WEBVTT - Superintendent Series: Jordan Caplan on Belvedere and Michigan Golf 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.120 Welcome back to another edition of the Fried Egg Podcasts 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.480 and our Superintendent series, which is brought to you by 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:11.920 our friends over at Toro. Among the countless reasons why 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:14.840 we go to the course, communing with Mother Nature, sits 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.800 near the top of most lists, and the company most 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:21.759 trusted to responsibly maintain our golf environments, Toro continues to 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:24.959 lead the way. Its line of all electric and hybrid 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:27.840 mowers and vehicles do their jobs as well as ever 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:33.240 better actually, because their precision, power, reliability and comfort remain 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.640 the same. This new breed reduces engine exhaust emissions and 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:42.880 noise pollution and increases efficiency and ease of maintenance. If 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.760 only our golf swings were that productive and sustainable. Follow 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:50.360 at Toro Golf on Twitter and reach out to your 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:55.720 local Toro distributor to schedule a demo. Today, I interview 0:00:55.920 --> 0:01:00.720 Jordan Kaplan, who is the head superintendent at Belvedere Golf Club, 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:05.440 which is up in the northern part of Lower Peninsula 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.600 of Michigan. That's an important distinction that I learned this week. 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:13.679 You know, northern Michigan. I think the Upper Peninsula people 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.960 consider Lower Michigan. You know, it's not northern to them. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.360 So anyways, he's up in Charlevoi, Michigan at Belvedere. It 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.920 is a William Watson design. It's a semi private golf 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.880 club that offers public play tea times every day. It 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.040 is a phenomenal place to play golf, and Jordan has 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.440 done a wonderful job in the recent years. It was 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:38.640 restored by Bruce Hepner in twenty sixteen, I believe, and 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.959 Jordan took over last year. He had been at Philadelphia 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.640 Cricket Club and came back to Michigan where he was 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:50.520 from originally, and he has done a wonderful job taking 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:52.280 care of the place and getting it in some of 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:55.520 the best shape it's ever been. So we talk about 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:59.680 just kind of Michigan getting there and his career to 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.360 thus Bar and Belvedere. So, without further ado, here is 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:04.320 Jordan Kaplan. 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.440 I miss the green, for example, I'm already upset. When 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:09.520 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.480 And when I find my ball in a fried Egg Friday. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:16.480 Egg the dread and Frida Egg Friday fridagg Brian egg. 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.760 Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the course. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:42.960 Yeah, but when you were in you were in Philly. 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.800 You're at the Cricket Club when this job came up, 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:49.880 Like when you came out to interview where you just 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.960 had you been here before? You know what what was? 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:54.840 Uh? Yeah, So. 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.360 You know I grew up in Michigan, so definitely coming 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.480 up uh up north. I was familiar with Charlavoy. My 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:06.560 my wife and I actually were married in in Charlavoya. 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:10.360 There's a cool little castle. It's called Castle Farms. So 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.520 you know, I wanted to get married in a castle. 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:15.680 My wife wanted to get married at a farm. So 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:21.440 it worked out perfectly. Did you google Castle Farm? You know, 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.400 we just we just wanted something more of a of 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.600 a destination and it was, uh, it was a beautiful spot. 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:30.200 So I flew into Traverse City for my interview. I 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.960 knew exactly where I was going and it it it 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:35.560 you know, it felt like I was here the day before. 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:40.360 So you know, it definitely helped, uh to be uh 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.920 familiar with the place. And and it beats beats Philadelphia. 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.360 I love Philly, but it beats it by you know, 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:47.320 a thousand percent. 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:52.200 What yeah, what talk about quite a transition going from 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:58.200 Philadelphia in an agronomy job in Philadelphia to northern Michigan. 0:03:58.280 --> 0:03:59.240 What's that? What's that been? 0:03:59.440 --> 0:03:59.520 Like? 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:04.480 It's you know, Northern Michigan's a it's a great place 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.360 to grow grass. You can afford a mistake or two. 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:14.360 Philly East Coast is just just ruthless. It's it's so 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.680 hot and humid, a thousand things can go wrong, uh 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.440 during the summer, you know, on the on the flip side, Well, 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.839 while the summer up here might be a little better, 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.920 easier pace to uh to manage a golf course. I 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.479 I'd kind of compare our winter up here to the 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.479 summer there to where in the winter here anything can 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.120 go wrong you know, under the under the snow or 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:43.799 with ice. But but yeah, just uh, you know, you're 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:45.960 you're not walking out the door like you were in 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.400 Philadelphia and it's it's eighty five with with one hundred 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.840 percent humidity and the sun hasn't even come up yet. 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:58.000 Yeah, you like walk outside of lather like, yeah, you 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.320 just walk outside and it's you know, here here we go. 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:06.360 So yeah, I love it, you know, definitely loved working 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.120 working in Philly, you know, despite despite the uh, the 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:12.720 summers and and the grind. 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.360 But yeah, it's it's just great. 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.200 Up here that had to be a big transition besides 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:23.040 just the the pace of life from Philadelphia to northern Michigan. 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.400 But like the the club, like a giant club, like 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:30.520 the Cricket Club, three courses, you know, with probably almost 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:32.760 a thousand members, maybe more than a thousand. 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:37.400 Yeah, No, you're you're you're correcting that. Yeah, the the 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:41.720 Cricket Club was just a big, a big machine golf, 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:47.680 but was also fortunate enough to be at the Philadelphia campus, 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:51.960 the Saint Martin's campus where that that kind of was 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.320 your country club feel where there was the pool, there 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:58.040 was tennis. Uh, we had grass tennis courts there and 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.960 then the the nine hole Saint Martin's golf course. 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.279 Did you maintain the tennis course too. 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.120 Yeah, yeah, which is you know that was that was 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.720 really cool. It was something different. You know, I'm still 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.080 I'm still kind of geeked out by by grass tennis 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.440 and uh, you know, there's a there's a number of 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.840 facilities in in in the States that you know, I 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:21.960 still follow. 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:30.080 And was there basically one crossover between golf and tennis 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:33.760 maintenance or did you do different things for tennis or 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.359 were there things that are standard practice and tennis that 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:37.719 you could bring to golf. 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:39.159 I would say, if you can. 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.800 If you can manage turf, you could you could manage 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:46.400 a grass tennis court. The only difference being some of 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:50.640 the intricacies with the line painting, but but a lot 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.359 of moving parts. I mean, to mow, to mow an 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:57.200 approach on a golf course, you just start going, you know, 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.480 to mow a tennis court, you got to move tennis nets. 0:06:59.520 --> 0:06:59.960 You've got to. 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.680 You know, then paint the lines after. Uh, there's divide 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:09.280 or nettings between between the courts. So that the grass 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.640 part pretty much if you can do it on a 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:13.440 golf course, you can do it on a tennis court. 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.760 It's it's just there's some additional moving parts and and 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.680 you know, additional running and twisting and uh traffic that 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:24.960 that that surface would would experience. 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:32.400 So in terms of difficulty of maintenance, is baseball field 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:37.160 the easiest? Tennis court? Second? Golf course? 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:37.520 Third? 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:39.960 How how would you what's the hierarchy? 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:41.480 You know, I don't. 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:47.080 I think each each presents its challenges and we need and. 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:48.360 We can't have their off top. 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:51.080 Yeah, you know the thing about the thing about a 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.520 baseball field or or even you know, the little uh, 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.240 you know, not little, but it was four acres of 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:02.240 of manicure. I'd say that the difference between a golf 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:06.000 courses you're spread out and you've got you know, numerous 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:10.240 different areas of the course. On a baseball field, you 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:12.880 just you could stand on home plate and see, you know, 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.040 see the whole thing. So uh, you know, I think 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.840 that the vastness of the golf course is what makes 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.200 what makes it a little more challenging. So just the 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:27.000 sheer size of yeah, yep, I imagine tennis has got 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.080 to have be tough because of the running thing. 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:30.400 Yeah yeah. 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.520 And then you know, so the kicker is in in Philly, 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:38.200 it's hot. These courts were predominantly poa and you know, 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:39.319 definitely need water. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.520 So you know, the kicker is you on a golf 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:43.400 course if. 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:45.680 You needed a cut in between a group and you know, 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:48.640 spray down the green, you can, I mean you could 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:50.760 still pot on that. You can't really have a wet 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.800 surface for for tennis players. So uh, you know, another 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:59.680 facet of that was just having a good rotation, you know, 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.520 tating the tennis players knowing, okay, I need a water here, 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:05.439 they'll play on this court. That that was watered in 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:06.000 the morning and. 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:06.600 Is dry now. 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.679 So top dress a tennis court. 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.719 We we didn't, you know, but you know certainly when 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:16.680 we when we a rated, we we dragged the. 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:17.880 Corps around you A. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.920 Yeah, yeah, is that like just like do tennis players 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:23.120 react the same way. 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.160 As golfers the cricket Club, it was. It was nice 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.040 at the Cricket Club because the tennis courts were used, 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.480 you know, between Memorial Day and Labor Day in the 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:37.640 shoulder season, everything nets was stripped off off the area 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.960 and it was used for to actually play cricket. 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:40.480 Uh. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.400 Still, so we we focused our aerration in the in 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:49.439 the shoulder season of tennis. But but yeah, you you couldn't. 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:50.880 You wouldn't want. 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.640 To play tennis on a grass court right after it 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:54.240 was aerrated. 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:58.480 Did were tennis players pick here about their playing surface 0:09:58.600 --> 0:09:59.439 or golfers? 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.320 I think it's uh, you know, I'll put it this way. No, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:09.520 no tennis at at the Belvidere golf course. And I'm 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:10.320 I'm fine with that. 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.920 I guess like tennis players can't complain about whole location. 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:17.000 So that's that's true. 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.600 Yeah, yeah, And the net's where it is every day, 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:21.480 so you can't complain about the net. 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:22.199 The net location. 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:29.960 So I getting to Belvidere there, this place is a 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.600 very historic place. There are not been many golf pros. 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.680 There haven't been many superintendents. What's it like, you know, 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.360 taking over for somebody that's been here for you know, decades. 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.600 Yeah, I mean, you know, the cool part is since 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.319 the club was was built in nineteen twenty five, I'm 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:52.240 the fourth superintendent in it's in its history and my 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.400 my predecessor, Rick Rick Runch was here for thirty years, 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.840 you know, and and and did did numerous things from 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.840 he started to take the course to where. 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:03.040 It is now. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:04.800 And it's kind of like a passing of the torch 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.760 and I'm going to put put my spin on it 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.360 and take it the direction it needs to go for 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.880 you know, hopefully the next twenty five thirty years as well. 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:18.800 So yeah, I mean it always helps, uh, you know, 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.280 to have new eyes on something. You know, Rick Rick 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:27.120 was Rick was a superintendent and a different generation than 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.960 I am. So you know, I don't know, if you know, 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.319 a robotic mower or something. I'm not saying that's what 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:36.920 we're we're looking into, but there's so many things that 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:42.520 you know that I'm learning now and open to that. Ultimately, 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.079 you know, could could benefit the golf course. 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.040 With anything you look at different generations, like you look 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:52.079 at like building architecture, which I think like mirrors golf 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.959 architecture in a lot of ways, Like you see the 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:58.640 trends of building architecture today versus you know, what they 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.560 were in the nineties, and it's like starically different. But 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.520 golf course maintenance is obviously changing a lot, and I think, 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.880 you know, one of the things is less inputs, you know, 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.600 eyes towards a little bit more sustainability from you know 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.680 what we're you know, putting into the into the grass. 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.440 But then also you know, a big emphasis on a 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.760 playing surface that rather than you know, a visual you 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:27.240 mentioned how you know you're different era of superintendent, Like 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:29.640 what are the things that you're trying to bring to 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.440 Belvedere that that are kind of new to the club 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:33.319 in the last two years. 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:37.439 Yeah, I mean, ultimately, you know, if you know, wherever 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:39.800 you are, you want to maintain the course, uh to 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:46.920 the membership's expectations, and you know it's it's it was 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.600 a great golf course when I showed up on on 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.520 day one. You know, if you did nothing, it would 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.360 it would be great. We're we're ultimately just trying to refine, 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:01.480 refine some details, you know, to to ultimately the keep 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:06.120 keep it in that William Watson UH vision and and 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:09.160 and be as close to that as we can. You know, 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:15.880 one one thing, UH popular term terminology fast, fast, and firm. 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:19.280 You know, we're definitely trying to be be as judicious 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:22.200 with our watering uh as as we can be to 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.720 get get some of those crazy bounces out there. You know, 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:31.480 we we host a Hickory event, the Belvedere Open, every year. 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.640 We've hosted the uh the US Hickory Open in the 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.320 past before I got here. But you know, the course, 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:41.560 uh when they played in June, we hadn't had a 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:42.080 lot of rain. 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:43.920 It was so firm. 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:48.040 It just played perfectly into what Hickory golf is all about. 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.160 And and get in some cool bounces and you know, 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.719 if you're lucky, it bounced towards the cup. If if 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:56.800 you're not, it bounced bounced the other way. So yeah, 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.920 just trying to refine some details out out on the course. 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.720 But you know, like like I said, if if we 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.600 didn't do anything, this is a great, great property and 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.679 you know, the greens out here, the green surrounds just 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.000 just you know. 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:13.720 Blow people away. 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.800 Yeah, I've imagine having Hickory like a Hickory golf culture 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:23.080 like this place has, like your pro Marty very into 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:28.080 Hickory golf like and I think you imagine that helps 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:32.080 because when people come out and play Hickory's and it's firm, 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.400 it's such a different experience than when you play Hickory's 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.800 and it's soft because the ball just doesn't you know, 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.080 react and move the way it needs to with Hickory 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:43.320 equipment if it's soft. 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.680 Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And you know, it's just it's just 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:51.240 really cool that you know, members you know and invest 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:53.520 the time in the in their equipment. I mean, you 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.320 might find a golf club and you don't if it's 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:58.520 an original club, you don't know who used it before 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:03.359 you you know, they definitely you know, where the outfits 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.680 and and and dress the part, and it just it 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:11.560 fits in great for the culture here that you know, belvidere, play, belvitere, 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:15.520 step back in time. What could go better than you know, 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:17.280 some some old school Hickory golf. 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.680 Yeah, that's one of my favorite things about the place is, like, 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:22.840 you know, you go in like the golf house or 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:24.840 I don't know what they call it, the pro shop, 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:25.840 probably pro shop. 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:26.440 Yeah, I don't know. 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:30.280 It's like you go into there and it's like they 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.800 just there's such an embrace with the history of the place. 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:38.320 And I think obviously I played here maybe a decade 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.880 and a half ago, and you know, it wasn't backed. 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.960 And obviously they did the restoration with Bruce Happner where 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.040 they got a lot of the green surrounds back, but 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.560 like you know, getting that playing surface where it is 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.120 browned out where like you know, you look at old 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.360 ariols and golf courses weren't heavily watered and everything like 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:02.840 matching that golf course to you. The feel of the 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:05.520 the golf shop and and then the you know, the 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.680 old school clubhouse is is such an important part of 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:10.920 the whole experience. 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:13.960 Yeah, yeah, And I would I would also describe uh, 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.680 Marty's Little Pro Shop as a you know, museum of sorts. 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.320 He's got he's got pictures of all the great golfers 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.400 who have who have played here. Uh, Sarah's in and 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.280 you know, could could go on and on. Uh He's 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:30.080 always got you know, this kind of old school jazz 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.200 music playing in there. So I mean really that that's 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:37.040 the experience at Elevet Here. You know, forget, forget everything 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.720 else going on in the outside world, come come play 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:44.080 golf here. Uh get get sucked into it, and you know, 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:49.440 realize that it's it's one of the few William Watson 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.440 golf courses in America that really hasn't been been touched. 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.920 I mean, granted the greens trunk, but there there wasn't 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.160 a bulldozer brought on him or something. So so the 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:04.280 contours and stuff are all there, and you know, every 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.680 everything that William Watson did with his with his horse teams. 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.520 Have as has survived to this day. 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:13.800 Yeah, I mean, it's it's such a neat property because 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.680 obviously you have the you have the ridge that the 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:20.240 clubhouse sits on, and you know some of the you know, 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.640 the road runs through, dividing the front and the back 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.159 nine for those that haven't been to Velvet Yere, and 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.840 you've got a ridge that this road sits on the 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.480 ninth hole, the first tee and then the tenth tee 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.120 and the eighteenth hole sits on that's like the prominent ridge. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.720 Seventeen plays on the ridge and sixteen plays up to it, 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.879 but then everything kind of goes off that ridge and 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.479 there's a low point and they come back up. But like, 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:46.400 just how simple the golf course is with this one 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.800 defined ridge really that everything dictates off of. 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:52.280 Yeah, huge, huge ridge, you know. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.560 To finish, you finish the front nine on it, you 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.520 finish eighteen on it, and then you're kind of winding 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.560 your way through these ups and downs, you know. I Uh, 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.879 one of my favorite things to do, uh in Charlavoy 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:07.680 is just drive around on some of these country back roads. 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:09.960 Oh my god, and I just go, oh, golf course there. 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:11.960 You can put a golf course there, and it's just 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.879 you gotta wonder what, you know, what if they decided 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.119 to go a mile down the road, would it have 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.400 been as good? You know, they really they really did 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:23.720 a fine job select in their spot. 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.480 It's a so Wasson lived in the winters in San 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.199 Francisco and he came here every summer. 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:35.560 Yeah. So he he came here for you know, twenty 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:39.119 twenty five years after after he built it, and you know, 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.840 was was the golf pro here, you know, so that 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.159 that gave him all that time too to kind of 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:49.040 see his product and protect it from being from being tweaked. 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:51.440 I wonder how much like fine tuning he did over 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:53.679 the years, like how many little tweaks And he probably 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.600 never like you know, he had he kept decent notes, 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.560 like you have some hole by hole things from him, 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:03.040 But like you know, I wonder because like Ross, you 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.639 always hear about Ross lived on you know, Pinehurst on 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.600 like the third hole there, right, and then he lived 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:14.000 at Essex County, I believe, up in Boston for a 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.920 period of time. And you see the holes by his 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:20.199 house have like a little bit more pizazzed. And this 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.119 is a golf course that Boston effectively lived on for 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:29.040 summers for and the greens here are like unmistakably like 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:35.360 they're just unbelievable, like as potato chippy, as potato chip greens. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:38.040 Got yeah you know you got a one er two. 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:43.359 I mean, how willing were those guys, you know to admit, 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:45.439 oh yeah, I did make a mistake there. I mean 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.119 they were probably pretty attached to their work. And you know, 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:52.480 take take the Cricket Club for example, the Tiling House course. 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.280 I believe there were some alterations by someone other than 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:00.399 tilling Hass not too long after they did it. You know, 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:03.960 Tilly probably wouldn't have you know, condoned any of that. 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.399 So I I think you're probably right. He was probably 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:11.960 happy with with what he had and any any kind 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:14.840 of major overhaul would have admitted, hey, you got this 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:15.879 wrong or something. 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:22.399 That's an interesting thing with today, Like an architect builds 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:24.840 a golf course and sometimes like they don't even play 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.679 the golf course for years like versus then like a 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.680 lot of times an architect might work at the club 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.480 or live at the club, or you know, build the 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.040 golf course and was a member, you know, prominent member 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:41.359 like Stevie McDonald obviously had houses at every golf course 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:44.919 he built, like you know these you think about how 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:49.359 much architecture changed obviously, like Ross didn't play every golf course. 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.480 But like with Watson living here, like it's just such 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:55.480 a different dynamic, Like we don't have golf architects that 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.880 necessarily build their golf courses and then just spend every 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.000 summer at them for two decades, three decades. 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:05.920 Yeah, yeah, so you know, a labor of love for 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:08.200 mister William Watson for sure. 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:08.680 Yeah. 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:11.400 I mean the one thing, obviously, I think, like the 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.879 one glaring thing the golf course is the bunker style, 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:17.600 Like that's the one thing that is a little bit 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.960 missing from like just pure throwback as you come out. 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:24.720 And the bunkers were renovated in the nineties and obviously 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:28.080 they probably were like a you know, needed renovation of 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.560 some sort, needed work. But now you have not really 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:37.760 a intricately shaped they're kind of a you know, imagine 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:41.159 if I built a bunker might look like that, you know. 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:42.520 Yeah, yeah, So. 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:49.240 We have old aerols and the nineteen thirty six, but 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:50.920 then some stuff in the fifties. 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:53.040 So even in the fifties, the. 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:58.200 Bunkers, you know, mimic the you know what we saw 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.040 in the nineteen thirty six areas, So a Watson bunker 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.760 you know around the sixties, uh, definitely kind of you know, 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:09.520 joined joined some bunkers together, made them a little rounder. 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:12.760 I think a lot of that goes into play too 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:15.320 with Hey, those were easy to maintain. 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:18.719 Well, this is the whole architecture thing too, is like 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:22.679 that just became like you look at building architecture, like 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:26.200 subdivisions came in vogue in the fifties and sixties and 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:30.439 like the cookie cutter like you know, right, right, So 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:34.480 that's that's culture perfectly how I would describe the the 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:36.640 bunkers now, you know, kind of a cookie cutter look 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:39.639 to it. You know, that's what happened to every golf 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:42.480 course in the sixties. Hey, let's put some trees there, 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:46.119 and and you know, let's so I think it was 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:48.719 at the time it was done, it was you know, 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:52.479 trendy and and what other courses were doing. You know, 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:56.160 you come forty years later and you're right, you step 0:22:56.200 --> 0:23:00.920 back in time and and and and that's the that's 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:04.400 the element that's missing. Kind of a cool side note, 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:07.880 Bruce Hepner, Uh was out this summer and we're doing 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:10.880 a little short game area off off to the side 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:14.560 in an old turf nursery and he he was, you know, 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:18.679 definitely experimenting with the with the Watson style. So you 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:20.920 know that that would be the first step. Let's kind 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:24.160 of figure out what the Watson style is. It's it's 0:23:24.160 --> 0:23:28.560 safe to say Watson had some different bunker styles depending 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:31.560 on where he was working. One one kind of uh 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:35.679 comparison that I like a lot a year before nineteen 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:40.840 twenty four Arenda Golf Club in in California. You know, 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:44.879 they they did some some restoration work there. And I 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:48.080 think it's safe to say that Watson's style here was 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:53.200 was heavily influenced by by the California UH work and 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:55.879 and folks he was hanging out without there and he 0:23:56.040 --> 0:23:59.880 that that look would would fit so well into this 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:04.160 landscape too, because it's got you know, is it would 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:07.840 sit really nicely into the hills and it would give 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:11.120 that kind of artistic flare that would match the the 0:24:11.119 --> 0:24:11.680 flare of. 0:24:11.640 --> 0:24:17.200 The greens absolutely. And you know, so so we we 0:24:18.359 --> 0:24:21.360 you know, we know what what needs to be done. 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:23.960 You know, obviously there's there's a lot of stuff that 0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:27.600 goes into a into a bunker restoration. There's money, there's 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:31.400 a lot of things with with sand and and bunker liners. 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:33.959 We we won't get into that, but I think one 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:36.240 of the other things we we when we were driving 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:38.240 around the golf course is, uh, you know, some of 0:24:38.240 --> 0:24:43.560 the bunkers are just overbearing in in the landscape, you know, 0:24:43.800 --> 0:24:47.840 so there there's definitely some something to be gained from 0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:52.639 from a stylistic UH changes. Certainly the playability and drainage 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:56.040 would improve in the bunkers. And yeah, I mean if 0:24:56.200 --> 0:24:59.080 if if one of the best in the game, Bruce Hepner, 0:24:59.400 --> 0:25:01.760 you know, could get to get as mini X bucket 0:25:02.080 --> 0:25:05.000 on some of that stuff would be amazing, But you know, 0:25:05.040 --> 0:25:07.480 one step at a time. You know, we also don't 0:25:07.480 --> 0:25:09.800 want to get ahead of ourselves because like we did say, 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:13.359 I mean, regardless of bunkers or this or that, you know, 0:25:13.520 --> 0:25:14.560 it's it's all about the. 0:25:14.520 --> 0:25:18.199 Greens out here, you know. So so we'll keep on it. 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:20.879 We'll be I think that's a cool way to do 0:25:20.920 --> 0:25:22.720 it too, is like you get the short game area. 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:25.639 It gives like members a chance to see you know, 0:25:25.800 --> 0:25:28.280 like I think it's really hard for a lot of 0:25:28.280 --> 0:25:32.119 times people to envision what something might look like unless 0:25:32.160 --> 0:25:35.520 somebody does like a very intricate photoshop rendering. 0:25:35.840 --> 0:25:36.040 Right. 0:25:36.119 --> 0:25:38.320 But like you know, for somebody to be able to 0:25:38.359 --> 0:25:41.320 go out play in it and like hit shots out 0:25:41.320 --> 0:25:43.920 of it and also look at it, it just does 0:25:44.119 --> 0:25:47.360 wonders for the you know, them being able to see, oh, 0:25:47.400 --> 0:25:49.240 we're going to do bunkers like this out on the 0:25:49.240 --> 0:25:50.160 golf course, right. 0:25:50.240 --> 0:25:54.520 And I truly believe you know, shapers like Bruce and others, 0:25:55.240 --> 0:25:57.680 while they can put something on a plan, I think 0:25:57.680 --> 0:26:00.000 they do their best work when they just roll up 0:26:00.080 --> 0:26:02.080 to the bunker and and and I don't want to 0:26:02.080 --> 0:26:03.600 I don't want to describe it as winging it. They 0:26:03.600 --> 0:26:06.159 certainly know what they're doing, but you know, let the 0:26:06.320 --> 0:26:09.359 let the juices flow out in the field and and 0:26:09.359 --> 0:26:12.200 then be really hard to to kind of unless you're 0:26:12.200 --> 0:26:15.439 an excellent artist to to draw what that bunker looks like. 0:26:15.520 --> 0:26:18.200 You. So, I I think we're on the right track. 0:26:18.240 --> 0:26:20.640 I mean, we're gonna have a bunker that you can 0:26:20.680 --> 0:26:22.960 get your get your feet in and play around, and 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:26.840 we'll try some different bunker sands and you know, go 0:26:26.960 --> 0:26:30.199 from there. But yeah, it was just really cool to 0:26:30.240 --> 0:26:33.159 watch him, watch him go. He actually he dug the 0:26:33.160 --> 0:26:35.560 bunkers out and then he shaped a couple of green 0:26:35.640 --> 0:26:38.359 pads and he actually said, I've never I've never built 0:26:38.359 --> 0:26:38.920 a green. 0:26:38.720 --> 0:26:41.080 With a mini excavator before. This is this is kind 0:26:41.119 --> 0:26:41.480 of cool. 0:26:42.119 --> 0:26:44.439 I'm not saying he would switch to just doing it 0:26:44.480 --> 0:26:47.240 that way in the future, but yeah, he was definitely 0:26:47.320 --> 0:26:49.960 kind of in the zone and and making it happen. 0:26:51.040 --> 0:26:53.600 One of my favorite things was you're you're very like 0:26:53.600 --> 0:26:57.440 I'm a big self deprecator of myself, and I love 0:26:57.520 --> 0:27:00.359 that we pulled up to your your chip here. So 0:27:00.560 --> 0:27:04.600 this is this I built this bucker is terrible. Yeah, 0:27:04.680 --> 0:27:08.240 I mean just uh, just being honest. But you know, 0:27:08.560 --> 0:27:14.800 the difference between you know, the professionals and myself is, yeah, 0:27:14.840 --> 0:27:17.320 they don't they don't make mistakes. You know, you have 0:27:17.359 --> 0:27:21.199 a staff of ten or so people, Like there's a 0:27:21.680 --> 0:27:23.520 there's definitely a balance of like what can we do 0:27:23.600 --> 0:27:26.879 in house versus makes sense to outsource? 0:27:27.240 --> 0:27:27.840 Right right? 0:27:28.800 --> 0:27:32.240 Yeah, i mean tree tree work for example. You know, 0:27:32.320 --> 0:27:35.919 we we do a lot of that in house, you know, 0:27:36.080 --> 0:27:37.960 but but we know too want to wave the white 0:27:37.960 --> 0:27:40.439 flag and hey, this is a little it's a little crazy. 0:27:40.520 --> 0:27:41.800 Let's bring in the professionals. 0:27:42.119 --> 0:27:46.040 How big is it that a tree? It's not necessarily 0:27:46.119 --> 0:27:48.960 the size. It's kind of like what's going on up top? 0:27:49.119 --> 0:27:51.640 What's you know, where it's uh. 0:27:51.400 --> 0:27:52.280 Where it's leaning. 0:27:53.200 --> 0:27:57.160 You know, I'm I'm scared to death of willow trees. 0:27:58.000 --> 0:28:00.560 That's got to be done by a professional from from 0:28:00.600 --> 0:28:01.280 the top down. 0:28:01.840 --> 0:28:05.560 So that's that like when there's more going on up top, 0:28:06.560 --> 0:28:09.320 that's when you have to start up top. You can't 0:28:09.359 --> 0:28:10.160 just cut. 0:28:10.040 --> 0:28:12.399 It and yeah, yeah, yep, yep. 0:28:12.600 --> 0:28:16.520 So yeah, it's it's it's awesome to be able to 0:28:16.520 --> 0:28:19.840 to do things yourself out here and and be self 0:28:20.200 --> 0:28:24.440 you know, self sufficient. You know you also you got 0:28:24.480 --> 0:28:26.320 to know when to call him in. You know at 0:28:26.320 --> 0:28:30.520 the Cricket Club, we uh we laid like a mile 0:28:30.800 --> 0:28:34.960 of brick paths walk pass around the around the club 0:28:35.200 --> 0:28:38.480 and we did it all ourselves in house. You know, 0:28:39.720 --> 0:28:43.040 the savings on that to have a contractor do it. 0:28:43.000 --> 0:28:45.720 Just just everybody can relate to that. That's ever done 0:28:45.800 --> 0:28:49.000 like a house project. And they turned out, you know, 0:28:49.040 --> 0:28:52.200 they turned out great. Now for a quick word from 0:28:52.200 --> 0:28:56.840 our sponsor, Toro. For more than a century with cutting 0:28:56.920 --> 0:29:00.240 edge turf equipment and irrigation solutions, Toro has had your 0:29:00.240 --> 0:29:03.000 front nine covered and your back nine two. In fact, 0:29:03.000 --> 0:29:06.560 Toro's always had your back period. Toro is committed to 0:29:06.600 --> 0:29:09.920 your long term success as tour pros are committed to 0:29:09.960 --> 0:29:13.000 their shot. That's down to top notch customer support from 0:29:13.040 --> 0:29:17.440 Toro and it's local dedicated distributors, both of whom are 0:29:17.480 --> 0:29:21.280 passionate about delivering turf equipment and irrigation solutions that solve 0:29:21.360 --> 0:29:25.320 real world problems. Follow at Toro Golf on Twitter and 0:29:25.440 --> 0:29:29.160 reach out to your local Toro distributor today. Now back 0:29:29.240 --> 0:29:36.280 to Jordan Kaplan talking about Winner a like is everybody 0:29:36.280 --> 0:29:39.920 talks about Winner being awful here from just a living standpoint, 0:29:40.480 --> 0:29:42.800 I kind of disagree. I think there's stuff to do, 0:29:43.160 --> 0:29:43.960 is that true? 0:29:44.600 --> 0:29:49.400 Yeah, I mean one hundred percent. You know, skiing, snowboarding. 0:29:50.240 --> 0:29:53.360 There's a cool little little just slope in town with 0:29:53.760 --> 0:29:58.200 toe ropes for kids to use. The boying resorts which 0:29:58.240 --> 0:30:01.520 aren't too far away. I mean that's probably classified as 0:30:01.520 --> 0:30:04.560 the best skiing up in you know, this part of 0:30:04.600 --> 0:30:06.720 the in the Midwest, in the Midwest. 0:30:06.280 --> 0:30:10.840 Which is like below average. Yeah, yeah, before any ski snobs. 0:30:11.080 --> 0:30:13.600 So there's I mean, it's it's what you make of it, 0:30:15.120 --> 0:30:18.040 you know. I guess my biggest thing is it can 0:30:18.080 --> 0:30:20.720 snow as much as it wants up here. Snow living 0:30:20.760 --> 0:30:24.320 in you know, in inner city like Chicago or Philadelphia 0:30:24.440 --> 0:30:25.600 is just miserable. 0:30:26.640 --> 0:30:29.520 So just after like two days, it turns stuff brown. 0:30:29.720 --> 0:30:30.000 Yeah. 0:30:30.040 --> 0:30:30.280 Ice. 0:30:30.560 --> 0:30:33.400 Yeah, So I'll take the snow as long as you're 0:30:33.440 --> 0:30:35.960 in the right in the right setting and and you 0:30:36.040 --> 0:30:39.160 have some good, good outlets to you know, enjoy it. 0:30:40.080 --> 0:30:41.800 What do you what do you what are you doing 0:30:41.840 --> 0:30:44.440 in the winter? Like, what's that look like? You said, 0:30:44.600 --> 0:30:46.800 that's that when you have to be really careful with 0:30:46.880 --> 0:30:49.840 ice and such and damage on the greens. How do 0:30:49.960 --> 0:30:55.760 you monitor that? Like, what's a recipe for something that 0:30:55.800 --> 0:30:57.360 you really need to be worried about? 0:30:58.120 --> 0:31:02.520 Yeah, I mean the best is you know, when you 0:31:02.600 --> 0:31:05.160 just have kind of a light, fluffy snow on there, 0:31:05.200 --> 0:31:08.480 even if it's a foot deep, you know that snow's 0:31:08.520 --> 0:31:11.680 got you know, poor spaces in it. And and I'll 0:31:11.760 --> 0:31:14.640 get the the nightmare scenario is if you get a 0:31:14.720 --> 0:31:17.440 melt down and then you get an ice layer that forms, 0:31:18.360 --> 0:31:19.600 you don't want your grass to. 0:31:19.600 --> 0:31:25.240 Be uh essentially creates like an impermeable surface. Yeah, the 0:31:25.520 --> 0:31:26.840 grass can't breathe. 0:31:27.040 --> 0:31:30.400 Yeah, the snow, the snow itself is nice, you know, 0:31:30.480 --> 0:31:34.760 protection from from wind and and and everything else. In fact, 0:31:34.800 --> 0:31:37.320 you know this this spring, our snow melted pretty early 0:31:37.760 --> 0:31:41.120 and uh it got it got pretty hot and uh 0:31:41.560 --> 0:31:43.680 you know for that time of year and windy and 0:31:43.680 --> 0:31:46.200 and things were drying out before the irrigation system was 0:31:46.240 --> 0:31:49.200 turned on. So you know, to to have had that 0:31:49.320 --> 0:31:52.280 snow cover for an extra two weeks would actually been 0:31:53.200 --> 0:31:56.920 you know favorable, uh, to to just protect the protect 0:31:56.920 --> 0:32:00.440 the grass. So yeah, I do a lot of you know, 0:32:00.960 --> 0:32:03.280 I'll walk around, I'll get some snow shoes on, and 0:32:03.280 --> 0:32:05.280 and and walk around the course just kind of check 0:32:05.320 --> 0:32:05.800 on things. 0:32:06.640 --> 0:32:07.880 I know, which harder is it. 0:32:07.800 --> 0:32:09.080 To walk with snow shoes? 0:32:09.680 --> 0:32:13.200 It's I think it beats it beats going in. 0:32:13.520 --> 0:32:17.400 Is it like one point five times walking or you know, like. 0:32:18.560 --> 0:32:19.040 I think it? 0:32:19.240 --> 0:32:22.040 Uh, if anything, it's a good it's a good workout. 0:32:22.080 --> 0:32:24.160 It beats you know, sinking down a well. 0:32:24.280 --> 0:32:26.959 Obviously it's better. You know, they exist for a reason. 0:32:27.120 --> 0:32:29.720 But like, you know, are we talking like what's the 0:32:29.800 --> 0:32:34.280 strain level versus walking on just grass? You feel the burn? Yeah, 0:32:34.320 --> 0:32:37.240 feel the burn? Yeah, yeah, you might be in better 0:32:37.280 --> 0:32:38.000 shape in the winter. 0:32:38.080 --> 0:32:41.520 And yeah that's a good that's a good point. You know. 0:32:41.600 --> 0:32:44.600 You you almost need to get yourself in pre winter, 0:32:45.080 --> 0:32:46.200 pre winter shape for that. 0:32:46.280 --> 0:32:49.080 You gotta start walking snow shoes on the grass. 0:32:49.160 --> 0:32:49.360 Yeah. 0:32:49.440 --> 0:32:51.720 Now, if I if I wanted to get fancy, maybe 0:32:51.720 --> 0:32:55.760 someday I'll buy myself a snowmobile and drive that around. 0:32:55.760 --> 0:32:58.400 But I also don't want I wouldn't want anybody driving 0:32:58.400 --> 0:33:00.440 by to see me on that because you know, they 0:33:00.520 --> 0:33:02.440 might think, oh, it's the new new. 0:33:02.280 --> 0:33:05.360 Snowmobile park at the Belvitere So. 0:33:06.840 --> 0:33:10.400 And then you wouldn't get all the exercise right right right, 0:33:11.560 --> 0:33:16.160 So so with the you know, with the I wonder 0:33:16.200 --> 0:33:19.840 if global warming obviously, like everywhere it's getting hotter, So 0:33:20.000 --> 0:33:22.560 like do you think like that early spring might become 0:33:22.640 --> 0:33:24.160 more and more of a thing? 0:33:24.920 --> 0:33:25.560 Yeah, I mean it. 0:33:25.720 --> 0:33:28.440 It's have you talked to Rick at all about like 0:33:28.960 --> 0:33:33.760 how it changed over his career. I think the bottom 0:33:33.760 --> 0:33:36.640 line is living on Lake Michigan is you never know 0:33:36.680 --> 0:33:39.160 what you're gonna get with with the amount of snowfall. 0:33:40.400 --> 0:33:43.800 And it's for me, it's just really hard to keep 0:33:43.840 --> 0:33:48.880 track of what is normal now, you know, even even 0:33:48.960 --> 0:33:49.480 in Philly. 0:33:49.760 --> 0:33:52.080 Uh to say, hey this. 0:33:51.720 --> 0:33:53.959 This is the hottest year ever and you're like, well 0:33:54.040 --> 0:33:57.480 last year was pretty hot or so It's it's tough. 0:33:57.520 --> 0:34:01.600 The big issue around here is, uh, when when the 0:34:01.680 --> 0:34:05.000 lake levels start to rise, and you know, there's a 0:34:05.040 --> 0:34:08.560 lot of beautiful homes on Lake Charlavoie and Lake Michigan 0:34:08.640 --> 0:34:12.360 and and maybe not quite equipped to handle it, you know, 0:34:13.239 --> 0:34:16.680 rise in water level, you know, so so the lakes 0:34:16.760 --> 0:34:19.520 up here changes in water level. I think that all 0:34:19.520 --> 0:34:22.920 plays hand to hand and in the climate that that 0:34:22.960 --> 0:34:26.239 we experience here in Michigan in the winter. 0:34:27.680 --> 0:34:30.480 I always think snow on a golf course like kind 0:34:30.480 --> 0:34:35.080 of accentuates sometimes contour like and then obviously the trees 0:34:35.120 --> 0:34:37.440 don't have any leaves, do you Are there things that 0:34:37.480 --> 0:34:40.240 you've noticed in the winter, like any examples of stuff 0:34:40.239 --> 0:34:42.000 that you've noticed on the golf course in the winter 0:34:42.120 --> 0:34:44.920 that you wouldn't have seen if you weren't walking around. 0:34:44.600 --> 0:34:47.880 And yeah, I mean that that I love looking at that. 0:34:49.160 --> 0:34:51.799 You know, snow cover the other really nice way to 0:34:51.840 --> 0:34:55.720 see uh, contours on the golf course. It's it's hard 0:34:55.719 --> 0:34:58.759 to video, but if you if you drive around the 0:34:58.800 --> 0:35:02.000 course at night with your lif on you you see 0:35:02.000 --> 0:35:04.879 the funkiest stuff going on that you would never see 0:35:04.920 --> 0:35:09.400 in daylight. So so with the snow you can also 0:35:09.560 --> 0:35:12.640 kind of Okay, so there's a big snow bank over here, 0:35:12.719 --> 0:35:15.640 that means that area the golf course gets gets wind swept. 0:35:16.600 --> 0:35:19.320 You know, Hey, that's why that area dries out because 0:35:19.360 --> 0:35:21.680 of the wind in the in the in the summertime. 0:35:23.120 --> 0:35:25.480 So there there are a number of things, you know, 0:35:25.760 --> 0:35:29.680 that that you can gather. You know, snow snow melted 0:35:29.719 --> 0:35:31.520 here first in the in the valley. 0:35:31.840 --> 0:35:33.919 That means it gets probably a lot of sun right 0:35:34.080 --> 0:35:35.360 right right, and. 0:35:36.600 --> 0:35:39.800 You know the the when you're coming out of snow melt. 0:35:39.840 --> 0:35:43.560 I mean, I'd still consider that winter time, that winter 0:35:43.680 --> 0:35:47.520 sun is just as important too to the grass as 0:35:47.719 --> 0:35:52.040 you know, sunlight would be during the growing season. You know, 0:35:52.239 --> 0:35:55.120 so even even though a tree might not have its 0:35:55.200 --> 0:35:57.719 leaves on it, it very well could be you know, 0:35:57.840 --> 0:36:00.840 hindering some of that that winter sunshine and that you know, 0:36:00.960 --> 0:36:05.360 ultimately you need to get the get the place green 0:36:05.440 --> 0:36:06.520 and growing again. 0:36:06.320 --> 0:36:07.360 Come come the season. 0:36:08.200 --> 0:36:11.080 We had a uh, I've been a little spoiled. I 0:36:11.160 --> 0:36:14.120 mean we've had to two pretty good starts of the 0:36:14.160 --> 0:36:18.120 season in my in my two years here. That that 0:36:18.120 --> 0:36:19.160 that I will take. 0:36:20.400 --> 0:36:25.000 What you took over for long time superintendent, retain the 0:36:25.080 --> 0:36:28.800 staff like was there, you know, what were the things 0:36:28.840 --> 0:36:33.520 that you know, obviously you wanted to impart your your practices, 0:36:34.239 --> 0:36:37.120 but you have a staff that's been used to, you know, 0:36:37.440 --> 0:36:40.359 doing things one way. How is the process of kind 0:36:40.400 --> 0:36:43.799 of of of working and things that you wanted to do. 0:36:43.840 --> 0:36:47.960 I imagine you can't just be a heavy handed approach like. 0:36:48.600 --> 0:36:50.520 Yeah, I mean I have to I have to commend 0:36:50.560 --> 0:36:53.879 them because I mean it probably was a little scary. Hey, 0:36:53.920 --> 0:36:55.120 I've I've worked here for. 0:36:56.600 --> 0:36:57.839 Rick for for X. 0:36:57.840 --> 0:36:59.920 Number of years, a new guy coming in. I mean, 0:37:00.040 --> 0:37:03.640 and in some situations that probably is what happens. New 0:37:03.640 --> 0:37:06.960 guy comes in and just clean cleans house. They they 0:37:07.000 --> 0:37:11.200 were all very uh, you know, willing and and helpful 0:37:11.480 --> 0:37:15.640 and in my transition. And and I think they're kind 0:37:15.640 --> 0:37:19.600 of seeing the method to the madness. You know, if 0:37:19.680 --> 0:37:22.400 if if they're noticing the courses looking good and and 0:37:22.440 --> 0:37:25.359 they're getting some high fives when they're out there, you know, 0:37:25.800 --> 0:37:27.520 I think we're on the right track. And they're all 0:37:27.560 --> 0:37:30.200 they're all great guys, and and they you know, come 0:37:30.200 --> 0:37:31.680 to come to work and give it all they got 0:37:31.760 --> 0:37:35.360 and they all care about this place too. So that 0:37:35.360 --> 0:37:37.719 that's been you know, one of one of the blessings 0:37:37.760 --> 0:37:40.640 to to have had the staff that that Rick hat 0:37:40.719 --> 0:37:43.480 in place and and and just make make make some 0:37:43.520 --> 0:37:46.600 tweaks to to you know, take it, take it the 0:37:46.640 --> 0:37:48.960 next level direction that that we want to go in. 0:37:49.360 --> 0:37:54.520 You know, obviously Philly people versus Upper Midwest people. It's 0:37:55.080 --> 0:37:58.480 you know, coming back, leaving and coming back. You know 0:37:58.960 --> 0:38:01.440 what what are the different is it? Just working with 0:38:01.520 --> 0:38:03.560 people in the midwect. I don't want to get you 0:38:03.600 --> 0:38:06.000 in trouble with anybody in Philadelphia. I think all the 0:38:06.040 --> 0:38:09.719 Philadelphians are pretty aware of their you know, of their 0:38:09.760 --> 0:38:12.840 personas is there is it, you know, managing people in 0:38:12.880 --> 0:38:15.200 the two different places, Is it distinctly different? 0:38:15.800 --> 0:38:18.560 Yeah, I mean as as far as you know, we're 0:38:18.640 --> 0:38:21.040 working side by side, hard working folks who work on 0:38:21.080 --> 0:38:23.279 the golf course. I mean, that's that's the same, you know. 0:38:24.360 --> 0:38:28.239 And then membership too, it's got I think I just 0:38:28.360 --> 0:38:30.880 feel like people are a little more relaxed up here. 0:38:31.160 --> 0:38:34.960 You just come, you come, and you throw it all away. 0:38:35.360 --> 0:38:39.040 It's a vacation club too, versus an everyday CLUBB true, true, 0:38:39.440 --> 0:38:42.400 So I think there's just a little more you know, 0:38:42.560 --> 0:38:45.040 it's a little more chill up here. If it's if 0:38:45.080 --> 0:38:48.799 it's my personality, well, you know, I I'm I'm a 0:38:48.800 --> 0:38:52.600 little more laid back in in some regards too. So 0:38:53.680 --> 0:38:56.640 it's it's just a good lifestyle up here, you know. 0:38:56.719 --> 0:38:58.960 You know why why our. 0:38:58.800 --> 0:39:01.880 Members choose to spend summers up in Charlavoie. 0:39:02.480 --> 0:39:06.080 You know, obviously Belvidere is a well known vacation club, 0:39:06.400 --> 0:39:08.960 right because and it's well known because it's public. But 0:39:09.000 --> 0:39:11.319 then there's all these other ones up here that are 0:39:11.400 --> 0:39:15.239 just like kind of like these little places that have 0:39:15.320 --> 0:39:18.960 some neat stuff going on, and what's the dynamic with 0:39:19.000 --> 0:39:22.400 like the superintendent's up here, did everybody everybody kind of 0:39:22.480 --> 0:39:25.320 do you guys get together every once in a while 0:39:25.440 --> 0:39:28.040 or how does that work because you're all at these 0:39:28.280 --> 0:39:29.720 little lake town clubs. 0:39:29.960 --> 0:39:30.320 Yeah. 0:39:30.360 --> 0:39:35.880 So so one thing about so Belvidere, I think this 0:39:36.080 --> 0:39:41.320 is a misconception, but Belvidere is a private golf club 0:39:41.800 --> 0:39:45.200 that that allows you know, outside play. I think the 0:39:45.320 --> 0:39:49.360 term semi private's kind of kind of weird. But but 0:39:49.440 --> 0:39:51.839 as far as the area, there's there's so many great 0:39:51.880 --> 0:39:58.120 golf courses. There's the golf course. Uh, Superintendent Association Michigan 0:39:58.239 --> 0:40:01.239 is is top notch. It's all, uh, it's all under 0:40:01.280 --> 0:40:04.560 one umbrella. So everybody in the state gets together. And 0:40:05.320 --> 0:40:10.279 in particular, the the superintendent's up north who I've met 0:40:10.320 --> 0:40:13.640 and interacted with, were just you know, super welcoming. I 0:40:13.760 --> 0:40:16.880 was was obviously an outsider, but you know, welcomed me 0:40:16.920 --> 0:40:20.279 with open arms. And gosh, there's some there's some talented 0:40:20.600 --> 0:40:24.560 superintendents up here who would be successful at you know, 0:40:24.680 --> 0:40:28.400 in any region of the of the country. So yeah, 0:40:28.560 --> 0:40:32.200 it's a great uh, great, great state to be a superintendent, 0:40:32.200 --> 0:40:33.960 and it's a great state for golf courses. 0:40:34.840 --> 0:40:39.759 I feel like Central Michigan superintendent in southeast probably you know, 0:40:39.920 --> 0:40:43.000 have just you know, some anngst about you guys and 0:40:43.160 --> 0:40:47.120 your growing conditions. Yeah, gosh, I like to poke fund 0:40:47.280 --> 0:40:47.800 or something. 0:40:47.920 --> 0:40:48.719 I've talked to. 0:40:49.520 --> 0:40:51.319 You know, this year in particular, I've talked to some 0:40:51.360 --> 0:40:53.520 folks in the Detroit area and they've had a lot 0:40:53.560 --> 0:40:57.880 of a lot of rain. So I mean I feel 0:40:57.920 --> 0:41:02.200 for them, uh for sure. But yeah, it's it's a 0:41:02.280 --> 0:41:03.839 good it's a good community. 0:41:04.680 --> 0:41:04.880 You know. 0:41:04.920 --> 0:41:07.920 Obviously up north we're a little a little farther away 0:41:07.920 --> 0:41:10.000 from everybody else, so maybe we are a little a 0:41:10.080 --> 0:41:15.120 little tighter of a group. But you know, you can't 0:41:15.360 --> 0:41:18.920 if I mean talk about a golf trip. You know, 0:41:19.040 --> 0:41:21.920 if if you wanted to spend some time in northern Michigan, 0:41:21.960 --> 0:41:23.080 you you couldn't go wrong. 0:41:23.360 --> 0:41:24.240 I mean I would. 0:41:24.600 --> 0:41:27.080 I would hit up Arcadia Bluffs, you know, spend some 0:41:27.120 --> 0:41:31.239 time at Forest Dunes. You know, certainly stop by and 0:41:31.280 --> 0:41:34.080 see us at at Belvetere. But you know, if you 0:41:34.320 --> 0:41:36.520 also just get off the beaten path, I mean, you're 0:41:36.520 --> 0:41:38.840 bound to discover kind of a sleeper. 0:41:39.080 --> 0:41:42.080 That's the thing. There's so many courses up here. Just stop, 0:41:42.400 --> 0:41:44.399 Like this is why I find myself. I just get 0:41:44.440 --> 0:41:46.640 off the road and go look. Even if you just 0:41:46.680 --> 0:41:48.840 go pull into the parking lot and get out and 0:41:48.880 --> 0:41:51.280 walk a couple of hundred yards, you'd probably see something 0:41:51.320 --> 0:41:53.840 cool because, like you said about driving around, like the 0:41:53.960 --> 0:41:56.719 land's just so good that like it's almost hard to 0:41:56.760 --> 0:41:59.840 build bad golf when you have the land. And I 0:41:59.880 --> 0:42:03.440 mean the playing the sandy soil up here is also 0:42:03.840 --> 0:42:06.919 this is sand, right, yeah, yeah, I mean, like that's 0:42:06.960 --> 0:42:08.600 the thing. I was look at the side of the 0:42:08.680 --> 0:42:10.440 road when I'm driving down the road to see if 0:42:10.440 --> 0:42:13.080 it's like sand or not, and it's like everything up 0:42:13.080 --> 0:42:15.520 here sand. That's the It's the amazing thing about the 0:42:15.560 --> 0:42:18.440 whole place. It's just like all the little lakes, all 0:42:18.440 --> 0:42:21.680 the sand bottomed lakes, like all the you know, it's 0:42:21.760 --> 0:42:23.400 just such an amazing place. 0:42:23.560 --> 0:42:26.000 It's I mean, it's it's it's right up there with 0:42:26.120 --> 0:42:30.000 any other you know, popular golf destination trip. Now granted 0:42:30.000 --> 0:42:31.600 you can't do it in the winter, so yeah, go 0:42:31.680 --> 0:42:36.240 to go to Pinehurst then, but yeah, it's uh, it's 0:42:36.280 --> 0:42:36.840 it's awesome. 0:42:36.880 --> 0:42:37.080 You know. 0:42:37.160 --> 0:42:41.000 Our courses. Uh that there are some sandy spots. You know, 0:42:41.120 --> 0:42:43.480 some of it was cut through an old seed or swamp. 0:42:43.560 --> 0:42:46.080 So that's a little more of a you know, mucky 0:42:46.160 --> 0:42:48.759 kind of soil. But it's not it's not really it's 0:42:48.800 --> 0:42:49.880 not a heavy clay soil. 0:42:50.320 --> 0:42:51.200 So yeah, I mean. 0:42:51.600 --> 0:42:54.919 It's it's uh, you almost you could have a golf 0:42:54.920 --> 0:42:57.239 course every every square mile up here. 0:42:57.520 --> 0:43:00.040 You know what you did a little bit of a 0:43:00.040 --> 0:43:02.279 green expansion on the back of eight. How did you 0:43:02.360 --> 0:43:05.960 go about that that? Like what process did you do 0:43:06.120 --> 0:43:07.840 to expand the green in the back of. 0:43:07.840 --> 0:43:10.839 The Yeah, so there was a maple tree that grew 0:43:10.880 --> 0:43:14.239 behind eight, you know through some old pictures. I mean, 0:43:14.760 --> 0:43:17.960 you know, maybe it was considered the iconic tree, but 0:43:19.000 --> 0:43:22.280 in reality, that tree wasn't there when when William Watson 0:43:22.320 --> 0:43:25.040 built that green. He built that green to kind of 0:43:25.080 --> 0:43:29.000 be uh you know infinity green that sits up on 0:43:29.040 --> 0:43:30.799 the horizon, right up. 0:43:30.719 --> 0:43:33.960 On that prominent ridge. We talked about early early, and so. 0:43:33.960 --> 0:43:37.440 Once once the tree, once we removed the tree, where 0:43:37.480 --> 0:43:42.120 we we basically just took the old approach and started moaning, 0:43:42.360 --> 0:43:45.080 moan it lower. And we've got some uh, you know, 0:43:45.160 --> 0:43:48.279 top dressing to catch it up on and so you 0:43:48.440 --> 0:43:51.640 mowed it like scalped it. Yeah, yeah, pretty much scalped it. 0:43:51.680 --> 0:43:53.960 But it wasn't too it wasn't too dramatic. 0:43:54.320 --> 0:43:57.400 And then what do you do? Then you will, we'll, we'll. 0:43:57.440 --> 0:44:02.080 We'll definitely you know, included in our zeration top dressing. 0:44:02.200 --> 0:44:03.560 Get some get some seed in there. 0:44:03.600 --> 0:44:03.879 I mean. 0:44:04.960 --> 0:44:08.400 Another another thing is anytime there's a void, just just 0:44:08.520 --> 0:44:11.439 put a plug in it, you know. So we're we're 0:44:11.480 --> 0:44:15.160 getting it to where it will be, you know, look 0:44:15.280 --> 0:44:18.640 uniform with the rest of the green. It will obviously 0:44:18.680 --> 0:44:22.719 grow better because it doesn't have the the canopy of 0:44:23.040 --> 0:44:26.879 the tree above it. And there's some pinnable spots back 0:44:26.920 --> 0:44:30.279 there that that we'll be excited to use, you know. 0:44:30.360 --> 0:44:33.920 We uh twenty twenty five will be our one hundred 0:44:34.040 --> 0:44:37.960 year anniversary and we'll be hosting the Michigan Amateur again. 0:44:38.239 --> 0:44:41.480 They this course was the every year host for long. 0:44:41.560 --> 0:44:42.120 This course. 0:44:42.640 --> 0:44:45.600 Yeah, it was known as the home of of the 0:44:45.640 --> 0:44:48.360 Michigan Amateur. I think forty forty times. It will be 0:44:48.440 --> 0:44:51.520 forty forty one and twenty five. We wanted to uh 0:44:52.160 --> 0:44:55.239 do it then to coincide with our our anniversary. 0:44:55.600 --> 0:44:56.920 So you're just gearing up for that. 0:44:57.400 --> 0:44:57.680 Yeah. 0:44:57.840 --> 0:45:00.800 Yeah, and it's you know, it's it's coming up and 0:45:01.120 --> 0:45:03.080 you know, to see kind of what we've accomplished in 0:45:03.200 --> 0:45:05.879 just a short amount of time. We're gonna be we're 0:45:05.880 --> 0:45:08.880 gonna be looking awesome for that, and uh, you know, 0:45:09.080 --> 0:45:12.759 can't wait. It's uh, it's not the longest courset. You know, 0:45:12.800 --> 0:45:15.520 those guys probably play, but again, I think the greens 0:45:15.560 --> 0:45:19.040 will keep them honest. If it's windy, you know, good 0:45:19.160 --> 0:45:20.000 luck guys. 0:45:20.040 --> 0:45:24.440 And I, you know, having played a few state ams 0:45:24.480 --> 0:45:27.120 like I would hate to have to play the sixteenth 0:45:27.160 --> 0:45:31.959 hole and in a very high pressure situent, a wedge 0:45:32.000 --> 0:45:36.160 into that green. Yep, it's just terrifying, could make or 0:45:36.200 --> 0:45:39.560 break you. Yeah, and if you bail, it's just the 0:45:39.640 --> 0:45:42.520 ultimate delayed penalty. Depending on where the pin is, like 0:45:42.840 --> 0:45:44.919 you might be laying up to just hope to get 0:45:44.920 --> 0:45:47.640 out of with five from just off the green. Yeah, 0:45:47.840 --> 0:45:48.200 it is. 0:45:48.480 --> 0:45:48.680 Well. 0:45:48.719 --> 0:45:53.000 The good news is I will gladly let the Golf 0:45:53.080 --> 0:45:57.200 Association of Michigan select the pin locations for for events 0:45:57.239 --> 0:45:59.799 like that, although I will say you would you would 0:45:59.840 --> 0:46:02.759 be qualified yourself to to do that as well. When 0:46:02.760 --> 0:46:05.120 you were out changing changing cups with me this morning. 0:46:05.760 --> 0:46:08.439 Oh no, yes, well I think that's like the most 0:46:08.440 --> 0:46:09.920 fun thing to do is that pens. 0:46:10.200 --> 0:46:12.359 I love you. That's like what you have all that 0:46:12.480 --> 0:46:14.840 power in your hand every every morning. 0:46:14.880 --> 0:46:17.760 You know. The reason we have all of our events 0:46:17.840 --> 0:46:19.839 is just so I get to set up set up 0:46:20.680 --> 0:46:22.560 a golf course. I think that's like one of the 0:46:22.600 --> 0:46:25.440 most fun things to do is And I always wish 0:46:25.560 --> 0:46:27.920 like in I don't know, you know, I don't know 0:46:27.960 --> 0:46:30.640 any membership or any course that's ready for this, but 0:46:31.120 --> 0:46:34.040 I always want to have back tea's in front of 0:46:34.160 --> 0:46:38.799 middle tea's, maybe front tee behind a middle tea. You know, 0:46:39.600 --> 0:46:42.239 change it up. Have people played different places. I think, 0:46:42.320 --> 0:46:46.520 for like a your back tea, moving sixteen up to 0:46:46.600 --> 0:46:51.480 two seventy would create a very interesting decision. Yeah, for 0:46:51.600 --> 0:46:53.839 long hitters like what do I what do I do? 0:46:53.920 --> 0:46:56.919 I don't necessarily want to miss this twenty yards left 0:46:56.920 --> 0:46:59.920 to that green and that brings that's what could bring 0:47:00.200 --> 0:47:02.520 in play when you move it up to where you could. 0:47:02.400 --> 0:47:04.960 Drive the hole right right. Yeah. 0:47:05.000 --> 0:47:07.240 I mean I know you've you've made this point before, 0:47:07.320 --> 0:47:09.879 but you know, switch it up. Don't play the same 0:47:09.880 --> 0:47:12.919 golf course every day. One thing my daughters are five 0:47:12.960 --> 0:47:15.640 and three. My five year old just got her first 0:47:15.640 --> 0:47:18.200 set of golf clubs. But as she gets better, I mean, 0:47:18.239 --> 0:47:20.880 in my mind, I'm just gonna play the you know, 0:47:20.960 --> 0:47:23.200 the forward teas that she plays with, you know, with 0:47:23.280 --> 0:47:27.040 hickory clubs or something. You could take the driver out 0:47:27.040 --> 0:47:27.719 of your bag. 0:47:27.560 --> 0:47:29.879 Or well that's like, if you're a good player, one 0:47:29.880 --> 0:47:31.000 of the best activities. 0:47:31.040 --> 0:47:32.440 Well I'm not saying I'm a good player. 0:47:32.440 --> 0:47:34.719 I know, but like any player, this is one of 0:47:34.760 --> 0:47:37.160 the best activities you can do. Like, if you're trying 0:47:37.200 --> 0:47:40.120 to break eighty, if you're trying to break ninety, go 0:47:40.160 --> 0:47:42.960 play the forward tees and you like probably will get 0:47:43.080 --> 0:47:45.600 to feel the pressure of like, and it's the same 0:47:45.640 --> 0:47:48.080 thing for like a good player who's trying to shoot 0:47:48.080 --> 0:47:50.520 more and more under par. Is like the best thing 0:47:50.520 --> 0:47:52.800 you can do is put yourself into a position where 0:47:52.840 --> 0:47:56.320 you get under par quickly and have to keep going 0:47:56.440 --> 0:47:59.239 because you're playing. Just play the up teas, play the 0:47:59.280 --> 0:48:02.080 forward te and just try and shoot as low as 0:48:02.080 --> 0:48:04.239 you can. Or if you're trying to break ninety, you're 0:48:04.239 --> 0:48:07.360 struggling to get over the threshold of breaking ninety or eighty, 0:48:07.600 --> 0:48:10.880 go play like way up and get yourself. 0:48:10.480 --> 0:48:12.840 Into the feeling like oh. 0:48:12.680 --> 0:48:17.120 I'm gonna break, like your expectation changes, and that's a good. 0:48:16.920 --> 0:48:19.879 Thing to me. It's it's still golf. You know, it's 0:48:19.920 --> 0:48:20.440 all golf. 0:48:20.640 --> 0:48:23.640 It's it's fun. How have you gone about getting your 0:48:24.040 --> 0:48:27.440 daughter into the game. Has she been really interested? Because 0:48:27.440 --> 0:48:29.920 that's what you do. Like, I'm Matt, I have a 0:48:30.040 --> 0:48:33.040 one year old and this is something I'm I'm very 0:48:33.080 --> 0:48:35.120 interested in now is how people get there. 0:48:35.480 --> 0:48:36.040 Yeah, I don't. 0:48:36.080 --> 0:48:38.080 I don't want to be you know, pushy on them. 0:48:38.120 --> 0:48:41.080 But you know, she sees that it's something dad does 0:48:41.400 --> 0:48:44.799 or you know, dad's got it on on TV. You know, 0:48:45.080 --> 0:48:47.840 I think for her, I hope she loves the sport. 0:48:47.920 --> 0:48:50.799 But if we spend time on the golf course, it'll 0:48:50.840 --> 0:48:53.680 be more about you know, us us spending time together. 0:48:54.040 --> 0:48:57.279 But yeah, I'm I'm excited. You know. 0:48:57.360 --> 0:49:00.520 We we started with the uh with the plastic clubs. 0:49:01.280 --> 0:49:04.879 Hit those in the backyard and she she just got 0:49:04.920 --> 0:49:07.400 her own little bag with the with the four clubs 0:49:07.440 --> 0:49:09.560 in it and she'll just she'll just walk around the 0:49:09.560 --> 0:49:10.400 backyard with it on. 0:49:10.719 --> 0:49:12.680 I mean, I think she loves it. She asked. 0:49:12.920 --> 0:49:14.879 She asked me to get my golf bag the other 0:49:14.960 --> 0:49:17.360 day and walk with her and no, I don't I 0:49:17.760 --> 0:49:19.560 just need this this sixty degree wedge. 0:49:19.560 --> 0:49:21.440 I don't. I don't need to carry my whole bag, but. 0:49:21.520 --> 0:49:23.759 Just walking around the back, it might be about all 0:49:23.760 --> 0:49:25.239 the accessories for you know. 0:49:25.800 --> 0:49:29.480 That's that I think that's the hands off approach is 0:49:29.560 --> 0:49:34.200 probably the best way. Yeah, yep, yeah, I'm excited. We 0:49:34.239 --> 0:49:36.839 have this one hickory club. A friend of mine got 0:49:37.120 --> 0:49:40.319 like a it was like a birth gift with her 0:49:40.520 --> 0:49:43.640 name out, and she just sits and hammers it into 0:49:43.640 --> 0:49:45.680 the under the ground, Like I don't know what to 0:49:45.719 --> 0:49:48.120 do with the club, Like is it she hang it 0:49:48.200 --> 0:49:49.719 up somewhere, But I just give it to her. 0:49:49.920 --> 0:49:53.080 She'll if she knows golf is something that you do, 0:49:53.200 --> 0:49:56.799 she'll she'll she'll do it, you know, just the. 0:49:56.840 --> 0:49:58.240 Humor of me. Yeah, yep. 0:49:59.120 --> 0:50:02.359 All right, Well, what's what's in the plans for this 0:50:02.440 --> 0:50:04.520 fall and uh in the winter here? 0:50:04.680 --> 0:50:04.839 What? 0:50:04.960 --> 0:50:06.759 What are what are your big projects? 0:50:06.840 --> 0:50:09.560 Yeah, we're just gonna we've got to wrap up our 0:50:09.560 --> 0:50:10.920 little short game project. 0:50:11.680 --> 0:50:15.359 You gotta get seed down soon, right yeah? Yeah, oh yeah, 0:50:15.520 --> 0:50:18.080 this is like peak growing time. Yeah, we're we're in it, 0:50:18.239 --> 0:50:23.000 so for for sure, you know, uh, definitely want to 0:50:23.200 --> 0:50:25.839 want to see some green before before winter out there 0:50:26.280 --> 0:50:30.160 and then just uh, you know this this uh, there'll 0:50:30.200 --> 0:50:33.560 be a gradual drop off of you know, membership leaving 0:50:33.680 --> 0:50:37.640 and things, things slowing down on the golf course. Marty 0:50:37.719 --> 0:50:40.520 holds a fun uh he calls it the Blitz tournament 0:50:40.600 --> 0:50:42.520 at the end of the year, and it's it's crazy 0:50:42.560 --> 0:50:45.480 cups and and everything. So that's kind of the last 0:50:45.680 --> 0:50:49.120 last hurrah in October and then you know, we will 0:50:49.200 --> 0:50:51.120 we'll have the place to ourselves a little bit, get 0:50:51.760 --> 0:50:56.000 some things done, you know, before the winter, and. 0:50:57.400 --> 0:51:01.080 See where it takes us. I'm I'm looking forward to. 0:51:01.320 --> 0:51:04.040 Uh, you know, just just a little bit of peace 0:51:04.040 --> 0:51:05.960 and quiet on the golf course. It's been it's been 0:51:05.960 --> 0:51:09.359 busy this year. I I love seeing golfers enjoy the place, 0:51:09.440 --> 0:51:12.359 but you know sometimes I love being out there by 0:51:12.400 --> 0:51:13.479 myself in the winter too. 0:51:13.600 --> 0:51:18.080 So peace and quiet. And I assume you're Alliance football fan. 0:51:18.320 --> 0:51:21.320 No, no, it's good for you. 0:51:21.480 --> 0:51:23.440 I'm not doing that, No, no thanks. 0:51:24.040 --> 0:51:28.719 I decided that I grew up in Michigan, I moved 0:51:28.760 --> 0:51:32.000 around a lot, so I never truly had a professional team. 0:51:32.000 --> 0:51:34.080 But I decided when I left Philly, lived there for 0:51:34.160 --> 0:51:37.920 seven years, that I would stay allegiant to uh to 0:51:38.000 --> 0:51:38.760 the Philly teams. 0:51:38.840 --> 0:51:42.280 Yeah yeah, transplant Philly Philly. 0:51:42.440 --> 0:51:42.680 Yeah. 0:51:42.719 --> 0:51:45.440 Well, I've got too many people, took too many hats 0:51:45.440 --> 0:51:48.719 and shirts to uh to go the other way. 0:51:48.960 --> 0:51:52.600 Man, that's I didn't see that color. You know, you know, 0:51:53.239 --> 0:51:57.520 Midwestern turned into a Philly sports fan is quite the. 0:51:57.920 --> 0:51:58.640 I would have thought. 0:51:58.719 --> 0:52:04.280 Yeah, all right, Jordan, thank Hooper, coming on. I'm excited 0:52:04.280 --> 0:52:08.360 to see you know the next next dozens of years 0:52:08.360 --> 0:52:11.200 that you're here and where Belvedere goes. 0:52:11.640 --> 0:52:13.560 Thanks so much for having me appreciate it. 0:52:23.760 --> 0:52:27.080 Thanks for listening to another edition of the Friday Podcast. 0:52:27.160 --> 0:52:31.840 Today's episode was edited by Meg Atkins. As a reminder, 0:52:31.920 --> 0:52:34.759 we have some great stuff in the pro Shop. One 0:52:34.800 --> 0:52:38.400 of my favorites with fall approaching is our hoodie. We 0:52:38.440 --> 0:52:41.600 get lots of comments about this hoodie. I would size 0:52:41.680 --> 0:52:44.160 up if you're in between sizes, if you're kind of 0:52:44.239 --> 0:52:47.200 medium large, go large. They're a little they run a 0:52:47.200 --> 0:52:49.799 little small. But a lot of people say this is 0:52:49.880 --> 0:52:52.759 like the softest hoodie they own, this is the most 0:52:52.760 --> 0:52:55.919 comfortable hoodie they own. I agree. I love I love 0:52:55.920 --> 0:52:59.040 our hoodies, so I would check that out. It's got 0:52:59.040 --> 0:53:02.960 the cool alternate with the green and that's available in 0:53:03.000 --> 0:53:05.600 the fridayg Pro Shop. Go to the Friday dot com. 0:53:05.600 --> 0:53:07.839 In the top right corner you can see the pro 0:53:07.880 --> 0:53:11.440 shop link and you can find it there. It's affordable 0:53:11.640 --> 0:53:14.960 and uh, it's a great hoodie. Thanks and look for 0:53:15.040 --> 0:53:18.600 another episode later this week about Solheim Cup and really 0:53:18.920 --> 0:53:23.000 team picking strategy. Garrett's going to doing a podcast with 0:53:23.160 --> 0:53:28.560 Joe Lemania, a great golf analytics follow about team strategy 0:53:28.680 --> 0:53:32.839 and just pairing strategy, a really cool stuff, So look 0:53:32.880 --> 0:53:35.960 for that later this week and thanks for listening again