About the Author
Hello everyone and welcome to The Groundskeeping Coach. I am Tyler Carr, a current graduate student at the University of Tennessee studying turfgrass science. Long before I got to graduate school, I would spend my high school summer days in 2011 and 2012 maintaining the baseball field at White Hall High School, where my father was the head coach. As with many high school fields today, poor playing conditions were too common of an occurrence and I wanted to change that. While pitching and hitting, I was tired of the large holes in the batters boxes and mound that would affect the my footwork. The uneven, loose infield skin (the dirt) surface would cause ground balls to bounce unpredictably. I wanted to make a difference and increase the safety and playability of the field.
We incorporated a new infield material to the skin to firm the surface up, and installed packing clay to the batters boxes and mound to reduce the large holes. A maintenance plan was enacted, and I was off! My father was not too happy that I would spend more time maintaining the field than practicing on it, but I wanted to provide my teammates a surface that they were comfortable practicing on so we could improve as a team. Not to take credit for the hard work and toughness that the 2012 White Hall Bulldogs put in, but that year we won our first State Championship since 1980.
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This passion I had developed led me to the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2013 to pursue a biology degree, which only lasted about three months. I had been working part-time in Razorback Athletics on the grounds crew at Baum Stadium, and realized my calling: turf. I began taking classes in the Horticulture Department focusing on turfgrass management (yes, you can really get a degree in turf) while still working at Baum. This led me to doing internships at Chenal Country Club in Little Rock, AR in 2014, Fenway Park in Boston, MA in 2015, and Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, OH in 2016.
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Upon graduation in December '16, I moved to Toledo, OH as the assistant groundskeeper for the Toledo Mud Hens, the AAA affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. After about two months, I realized that school was not so bad and I moved back to Fayetteville to pursue a M. S. degree at the University of Arkansas. For my Ph.D. work at the University of Tennessee, I am investigating the effectiveness of zoysiagrass on golf course putting greens and sports fields.
As the son of a high school baseball coach, I understand your constraints from a time and budget standpoint. I can provide you with the "tools" necessary to improve the safety and playability of your field while still addressing these constraints.
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