September, 1980
ourde
OF

—yuperinltendentd
NEW

E N G L A N D ,

~^S5ociati on
INC.

Take Five,

10

Sponsors and administrators of the Lawrence S.
Dickinson Scholarship Fund — Awarded yearly
to deserving Turf Management Students.

or More

To the vacationer, summer is ever so swift. Nothing, it
seems, goes by as quickly as those two or three weeks at
the beach or those long weekends in the mountains.
To the golf course superintendent, summer is endless.
No season of the year drags as slowly. Those hours spent
keeping the green on fairways and putting surfaces never
seem to cease.
Well, why not carve into that rut with the latest cure for
the super's natural plunge into the blahs ... the midseason vacation?
Sounds kind of strange at the first suggestion. However,
once you really think about it, taking something more
than that five or 10-minute daily break might turn out to
be just what the superintendent needs to recharge his
vocational batteries and put some spit and polish on his
professional outlook.

Next Meeting
Thorney Lea Golf Club
Sept. 9, 1980
Directors Meeting 9 00 a.m.
Regular Meeting ~ 10 00 a.m.
Lunch
1l 45 a.m.
Golf
1 00 p.m.

Note: This is the Super Super Championship. Get yourself a partner and
make your own foursomes.

Directions: From route 24 take route 27
to Brockton. Take left at tee in the road
100 yards from traffic light. Take right
on West Street and follow to next light
and take a right on Torrey St. Club is on
right.
Lunch reservations call Joe Rybka at
447-5900 home or 587-9030 shop. Cut
off date is Sept. 5, 1980
* If you make a reservation you will be
responsible for honoring your commitment.

r

Recently, a veteran super decided to pack in his water
table gear, arrange a long range work schedule for his
crew and take off for one week of whiling away the time
with his family at a nearby lake. " W e did nothing except a
little fishing and swimming," he revealed. " W e got up
when we pleased and went to bed whenever we ran out of
things to do for that day. W * didn't bring along any alarm
clock and got up when we ffelt like it. That break from the
daily schedule, alone, was a welcomed relief."
Of course, the rest and rehabilitation period had to be
taken at the right time in the seasonal work log. " I decided
to arrange my vacation in the middle of July," the innovator continued. " T h e week fell just after the completion of my club's major tournament. The course was at
peak condition and any major projects were behind us. By
the way, I did leave my crew means of reaching me in case
of emergency. It wasn't as if I had abandoned my j o b . "
The results? " I felt like a new man when I returned," he
added. " I had heard of people coming back f r o m a vacation with renewed vigor and drive to plunge into their job
again. And, 3 can honestly say that the break did wonders
for my mental approach to my duties at the club."
Such attempts at snapping tradition have been popping
up in certain professions. And the vacation at the height
of the so-called " h e a v y load season" has proven most successful.
One of the professions now practicing the get-awayfrom-it-all remedy for job stress is the grinding, pressing
world of the major league umpire. When the men in blue
went on strike almost 18 months ago, one of the chief
issues was a vacation in the middle of the baseball season.
As the strike was settled, that issue was resolved in favor
of the umpires.
This season, they have been rewarded for their percontinued on page 3

( j o f f (Gourde Superintendents

dissociation

Another Kind of Golf Clinic
On a golfing day at a semi-private club, a too-familiar
scene was enacted by what has to be an uninformed golfing public.
A foursome of players, all using hand-carts, approached
a teeing area and parked their bag toters in a heavilymatted area in back of the tee. They proceeded to smash
their drives. Then, one by one, they grabbed the handles
of their carts and marched across the tee in pursuit of
their golf balls.
Another player, on an adjacent tee, saw the punishing
parade and took time to tell the offenders that they
weren't supposed to drag their carts over the tee. Expecting to get some kind of snarling rejoinder, the player was
amazed at what he heard.
" W e never knew you weren't supposed to take your cart
across the tee,'' was the collective response. " N o one ever
told us we couldn't go anywhere with a cart. Hell, we've
seen some guys take their carts into sand traps, just so
they can save a few steps."
The above session in golf education has been repeated
countless times around the public and private playing circuit. However, on-the-spot reminders that the course is to
be treated with a certain type of reverence often are
forgotten two holes later. The golfer, almost understandably, has only his score on his mind. It isn't that he
doesn't care about the condition of the course, he just
hasn't had exposure to the part he plays in preserving
that condition.
Some of the other acts of promoting damage include
dragging carts to the very edge of the greens where they
tear up aprons; taking golf bags onto the green and resting
them there while a player putts; failure to repair ball
marks and the incalculable violations that occur behind
the wheels of power-driven cars.
It is amusing to note here that most clubs-be they
public or private-concentrate their efforts on educating
golfers on every phase of the game except the most important...the preservation of the golf course.
Everywhere along the golfing road clubs fill their
bulletin boards with news of clinics conducted by the golf
professional...junior clinics, clinics for ladies, clinics for
golfers over 50, clinics for novice golfers. That's nice,
good service to the members and others frequenting the course. But whatever happened to that strangely phasedout term- "golfing etiquette."
Golf etiquette goes beyond knowing whose turn it is to
putt or who must tend the flag. It's most vital aspect is the
behavior of the golfer on the course in regard to preserving the playing conditions to which he becomes attached
only when his needs aren't satisfied.
It has to follow, then, that golfers are either unaware of
the damage they wrought or unconcerned with the possible part they might play in avoiding such damage. Certainly, the latter might apply only in isolated instances.
The mainstream of golfers must realize that conditioning
a course is one of the most highly refined and unpredictable tasks a person can tackle. Then, too, they have to
believe the end result affects them more than anyone.

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT
Brian Cowan CGCS
Ronald Kirkman
Robins Way
25 Green St.
Needham, Mass. 02192 Harwich. Mass. 02645
Home Phone 432-9041
Home Phone 444-8412
Office Phone 945-9230
Office Phone 444-5548
Club Affiliation
Club Affiliation
Eastward Ho.
Needham Golf Club

SECOND VICE PRESIDENT
Donald Hearn CGCS
4Topeka Rd.
Chelmsford. Mass. 01824
Home Phone 256-8709
Office Phone 894-5906
Club Affiliation
Weston Golf Club

SECRETARY
David Barber CGCS
145 Dedham St.
Canton. Mass. 02021
Home Phone 828-7266
Office Phone 828-6540
Club Affiliation
Blue Hills C.C.

Therefore, why don't more clubs initiate a series of
clinics designed to educate golfers as to the responsibilities they have during their daily rounds? Why aren't
golfers schooled in the areas of following golf car and pullcart rules? Why aren't they reminded and brow-beaten
about repairing ball marks?
Good question...questions. The obvious answer is a
form of negligence on somebody's part. Should the
behavior aspects of playing a round be included in the
pro's clinic? Has he failed to accept its importance in the
education of a golfer? Or has the club simply disregarded
its inclusion on the basis that everyone knows he is supposed to repair ball marks, et al?
Certainly, the superintendent should be concerned
about the lack of respect golfers hold for his domain. It
wouldn't be considered out of line if he suggested golf etiquette clinics. And, it would be proper and beneficial if he
took a major role in conducting such clinics.
It appears that all three parties-club, professional,
super-should share the responsibility for instituting
rules and regulations of play that promote the well being
of the course's physical properties. In the acceptance of
that responsibility, they should see to it that golfers are
informed and made aware of the importance of adhering
to such standards. And the process should be continuing.
The sight of a golfer dragging his cart across a tee is
disgusting ... frightening, too. Surely, another kind of golf
clinic is needed to halt the recurrence of that sorry scene.
Gerry Finn

"Meeting Golf's Challenges
Efficiently 9 ' is GCSAA's 52nd
International Conference
and Show Theme
Plans are well underway for GCSAA's 1981 Conference
and Show which will be held in Anaheim, California,
January 24 - January 30. This week of activities begins
with educational seminars on Saturday and Sunday
followed by the Opening Session on Monday and general
sessions—throughout the^ week.—The ribbon—cutting
ceremony kicks off the opening of the Exposition Show on
Tuesday. The USGA will co-host our educational session
on Thursday.
There will be a variety of social functions on the
schedule. In addition to the Monday Night Get Acquainted
Party and the Annual Banquet, GCSAA has arranged for a
"Special Fun Day" at Disneyland and a "Special Ticket Off e r " for the Harlem Globe Trotters game.
As has been done in the past, a golf course tour will be
offered on Friday morning following the conference. And
then for those adventuresome members - plan to take the
post conference trip to HAWAII!
GCSAA's 52 nd International Turf grass Conference and
Show promises to be an educational and action packed
week. Plan now to attend!

TREASURER
Pete Coste' CGCS
121 Granite St.
Medfield. Mass 02052
Home Phone 359-7247
Office Phone 566-0240
Club Affiliation
The Country Club

TRUSTEE
Bert Frederick
45 Stoney Brook Rd
Nabnaset. Mass. 01861
Home Phone 692-6445
Office Phone 453-1231
Club Affiliation
VesperC.C.

TRUSTEE
Meindert Schults
737 Princeton Blvd.
Lowell. Mass. 01851
Home Phone 458-7605
Office Phone 452-8228
Club Affiliation
Mt. Pleasant G.C.

TRUSTEE
Melvin O'Kelly
345 Plain St.
Marshfield. Mass. 02050
Home phone 834-4229
Office Phone 837-3321
Club Affiliation
Marshfield C.C.

FINANCE
CHAIRMAN
Robert Johnston CGCS
128 Wilbraham Rd.
Hampden. Mass. 01036
Home Phone 566-3075
Office Phone 566-3096
Club Affiliation
Hampden C.C.

OF

Take Five,

continued

sistence with a rotating schedule set up to allow for vacation time. " T h e break has been a blessing for me," one umpire disclosed. "We're in a pressure cooker from the first
of April until the end of September and sometimes beyond
when we have to work the playoffs and World Series. So,
when we get a few days to relieve ourselves of that
pressure, we come back with a feeling which sharpens our
work faculties."
Regardless of the golf course superintendent's job environment, he has to operate under a certain degree of
stress. This varies with the demands and reactions of the
club he serves. But, even under the rosiest of conditions, a
superintendent does feel the pressure of having to perform at maximum efficiency at one time or another during
the summer months.
The super, too, is guilty of making demands. " I have to
admit that I'm kind of hard to live with at times during the
golf season," another superintendent offered. "If I feel the
strain of pressures to produce the best kind of playing
conditions, then my family feels it, too. All of us take our
jobs home with us. If we didn't, we wouldn't be worth a
plugged nickel. Living with the job away from it is part of
the responsibility we assume when we join the profession
and when we are given our position at the course."
No one, who has been successful in the superintendent's
business, hasn't encountered a period when he would
welcome a few days away from the day-in, day-out onetrack existence of serving his members. The stress is
there-with or without major problems that accompany
the fine-tuned performance of the job.
The remedy, then, is simple. Even if it amounts to a few
days, a break in the middle of the season will bring the
superintendent back to his mental peak. So, just don't
take five or 10-minutes to renew your professional enthusiasm. Take more and you'll be a better superintendent for it. You'll also find that summer isn't the drag it
has been. It'll fly by for you, too.
Gerry Finn

- S ^ g H ailm

NEW

E N G L A N D ,

INC.

A Whimsical Look
at Golf
"Golf is the simplest looking game in the world when
you decide to take it up and the toughest after you have
been at it for ten or twelve years. It is probably the only
known game a man can play as long as a quarter of a century and then discover that it was too deep for him in the
first place.
"Golf is a physical and mental exertion made attractive
by the fact that you have to dress for it in a S200,000
clubhouse. It is what letter-carrying, ditch-digging, and
carpet-beating would be if those three tasks had to be performed on the same afternoon in colored socks, jersey,
and pants by gouty-looking gentlemen who require a different implement for every mood.
"The game is played on carefully-selected grass with
little white balls and as many clubs as a player can afford.
These little balls cost from f i f t y cents up and it is possible
to support a family of ten people (all adults) for five
months on the money represented by balls lost by golfers
in a single afternoon.
" A golf course is eighteen holes, seventeen of which are
unnecessary and just put around the course to make the
game harder. A 'hole' is a tin cup in the center of the
'green.'
A 'green' is a small patch of grass costing 81.98 a blade
and usually located between a lake and a couple of apple
trees, or a lot of 'unfinished excavations' called sand
traps. The idea is to get the ball from a given point into
each of the eighteen holes in the fewest strokes and the
greatest number of words. A favorite expression is: 'I
think you're in a trap, I hope.'
"The ball must not be thrown, pushed or carried. It
must be propelled by a bunch of curious-looking implements designed especially to provoke the owner. Each
implement has a specific purpose and ultimately some
golfers get to know that purpose. However, they are the
exceptions.
" A f t e r each hole has tjeen completed the golfer counts
his strokes. Then he subtracts six and says 'Made that in
five. That's one over par. Shall we play for fifty cents on
the next hole, too, Ed?' After the final or eighteenth hole
the golfer adds his score and stops when he reaches
eighty-seven. Then he takes a swim, sings 'Sweet Adeline'
with a group of other liars and calls it the end of a perfect
-Author Unknown

Job Opening
Middleton G.C., Middleton, Mass. 01949
Attn. Mr. Steve Tricca 617-774-4075
Congratulations to
Andy Parcheski - Jim Sullivan
Voted in at last meeting

GOLF
CHAIRMAN
Ken Mooradian
134 Green St
Hopedale. Mass. 01747
Home Phone 473-2352
Office Phone 473-3508
Club Affiliation
Hopedale C.C.

EDUCATIONAL
CHAIRMAN
Paul Miller
173 Salem St.
Swampscott. Mass. 01907
Home Phone 581-2808
Office Phone 595-3107
Club Affiliation
Tedesco C.C.

NEWSLETTER
CHAIRMAN
Tom Schofield CGCS
290 North Rd
Sudbury. Mass. 01776
Home Phone 443-3712
Office Phone 235-7333
Club Affiliation
Wellesley C.C.

To be voted on at next meeting
Bob St. Thomas, Hyannisport C.C.
Bob Pollock, Unicorn C.C.

PAST PRESIDENT
Dean Robertson
24 Riverview Drive
Newbury. Mass. 01950
Home Phone 462-4540
Office Phone 745-7289
Club Affiliation
Kernwood C.C.

Information contained in this publication may be used
freely, in whole or in part, without special permission as long
as the true context is maintained. We would appreciate a
credit line.

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

FRIENDS OF THE ASSOCIATION

Box 9 Milford, Conn. 06460
203-878-0658
* Tom Irwin, Inc.
11 B A St.
Burlington, Mass.

Bordens Spreader Service
Maynard, Mass.
Tel. 617-897-2571
Sales Rep. Jack Borden
Bulk Limestone Dealer

Larchmont Engineering and Irrig. Co.
Larchmont Lane, Lexington, Mass.
617 862-2550

The Charles C.Hart Seed Co.
Wetherstield, Conn.
Bob Kennedy, Rep.
Roy Sibley, Rep.
203-529-2537

* The Magovern Co. Inc.
27 Lawnacre Road
Windsor Locks, Conn. 06096
Tel. # 1-800-243-7718 or 1-203-623-2508
Louis C. Rogers, Vice Pres.

Chester Drake & Sons Inc.
222 Walnut St.
Framingham, Mass. 01701
Golf Course Construction
617-875-7929

D. L. Maher
Box 127, Concord St.
N. Reading, Mass. 01864
*

The Clapper Co.
1121 Washington St.
Newton, Mass.
617-244-7900
Grounds Equipment Co., Inc.
383 Boylston St.
Newton Center, Mass.
Geoffrey S. Cornish & William G. Robinson
Golf Course Architects
Fiddlers Green, Amherst, Mass. 01002
C.S. Curran
T.R.C. Products, Oils and Greases
7 Linden St., Framingham, Mass.
Scotts Pro-Turf Div.
Rep. Ed Wiacek 1-401-253-4284
Rep. Allan Cumps 1-413-253-2995
Gold Star Sod Farms, Int.
Sod & Pine Bark Mulch
Canterbury, N.H. 603-783-4717
Weston, Mass. 617-894-5474
Holliston Sand Co., Inc.
Lowland St., Holliston, Mass. 01746
Sales Office: 401-769-3526
Box 575 Woonsocket, R.I. 02895
Contact: Dick Halpern
USGA Spec top dressing and trap sand
I & E Supply, Inc.
66 Erna Ave.

R. F. Morse 8.Son, Inc.
W. Wareham, Mass. 02576
Tel: 617 295-1553
J. Willen Roell. Rep.
Larry Bunn. Rec.
New England Sealcoating Co., Inc.
Tennis Court Const, and Maintenance
Sealcoating - Hingham Ind. Center
Hingham, Mass. 749-6800
N.E. Chapter Land Improvement
Contractors of America
Professional Conservation of
Soil and Water
Contractor in your area,
call Peter Whiting, Pres.
617-877-5323
Now Chemical Corp.
Bill Brennan: Rep.
Tel. # 891-1275 anytime
Box 522
Holliston, Mass. 01746
Tel. # 429-2044

* Old Fox Chemical Inc.
Fertilizers - Seeds - Turf Chemicals
66 Valley St.
E. Providence, R.I. 02914
Pro-Lawn Prod., Inc.
Fred Anthony, Sales Rep.
391 TremontSt.
N. Dighton, Mass. 02764
617-823-1348
Return to:
TOM SCHOF IELD
290 North Road
Sudbury, MA 01776

Richey & Clapper, Inc.
28 Rutledge Rd.
Natick, Mass. 01760
* Sawtelle Bros.
565 Humphrey St.
Swampscott, Mass.
617-599 4856
Scott Associates, Inc.
60 Water Street, Clinton, Mass.
617-365-6341
Pumps-Sales, service
Installation Vertical
Turbine pump specialists
Tuckahoe Turf Farms, Inc.
Slocum, R.I., Litchfield, N.H.
1-800-556-6985
Alan Anderson
Sam Mitchell
Tuco Products Corp.
Div. of the Upjohn Co.
Kalamazoo, Mich.
David Sylvester
203-828-3790
Turf Products Corp.
1496 John Fitch Blvd.
S. Windsor, Conn. 06074
1-203-289-3471
John Perry, Sales Rep.
* Turf Specialty, Inc.
84 Merrimac St.
Hooksett, N.H. 03106
Turf & Ornamental Supplies
Ken Turner 617-263-7526
Valley Farms Nursery & Supply, Inc.
133 Hopemeadow St., Rt. 10
Simsbury, Ct. 06070
Putting Green Sod for the Professional
Joe Bidwell Pres.
Bus. - 203-651-8555 Res. - 203-658-6886
White Turf Engineering
5 Summer Drive, Winchendon, Mass. 01475
617-297-0941
Phillip Wogan
Golf Course Architect
21 Budleigh Ave., Beverly, Mass.
* Contributors
Scholarship

to the Lawrence
Fund

S.

Dickinson

First Class
U. S. Postage

PAID

Maynard, MA

(f'^j

C^oune ^>uf>crintenJenti
OF

NEW

ENGLAND.

. ..•/uooWton
INC.

TOM SCHOFIELD CGCS
Newsletter Committee Chairman
290 North Road
Sudbury, Mass. 01776
Home Phone 443-3712
Office Phone 235-7333
Club Affiliation
Wellesley Country Club
PETECOSTE'
Business Manager
LEON ST. PIERRE
Co-ordinator
GERRY FINN
Contributing Editor

FIRST C L A S S

Permit # 17