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Speaker 3: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When
Speaker 3: I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 3: And when I find my ball in a brid egg
Speaker 3: Friday egg, the dreaded Friday Frida egg Frida egg bride
Speaker 3: egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the course.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is with Jeff Austin. Jeff is the new
Speaker 1: superintendent at Ray Tompkins Memorial also known as the Yale
Speaker 1: Golf Course.
Speaker 2: Jeff comes on to just talk about his experience.
Speaker 1: He worked at Augusta National and UH and then coming
Speaker 1: on at Yale at a tumultuous time. The golf course
Speaker 1: during COVID kind of had seen better days. They had
Speaker 1: a lot of turnover in the staff and the university
Speaker 1: was obviously trying to figure out what to do with COVID,
Speaker 1: and it led to the golf course being a bit neglected.
Speaker 1: So Jeff came on and has really revitalized the golf
Speaker 1: course along with Peter Pelasio's the gm there who they
Speaker 1: have done a phenomenal job getting the golf course back
Speaker 1: up into great shape and they have a big restoration
Speaker 1: coming in twenty twenty four with Gil Hant's golf design.
Speaker 1: So it was fun to catch up with Jeff about
Speaker 1: all things Yale as well as some of his past experience.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening to the Frida Egg Podcast. Here
Speaker 1: is Jeff Austin. So, Jeff, you were an assistant superintendent
Speaker 1: at Augusta National. You know anybody that worked at Augusta National.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite questions to ask is always, you know,
Speaker 1: what's your favorite story or memorable moment from your time
Speaker 1: at Augusta.
Speaker 3: So I have two of them, and I couldn't I
Speaker 3: couldn't decide on which one to go with.
Speaker 2: Well, you could give us both, give us both of them.
Speaker 3: One's one's a little bit lengthy, and then one's real,
Speaker 3: real quick. So I'll do the I'll do the quick
Speaker 3: one first. And it was that I was setting up
Speaker 3: I was watering the member putting green behind the clubhouse
Speaker 3: and outside of the member putting green is right outside
Speaker 3: of the Eisenhower cabin and we were told to get
Speaker 3: out of that area pretty pretty quickly in the morning
Speaker 3: because there was a VIP there. So I'm setting it,
Speaker 3: setting up the green water and whatnot. And as I'm
Speaker 3: making a pass, I turn around and and George W.
Speaker 3: Bush is sitting out there a pair of blue Texas
Speaker 3: Longhorn shorts and a gray T shirt, and he yells
Speaker 3: at me, you're certainly putting a lot of water down
Speaker 3: on that, and I said, yes, there I am, and
Speaker 3: he goes continue on. So, so I was always a
Speaker 3: fan of George W. And just for that interaction, it
Speaker 3: was it was pretty cool.
Speaker 2: Big golf, big golf family. It loves golf.
Speaker 1: I you know, the the k Parundle up in Maine
Speaker 1: is a long known hangout of the Bush family.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there, the Walker Cup is the same George W.
Speaker 3: But the second the second story is so I volunteer
Speaker 3: every year to go down there for to help out
Speaker 3: during the Master's tournament. And one year I was on
Speaker 3: the pin setting committee. So in the afternoon, will we'll
Speaker 3: pick the pin for the next day. So there was
Speaker 3: a we were on number thirteen Green, and there's it's
Speaker 3: a it's a gaggle of guys, you know different, there's
Speaker 3: like way too many.
Speaker 1: Of us, but there's I saw it on like a
Speaker 1: Wednesday afternoon a couple of times down there where you
Speaker 1: know that it's it's you know, to give people color.
Speaker 1: There's like twenty people. You got the stimp meter out
Speaker 1: your rolling balls. Everybody's testing everything from every angle and
Speaker 1: and so this goes on every day, Yes.
Speaker 3: Yes, every day. And we were we were walking off
Speaker 3: of thirteen Green and h and as we were walking off,
Speaker 3: it was it was on a practice round, so it
Speaker 3: was kind of thin crowd and and there was a
Speaker 3: double amputee waiting there and he asked us the question,
Speaker 3: is this where the pin's going to go tomorrow? And
Speaker 3: we said yes and uh and a guy from the
Speaker 3: RNA and I can't remember his name, had asked him
Speaker 3: if he was a serviceman and he said yes. He
Speaker 3: said he had started golfing as a way for treatment
Speaker 3: for PTSD and that he wanted to get into this
Speaker 3: veteran's golf turn, but he had missed the cutoff date
Speaker 3: by like days, like he just missed the cutoff date.
Speaker 3: This guy, Uh, this one of the captains of the RNA.
Speaker 3: He broke out two business cards and he said, write
Speaker 3: your contact information. I wanted the cards and he gave
Speaker 3: him the other one. He said, call my office. I
Speaker 3: won't be in on Monday, but I'm going to make
Speaker 3: sure that you're into this this tournament and im and
Speaker 3: he said, you know, I'm I'm grateful for your service
Speaker 3: and whatnot. And uh, I get goosebumps when I when
Speaker 3: I tell that story. But it was we we have
Speaker 3: a lot of good times US volunteers and tournament hires
Speaker 3: down there. And we we like to joke around a
Speaker 3: lot at each other's expenses, but we were quiet as
Speaker 3: church mouse mice after that happened. We just sort of
Speaker 3: were like, jez opte, that's that's heavy. But it was.
Speaker 3: It was really really cool to see and it was
Speaker 3: awesome that I was there firsthand.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Tell as a is a great story.
Speaker 1: And and uh, you know, it's it's neat when somebody
Speaker 1: that can help someone goes out of their way to
Speaker 1: help someone. Uh with that volunteering, you know, being one
Speaker 1: of the you know the guys that goes down and
Speaker 1: basically helps with you know, maintenance and on an annual basis,
Speaker 1: what's that process like? And and tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit about the atmosphere atmosphere there. I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: you've you've volunteered at other major championships. How does it,
Speaker 1: how's it similar, how's it different?
Speaker 3: So I've done I volunteered at a US Women's Open
Speaker 3: at Sabonic for Garrett Boddington, and then I did one
Speaker 3: in my hometown US No PGA s Yeah, Senior PGA
Speaker 3: Championship at Canterbury Canterbury Golf Club, Augusta National. The volunteers
Speaker 3: and the tournament hires. It's it's very very fraternity like
Speaker 3: we've all either volunteered work there for for a good
Speaker 3: number of years, and we all keep in touch throughout
Speaker 3: the throughout the year even when we're not, you know,
Speaker 3: in Augusta, and we all have the same stories from
Speaker 3: our time there. I was there for about four and
Speaker 3: a half five years as a as an employee, and
Speaker 3: I volunteer with guys who are now who have now
Speaker 3: moved on are are superintendents elsewhere. So it's it's it's
Speaker 3: very it's very very fraternity like. It's like an it's
Speaker 3: like an alumni game. We all go back and you know,
Speaker 3: it's like what do they have in Major League Baseball?
Speaker 3: Like the old timers game, and it's sort of like
Speaker 3: that where we all go back and we all tell
Speaker 3: the exact same stories for the first five days about
Speaker 3: how we had at the hardest or had it the
Speaker 3: roughest and uh, and then we just get into our
Speaker 3: normal routine of of whatever our job is that week.
Speaker 3: So I I stimp stimp Greens with with three three
Speaker 3: other guys and we're we're we are ruthless to each other,
Speaker 3: but we're we love each other so much, but we're
Speaker 3: brutal and uh, you know, we share an office and
Speaker 3: we just we it's always something with us. But but
Speaker 3: when it's time to get to work, we know what
Speaker 3: you know, the regular full time staff is expecting of us,
Speaker 3: and we just try to support them this week that
Speaker 3: week because we know the amount of hours that they've
Speaker 3: put in leading up to it. So whatever we can
Speaker 3: do to take a little bit off their plate. Is
Speaker 3: is is our ultimate goal.
Speaker 1: Gotta asks, what's the highest stimp reading you've ever gotten out.
Speaker 3: There tournament speed?
Speaker 1: Look at that a company man spending a few years
Speaker 1: down there on the staff full time. What what are
Speaker 1: things that you draw from that experience in your day
Speaker 1: to day job and and your previous jobs that you've
Speaker 1: had along the way. What are are there are there
Speaker 1: certain things about the way they maintained turf, for the
Speaker 1: way they run their operation that stick with you.
Speaker 3: There are the attention to detail is is is unmatched,
Speaker 3: and that's that's something that's ingrained in you from the
Speaker 3: first first time you step on property. And that's something
Speaker 3: that that as a turf manager, that that people who
Speaker 3: have experienced a US national take throughout their career. You know,
Speaker 3: it gets down to the to the most minute detail
Speaker 3: that that we want to control and that we try
Speaker 3: to control, even though there's so much that that we
Speaker 3: can't when we're dealing with you, you know, with whether
Speaker 3: or mother nature or what have you. But it's the
Speaker 3: attention to detail that that that we like to take
Speaker 3: throughout our career. And it's just solid, solid agronomic principles.
Speaker 3: You know, they don't they don't have magic pixie dust
Speaker 3: down there that makes the grass grow certain way. It's
Speaker 3: just the fact that they've been doing it for so
Speaker 3: long and that they know what works. So for example,
Speaker 3: when I when I came to Yale, it was sort
Speaker 3: of a blank page because I didn't know what necessarily
Speaker 3: worked and what didn't work here. And and I'm and
Speaker 3: I was completely cool with that. But you know, I
Speaker 3: had all of last season and and this is my
Speaker 3: second full season that that's coming to an end here
Speaker 3: at the end of this year. And I will take
Speaker 3: these two years into the next year and and and
Speaker 3: make good agronomic decisions based off of of what I've
Speaker 3: what I've learned over the past two years.
Speaker 1: That makes sense, you know, It's just the consistency, right
Speaker 1: show up every day and then continue to build on
Speaker 1: on what you've been doing.
Speaker 2: That's been working.
Speaker 1: Speaking of one last question on Augusta, you know, just
Speaker 1: something I'd be interested in, is, you know, getting a
Speaker 1: job there? Is that What was that interview process?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Was it similar to other clubs, similar to Yale? Like
Speaker 1: how did that interview process work in the first place?
Speaker 1: I imagine I think a lot of people probably wonder, like,
Speaker 1: how do you even get a job at Augusta National.
Speaker 3: So it's it's it's funny that they actually I think
Speaker 3: that it was one of the first times that they
Speaker 3: had actually advertised for an intern. So a little bit
Speaker 3: of the history onics of it is that I was
Speaker 3: already an assistant superintendent in Cleveland, and it was right
Speaker 3: after the two thousand and eight economy was you know,
Speaker 3: we were just starting to get out of that funk
Speaker 3: and the course that I was at, you know, they
Speaker 3: didn't they still felt the effects of the economy. And
Speaker 3: I came up with an idea. I said, how about
Speaker 3: if you guys don't pay me for the winter, and
Speaker 3: I'll go down to Augusta for a winter. Just the
Speaker 3: winter months in Cleveland, you're not really growing grass and
Speaker 3: I thought that it would be a good way to
Speaker 3: save the club some money and also get Augusta National
Speaker 3: on my on my resume. So they had they had
Speaker 3: advertised for an internship, and I went through the INN.
Speaker 3: I submitted my information. The senior assistant at the time,
Speaker 3: Justin Simms. He reached out to me and just a
Speaker 3: phone a phone interview, and then I had a follow
Speaker 3: up phone interview with the superintendent, Brad Owen, and uh
Speaker 3: they offered me a three month internship and I'd saved
Speaker 3: my club back in Cleveland some money and at the
Speaker 3: end of the three months, I must not have screwed
Speaker 3: anything up too badly because they offered me a full time,
Speaker 3: full time position, and uh, I had a contractual obligation
Speaker 3: to go back up to Cleveland finish that that obligation
Speaker 3: up and then I moved down to UH to Georgia.
Speaker 2: So that's it. Did you live in A in Augusta?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, I lived. Uh. I lived in not downtown,
Speaker 3: It's sort of like the Summerville area. I had a
Speaker 3: condo which was kind of suspect, and then uh, then
Speaker 3: I rented a house. So yeah, so I lived and
Speaker 3: I lived basically a couple of streets away from some
Speaker 3: of my best friends. One of my best friends still
Speaker 3: still works down there.
Speaker 1: So that's a that's cool, that's uh yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: it's it's got to be an amazing thing to have,
Speaker 1: like as you as you reference, amazing thing to have
Speaker 1: have on your resume in terms of, like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's obviously isn't going to get you jobs, but I
Speaker 1: imagine that it really helps in the you know, getting
Speaker 1: interview process.
Speaker 3: It does because you know, Augusta, in our line of work,
Speaker 3: we don't we don't necessarily do a very great job
Speaker 3: of advertising ourselves as Augusta guys or you know, we're not.
Speaker 3: We don't do that and it's just not who we are.
Speaker 3: And so what it does is is that, you know,
Speaker 3: when when it comes down to an interview, people want
Speaker 3: to talk to guys from Augusta just to hear a
Speaker 3: story or two. So we sort of get in by
Speaker 3: the by the you know, hey, I got a story
Speaker 3: to tell you, and then we hope that we're our
Speaker 3: resume is good enough and that we're good enough agronomous
Speaker 3: that that that it leads to a second and a
Speaker 3: third interview and hopefully, hopefully a job.
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Speaker 1: Follow at Toro Golf on Twitter and reach out to
Speaker 1: your local Toro distributor today. Now back to Jeff Austin.
Speaker 1: Tell us about your new job. As you reference, you've
Speaker 1: been there for two years. You know what attracted you
Speaker 1: to the job at Yale when you saw the posting.
Speaker 3: So it goes back to probably twenty sixteen, the previous superintendent,
Speaker 3: Scott Ramsey won I think turf met Superintendent of the Years,
Speaker 3: something along those lines, and I saw I saw the
Speaker 3: the announcement of his winning that award, and I fell
Speaker 3: into just a rabbit hole of looking up Yale. I
Speaker 3: didn't know that they had their own golf course, so
Speaker 3: that sort of got that sort of peaked my interest
Speaker 3: in golf course architecture about you know, the history of
Speaker 3: Yale specifically. And I saw the job posting and I said, well,
Speaker 3: this is this is interesting. And it came at a
Speaker 3: good time because I sort of I was at a
Speaker 3: point in in Cleveland where I was a director of
Speaker 3: two of a thirty six hole facility, and and I
Speaker 3: thought it was time to try something new, and so
Speaker 3: I saw the job posting, I threw my hat into
Speaker 3: the ring. And I was down in Florida visiting my
Speaker 3: folks in the winter and our general manager, Peter Palacios,
Speaker 3: he called me and he was like, hey, your email,
Speaker 3: I mean, your resume sort of jumped out at us,
Speaker 3: and we'd like to, uh, I'd like to schedule an interview.
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, okay. So it sort of
Speaker 3: got a little bit of traction. So I started doing
Speaker 3: a little bit more and more and more research on it.
Speaker 3: And that's unfortunately, sort of like during the COVID time
Speaker 3: of of Yale, which isn't the brightest point in its history.
Speaker 3: And and I just went through the the routine of
Speaker 3: the different interviews, I'm The first one was just a
Speaker 3: phone call with with Peter. The second one was more
Speaker 3: in depth. There were different different individuals from the athletic department.
Speaker 3: It was like a basically it's like three or four
Speaker 3: hours of different zoom calls and it was I was
Speaker 3: spent afterwards. But yeah, you know what it is. You know,
Speaker 3: three four hours isn't isn't you know, it doesn't seem
Speaker 3: like a lot, but you know, interviewing a kid from Cleveland,
Speaker 3: interviewing with a bunch of people from Yale, that's intimidating.
Speaker 3: You know, like not a lot. Let's let's just get
Speaker 3: this out there. There's not a lot of Clevelanders on
Speaker 3: property in New Haven. But uh, but so it was,
Speaker 3: it was, it was. It was intimidating. So so, you know,
Speaker 3: you're meeting with people from the financial side of things.
Speaker 2: I've imagine there are different questions like that.
Speaker 1: It's not like you're like meeting with the Greeds Committee, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like it's got to be like, you know, these are
Speaker 1: people in the athletic department that that probably have you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to say they don't really, but they
Speaker 1: they probably are asking a completely different line of question
Speaker 1: than you've ever had an interview.
Speaker 3: This was the first time that the word fiduciary was
Speaker 3: ever in a in an interview for a superintendent job ever.
Speaker 3: But no, it was great, you know, and like I thought,
Speaker 3: I thought it went I thought it went good. I
Speaker 3: thought it went you know, like I didn't think that
Speaker 3: it was like a home run. I laid all the
Speaker 3: cards on the table. And I come from a really
Speaker 3: really tight knit family, and you know, my parents lived
Speaker 3: maybe two blocks away from me back in Cleveland. And
Speaker 3: so Peter called me on a Friday, and I was
Speaker 3: waiting for his call on Monday, and he called me
Speaker 3: and he was like, yeah, I figured you might want
Speaker 3: a weekend to sort of to celebrate, but yeah, we're
Speaker 3: going to offer you the job. And I was like,
Speaker 3: all right. So I celebrated with my brother and my
Speaker 3: sister in law for a night and they came into town.
Speaker 3: And then I had to tell my parents that I
Speaker 3: was moving to Connecticut. And I'm a forty three year
Speaker 3: old man, and I still am scared crapless of my parents.
Speaker 3: So I told them and they were like, Okay, I
Speaker 3: guess we can deal with it. But so they've been
Speaker 3: traveling out here and it's it's it's been absolutely awesome.
Speaker 3: It's been absolutely awesome. It's a it's you know, it
Speaker 3: has its challenges, but it's it's it's probably the you know,
Speaker 3: it's it's probably the best decision I've made in my career.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and I think that there's probably a
Speaker 1: lot of interest in those challenges as as you alluded to.
Speaker 2: You know, COVID wasn't the best time for Yale. And
Speaker 2: I think, you know, a lot of.
Speaker 1: Universities struggled during COVID because there are a there's a
Speaker 1: laundry list of things that they had to deal with
Speaker 1: with students, classes, what they were doing there. And in
Speaker 1: the case of Yale, I think there was some some
Speaker 1: turnover from the employee side at the golf course, combined
Speaker 1: with you know, maybe a little bit of you know,
Speaker 1: you know, a fair amount of you know, just oversight
Speaker 1: lack of oversight into the golf course and the operations
Speaker 1: that were going. Can you describe to us what type
Speaker 1: of shape Yale was in when you were hired.
Speaker 3: So, you know, I first it's worth noting that, you know,
Speaker 3: like you said, there the university had had a bunch
Speaker 3: of hoops to jump through, just because when's the last
Speaker 3: time that that there was a playbook for a pandemic.
Speaker 3: So I don't know that, you know, it is just
Speaker 3: kind of is what it is, or was what it was.
Speaker 3: But the course was, it's it was on the road
Speaker 3: to healing. You know, the people who listen to your
Speaker 3: podcasts are pretty well versed in in the comings and
Speaker 3: goings of golf and golf courses. So it was it
Speaker 3: was in rough shape before I got here. The fall
Speaker 3: I got I I my first day was May tenth
Speaker 3: of last year, so the previous fall, so that's twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: The fall of twenty twenty, they had verified all shore
Speaker 3: grass surfaces and seeded, so the bare areas in play
Speaker 3: areas we were starting to recover. So last year we
Speaker 3: spent a good deal of time of continuing to recede
Speaker 3: those areas. And last year from a weather standpoint, it
Speaker 3: was it was awesome. We got rain every time we
Speaker 3: needed it. It was it was the exact opposite of
Speaker 3: this year. But it was still it was still rough.
Speaker 3: You know, the greens. There were areas that that the
Speaker 3: POA we don't have that that good old Oakmont poa
Speaker 3: that's that that just loves to stand up to any challenge.
Speaker 3: We we lost all of our anial poa, so the
Speaker 3: poe that we did have was was really weak. And
Speaker 3: any time there was something a day that got ninety,
Speaker 3: it would just want to check out. So we still
Speaker 3: fight with that. Now we're we're still throwing seed on greens.
Speaker 3: Even though you know, we've got a we've got a
Speaker 3: restoration project in the hopper. We're still trying to improve
Speaker 3: on a day to day basis, especially for our men
Speaker 3: and women's teams. But it was it was pretty rough
Speaker 3: when I when I got here.
Speaker 1: What were what what were the biggest challenges outside of
Speaker 1: the greens and that, what what were the biggest challenges
Speaker 1: to having a course that had been you know, a
Speaker 1: little bit neglected for for a while, Like what were
Speaker 1: what were things that maybe you overlooked?
Speaker 3: So I one thing and it has very little to
Speaker 3: do with the agronomy side of things. It's more of
Speaker 3: the hr side of things. Is that you know, the
Speaker 3: crew when I got here, they were kind of you know,
Speaker 3: they they take such pride in this in this course
Speaker 3: and for them to see it not at its optimal level,
Speaker 3: It was the morale wasn't necessarily where it should be
Speaker 3: or where it could have been. So we made the
Speaker 3: right agronomic decisions on a day to day basis. We
Speaker 3: started off with the small right decisions, and we started
Speaker 3: to see benefits from those decisions. I would throw pictures
Speaker 3: up on the dry race board or what have you,
Speaker 3: and I would say, look at the progress that we've
Speaker 3: made from two years ago, from a year ago, and
Speaker 3: I think that they started to buy in, like, all right,
Speaker 3: this guy's going to do the right things and make
Speaker 3: the right calls and and he's going to be honest
Speaker 3: with us. And that that was the biggest challenge was
Speaker 3: getting these guys to believe me that, you know, we're
Speaker 3: just going to do the small things, but we're going
Speaker 3: to do the small things right, you know. And and
Speaker 3: that I got. I earned a little bit of of
Speaker 3: some street cred with the guys. And when you have
Speaker 3: a difficult season like this season, they sort of look
Speaker 3: and they said, we just's trying to do everything that
Speaker 3: he can, and uh, it just it's a tough it's
Speaker 3: a it's a tough season. So I think that that
Speaker 3: that the team morale was was the hardest thing that
Speaker 3: I didn't anticipate.
Speaker 2: M hmmm.
Speaker 1: Speaking of of the maintenance team, I think the setup
Speaker 1: at Yale is very unique. Can you explain, uh to
Speaker 1: us exactly how it works.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, so we're all the guys are are members
Speaker 3: of a union. So I have right now, I have
Speaker 3: six full time guys in a master master mechanic and uh,
Speaker 3: it's it's I think that a lot of people think
Speaker 3: that it's it's this grandiose monster for some reason, and
Speaker 3: it's it's really not. You know, we we do everything
Speaker 3: that that we've done it any other golf course. It's
Speaker 3: just uh, you know, it's it's it's just different. It's
Speaker 3: it's different than the crew and how the crew has
Speaker 3: ran out Augusta, Nashlaland it's definitely different than the crew
Speaker 3: that I had at in Cleveland at kual Hollow Country Club.
Speaker 3: You know, I think that when people hear the word union,
Speaker 3: they think it's like some big boogey man, and it's
Speaker 3: just you just got to deal with you know, you
Speaker 3: just got to work with the guys that you have.
Speaker 1: What what have you been most proud about about? Proud
Speaker 1: of of the of the recovery. I mean, obviously I
Speaker 1: know you're not to where exactly where you want to
Speaker 1: get to it.
Speaker 2: We had an event out there and I.
Speaker 1: Thought it was it was, you know, I was really
Speaker 1: pleased with how good of shape you've you've gotten the
Speaker 1: golf course in in such a short time with you know,
Speaker 1: a pretty small staff. And I think, Peter, uh, You're
Speaker 1: or GM there has done an awesome job as well.
Speaker 1: I think you guys do a lot with with the
Speaker 1: with the number of people that you have, And I'm
Speaker 1: just curious, from your standpoint, what's been the most proud moment, slash,
Speaker 1: you know, thing about the recovery of the golf course.
Speaker 3: I think that it's it's it's not a moment or
Speaker 3: it's not it's it's more of you know. I on
Speaker 3: rough days, I try not to look at the pictures.
Speaker 3: I referenced my master Gardner macleeno and he was here
Speaker 3: during during the COVID during the shutdown a little bit
Speaker 3: and and when I started, he said, Hey, do you
Speaker 3: want to sort of see the pictures? And I was like, no, no,
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't want to see them. So every
Speaker 3: so often, like when I get you know, like when
Speaker 3: I have a rough day, he'll he'll show me a picture,
Speaker 3: and I'll be like, you know what, we're doing the
Speaker 3: right thing. And that's that's That's what I take away
Speaker 3: from this is that we're not a finished product anywhere
Speaker 3: near a finished product. And I don't know that we're
Speaker 3: going to be a finished product before before the project starts,
Speaker 3: but I I know that we are continually making making progress.
Speaker 3: We're making we're making tangible improvements on a day to
Speaker 3: day basis and and and that's what I like to
Speaker 3: see is that every day we're getting a little bit better.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that's, you know, the thing you always have
Speaker 1: to keep inbyd like big stuff happen, you know, it
Speaker 1: takes so much time. Sometimes I feel in the similar
Speaker 1: position where you know you have somewhere you want to
Speaker 1: get to, but it's so hard. You know, if you
Speaker 1: don't if you don't value what you're doing day to
Speaker 1: day and getting better in terms of.
Speaker 3: I don't mean interrupt you, but like you know, superintendents,
Speaker 3: we look at things, we look at the same things
Speaker 3: every day and and we sort of judge those those
Speaker 3: small improvements. But like when you were here, you hadn't
Speaker 3: been here for quite some time, so like you and
Speaker 3: your group at the guys who participated in the dog
Speaker 3: ball like that their opinions on that day meant more
Speaker 3: to me than my opinion because you guys hadn't seen it,
Speaker 3: and maybe there was a little bit of like a
Speaker 3: like a like a fish tail where like it kept
Speaker 3: on getting worse and worse in your mind, like since
Speaker 3: you hadn't been here, like oh, they you know, they
Speaker 3: lost everything, So when you got here, you might have
Speaker 3: been like, Eh, it's not that bad. So it's it's
Speaker 3: your opinion. And and and the guys that that that
Speaker 3: that listened to your podcasts who come out here and
Speaker 3: they go, yeah, it's progress that I that that makes
Speaker 3: me feel better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well yeah exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean, so haveing spent some decent amount of time
Speaker 1: at some renovations and stuff, one of which I was
Speaker 1: at Lake Mercede a fear about this winter, and you know,
Speaker 1: I went a few times back to back days and
Speaker 1: you feel like nothing happens if you go on a
Speaker 1: regular basis, But then when you haven't been there for
Speaker 1: a few weeks and you go back, you're like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I can't believe how much is happening.
Speaker 2: And I imagine that's a similar thing.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, this is this is probably pretty
Speaker 1: crazy to think about, but like if a if a
Speaker 1: superintendent left a golf course and you put in an
Speaker 1: improvement plan and you just left and went on a
Speaker 1: three week vacation and came back and saw all the
Speaker 1: work done, is it was implemented, you'd be like, holy cow,
Speaker 1: I can't believe how much better this has gotten. But
Speaker 1: if you're there a day and day out, it's almost
Speaker 1: hard to notice.
Speaker 3: It it is. And it's funny because like, so I
Speaker 3: I have I haven't. I've been in at some part
Speaker 3: of every day since the first week in June. So
Speaker 3: you know, I'm like, this isn't improving how fast I
Speaker 3: want it to prove. And it takes me a minute
Speaker 3: to realize, like, hey, dummy, you've been here every day,
Speaker 3: Like you're not gonna see You're not gonna like walk
Speaker 3: in and all of a sudden, the greens are lime
Speaker 3: green and everything's perfect, Like no, man, you were just
Speaker 3: here eight hours ago. What are you expecting. So it's
Speaker 3: it's the internal dialogue that I have that I think
Speaker 3: is going to ultimately have me committed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it has a lot of people feel in that
Speaker 1: way in terms of so you guys are, are you
Speaker 1: have a gil Han's restoration project that will be done
Speaker 1: at the end of the twenty twenty three calendar year
Speaker 1: if I'm.
Speaker 3: Correct, Yes, yes.
Speaker 1: What type of work are you guys doing at this
Speaker 1: point to prepare for that restoration?
Speaker 3: So what we're doing in house is we're still maintaining
Speaker 3: the golf course as as just for everyday play. Our
Speaker 3: short term plan, our short term objectives are the men
Speaker 3: and the women's golf team. Colin and Lauren are both
Speaker 3: having their invitationals this fall and their schedule to have
Speaker 3: them next fall as well, and so we're we're the
Speaker 3: short term goal is to try to improve so that
Speaker 3: we can make those as big of a success as possible.
Speaker 3: I'm working with Gill and his team and Ben Ben
Speaker 3: Hillard on on bidden spec sheets for the for the restoration.
Speaker 3: So we're we're still We're still going out to bid
Speaker 3: on a on a bunch of stuff. So I'm I
Speaker 3: hate to say it, but I'm kind of pushing papers
Speaker 3: a majority of my day.
Speaker 2: This is part of the job.
Speaker 3: It is I mean, it is, you know, and it's
Speaker 3: an important part of the job because you know, you
Speaker 3: don't want to miss a comma on something and then
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, you know, seven acres of greens
Speaker 3: go to point seven acres, you know, like it's it's
Speaker 3: kind of a big deal. So so that's what we're
Speaker 3: doing in house. We'll do a little bit of some
Speaker 3: undergrowth removal, just some overgrown areas this this winter, roll
Speaker 3: the ball out again next year for the golfing community
Speaker 3: and like I said, have the men and Women's Invitational
Speaker 3: next fall and then welcome with open arms hance golf
Speaker 3: course design next fall.
Speaker 1: I mean the that undergrowth work is particularly I think
Speaker 1: something that's that's really enticing about Yale. You know, it
Speaker 1: has for those that have a bed there, just a
Speaker 1: gigantic property. It's your kind of quintessential New England woods
Speaker 1: and it's got rock out croppings and you know, beautiful forest.
Speaker 1: And then the golf course traversus this wild piece of
Speaker 1: ground and you know a lot of holes are corridored
Speaker 1: off by woods. But I imagine as you under as
Speaker 1: you clear out that undergrowth, and you're going to reveal
Speaker 1: some really dramatic rock features and different aspects of the
Speaker 1: golf course that the people have never seen because of
Speaker 1: those those kind of thick corridors along the edges. Not
Speaker 1: necessarily I'm not saying take down these big trees, but
Speaker 1: as you just get some of those bushes and you know,
Speaker 1: areas off the fairway removed, you're going to uncover some
Speaker 1: spectacular features that will just enhance that walk. And I
Speaker 1: imagine as you've done, as you said, when you're having
Speaker 1: a bad day some days you go out and walk around,
Speaker 1: I imagine you've probably seen some things that aren't really
Speaker 1: you know, visible to the everyday player.
Speaker 3: It's it's amazing. So we so the guys started this
Speaker 3: passed off season and they cleared out an area in
Speaker 3: between our fourth hole and our sixteenth hole, and it
Speaker 3: was just an overgrown area and we didn't remove anything
Speaker 3: that was that was big, and I don't even think
Speaker 3: that they were necessarily trees. They were just, like I said,
Speaker 3: just overgrown bushes and shrubs and whatnot. And the vistas
Speaker 3: that just opened up from that one area from the
Speaker 3: clubhouse is amazing. And it's just it's just recapturing those
Speaker 3: areas and and and sort of with with the change
Speaker 3: of elevations of this golf course. When you're standing on
Speaker 3: a pretty high point. So let's say ten Green or
Speaker 3: eleven Tea or something along those lines, or you know,
Speaker 3: your your approach shot on eighteen you can see a
Speaker 3: good bit of the property. And I think that by
Speaker 3: just reclaiming those areas, you're going to be able to
Speaker 3: see a lot of stuff that that that you not
Speaker 3: necessarily have been able to see in the recent past.
Speaker 3: And yeah, it's there's rock everywhere. There's rock absolutely everywhere.
Speaker 3: The guy who the guy who did the aerification before U,
Speaker 3: before I got here, when I got here, he texted
Speaker 3: me and he was like, hey, give me a call
Speaker 3: when when you get a chance. So I called him
Speaker 3: and uh, he told me. He was like I had
Speaker 3: never gone through so many aerification times in my life
Speaker 3: because like there's just there's exposed rock on in fair ways,
Speaker 3: on you know, around tees, it's it's everywhere.
Speaker 2: Does that make it hard on the mower?
Speaker 3: It makes it hard on everything. It it's just it's
Speaker 3: one of those things that's you know, you right, So
Speaker 3: so I'll take a step back, is that it's hard
Speaker 3: to grow grass on rock obviously, and especially with the
Speaker 3: heat that we've been experiencing, Like we're finding a lot
Speaker 3: of rock that's really really shallow in fair ways and whatnot.
Speaker 3: So it is it is hard on on on equipment.
Speaker 3: Our mechanic is he's he's never bored, I'll put I'll
Speaker 3: put it that way. But uh, but we sort of
Speaker 3: tailor fit what we do to certain areas with what
Speaker 3: we have so that so that we sort of mitigate
Speaker 3: some of the some of the tough times on on
Speaker 3: the equipment. But but to your point earlier, it was
Speaker 3: one of those things that I had read when I
Speaker 3: got here. You know, Gil was Gil was already talking
Speaker 3: with with Yale before I got here, and Peter was
Speaker 3: here before I got here, so like, I'm the new guy,
Speaker 3: so I sort of had to dive into reading as
Speaker 3: much about this place and its construction as possible. And
Speaker 3: that's the one thing that really stuck out in my
Speaker 3: mind when I was reading about the course was how
Speaker 3: expensive it was to build and and the use of
Speaker 3: dyning might to clear some of the rock out croppings
Speaker 3: and whatnot. And so so as I was walking around after,
Speaker 3: you know, reading those passages, I was like, well that
Speaker 3: makes sense. There's freaking rock everywhere.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's uh, what outside of just the sheer cost
Speaker 1: do you have any excerpts of of your research that
Speaker 1: that you really enjoyed, of of Yale, of of the
Speaker 1: founding of Ray Tompkins Memorial. I don't want to get
Speaker 1: in trouble with Colin. She and that's what he insisted
Speaker 1: on it being called.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure that. I'm sure that, uh that
Speaker 3: I've I've urged Colin with with some of my verbiage
Speaker 3: over the over the past year and some change. But uh,
Speaker 3: but no, he's Colin. Colin is a wealth of knowledge
Speaker 3: on the course and and the history and and the
Speaker 3: Yale golf program. He's just he's if there's ever a question,
Speaker 3: he's got the answer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got the answer and more.
Speaker 3: You're right, But know that the one thing that that
Speaker 3: that I think it's it's obviously it's urban legend, but
Speaker 3: supposedly one of the horses, one of the hall horses
Speaker 3: that were removing timbers during construction, died and they just
Speaker 3: buried it in seven Green. So I'm curious when we
Speaker 3: shell that green out, if we're going to find some horseshoes.
Speaker 2: Ah, look at that. It would be a little archaeological
Speaker 2: discovery for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So that's that's one thing that I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 1: Well, you do with the horseshoes, if you if you
Speaker 1: find do you think will you create some sort of
Speaker 1: like a shrine in the clubhouse for the horse.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm sure that that that that we could find
Speaker 3: them because we have so we have the golf courses
Speaker 3: really unbelievably documented, you know. Yeah, to have overhead pictures
Speaker 3: in aerial pictures from the from the twenties, I mean,
Speaker 3: that's unheard of. And we actually still have actual construction
Speaker 3: photos the hard copies with with with negatives and whatnot.
Speaker 3: And so it's kind of funny because in one of
Speaker 3: the pictures of number five, there's a horse in front
Speaker 3: of it, and like I in my mind, I've already
Speaker 3: came up come up with the story that that's the
Speaker 3: horse that died on seven, and I'm going to use
Speaker 3: the picture of it on five to say that these
Speaker 3: are the horseshoes from this horse.
Speaker 2: You're making a few leaps, but it's not inconceivable.
Speaker 3: You know, it's not inconceivable. But like you know, I,
Speaker 3: it's just between us.
Speaker 1: No one will know, just between just between the two
Speaker 1: of us on this podcast. But anyways, you know, with
Speaker 1: that we've talked a little bit about the restoration. You
Speaker 1: know what, what part of the project are you most
Speaker 1: excited about. It could be an individual hole or just
Speaker 1: just any aspect of the project.
Speaker 3: There's a few things I can't wait to to deconstruct
Speaker 3: Number ten green as it currently exists, because no superintendent
Speaker 3: in any state in the Union should be forced to
Speaker 3: try to grow grass in that micro environment.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever seen seen it, you know,
Speaker 1: with with substantial grass.
Speaker 2: So it does seem like a very difficult spot.
Speaker 3: I there are very few things in this world that
Speaker 3: I hate. I'm a very understanding person. I'm a very
Speaker 3: very forgiving person, and I'm a very loving person. I
Speaker 3: despise that green. So that's what I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 2: What is it that makes it so difficult?
Speaker 3: So it's a it's a green that that that tilts
Speaker 3: front to back, and there's a big there's a big bowl.
Speaker 3: It's it basically sits in a b from the bunker
Speaker 3: in the front throughout the back, and every ounce of
Speaker 3: moisture in the Tri State area wants to just accumulate
Speaker 3: in that back ridge and in that back swale, pardon me,
Speaker 3: And so it always stays wet, but the front part
Speaker 3: that sits elevated always stays dry. So our old irrigation
Speaker 3: system doesn't necessarily know the difference of how to water
Speaker 3: the dry stuff and not the wet stuff. So so
Speaker 3: it's it's it's it just has its its difficulties. So
Speaker 3: that's something that I'm looking forward to, is getting rid
Speaker 3: of that green as it currently exists.
Speaker 2: Maybe a better irrigation system, right.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, that is part of that. That's in the
Speaker 3: works as well. A couple of my guys don't like
Speaker 3: the tree behind number four green because it wakes away
Speaker 3: all the moisture in that green, So they're looking forward
Speaker 3: to possibly that tree coming.
Speaker 1: Down, so in the sense of like that tree just
Speaker 1: sucks all the water out of the area.
Speaker 2: It's as a huge tree, Yes.
Speaker 3: It's it's a it's a huge oak, and it's it's
Speaker 3: just a it's a pain in the butt and it's
Speaker 3: just not good. So we're looking forward to, you know,
Speaker 3: with the overgrowth of the golf course. That's those are
Speaker 3: the things that that happen. You know, the trees get
Speaker 3: really really big, their roots go under the root, under
Speaker 3: the under the profile of the green, and it just
Speaker 3: it just makes trying to grow grass just amazingly difficult.
Speaker 1: Anybody that lives in a neighborhood has seen the impacts
Speaker 1: of what tree roots do to sidewalks. So imagine, you
Speaker 1: know a green. You know, sidewalks get you know, just
Speaker 1: jacked up, and you know, create health hazards for kids
Speaker 1: running around. You know, imagine what they do to a
Speaker 1: green that you're trying to maintain at a very fine,
Speaker 1: you know, precise level, like the shortest. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think people this probably goes you know, people take this
Speaker 1: for granted, but just the you know, think about if
Speaker 1: you were maintaining your yard over the course of the
Speaker 1: summer and you're trying to cut your yard really short,
Speaker 1: and you know, and how many resources, how much time.
Speaker 2: You have to put into your yard. You know, it's
Speaker 2: in the heat of the summer.
Speaker 1: If you're in an area like Connecticut or the Midwest,
Speaker 1: you know, the best thing you can do is keep
Speaker 1: your yard nice and long and lush, because then you
Speaker 1: don't have to put as many resources into it. Now,
Speaker 1: imagine you know, a tree taking out all the water, so,
Speaker 1: you know, and you're trying to maintain the finest level
Speaker 1: of cut of grass, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and the tree doesn't know like, oh I'm
Speaker 3: going underneath the green. I shouldn't do that. Let me
Speaker 3: make a hard right.
Speaker 2: No, it just doesn't have consciousness.
Speaker 3: No, especially some of these No, they don't give a
Speaker 3: rat's ass about me. And they just want their They
Speaker 3: just want their water. But but back to you know
Speaker 3: what I'm looking forward to. You know, I Gil and
Speaker 3: Ben and and their entire team are They're just they're
Speaker 3: the they're the best of the best. And and I
Speaker 3: always I always want to work with the best so
Speaker 3: that I so that my game improves and that like
Speaker 3: they there's no doubt in my mind, like they they
Speaker 3: are going to educate me leaps and bounds, you know.
Speaker 3: They I like looking at guys when when when they're
Speaker 3: talking about a topic and and sort of see like
Speaker 3: the gears turning and whatnot. So it was it was
Speaker 3: during one of Gill's visits. I think it was last
Speaker 3: this past fall, Yeah, this past fall, and uh, and
Speaker 3: they were looking they were they were standing on number
Speaker 3: three T and they were looking back and I was
Speaker 3: coming up and I'm like, what the hell are they
Speaker 3: looking at? They're going backwards and you know, they're looking
Speaker 3: for gaining yardage where where it's feasible. But but to
Speaker 3: to to be with guys who are thinking of the
Speaker 3: answer to the question before it's asked. That's impressive and
Speaker 3: it's it's awesome to be a part of. And it
Speaker 3: only makes me better at trying to foresee the questions
Speaker 3: before they get asked, so that they don't even have
Speaker 3: to ask them. My job is to make their job
Speaker 3: as easy as humanly possible, because the land is still
Speaker 3: difficult to to work with. You know, the rock didn't
Speaker 3: go away from nineteen twenty five twenty six, so so
Speaker 3: my job is to try to facilitate them as much
Speaker 3: as humanly possible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's uh, I mean they are. They've done a
Speaker 1: tremendous job. I can't wait to see it in terms
Speaker 1: of you know, where it where it gets to. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, from my standpoint, when you look at the
Speaker 1: potential of Yale, I've longed intended that it could be,
Speaker 1: you know, among the very very best. I'm talking the
Speaker 1: bucket one golf course in America when you know, with
Speaker 1: a full restoration and uh, and you know, one of
Speaker 1: the things that I you know, I'd be curious about
Speaker 1: is like, how are you gonna what are the plans
Speaker 1: for you guys managing your staff and what type of
Speaker 1: work they'll be doing and you guys will be doing
Speaker 1: during this project.
Speaker 3: There's gonna be enough work to go around.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I imagine that.
Speaker 3: So yeah, So so my guys they'll don't worry. They're
Speaker 3: they're gonna be They're gonna be busy. So so yeah,
Speaker 3: so they'll work hand in hand with with with with
Speaker 3: the various contractors that are that are going to be
Speaker 3: doing their expert work and and so yeah. So then
Speaker 3: then well, let me take a step back. The the
Speaker 3: the greatest part of having my guys here while that
Speaker 3: contry diduction is going on is that they're going to
Speaker 3: become that much better versed in, you know, dealing with
Speaker 3: irrigation because they'll see the heads actually go in, so
Speaker 3: so they'll be able to troubleshoot any any issues that
Speaker 3: much you know, quicker and be able to diagnose things faster.
Speaker 3: They'll they'll be able to you know, see and help
Speaker 3: with with with the grassing of different surfaces, and they'll
Speaker 3: help me say, hey, you know what, I think that
Speaker 3: this tea is going to have to be mowed by X,
Speaker 3: Y and Z mower because we'll have to get at
Speaker 3: it from this angle and it's their their wealth of
Speaker 3: knowledge on this property that's going to become just you know,
Speaker 3: it's going to become invaluable. But yeah, it's going to
Speaker 3: be you know, it's we're bringing it all the way
Speaker 3: back to nineteen twenty five.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's uh, it's exciting. We can't wait, and you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully we'll uh, we'll be we'll be chatting in a
Speaker 1: couple of years when it's all done and uh and
Speaker 1: talking about what you have. I'm excited for the the course,
Speaker 1: the hard work that you and you and Peter have
Speaker 1: put in in and in your entire staff and and
Speaker 1: getting it back to where it is today, which is
Speaker 1: an awesome place to go play golf.
Speaker 2: And uh, we'll hopefully see you next.
Speaker 1: Year with with the with another stop with the dog
Speaker 1: Bowl and then uh and then we'll see the project
Speaker 1: as it as it evolves. So Jeff, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on. And uh, well we'll talk to
Speaker 1: you in the future when when this gets uh, when
Speaker 1: this gets done.
Speaker 3: All right, perfect, Thank you any.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to another edition of the Friday
Speaker 1: podcast in our Superintendent series. This episode was edited by
Speaker 1: Meg Atkins.
Speaker 2: Thank you Meg.
Speaker 1: We have a ton of new stuff up in the
Speaker 1: pro Shop, so if you're looking for a few new
Speaker 1: pieces for the fall.
Speaker 2: Go over to the pro Shop.
Speaker 1: It's proshop dot the fridaygg dot com. We also have
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Speaker 1: kinds of things, so if you want to support the
Speaker 1: Frida Egg, this is a great way to do it.
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