Your behavior appears to be a little unusual. Please verify that you are not a bot.


The unlikely odds of going undefeated

By |  January 25, 2017 0 Comments
Karl Danneberger, Ph.D.

Karl Danneberger, Ph.D.

The new year got off to a rocky start for some of us, specifically those who follow college football and saw their teams lose. Count me as one of those. The Ohio State Buckeyes lost rather badly New Year’s Eve in the Fiesta Bowl. Some friends and colleagues poked fun at me good naturedly, and some of the pictures and such on social media were creative. However, from reading a few articles and listening to sports radio, it’s apparent that for some Buckeye fans — the ones you want to say “Get a life” to — the loss was mind-numbing.

Where passions run high, so do expectations to win every game. Those expectations come not only from fans, but from football programs that have high goals. How realistic is it to go undefeated every year? Logic tells me that going undefeated every year is unachievable. But logic often doesn’t apply to hyped expectations, emotions and passions.

The similarities that exist between course conditions and football expectations is striking. All golf courses have turf condition expectations defined by the golf course and the golfers. The most telling example in the rise of golf course expectations begins with hiring a new superintendent.

Improving the quality of course conditions year after year is the most satisfying accomplishment for new superintendents. You’re like a new football coach. You have new ideas, and members are excited about the changes you make. You raise course conditions from, say, a 3-8 (win-loss) season to a 6-5 course at the end of the first season. The next year you continue to make improvements, and now maybe you are at 10-2. Things are looking good and everyone is happy. As you continue, maybe you plateau at 10-2, and a few members grumble, wanting something more like championship conditions. And you come through! You deliver the equivalent of a 12-0 season in course conditions.

You have reached the mountain’s pinnacle. Now what? The pinnacle, whether it’s course maintenance or a football program, is where expectation and associated personal stress is the highest and most challenging.

How do you stay at the pinnacle for the coming year? First, never say that this is the best it can be. This is the first symptom of losing interest in what you do, and eventually may lead to you being replaced. Secondly, remain curious, which could include my first point. Curiosity makes your mind active and observant to new ideas, often opening possibilities that may not be normally apparent.

How do you remain or regain your curiosity?

1) Keep an open mind. Visit fellow superintendents at their courses or meet occasionally over coffee. Talk at conferences about new ideas or practices that you might be doing. Informal situations promote an open mind, which is the ability to ask questions. Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, said, “I never learned anything by talking; I only learn things when I ask questions.”

2) Don’t take things for granted. For example, why does your golf course look so good? Or, why do you always do it this way? Dig deeper into your management programs and try to understand the underpinnings of why you are doing something.

3) Read a lot. I’m not speaking only about Golfdom or other magazines that address the golf business. I’m talking about readings that expand your world beyond turf, diverse books and magazines that create new areas of interests and ideas.

I have no special insight or “in” with our football program regarding the coming season. But no matter how successful and amazing I think the program is, coaching curiosity plays a role in making the program better.

Note: My new year’s resolution this year was to eliminate the use of analogies for the coming year’s columns. I guess I’ve already broken that one.

This is posted in Columns

About the Author: Karl Danneberger, Ph.D.

Karl Danneberger, Ph.D., is a professor in the department of horticulture and crop science at The Ohio State University. He is author of the popular The Turf Doc column that appears monthly in Golfdom. Karl writes on topics ranging from Poa annua to pest control.


Post a Comment