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The old pro and the rookie
Staying high and dry under the umbrella of golf by Jack Nicklaus and being attuned to the advice of Paul R. Latshaw is doing wonders for the fledgling career of superintendent Sean Dyer.
Dyer just recently landed his first head superintendent’s job -- at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., home to the Target World Challenge presented by Countrywide that annually features a field led by Tiger Woods. Dyer, an assistant at the Nicklaus Signature layout the past two years, replaced the veteran John Noyes, who moved on to Talking Rock Golf Club in Prescott, Ariz.
A year ago Noyes and Dyer began working with Latshaw concerning soil problems at Sherwood CC as a prelude to re-grassing the tees and fairways at the championship layout (Nicklaus has also just opened a new 18-hole par-3 venue there) in time for the tournament, Dec. 14-17.
Latshaw was brought on board to research turf varieties and to support the two superintendents’ notion that the course’s soil is too inferior for optimum playing conditions year-round. By the time he took over as superintendent, Dyer was in the midst of discussions whether to use warm- or cool-season turf to replace the mostly Poa annua tees and fairways. Dyer leaned toward bermudagrass, but both the club and the PGA Tour favored bentgrass. The latter won out.
Latshaw and Dyer turned their attention to a unique bentgrass blend, eventually deciding on no less than four varieties that combine to offer salt, disease and drought tolerance: Seaside II, L-93, Grand Prix and Princeville. The project was to start last month and the course is slated to reopen in late July.
“We brought Paul in to help with the re-grassing decisions; what would be the best options,” says Dyer, a four-year GCSAA member. “Really, someone like that kind of takes the heat off of me in addressing some of those options. I welcome it.”
Dyer had a four-year internship at Nicklaus’ New Albany Country Club near Columbus, Ohio, and was an assistant for three years at another Nicklaus project, Cimarron Hills in Georgetown, Texas, before coming to Sherwood CC. He expects the relationship with Latshaw to continue this year -- there’s the current project to keeps tabs on, and the club’s 90 percent Poa greens are likely to be the next issue.
-- T.O.
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