The secret is in Pine Needles' soil

N.C. company uses technology to learn which nutrients will keep grass growing

SOUTHERN PINES -- He doesn't have a medical degree, but Marc Thigpen is a fertility doctor at the grass-roots level.

His patients are golf courses, one of those being the Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club layout that this week is hosting its third U.S. Women's Open championship and getting rave reviews for its conditioning.

"The course is just in wonderful shape," Annika Sorenstam said after an early-week practice round. "It looks beautiful."

Much of the credit for those scenic fairways and greens goes to Pine Needles course superintendent Dave Fruchte and his staff, but Thigpen gets a big assist. His cutting-edge technology is emerging as foolproof turf medicine for courses in need of healthier grass.

In less than three years, Thigpen's Trenton-based company -- NuTec Soil Inc. -- has come to the aid of several North Carolina courses, including Old Chatham, River Landing, Landfall, Eagle Point, the Country Club of North Carolina and the recently built Hasentree course in Wake County.

"It's catching on," Thigpen said. "I thought for a long time that I had a process that could work great on courses, but it was sort of a leap of faith to go ahead and devote all of my time to it."

A 48-year-old N.C. State graduate with a degree in agronomics, Thigpen farmed for about 30 years, growing tobacco, cotton and various vegetable products on his family's spread in Jones County. He also spent enough time on golf courses to hone a single-digit handicap and gradually a concept for pumping new life into fading blades of grass.

Thigpen's rebirth process is somewhat complicated, as much of a science as anything else.

Essentially, he starts by extracting soil samples, yard by yard, for the entire course. Each sample is rigorously tested, documented and charted. Once the entire course profile is determined, Thigpen returns to treat problem areas.

"Most of it has very little to do with fertilizer," Thigpen said. "Almost everything we apply is something natural that the soil is missing. It's almost always something fairly simple, but the trick is finding what area of grass needs which remedy. That can change almost from step to step. One area of a course may need more lime, and then 10 yards away, the soil may be getting too much lime. It's not so much labor intensive, but it is research intensive."

To a degree, it's almost like piecing together a 7,000-yard-long DNA chart for dirt. But the formula works well enough that Thigpen has nothing but satisfied customers. Plus, he says the entire operation is environmentally safe to the nth degree.

"It's the real deal. It definitely works," said Sam Green, course superintendent at the Eagle Point course in the Wilmington area.

Fruchte, in his 17th year at Pine Needles, cites Thigpen's innovations as a "tremendous asset" for the course.

"Marc really has us dialed in," Fruchte said. "We started this process about a year and a half ago, and it's made a huge difference. He took hundreds of soil samples and really did develop a great plan for us."

Fruchte said Thigpen's various formulas for the Pine Needles greens have worked so well that the putting surfaces this week have remained near perfect even though afternoon rains and storms have prevented course maintenance crews from mowing the greens.

"That's tremendously important," Fruchte said. "Ordinarily, you might have a problem in this kind of weather situation, but the greens couldn't be holding up any better."

Thigpen, who has spent much of the week touring the course and reviewing its health, isn't surprised.

"This project went exactly the way we thought it would right from the start," he said. "Once you get through the initial period of mapping out the course and setting the various applications, it's mostly a maintenance process."

The one thing Thigpen doesn't discuss much is the cost, which he said could vary from course to course, depending upon turf needs. Eagle Point's Green said the NuTec system "isn't cheap" but pays impressive dividends.

"Most of the investment is in the start-up period," Fruchte said. "Once you get everything in place and get moving, it's not that expensive at all. What it comes down to is a sound investment."

Thigpen likens his work to preventive medicine, and, in terms of course interruption, it's almost painless. Most of the on-course labor is conducted in the late-afternoon and early-evening hours. Most of the soil additives are applied by a truck that Thigpen designed. James Bond would like it. An on-board computer system makes the applications as predetermined by the soil samples map.

"I think I'm on to something here that could be pretty important in the golf business down the road," Thigpen said. "I don't think anyone else has come up something like this yet. So if it catches on, I believe I'm ahead of the curve. I'm trying to play it out now and see where it goes. Hopefully, the more people who see the courses we've worked on, the more the word will get around."

Lots of folks saw Pine Needles this week, and what they saw was plenty lush and green. Thigpen couldn't have asked for a better calling card.