Waupaca Sand & Solutions Golf Industry Blog

Coach K's Leadership Advice

Posted by on Sunday, May 12, 2013 08:54 PM

By: Dena DiVincenzo

Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski talked with our company today…sort of. Several members of the Waupaca Sand & Solutions team was fortunate to attend a leadership conference that Krzyzewski spoke at.

What did the four-time NCAA champion and two-time Olympic champion teach us?

Coach K shared his experience with coaching 2012 US Olympic men’s basketball team. He was tasked with molding a group of individual NBA superstars including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Carmello Anthony, into a super team.

As the leader of that squad, Coach K decided that the US Olympic team should not have any rules. He believes that rules are externally applied…but standards are internally owned. In lieu of rules, Coach K allowed the team to create the team's standards. The team owned their agreed-upon standards and followed them out of respect for each other.

One example of the standards they set, was a commitment to play defense. In the team’s first practice, Kobe Bryant, uncharacteristically, never took a shot. Instead, he focused his practice time on the defensive end of the floor. What an outstanding example set by the team’s on-court leader. The US Olympic team’s commitment to their standards enabled them to meet goal of winning a gold medal in London 2012.

We were privileged to hear Coach Krzyzewski speak. It was a great reminder to work hard to uphold the standards we set for ourselves and our company.

Melt That Ice: Black Topdressing Sand In Action

Posted by on Tuesday, April 02, 2013 07:33 AM

Golf course greens in Wisconsin have been under snow and ice cover for too long. With the spring thaw coming late, some golf courses are taking action to get their turf exposed to sunlight. This green in the Fox Cities was covered in ice for most of the winter.

The superintendent applied ThawDust Black Topdressing Sand in late March. One day later, the snow and ice was melted and the green's surface temperaure was starting to warm. ThawDust is made from our Fines Free Topdressing Sand, so there is no risk of causing layering damage to your greens. Try some today to speed ice melt and spring turf recovery.

Waupaca Sand's New Topdressing Sand Dryer

Posted by on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 12:50 PM

Because we love cool pictures of manufacturing equipment…Here’s the crew installing our new topdressing sand dryer. Top-of-the-line equipment to make top-of-the line USGA golf course topdressing sand.

Turf Education Winter 2013

Posted by on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 09:00 AM

As winter sets in, our drivers park their sand delivery trucks, and start up their plow trucks. In the office we look forward to keeping up with the latest industry trends at the Midwestern turf conferences.

Educational opportunities abound this winter, thanks to the efforts of our great local organizations. We hope to see you at one of these events:

January 8-9
Illinois Turfgrass Foundation
TURF Conference
Oak Brook, IL
http://iturf.org/Default.aspx?pageId=1432658

January 15
Wisconsin Turfgrass Association
Turfgrass Research Day
Online & Madison, WI
http://www.wisconsinturfgrassassociation.org/EXPO.htm

January 15-19
Sports Turf Managers Association
National Conference
Daytona Beach, FL
http://www.stma.org/

January 24-26
Illinois Association of Park Districts / Illinois Park & Recreation Association
Soaring to New Heights Conference
Chicago, IL
http://www.ilparksconference.com/

February 6-7
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Golf Industry Show
San Diego, CA
http://www.golfindustryshow.com/

February 20
Illinois Sports Turf Managers Association
Winter Educational Workshop
Minooka, IL
http://www.ilstma.org

- The Waupaca Sand & Solutions Team

Our Favorite Golf Sand Calculators

Posted by on Monday, October 29, 2012 11:28 AM

Bunker Construction How many cubic yards are in a ton of sand? How much sand do you need to topdress your greens, or build a new bunker?

To help answer those questions, use our favorite material calculators:

Converting Sand
Weight to Volume and
Volume to Weight

Longhand:

1 ton of sand = 0.74 cubic yards

1 cubic yard of sand = 1.35 tons

Use the dry sand value on this calculator:

Topdressing Sand Calculator

Calculator from the Purdue University Department of Agronomy-Turfgrass Science

Bunker Sand Calculator

Calculator from the Purdue University Department of Agronomy-Turfgrass Science

Filling an Area (Building a Green or Tee Box)

Longhand:

Area in square feet x desired depth in feet = Cubic Feet

Cubic feet divided by 27 = Cubic Yards

Cubic yards x 1.35 = Tons

Tons x (100% + percentage needed for compaction & waste) = tons required

Stone Pathway Calculator

Learn how much aggregate you need for your new pathway or landscape area.

Total Area of a Golf Green

Measure the length from the green from the center to the edge at every 10° around the center to yield 36 observations. Then, compute the mean of measurements, using that mean as the radius.

Longhand: Mean Radii = (the sum of radii) / (the sum of measurements taken) and Area = 3.14 x (Mean Radii x Mean Radii