hello Count on him being there - Statewide Turf Equipment
(941) 915-8783 INFO@STATEWIDETURFEQUIPMENT.COM
Jared Nemitz and Nelson Caron enjoy talking the numbers behind smooth and slick ultradwarf Bermudagrass greens.

For the more than three hours in Myrtle Beach, a ballroom packed with colleagues observed a data-driven presentation brewing for years.

Nemitz and Caron are former co-workers turned ultra-successful managers of ultradwarf Bermudagrass. They reunited for work purposes at the 2019 Carolinas GCSA Conference and Show to lead a seminar about a shared turf passion: meticulous greens management. They had never led a seminar together until arriving in Myrtle Beach.

Nemitz is the superintendent at The Peninsula Club in Cornelius, North Carolina; Caron is the director of golf course and grounds maintenance at The Ford Plantation in Richmond Hill, Georgia. Nemitz was Caron’s first assistant superintendent hire. That was in 2008.

Those were highly subjective times in the Bermudagrass business. Consider this conversation while staring at a pile of clippings 11 years ago:

Caron: “There are a lot less clippings than yesterday.”

Nemitz: “There are a lot more clippings than yesterday.”

The conversation sparked a key decision in their respective careers. They jointly decided to find an objective method to maintain greens. So they decided to start measuring clippings. 

And 11 years later? Nemitz and Caron measure everything from number of daily, weekly, monthly and annual rolls to Stimpmeter readings on every green. Nemitz has six years of data documenting every practice performed on The Peninsula Club’s greens.

Nemitz and his assistants compile data on an Excel file. They leave tweet-length notes at the end of each day’s log. Not comfortable using Excel? Nemitz is willing to share a template with any colleague who shows a zest for taking a course’s greens to a higher level. Once a system is established, Nemitz says recording the data “only takes a couple of minutes each day.”

Through the years, Nemitz has noticed growth patterns in The Peninsula Club’s Championship Bermudagrass greens. The more data he collects, the better he understands spring growing conditions in the Charlotte area. “When you start writing things down, you learn how methodical things can be,” he says. “The same thing keeps happening within a few weeks year over year.”

The philosophy is similar at The Ford Plantation, where Caron and his team manage TifEagle Bermudagrass greens. While Nemitz explored the numbers associated with high-level putting surfaces during the seminar, Caron offered insight into handling the human side of greens maintenance. Perception matters when it comes to greens, so Caron urges colleagues to take a hands-on approach with tasks such as course setup for key member events. “You can control the narrative,” he says. “You are the expert.”   

Every expert, though, flourishes with a few other experts on the same team. Caron revealed startling data from The Ford Plantation’s Georgia Open performance – who knew Sunday readings could get that high on a Stimpmeter? – but Caron shared perhaps the most meaningful numbers in a break during the seminar.

Four of his former employees have become superintendents elsewhere and 26 students have participated in the club’s internship program. Every key member of Caron’s current management team completed a turf internship at the club.

One of his former protégés hovered less than 10 feet away, fielding questions from curious colleagues. The number of people Nemitz reaches expands by the industry event. It wouldn’t surprise Caron – or anybody else – if Nemitz is counting. 

“It’s not about what I do on my course,” he says. “It’s about trying to find what works for you. There are keys out there to make it work.”

Guy Cipriano is GCI’s editor.

]]>

X