Joe Hollis

With nearly 600 golfing members who play almost 40,000 rounds a year, Druid Hills Golf Club has been an East Atlanta golf landmark since 1912. And helping the course continue to evolve has been Superintendent Joe Hollis. He leans on USGA Consulting Services for advice: “We bring them in for site visits because we know they can help us tell story to membership of how the property is aging and things that we need to be looking at, both in the short term and in the long term.”

Q: Have you had maintenance challenges with so much play? 

Joe: It definitely makes us have to be a lot more efficient with getting around with the crew and being productive where we can, especially being a property from 1912. Some holes are running right beside each other and there are spots on the property where you can see the majority of the golf course. So, we must be really efficient getting around. Otherwise, we can get into a spot where we're sitting there watching golf and not working. 

Q: How did you start with the USGA Green Section and their course consulting visits? 

Joe: We did a full course renovation in 2003. And a lot of the infrastructure on the property is starting to age out.  We were getting to that point where we felt it was time to bring in the USGA to talk about the property; get their feedback on infrastructure and the challenges that we have had so that we could help better tell the story to the membership. 

Q: What do you expect from those visits? 

Joe: We’re always looking at different things based on what's going on with the season, talking about different aspects of the property. We’ll tell them: here are some other issues we're starting to see, what are you seeing on other courses that might help us take care of those issues and make them better. We want to continue to be on the leading edge. And it's nice to have that set of eyes to bounce ideas off of. 

Q: Let’s talk about your journey with data collection, before the GS3 ball. Were you doing much of it?  

Joe: We were. We would take a regular stimpmeter readings every day. However, we weren't being as accurate with clipping volume. We would look and see “They're getting a quarter bucket” or “They're barely getting any grass”. We weren't actually recording an exact number. So, when the ball came out, I felt like it was time that we took that next step and got aggressive collecting and monitoring our data.  

Q: What do you like most about the ball? 

Joe: It gives us instant feedback on performance, and the data goes right into the DEACON® app. You have it all there, so you can constantly see how things are progressing, how we're improving, and where we need to continue to work. 

Q: Does one metric stand out to you more than others? 

Joe: I was talking to a member who thought the greens were previously slow and are just now getting fast.  And me, paying attention to the data, I said they're actually slower speed wise than what they were two days ago when you said they were slower. But the number that was different was the smoothness number. The smoothness and the trueness were better. And the member perceived that to be the speed, but it was actually the smoothness and the trueness that they were actually seeing. That was very interesting to me. 

Q: And are you using the drop fixture as well?  

Joe: Yes, we do. We do firmness. We do firmness on four greens. Every day, every morning.   

Q: Has your experience with the ball changed your cultural maintenance practices? 

Joe: I would say having the GS3 ball data in conjunction with the clipping counts into DEACON has helped our decision making.  We've actually shifted to where it's been more just rolling the greens as opposed to mowing and rolling or just mowing. By having all that data, we can present the conditions we want to share with the membership. 

Q: And with practices like aerification, has using the ball helped you explain the surface conditions better?  

Joe: I would say yes. We've been able to show how quickly we've been able to get them back in shape. We obviously see a change, but we can see how quickly we can get them back in line. 

Q: What do you like about the USGA Moisture Meter?   

Joe: I like the speed at which it gives you back the information. It's very quick. I like the fact that you can create a heat map to see where those numbers are on the green. And if we want, we can take a screenshot and send it to our guys that are working in the afternoon. And that way they know where the greens need hand watering.   

Q: What would you say to somebody who's on the fence about the GS3 ball or DEACON?  

Joe: I think it's a great tool. It's really helped us in a lot of areas. And it helps us communicate and show the story to the membership about how the golf course evolves and changes throughout the season. We can show how our maintenance practices are improving the golf course and have data to present to the membership. I like the fact that we talk a lot about how the golf course is always evolving.