Frankenstorm

       It gets harder and harder to believe the hype that the news stations run with as a big storm approaches the area. Right now they are tracking Sandy coming up the Atlantic with a chance to bash our area with record rain totals and high winds. Last year we had a similar event where things built for days and every generator for hundreds of miles was sold out. That one was bad with some flooding and after spending the entire night up on guard for tornadoes, it was over hyped. Obviously, I am hoping that they are wrong again....somewhere around 12"+ of rain and 80 mile an hour winds is not something I am looking forward to and neither are any local Superintendents. The talk of the storm coming up the Delaware Bay and it being a full moon could make life interesting for all of us. So, as we always do here in Philly....Get you eggs/milk & bread to last you a month and hopfully all you have is a reason to have a big french toast party on Wednesday morning!

Hope everyone stays safe!


WJC

London Calling

       I just returned from a week in the UK. I was a guest of Bernhard & Company, who provide the Express Dual & Angle Master grinders. The big event was they were opening a state of the art new factory. I was able to visit their old one last year and it was only 150 years old, I believe....
One of the cool parts of the festivities was a Ryder Cup format golf event with the US Distributors & Bernhard Representative VS The Euporean Distributors, Bernhard Representatives & Superintendents. Sadly history repeated itself but it was a great day. The match was played at The London Golf Club which was INCREDIBLE! Peter Todd and his staff do an amazing job. I got the chance to play with some true professionals. It was really something special.

       These trips include people from all over the world and are something that I have considered a great privilidge to take part in. Kim Furnell & David Walker from Bernhard & Company are incredible hosts!

WJC

Back To The Future

       This morning I was a volunteer at Lookaway Golf Club. They were hosting an event that was in support of the Matthew Renk Foundation. Matt was the son of Dave & Jackie Renk and Matt passed away from a cancerous brain tumor at the age of 15. With the support of friends, family & the membership of Lookaway Golf Club they are working to generate awareness of brain cancer and support the families facing this challenge.
       Dave had asked me a few weeks ago if I was going to be around to help. To be honest, I was not looking forward to getting up at 3:00AM to make the trip up to Lookaway but with Robert Smith from Merion GC volunteering too, the ride up together was not as bad. The main thing that was my concern was Dave kept saying I was mowing greens...As you can guess, mowing greens is not on the list of things I do too often. And after thinking about it as I mowed this morning, it has been probably about
18 years since I mowed a greens route! a pass here and there over the years does not keep the skills sharp!
Luckily Dave put me with his son Tommy. Tommy, a future Superintendent, was great to work with and as the morning went on I really enjoyed spending time with someone who has passion about the turf business.
       Now for the bad part....I mowed the first green in the dark with my reel off -( or should I say rolled the first green for my part of the double cut. It was like mowing in a closet with the door closed. I was so focused on trying to see my lines (and could not see even with the light kit)
that I did not pick up on it. Impressive right?
With each green the old feel came back with the last two greens looking pretty straight!
A few pounds lighter and a little tired, we headed back into the shop.
Just like the old days...

       To learn more about the Matt Renk foundation go to:
http://matthewrenkfoundation.org/about-matt.html


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