Josh Hester
Josh Hester, Director of Grounds, Cherry Hills Country Club
THE INTERVIEW
Located just south of Denver, Colorado, Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the US Open in 1938, the first time the tournament was held west of the Mississippi River. Since then, this William Flynn design has hosted 14 different national championships including the US Amateur in 2023. We talked to Josh Hester, director of grounds at CHCC, about how USGA course consulting visits and tools like the GS3 ball are crucial for managing this masterpiece.
Q: Tell us how you got started in the business and ended up at Cherry Hill County Club.
Josh: I grew up in the mountains in Colorado and started working at a municipal golf course with a friend, it was a dream job at age 16. I didn't think you could do that for a real job, so I went to college in Florida to be a marine biologist. I learned quickly that it wasn’t for me, so I transferred to Colorado State University to study landscape horticulture with a turf grass concentration. I've spent a total of 16 years at Cherry Hills; starting as an intern, then a supervisor, an assistant superintendent and now I’m Director of Grounds.
Q: Do you face a lot of challenges being where you are located due to change of seasons.
Josh: I have two really big challenges. Wintertime challenges and summertime challenges. We’re a 100-year-old golf course of various turf types. We are a poa golf course and poa does not like two times of the year: that's wintertime, and the heat stress of the summer. Winter desiccation and ice damage are the things that are very real for us in Colorado, in this arid west climate. And with the heat of the summer, the poa plant just does not like the high temperatures and the low humidity that we have. The low humidity dries out the poa, it wants to be hydrated, so water management is critical.
Q: Has Cherry Hill been using USGA course consulting visits for some time?
Josh: It has. We've always had a relationship with the Green Section and their regional agronomists. It helps to have an agronomist that visits 100 courses every year, to come and see our course, and share what they have seen around the country. Sometimes we're scratching our heads with things that are occurring around the course that we just haven't seen before. So, we ask them: what are others doing with their cultural and agronomic practices to manage different conditions?
Q: Are you seeing a return on investment with the visits?
Josh: I absolutely do see a return on our investment. It helps to give me a little bit of insurance. When I'm in front of the Greens Committee, the USGA report carries a lot of credibility and really helps communicate what needs to be done. This year, we also started organic matter testing with our regional agronomist, creating a baseline. This should help define how to treat our surfaces to get a little bit better.
Q: Have you always used data collection to help manage the golf course?
Josh: We have always used data collection in one way or another but now having the GS3 and DEACON all wrapped up into one makes it so useful. And instead of me asking the crew, “Hey, what's the speed number?” or “What's the moisture content?”. I don't have to say anything anymore, I can just look at the DEACON app for this information. So, it's really, really a cool tool.
Q: Shifting to the GS3 ball, how long have you been using it?
Josh: We got it during the 2023 USGA Amateur and started playing around with it then. This is our third season, and we've really ramped it up this year using the GS3, using it for all the performance metrics.
Q: What do you like most about the GS3 ball?
Josh: The speed tests are my favorite, to see how fast they are running. There were some updates to the firmware this year that really made GS3 a little bit tighter as far as closeness to a real true golf ball roll out. And we're seeing that, like there's not very much difference between the two now. Also, I like the way it collects everything else too. We are still trying to figure out what good smoothness and trueness numbers are, need to figure out our baseline. Then also the firmness numbers, watching that number go up and down based off our inputs.
Q: How many balls do you have?
Josh: We have five. The three supervisors are responsible for six greens and collect data on each. And then the assistant superintendent, Brogan Myers, has a GS3, and he'll go out there and capture data. And then I have my GS3 that I try to collect almost every day.
Q: Has it influenced your maintenance practices at all?
Josh: Absolutely. It helps us tighten down some of our practices. It helps us put out less nitrogen. I get a little grumpy when we're below a 12, you know, and that tells me that we either need to get some more vertical mowing done, or we need to take some nitrogen out of the tank. When we're constantly checking these speeds, checking our firmness, a little less water, it absolutely helps us just tighten everything up a little bit.
Q: What would you say to somebody who might be on the fence about the GS3 ball and DEACON?
Josh: I would just say, it's a small investment to make your job so much better for yourself, and less unpredictable. To be a better turf grass professional, these tools are significantly going to help you do that job.
Q: You recently purchased the USGA Moisture Meter, what are your early impressions of this product?
Josh: I love it. It's great. I think being able to capture the temperature and salinity at the same time as moisture content is awesome. And to see it in the DEACON app, it's so much easier to see it visually, and to understand where we need to water.
