WEBVTT - Russ Myers 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.520 Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:08.800 Today's episode is powered by td Ameritrade. Every stroke counts 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:11.719 on the scorecard and every penny counts in the market. 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:15.280 That's why td Ameritrade is committed to straightforward pricing with 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:19.360 no surprises, so you're free to swing with confidence. Visit 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:26.440 tedomritrade dot com slash Friday Egg member SIPC. Today's episode 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.280 is with Russ Myers. Russ is the head superintendent at 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:34.560 Southern Hills Country Club down in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Russ has 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:39.920 had a great career in the superintendent industry, working at 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:46.480 Augusta National Ocean Reef down in Key Largo LACC, as 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.120 well as two stints at Southern Hills, so he's got 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.000 a lot of great stories from the masters to the 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:57.480 PGA at Southern Hills and then also restoring both LACC 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.920 and Southern Hills. Before we get to Russ, I'm excited 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.160 to announce a new Print of the Week program on 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.040 the Friday Egg. Each week we'll be selling some of 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:10.959 my original photography of golf courses. Each month, print sales 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.200 will benefit a different charity, so check out the pro 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:16.680 shop on the Friday Egg today for the very first 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.040 print of the week, which features a shot of Sand 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:23.319 Valley's second hole. Twenty percent of these proceeds will go 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:26.760 to the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund, an organization that gives 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.080 high school scholarships and educational support to kids who need it. 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.080 Now onto Russ Myers. I miss the green, for example, 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.640 I'm already upset. When I find my ball in the bunker, 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:38.800 I'm really upset. And when I find my ball in 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.920 a fried egg Friday egg, the dreaded Frida egg Frida 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:44.720 egg Frida egg egg Frida egg bride egg lie, I'm 0:01:44.720 --> 0:02:09.760 about ready to run off of the course. What's what's 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:10.600 your favorite fruit? 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:15.400 I don't know if I have one? Banana? Is that 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:16.440 a fruit? Yes? 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:19.080 A banana? 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:20.080 Fish? 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.440 You not too? I mean this is the one that 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:23.400 you could eat every day? 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:25.800 I think, yeah, I think that's it. It's kind of 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:26.920 it's dryer. 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:29.120 Where'd you grow up? 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.560 Finger Lakes region of New York in a town called Odessa, New. 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:38.080 York, Odessa, New York, not to be confused with Odessa, Texas, 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:38.959 not even close. 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:41.440 Flashing yellow light. 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:45.680 Yeah, so how do you how'd you get into turf? 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:46.000 Like? 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:52.400 What was the you know, what made you become a superintendent? 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.280 It was probably, like most people, I like to be 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.280 at the golf course, and I like the atmosphere of 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.000 the golf course and the people that hung around it. 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.200 I didn't even know there was an industry for turf. 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.000 I was working at a nine hole public course and 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.839 Walking's Going, New York called Walkin's Going Golf Club, and 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.040 I kind of showed up when I wanted mode t's 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:16.600 mode fairways whatever. Went in at night and ran irrigation 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.240 on greens by throwing roller bases out and filling the 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:26.520 pump with a tank of gas. And one summer, the 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.679 club champ at the time we were sitting in the 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.600 clubhouse having a beer and he said, how come you 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.400 don't go to Cobleskille? And I said, why the hell 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:37.640 would I want to go to Cobleskill. He said, because 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:39.520 they got a career for They got a degree for 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.720 what you do? I said, what do I do? He said, 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.080 golf course maintenance. I had no idea it existed, and 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.160 so I explored it and got into it, and it 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:49.160 kind of picked up from there. 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:53.440 You play a lot of sports growing up, too, and 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:56.000 how do you get into golf, like. 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:01.480 My father, Joey Sindelar was was a from Horses, New York, 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.640 which was my dad's hometown. And my dad was a 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.880 three sport coach and athletic director, and you know, he 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.040 followed everybody locally, whether it was you know, Kurt man 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.920 Wearing who played for the Giants in baseball, or Joey 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.359 or Mike Albert, guys like that. So my dad would 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:19.320 truck me all around the country too. We were at 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:24.000 Joey's Wynning, Greensboro back then, and obviously at the BC Open. 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.120 So it was things like that that got me introduced 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.240 to the game of golf and get me going. 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.320 You're one of your early jobs was Augusta working at 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:38.480 Augusta National out of college, and then you'd obviously been 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.839 involved with major championships here at Southern Hills, but then 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.320 you've also been a part of a lot of major 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:49.440 championships set up staff. How many total major championships? 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:51.680 Wow, it takes me a while to at them up, 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:58.400 but I would say it's comfortably north of forty probably, 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.839 Well that's not true, so total tournaments would be to 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.720 north of forty. They weren't all majors, you know, I've 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.280 spent probably four or five straight years going to Mirrorfield 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:13.200 for the memorial and been at a lot of different 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.200 tournaments over the years, whether it was a Walker Cup 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:16.000 or something like that. 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.960 What what are some of the most memorable ones from 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.520 your standpoint just in memorable moments? 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:25.360 I guess yeah, there's a lot of them. I mean, 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.479 obviously the ones I was closely involved in with Augusta 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:32.240 and being there, you know, when Ben won and Tigers 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.120 win there in ninety seven, and and some of the 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:39.040 experiences with that. I was at Shinnacock was it a 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:44.560 four I think, and that was obviously became pretty from 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:50.760 our standpoint, golf course maintenance world became pretty memorable. Boy 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:55.760 Walker Cup at Chicago Golf Club, Walker Cup at Sea 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.560 Island at Ocean I think it was at Sea Island. 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:01.360 That was a great experience. A lot a lot of 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:03.920 them over the years, and certainly the seven PGA here 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:05.159 was was special for me. 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:15.760 Working across a number of different organizations Masters obviously us G, A, PGA, RNA. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:17.360 You you went abroad, right. 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:19.320 Yeah, I did. I did. I was live them in 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:24.640 sant Anne's and Troon for Tom Lehman and Justin Leonards wins. 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.120 That's neat, Yeah, I remember that justin leonor One. How 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.200 would you compare and contrast the different organizations and the 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.200 relations with the setup and superintendent crew. 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.120 Yeah, in a more general it's hard to pick at him. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:40.640 At the time I was coming up to him, I 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:42.560 was still pretty young in the industry. I wasn't in 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.240 a lot of my exposure to him was you know, 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.760 I might be running the stump meter each morning and 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.839 checking and you know, helping the superintendent or deciding for 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.359 myself how many greens we were going to mow, so 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:57.159 you know, it'd probably be unfair of me to to 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:01.880 try to compare them. I think in general, I think 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.159 they've all evolved, right. I think when I was first 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.839 doing this and going to US opens and walker cups 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:13.280 and working the masters, it was an experience like no other. 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:19.400 And evolution has progressed to where they're trying to drive 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.200 as much dollar out of these things as they can anymore, 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.480 and it's not quite the personal relationships it used to be. 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.880 When I was coming up and showed up to work 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.640 and open or a US Amateur or Women's open Tim Morgan, 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.800 we'd go around each hole and whether it was Tim 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:40.640 or Mike or even Tom Meeks back then. You name it. 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.800 You know, you're putting to holes and they're talking about it, 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:48.040 and there's a lot of inner relationship with that drive to 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.080 never make a mistake and try to perfect the wheel 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.040 and maybe to some degree overcome what technology is doing 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:58.240 to them and getting courses ready. Everything has become more 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:01.880 data driven. You know, how far are they hitting it 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.160 and and how fast can the greens really be? And 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:07.880 and to some agree, do we really trust the numbers 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.120 we're getting And if we get a whole location out 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:14.320 of out of comfort zone, what was that data and 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.120 how did it compare? You almost have to be ready 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.520 to defend everything you do. So I think in general 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:24.960 the organizations have tried to own their own information, separate 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.880 a hair from from the days of past where they 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.560 relied a lot on the local knowledge of the superintendents. 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.000 It doesn't mean they don't rely on it, but but 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.199 deep down they know they're the ones going to get 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.280 blamed on TV. So they now bring their own, you know, 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:45.440 local regional USGA agronomists to run a stimpmeter because they 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.360 need to know that it's their people. You know, those 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:50.280 types of things. I think the way they've evolved has 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:52.680 been interesting and when so when I try to compare 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.200 and contrast that now, I won't speak for the RNA. 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:57.760 I wouldn't say I had a close enough working relationship 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:03.320 with them. But but the PGA, with Carrie Haig basically 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:08.960 being the lone face of that, I think he knows 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.599 what level of risk he's willing to take there and 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.439 tends to tends to do a pretty good job of 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:19.480 finding that balance. That makes that a little less necessary 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.880 and thus keeps guys like myself who want to be 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:24.400 a part of the course set up, want to be 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.960 a part of helping make the right decisions, you know, 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.680 to ensure the best outcomes. It allows us to be 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:33.800 more engaged. I don't know if that clearly answers it. 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:38.280 I think I think the USGA has advanced beyond that 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:42.160 stage a little farther than they were back in the 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.400 late nineties. I think that relationship certainly, you know, whether 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.760 that was working with Paul Atchaw Congressional or John Zimmer's 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.920 at Okahat, those relationships were always there, and then to 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:58.480 some degree posts two thousand and four shinnikok that just 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.440 were never comfortable doing that fully Again, it doesn't mean 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.120 they don't seek the input, doesn't mean they don't take 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.760 the advice, but it kind of all of a sudden, 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.760 Now we're measuring percent slopes all the time on whole locations, 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:13.560 and we're checking firmness meteors, and we're redefining things to 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.120 make sure the data fits instead of the course set up. 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:21.440 Yeah, well, what was like the the atmosphere? What do 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:25.880 you remember most from the four open at Chinnakoka? Was 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.320 there something like the maintenance facility? Was there like just 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:30.079 a feel. 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:35.320 Or yeah, it's a The story is who knows where 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:39.400 this could end up. But to give you the story 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:43.120 from my perspective, I'm a superintendent in Florida up working 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.640 at Shinnecock. We have a house that we've rented right 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.839 off the property. It's got a pool in the backyard. 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:55.680 And I can still recall Johnny Miller saying best conditioned 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.520 open he's ever seen the start of the play that 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:05.200 week on Thursday, And I recall Saturday sitting in the 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:10.240 break room at the maintenance area and watching the broadcast 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.640 and David Fay was in the booth at the time, 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.320 and the second to last group of the day on 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:19.600 a Saturday that was cool and breezy and windy. The 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.520 put on seventh green right there were Danna seventh. The 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:24.760 put on seven got away from him and went off 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:29.640 the green, and I recall hearing David Fay say on 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.760 there that green was inadvertently rolled that morning, and I 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:35.800 said to the guy sitting next to me, I said, 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.360 that's not going to go well. And he said, what 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.840 do you mean, And I said, he basically just stated 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.760 that the golf course maintenance staff made a mistake and 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:48.880 inadvertently rolled the green, which couldn't have been true. And 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:50.760 by the way, it was fine for every golfer all 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:52.720 day long until the second last one of the day. 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:58.959 Now what happened beyond that, I don't really know all 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:02.720 the certainties of it. There was accusations of night rolling, 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.400 which I could probably say ninety nine point five percent 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:08.640 of the chance that didn't happen, because I know people 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.760 who were supposedly involved in that, and they were sitting 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:13.960 next to me at a pool drinking a beer that night. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.680 But regardless, the fact of the matter is that happened 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:24.120 on Saturday night, and the statement was made before anything 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:28.360 happened on Sunday, and there was plenty of opportunity to 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:32.760 fix that issue, but for whatever reason, it wasn't done. 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:37.880 And I remember telling my friend on Saturday night that 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:40.160 I wanted to catch an early flight out on Sunday. 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.040 And this may come across his cowardice, but he said, 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:44.560 well is I was a young guy at the time, 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.199 and I said, because I'd like to host one of 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.440 these one of these days, and if this goes bad tomorrow, 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.559 which I think it's gonna because people were pretty fired up, 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:55.600 I don't want to be standing in the backdrop while 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:59.440 this is going on. And unfortunately there just I mean, 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:01.320 there was a lot of people who could have solved 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:04.080 that issue, in my opinion looking back, and I've talked 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.160 about this with people who worked there at the time, 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:10.360 and I think they all agree nobody's I mean, it's 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:14.520 just what happens when the fingers started getting pointed, and 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:15.920 now it's like, well, what do you want to do? 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.760 I mean my understanding is Mark Michad went and said, hey, 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:20.480 forget it, it's over, what do you want to do? 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.160 And they just didn't come to the right conclusion. The 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:23.600 next day. 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.960 Tricky think it's how do you think the mentality and 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:32.280 the collaboration with superintendents with the USGA has changed since that. 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.959 Yeah, I think I think it's still heavily collaborative. I 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.080 mean my experience with working when I consider Mike Davis 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.760 a good friend, We've you know, known each other a 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.680 long time, and he's certainly you know, I think his 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:48.440 the criticisms he's taken recently to me are in unfair 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:52.400 in a lot of ways, you know, I hear people. 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.080 I mean to answer the question first, I think there's 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:59.600 still a lot of collaboration. I just think that there's 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:03.160 so much double checking over top of that now, and 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.040 there's a lot of voices, and that there was a 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:06.760 lot of voices in the decision. There seems to be 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.840 a shift here going on recently to try to, you know, 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.200 have a very clear vision moving forward, So maybe that's changing. 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.439 I think there was a stretch here where there was 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.320 a lot of voices in putting things, and Mike would 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:20.360 take all that information and try to combine it into 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.840 the best outcome, and I think in generally did the 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:29.000 problem I've seen. I listened to a radio show the 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.800 week of the open and this guy was talking about 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:34.360 how the USGA has just blown it for so many years, 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:38.000 and I was like, what exactly have they blown? I mean, 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:41.800 you know, depending on how you want to shape your argument, 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:45.320 you can. But they went to some news sites that 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:47.680 they probably needed to err a little bit on the 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.080 conservative side, not knowing exactly how they're going to play. 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:54.040 They maybe got a bad whole location on Saturday at Shinnecock. 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.600 Maybe they could have had a little more water whatever. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:01.280 But there's still great championships and you're gonna get a 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.800 bad whole location. We had bad ones back in the 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.520 days of Payne Stewart. When it opens, seems like we 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.920 do okay with it, I don't. I think when you 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.280 look at their intent and what Mike tried to do 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.640 over the last fifteen years, people were gonna people were 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:20.920 gonna be pretty positive about it in hindsight, you know. 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.880 I think as far as course set up stuff, I think, yeah, I. 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:26.920 Mean, I think he gets that they get such a 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.760 bad e. Everybody goes into a US Open for some 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:34.400 reason looking to like fight with the USG Yeah, it's 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:39.680 an incredible that, Like it's weird because you could the 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:43.280 same thing could happen at at an open. I remember 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.040 a few years ago the wind was blowing so hard. 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:48.160 I can't I can't. I don't think it was brokedale 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.240 it was, I can't remember, but it was where brooks 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.240 Kopka was yelling at a rules Officially it's like my 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:56.600 boss moving, I'm not hidn't it, like you know, and 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.720 like if that was a USGA E then would just 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:00.640 be crucified. 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:02.600 Yeah, I mean, there's so much noise. Andy. I mean, 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:04.640 I remember when I I mean, I was working at 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:08.640 Augusta Nashnal on the crew and it was always fascinating 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:12.880 every year because the players would come in and you'd 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.400 hear them start talking either to each other or in 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.000 the media about the changes that were made to certain 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:21.120 holes and you're sitting there on I've had about eight 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.920 days off since the last Masters, and trust me, that 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.040 didn't happen, you know. But the mind games that just 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:30.880 eat these guys alive sometimes, you know, I mean, they 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:35.840 believe stuff's happening that isn't happening. And I think a 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.120 lot of that happens with especially you know, the open 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.960 it's let's come in guarded right out the gun, and 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.080 you know, unless you're filling, you are obviously trying to 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.480 take a positive approach or something, you know what I mean. 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.200 Watching it over the years has been has been a 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:55.960 funny deal for me, just because being there inside of 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.520 ropes and to some degree hereing some of that over time. 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.880 You keep going, Man, it's amazing in this God these 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.200 guys think we rebuild the twelfth Green every year at 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.399 Augusta over the years, you know, and it just wasn't happening. 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:10.320 And marsh Benson used to say, you know, you're a 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:12.480 young guy and you'd look at Superintendent and say, we're 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:14.440 going to speed up the greens for Sunday. And he'd 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:16.800 march had this way where he would talk and say, 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:19.880 the nerves will take care of that. We don't need 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:21.960 to be doing that, you know. I mean, there's so 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.879 much about the the mind of the golfer, as you 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.800 know from to watch me play. 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.800 You know, how does one go about ketting a job 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.840 on the grounds for Augusta National? I feel, I mean, 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:39.600 do you just apply? Is it just everything about Augustus 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.560 like got this own? And I'm just curious. I've never 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.879 looked at a job a turf job board and yeah. 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.359 So I've told you a piece of this story. But 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.439 so I grew up a gym rat son of a coach, 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:53.560 and kind of made a vow that I was going 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:55.920 to try something else in my life. I didn't know 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.760 what it was at the time, but and UH didn't 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:01.520 want to go into coaching, not because I didn't think 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.720 I would love it. I just decided to do some else. 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:06.000 So also, as I was going through college, the basketball 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.600 coach there got me drug into the program and then 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.080 asked me to stay on as an assistant coach with 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.600 him student assistant and I did. And as I was 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.399 finishing my last year at college, I didn't have any 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:19.520 eligibility left. He wanted me to be. He wanted me 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.919 to go do a graduate assistance job with Raleigh Massamino, 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:27.040 who was then coaching at Cleveland State University. And there 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.160 was another place as well that he had recommended. And 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.280 so I sent off applications to do graduate assistant work 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:34.479 and coaching, and I didn't know if I was going 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.560 to get them, And in the meantime I fired off 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.440 four resumes. I think I fired one to Augusta, one 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:47.040 to I think the Shinnecock one to I think Oak 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:50.399 Hill because it was somewhat local for us, and I 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:52.280 don't know where the the other might have been Pebble 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:54.359 or Pine Valley or something right, I don't know, but 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.920 I fired off four resumes and I got a call 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.159 back pretty good spot. Yeah yeah, just in case, and 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:03.840 you know, looking for I always knew in my mind 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:05.479 I could go back to Watkins Gun Golf Club work 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.399 the summer if I needed to. And and I had 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.000 done my internship for a guy named a Jim Hango 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.879 who had just left Binghamton Country Club to build a 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:18.119 course designed by h. Mark Munchum did the most of it, 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:22.240 but Corners Stovn Munchem at the time and in Appalachia, 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.560 New York. And I didn't know this, but this guy 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:27.600 knew I had sent those and he reached out to 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.400 Marsha Augusta and just said, hey, I know you're interview 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:32.119 asked this guy to come for an interview. You really 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:35.040 should look at him. And so I went down for 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:38.359 the interview, and to this day, it's probably still the 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.560 hardest interview I've ever had, as far as the stuff 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:42.359 I had to do and fill out and stuff and 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:46.080 questions like what's your favorite food on there kind of 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:50.560 would throw me. I'm like, And I went back and 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.760 fortunately they offered me a job. I went from making 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:58.880 a I think I was making six fifty an hour 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:00.760 at Watkins Gun Golf Club and they paid me six 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:02.160 and a quarter to come to Augusta. 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:04.080 So took a pay cut. 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.360 Yeah it was good, but it was year round. 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:09.959 So sometimes you gotta go down right. 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:11.440 That's right, that's right. 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:17.439 So you what like you graduate your this is your 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.280 first job out of college and you're at Augusta National. 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:24.120 Really you know, and uh, what what do you do? 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:25.320 What do they start you doing? 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:30.040 I was put in with a guy who at the 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:32.919 time was a member of a band, and we got 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:34.720 in a cart with sand in the back and it 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:40.080 was just prior to overseating, so we would drive the 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.480 fairways looking for a little depressions, take a sod knife 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:45.080 and kind of wedge under him, lift them up a 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:46.919 little bit, put some sand under him to try and 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:49.000 level them out. That was my first day on the job. 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:52.200 I think my second was pushing sand across the greens 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:54.600 for the for the spur or the fall horrification. 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.639 How do you start guys? We saw new member of 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:03.280 your crew first day on the job. I mean, is 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:05.639 it like, do you do you put them somewhere like 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.320 they can do the least damage, Like is that I 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:12.200 mean thinking about putting sand in depressions, that's probably you know, pretty. 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:14.320 That's a good question. We probably don't do it the 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.000 right way. We used to a lot of that. I mean, 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:19.439 they have to know the holes and that's so you 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.040 best to just put them with an experienced employee. Back 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:25.159 you know, back then, that's what we did to some degree. 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:27.800 It was more they'll figure it out type of thing. 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:31.440 Ten twelve years ago, maybe a little sooner. But now, 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.720 with the labor market the way it is, if it's 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:36.640 hard to find people, and when you do, you better 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:38.560 retain them. So we put a lot more effort. Our 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:40.800 guys typically spend the first day on the job with 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:43.560 an assistant or with me in a cart, and about 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:48.399 half the second day before they even step into you know, 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:50.560 jumping on a piece of aquiler. Certainly need to be 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:52.320 trained on it all, but it's a lot hard. It's 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:56.440