Jim Myers, the director of agronomy at Columbia Edgewater
This podcast episode delves into the intricacies of preparing for the LPGA Portland Classic at Columbia Edgewater, emphasizing the meticulous planning and execution required to ensure the golf course is in optimal condition. Jim Myers, the director of agronomy, shares insights regarding the extensive groundwork involved, including managing turf health and organizing volunteers in anticipation of the tournament. The conversation also highlights the significance of maintaining consistent playing conditions throughout the year, a practice aimed at providing both members and professionals with a remarkable golfing experience. We discuss the dynamics of event management, from setting up infrastructure to addressing weather-related challenges, illustrating the behind-the-scenes efforts that contribute to a successful tournament. Join us as we explore the intersection of agronomy and competitive golf, providing a unique perspective on the operational aspects of hosting elite sporting events.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Birdie Ball
- Columbia Edgewater
- LPGA
- Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
- Chevron Championship
- Hilton Grand Vacation
- Les Schwab
- Oregon State University
- Weston Kia
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Carsley Golf
- Snell Golf
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
It's time for Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Join Jeff Tracy as he explores a golfing lifestyle and tries to keep it in the short grass.
Speaker A:For the hackers, new sweepers and turf spankers, here's Jeff.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody.
Speaker A:Welcome to Grilling at the Green here in Portland on AMH 60 and in Seattle and other places and of course on Golf News Network Worldwide.
Speaker A:Yay.
Speaker A:This segment is brought to you by Birdie Ball.
Speaker A:If you need a indoor putting green, an outdoor putting green, or some birdie balls to practice with, they kind of look like napkin rings, go to birdieball.com well, the master of grass out at Columbia Edgewater, the director of agronomy, our good buddy Jim Myers is on with us today.
Speaker A:Of course, we've got the LPGA Standard Classic coming up.
Speaker A:Standard Portland Classic, I guess is the proper way to say it, starting the 14th out there.
Speaker A:And Jim is a very busy guy, but he took some time to be with us.
Speaker A:So welcome back, my man.
Speaker B:Yes, Jeff, it's nice seeing you again.
Speaker B:I really appreciate the time that we always hang out together and chat golf.
Speaker B:It's always entertaining and always fun for me.
Speaker A:Yeah, it is.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:So we were talking before we started rolling here.
Speaker A:You're hosting a junior event right now as we record this.
Speaker A:This show will actually air a week ago, so as it are a week ahead of next week.
Speaker A:But you're going to have advanced people on the ground for the Classic.
Speaker A:Tell us how that rolls with you and your staff.
Speaker A:Yeah, you've been working on the course for a long time to get it prepped.
Speaker B:Yeah, we have.
Speaker B:This has actually been kind of an interesting year for us.
Speaker B:We've had our 100 year anniversary here at the club recently.
Speaker B:So that was an event that we had that kind of got us got the ball rolling towards all these events.
Speaker B:And then right from there we went to our women's invitational.
Speaker B:And then from there we went to our men's invitational, which is Sequoia Classic.
Speaker B:And then this week we're hosting the Junior Americas cup, which is basically college kids from anywhere from Mexico to Canada and all up and down the the western side of the state from this side of the Mississippi.
Speaker B:So that's a big event, obviously.
Speaker B:And that really leads us into next week, which is our advanced week for lpga.
Speaker B:And I guess to answer your question, rules officials will show up on property.
Speaker B:We'll do, I'll actually do a course walk with rules officials on Monday, this coming Monday.
Speaker B:And then infrastructure will start going up Saturday a little bit tomorrow, Friday.
Speaker B:But Saturday structures start going up on the property.
Speaker B:We'll start putting some of the grandstands up.
Speaker B:The whole backdrop of 18 green volunteer tents will go up on Saturday, TV towers will start going up.
Speaker B:So once this Junior America cup finishes Friday, we'll have basically LPGA set up starting.
Speaker B:That'll take the entire week.
Speaker B:We'll finish that up.
Speaker B:Once we get through that entire week, that'll lead us right into the actual first, first day, which is our Pro Am and practice rounds on Monday.
Speaker B:So we'll be ready to go.
Speaker B:It's gonna be a busy, it's been a couple of busy weeks with all these events, but By Monday the 11th, we'll be August 11th, Will, will be in full tilt and we'll have players on, on property at that point.
Speaker A:Do you kind of close the course when you're, you know, bringing everybody in?
Speaker A:They're setting up the bleachers on 18.
Speaker A:The tents when they drag, when they drag in the green can.
Speaker A:That's the, the encore studio for Golf Channel guys.
Speaker A:If you don't know what that is because it's always tucked in the, in the trees there by 18 it is.
Speaker A:And do you let people play that week or you just kind of shut it off?
Speaker B:We do.
Speaker B:We'll.
Speaker B:Members will be playing the golf course that week.
Speaker B:We'll, we'll.
Speaker B:It'll be a little bit of, kind of a reduction in tee times come the weekend, which is the Sunday, the 10th, the day before we get rolling.
Speaker B:We'll get in and do some maintenance work for us right before then and we'll be ready to ride.
Speaker B:But there'll be a little bit, a little bit of play still going on.
Speaker B:Members haven't had really much access to the golf course this week with, with the Junior America's cup, so I've got to imagine that we'll be pretty busy next week.
Speaker B:And I'm sure it's, you know, there's always a lot going on with setup and, you know, members playing at the same time.
Speaker B:But this club has hosted, you know, the Portland classic since the 70s, so the members are pretty used to, pretty used to the setup and, and know what's going on.
Speaker A:Well, you got second generation members now that have grown up seeing this and happening when the tournaments there.
Speaker A:So yeah, they should be used to it.
Speaker A:What's your biggest challenge at this point?
Speaker A:Time, Jim, besides time management, which I've worked in enough events over my career that that's always the big bugaboo for people.
Speaker A:You just kind of run out of daylight hours sometimes.
Speaker B:Yeah, we do.
Speaker B:You know, Nate and I spend a lot of our time doing planning and you know, the staff's doing a lot of executing for us.
Speaker B:I said one of the biggest challenge for us is just getting all of our volunteers organized.
Speaker B:Takes a lot of planning, just the small little details.
Speaker B:You know, we order uniforms for the staff and for volunteers.
Speaker B:We're planning, you know, our, our, our kitchen and you know, our restaurant helps us out in the morning with food for all of our staff and our volunteers.
Speaker B:But for our D and our lunches and that kind of stuff, we try to take a little pressure off the clubhouse and we, we cater in a lot of stuff.
Speaker B:So we've got to plan all that catering in, you know, we have a lot of volunteers coming from out of state, so we're trying to organize their flights, organize their schedule.
Speaker B:So once our, our team, you know, increases, you know, not quite double, but pretty close to being double, it's just organizing all those individuals.
Speaker B:We have to set up housing for those individuals.
Speaker B:We have a lot of sponsors that help us here in the turf department and they help us with organizing that.
Speaker B:And then we're just kind of taking the lead on it and putting the fine touches on it.
Speaker B:But really it's nice to have some sponsors help us get through that phase.
Speaker B:But it feels like as soon as one LPGA ends, we almost start planning for the next one.
Speaker B:So that's almost a year long process.
Speaker B:It feels like sometimes.
Speaker A:Well, I'm sure it does.
Speaker A:I mean, besides just keeping the, the club up to speed just for the members, when you do all these outside events, that's a lot more work, I would think.
Speaker B:Yeah, it takes a lot of toll, a lot of stress on the turf team.
Speaker B:You know, our turf team is really solid.
Speaker B:Our managers have been here for, you know, several years now and it's really nice that they're pretty dialed.
Speaker B:They kind of know what the protocol is and what the expect and kind of really what that week involves.
Speaker B:The planning process is kind of fun as we go through.
Speaker B:I mean, we plan, you know, our member events the same way that we plan our, you know, our outside events, whether we're hosting this Juniors cup or the lpj.
Speaker B:But you know, it's for the new staff that's coming in, summer staff and that kind of deal.
Speaker B:It's always nice that the schedule's a little bit earlier.
Speaker B:We do depend on a lot of college kids to help us out.
Speaker B:And this year with the LPGA being a little bit earlier on the schedule, we are a little bit Solid on staff, so that should keep us in really good shape.
Speaker A:Where's your office?
Speaker A:Over there.
Speaker A:Behind the driving range?
Speaker B:Yep, we're right behind the driving range.
Speaker B:The turf department's been here for a few years.
Speaker B:Offices are in that area, our storage areas, our equipment manager area, and all of our outside storage as well.
Speaker A:Yeah, I can tell by the arborvitas and the trees and stuff behind you.
Speaker A:I've walked through there many times, so.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's all good.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:We're going to pick this up on the other side of the break, Jim, but what type of input do you get throughout the year?
Speaker A:Not just a week or two before tournament time or a couple of months prior to tournament time, but through the course of the year from, like, the LPGA and the usga?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So John is the LPGA agronomist.
Speaker B:John Miller.
Speaker B:John Miller's actually been a friend of mine for a long time.
Speaker B:I knew John several years ago.
Speaker B:Him and I served on some national GCS AA committees, which is the Golf Course Superintendents association of America.
Speaker B:Him and I served on a bunch of committees together.
Speaker B:So we've known each other.
Speaker B:And then John ended up becoming the agronomist for lpga, which is really kind of nice for me.
Speaker B:You know, I stayed in touch with John throughout the year.
Speaker B:John will do some site visits.
Speaker B:He'll do site visit.
Speaker B:Sometimes he'll do two, sometimes he'll just do one site visit.
Speaker B:Just depends.
Speaker B:We've known each other for years.
Speaker B:He pretty much knows the condition of our property.
Speaker B:It's not like we're a new, you know, site that's been hosting or hosting an LPGA event.
Speaker B:So working with John Miller is really great.
Speaker B:You know, he was a superintendent in the.
Speaker B:For several years in the past.
Speaker B:He understands, you know, kind of our side and the LPGA side.
Speaker B:So John.
Speaker B:John's really.
Speaker B:He's dialed.
Speaker B:He's the type of guy that you want to be part of your team, especially, you know, if there's something that does arise through the year and you have some questions about it, you know, how would the LPGA respond to this?
Speaker B:Especially if we're doing construction, we're remodeling a T or a bunker.
Speaker B:We had remodeled a bunker recently, and we kept John in the loop on that, and we're able to touch base with him.
Speaker B:So having that agronomist is always kind of nice.
Speaker B:And also having a friend and somebody that's, I guess, as many years as a golf course superintendent as I have, I think both of us are probably been on, you know, a part of the GCSA for over 33 years now.
Speaker A:So, sure, we're going to take a break.
Speaker B:Excuse me.
Speaker A:We're going to take a break and we're going to be back with my buddy Jim Myers from Columbia Edgewater right after this.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, JT Here.
Speaker A:If you need something to practice with in the inclement weather, try birdie ball.
Speaker A:Go to birdieball.com, check out the actual birdie balls, their packages, their putting greens, which I happen to have a couple of those, and they work great.
Speaker A:Birdieball.com.
Speaker C:Hi, this is Michael Arkish, author of the Golf 100, a spirited ranking.
Speaker B:Of the Greatest Players of All Time.
Speaker B:You're listening to Jeff Tracy on Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Grilling at the green.
Speaker A:I'm J.T.
Speaker A:we've got Jim Myers today with us.
Speaker A:Jim's been on the show before a few times.
Speaker A:He's the agronomist, the superintendent, the master of grass.
Speaker A:I just thought I'd throw that out there at you.
Speaker A:I like grass at Columbia Edgewater.
Speaker A:And of course, they've got the LPGA Portland Classic, the standard Portland Classic, I should say it correctly, coming up for the public.
Speaker A:It's the 14th through the 17th of August here.
Speaker A:It's great to a great tournament, a great event, a lot of fun stuff there.
Speaker A:And Jim is one of the major players behind the scenes to make that course look as beautiful as it always does when you're Jim, when you're getting ready for this and you must have a ton of meetings, a ton of emails, I mean, probably you can't count them at this point and two weeks from now you'll want to hit delete, but you can't, right?
Speaker A:So when you're going through all that stuff, tell us about the timing.
Speaker A:Timing is always so critical when you're doing an event and especially an event on the golf course, when you're trying to get the grass to a certain spot, so to speak, the thickness of the rough, the height of the rough.
Speaker A:I mean, I know you, you know, you're trimming that and cutting that and all that stuff right during tournament time in the weeks prior.
Speaker A:But what goes into making sure that that grass gets there by tournament time?
Speaker B:Yeah, great question.
Speaker B:You know, Jeff, over the years, Nate and I have spent time at other events.
Speaker B:This year we went to the Chevron Championship down in Woodland, Texas.
Speaker B:We got to see their operation.
Speaker B:We were able to see their setup.
Speaker B:The year before, we actually were.
Speaker B:We've attended the Hilton Grand Vacation tournament, which is down in Lake Nona Country Club, Florida.
Speaker B:The year before that, we were in Las Vegas, so at the Match Play.
Speaker B:So every year, Nate and I try to attend another event, volunteer.
Speaker B:The main thing is, we want to see what their operation is.
Speaker B:We want to see what they're doing, how they're preparing the grounds.
Speaker B:And it's always great when you can go somewhere else and learn or pass ideas back and forth with other, you know, golf course superintendents that are hosting an event for us.
Speaker B:Really, what we end up doing, we take some of that, but we.
Speaker B:We try to keep our golf course pretty much in the same condition.
Speaker B:You know, once we enter into our.
Speaker B:Our main golf season, we really don't change much on height of cut for greens, tees, and fairways.
Speaker B:Once we get down to our summer fairway height, we won't change that for LPGA or, you know, a member event that we have.
Speaker B:Same thing with greens.
Speaker B:Once we get our greens to that height.
Speaker B:You know, we do a lot of play here at Columbia Edgewater, and our standard is to keep our golf course in the best playing conditions at tournament conditions at all times.
Speaker B:So, you know, we.
Speaker B:We have a policy where we double cut greens every Friday just for the membership.
Speaker B:We'll do that.
Speaker B:That's the same for lpga.
Speaker B:We'll do that the same for.
Speaker B:For this, you know, junior America's cup that we're hosting.
Speaker B:So we try to keep things pretty.
Speaker B:Cons try to keep things pretty the same.
Speaker B:I guess if, you know, Jeff, you came out and played golf in June, or you came out here in August, or you were out here for lpga, we try to keep those conditions the exact same pretty much all summer long.
Speaker B:It gives us a great opportunity to showcase how great Columbia Edgewater is.
Speaker B:And whether you're a guest or you're an LPGA player, we want to make sure that we're giving you guys the best playing conditions possible.
Speaker A:Well, I noticed that, and I've covered a lot of tournaments, as you know, that there's.
Speaker A:I think you're one of the unsung heroes of any tournament.
Speaker A:I'm not saying that just because I know you, Jim, but to keep the course at that consistent level, because some of the.
Speaker A:We have different weather conditions here in the northwest and some of the courses down south, and they're all different areas of the country have different things that they have to deal with, whether.
Speaker A:Whether it's, you know, blight on the greens or what have you.
Speaker A:And I know that some of the tournaments I've Covered, man.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:They're hustling.
Speaker A:Not that anybody wouldn't be hustling the last few weeks before a tournament, but they're trying to patch spots, if you will.
Speaker A:And so is it the.
Speaker A:Is it through your work and your team's work that you don't have to do that as much because you keep it consistent all the time?
Speaker B:Yeah, I really feel, you know, I'm pretty fortunate to work here at Columbia Edgewater.
Speaker B:You know, the membership gives us the best equipment possible.
Speaker B:They give us a really great budget to work from.
Speaker B:You know, most of the team that I'm working with, especially our management team, is all hand selected.
Speaker B:You know, like I was talking about John Miller and I, you know, being John, being the lpg agronomist.
Speaker B:If you've been in the business as long as John and I have, you know, you really start to know people.
Speaker B:We have an internship program where students graduate college or in college, they do an internship program.
Speaker B:We use that as a hiring pool.
Speaker B:It's great opportunity for us to train those individuals.
Speaker B:You know, if we do have an individual that is a manager that gets an opportunity to move up or move, you know, onto a different position, we would have that hiring pool with those interns.
Speaker B:So I think just really having a really great team, managing that team and putting those, giving those individuals the best tools possible, which the club gives us, we can put the golf course in great shape where we're not having to, you know, do a bunch of patchwork the week before.
Speaker B:We're not having to go down.
Speaker B:I think a lot of it is just planning as well.
Speaker B:Nate and I, we spend a lot of time planning.
Speaker B:You know, I being the director of agronomy, I work more on a 30, 60, 90 plan where Nate, being the golf course superintendent, spends more time, you know, on the weekly plan or the month or maybe a little bit on the monthly plan, but definitely more on the weekly plan by the two of us working together like that.
Speaker B:And then having our management team around us really gives us an opportunity to succeed.
Speaker B:And having the right cultural practices in place just really gives us an opportunity to make sure that we're given those conditions, that those great playing conditions at all times, not having to let us have to scramble.
Speaker B:So I feel like if we're hosting an LPGA event or we're hosting just our member guest, it's going to be pretty much the same conditions.
Speaker A:You got it hammered there.
Speaker A:It's all good.
Speaker A:We're going to take another break.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with Jim Myers from Columbia Edgewater, where the LPGA Portland Classic is coming up in just a couple weeks.
Speaker A:Stay with us.
Speaker C:Ready for a new ride?
Speaker C:Choose from over a thousand vehicles at Weston Kia like a new Kia Sportage, Soul Forte, K4 Sorento Telluride or Carnival Gas, electric or hybrid, Oregon's own all time leader in Kia sales.
Speaker C: Everyone Wins at Westin: Speaker C:Reported by Kia Core.
Speaker A:Hey everybody, it's jt.
Speaker A:You know, I talk about Painted Hills all the time and we always say beef the way nature intended.
Speaker A:But it's more than that because each bite of Painted Hills will make your taste buds explode.
Speaker A:Put a big bright smile on your face and whoever's at your dinner table will have a big bright smile on their face.
Speaker A:And you can thank me for that later.
Speaker A:Just go to paintedhillsbeef.com and find out more.
Speaker A:You won't regret it.
Speaker A:Welcome back to grilling.
Speaker A:It's green.
Speaker A:Want to say thank you to a few people before we get back.
Speaker A:Talking with Jim here.
Speaker A:Snell Golf balls.
Speaker A:Tour quality golf balls at a consumer direct price to you.
Speaker A:I actually play with Snells if you didn't know that.
Speaker A:And I have a Snell hat on.
Speaker A:They make some cool hats too, or I should.
Speaker A:They don't make them.
Speaker A:They haven't made.
Speaker A:Also, Carsley Golf, home of the rhymer 2.0.
Speaker A:If you're having a little problem with your stance or your alignment, it's very simple little device and you can keep it in your golf bag.
Speaker A:Can't use it on the tee though if you're playing for real.
Speaker A:But it's very handy thing.
Speaker A:Just go to carsleygolf.com Anyway, we're talking with my friend Jim Myers here from Columbia Edgewater.
Speaker A:Couple of things.
Speaker A:This is more on the personal side, Jim, not too personal though.
Speaker A:What's your favorite part of once the tournament actually, you know, first balls hit off the first tee on Thursday morning.
Speaker A:What's your favorite part of the tournament?
Speaker A:Do you get to take a breath for five minutes?
Speaker B:Yeah, you definitely get to take a breath for five minutes.
Speaker B:You know, our schedule is pretty crazy.
Speaker B:We're up early in the morning, 3 o' clock in the morning.
Speaker B:We're prepping the golf course to, you know, whether it's split tees or whatever we have going on.
Speaker B:And then you get a little break during the day and then you come back in the evening and you're working till 11 o' clock at night, go home, sleep for two or three hours.
Speaker B:I stay on property that entire week, all the time.
Speaker B:I'm here 24 hours a day during the tournament.
Speaker B:But I would say probably the best thing is just to interact with the players.
Speaker B:It's so cool to watch these players and see how good they are, what their abilities are, you know, I mean, very partial to Hannah Green.
Speaker B:She's won here in the past.
Speaker B:I would love to see Hannah win again.
Speaker B:But we've got.
Speaker B:It's so great to watch how good these players are, and it's really nice to see how they attack the golf course.
Speaker B:You know, we see a lot of members that play the golf course.
Speaker B:You know, I'm watching that daily.
Speaker B:Then all of a sudden you bring a tour professional on.
Speaker B:They play the golf course totally different than, you know, a member or somebody like you and I, Jeff, you know, so that's probably the most rewarding is just to watch these tour players play and how they attack the golf course.
Speaker A:That picture behind me, can you see that?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:You know where that's at?
Speaker B:I'm not sure.
Speaker A:18.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:I was kind of.
Speaker A:You know, they have a.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The grassy knoll, if you will, around the one side, and you've got the bleachers, and then there's another little covered area.
Speaker A:And then there was a little fence there, and I was just having to stop there.
Speaker A:We were shooting the tournament and stopped there and was leaning over and I saw.
Speaker A:I saw it coming in.
Speaker A:I don't remember who hit it.
Speaker A:And this was six years ago or something, and it just went clunk, right there.
Speaker A:And I thought, now I actually should show that to Jim someday because he could appreciate that picture because that's on 18.
Speaker A:Off to the.
Speaker A:If you're facing north, it would be off to the left side there.
Speaker A:There's a little drain somewhere, and that's where that came from.
Speaker B:So, yeah, that's one of the dream boxes on the left hand side there on Number.
Speaker B:Number 18.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So anyway, that was.
Speaker A:It's just kind of a.
Speaker A:It's kind of a little deal between me and Jim there.
Speaker A:But that's okay.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It was a fun shot.
Speaker A:Do you ever get.
Speaker A:This is not the.
Speaker A:Probably the best question, but do you ever get complaints?
Speaker A:I mean, I know you.
Speaker A:I don't think you get very many complaints, but when you have a big event and a lot of personalities with the players.
Speaker A:I mean, I've interviewed a lot of the LPGA players.
Speaker A:I know a few of them.
Speaker A:Most all of them are great, and I'm not fishing for dirt on anything, but have you ever gotten complaints from somebody?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think, you know, obviously anybody's getting complaints, you know, but a lot of it comes down to, like you were saying, weather earlier.
Speaker B:Those are the things that.
Speaker B:That Nate and I are trying to do is try to mitigate as much as possible any complaints.
Speaker B:But usually it comes down to weather when it's hot, cold, raining.
Speaker B:We've had rain in the past during this event, and that puts stress on the players.
Speaker B:You know, if the weather's perfect, it's 78 degrees with a light little breeze, and, you know, everybody's happy out there.
Speaker B:It's easy to play golf then.
Speaker B:But when it's pouring rain and things get a little soft or, you know, you know, maybe we double cut greens and rolled greens, and then we get a bunch of rain, and that changes the green speed.
Speaker B:That's really going to affect the players.
Speaker B:So I would say if we've gotten complaints in the past, it's, you know, more weather dictated just for the fact that it really changes how the players play the golf course.
Speaker A:Do you actually go out and when they're running the stimp on the greens, do you go with them?
Speaker B:I do, actually.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We have Dr. Chaz Schmid from Oregon State University.
Speaker B:I think you've met Dr. Chaz before.
Speaker B:Dr. Chaz does all our data collection for us during the events.
Speaker B:He's got GPS marked locations on our greens.
Speaker B:He goes back and stamps in that same spot.
Speaker B:We'll do stamp readings, we'll do firmness readings, we'll do moisture content readings, and we'll take all that data, compile it together.
Speaker B:We submit that to the LPGA every day on a sheet.
Speaker B:But it's also nice for us for year to year, we can look at that weather data, and then we can actually look at what our.
Speaker B:Our data collections are from the greens and see how comparable they are.
Speaker B:Or if we do have weather during the event, what.
Speaker B:What do we need to do to adjust?
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:You know, do we double cut that day?
Speaker B:Do we single cut and roll?
Speaker B: You know, in: Speaker B:And that's the year that Hannah won.
Speaker B:And that was probably the firmest the golf course was, you know, that that was a phenomenal year.
Speaker B:We had really good weather a few years back.
Speaker B:I think what maybe it was last year where leading up, but then all of a sudden we've got some rain, and that really changed our firmness.
Speaker B:Remember the year that we had some smokes and Fire.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker B:And that kind of delayed some of the event and shortened one of the days on the event.
Speaker B:That was a real challenge just for the fact that, you know, you just had so.
Speaker B:And how is it affecting playability?
Speaker B:How is it affecting the turf and growth?
Speaker B:How is it affecting the, you know, the firmness?
Speaker B:So we try to figure out what those challenges are going to be and then adapt to them.
Speaker B:But Dr. Chaz really kind of helps us out from Oregon State University.
Speaker A:Have you ever had to.
Speaker A:When you have those weather challenges, I mean, you see it.
Speaker A:If you've been to tournaments in the other parts of the country, they'll have a storm, especially in the spring a lot of times.
Speaker A:And down south, they have a big thunderboomers come in or whatever, and they have to call it for the day.
Speaker A:And then later on, you see the images of trees uprooted or fallen over or big branches, and most of those guys are right on it.
Speaker A:They get it cleaned up.
Speaker A:I've been to those where you can't even tell they were there the next day.
Speaker A:But have you had to do any of that?
Speaker B:Yeah, we've had.
Speaker B:We've had to.
Speaker B:I think about three years ago, we had that Labor Day storm.
Speaker B:We had heavy winds that came in.
Speaker B:We lost some trees on property, knocked down a ton of branches.
Speaker B:The cleanup was unreal.
Speaker B:I think that was the year before the smoke.
Speaker B:So we went.
Speaker B:We went the Labor Day storm.
Speaker B:And then the next year we had the smoke from the fires and stuff.
Speaker B:But, you know, I think our team, our management team understands and knows what the protocol is going to be for when we have those, what position they need to be in and what needs to be done in a short period of time.
Speaker B:We've had the golf course cleaned up and rules officials, before they got here, they didn't even know that, really the kind of damage that we had until we showed them photos.
Speaker B:They were blown away at how much we were able to do in a short period of time.
Speaker B:That's the nice thing about having a great management team and a great turf crew that knows what.
Speaker B:What to do.
Speaker B:And they've been here for a while.
Speaker A:Yeah, I wanted to talk to you, too about the.
Speaker A:On Saturday, the.
Speaker A:The le Schwab Par 3 Little tournament for young girls or anybody's younger than I am, but there's two different age groups.
Speaker A:But I want to.
Speaker A:I want to talk about the par three course.
Speaker A:I've never hit a ball on it.
Speaker A:I've played Columbia Edgewater a number of times, but I've never Hit a ball in the par three course.
Speaker A:Do you.
Speaker A:You do the same amount of work on that course as you do the main course, or how does that balance out there?
Speaker A:Especially when you've got, you know, girls from the ages of 8 to 12 and then 13 to 18 or whatever the breakdown is.
Speaker B:Yeah, we do actually maintain the.
Speaker B:The Mason course about almost.
Speaker B:About the same.
Speaker B:We treat it as the same as the main course.
Speaker B:The only thing we do a little bit different is we do cut the greens a little bit higher.
Speaker B:There's a lot more slope and a lot more undulation on those greens, so we cut them at a little bit higher height of cut.
Speaker B:But yeah, the Les Schwab events, you know, one of the most exciting events probably for me.
Speaker B:I have a daughter that's eight and she plays in that.
Speaker B:Her and one of her friends from Lake Swego, they won that par three event last year.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker B:For their age group.
Speaker B:So it was really cool.
Speaker B:They both got a trophy and yeah, I think it's great.
Speaker B:You know, my daughter just recently competed in the drive chip and putt, and she advanced to the next round, which is great.
Speaker B:We've got the next round coming up for her.
Speaker B:But I think it was really kind of cool with what Les Schwab is doing.
Speaker B:It really kind of encourages those younger kids to get involved in golf and get some.
Speaker B:An opportunity to move to that drive chip and put.
Speaker B:But they can spend the day doing that Les Schwab event.
Speaker B:And if they enjoy that part, you know, it kind of encourages them a little bit to take that next step.
Speaker B:And that's kind of what happened with my daughter.
Speaker B:You know, she really enjoyed playing in that event for the last few years.
Speaker B:Sign up is going on now.
Speaker B:So I encourage parents, you know, they have that family fun zone out there on the par 3 as well.
Speaker B:So I encourage, you know, families to come out, enjoy part of that family fun zone, and then get signed up for that par three event.
Speaker B:The par three is on the Saturday, if I am.
Speaker B:If I'm right.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So to maintain the golf course, it's pretty important.
Speaker B:One of my biggest critics is my daughter.
Speaker B:So I need to make sure that I have that.
Speaker B:That golf course in tip top shape for that par three event.
Speaker A:Did you have a hand when they were actually designing it and putting it in?
Speaker B:No, the superintendent prior to me was part of that design.
Speaker B:And Buddy Mason is the actual designer of that par three course.
Speaker B:So that was all done prior to me, you know, taking over in this position.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:We're going to Take a break.
Speaker A:We're going to come back and wrap up with my buddy Jim Myers from Columbia Edgewater and got the LPGA tournament coming up here in a couple of weeks.
Speaker A:And we'll be right back.
Speaker C:Ready for a new ride.
Speaker C:Choose from over a thousand vehicles at Weston Kia.
Speaker C:Like a new Kia Sportage, Sole Forte, KP Sorento, Telluride or Carnival Gas, electric or hybrid, Oregon's all time leader in Kia sales.
Speaker C: Everyone Wins at Westin: Speaker A:Reported by Kia Corp. Hi everybody, it's JT and this is a special version of Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Grilling at the Green is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker A:That's Painted Hills Natural Bee Foreign.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Grilling at the green.
Speaker A:I'm J.T.
Speaker A:we want to thank you for letting us share some time with you today.
Speaker A:We're talking with Jim Myers, who's the, as I told him at the top of the show, the master of grass out at Columbia Edgewater.
Speaker A:He's the head agronomist there, also part of the Golf Course Superintendents Association.
Speaker A:Jim's got a pedigree like, like back when I was in the horse business.
Speaker A:If we had a horse with your pedigree, Jim, he'd be a top seller.
Speaker B:Okay, I love that.
Speaker A:Put it like that.
Speaker A:So I think a very pressing question because we've only got a few minutes here is how's your golf game?
Speaker A:You're usually running around the world playing somewhere.
Speaker B:Yeah, Mike.
Speaker B:Well, yeah, that's true.
Speaker B:During the winter it seems like I get a lot more opportunity.
Speaker B:You know, I play golf and I don't know, five continents and over 20, 20 some odd countries.
Speaker B:Last year I was able to take my daugh.
Speaker B:We went and played Hong Kong Golf Club and we played Clearwater Bay.
Speaker B:This year coming up, we're going to play Macau Country Club in Macau.
Speaker B:They've hosted a nation tour, but I don't get to play as much as I like.
Speaker B:You know, this July has been pretty crazy with all the events that we've had with this Junior America's cup, our member events and that kind of deal.
Speaker B:I think I've kind of only had maybe two days off in July, but I'd like to play more golf than I have.
Speaker B:But I feel like winter gives me an opportunity to do that.
Speaker B:And so I try to take my family vacation and try to go somewhere in Asia and play some golf.
Speaker A:Isn't that funny?
Speaker A:The more you get involved in the golf business, the less you actually play.
Speaker B:Yes, I do feel like I played more, more rounds of golf than my head pro, Adrian Bertner.
Speaker B:Adrian, he's amazing.
Speaker B:I played Royal Melbourne with Adrian.
Speaker B:He shot a 68.
Speaker B:Never even seen the golf course before.
Speaker B:And he's probably played golf golf three times prior to that.
Speaker B:So if we could have Adrian's skills, I, I probably would be focused more on golf.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:I, I can't say the same for you, but I played golf on three continents and six countries, I think.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker B:It's always fun to travel and see what other golf courses are out there and what other guys are doing.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, and you see what the, the wildlife is doing on the course too, like kangaroos and crocodiles and stuff like that.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Absolutely, it's all good.
Speaker A:What's the first thing you do on the Tuesday?
Speaker A:Because Monday you're probably tearing down, maybe even Tuesday tearing down.
Speaker A:But after the tournament, you, the volunteers are headed home.
Speaker A:The, you know, the assembly crews are in there taking down the bleachers and doing all that stuff.
Speaker A:What does Jim Myers do?
Speaker B:Yeah, the day after the tournament, that Monday, pretty much I give the entire team the day off.
Speaker B:Myself and two of my turf interns will pretty much prep the golf course in the morning for member play.
Speaker B:We have a day, it's called the bonus day.
Speaker B:So we allow all the members to come out and play the golf course the day after the Sunday after the tournament.
Speaker B:And yeah, it's just myself and two interns prepping the golf course.
Speaker B:We go from a massive, you know, 37 guy team to a three man team.
Speaker B:That next day kind of, kind of.
Speaker A:Feels like an old western with the sagebrush blowing through town and you hear the wind in the background.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Well, they used to have a media day too.
Speaker A:Long time ago.
Speaker A:I mean, they've got the programs and stuff coming up, but they used to have a media day and I think that was the Monday afterwards too.
Speaker A:But they don't, I don't think they do that anymore.
Speaker A:But, but it was, it was fun.
Speaker A:I played in that a couple of times years ago.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's always, I mean, the golf course is still in pretty good shape, you know, I mean, if it's hot and dry, we'll water the golf course pretty heavily and try to get recovery.
Speaker B:Obviously we have club championship coming up right after that LPGA event, but if it's pretty steady weather, it makes it Easier for us on that Monday for that three man crew to, you know, prep the golf course for the members.
Speaker B:And it's always kind of exciting, you know, ready for some sleep after that week.
Speaker A:I'm sure you are.
Speaker A:What's one thing that Jim Myers would recommend that civilians that come to the event, what should they look for?
Speaker A:Where's a good spot to see everything?
Speaker A:Because you've got, you know, you've got bleachers and stuff around 18 and you've got them kind of around the, the course in different spots.
Speaker A:They've got a bar now, the sports bra bar is going to be there and this and that.
Speaker A:But if, if somebody was going to go where Jim Myers went to watch some of the players, where would, where should they go?
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm, I'm kind of, I'm kind of partial a little bit to the big area.
Speaker B:So you got the food trucks right there on the driving range.
Speaker B:You can watch players warming up.
Speaker B:You've got 18 green right there.
Speaker B:You can watch players coming in.
Speaker B:You got players making turn right there at number 10T10 and 9, Green is right there.
Speaker B:You can get basically your burger, you can get your reindeer dog, you can get your beer or your soda or whatever you're going to have.
Speaker B:And in that general area, you've got a pretty big window to see quite a bit of golf in a very short period of time.
Speaker B:If you want to just go sit down and just kind of enjoy yourself.
Speaker B:Number eight, the par three.
Speaker B:You can watch some shots coming in there.
Speaker B:We've got a big pine tree that's underneath there.
Speaker B:You can get some shade and that's a great spot to hang out.
Speaker B:And there's not a ton of people and we always have a scoreboard right there, so you know what's going on.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Jim Myers, the guy who takes care of the grass, you might say, out at Columbia Edgewater.
Speaker A:And he's going to be very busy the next two and a half, three weeks.
Speaker A:Jim, thank you as always for taking the time to be with us.
Speaker B:Yeah, Jeff, it's always fun when I get a chance to chat with you.
Speaker A:No problem.
Speaker A:And I'll see you out there.
Speaker A:Anyway, we got to get out of here.
Speaker A:Hope you all have a good week.
Speaker A:Go out there, play some golf, have some fun.
Speaker A:Be kind and don't forget to come to the standard Portland Classic out of Columbia Edgewater starting 14 August.
Speaker A:Till then, take care, everybody.
Speaker A:Grilling at the green is produced by JTSD Productions, LLC in association with Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights Reserve.
