Don't forget to say thanks once in a while

The next time you find your golf ball sitting with a nice lie in the fairway remember to say thanks to the course superintendent.

They’re the ones who catch all the grief when the greens are splotchy or they’ve been aerated. It’s their fault if the bunker sand isn’t just right or there are bare spots on the tees.

They get blamed for more things than the liberal media.

And when it’s good, they probably don’t get enough thanks.

There’s an art and a science to growing grass and course superintendents do a lot more than that.

Course conditions are so much better than they used to be and with the abundance of rain around here recently, this may be a big year for thick rough.

Don’t blame them for the rough. Learn to hit it straighter.

Recently, more than $55,000 was raised for turfgrass research at N.C. State and Clemson through an on-line auction called Rounds4Research sponsored by members of the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association.

These are the people who give us the greens we putt on. It’s not their fault if we 3-putt.