Taking the time..The Loss of a True Leader

This forum has been used to update members on initiatives at Hyde Park, this post is a little different.....Darian Daily the Head Sports Field Manager for the Cincinnati Bengals passed away suddenly on August 27th. I know very few details, but what I do know is that Darian was a great father, husband and a leader in our Industry and he even left his mark at Hyde Park.

Darian

Our paths crossed about 7 years ago when I gave Darian a call to talk about painting a logo for the HP members for The Founders Cup. Darian was great, no questions asked he spent about 40 minutes running through how it could be done. Unfortunately, it still seemed complicated (golf course superintendents are not sports field managers) so he said he would come out and give me the visual guidance. He then took time out of his busy schedule the following Saturday to show me how to paint! Darian always took time the time, whether it was talking on the phone how great we had it with managing warm season grasses when it was 1000 degrees out, or engaging with turfgrass interns, or the many seminars he spoke at. He was even gracious enough to give Hyde Park samples of Bermudagrass to trial on the range tee. He was a true leader in every sense of the word, demonstrating it with his involment in local, state and national associations and left his mark with the hundreds of fields he painted around Cincinnati and the US.

The HP logo under the guidance of Darian

Many of you know at Hyde Park how we use social media as a tool to communicate. Darian, with the Twitter handle @whodeyturf was the guru! Many of us in the Turf Industry, enjoyed his enthusiasm with his updates on Projects at Paul Brown, his love for natural grass vs synthetic and of course the many interesting hash tags he would send across the Twitter sphere- I know my favorite was #grasscandomore!

Over the coming days there will be many folks that will try to make sense of his loss and they will have their own stories about Darian and how they were impacted by his empathy, sense of humor and his love for what he did and most of all how he always #TOOKTHETIME...

 

My deepest condolences to his family and friends.... Rest in Peace....

 

 

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Putting Green Aerification Update

On August 22nd and 23rd the Hyde Park Grounds team aerified the putting surfaces, the weather at the time was ideal, low humidity and cool temperatures, something that Mother has not delivered very much this summer. The choice to aerify in late August in Cincinnati is unique, because it can be extremely hot, putting the turf under great stress. The primary reasons for this choice is twofold; to reduce the chances of Annual Bluegrass (Poa) encroachment because of a relatively quick healing time and the golf calendar has a slight lull before it picks up again in the fall.

The downside is we need to be very careful during and after the processes because of the heat to slowly allow the turf to recover. The greens are slow and bumpy, however they are recovering well! We generally see full recovery in two weeks, pending weather conditions.

During the process!

Close up...

After Sand Incorporation...

A few days later.....

We will begin mowing and rolling the surfaces consistently when the Turfgrass plants have grown through the sand that was applied.

A few stats attached to aerifcation process....

• There are appromately 72 holes per square foot, roughly with a .5" diameter
• The channels range from 2.5" to 2.75" in depth
• Impacting roughly 10% of the surface
• Almost 70 tons of sand were used to backfill the channels
• It takes about 14 members of our team to compete this process over two days
• Since October of 2016 our team has applied close to 275 tons of sand to the putting greens through aeration and topdressing! Sand applications create a healthy environment for Turfgrass and aid with improved playability; noted in firmness and ball roll

Thanks to the entire staff for their hardwork during these long days and the HP membership for their patience while the surfaces recover.

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superientendent

 

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Alex Lambert's Experience at the US Senior Open

Each year, team members of the HP grounds department volunteer at various tournaments, helping the host site to prepare the course for tournament play. These are great opportunities to engage with others in the industry, see the behind the scenes of tournament preparation and bring back ideas that may help with the operation at HP. Recently, Alex Lambert Ohio International Intern at HP had the opportunity to Volunteer at the US Senior Open at Scioto Country Club below is an account of his experience.....

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My first golf tournament experience and what a great place to start, volunteering at the US senior open held at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. The week started with anevening meeting with the grounds superintendent Bob Becker, all the staff of Scioto and the volunteers. Everyone received their jobs for the week and out we went for the first evening shift.

I was assigned to mow greens everyday, morning and evening, which was an important job and one that had to have a lot of due care and attention. The week progressed and the course was in prime condition, exactly how the USGA (United States Golf Association) wanted it to be, a hard and challenging course. Volunteering at Scioto gave me a real insight into the amount of work, planning and effort that goes into putting on these huge tournaments. Countless hours of hard work for weeks on end leading up to the tournament.

Tournaments create a pool of volunteers from all backgrounds with varieties of experience. Which makes for great networking opportunities, a huge part of the green keeping business. Whilst my time at Scioto was only a week, I became part of their team and together we put out an amazing course for the world to see.

An experience I will never forget!

 

 

Nice Work Alex!

Congrats to Bob Becker and his team at Scioto for a successful tournament!

Thank-you!

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Summer is in full swing!

With one of the the more humid and challenging summer seasons for Turfgrass management in the Ohio Valley coming to an end, the Grounds staff and I continue to move forward with many iniatives for the fall season on the Grounds at Hyde Park.

Currently we are engaged in the following practices that will help enhance the turf now and next season:

Inner Seeding of Tall Fescue in select areas of the rough that were impacted by Summer Patch. This is an ideal time to complete this process because Fescue has a competitive advantage right now over Annual Bluegrass with the warmer temperatures.

The process includes slit seeding, aerifcation and drop seeding. Please do not operate carts in areas that are roped off

The Fescue will take about 7 days to begin to germinate!

Aerification of the putting surfaces will begin August 22nd pending soil and weather conditions. Aerification is one of the most important practices that helps with the long term health of the turfgrass stand. Generally, the putting surfaces take about 10-14 days to heal completely from this process.

As always, we appreciate you're feedback and comments concerning the grounds at HP. If there are any questions we can be reached at grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien

Grounds Superintendent

 

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