Cody Self has had a run of some of the best jobs in the world. For five years, Self worked as second assistant superintendent at Pine Needles and Mid Pines in North Carolina. But earlier this year, Self moved south to Tennessee to become assistant superintendent at Sweetens Cove. Since then, he has made occasional cameo appearances in Sweetens Cove’s prolific social media accounts. His bearded visage also is familiar on the golf social media scene, in which Self dabbles (sigepturfguy on Instagram) to share his tremendous photos from Sweetens Cove.
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LYING FOUR: I talked a few months ago to the guy who’s in charge of maintenance at all of Pinehurst’s golf courses, and he said that after work finished on the new No. 4, there was a learning curve for he and his staff while they learned about the new course — where its problem areas were, that sort of thing. When you show up at a course like Sweetens Cove that’s new to you, is there a getting-to-know-you period?
CODY SELF: Absolutely. When you work at a place for a long time, you get to know the greens — where they’re gonna hold moisture, where they’re gonna dry out fastest. And Sweetens Cove is no different. You’ve gotta manage each green a little differently: there are certain spots that you can’t put as much water on, and there are certain spots that need a lot more water. Hand-watering comes into play when you want to make it a top course with great greens.
LYING FOUR: So what do you know now about Sweetens Cove that you didn’t know on Day 1?
CODY SELF: Oh, man. You learn so much about the makeup of the greens. The greens at Sweetens Cove aren’t typical. The owners owned a concrete company, so there’s a lot of concrete sand and masonry sand out there — whereas most people have more of an 80-20 mix, which is 80 percent sand and 20 percent peat. So it drains different, holds moisture different. The nutrients are totally different than what you’d see at an 80-20. And you’ve got some bowls that have just a little bit more organic matter and peat in some places, so you’ve gotta be careful watering there.
Sweetens Cove Golf Club.
LYING FOUR: How did you get into golf course maintenance?
CODY SELF: Golf course maintenance, I guess, is kind of a family deal. My great-uncle, who was kind of like a grandfather to me, was a golf course superintendent for, like, 60 years.
LYING FOUR: Oh, wow.
CODY SELF: Yeah. He was up in the D.C. area, and then in the Shenandoah Valley. So while I was growing up, we had a lot of acreage growing up, and he used to bring down a bucket of balls about twice a year. So by the time I could start mowing, I already had greens set up and three or four holes out in a four-acre yard. I was out there playing golf and taking care of things. It kind of went hand-in-hand with farming.
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LYING FOUR: I know you came to Sweetens Cove from Pine Needles and Mid Pines, both of which I’m crazy about. Is there anything different about how you approach maintenance at Sweetens Cove, versus those places?
CODY SELF: To an extent, yes. They have lots of similarities. In both places, the bunkers are considered waste areas, so you can ground the club. But at the same time, it’s two different clienteles. We’re a daily fee public golf course here at Sweetens Cove, and the other place is a high-end resort course that hosts a lot of shotgun events with a price per round that’s double or triple. So there’s a lot more details and execution on things that people expect to see on a top-25 resort course in Pinehurst. Competition there is stiff. At Sweetens Cove, we focus on the firm, fast, and fun. That’s what we’re looking for.
LYING FOUR: What’s the number one thing you learned at Pine Needles and Mid Pines?
CODY SELF: I’d say the thing I got the best at was how to adapt: how to overcome, think on my feet, and manage…I don’t want to say “chaos,” but you’re pushing through 200-something rounds per day and you still have to do your daily maintenance and get things done. It can be a challenge. So you have to be very organized and be efficient.
Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club.
LYING FOUR: So what’s your day like at Sweetens Cove?
CODY SELF: I get there at 5:45 and start around 6. Typically, if we don’t have a maintenance day, we’re out mowing greens, checking greens, rolling them. Then in the afternoon, we get into projects: drainage, irrigation. Recently, as you probably know, we’ve been growing in a giant putting green, and we’re putting up pavilions, a restroom — plus the Shed and the parking lot, all that is getting done. So a lot of afternoons have been spent trying to give all the detailing is on schedule.
LYING FOUR: Maybe this is a stupid question, but is there any different between maintaining a putting course that big versus maintaining any other green on the course? Or is it the same, just scaled up?
CODY SELF: Once you get it grown in, it’s pretty close to the same. You’ll top-dress, verticut, mow, and spray greens at the same time. But changing the cups or throwing out a little extra fertilizer may happen, because the putting course is gonna get more traffic.
LYING FOUR: What’s the trickiest part of the job at Sweetens Cove?
CODY SELF: For me, it’s moisture management. I came from a place where we had straight sand, everywhere. You could throw water on it all day, and it’s gonna stay firm and fast. And then you get to a place like Sweetens, which is in a flood plain and has a different soil makeup. You’ve gotta be more specific about where you’re putting water and how much you’re using, because it’s playing as a true links-style course — that’s what we’re going for. We want that bump-and-run effect. You can get it too wet, but you have to keep the grass growing at the same time.
LYING FOUR: Is there anything different about maintaining a golf course in the fall, when temperatures are starting to get a little cooler?
CODY SELF: Oh yeah. Transition into fall and spring is crucial when it comes to growing Bermuda grass in a transition zone. You have to be sure that you’re getting down your preemergents in time. You’ve gotta keep up with your water and fertilizer so that your Bermuda is going into the winter in its best shape, so that when you come out in the spring after all that traffic over the winter, you’re not thin and weak in areas — or else it’ll suffer when it starts to green up.
LYING FOUR: What’s the number one thing you wish players knew about golf course maintenance?
CODY SELF: There’s a lot of time and effort that go into it — way more than people realize. Every time I see somebody taking massive divots and not filling in their divot with sand, or dropping multiple balls — that’s a pet peeve of mine. That and two tires off the cart path: why can’t all four tires be on the cart path? Any course in America, the edges of the cart path are always worn out. Nobody can keep all four tires on the cart path.
LYING FOUR: I don’t know why anybody would take a cart at Sweetens Cove anyway, but that’s a whole different conversation, I guess.
CODY SELF: They want to get in more golf, I guess.
LYING FOUR: I’ve always felt like, if you’re keeping the correct pace, you can always walk faster than you can riding with a buddy in a cart.
CODY SELF: Of course, not everybody has a walking bag. There was that big movement in the 1990s and early 2000s where they were building golf courses that were super-hilly, with holes all stretched out. That whole cart-bag thing got really big. Everybody’s like, “Well, I’ve gotta take every club I own and pack my bag full of stuff, and I can’t walk if I’m carrying 10 beers in my bag.”
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226 Likes, 9 Comments - @sigepturfguy on Instagram: "Good morning from the Cove."
LYING FOUR: Anybody who follows you on Instagram figures out pretty quickly that you’re really good at photography. How did you get into photographing golf courses?
CODY SELF: I really appreciate that. That’s actually one of the things that drew me into maintenance in general: the beauty of golf courses and nature in general. I grew up right outside the Great Smoky Mountains, and I’ve been around nature my entire life. I truly enjoy it. And if I can share that with other people, then that’s something I want to do.
LYING FOUR: How’d you get so good at it? Was it just trial and error, or did you take classes?
CODY SELF: Oh it’s definitely trial and error — no classes. Most of the stuff you see on there is taken on an iPhone 4 or an iPhone 7. Some of the higher-quality stuff is from a Sony a6000 that I bought last year, but I don’t want to carry it on the course as much, because I’m usually busy and on the go. So usually it’s just a snapshot with a phone.
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