Forest Hill F.C. Hosts First Green, Educates Students

By Sean T. Kelly

NJSGA P.J. Boatwright Intern

First Green, a non-profit organization which originated in the state of Washington, now has a foothold on the East Coast thanks to Frank Tichenor, Superintendent at Forest Hill Field Club in Bloomfield, N.J.

The First Green program is nationally supported by the United States Golf Association and Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. The USGA recently donated $250,000 as seed money to First Green. Through this program, Tichenor has been able to organize a creative effort to instruct students about certain technical procedures relative to on-course golf operations.

According to Tichenor, this new program benefits the game of golf as well as provides a positive experience for both the hosts of the event and the attendees. Many children, teachers, and volunteers have never had the opportunity to play golf, let alone be on an actual golf course. First Green increases golf awareness, cultivates knowledge used for golf operations, and benefits the community.

“I really believe in this program. When I’m with the kids on the golf course, it’s one of the best days I’ve ever had on a golf course” said Tichenor.

Tichenor is in his 10th year at Forest Hill Field Club. He is extremely passionate about the First Green program. Tichenor initially learned of First Green’s practices when visiting Oregon and Washington three years ago. He came into contact with a representative from the organization and later sparked a conversation with Executive Director Karen Armstead. He then contacted Dawn Payton, Aquatics Director at Forest Hill, who is also a physical education teacher in the Clifton Public school system, to organize a First Green event at Forest Hill.

Now, Tichenor hosts a field trip every season for Clifton students and has since been looking forward to hosting multiple spring/fall sessions including other local school districts.

“With the NJSGA behind it, First Green would be a whole different pipeline.” said Tichenor. “I think it can spread very easily.”

The staff at Forest Hill develops environmental learning labs that allow kids direct interaction with the environment, nature, and scientific instruments. First Green incorporates what is referred to as the “STEM Program” (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

Tichenor encourages the unique opportunity for kids to be out on a golf course on a beautiful day learning the complexities that are necessary for testing the quality of water, collecting soil samples, plant identification, and preserving wildlife habitats. Tichenor also received coverage from a nationally recognized superintendents’ website, TurfNET.com, through a video series called “Growing the Game”.

Three years into Tichenor’s tenure, Forest Hill constructed a gravity-fed retention pond, installed a new water pump system, and purchased an innovative weather station. These three key factors are heavily emphasized in Tichenor’s developmental program at Forest Hill’s course. Tichenor explains to the students the importance of the pressurized water system which uses the water in the retention pond to irrigate the entire golf course. He stresses that his main focus is sustaining the golf course while simultaneously conserving water. Tichenor describes how the retention pond reduces the necessary hours needed to water the course while eliminating the redundancy of over-watering.

Another important factor of the Forest Hill’s First Green program is the new water pump station. Tichenor demonstrates to First Green attendees how the entire water system is controlled via mobile applications. The modern delivery of the new water system reduces costs by applying water faster in a given time. The greens, fairways, roughs, and tee boxes are then less likely to incur damaging fungi, other diseases, and become insect resistance. Tichenor strongly believes in plant health.

Tichenor’s first boss, Peter Pedrazzi of Crestmont Country Club in West Orange, instructed him to “treat grass like a human”.

Tichenor enjoys showing “his side” of on-course golf operations. The whole stigma of over-watering, over-fertilizing, and over-pesticiding is something Tichenor approaches head-on, referencing Forest Hill as a club which does not participate in any of these categories.

Tichenor said, “First Green is a really good program, it’s become popular on the West Coast. It’s good for golf and we get to tell our side of the story.”

The innovative weather station is an essential instrument to Forest Hill’s on-course golf operations and First Green’s program. The weather station increases the use of technology in caring for the golf course. It does so by collecting important data to measure the amount of rain and wind-speed. It calculates evapotranspiration - the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the soil to the atmosphere- which reduces Forest Hill’s operating costs.

The gravity-fed retention pond, new water pump station, and an innovative weather station all contribute to the success of effective golf course maintenance. These three components emphasized by Tichenor may someday be used by the students to better understand the preservation of nature and its importance, both on and off the golf course.

Sean T. Kelly is the 2015 NJSGA P.J. Boatwright Jr. intern