Right as Rain

Over 20 years and all kinds of climates and courses in every corner of the U.S., Chris Flynn has always had one thing to count on: his turf products supplier.

by Joe Barks (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
August 2007
 

The Grande Pines GC in Orlando is the latest stop in his career where Chris Flynn is once again glad to see a familiar face each week.

About a year ago, Chris Flynn took on the latest challenge in his accomplished career as a golf course superintendent—a 20-year path that has seen him tackle wide-ranging turf and weather issues not only in his native New York state, but also at leading courses in California, Texas and Florida.

To the uninitiated, this latest move might have seemed to be one of the easiest for Flynn. After Marriott Golf hired him in 2004 to come to Orlando as Superintendent of its Faldo Golf Institute property, it moved him literally across the street in mid-2006, to the Grande Pines Golf Club next to Marriott’s Grande Vista Resort.

But even such a short move brought a full set of new challenges for Flynn. While each property encompassed about 100 acres, the character of Grande Pines’ 18-hole course included different grasses than the nine-hole course and training facilities at the Faldo Institute. In addition, Marriott Golf wanted Flynn to lead a push to have Grande Pines earn Audubon International certification (and become only the third of Marriott’s 65 properties to have that distinction).

“There was a large amount of weed and insect pressure [at Grande Pines], similar to what I’d encountered at Faldo,” Flynn reports. “But the grasses at Grande Pines are much more sensitive. Plus, the Audubon certification process changed how we could approach things, because of some of the restrictions it places on herbicide and chemical use.”

Constant Comfort
Fortunately for Flynn, one thing that wasn’t changing was his continuing relationship with LESCO, the turf products supplier that he has worked with at every stop of his career. That meant he could continue to rely on not only the dependable service, but also the valuable counsel, of a local team led by Jeff Rampino, LESCO’s Store on Wheels (SOW) Sales Representative for the Orlando area, and Bill Bonnett, a 22-year LESCO veteran who is now the Golf Course Sales Representative for its East Central Florida region.

“Jeff’s a former superintendent himself, so he and Bill have both been a big help in developing the programs we’ve established for herbicides and pre-emergents, first at Faldo and then at Grande Pines,” Flynn says. “Because they go around to so many other courses in their delivery areas and this region, and can see what a lot of other clubs and superintendents are doing for various situations and various kinds of turf, they’ve been able to provide a lot of good information to help us put our programs together.

“With the rate at which new chemicals, herbicides and fungicides have been coming out over the last couple of years, it seems like there’s something new almost daily,” Flynn adds. “You can look at the labels and see what’s in them and try to educate yourself, but it really helps to have suppliers who can report on other real-life examples of how it’s working elsewhere, and at what rates [of application]. That information provides a great baseline.”

It was also a comfort for Flynn to know that as he plunged into his new duties, LESCO would be there as a constant, reliable source to help eliminate worries about many of the basic aspects of the job.

“Quality products and good pricing are all important, of course,” he says. “But hands down, customer service is number one. Having good relationships with LESCO representatives who have showed up at the course every week has been important for me everywhere I’ve gone in my career. In one situation where we stopped using them for a while, in fact, it didn’t prove to be a wise choise; it was really noticeable to see how service dropped off.”

Suppliers’ product knowledge has become even more important in an era where “it seems like there’s something new almost daily,” Flynn says.

Flynn says he now uses LESCO for about 90 percent of Grande Pines’ chemical and fertilizer needs, and that figure could go higher through LESCO’s new alignment with John Deere Landscapes’ Golf and Turf One Source™ (C&RB, March 2007, pg. 8).

“I expect [the acquisition] will only mean they’ll be able to offer other things they don’t have now,” Flynn says. “And I like the idea of one-stop shopping—as long as it comes with the ability to be reliable and responsive.

“Having someone show up regularly with just about everything you need—versus [suppliers] who may show up once in a blue moon or who you have to call to find out what they have—really is a luxury that brings peace of mind,” Flynn says. “And when extra needs come up that aren’t on my weekly list, LESCO has always had nearby warehouses so I can quickly get those things, too. It looks like that’s only going to get better [through the Deere relationship], too.”

(Merging the two operations will increase the number of LESCO/One Source service centers to 490 nationwide, according to Bonnett.)

At the end of July, Grande Pines had finished all but one step (water quality) for Audubon certification, and Flynn anticipated full completion by mid-August. The weed and insect challenges he had taken on after moving across the street a year earlier were also well under control.

“I only need to spend about 15 to 30 minutes with the LESCO people each week, because we have the routine down so well,” he notes. “I have my list [of needed products] ready, and we go over it and then have a little chat about what’s going on.

“Like everywhere else I’ve been, they’ve been a consistent part of helping me do my job efficiently.”