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iPhone Magnifying Glass, The Superintendent's Newest Tool

An image from the iPhone Magnifying Application/Setting

Some of you may remember that 6 years ago, I let you know about a wonderful new shade application called SunSeeker. A smart twenty-something had shown it to me when I was working on a shade problem with my "old school" techniques. Sometimes new technologies are indeed more than hype.

Well, here is another great piece of technology. Your iPhone and iPad have one of the best tools that I've seen in a long time, a magnifying glass.

HERE'S HOW TO ADD IT TO YOUR DEVICE:

1. ENABLE MAGNIFIER IN SETTINGS

• Open the Settings app
• Tap ‘General’, then the ‘Accessibility’ tab
• Tap ‘Magnifier’ and tap the toggle to enable it
• Optionally tap the toggle for Auto-Brightness to enable automatic brightness and contrast adjustments based on ambient light while using Magnifier

2. TRIPLE-CLICK HOME BUTTON TO ACTIVATE MAGNIFIER

Once enabled, you can now open the Magnifier from anywhere with a quick triple-click of the home button, including from the lock screen.

AND THEN YOU CAN SCREEN SHOT IT: 

You can capture the screen on your iOS device using the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons.

1.    Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on the top or side of your device.

2.    Immediately press and release the Home button.

3.    To find your screenshot, go to the Photos app > Albums and tap Camera Roll.

Suny on Turfnet Radio with Dave Wilber

Yesterday, I was on Turfnet Radio with Dave Wilber, talking design, renovation, fescue greens, US OPEN, executive search, it was a wild ride!

Turfnet Radio Link

Fescue Follies...Not the Best Choice for Greens

The US OPEN is being played at Chambers Bay on a neo-links course which could be called moderately authentic, down to greens that were seeded to fine fescues. The romanticism of links golf with fescue greens will be short lived this week and we'll be hearing more about it as the Championship unfolds.

Why? Josh Lewis, the Superintendent, also known as the Turf Yoda has done an outstanding job preparing the golf course for this Championship. But he has been dealt a losing hand with the selection of fine fescue greens. Fine fescue greens have had little success in North America, when placed in geographic areas that have temperatures that are much higher than the successful fescue greens in European venues normally withstand. St. Andrews highest daily average temperature for the year is 66 degrees, Tacoma averages four months that the average high temperature exceeds 66 degrees. Fine fescue just isn't in its element, no matter how much we wish it would work on greens.

Poa annua, the grass that is the predominant grass on greens from coastal Northern California up through coastal Canada has invaded the greens at Chambers Bay. Not a surprise to anyone that understands turf management. So, now there are two distinctive grass types on the greens with very different growth habits. This will cause putting woes and complaints late in the day, when it will impact greens' smoothness. And if the USGA doesn't listen to the Turf Yoda and they dry the greens down too much, we'll have another 2010 season of majors when course setup becomes an issue. See: Golf Course Setup and Major Championships

These weather charts below graphically demonstrate why fescue greens struggle when climate is not adequately considered.

Chambers Bay, Average Weather from Tacoma, WA

Fraction of Time Spent in Various Temperature Bands

View in
dashboard

The average fraction of time spent in various temperature bands: frigid (below 15°F), freezing (15°F to 32°F), cold (32°F to 50°F), cool (50°F to 65°F), comfortable (65°F to 75°F), warm (75°F to 85°F), hot (85°F to 100°F) and sweltering (above 100°F).

St. Andrews, Average Weather from Leuchars AFB, UK

Fraction of Time Spent in Various Temperature Bands

The average fraction of time spent in various temperature bands: frigid (below 15°F), freezing (15°F to 32°F), cold (32°F to 50°F), cool (50°F to 65°F), comfortable (65°F to 75°F), warm (75°F to 85°F), hot (85°F to 100°F) and sweltering (above 100°F).

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Another Medium to Express Golf Course Architecture

My daughter is teaching me how to paint with markers. We worked on this together. I think I helped and she insisted that I also sign it. If you have been following the blog, you know that I started drawing this year after 40 years of not drawing. It's a way for Suny, Zokol Golf Design to convey our design ideas. And by the way, Zokol also can draw and sculpt. I don't see this as art in the sense that it isn't Josh Smith but it does work to convey a sense of the vision. We feel that drawings, clay models, and paintings convey our ideas better than Photoshop, CAD and topographical maps. Is this a sign of our Luddite tendencies? Maybe we are advocates of Neo-Luddist Golf Course Architecture.

#4 Green and Nicola Lake

Maren and Armen Suny