Turf management topic of my choice: Superintendents, the Rules of golf and course maintenance

This blog is about superintendents, the Rules of golf and course maintenance.

I read an article on the USGA Green Record Publication. It tries to give us an understanding of the importance of the superintendent and the maintenance department in general in order to better understand the game of golf.


The author, Bob Brame, describes a series of points, in which he explains some examples of mistakes made by course maintenance. It mentions the importance of set up tree roots, roughs, obstructions, local rules, divot filling, hole placement, liners, flagstick position, green mowing, brush and clipping piles, course marking and how the maintenance that is done may affect the playability of the game.

Some examples that the author describes are pin placement (rule 16), and how they have to comply with the rules of golf. The correct alignment of the tee markers is another example described by the writer. He emphasized on clean up cuts of certain areas of the course, such as the edges of greens, bunkers, and other hazards, so it is clear where the ball lies. He also discussed several others related to the ten points mention above.

I find the subject very interesting. I agree with his article. However some of these practices could be more a matter of budget and timing. All of these details designed to improve the fair playability, from my experience, comes with more prepared workers, that means more expenses to train golf course maintenance employees.

There is a balance that must be met at each course between course setup and the rules of golf. It is up to the golf course superintendent to determine where that balancing point lies. Golf is a more popular sport in The U.S. than in Spain, and from my experience many superintendents in my native Spain have little idea about the sport itself and its rules.