I RATHER HAVE THE TRAPPER WITH THE SKINS....

Now that there is no golf professional or golf course superintendent (two different positions that required totally different skills), the city is facing pretty much what they faced back in 1980-1981: the golf course will be managed by people who other than knowing what end of the club to hold, know little or nothing about golf operations, even if they are well meaning. The truth is that Lance Allgood doesn't really have the time, and probably didn't even want to do it, but out of loyalty to the city, felt he had to say "yes". His loyalty has to be commended and should be appreciated, however, we would like to see leadership which starts with the recognition that he needs help, and not in the way of a day of two of "training" by an expert coming to Gallup, but in a permanent basis. Lance knows first hand, that this is not easy task, and that the golf course needs the help of a professional that has the time to time to spend there, both in the operations and in the maintenance, so a quick recovery of a 20 year regression can start A.S.A.P.

This is an emergency! The conditions, which directly affect the amount of play (reduced to less than 50% of when play was managed by a PGA Professional), have reversed to the early 80's! That is a quarter of a century of regression! If you want to salvage part of the golf season, and begin building public trust, put pride aside and do something now! If you wait for the  "task force" to tell you the course is in bad shape and we "need help by someone", it'll be too late and the rest of the season is lost. Think I am exaggerating? Tell me how many "task forces", or golf committees have made a difference? These are usually called once there is an emergency for not taking action, and of course, to take "responsibility" for something that should have been done long before their "suggestion" is ever made. Take for instance 2007: we had weeds all over the golf course for 6 months (March - August), and no one wanted to do anything about it, and "voila!" the golf committee decides that they should be cut (not before RMCH complained about it), and overnight, the weeds were gone! (well, it took a week).

Now, we see that Tommy Noe is out there asking for an opportunity to help the city that saw him grow into adulthood, but Tommy has much more than "local blood", and he is not just another guy who "wishes" and "says" he can help; he has the experience that reminds me of the old Texas saying; "in matters of practicality and results, I rather hire the trapper with the skins in the back of this truck, that the man with diplomas on his wall". Tommy has all the skins out there; all sizes and all game; direct and indirect experience in over 30 courses built all over the world! And now, someone is trying to see if he is qualified? Give us a break! The time is NOW!

In 2006, we hired someone "with credentials" (diplomas), which included "helping build" exactly one golf course, or at least 30 less than Tommy Noe! The selection by the research committee, which included Allgood,  proved to be a mistake, as, after almost four years, we now know that all these credentials in "education" were worthless if left in the office and in "plan after plan". Noe has both, skins and diplomas. The fact is that then, like now, we needed someone that was a proven "trapper", not someone who "said" he'd be one.  That the city made a big deal about their man reaching "Class-A" status in the Golf Course Superintendent's of America at the end of 2008 (something that he was supposed to have had when he applied in 2006), should have been a sign for things to come, but everyone was clueless as they ignored this little detail. Wow!

Right now, Fox Run needs someone with the experience in successfully managing people, someone who knows how to operate heavy equipment and mowers, someone who can build drains without $$ expensive contracts $$ to local engineers, someone who does not mind using a pick and a shovel when needed, someone who can teach, first hand, how to do certain things, someone who does not mind learning from the crew where needed, someone who knows how to improvise. We are certainly tired of someone who needs every duck in a row, to get things done... maybe; especially if that someone spends more time in city hall, than in the department he was trusted with. 

We do not need any more expensive and worthless "junk science" projects, like the "signature hole" (really, can anyone tell me what was Weekes thinking, first in destroying over 50,000 sq ft of perfectly healthy grass that was once used to repair bad areas, and now we have nothing?), which in the long run will cost four times as much as it cost in the first place, or someone who will destroy existing, precious aclimated grass that could be used elsewhere, or someone who will cut "half dead" trees which are still "half alive" instead of trying to save them, or spend $20K in a report that will never be used, and so many other things that cost upwards to an additional $500K of your tax dollars!!!

No one heeded verbal or written warnings, always dismissing them as exaggerated or ill intended. Surely, if the money came out of their own pockets, they wouldn't be so uninterested in doing the right thing. Who knows, maybe they will anyway.