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Turf isn’t the only cutting-edge industry

By |  March 15, 2017 0 Comments

Seth_JonesIn this issue we celebrate some cool new technologies for the turf maintenance business. I mean, check out the Tweel and the Shark Wheel — they look like they came from an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. (OK, I realize in that same feature that the Zeblaster essentially is a fancy way to shoot Canadian geese poop off your work boots, but hey, that’s progress.)

Golf maintenance isn’t the only industry that’s been growing by leaps and bounds when it comes to new technologies to get the job done. Allow me to brag about the recent advancements I’ve been able to utilize here at Golfdom

Hand-Held Jolt High Performance 200.

Some might call it a cattle prod, but I call it inspiration. It’s the only way I can get Matt Neff to write for the magazine on a semi-regular basis. I’m taking it to Arizona next to help “inspire” Mark Woodward…

TSA Pre-Check.

I take about 24 trips a year, and it makes jet-setting from chapter meetings and golf tournaments so much easier. Honestly, TSA Pre-Check has ruined my ability to wait patiently in an airport. I now enter an airport and expect to be sitting comfortably at an overpriced bar with a microbrew in hand within 10 minutes. (Here’s a tip: A membership is $85 and lasts five years. If you carry an American Express, AmEx will cover the cost as a member benefit.)

LASIK Surgery.

Apologies to my 100-disc jukebox, this is the best thing I’ve ever bought for myself. I was dang near legally blind before LASIK surgery. Now I feel like I can see through walls. My vision is so good I can catch and correct Associate Editor Grant B. Gannon’s typos from the future.

IMG_4197-kreuserGreenskeeperapp.com.

I’ve seen Bill Kreuser, Ph.D., University of Nebraska, do a presentation or two on this useful tool. OK, so it’s not exactly for me, but Kreuser promised to pay for the bar tab whenever I mention it in the magazine. Bill reminds me of Biff from “Back to the Future,” if Biff had a good sense of humor and a Ph.D. in horticulture, so he’s good by me.

Aleve.

Aleve is a magic medicine. Good for my achy knees after two hours of pick-up basketball or for the morning after my Jayhawks flame out in the NCAA tournament. True story, I once asked my daughter’s pediatrician if Aleve was OK to take following a hard night of drinking, or if it was harmful to my kidneys. She told me it was safe (and as a professional journalist, I can relay this medical advice to you), but then she asked me how old I was, and if I should just consider the alternative: growing up.

Waze.

This is the ultimate navigation app. My favorite part is that it alerts you to speed traps. But a more practical use is for finding those ultra-high-end golf clubs, because you know the uppity membership likes to hide the front entrance like Bruce Wayne hides the Batcave. But Waze sees all and tells me exactly where and when to turn… in a sexy British accent.

5-Hour Energy drink.

Pomegranate flavor. Pomegranate is a fruit, I think. Not sure. But I like the caffeine version.

Lastly, a few overrated technologies I don’t trust: Spell Check, the selfie stick and Facebook.

Don’t trust them, and don’t trust anyone who does.

Photo: Golfdom

This article is tagged with and posted in Columns

About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 18-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


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