5 things this greenkeeping legend has learned from nearly half-century run

Bob Farren’s roots in turf care run a lifetime deep.

The son of a superintendent, Farren grew up across the commerce within the Sixties, and in 1979, he entered it himself. Three years later, he joined Pinehurst Resort, the place, since 2001, he has served as director of golf course administration. In that function, Farren has helped lead a variety of forward-thinking initiatives, together with in depth turf-reduction on famed Pinehurst No. 2; conversion to extra drought-tolerant grasses; and elimination of resource-intensive overseeding all through the property. He was additionally a founding accomplice of the Greenkeeper Apprentice Program, which, in partnership with the USGA and Sandhills Community College, gives training and mentorship for golf-course upkeep employees. In recognition of these contributions, the USGA honored Farren this yr with its annual Green Section Award for his management in sustainable golf-course upkeep practices. 

Nice nod. But it doesn’t imply that Farren is resting on his laurels. At 66, he’s busy serving to Pinehurst put together for the 2024 U.S. Open, and he plans to be round for 2029, when the property will host the boys’s and ladies’s nationwide championship, again to again, because it did in 2014. 

Though there’s hardly ever a uninteresting second, there’s time for reflection. During a current weekday work break, GOLF.com requested Farren to share 5 essential classes he has learned from 45 years on the job.

1. It’s science, plus artwork

Back when Farren was getting began, superintendents took soil-moisture readings by strolling throughout a inexperienced and looking out down. “If you left footprints that wilted later, you knew it was too dry,” he says. “If water rose around your feet, you knew it was too wet.” Though high-tech soil-moisture readers have lengthy since eradicated quantitive guesswork, expertise and instinct nonetheless matter. Numbers require context and interpretation. Almost invariably, one part of the inexperienced can be drier than one other. How do you strike the stability? Is that stability sustainable all through the day? Have you checked the climate forecast? How about humidity? What in regards to the wind? Similar questions come up in nearly each side after all upkeep, Farren says. “All the advances in science have been great,” he says. “But we can’t lose touch with the art.”

2. The proper pace? That’s relative

A era in the past, Farren says, the typical native course might realistically keep what had been thought of reasonable inexperienced speeds of 8-and-a-half to 9 on the Stimpmeter. Nowadays, with advances in turf varietals and upkeep practices, “we have the ability to deliver green speeds of 10-plus and have it be manageable,” Farren says. Again, although, you may’t all the time lean on numbers alone. The “right” pace is determined by a variety of things, together with local weather, inexperienced contouring, inexperienced grass sort, quantity of play, upkeep budgets, and extra. “We know that speed can kill (turf) if you push it too far,” Farren says. “We also know it has a big impact on pace of play.” All of these variables are within the combine in the case of establishing the ‘right’ inexperienced pace. If you’re protecting rating at dwelling, Farren says that at Pinehurst No. 2, the Stimp-target they’ve arrived at for each day play is round 11.5.

3. Performance vs. look

Farren remembers the go-go ’80 and ‘90s, when golf was in a real estate-driven frenzy. In those days, a lot of property buyers weren’t avid golfers, however they wished their houses to look out on lush programs. “They had unrealistic expectations,” Farren says, “and less appreciation for golf.” Quite a bit has change since then, and never simply the rising recognition that cautious water-management is important to golf’s future. Nowadays, Farren says, the sport has a “core level of enthusiasts” who’re extra attuned to the qualities that matter, mainly, playability. Nowhere is that shift plainer than at Pinehurst No. 2, the place 40-acres of irrigated turf had been eliminated, changed by sandy wastes and native grasses, and overseeding has ceased altogether, which saves assets and in addition produces better-performing dormant turf within the winter. “We changed the culture of what we offered, and the public responded,” Farren says. “People have a greater appreciation of the course instead of just cosmetics.”

Attentive superintendents don’t simply domesticate their very own gardens. That additionally develop connections to their communities. Those 40-acres of turf that Pinehurst eliminated, for example, didn’t go to waste. They went towards sodding native soccer fields and parks. Local residents even used some for his or her lawns. “Superintendents should be involved, whether it’s coaching Little League or basketball or simply sharing their expertise,” Farren says. “When you become part of the community, the community sees you in a different light, and you can build on the capital from those relationships.”

5. Front lawns vs. greens and fairways

Like most superintendents, Farren fields plenty of yard-care questions. The commonest home-owner misstep he sees? “They mistakenly think that if they put down the same turf varietal as we have on the course, they can get the same results,” Farren says. “They don’t have a sense of the insane amount of resources we have to mow and groom,” Farren says. “They might want their yard to appear like a bentgrass inexperienced. And I’ve to inform them, okay, we’re mowing seven days per week and topdressing as soon as per week, amongst different things. Is that actually what you wish to do?

Josh Sens

Golf.com Editor

A golf, meals and journey author, Josh Sens has been a GOLF Magazine contributor since 2004 and now contributes throughout all of GOLF’s platforms. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sportswriting. He can be the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.