrews.
Two of our leaders . . . national president John Spodnik
and our own Dick Blake, who serves as a director of the
parent group . . . are preparing for an inspectional tour of
the St. Andrews area. T'he hope is that the two will pick up
enough favorable information to set the powers in motion
for an international conclave in 1972 or 1973.
All of these 100-watt ideas were strewn across the testing
grounds of the New England Association. And all of them
have developed into proportions that merit strong national
consideration, plus adoption.
So, when you're out on your own in pursuit of something
to crow about, remember you are among the thinking man's
chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of
America. Like most sections, we have an idea. But like the
Ford Motor Company, we have better ideas. You'd better
believe it.
— Gerry Finn

"POWDERED" WATER
The classic concept of water as a substance occurring in
three forms —- liquid, ice or steam — must be modified to accommodate the invention of "powdered" water according to
the Journal of the American
Water Works Association.
Scientists have succeeded in combining a new water repellent
silicon dioxide (Aerosil R- 9 7 2 ) with water to form a fine,
dry white powder.
Each tiny water droplet is surrounded by a layer of Aerosil R-972, which prevents it from running together with other
droplets to form a liquid. The powder, not a compound, can
be liquefied by mechanical pressure, distillation or a wetting
agent. The Journal suggested these possibilities for water utilities; Stock piles of water for the dry years, bags, rather than
bottles, of samples, thirst pills, packaged water for use with
instant foods^ even dry lawn sprinkling.
The

Conservationist

P i e a t e

President

—

Secretary

R I C H A R D C. BLAKE
2i 1 Sewali Street
Boylston, Mass. 01505
Phone 869-273?
Club Affiliation
M t . Pleasant Country C l u b

Second Vice-President

Astroturf Recreational Surfaces
Monsanto Co., R. Spencer Thompson
P. 0 . Box 2130, Springfield, Mass.

Treasurer

—

Philip C. Beal, Consulting Engineers
Irrigation and Recreation Facilities
P. O. Box 102, Hanover, Mass. 02339
The Charles C. Hart Seed Co.
Wethersfield, Conn.

—

LUC1EN D U V A L
R.F.D. N o . 5. Gault Rd.
Bedford, N . H . 03105
Phone 472-3454
Club Affiliation
Manchester Country C l u b

ROBERT G R A N T
22 Patricia R o a d
Sudbury, M a s s . 0 1 7 7 6
Phone 443-2671
d u b Affiliation
Brae Burn Country Ciub

Educational Committee

The Clapper Co.
1121 Washington St.
West Newton, Mass.
Geoffrey S. Cornish
Golf Course Architect
Fiddler's Green, Amherst,

—

E 0 W A R D J. M U R P H Y
-19-t O s b o w food- . _ . _
Waylond. Mass. 01778
Phone 358-7410
Clt.b Affiliation
Lexington Country C l u b

NORMAN MUCCIARONE
iC I A i b a n R o a d
W a b a n , M a s s . 02168
Phone 332-3056
Ciub Affiliation
W o o d l a n d C o u n t f y Club

Trustee

Baker Tractor Corp., Ford Tractors
Harley Davidson Golf Cars
Swansea, Mass.

THOMAS CURRAN
153 Fisher Street
Walpoie, Moss. 0208)
Phone 668-7221
Club Affiliation
The Country C l u b

—

—

Golf Committee Chairman

ROBERT M U C C I A R O N E
465 Summer Street
W e s t w o o d , Massachusetts 02090,
Phone 329-9682
Clofe Affiliation
D e d h a m C o u n t f y and Polo C i u b

—

Newsletter Committee Chairman DEAN ROBERTSON
24 Rtverview Drive
Newbury, Mess, 01950
Phone 462-4540
Club Affiliation
Chestnut Hill Country C l u b

Past President

Finance Committee Chairman -

(bourse ^uperinlendenh
Of

NEW

ENGLAND,

GERRY FINN
Contributing
L E O N V . ST.
Business
DEAN

—

L E O N V. ST. P I E R R E
S i Fenwood R o a d
L o n g m e s d o w , M a s s . ' O i 106
Phone 567-5562
. ., Club Affiliation
Longmeedow Country C l u b

JULIUS AKSTEN
6 M a i n Street
Southboro. Mass. 01772
Phone 485-8885
Club Affiliation
St. Mark's G o l f C l u b

A m, nilio
INC.

Editor

PIERRE
Manager

ROBERTSON

Newsletter C o m m i t t e e C h a i r m a n
24 Riverview Drive
Newbury, Massachusetts 01950
Phone

462-4540

C l u b Affiliation
Chestnut Hill C o u n t r y

Club

OF

THE

ASSOCIATION

Jolins-Manville Sales Corp.
150 Causeway St., Boston, Mass.
Karandrew Turf Farms, Inc.
Sam Mitchell, Sales Representative
18 Old Randolph St., Canton, Mass.
The Kenneth Barrie Company
Irrigation
375 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, Mass.
ICerr-McGee Chemical Corp.
380 Union St.
West Springfield, Mass. 01089
Larchmont Irrigation Co.
Larchmont Ln., Lexington, Mass.
Bob Lippman, Tuco Products Co.
Division of the Upjohn Company
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Magovern Company, Inc.
Lawn Acre Road
Windsor Lock, Conn.

Mass.

George E. Cull
Terra-Green Soil Conditioner
112 Green St., Abington, Mass.

W A Y N E RIPLEY
216 South Street
Wrentham, Mass.
Phone 384-3142
Ciwb Affiliation
W a l p o i e Country C l u b

PHILIP C A S S I D Y
4 5 Grosvenor R o a d
Needham, M a s s . 02192
Phone 444-4127
Ciub Affiliation
Weston Golf Club

FRIENDS

Alfco Rokeby Co., Inc.
Fertilizers and Chemical Specialties
P. 0 . Box 267, Marietta, Ohio

—

A n t h o n y Caranci, Jf,
22 Hiliview Drive
N o . Providence, R, t. 0 2 9 0 0
Phone 723-1668
Club Affiliation
Ledgemont Country Club

First Vice-President

fiatzotiije

C. S. Curran
T. R. C. Products, Oils and Greases
7 Linden St., Framingham, Mass.
Fairway Equipment, Inc.
Sales — Service — Rentals
35 Walnut St., Reading, Mass.
Farm Bureau Association
158 Lexington St., Waltham, Mass. 02154
Fred Heyliger, Representative
Fisk, Alden Ford, Tractor Sales, Inc.
Rear 900 Providence Highway
Dedham, Mass. 02026
Manuel Francis and Son, Inc.
Turf Nurseries
624 Webster St., Marshfield, Mass.

D. L. Maher Co.
Water Supply Contractors
P. O. Box 274, Woburn, Mass.
Ken Minasian — Scotts
Golf Course Division
312 Marlborough St., Boston, Mass. 02116
_ S i l Paulini, Inc.
6 Manor Avenue
Natick, Mass. 01760
Sawtelle Brothers
Jet. Routes 128 and 62
Danvers, Mass.
Shepard Sod Company
Merion Blue Grass and Pencross Bent
200 Sullivan Ave., So. Windsor, Conn.
Stur-Dee Rake Co.
P. O. Box 1087, Woonsocket, R. I. 02895
U S S Agri-Chemicals, Inc., A. P. Bonnell
Seaboard Distributing Co., Inc.
Yarmouth Port, Mass. 02675

Gold Star Sod Farms, Inc.
181 South Ave., Weston, Mass. 02197

Philip A. Wogan
Golf Course Architect
21 Budleigh Ave., Beverly, Mass.

Grounds Equipment Co., Inc.
383 Boylston St., Newton Cen., Mass.

Wyandotte Chemical Co.
709 Salada Bldg., Boston, Mass.

Tom Irwin Co.
Bennett Hill Road
Rowley, Mass.

Yerxa's. Inc,
Golf Course Equipment
740 Broadway, S. Portland,

Me.