WEBVTT - Kyle Hegland 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:04.080 Hey everyone, it's Andy Johnson from the Friday Egg. I 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:06.280 had a great trip out to sand Hills over the 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:09.840 weekend in an awesome chat with Kyle Heglund. They're superintendent. 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:13.600 We sat down in between rounds in the sand Hills 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.959 Library and the conversation just kind of started, so we 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:17.720 ran with it. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:20.840 So that's why there's no usual introduction. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.000 Enjoy the podcast and be sure to subscribe to the 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.120 newsletter to keep up to date with all the other 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.200 sand Hills content that will be posted over the next 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.960 few days. As always, thanks for listening, and without further ado, 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:34.239 here's Kyle Heglund. 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.199 I miss a green for example, I'm already upset when 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:39.320 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:40.680 And when I find my ball. 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.360 In a bride egg Frida egg, the dreaded Frida egg 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.519 Frida egg, Frida egg brid egg Frida egg bride egg Lie. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.520 I'm about ready to run off with the huff course. 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.360 How many superintendents have a wider range of temperatures. 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:17.560 Than you have? 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:19.800 I would guess not many. 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:21.840 I mean it's you know, we have a lot of 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.720 things that really go in our direction, like but the 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:27.120 temperature extremes are tough. 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.760 Like we had a day two years ago in November. 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:34.480 It was seventy seven degrees on a Sunday at I 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.400 was in Wisconsin three years ago because it was when 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.199 Michigan State played Ohio State and got our asses kicked. 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.920 And I was in Wisconsin visiting family and I seen 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.440 this weather come in and my assistant and I'm like, hey, 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.880 we got a tart greens right now. So I called 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.400 them Saturday night. They started tarping Sunday morning, called all 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.960 these high school kids, everybody we could get, and and 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:01.760 then I got it. Takes me twelve hours to get home. 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:03.960 I got here about I left. Yeah, I got hear 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:04.640 about seven. 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:08.200 O'clock in the evening and it was still seventy degrees 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.160 out and by noon the next day on Monday, thirteen 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:16.040 below zero. Thirteen below zero. Like we were just we 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.120 I mean it was we got everything done. We missed 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:22.160 like one spot on the on six the back right 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.200 corner there our tarp was ripped and we got that 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.320 done two days later and it died. Like that's how 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:30.720 we could have lost the whole all the greens and 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.120 then think that quick. So it's not it's not more 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:35.960 or less difficult. It's just different. You know. 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.360 You just have to you have to be adaptable out here, 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.480 you just won't make it, and you have to. Superintendent's 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:46.240 love regimes and schedules. I hate, like if you start 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.960 telling me at your schedule, then I'd start stop listening 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.280 to you. That's that's just a fact. I just don't 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.560 I don't dig that. So and we just can't out here. 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:58.079 So we just tried to try to be creative. 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.800 I draft people in nuts because I never have a schedule. 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.400 I like you already, I don't know what time my 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.600 teeth time is for like a tournament, until I set 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:09.799 my alarm at night, I look and say, oh, I 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:11.080 gotta get up at six thirty. 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.160 My brother is just the like he would plan out 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:17.919 tomorrow right now to the minute. Like I know, it 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.400 just makes you too constricted, and you just can't do 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.519 it out here in my position, because if you try 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.120 to say what the weather is gonna do, you're just 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:25.160 gonna get your ass kicked. 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:27.240 And it seems like it just that happens. 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.400 Yeah, So we have a lot of those we have, 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:31.760 you know, and it can be one hundred and ten 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.360 and you know, we had you're my son was born 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.080 twenty twelve. We averaged one hundred and two point three 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:40.360 was our daytime, I average, we were like one hundred 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:43.000 and twelve for like seven days, and then we've had 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.000 you know, like this August. We never got out of 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.000 the seventies or two weeks in August. So, I mean, 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:48.640 it just it just goes up. And now we're a 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.800 thirty three hundred feet elevation. That's part of it, you know. 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.960 It's just it's a very unique little spot in the country, 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.440 and the weather comes in and out pretty quickly, and 0:03:57.960 --> 0:03:59.800 if you don't have shit together, you're gonna get your 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.320 ass kicked. You know, it's just what's gonna happen. So 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.680 we we don't deal with humidity. You know, we don't 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:08.000 have hardly. That's as much humidity as we're ever gonna have. 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:09.600 It was on a day like today, you know, we 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:10.600 just don't get a lot of that. 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:12.840 It wasn't really humid, it was more windy. 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:13.600 It was Yeah. 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:15.200 Well, I mean even then, it's still it's still a 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.480 little sticky for me. My sister lives in Milwaukee, and 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:20.120 I was back visiting her this summer for just a 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.120 couple of days. And it was a week before the 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:24.080 US Open. I'm like, oh my god, how did I 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.480 live here? I think it was like eighty degrees. 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.200 It was just unbearable. It was so thick and sticky, 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:31.440 and so we don't have to deal with that. 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:36.320 So so tell us about how you got into being 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.800 a superintendent, like you know, and you know. 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.560 Your job's working up to I just I needed a job. 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:47.400 I played baseball legion ball junior bay Ruth and I 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.680 needed john that got me done early. So I had 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:51.440 some buddies that started working at a golf course in 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:56.719 New Glaris, Aida Way's country Club. It's nothing fancy. Started 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:58.800 working there like that, thought it was fun. Had never 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.920 played golf before one time, started playing a little bit 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:03.520 of golf. 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:04.360 Worked there. 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:06.279 I think I was a sophomore, I don't know, maybe 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:08.680 as a junior when I started doing that. So I 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:10.520 worked there through high school in the summer and you know, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:12.520 you work in the fall and what have you and 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.120 go to college. My freshman year University of Wisconsin, Stevens 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.800 Point just didn't really I didn't know what I wanted 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.160 to do, as most kids that age don't know what 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.760 they want to do. And my superintendent who I didn't 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.960 even know that. I didn't even know that was his title. 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:29.800 He comes up to me, he's like, hey, you ever 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:34.000 thought of doing this? I'm like, doing what what. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:35.039 Is this that you do? 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.360 And you know, so he just started talking to me like, hey, 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:40.479 you know this, you kind of got a knack for it, and. 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:42.839 I think you'd be good. 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:45.800 You should take some classes or something and see if 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:49.400 you like it. And that's what I did, and I 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.640 don't know why. I just liked it and like saying, 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.920 you know, I'm transferred to Michigan State and from there 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.920 I was all in. Was really fortunate too. I had 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.880 one of my really good friends had worked up at 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:04.120 Crystal Downs, if you can believe that, and I didn't 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.160 even know what Crystal Downs was at the time. 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.000 I had no idea about golf architecture or any of that. 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.119 And I just went up with him on some weekend 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.000 when I was at Michigan State, maybe a couple of 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:18.520 weeks in and was like, holy shit, what was that 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.679 all about? And then that's where my love for golf 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.760 architecture really started. And I was like, I gotta know 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:27.760 more about this. This is amazing and I so you 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:29.920 got to do internships, and at Michigan State you could 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:33.599 do a six month you know, an internship and extended one. 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:35.720 And I just knew I didn't want to work. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:37.640 Or they had winners. I grew up in Wisconsin. I 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.920 hated winner So I just got lucky. I wanted to 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:45.200 go work for a real good, a real talented superintendent, 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.679 and that was Doug Peterson. And they were just starting 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:50.200 to build, you know, Austin Golf Club, which is Ben's 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.840 home club in Austin, Texas. I went down there and 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.240 you know, they're in the middle of building. It's Ben 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.480 and Bill and not Bill as much as he is 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.839 a most projects, but Dave, you know, Dan Proctor, Dave Excellent, 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.680 James Duncan, all those guys are down there and I'm 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.840 just this stupid twenty year whatever year old kid, just 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.040 trying to not say anything stupid. And they were awesome 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.520 to me. They just let me listen and just be 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.080 a fly on the wall and including me and all 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.600 that stuff is just an intern and yeah, and then 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:20.280 I was all in. I was living with my boss, 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.000 Doug Peterson. He had a wonderful library like this of 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:24.520 golf architecture. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.240 And it was he let me just read. So I'd 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.000 go and soak it up all day, and then I 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.960 would just go read you know George Thomas or you 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.200 know The Lynx or that kind of stuff at night, 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.240 and I was all in. From then on, I was 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:36.600 all in. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.480 So what's your favorite architecture book? 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.600 Oh man, there's so many good ones. I really love. 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:45.800 You know, McKenzie's The Spirit of Saint Andrews. I try 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:46.320 to give that. 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:50.560 That's that's a book I've gifted twenty five times. I 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.440 think I think you can still get a gcsua a 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:54.200 show for like five bucks. 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:54.400 I have. 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.160 I just think I still have like ten copies of it. 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.320 That human kind of like golf architecture. You used to 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:00.160 start reading that. 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.960 That's why I gave that. A buddy of mine wanted it. 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.840 He's like, let me get a golf course architecture book 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.400 to read. And I gave him that and he read it. Yeah, 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:11.280 he read in like three days. He was like, oh, 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:12.480 that was awesome. 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.320 And it could be in it. It's so true today. 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.080 I mean, so many of his things are still you know, 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:21.240 whether it's bunkers or maintenance or you know, committee, it's 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:25.320 the Yeah, it's so good. And there's so many good 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:26.720 I mean there's a lot of great books. You know, 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.200 Shackle for its books, and you know, I would just 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.800 stare at that Cypress point book like just like you know, 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.480 like I think kids that are twenty probably stare at 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:37.840 you know, a Playboy or Maxim or whatever. I was 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.920 just you know, Cypress point book, going holy shit, what 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:41.319 is this? 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.360 And so that's I'm a golf architecture dork. 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.199 And and uh I was fortunately just go work for 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.920 some really great people that Harvard harvested that and challenged 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.280 me to be a good superintendent or you know, up 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:56.960 and coming superintendent. So I got to go back and 0:08:57.000 --> 0:08:59.600 work for Doug and I worked for him for I'm 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.679 old seven eight years and and. 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:04.160 Then Dick took a chance on me. 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.960 I was twenty seven years old, and I when I 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:09.720 got this job, which seems kind of scary when you 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:14.040 say that out loud right now, you know, he entrusted me, 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.760 and I'll always be grateful for that. Yeah, it was, 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:19.800 but you know, to be honest with you, they you know, 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.840 they interviewed my she was my fiance, now it's my wife. 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.240 They interviewed her harder than me. They wanted to make 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.040 sure Ashley. My wife was, it's gonna be okay living 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:32.920 in Mulla, Nebraska and we're fortunate. We love we love Mullen. 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:35.760 We're fortunate and have you know, it's like family out 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.040 here to us. And my kids are Mullen Nights. And 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:40.960 we're proud of Malon Broncos. That's for sure. 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.520 Hey State Chance in basketball. They are huge, very proud 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:44.680 of that. 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.520 I'm very, very proud of that unbelievable story. It is 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.679 a great story. Rusty more of their head basketball coaches, 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:53.760 my closest friend, and I mean, I I tear up 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.200 a little bit just thinking about it. Honestly, it's kind 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:57.400 of amazing. 0:09:58.440 --> 0:09:58.760 Story. 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:03.200 Yeah, well it's it's it's it's what's great about sports, 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:05.680 whether it's golf or basketball or whatever, when you see 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.360 kids work hard and accomplish something that they worked hard 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:10.240 for and that was. 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:10.720 A lot of fun. 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:15.400 So you moved from Austin, Texas to Nebraska. Yeah, so 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.200 what's a stretch when you came out here for like 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.800 your first time? I mean like what was I mean? 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:24.600 Did you just fall in love with the golf course 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.480 and and then you know, figure, this is a once 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.600 in a lifetime opportunity to you know, work at maybe 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.240 arguably the world's greatest golf course, or you know, the 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.160 greatest modern golf course for sure. 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.920 I will I was roommates with a kid who's a 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:40.719 Superintendent's name was Tony Nice. 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.920 And he's down at U. What is it, Old marsh. 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.360 Old marsh Yeah, And he reminded me that I told 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.160 him I was gonna be the superintendent sand Hills when 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:50.640 I graduated from Michigan State. 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:51.760 I kind of forgot that. 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.760 I just always was in love with what sand Hills was. 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:56.200 If you had really told me. 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.160 How to ended up here, I would have said bullshit. 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:01.640 But yes, I understood the gravity. 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:05.400 And the largeness of what I was coming up here 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:06.080 to interview for. 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.280 And you know, I looked at my fiance at the time. 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:11.400 I was like, Hey, you don't think you can do it, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.040 then we can't do it. But in reality, I was like, 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:20.080 we're gonna do this. But doing what I do for 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:25.319 a living, you know, it's unfortunate and I'm blessed. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.360 I try not to be that guy, but we just 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:30.560 try to smell the roses a lot and try to 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:32.240 have fun. And there's not a lot of fun in 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:34.319 the golf industry. Anymore, and everybody wants to bitch and 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:35.559 moan and complain about. 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.640 How hard it is or how difficult it is. And 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.120 I'm not saying it's not. I just like that we 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:43.040 have a lot of fun and we enjoy being where 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:44.960 we're at. We don't take it for granted. 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.520 We work hard, we think we do really good work, 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:49.640 but we also we think we have as much fun 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.880 as anybody does. We encourage, you know, our interns and 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:54.880 kids that work for us to play golf, have fun, 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.800 go out there and play. I'm biased now, so I 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.280 can say what I think is the best golf course worse, 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:03.600 you know, I've ever been on, and I want those 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:05.360 kids and people. 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.680 To go out and and enjoy that. It's it's pretty 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:08.480 cool backyard. 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.520 So yeah, it's I mean, the thing I take away 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.920 from this place is like, and you can hit every 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:17.640 type of shot you want and it never it never 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.440 forces you to hit one unless you put yourself in 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.040 a position that you have to hit one. But in 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:27.360 terms of from the fairway, I mean, it's, uh, the 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:31.520 strategy is unmatched in terms of, hey, there's this really 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.400 intimidating and I think the scale is what does such 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:39.280 a good job because it intimidates you. Yeah, and it 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.280 forces you to play safer than you might want to 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.080 because you're like, I don't want to be in this 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:48.320 twenty five foot bunker. And then once you do that, 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.960 every single foot off that aggressive line, you get a 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.960 worse and worse angle and you pay it. And it's 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.840 a beautiful thing for the people that believe long grass 0:12:57.880 --> 0:12:59.960 is the answer to defending part. 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:04.959 Well, you know we it's our philosophy. It's a it 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:07.920 should always be about playability. We want you guys coming 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:09.960 out and playing golf, have it fun. You know, I'll 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.480 quote Bill directly. I do it all the time. My 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:14.560 guys get tired of it. Hey, Gos's supposed to be fun, 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.560 you know, and we just wanted that have fun. So 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.800 we want it to play hard, firm, and fast. We 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:24.400 want you to not lose any balls if humanly possible. 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:26.600 And we talked about that earlier with you guys, about 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.080 how we've you guys made a comment about our you know, 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.520 our native grasses being you know, quite playable, and we're 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:33.560 really really proud of that. 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:34.800 That's a lot of work. 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:38.599 And a lot of a lot of blood, sweat and 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.000 tears making those what they are, but we're very, very 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:42.559 proud of those because we want you to go out 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.800 there and go, hey, I hit some bad shots. 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:46.320 I didn't lose any balls. 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:47.839 I mean, you guys are out there today was wind 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:49.240 was going thirty five miles an hour. 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:52.760 Yeah, that's that's awesome. I mean that's a huge compliment. 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:54.720 I you know, I I take that as a huge compliment. 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:56.280 I shouldn't say that's what you guys didn't say. It 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.280 was a compliment. But we're proud of that, and that's 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:01.160 I know, that's what been a Bill want. You know, 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.319 I've talked with those guys a lot about just. 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:07.960 You know, I think Superintendent's lose sight of that a lot, 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.960 like they get worried about how it looks or what 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:12.719 this was going to do and how it's gonna We 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:16.360 just wanted to be to play the exact way that 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.120 Ben and Bill wanted to play, and we strive hard 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.680 for that to be as playable as possible, as many 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:22.560 days as possible. 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:24.920 I would say that the natives have to be one 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.560 of the most important aspects of the golf course. And 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.280 I mean I was at a golf course a couple 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.560 of weeks ago, and it's a newer course, and they 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.600 the course used to be an apple orchard. So they 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.560 have trouble with their their natives because of the apple trees, 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:43.520 you know, suck so many of the certain nutrients out, 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.280 and then there was such a you know, a ton 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.520 of the other nutrients. And so this native stuff, I mean, 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.600 it's like seven feet high, is it? And they didn't 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:54.440 know that because they didn't they didn't go through all 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:56.400 the testing, which would have cost a lot of money. 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.840 But you know, in terms of native grasses, it's the 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:01.720 one of the hardest things to maintain. 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:05.080 Well, well I don't I mean, man, how many pictures 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:06.880 have you guys seen where you see this picture of 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:10.920 native grass and it's like the most sterile like, Man, 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:12.920 I don't want a monesstand of anything. I don't want 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.520 to mona stand on my fairways. I don't want to 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:16.840 mona stand on my greens. 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.360 That's not natural, that doesn't look natural. That's Ben Crenshaw 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.520 what he thinks of a monastand of anything. And native 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.920 is the most striking thing if it's just you see 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:30.120 it all the time, just this perfectly manicured rescue that's 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:32.920 four feet tall, and you'd lose every ball in the 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.520 world in it, like, hey, that's not native and b 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:37.200 that doesn't look natural at all. 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.920 I think we miss that a lot, and we're we 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.640 try not to. We try to make sure it looks 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:46.320 We'll take those imperfections. We're okay with some broad leaves, 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:46.960 We're okay with. 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.440 Some other things in there. That's fine. 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.400 You know, we want you to look out and go. Man, 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:54.760 that golf course blended right into the rest of its 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:56.280 surroundings instead of stuck out. 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:01.960 So at Austin Golf Club, you you've worked your internship 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.080 there and then you immediately got hired there. 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.840 Right after Yeah, after I graduated. Yes, so you got 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:08.400 to lowly second assistant. 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.240 Yeah, so you got to see that golf course mature 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.520 over the years. And and just I'm kind of curious 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.160 in terms of like how you see, like, you know, 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.720 how long does it take a new course to really 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.360 finally settle in and become what is it? 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:22.560 Like? 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:24.360 How paid is it? 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:24.680 Three? 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:26.000 Is it five years? Is it? 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:27.720 It's a good question. I think there is. 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.000 I think every site's a little I mean, that's a 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.360 really a cop out of an answer. Every site's a 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:35.880 little bit specific. You gotta have the right leadership and 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:40.160 be okay with you know, the slower the better. Let's 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:41.640 get it all right the first time, so you don't 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:43.200 have to go back and correct. 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:44.280 Some of that stuff. And you're not going to get 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.000 it all right the first time. I mean, that's just 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:47.520 not the way. 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.800 You're not going to just swing and hit every you know, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.240 you might want to move this grass line or take 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.560 these trees out or what I mean. Wherever it is 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:58.800 at Austin Golf Clube, I would say, yeah, it took 0:16:58.840 --> 0:16:59.600 a couple I. 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:01.320 Think we opened in one. 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:06.080 Man, I'm old, I forget all that stuff now, but 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.680 it's probably two years before you really get all your 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:09.800 stuff really dialed in. 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:12.320 That's a hard golf Have you played off alcohol? 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:12.840 I haven't. 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:17.840 That is that's a hard that's my opinion only. That's 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.320 the hardest corn crench out course I played. That's hard 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:20.879 golf course. 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.679 And yeah, it took a while to mature that. 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:26.600 And we and we moved tree lines, and we moved 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:28.720 grass lines around quite a bit here and there, and 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.840 and uh yeah, it just takes some time. And we're 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.240 still doing that. That's Sandhills. We do that every year. 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:37.040 So we're we just turned over. We're over twenty. So 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:39.320 you know, Ben and Bill always won a golf course, 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.520 you know they you know, that's initially how they described 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.080 sand hills. And how we got into so many issues 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:46.560 with some of the bunkers is they just wanted them 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:52.320 to breathe and grow and be, you know, an organic experience. Well, 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.359 what happens is our our winners are so harsh out here, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.119 like those bunkers, you want to talk about it, they 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.400