Assistant Superintendent at Seven Canyons Golf Club. Find me on the course, on a trail, in the gym, or under my Jeep XJ. App State ‘15. PSU Turf. NC-WI-AZ.
Come along with me on my carnage (I mean course) check this morning. What should be one of the most beautiful golf courses in the country is being destroyed by herds of javelina. If anyone has a contact in AZ state govt that can help us find a solution please pass it along.
On today’s episode of the
#JavelinaDiaries
“How do you repair the damage?” Agronomy team assemble! The crew has gotten really good at solving the fairway jigsaw puzzles the javelina create for us every night🧩 Greenside up!
@hitmanbronz
lol except I’ve watched them do it…it’s 100% javelina. We’ve got between 100-150 of them. Somewhere between 4-5 herds surround the golf course property
Ran into some members of
#teamjavelina
snacking on 9 fairway and rough this afternoon. For the “iTs NoT JavEliNa ItS wILd bOaR” crew…here’s your proof 🐽🐽
What a week at The Players 2024⛳️
Lots of walk mowing, lots of handwatering, and lots of great people. Thankful for another successful tournament with the TPC Sawgrass Agronomy Crew, always an honor to be a part of it!
Really proud of how the course is looking right now. I’ve spent most of my time the last few weeks working on tee renovation and today I noticed a really cool view of 14 fairway from the back tees on 6 that I’ve never seen before.
Final morning set up for the 2024
@WMPhoenixOpen
. It’s been an absolutely wild week between the weather and the massive crowds but it’s always a great time working with the TPC crew!
Had some drone photos taken of the short game area. First two greens I’ve grown in (mostly) by myself and I’m so proud of how they turned out. Being a part of a grow in project and making a plan like this come to life is why I love my job…doesn’t get much better than this⛳️
Laid down some lasers on the new chipping green yesterday afternoon. It’s been really cool to see how much it’s filled in and greened up over the last couple of weeks.
The cutest cup cutting partner on this windy Saturday morning. Trying to get the 12’ flagstick straight is hard on a normal day but 30mph winds make it even more difficult 😂⛳️
Finally getting some warm weather in Northern Arizona! Shorts weather means handwatering weather…I’ve never been so happy to pull a hose
#longestwinterofmylife
There’s just something about snow covered Sedona…It was a cold bluebird day out here at Seven Canyons. The course got about 4-5” of snow yesterday so we spent the majority of the day shoveling snow off of greens and tees so we can (hopefully) open back up in a day or two🥶🥶
Absolutely beautiful start to the 4th of July weekend. Shoutout to everyone that doesn’t get to “slam their laptop shut til Wednesday” and is keeping the grass green out there instead🇺🇸⛳️
First morning shift of The Players at TPC Sawgrass ✅ Y’all know how much I like walk mowing so I’m stoked to be mowing back nine greens this year. Fingers crossed for sunny skies like this all week!
@TurfsolutionsFL
That’s what we’re working on this week…massive corral traps. Then we have to figure out when G&F can relocate them. I’d feel a lot better if we could shoot a couple😂
Doesn’t get much better than a sunrise on 4 green with my buddy🐾course is finally starting to come back after our six week water shortage! I’ve never been so thankful for water and working irrigation, trucking in water was not ideal
@DogsOfTurf
What a Sunday! A solo mission prepping, fertilizing, seeding, sandpro-ing, and covering our new chipping green today. Fingers crossed she grows in thick and green over the next few weeks🤞🏼
A little behind the scenes from Trash and Grass 2024. What a week. From the rain and mud to the absolutely wild fans, I can honestly say I had a great time but I’m SO glad to be home. It’s crazy how quiet and peaceful the stadium on hole 16 is before the gates (and bars) open😂
A javelina update: as the javelina have gotten more aggressive with the colder temps, under direction of AZGFD, we’re building corrals so they can be relocated. Somehow this became an in house (Emily) project instead of just buying traps but if it works and we can rehome some🤞🏼🐽
When you’re from Arizona, everyone (rightfully) assumes you know a thing or two about handwatering. Got to pull a hose and put out some high quality H2O tonight on the back nine at
@TPCSawgrass
Great chatting with Andrew from GCM this week! From the javelina damage to Twitter (X) assuming I’m a “rich white man” it was fun to clear up some facts about what’s been going on at 7C 😂
Last week, Seven Canyons Golf Club assistant superintendent
@emcaseyturf
posted a video of javelina damage. She didn't think the video would be viewed over 30 million times. Get the story:
@GCSAA
Days 2 and 3 of The Players have consisted of a lot of rotary mowing. We had two groups of 12 mowers getting after it this morning and were headed back out shortly to finish up the rest of the course. Happy Tuesday!
A little update on my greens grow in at the short game area…chipping and putting greens are looking great and hopefully ready to open in two weeks (and I’m only slightly freaking out😅)
Day one at The Players at TPC Sawgrass got off to a great start yesterday. Really excited to spend the week here working with all of the crew and volunteer staff⛳️
#haveaday
The final morning set up of The Players Championship 2024 is complete. It’s been a great week and I’m so glad I was able to make it back out for my second year at the tournament. What an awesome team to be apart of, I wouldn’t have made it through the week without em!
Opened up a few new bentgrass tees for this weekend’s member-member tournament. Seeded 9/6 open for play 11/4…I’ll take it! Now if we can just hang on to these warm temps for a liiiiiitle longer we will have 25 new tees open by the end of the month🤞🏼
You know you’re struggling to hire when you’ve got your
@DogsOfTurf
mowing fairways. Seriously though, Barley was chasing the fairway mowers around all morning making sure they were mowing straight lines…or looking for pets and treats, I’ll let you decide🐾
Quick pitstop at the course to get a few loose ends tied up before heading back down to Scottsdale for my third year volunteering at
@WMPhoenixOpen
! Can’t wait to get the week started♻️🚮
Shortgame area putting and chipping greens are open! This has been my personal project for the last 6 months. It’s been an incredible experience turning an idea into reality and I’ve learned so much along the way. Can’t wait to see my members enjoy this space for years to come!
You know your
@DogsOfTurf
is the real deal on the golf course when the photographer for the new website asks if he can be in your headshot😂Everyone knows Barley’s the boss around here!
Little frosty out here this morning in Northern AZ. It’s always fun to try to explain to the members (and the crew honestly) that I don’t control the weather and I can’t predict when the frost will lift🥶
@TurfEnto
We sprayed the entire course in April and August with high rate Tetrino, Aloft, and Acelepryn. We haven’t found any grubs in any of the damage, just earth worms. We’ve discussed Sevin or some other carbaryl spray for next season as well.
Really awesome to spend some time this week working in the shop and learning from the equipment managers
@TPCSawgrass
. Time to get these mowers dialed in for tomorrow mornings round at
@THEPLAYERSChamp
It’s pretty rare that I get to do course set up these days but Barley and I got to cut cups this morning. He likes to sit right next to the cup as I’m cutting it, I assume he’s checking my depth…he has such a judgmental face😂
We don’t get to walk mow much with our small crew but we got the mowers out on the greens with medium brushes today. We’ve got quite a few guys training on walk mowing so I mowed a few holes to keep the crew ahead of play. Pretty proud of my lines on
#8
so I had to post a pic🙃
A successful end to bow season! Up next HAM and general rifle in February. If you have a valid AZGF hunting license and 6A/6B javelina tag, we allow 4 hunters/day to bow hunt on property or rifle hunt just outside the property line. First come first serve, DM me with questions!
Really thrilled with how the first cut turned out on a couple of the newly seeded bent tees. Seeded 8/11 and mowed .500” today, four weeks after seeding.
@MHillsOnTurf
they’re looking good!
I’d argue hole
#5
at Seven Canyons Golf Club has to be one of the most scenic tee shots in the country. Based on the color of the fairway…the poa is happy with these fall temps!
Hole 5 at Seven Canyons is a 515 yard par 5 and doglegs left over two washes. It also happens to be one of my favorite tee shot views on the course overlooking Maroon Mountain😍never gets old!
One last picture before we open the first two bentgrass tees on the course today. Really happy with how the Dominant X-Treme 7 bent and chewings fescue is coming in, seeded mid-May as our test tees before starting our full poa-rye to bent-fescue tee conversion last week.
When your superintendent says “it’s not raining that hard”😑in his defense, I skipped mowing this hole yesterday because it was under construction
#justcleaningmyreels
What an awesome experience volunteering with the guys at
@TPCSawgrass
for
@theplayerschamp
this week! Met some incredible people, made some great memories, and learned a lot both on course and in the shop. Only 364 more days until next years tournament⛳️
Gopher hunting on the course this morning with this big goober. He’s been unsuccessful so far today but he’s obviously having fun (red rocks and a red nose😂)
@DogsOfTurf
Our new short game area and putting green are finally turning GREEN!
@wadsworth_golf
@WestCoastTurf
started laying sod around the greens today and both greens will be seeded in about a month🤘🏼
Got some last minute walk mowing practice in this morning before I leave for The Players on Friday. We had a major frost delay which put the walk mowers behind so I grabbed an old mower (no trailer👣) and helped out so we could stay ahead of play. Good thing I love walk mowing!
@RagingAlienX
Relax bud. I never said anything about killing them. I live here, I know they’re protected and that they were here first. I was just showing the world what can happen when they invade a golf course. Calm down haha.
Barley couldn’t wait to show everyone our new
@DogsOfTurf
hat and sticker pack! Truly the best account I follow, I will never get tired of seeing dogs enjoying beautiful golf courses around the world🐾(also shoutout to Bar for letting me annoy him with pictures this morning)
Beautiful morning to play in the Christmas Eve shotgun with some of the guys from the agronomy crew. Course is looking great for the end of December and it was nice to get out together and enjoy it! Merry Christmas
#turftwitter
!
Lots going on at Seven Canyons this week…new drainage going in on fairways, new tee complex construction on 14, new cart paths all around, and seeded three more new bent tees on 2 and 17. Big things happening around here lately!
We’ve been chasing these 2 javelina around the east side of the property for over a month to no avail. Until today! Total count: 61🐽On another note, the warm temps and foliar spray earlier in the week have the course looking *mint*!
Have you started your spring granular app yet? Lots of fertilizer going out on the course over the next few weeks. I got a head start on the short game area today since I leave for The PLAYERS in T-4 days!
@DogsOfTurf
Sedona weather is wild. On the left 930 this morning. On the right, 3 hours later. Got a little fertilizer down on the driving range before the snow hit though 🙌🏼
Seven Canyons Golf Club is such an incredible property. It’s not always the easiest job but I’m really thankful that I get to spend every day in such a beautiful place🏜️
A javelina corral update: we caught a few today in the trap and they certainly put it to the test. They blasted through the hog fencing TWICE! At least we know we’re on the right track. Now we need some stronger fencing. I was clearly very optimistic when I closed the trap door😂
Anyone else’s
@DogsOfTurf
sit in the cart in weird positions like this and then wonder why they always fall out? No? Just Barley? Good thing he’s cute because he ain’t too smart😂
Anywhere there’s grass…and shade. It’s getting hot here in Sedona and Barley always lays under my tailgate so I figured what better place for a
@DogsOfTurf
sticker🐾
Greens aerification week Barley approved✅ Time for a beer and a nap. Really proud of the crew for getting so much accomplished in less than 48 hours. Pull cores, pick up cores, topdress, broyhill brush, cocomat, topdress again, cocomat again, roll, reopen course
@DogsOfTurf
Kicked off the Seven Canyons Grand Reopening today with our celebrity charity tournament. The course is looking *mint* and I’m REALLY proud of the crew for working so well together this morning getting everything dialed in. It truly takes a village⛳️
The course got hit with another snowstorm yesterday and we got started clearing greens and tees (for the second time this week) today so we can open back up for play once the cart paths melt. The view of 7C from Rachel’s Knoll always blows my mind, especially in the snow.
Barley loves the fescue behind 4 green…the members do not😂Big day at Seven Canyons, the first turf intern in club history started today and we’re really excited to have him here from Michigan State. It’s going to be a great summer at 7C!
Dog sitting for a member this week means I’ve got a
@DogsOfTurf
trainee! Wasko helped me cut cups this morning and was such a good boy (don’t tell Barley, he might get a little jealous)
Back at 7C after a great few days at the
@GCSAAConference
and I think Barley’s glad I’m home…or maybe he’s just glad he’s back at the course checking for gophers and javelina🐾
@DogsOfTurf
Florida was fun but it’s good to be back at Seven Canyons. Getting caught up on some projects today. Got some bent and fescue seed out on 5 white tee and getting ready to ramp the tee renovation back up to finish the final 50 tees!
Little set back on two of the new bent tees on 7 this morning. The javelina don’t seem to like the actual tees but dang they sure do like the rough around them though 🥲
The snow just keeps on coming in northern Arizona. We got over a foot of snow here at Seven Canyons Golf Club❄️I guess we should invest in some snowblowers