Pleasure disguised as business

After all, it was Halloween weekend.  I am talking about a weekend at the Talladega NASCAR race.  I got fortunate enough to be included in Toro’s annual 2 day, first class, Talladega fall weekend.  Bus service, more food and beverage than I should have been tempted, hospitality suites, pit passes, and perhaps the best race track on the circuit in my opinion.  A little over 2½ miles long, with cars reaching nearly 200 miles per hour, this is the home of the “big one”, the wreck that takes out a number of cars each time they race here.  This year it was Ryan Newman’s car flipping over and over and landing on it’s roof which had to be completely cut off to get him out, uninjured.  This was one of a couple “big one’s”.

Thank you, Tim Yokel, Jim Heinze, Pete Whitacre, Pete Moeller, and Paula Sliefert, for being such great hosts. It was also an opportunity to hang out with some wonderful people in our industry such as Mike Posey (Pine Tree CC), his assistant and worse for wear, Lee, Chad and Jennifer Dorrell (Springfield CC), Michael Hurd (Jerry Pate Turf) and his fiancée, Andy Cook (Jerry Pate Turf) and his sig other, Amy, and others who I, regrettably, did not catch names.  Thanks to you all! 

With my, likely, final NASCAR fix until Daytona in Feb ’10, I think I am good now to get back to thinking about golf, or at least the business of golf.

Feed your family on $250K a year?

Good question.  Some years ago, an NBA player named Latrell Sprewell turned down a $7 million one year contract claiming  that “he couldn’t feed his family on that”.  He hasn’t played ball since.  So now in Minnesota we sign a now 40-year-old Brett Favre to a 2 year contract for $12.5 million a year to play for our MN Vikings NFL team.  Now I won’t pass judgement on whether that is a good or not.  I am a definite fair weather fan of football.  However, the purpose of this blog is to relate a topic for reflection.

I was hanging out with my Superintendent buddy, Alan, the other day and asked him if he realized the following; if only his job paid $250,000 a year, he could make Favre’s salary for this one year in just 50 years!  He began to think that hmmmm, he is 57 years old and just think at 107 years old he would have made Favre’s first year salary.  Now of course, I quickly reminded him that with some annual raises and adjustments he might be able to achieve that number by the age of 100.  Cheered him up a good bit.

It is amazing is it not, especially when put into perspective?  Being a free market guy, I won’t weigh in with the comments about it being obscene, etc.  However, I do marvel at it.  Great Country this America!

An Interesting Request

I received an unusual request the other day.  A customer in Africa asked if we made a stronger flag stick.  Following some inquiry, it turns out that the general flag sticks available don’t seem to hold up to elephants scratching themselves on the stick.  How does one answer that?

A while back I requested photos of animals on golf courses.  Let’s take that a step further.

Through the years I have heard about animal abuse of all nature, involving kangaroos, bears, cows, squirrels, sheep, geese, etc.  Do you have any photos of the damage or better yet, the culprits caught in the act?

Here is a photo of a bear cub wrestling with one of our flag sticks at Whistler Golf Club in Bristsh Columbia, Canada.  Thanks to Dave Gottselig, Superintendent at Whistler GC for sending in this great photo!

More Travel

Just returned a week ago from a couple golf shows, one in Jonkoping, Sweden and the other in Munich, Germany.  Except for the language, the Greenskeepers (as they are called in Europe, and quite frankly a title I prefer as more romantic and prestigious than Superintendent) look the same, have the same concerns, ask the same questions, and enjoy the industry and visiting with their reps as we do here in America.

The trade show halls are different.  Instead of curtains, the smaller booth walls are solid.  The halls themselves are each about the same as one of our smaller regional or State shows and adding together the total footage does not come close to our nationals.  However, it is a custom and common for each booth to be serving snacks, even sandwiches or sausages, and coffee or wine or beer.  Due perhaps only to the night before hangover, the coffee is far more popular before noon!

For me, I always find it so much fun to be conversing with someone form the other side of the world on subjects so familiar to us both.  The only impediment is language and thankfully, “they” have learned English.  I also enjoy looking at the products that are either new to me or are a brand unfamiliar to us here.  I always look forward, not to the long trip, but simply being there.

Golf Course Wildlife Update #3

Here are some photos from Levi Golf in Finland.  The Reindeer look right at home.