Measuring your way to Championship conditioning (NEW)

During this class, Chris Tritabaugh will walk attendees through his data collection and measurement process. Chris will explain the various metrics he tracks each day, along with the materials, methods, tools and time required. He will also show attendees how to set up a spreadsheet to record and create charts to display data. The first portion of the class will be a thorough ‘how to’ of golf course data collection. After explaining data collection in detail, Chris will use examples from his course to teach attendees how the data collected is utilised to make turfgrass management decisions that make the best use of available resources and help he and his team produce championship ready conditions at Hazeltine National every day.

In 16 years as a golf course superintendent, Chris has worked hard to develop and fine tune a simplistic method of greenkeeping, predominantly aimed at promoting and managing bentgrass playing surfaces. These simple and economical methods were on display to the world during the 2016 Ryder Cup. Chris also has a passion for leadership and operates a workplace culture that is focused on providing multi-generational employees with an enjoyable, stimulating and inspirational experience.

Learning outcomes:

• What type of data to collect and how to do so
• Creating and refining a spreadsheet to make recording data not just easy, but enjoyable
• The correlation between data and management practices. What to look for and how it can help with decision making
• Implementing the practices based on data
• How to use data to communicate and inform members and golfers