Golf Course Management - November 2013
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Offcial Publication of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America golf course management REVOLUTION www.gcsaa.org • November 2013 Ultradwarf bermudagrass is changing the game for warm season superintendents PAGE 42
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Golf Course Management - November 2013
Transcript of Golf Course Management - November 2013
Offcial Publication of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
golf course management
REVOLUTION
www.gcsaa.org • November 2013
Ultradwarf bermudagrass is changing the game
for warm season superintendents PAGE 42
C1_Nov13.indd 1 10/24/13 1:59 PM
JAN FEB MAR
APR MAY JUN
JUL AUG SEP
OCT NOV DEC
Daconil Action rotated with a traditional fungicide
If you’re not rotating two multi-site contact
fungicides year-round, you’re leaving holes
in your turf’s defense.
©2013 Syngenta. Important: Always read and follow label instructions before buying or using Syngenta products.
warranty. All products may not be registered for sale or use in all states. Please check with your state or local Extension Ser
Alliance Frame, the Purpose Icon, and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. Secure®
Daconil Action™ fungicide
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Daconil Action rotated with Secure fungicide
JAN FEB MAR
APR MAY JUN
JUL AUG SEP
OCT NOV DEC
If you’re not rotating two multi-site contact
fungicides year-round, you’re leaving holes
Important: Always read and follow label instructions before buying or using Syngenta products. The label contains important conditions of sale, including limitations of remedy and
Please check with your state or local Extension Service before buying or using Syngenta products. Daconil,® Daconil Action,™ the
Secure® is a registered trademark of Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, LTD. MW 1LGG3038 05/13
Secure® fungicide is the next-
generation, multi-site contact
and the frst in the golf market
in over 45 years. Secure is
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contact applications but
rather complements for
inside-out protection.
For more information on Daconil Action and Secure
fungicides as part of a complete agronomic program,
visit GreenCastOnline.com/programs.
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co
nte
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November 2013
Volume 81 • Number 11
42 The ultradwarf revolution Superintendents from the transition zone southward
are sleeping better at night because of a sweeping
change in bermudagrass cultivars.
Mark Leslie
62 Local knowledgeLooking for inside information on the courses hosting
the 2014 GCSAA Golf Championships? Just turn to the
golf course management professionals who know these
venues best.
Scott Hollister
On the CoverThe advent of ultradwarf bermudagrasses has been
nothing short of revolutionary for warm-season
superintendents, as this month’s cover depicts.
001-019_Nov13_front.indd 10 10/18/13 9:21 AM
001-019_Nov13_front.indd 11 10/18/13 9:21 AM
contents
RESEARCH
THEINSIDER
DEPARTMENTS
16 President’s message
18 Inside GCM
20 Front nine
28 Field reports
30 Photo quiz
78 Up to speed
92 Industry news
96 Product news
103 On course
103 Coming up
105 New members
106 On the move
112 Final shot
32 The Insider: CareersDigital career tools
Carol D. Rau, PHR
34 The Insider: ShopHome vac in the shop
Scott R. Nesbitt
36 The Insider: EnvironmentFine feathered friends
Bunny Smith
38 The Insider: TurfThe high price of ryegrass
Teresa Carson
http://gcm.typepad.com @GCM_Magazine
www.gcsaa.tv
36
34
80 The Rules of Golf and the superintendent
A greater familiarity with the Rules of Golf
can help superintendents better understand
the game and make them more confident in marking the course.
Jack D. Fry, Ph.D.
85 The plight of the beesWhy are bees and other pollinators dying, and how can the golf industry safeguard bees and even augment their populations?
Jonathan L. Larson
Daniel A. Potter, Ph.D.
89 Cutting edgeTeresa Carson
GOLF COURSE MANAGEMENT (ISSN 0192-3048 [print]; ISSN 2157-3085 [online]) is published monthly by GCSAA Communications Inc., 1421 Research Park Drive, Lawrence, KS 66049-3859, 785-841-2240. Subscriptions (all amounts U.S. funds only): $60 a year. Outside the United States and Canada, write for rates. Single copy: $5 for members, $7.50 for nonmembers. Offce of publication and editorial offce is at GCSAA, 1421 Research Park Drive, Lawrence, KS 66049-3859. Periodicals postage paid at Lawrence, Kan., and at additional mailing offces. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to: Golf Course Management, 1421 Research Park Drive, Lawrence, KS 66049. CANADA POST: Publications mail agreement No. 40030949. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 122, Niagara Falls, ONT L2E 6S8.
80
96
12 GCM November 2013
001-019_Nov13_front.indd 12 10/18/13 9:21 AM
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
golf course management
OUR MISSION
Golf Course Management magazine is dedicated to advancing the golf course superintendent pro-
fession and helping GCSAA members achieve career success. To that end, GCM provides authorita-
tive “how-to” career-oriented, technical and trend information by industry experts, researchers and
golf course superintendents. By advancing the profession and members’ careers, the magazine
contributes to the enhancement, growth and vitality of the game of golf.
GCSAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President PATRICK R. FINLEN, CGCS
Vice President KEITH A. IHMS, CGCS
Secretary/Treasurer JOHN J. O’KEEFE, CGCS
Immediate Past President SANDY G. QUEEN, CGCS
Directors RAFAEL BARAJAS, CGCS
DARREN J. DAVIS
JOHN R. FULLING JR., CGCS
PETER J. GRASS, CGCS
BILL H. MAYNARD, CGCS
Chief Executive Offcer J. RHETT EVANS
GCM STAFF
Editor-in-Chief SCOTT HOLLISTER
Sr. Managing Editor BUNNY SMITH
Sr. Science Editor TERESA CARSON
Associate Editor HOWARD RICHMAN
Sr. Manager, Creative Services ROGER BILLINGS
Manager, Creative Services KELLY NEIS
[email protected] Traffc Coordinator SHELLY URISH
Traffc Coordinator BRETT LEONARD
GCSAA This Week/Turf Weekly
Editor DARCY BOYLE
ADVERTISING 800-472-7878 or 785-841-2240
Managing Director
Marketing and Business Development MATT BROWN
Sr. Manager, Business Development JIM CUMMINS
Lead International Developer ERIC BOEDEKER
Account Development Managers BRETT ILIFF
KARIN CANDRL
SHELLY URISH
The articles, discussions, research and other information in this publication are advisory only and
are not intended as a substitute for specifc manufacturer instructions or training for the processes
discussed, or in the use, application, storage and handling of the products mentioned. Use of this
information is voluntary and within the control and discretion of the reader. ©2013 by GCSAA
Communications Inc., all rights reserved.
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Dispersion is only part of our story
Stress Protection: Delivers stress-buffering biostimulants which help the turf grass
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quality and playability during stress conditions.
Sea Plant Kelp Meal: Utilizes sea plant kelp meal with multiple L-amino acids that the
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content increases and the turf plant’s photosynthetic rate and capacity remain stable.
Humic Acids: Employs a high-quality humic acid that serves as a soil microbial
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organic matter is often extremely low. This organic biostimulant improves the turf plant’s
overall ability to take up nutrients for a longer period of time.
001-019_Nov13_front.indd 15 10/18/13 9:21 AM
Inventing our future
I’ll freely admit that when I am asked about the value
GCSAA delivers to its members, I tend to rattle off a list of fea-
tures we receive for paying annual dues.
I usually begin reciting the tangible benefts such as this magazine, the GCSAA website, the education conference and trade show. I then talk about more of the intangible activities done on members’ behalf, such as marketing, government ad-vocacy, organizational branding and the like. Certainly, both the tangible and intangible add up to quite a list. In my opin-ion, it is worth much more than the amount we pay.
But I believe our most valuable beneft is one for which we as members give little thought. Consider if GCSAA did not exist. How would the golf course management profession be properly represented in the marketplace? Since the day of its inception, a primary focus of GCSAA has been to develop re-sources and standards (whether formal or implied) that meet the needs of the open market. This is the context I use when referring to market representation.
I am not sure that Col. John Morley and his fellow board members thought they were assessing the marketplace when they convened for the frst time, but that is exactly what they were doing. They were looking at the game and the facil-ity, and analyzing what was needed in a greenkeeper to meet the demands of consumers and employers. And knowing that they could meet and, perhaps, even exceed those demands, GCSAA’s founding fathers knew their members would be successful as a result.
Fast-forward nearly 90 years from the days of Col. Morley, and the current GCSAA board and staff fnd themselves con-ducting the same analysis. What is the future of the profes-sion if it is to remain viable and achieve success? If you have been a member of a GCSAA committee or a chapter delegate in the past year, then you have participated in discussions that the board of directors has facilitated to help answer that ques-tion. I trust you read the outcomes of the recently completed chapter delegates meeting that provided some color to those discussions (if not, please visit www.gcsaa.org).
For those of you who were around approximately 10 years ago, GCSAA went through a detailed analysis that resulted in the establishment of formal membership standards. Those standards were created because a comprehensive strategic study concluded that they would enhance the knowledge,
skills and abilities of GCSAA members, thus creating higher value in the marketplace. Last year, a GCSAA member task group analyzed those standards and the results of their imple-mentation. The review found several positive outcomes in the time since the members voted in standards, but the fndings also recommended it was time to study whether those stan-dards needed changing.
But to properly address that question, we need greater input. As I noted, we have heard from the special membership
President’s Messageby Patrick R. Finlen, CGCS
standards task group, committees and delegates. In the upcom-ing months, GCSAA will be developing a means to capture additional member input. We will be framing the discussion around the following questions:• Would it be advantageous for GCSAA to simplify/narrow
membership classes?• Should GCSAA enhance Class A standards?• What would motivate a member to achieve Class A status?• If changes are to be made, how quickly should implementa-
tion occur?This will not be a quick or a particularly easy process. But
it is the responsibility of the association to monitor the market-place and offer resources that will keep its members relevant and successful. And when you think about it, that might be the most valuable beneft of being a GCSAA member.
GCM
Patrick R. Finlen, CGCS ([email protected]), is the interim general manager at
The Olympic Club in San Francisco and a 28-year GCSAA member.
I am not sure that Col. John Morley and his fellow board members thought they were assessing the marketplace when they convened for the frst time, but that is exactly what they were doing.
16 GCM November 2013
001-019_Nov13_front.indd 16 10/18/13 9:21 AM
When patience is a (required) virtue
When I started my career in journalism way back
when, I was like a lot of professionals in other lines of work. I
had things I wanted to achieve, goals I wanted to reach and a
well-considered timetable for how long I thought it should take
for me to get there.
I never reached my sports writing stretch goal — covering the Olympics — but I did cross plenty of achievements off my list. I interviewed many notable athletes, I got to run my own sports department as sports editor and I bagged a handful of writing awards. After I joined GCSAA in 1998 (I told you it was way back when), I was fortunate to follow a similar road. I met a ton of great people, snagged a few awards and got pro-moted a couple of times, most recently in 2010 when I had the privilege of taking over this magazine as editor-in-chief.
I was reminded of my own circuitous career path in early October when I attended the eighth annual Green Start Acad-emy, a networking and educational event for assistant super-intendents put on jointly by John Deere Golf and Bayer En-vironmental Science. It’s an annual event with a very clear purpose — providing 50 assistants from around the U.S. and Canada with the right tools and the right connections to pre-pare them for the next step in their careers. It’s the kind of opportunity I wish they had offered to budding sports writers back in the day.
Having attended several previous editions of this event, I know a host of Green Start alumni who are now manag-ing golf courses of their own. And to a person, they all credit the program with giving them a new skill or facilitating a key introduction to someone else in the industry that helped in their leap from assistant to head superintendent. I have no doubt that this year’s class will eventually reap all those same benefts.
The question is exactly when that will happen. It’s no sur-prise to anyone in golf course management that this industry remains a serious buyer’s market right now. The signs of an improving golf economy are plentiful, but that hasn’t changed the fact that there are more qualifed candidates for head su-perintendent jobs than there are openings for them to fll.
That fact was hammered home during one of the small group sessions at Green Start. Ken Mangum, CGCS at At-lanta Athletic Club, asked the 20 or so assistants gathered
around him how many had been assistants for at least three years. All but two raised their hands. When he asked how many had been assistants for at least fve years, only a couple of hands went down.
When I attended the very frst Green Start, the answer to that question would have been drastically different. Most as-sistants with designs on head superintendent jobs only had to wait a year or two for that opportunity. In today’s environ-ment, even the most qualifed and motivated fnd they are spending more time on the sidelines.
Inside GCMby Scott Hollister
Having attended several
previous editions of this
event, I know a host of
Green Start alumni who are
now managing golf courses
of their own.
That doesn’t diminish the need for the skills cultivated at events like Green Start. In fact, networking, communications abilities and top-notch agronomic chops are probably as im-portant as they’ve ever been for assistant superintendents.
It’s just that now those assistants are probably going to need to be just as skilled in the art of patience as they are in those other areas as they endeavor to take that next step along the ladder of success.
GCM
Scott Hollister ([email protected]) is GCM ’s editor-in-chief.
18 GCM November 2013
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20 GCM November 2013
see more @ www.gcsaa.org
front NINE 9front NINE 9
The turfgrass industry lost three legends in the business in a
span of less than three weeks.
Joseph M. Duich, Ph.D., James Watson, Ph.D., Charlie Wil-
son. Each man, in his own way, left a major imprint in the feld.
Their contributions and their legacies were cemented long before
their deaths.
“I knew all three of them,” says Frank Dobie, superintendent
at Sharon Golf Club in Sharon Center, Ohio. “They were giants.”
Here is more about these men who meant so much.
Joseph M. Duich, Ph.D.It did not take long at all for Duich to make an impact.
About the same time he joined the Penn State University fac-
ulty in 1955, Duich collaborated with the school’s legendary Burt
Musser to develop Penncross creeping bentgrass.
Duich, though, was far from done. He spearheaded Penn
State’s two-year turfgrass program for those who wanted to be
superintendents, an offering that in time gained international ac-
claim. He led the way for what became the Joseph Valentine
Turfgrass Research Center at the university. When he retired
from Penn State in 1991, Duich was a breeder of fne turf vari-
eties, stress-resistant grasses such as Penn A’s, Penn G’s and
Seaside II.
“You can never quantify the impact this man had, and it will
go on for generations,” Dobie says.
Darren Davis, GCSAA Class A superintendent at Olde Florida
Golf Club in Naples, Fla., graduated from Penn State the year
Duich retired. The respect Davis has for Duich, who died Oct. 11
at the age of 85, is thick.
“I would not be where I am, and I really believe this, if it was
not for that man,” says Davis, a member of GCSAA’s board of
directors. “He would take you under his wing in a tough love sort
of way. I so wanted to please the man.”
Duich, who received GCSAA’s Distinguished Service Award
in 1976 and its Old Tom Morris Award in 2006, never could go
anywhere in this industry without stopping every few steps to hear
a thank-you from a former student, answer a question from some-
body who wanted to learn, or simply shake the hand of an admirer
that knew his name and just had to meet the person whose work
stretched from sea to shining sea.
“He was such a wonderful professor and researcher,” says
Penn State graduate Mark Kuhns, CGCS, director of grounds at
Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfeld, N.J. “All the bentgrasses he
founded touched every part of the world. He just made such an
impact — on everything.”
James Watson, Ph.D.Mike Richardson, Ph.D., did not know Watson for as long as
many others in the turfgrass industry, yet his description of the
man probably would be agreed upon by all who knew Watson.
“He was a turf encyclopedia on legs,” says Richardson, a pro-
fessor in the department of horticulture at the University of Ar-
kansas. “He knew about everything. He really did. Genetics, soils,
you name it. He had such a grasp on the whole breadth of the
turfgrass industry.”
Watson, who died Oct. 1 at 92, started in 1952 at The Toro
Co., worked 46 years there, and led research in turf and water
management. In 1983, Watson received GCSAA’s Distinguished
Service Award. In 1995, he was honored with GCSAA’s Old
Tom Morris Award. Watson spent three decades on the USGA’s
Turfgrass and Environmental Research Committee. Today, Toro
provides funding through the Environmental Institute for Golf for
the James R. Watson Fellowship Program that awards grants to
students who are candidates for master’s or doctoral degrees in
felds related to golf course management.
A passing of legends: Duich, Watson and Wilson
“I knew all
three of
them. They
were giants.”
— Frank Dobie
Duich Watson Wilson
020-027_Nov13_Front9.indd 20 10/18/13 9:53 AM
22 GCM November 2013
see more @ www.gcsaa.org
front NINE 9“The main thing about Jim is that he always shared his
knowledge,” says Stanley Metsker, CGCS Retired. “He knew what
he was talking about.”
Richardson, who met Watson 15 years ago when Arkan-
sas sought a USGA research grant, still is impacted by what he
learned from him.
“He gave me a lot of energy, the passion to do what we
needed to do,” Richardson says.
Charles G. WilsonWilson established the frst Green Section offce in 1952 in
Davis, Calif. He also led the formation of the O.J. Noer Foundation.
“He’s not only a legend, he’s a pioneer,” says Gene Haas, for-
mer executive director of the Wisconsin State Golf Association. “I
learned so much from him just by listening. He was so convincing
about what he was doing.”
Wilson, who was 93 when he died Sept. 23, at one point was
marketing director for Milorganite, a fertilizer of choice for numer-
ous superintendents.
Joe Deschler, employed by Horst Distributing, knew Wilson
for years and said Wilson was much like Noer, undoubtedly a leg-
end in the profession.
“He just loved helping people,” Deschler says. “Whatever he
did, he did it very well and in a professional manner.”
— Howard Richman, GCM associate editor
First Plant Health Academy convenes in North Carolina
It’s a question that more than a few golf course superinten-
dents have contemplated when thinking about the management
of the turfgrasses under their care: Is the best offense really a
good defense?
Tony Lasher, CGCS, who oversees 27 holes of golf at the
Resort at the Mountain in Welches, Ore., admits he thinks about
it every time he sees an advertisement in an industry publication
touting “plant health” or hears colleagues discussing the concept
during chapter meetings.
“I’ve always been intrigued by the concept,” the 21-year
GCSAA member says. “If we can keep the plant as healthy as
we can for as long as we can, are we then really able to ward off
pathogens and insects and weeds?”
That natural curiosity on the topic was the driving force be-
hind his application to be a part of the frst class for Bayer Environ-
mental Science’s Plant Health Academy. And as one of the dozen
superintendents from around the country who were ultimately se-
lected and participated in two days of classroom sessions and
feld tours in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area in late September,
Lasher says the experience lived up to his expectations.
“For me, it was a really good self-evaluation exercise,” he
says. “It made me stop and think about my processes and prac-
tices, and how what I was doing on the golf course affected the
health of the plant.”
This session was the frst of two in which members of this frst
class will participate. They’ll gather again at GCSAA headquarters
in Lawrence, Kan., in March for part two, along with another 12
superintendents who will be members of the second Plant Health
Academy class. This trip to North Carolina showcased Bayer’s
Development and Training Center in Clayton and the work being
done at that facility, along with a tour of research facilities at North
Carolina State and the university’s Lonnie Poole Golf Course.
The Plant Health Academy is part of Bayer’s broader Healthy
Turf, Healthy Tomorrow initiative, which is an effort to advance
research and education into the topic of plant health. Bayer is
funding the program by investing a portion of sales of its Stress-
Guard fungicide products — as much as $100,000 annually —
in GCSAA’s philanthropic organization, the Environmental Insti-
tute for Golf. For more information, visit www.eifg.org/education/
continuing-education/healthy-turf-healthy-tomorrow.
Additionally, GCSAA has conducted two related webinars
that focused on plant health. Both are now available for view-
ing on GCSAA TV — Gadgets and Gizmos: Utilizing Technology
to Monitor Moisture and Light To Produce Healthy Turf (www.
gcsaa.tv/webinars/sponsored/view.php?id=204) and Managing
Soils to Maximize Plant Health (www.gcsaa.tv/webinars/view.
php?id=222).
— Scott Hollister, GCM editor-in-chief
PGA Tour donates to EIFG For a third time, the PGA Tour has made a $100,000 donation
to the Environmental Institute for Golf (EIFG), the philanthropic
organization of GCSAA.
In addition, PGA Tour Senior Vice President of Agronomy Cal
Roth was named to the EIFG Board of Trustees. Roth is a 34-year
member of GCSAA.
“The PGA Tour’s generous commitment to the EIFG is a prime
example of golf’s leading associations working together for the
beneft of the game,” says GCSAA/EIFG President Patrick R. Fin-
len, CGCS.
Vvv
The entire GCSAA
Chapter Delegates Meeting was
held in Lawrence, Kan., home
of GCSAA, for the first time
since 1999. Meetings focused
more on what the association
and profession will look like in
the future as opposed to dis-
cussing the current state of the
industry. Read more about it at:
www.gcsaa.org/Newsroom/
News/GCSAA/2013/GCSAA-
chapter-delegates-focus-on-the-
future.aspx
Members of Bayer Environmental Science’s frst Plant Health Academy were kept busy in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., region. Photo by Scott Hollister
020-027_Nov13_Front9.indd 22 10/18/13 9:53 AM
24 GCM November 2013
see more @ www.gcsaa.org
front NINE 9
Devastating foods test Colorado
This was no ordinary meeting of the Rocky Mountain GCSA.
On Oct. 14 at Rolling Hills Country Club in Golden, Colo., no
doubt heavy hearts flled the room. Some simply knew they still
faced monumental tasks because what so many had considered
unthinkable had changed their lives for the immediate future.
In some cases, it could be much longer.
September foods — unprecedented according to the Coop-
erative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, calling
the mammoth rains “likely a 100-year food” — left some golf
courses staggering as of GCM ’s deadline. Boulder, Colo., received
approximately 17 inches in an eight-day span, including nearly 12
inches in 48 hours. GCSAA Northwest regional feld staff repre-
sentative David Phipps, who provided the accompanying images,
has been on site.
His support, and those of others who have been affected, is
welcomed. It certainly is needed for one of their own. Tracy Rich-
ard, past RMGCSA president, has been fghting for his life.
Richard, director of agronomy at CommonGround Golf Course
in Aurora, Colo., and a 20-year member of GCSAA, went into car-
diac arrest the week of the foods. A husband and father of three
daughters, Richard was showing signs of improvement as GCM
went to press. Richard, who had been on a ventilator and was
unresponsive initially, was weaned off the ventilator and spoke for
the frst time in three weeks on Oct. 14.
“Tracy means so much to this organization. He grew this as-
sociation to where we are today,” says Gary Leeper, executive di-
rector of the RMGCSA. “It’s so important that we get him back.”
CommonGround Golf Course, which only had nine holes open
by mid-October, was among those hit hardest. One course may
not reopen until 2015. Then there is Flatirons Golf Course in Boul-
der, where 32-year GCSAA member Dave Brown needs thatch for
his weak and tender greens. “I just never faced anything like this
in my years growing turf,” he says. “I’m all over the map trying to
get them (greens) to come back.”
Nobody knows for certain when Coal Creek Golf Course in
Louisville, Colo., will be back in business. Renovations that were
already being planned have now grown in scope.
“They pretty much lost three holes entirely, 14 of them had
signifcant damage, and three wooden bridges got wiped out,”
says architect Rick Phelps, whose frm Phelps-Atkinson Golf De-
sign was among those bidding to renovate Coal Creek. “I think the
hope is to break ground by mid-November (this month) and be
done with construction in May so they can open in September. If
the grassing isn’t done, it probably will be 2015.”
At Estes Park, 18 holes currently equal 16. It mostly has to
do with Fish Creek.
“We lost a large portion of our par-5 17th. Normally, you can
jump across the creek that separates the green from the fair-
way. The creek has become a 200-foot wide river,” says 17-year
GCSAA member John Feeney, noting that the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers will help determine the fate of Fish Creek. “If that hole
is unplayable, you can’t get to 18.”
Feeney, who postponed aerifcation until next spring, says some
good has come out of this challenging scenario in the Rockies.
“I’ve been in situations that change on a daily basis. The
last few weeks, they changed on an hourly basis,” Feeney says.
“Ultimately, this probably will make my staff and me better turf
professionals. We’re doing things we’ve never done before. I’ve
learned about my guys’ skills set, how they handle responsibility
they never had before, and it is refreshing.”
— Howard Richman, GCM associate editor
Assistants get a Green Start on the ladder of success
Editor’s note: The eighth-annual Green Start Academy, an
education and networking event for assistant superintendents pre-
sented jointly by John Deere Golf and Bayer Environmental Sci-
ence, took place in and around Raleigh, N.C., in early October. One
of the 50 assistants selected to participate was Ryan Franklin, the
assistant superintendent at Westwood Country Club in Vienna, Va.,
and a three-year member of GCSAA. GCM asked Franklin to share
some of his first-hand impressions of the event, and his report
appears below.
I had the opportunity to be selected to attend this year’s Green
Start Academy. While I did not have any expectations about what
this opportunity would have in store for me, I was pleasantly sur-
prised by what a great experience this was.
The main focus was how to make the next step in our careers
from assistant superintendents to head superintendent. We had
the opportunity to speak and listen to accomplished superinten-
dents from across the country who had already traveled this path.
Panelists included Chris Condon, the GCSAA Class A superin-
tendent at Tetherow Resort and Golf Course in Bend, Ore.; Bob
Farren CGCS, the director of golf course and grounds manage-
ment at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort; Pat Finlen, CGCS, the interim
general manager at The Olympic Club in San Francisco and the
current GCSAA president; Ken Mangum, CGCS, the director of
golf course and grounds at the Atlanta Athletic Club; and Bryan
Stromme, CGCS, a regional golf course superintendent with Billy
Casper Golf.
From them, we learned how they got into the industry and
how they have succeeded in their careers, and they also provided
suggestions on how the attendees could move forward in their
careers. They emphasized the value of networking, of being pro-
Coal Creek GC (top) and Flatirons GC were hit hard by September foods. Photos by
David Phipps
Vvv
Sustainability in
Golf: Beyond the Green was
held Oct. 3-4 at The Sea Pines
Resort in Hilton Head, S.C. and
presented by Syngenta and hosted
by Experience Green. GCSAA and
the Carolinas GCSA both also
supported the event as partners at
the Steward level. The event was
a collaboration of superintendents,
PGA professionals, golf course
owners and managers, marketers,
etc., to discuss the basic tenets
of sustainability — people, planet
and prosperity. “Golf course
superintendents are the innovative
and creative force behind sustain-
ability,” says Experience Green
founder Teresa Wade.
020-027_Nov13_Front9.indd 24 10/18/13 10:13 AM
26 GCM November 2013
see more @ www.gcsaa.org
front NINE 9
active in our careers and of volunteering in the industry. It was a
great experience and a rare change to hear from so many accom-
plished professionals in one place, and it was all made possible
by the Green Start Academy.
There were other, more formal, presentations from Chris
Carson, the GCSAA Class A superintendent at Echo Lake Country
Club in Westfeld, N.J., along with Ed Ibarguen (general manager
and PGA director of golf) and Billy Weeks (superintendent), both
from Duke University Golf Club in Durham, N.C. Both presenta-
tions did a great job of highlighting how to take the next steps in
your career and separate you from other candidates.
Another great point I took away from their presentations was
the need to take time out of this demanding industry and enjoy
your life. It’s very easy for us to get caught up with work and lose
what is truly important to us in our life. They told us to separate
life and work and fnd a happy balance.
The most important take-away from this outstanding op-
portunity, however, was simply talking to my fellow assistants. It
was reassuring to know that regardless of the problems I might
be facing at my course, I wasn’t alone. Assistants at courses on
the other side of the country were facing the same things I was, so
being able to talk about what we were going through — whether in
agronomy, staffng or something else — was extremely valuable.
I would encourage fellow assistants to take advantage of this
opportunity and to apply to the Green Start Academy.
BASF unveils new active ingredient, two new fungicides
Capping nearly a decade of research and development,
BASF is planning on bringing two new fungicides to the golf
course market in the frst half of 2014, both built on an all-new
active ingredient.
At a media event at Pinehurst Resort in early October, the
company pulled back the curtain on Xzemplar and Lexicon, prod-
ucts that feature the new active ingredient fuxapyroxad. As of
press time for this issue of GCM, neither product has received
EPA registration, but company offcials expect that to take place
by the end of this month and will feature the two fungicides in
the company’s booth at the 2014 Golf Industry Show in Orlando.
Colorado course closes after
40 years in business
Gleneagle Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colo., closed
Nov. 1 after four decades in operation, the Colorado
Springs Gazette reports. A decline in golfers combined
with rising costs for expenses such as water hastened the
closing. http://gazette.com/gleneagle-golf-course-closing-
nov.-1-other-club-facilities-to-stay-open/article/1507232
A November to remember
A 125th anniversary is being recognized in Green-
burgh, N.Y. That is the location of The Saint Andrew’s Golf
Club, which, on Nov. 14, marks the day in 1888 that golfers
formally established what has become the oldest continu-
ously existing golf club in the U.S., PGA.com reports. www.
pga.com/golf-courses/golf-buzz/americas-frst-golf-club-
marks-major-anniversary
Course reopening rescheduled
for 2014
Well, so much for planning. Mesquite (Texas) Golf Club
had hoped to reopen this fall, but weather issues, including
an ultra-wet summer, have forced a lengthy delay, accord-
ing to The Mesquite News Star. The plan now is to reopen
in June 2014 to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of
the club, which opened in 1964. www.scntx.com/ar-
ticles/2013/10/04/mesquite_news/news/1222.txt
Ken Mangum, CGCS, (standing, back right) chats with attendees
at Green Start Academy. Photo by Scott Hollister
Although labeled for control of several pathogens, Xzem-
plar’s main target will be dollar spot. According to Kyle Miller,
BASF’s senior technical specialist, the new product will be po-
sitioned as a premium product alongside its existing dollar spot
fungicide, Emerald. Miller says Xzemplar has shown to be faster
acting, longer lasting and provides a higher level of control on
dollar spot than its cousin in the BASF product line.
Lexicon is a broad-spectrum product that combines fuxapy-
roxad with pyraclostrobin, the key active ingredient in the compa-
ny’s Intrinsic line of products. The two modes of action offered by
those active ingredients have shown a wide variety of sustained
disease control on dollar spot, leaf spots and root diseases on
both greens and fairways, according to Kathy Kalmowitz, a mar-
ket development technical specialist for BASF.
Both products are expected to be commercially available in
April of next year.
— Scott Hollister, GCM editor-in-chief
020-027_Nov13_Front9.indd 26 10/18/13 9:53 AM
$50,000 and $99,999 since 1987) status;
the Heart of America GCSA, which donated
$5,000 to join the Platinum Tee Club for
the 19th consecutive year and also attain
Presidential Club (cumulative giving between
$100,000 and $249,000 since 1987) status;
the Kansas GCSA, which donated $500; the
Michigan GCSA, which donated $1,000 to
become a member of the EIFG’s Golden Tee
Club (gifts between $1,000 and $4,999); and
the GCSA of New Jersey, which donated
$5,000 to reach Platinum Club status and
also joined the Executive Club (cumulative
giving between $25,000 and $49,999 since
1987); the Peaks and Prairies GCSA, made
up primarily of superintendents in Montana
and Wyoming, which contributed $500; the
Old Dominion GCSA, based in Virginia, which
donated $1,000 to reach the Golden Tee
Club; and the Tennessee GCSA, which con-
tributed $500 to the EIFG. “These chapters
are the prime example of how our industry is
working together to foster sustainability,” says
GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans. “Their generosity
is vital to furthering the research, awareness,
education and scholarships that the EIFG
supports. We thank them all for their gifts.”
FIELD reports
EditorÕs note: Field Reports highlights
news, notes and information from the front
lines of the golf course management industry.
To submit items for Field Reports, send them
to editor-in-chief Scott Hollister (shollister@
gcsaa.org). To learn more about GCSAAÕs
efforts on the local and regional level through
its affiliated chapters and field staff program,
visit www.gcsaa.org/chapters/default.asp.
Great LakesA trio of well-known figures in the golf
course management industry in northern Ohio
has been inducted into the Northern Ohio
GCSA’s Hall of Fame. During an induction
ceremony in early October, William McMul-
lin, Bill Lyons and Jean Esposito, CGCS, all
entered the hall. McMullin, the longtime
superintendent/owner at Yankee Run Golf
Club in Brookfield, Ohio, began working in the
family business at the age of 8. Now retired,
McMullin is a 55-year GCSAA member who
mentored many Ohio superintendents. Lyons
served as the superintendent at Firestone
Country Club in Akron, Ohio, from 1945 to
1963 before purchasing and then maintaining
Lyons Den Golf Club until he passed away in
1983. A past president of the Northern Ohio
GCSA, Lyons was a frequent contributor to
both local and national publications and was
a 38-year member of GCSAA at the time of
his death. Esposito is a 36-year GCSAA mem-
ber who serves as the superintendent/owner
of Hinkley Hills Golf Club in Hinckley, Ohio.
She was the first female president of the
Northern Ohio GCSA, which also made her
the first female to serve as president of any
of GCSAA’s affiliated chapters. She has a long
track record of committee service, both locally
with the Northern Ohio GCSA and the Ohio
Turf Foundation and nationally with GCSAA.
The Central Illinois GCSA has established
the George “Tony” Polillo Research and
Education Fund in the memory of a longtime
chapter member and former president. Polillo
passed away last year at the age of 97, but
remained active in the chapter following his
retirement and stayed in regular contact with
chapter members, offering advice and counsel
to those he worked with. The fund will be
used to support local turfgrass research on
matters of importance to Central Illinois GCSA
members.
MiscellaneousEight GCSAA affiliated chapters have
recently made donations to the Environmen-
tal Institute for Golf, GCSAA’s philanthropic
organization, in support of its research-based
activities. Contributing chapters included: the
Everglades GCSA, which donated $7,500
to attain Platinum Tee Club (contributions of
a minimum of $5,000 annually) status for
the 15th consecutive year and also attain
Governor’s Club (cumulative giving between
Northwest
Southwest
Central Plains
Great Lakes
South Central
Southeast
Florida
Northeast
Mid-Atlantic
28 GCM November 2013
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028-029-Nov13_field mapCC.indd 29 10/17/13 2:21 PM
Identify the problem
Brown rectangular
area of turf
PROBLEM A
Turfgrass area: Lawn area near practice putting greenLocation: Harbor Springs, Mich.
Grass variety: Bentgrass/Poa annua
PROBLEM B
Intermittent brown
lines on turf
Turfgrass area: Putting greenLocation: Beaufort, S.C.
Grass variety: MiniVerde bermudagrass
B
John Mascaro
President of Turf-Tec International
PHOTO quiz
Answers on page 100
A
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30 GCM November 2013
030-041_Nov13_InsiderCC.indd 30 10/17/13 2:22 PM
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or to fi nd a Jacobsen dealer near you, visit
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030-041_Nov13_InsiderCC.indd 31 10/17/13 2:22 PM
Carol D. Rau, PHRTHE INSIDER: career
Do not underestimate the
power of networking. The majority
of successful job-seekers find their
positions through networking —
not by sitting back and waiting for
online job boards to deliver offers to
their desktop, counsels Tory John-
son at womenforhire.com. Johnson
writes: “It’s not just for powerful
titans of industry; anyone can learn
to network successfully. Start small
by paying more attention to people
around you. Don’t be shy about
calling long lost relatives or chat-
ting up the person sitting on the
treadmill next to you at the gym.
Tell them what you’re looking for
and find out who they know or how
they might be able to help.” Expand
your network by joining profes-
sional associations and attending
local events, Johnson writes, add-
ing, “Finding a job is a full-time job
— stay positive, stay focused and
don’t give up!”
NEWS & notes
What if you needed to start a job search today? Are you prepared to conduct a successful job
search in the digital age? Are you using digital tools to enhance your current role and better position your-
self for future advancement? In this month’s column, I will identify some digital career tools and tips you
can incorporate to enhance your career and conduct winning job searches as a professional in the golf and
turf industries.
As we work with GCSAA members, we often feld questions regarding the trend of creating a career website. A career website, also known as an online portfolio, is simply a website or blog with information about your experience, achieve-ments and qualities as a professional. It is an ex-cellent way to tell your story and describe your career achievement with context beyond the tra-ditional career documents. In the golf and turf industry, it can be challenging to convey your skills through traditional metrics. A career web-site with photos can be a powerful tool as you demonstrate your value visually to a prospective employer who perhaps doesn’t want to know the science behind great turf, but can easily relate to a photo of perfectly manicured greens.
In addition to job searches, career websites can be a marketing tool for your current em-ployer to enhance its competitive edge. As part of your facility’s advertising to its target audi-ence, your professional skills and expertise can be showcased to prospective customers. In this ap-plication, avoid putting your résumé on the site. It can also be linked to your employer’s website and any communications sent to golfers, mem-bers or customers.
Have you ever thought of using PowerPoint or Keynote to create a power-packed presentation to accompany your interview? What about using it as a visual reminder of your achievements dur-ing an annual job evaluation with your supervi-sor? Remember to take before-and-after photos,
Digital career tools
which can be particularly effective for any type of digital presentation or online media.
GCSAA members frequently ask me if Linked- In is a necessary part of career strategies. The an-swer is yes! In addition to being a networking tool, LinkedIn can be helpful in validating your quali-fcations with a prospective employer. A recent study found that 63 percent of employers con-duct an online search about prospective employees prior to offering a job. LinkedIn is typically one of the top listings in any search engine. The good news is that you can control and manage your in-formation on this site. Block off an hour in your schedule soon to create a LinkedIn page, upload a professional photo, and complete at least the basic sections (title, summary, experience, education). It is free and could play a key role in helping you ad-vance your career.
Need additional information about digital ca-reer tools? My team and I will gladly help you navigate career advancement in the digital age.
GCM
Carol D. Rau, PHR, is a career consultant with GCSAA and
is the owner of Career Advantage, an employment consulting
frm in Lawrence, Kan., specializing in golf and turf industry
careers. GCSAA members receive complimentary résumé cri-
tiques by Rau and her team, résumé and cover letter creation
for a reduced member rate, along with interview preparation
and portfolio consultation. She can be contacted at careeradvan
32 GCM November 2013
030-041_Nov13_InsiderCC.indd 32 10/17/13 2:22 PM
030-041_Nov13_InsiderCC.indd 33 10/17/13 2:22 PM
Home vac in the shop
It does a fne job picking up grass clippings, dirt and the general crud that falls off turf equipment.
It’s easy to see when it’s full, and it’s easy to empty. I no longer endure the stench of damp grass left moldering in a vacuum that’s a chore to empty.
It’s saved my back, eyes and knees by mak-ing it easy to retrieve nuts, bolts, washers, spring clips and other small parts that get dropped dur-ing service work. Empty the clear-plastic collec-tion chamber, run the vac and the parts end up in the chamber, undamaged.
It’s tall. I don’t have to bend over to haul it or turn it on. It uses about the same space as a push broom.
It’s light. I can easily lift it over air hoses, ex-tension cords, etc., and take it where it’s needed. The tools store tightly on the machine so I can get them easily, unlike the fimsy tool holder on my shop vacuum.
Finally, it’s easy to wash the vacuum’s flters and rinse out the other working pieces when cleaning my hands after a day in the shop. Ad-opted through thriftiness, the bagless has be-come a valued tool.
GCM
Scott R. Nesbitt ([email protected]) is a free-lance writer
and former GCSAA staff member. He lives in Cleveland, Ga.
Scott R. NesbittTHE INSIDER: shop
This madness began when I needed to clean up the very fne and very abrasive dust left be-hind after repairing some drywall in the shop. It was a small pile of dust. I didn’t want to invest $15 for a two-pack of the special ultra-fne fl-ter bags required when using the traditional shop vacuum for cleaning drywall dust. Years earlier, that type of nasty dust had destroyed the motor bearings and commutator of two shop vacuums before I learned those bags are essential. And I learned that you can ruin the bag if you pick up liquid when the bag is installed.
Because I was in a hurry, I grabbed an old ba-gless upright we keep in the house for cleaning up cat hair. It cost $10 at a garage sale, and I could always replace it. My bargain Bissell had owners who thought the machine was dead. They didn’t realize the reusable flters have to be washed and dried now and again.
My bagless worked great, putting most of the drywall dust in the collection chamber. Some fne dust got past the frst (foam) flter, which is a sloppy ft and needs to be replaced. Some dust landed on the black paper/cloth flter. There was no dust on the third (blue) flter just before the motor. There are still no death screams from the motor, after months of picking up fne sand, grit left after blade grinding and welding, the occa-sional splash of spilled coffee, and several more rounds of drywall dust.
The International Golf
Course Equipment
Managers Association
(IGCEMA) has released the European
version of the Reel Height of Cut Gauge
(RHOC). Sales of the gauge in North
America are growing, and the associa-
tion hopes to duplicate that success
abroad. “The major difference in the
European version of our gauge is the
clear zinc plating of the bar,” says
IGCEMA CEO Stephen Tucker. “The
North American version comes with a
yellow chromate finish that is illegal
in Europe. We have also outfitted the
RHOC with a standard digital gauge
that can be switched to both standard
and metric measurements. Overall, we
are excited to finally get this gauge into
production after many months of test-
ing and tweaks.” The new gauge, which
costs $425 for non-members and $400
for members, can be ordered online.
Click on the Pro Shop tab at
www.igcema.org.
NEWS & notes
Washable, reusable flters are among the features that make a
home-style bagless vacuum worth considering for the shop.Photo by Scott Nesbitt
Call me weird, but I’m just about convinced that a cheap home-style bagless vacuum makes
more sense in the service shop than the traditional cylinder-shaped roll-around vacuum I’ve always used.
34 GCM November 2013
030-041_Nov13_InsiderCC.indd 34 10/17/13 2:22 PM
Protect your work of art.
Contact your AMVAC/AEP distributor today
or call us directly at 888-462-6822. Online visit
amvac-chemical.com for more information. Scan for our 2013
Turfcide Reward Program.
030-041_Nov13_InsiderCC.indd 35 10/17/13 2:22 PM
THE INSIDER: environment
The Spanish publica-
tion golfindustria.es will
launch a new edition of “Guide for
sustainable management of Spanish
golf facilities” in early 2014. The guide,
published annually in PDF format, is
intended to help golf industry profes-
sionals in Spain locate resources to
resolve problems related to energy
and water use as well as legislation.
The publisher says the 2013 edition
of the guide had almost 2,000 down-
loads. Contact [email protected]
for additional information.
NEWS & notes
Fine feathered friendsWe couldn’t resist returning to The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay (see “Generally Electric,” Au-
gust 2013, Page 36; “Eagle eye,” February 2012, Page 38) in the month of November for a story that fips
a Thanksgiving tradition 180 degrees. At this 18-hole Chattanooga golf course operated by Tennessee’s
Department of Environment and Conservation, it’s the humans who are feeding the turkeys.
ing the trough off of the feeders, which would re-lease all the feed at one time.”
The team went back to the drawing board to come up with a design that Carter says is “work-ing out great, and is still inexpensive and easy to build.” The new feeders use 4 to 5 feet of 4-inch PVC piping, which is fnished at the top with a septic screw cap. This cap keeps the feed dry and can be easily removed for reflling. The trough has been eliminated altogether in favor of another end cap, which is glued to the bottom of the pipe and perforated with several 1-inch holes. Gravity feeds the corn through the holes as the turkeys peck at it. Finally, the stark white PVC piping is painted camoufage-style so it blends into the landscape.
The team has constructed and installed about a dozen of the new and improved feeders through-out the golf course. At $8 for a 50-pound bag (enough for four feeders), the corn feed is rela-tively inexpensive; the environmental stewardship impact, however, is priceless. The turkey popula-tion, which Carter says has grown signifcantly, “plays through” without troubling the golfers.
“We enjoy watching people stop and take pic-tures of them,” he says.
GCM
Bunny Smith ([email protected]) is GCM ’s senior managing
editor.
Bunny Smith
This turkey tale begins back in December 2009, when superintendent Paul L. Carter, CGCS, and his crew spotted a rafter (that’s gobbler-speak for “fock”) of 19 turkeys on the golf course. Carter says that construction of a nearby auto plant pos-sibly drove the turkeys onto the property in num-bers large enough to be noticed, and that the golf course habitat had everything the turkeys needed to thrive (movement corridors with sheltering na-tive grass, plenty of trees for night roosting, etc.) — except a good food source. To encourage the turkeys to stay, Carter consulted a local expert about their proper diet (answer: turkeys prefer cracked corn) and began exploring alternatives to purchasing expensive mechanical feeders.
“Many feeder designs were discussed, but we settled on a simple trough-style design that would be reflled by gravity as the cracked corn was re-moved,” Carter says.
As Carter describes in his blog (www.bthbgcm.blogspot.com), the original tree-mounted feeder — constructed of double-walled ADS 4-inch solid drain tile with an 18-inch trough — had a few problems.
“The feeders were successful in the beginning, but … the feed in the trough could get wet from irrigation or rainfall, possibly making the wild-life ill,” he writes. “Another downfall was created by our deer being smarter than we were. … Deer were witnessed taking their front leg and knock-
Paul L. Carter, CGCS, and his team keep the turkeys fed at The Bear Trace at
Harrison Bay in Chattanooga. Photos courtesy of P. Carter
36 GCM November 2013
030-041_Nov13_InsiderCC.indd 36 10/17/13 2:22 PM
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The high price of ryegrassintermediate and annual ryegrasses cultivars are much improved.”
John Rector, product manager for profes-sional turf sales at Barenbrug USA, agrees with Brilman: “The price has defnitely affected what superintendents do and how they do it.” Rector says that, instead of overseeding, some superin-tendents are also using pigments or colorants, particularly on greens.
In Arizona, where overseeding is often consid-ered a necessity, Jeff Plotts, director of golf course operations at TPC Scottsdale, laughs when he says, “I don’t know if we’re coping.” With two courses, one of which sees a huge tournament every year (Waste Management Phoenix Open), Plotts has the experience and the knowledge he needs to make informed decisions. “We’ve been through this before,” he says. “In the late ’80s, perennial ryegrass was very high but fne fescue had a bumper crop. Fine fescue has a better cold growing habit, good color, salt tolerance and har-diness; that was a good choice for us.”
In 2013, Plotts has continued to use a blend of 80 percent perennial ryegrass/20 percent Chew-ings fescue for the Stadium Course, which hosts the tournament. On the Champions Course, he is using a different blend: 80 percent intermedi-ate rye/20 percent fne fescue. The fescues pro-vide better color, and Plotts is confdent in choos-ing the improved intermediate ryegrass, which he has been testing on research plots on the course.
“We have 15 to 25 different plots. We even tried a type of wheat to see if it could be used in combination with a tall fescue to make a rough that would be a deterrent to ducks. … It didn’t work out, but we continually look at different things and are open to new ideas,” says Plotts.
And what does next year’s perennial ryegrass crop look like? Planting in the Willamette Val-ley has not been easy this fall with a wet Sep-tember and early October. However, at press time in mid-October, the weather was perfect. Barenbrug’s Rector says, “We still have a couple of weeks to get seed in the ground. I am more optimistic than I was a couple of weeks ago, but it’s still too early to know what we’ll be able to accomplish.”
GCM
Teresa Carson ([email protected]) is GCM ’s science editor.
THE INSIDER: turf
Auburn University will
launch its online master’s degree
program in soil, water and environmen-
tal science in January 2014, allowing
working professionals in fields related
to natural resource management the
opportunity to earn an advanced degree
via distance education. The fully online
program, which is multi-institutional
and multidisciplinary, is offered through
the Agriculture Interactive Distance
Education Alliance (www.agidea.org), a
consortium of universities (Auburn, Uni-
versity of Georgia, North Carolina State
University and Texas Tech University)
offering distance learning in agricultural
disciplines. For more about the new de-
gree program, including the application
process, go to www.ag.auburn.edu/stu
dents/distanceeducation/IDEA/index.php
or contact Megan Ross at mhr0001@
auburn.edu or 334-844-3201.
NEWS & notes
Presented in partnership with Barenbrug
Brandon Reese (right), superintendent of the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale, and
Mike Hills, regional sales and technical agronomist for Seed Research of Oregon,
compare research plots on the Champions Course. The plots show various turfgrass
combinations, including new improved annual and intermediate ryegrasses as well
as fne fescues. Photo courtesy of Seed Research of Oregon
Teresa Carson
The cost of perennial ryegrass is at least
25 percent higher than it was last year.
This no longer is a surprise to superintendents who have gotten over their sticker shock and are looking for a solution to yet another budget-bust-ing problem.
In fact, many superintendents may have ex-pected the price to rise — just not quite so much. Turfgrass seed, like fertilizer, is a commodity and, by defnition, commodity prices fuctu-ate. Turfgrasses are affected by the laws of sup-ply and demand as well as the vagaries of crop production. Seed companies compete for acres with higher-priced crops such as wheat and corn. To convince farmers to grow turfgrass instead of wheat, the seed companies have to pay more and then pass that cost on to consumers. Add depleted warehouses and a middling harvest, and you’ve got expensive perennial ryegrass.
What’s a superintendent to do? Leah Bril-man, director of research and technical services at Seed Research of Oregon, says, “They are try-ing different things. They decrease the seeding rate, overseed the fairway but not the rough, or seed the rough at a lower rate. Some of them are blending in intermediate ryegrass with the pe-rennial or using only intermediate ryegrass or turf-type annual ryegrass because some of the
38 GCM November 2013
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The ultradwarf
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 42 10/18/13 10:51 AM
MiniVerde ultradwarf bermudagrass replaced bentgrass on the greens at Atlanta’s East Lake GC.
Photo courtesy of East Lake GC
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 43 10/18/13 10:51 AM
44 GCM November 2013
To some golf course superintendents, especially
across the North, ultradwarf bermudagrasses are
simply “vertically challenged” turfgrass. To others,
in the transition zone, they are more and more
a curious possibility. But to a growing number of
superintendents from the Southeast to the Mid-
South, they are as close to a panacea as the
defnition allows.
Now in their third wave of conversions — frst to
replace older bermudagrasses, second to replace
bentgrass at public courses looking for a more
dependable summertime turf, and now at higher-
end clubs as well — ultradwarf bermudagrasses
are frmly entrenched.
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 44 10/18/13 10:51 AM
November 2013 GCM 45
Top: Dallas Athletic Club boasts a pair of championship courses — the Blue and the Gold — and a world-class practice facility that is utilized not only by the club’s members, but also by the golf teams at nearby Southern Methodist University. Photo courtesy of Dallas Athletic Club
Bottom: Most, if not all, of the construction and renovation work that has taken place during the tenures of Clyde and Kevin Nettles at DAC has been completed in-house by the club’s 33-person maintenance team. Photos by Don Netzer
This is the story of a “revelation” that fostered a “revolution.” The revelation: ul-tradwarfs survive — and even thrive — in weather conditions that murder even the hardiest of bentgrasses. The revolution: scores of golf courses in the Southeast and Mid-South are racing to get on the bandwagon that holds out the hope of economic enrichment, agronomic improvement and a cure for sleepless nights.
Indeed, ultradwarfs are nearly invincible in the South and allow superintendents to be on the offensive, constantly improving their putting surfaces rather than defen-sively trying to rescue bentgrass that is often stressed in heat and humidity and un-able to provide the frmness desired from July through September. Call it a “surge,” call it a “wave,” but scores of golf courses of all types are converting from bentgrass to bermudagrass each year.
“The embrace (of the change) by the golfng community has been a phenomenon that I never would have foreseen,” says Kevin Smith, CGCS, vice president and di-rector of agronomy for Pinnacle Golf Properties who oversaw the conversion at The Champions Course at Bryan Park Golf and Conference Center, which he manages in Greensboro, N.C. “It has literally exploded.”
“We continue to have 70 to 80 conversions a year and they never stop,” says Pat-rick O’Brien, director of the USGA Green Section’s Southeast Region.
And that surge continues to spread to new areas of the country. The companies that own the three leading cultivars — Champion, MiniVerde and TifEagle — re-port bent-to-ultradwarf conversions from Florida to Texas and north into Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and even southern Indiana and northern Virginia.
Word of mouth and personal visits to courses that have made the conversion are powerful weapons in this revolution, especially two that are high-profle PGA Tour hosts: East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta and Sedgefeld Country Club in Greensboro.
“When the 2009 heat wave hit, we had some of the worst greens on the PGA
The greens at The Champions Course at Greens-boro, N.C.-based Bryan Park Golf and Conference Center undergo conversion from bentgrass to ultra-dwarf bermudagrass. Pictured here is the process, from sprigging (above), to topdressing and irrigation (left) to the fnished green just seven weeks later. Photos courtesy of Kevin Smith, CGCS
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 45 10/18/13 10:51 AM
46 GCM November 2013
Keith Wood shows off the results of his ultradwarf bermudagrass maintenance regimen at Sedgefeld CC in Greens-boro, N.C. Photos courtesy of Keith Wood
Once Morris and Mike Brown of Champion
Turf Farms converted Cypress Golf Course from
bentgrass to Champion ultradwarf bermuda-
grass, the no-till renovation method became the
star of the show, the driving force behind the ul-
tradwarf revolution that can help a golf course
change its fortunes in a mere eight to 10 weeks
— or sometimes even half that time.
As PGA Tour competition agronomist Bland
Cooper says, “It is the most painless of the con-
versional alternatives. … It’s so quick because
you can plant into existing grade with no modif-
cation to the profle itself.”
Keith Wood at Sedgefeld Country Club in
Greensboro, N.C., is a case in point, and his ex-
perience has prompted a number of colleagues
to follow in his footsteps. Closing Sedgefeld on
May 1 allowed Wood time to do the necessary
prep work, fumigate, then pull fumigation covers
off to let the greens breathe a little before sprig-
ging on May 23.
“It was pretty easy,” he says. “There’s about
two weeks’ worth of prepping beforehand where
you defoliate the bentgrass. You verticut, mow
and scalp it, trying to shred the leaf surface.
Then you aggressively aerify and verticut to re-
move all the leaf texture that you can while leav-
ing the contours of the greens intact.”
At that time Wood’s crews applied amend-
ments to the putting surfaces, including a lot of
zeolite, humates and minerals such as calcium
and potassium — “basically the whole pre-plant
package so that when the grass is sprigged, all
the nutrients are there to take off,” Wood says.
In the no-till method, superintendents have
the option of fumigating or using Roundup to kill
the bentgrass.
“You get rid of organic matter on the surface,
but everything underneath is actually benefcial
to ultradwarfs, which grow better in a heavier soil
type rich in organics,” he points out. “You want
as much organic matter at the beginning as you
can have as long as it’s not excessive. Our thatch
depth is ½ inch.”
Once the preparation was complete, Sedge-
feld’s four acres — 18 golf course greens and
practice chipping and warm-up greens as well
as nursery — were sprigged with Champion in
1½ days by an 18-person crew hand-shaking the
sprigs, rolling them and applying heavy topdress-
ing sand to pack them in. (MiniVerde ultradwarf
sprigs are cut into the surface with a machine.)
“Then you cross your fngers, hoping you
don’t get a heavy rain for 10 days,” Wood says
with a smile.
Actually Sedgefeld received heavy rain on
the third day, and Wood’s crews needed to rake
up the sprigs and shake them out evenly. “It
wasn’t hard to overcome,” he says.
Hank Kerfoot of Modern Turf Inc. says some
superintendents are considering doing their tran-
sition a little later in the summer than Sedgefeld.
“That will give them the opportunity to use
Roundup and Fusilade in the spring and spot-
treat with it, not kill the whole green,” Kerfoot
says. “Cut out an inch or two with a sod cutter
and put in Basamid.”
Because Fusilade’s residual is about two
weeks, it takes a month for two good “kills.”
Kerfoot suggests that superintendents
choosing this path should identify all bermuda-
grass contamination lines within their greens
and, if they are going to reclaim areas, do them
as well.
“Not everyone has fumigated because it’s ex-
pensive,” he says. “Timing and planning become
the bigger issues. You have to communicate with
your membership or clientele, telling them you’ll
improve the greens but they must bear with you.”
Kerfoot noted that not every course is a can-
didate for the no-till method. For instance, if the
greens aren’t percolating well, that issue must be
addressed. Indeed, superintendent Gary Cham-
bers at Firewheel Golf Park in Garland, Texas,
used the no-till method on his Olde Course but
not on the Lakes Course, where he removed three
inches of the greens’ surface, then tilled.
On the Lakes Course, he says, “we removed
the organic matter and tilled, and we were open
in four weeks. We sprigged them on a Monday,
watered, applied starter fertilizer with ammonium
sulfate and twice used a slow-release fertilizer
with humate. On the seventh day, I was mowing
them at 3 ⁄8 inch; on the 14th day at 1⁄8 inch. By
the sixth week, we were cutting at 1⁄10 inch and
verticutting and lightly topdressing them every 10
days.
“Both methods worked out the same way,”
Chambers says.
— M.L.
By the numbers
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 46 10/18/13 10:51 AM
48 GCM November 2013
Tour,” says Keith Wood, superintendent at Sedgefeld, host of the Tour’s Wynd-ham Championship every August. “Fast-forward to 2013, and the players are saying ours were the best greens they played on, so it’s come full circle.
“It’s the best decision this club’s made,” he adds. “It’s changed the way golf is played around here during the summer. With bentgrass, you’re always playing defense, looking at the plant, making sure you’re doing the right thing health-wise. And you’re on the edge. Sometimes you go over the edge and lose bent. With Champion, you’re playing offense every day. You’re not worried one bit about losing it. You’re dou-ble-cutting it, verticutting it, fat-out get-ting at it. Everything you do makes it that much better. What a difference from tip-toeing to going full-blast working them and working them!”
Sedgefeld’s experience “was a transfor-mative event in this area,” says Smith. “They actually converted in late May–early June last year and hosted a Tour event two and a half months later, and to have the quality that fast obviously spoke volumes to every-one in this area. And then this year, after a very wet summer, they still had greens roll-ing in excess of 12 and the ball not plug-ging and having the resiliency and durabil-ity they had. Everyone thought, ‘How can
we not have this type of surface?’”Bland Cooper, competitive agronomist
with the PGA Tour, declares, “The (Sedge-feld) conversion was a grand slam from the Tour’s viewpoint. The old greens were not in favor with our players, and Keith turned them into greens that they love.”
At River Run Country Club outside Charlotte, N.C., host of the Chiquita Clas-sic, superintendent Ron Ritchie converted the greens last summer, and Cooper says, “The jury is in, and the Tour players ab-solutely love them. Trevor Immelman says those were the best greens he played since Augusta National.”
Ralph Kepple, CGCS, superintendent at East Lake, harkens back to 2007 when his club hosted a FedEx Cup event the frst week in September. It was a bad year for bentgrass, which provided the catalyst for a conversion to MiniVerde.
“This summer’s been our hardest be-cause of cloudy, wet weather,” Kepple says. “Bermuda hasn’t liked that well. But even with that, and after talking to golfers who have played here for years, I think our greens are better 365 days a year than with bentgrass.
“It’s a more consistently good prod-uct,” the 31-year GCSAA member adds. “They’re more consistently frm and true, and you don’t have the summer stretch
“It’s the best decision
this club’s made. It’s
changed the way golf
is played around here
during the summer
... With Champion.
you’re playing offense
every day. You’re not
worried one bit about
losing it.”
— Keith Wood
Sedgefeld CC hosts play for the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship on its Champion ultradwarf bermuda-
grass greens every August.
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 48 10/18/13 10:51 AM
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50 GCM November 2013
Whether deciding to work ultradwarf bermudagrasses on the cheap or devote extra effort
to create top-fight putting surfaces, golf course superintendents are writing the manual for
management of the new darlings of the golf industry in the South.
“The way I look at it is, the superintendents are rewriting the textbook as it relates to ultra-
dwarf management,” says Kevin Smith, CGCS, of Pinnacle Golf Properties of Charlotte, N.C.
“We’re learning so much every year about what it can and can’t do and what it needs. Each
individual takes a little different approach to it. Writing that textbook is a neat endeavor.”
“It’s a lot of fun,” says Bland Cooper, competitions agronomist for the PGA Tour. “I’m seeing
guys managing the plant up, not the plant down. I mean they’re not in problem mode all the
time like with bentgrass.”
While ultradwarf bermudas thrive on low heights of cut; double-mowing; and heavy roll-
ing, verticutting and brushing, Cooper does warn, “They aren’t foolproof. You have to manage
them. You can’t go home at two o’clock sure all your work is done.”
The ultradwarfs’ kryptonite? Straight sand, according to Hank Kerfoot, president of Modern
Turf Inc., who works with the MiniVerde cultivar.
They thrive on thatch — a major reason why no-till renovation works so well in sprigging
ultradwarfs.
Patrick O’Brien and Chris Hartwiger, USGA Green Section agronomists in the Southeast
Region, wrote in 2010: “Practically speaking, we have found low- to mid-level budget courses
doing all their work with riding equipment and maintaining green speeds from 9 to 11 feet.
Most importantly, the turf is healthy.”
Indeed, the affordability of maintaining ultradwarfs was the driving force behind their early
popularity. Today, more and more higher-end clubs are converting to the ultras and going the
extra mile, foot to the accelerator.
Wood’s textbook
Superintendent Keith Wood at Sedgefeld Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., host of the
Wyndham Championship, spelled out his maintenance regimen.
From mid-May to mid-September that routine is:
• Mondays: verticut two times, up and back on the same pass, followed by topdressing,
brush, water and roll. “We may verticut again and cross the pattern, depending on the
weather for the upcoming week,” Wood says. “With lots of sun we’re more aggressive with
verticutting. If it’s cloudy, we’re less aggressive.”
where you’re simply trying to survive and can’t do anything to make the greens putt well. We’re able to work them all summer long, and in the winter, when they’re dor-mant, they putt terrifc.”
Golf course architect Lester George of Richmond, Va., added another wrinkle in support of the ultradwarfs. After convert-ing the greens at the municipal Suffolk (Va.) Golf Course last summer, he says his main concern was maintaining the Dick Wilson-designed greens’ “cooliosity.” An ultradwarf allowed him to declare “mission accomplished.”
“We didn’t want to rebuild the greens and reduce the contours just to keep bent-grass,” George says. “There were only one or two greens of the 18 on which I softened a couple contours. But if we had been re-doing to bentgrass I would have needed to change them all and lost (the greens’) character.
“So now we have the best of both worlds. We have the original contours, and the summer months are covered; it’s a very smooth surface.”
Suffolk GC operator Eddie Luke of LEL Golf Management agrees, adding, “To take the course to the next level, we had to rebuild because of the heat issue here in the summertime. It’s 95 to 100 de-grees for weeks on end. Suffolk lost two or three greens every year, like clockwork. We always lost No. 10 green, so we tested Champion on No. 10 last year, and it came out of dormancy in late March and lasted through the end of November before it turned brown. … These greens will be re-ally good.”
The Tour’s Cooper reasons, “Now that the ultras have been out there for a period of time, members look at them and say they’re pretty darn good, and at that point it just becomes a fnancial hurdle.”
Why make the change?The reasons behind converting to ultra-
dwarfs are economic, agronomic, play-side or any combination of the three.
According to George Frye of Trans Golf, an independent consultant with Champion Turf Farms, “In 2006 the majority of golf courses we did were replacing bermuda- grass. Last year more than 50 percent were replacing bentgrass. What has allowed that to happen is the growth habit. Whereas the
Writing the textbook
Part of Wood’s maintenance program at Sedgefeld CC involves setting up his verticutters to “whisper” over the greens immediately before they are topdressed.
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 50 10/18/13 10:51 AM
52 GCM November 2013
• Tuesdays: water and roll in the morning, single-cut with groomers off.
• Wednesdays: double-cut; no rolling and groomers are off.
• Thursdays: double-cut and roll, with groomers on and set at 0.
• Fridays: double-cut and roll, with groomers on and set at -0.05.
• Saturdays: double-cut and roll, with groomers on and set at -0.05.
• Sundays: double-cut; no rolling and groomers are off.
Wood says that for most of the season his crews use walk-behind mowers set as low as
possible — 0.123 so the bedknives don’t drag.
“Once we’re into October, we start to single-cut and raise height of cut and get the greens
ready for dormancy,” he says.
When he verticuts, the greens are immediately topdressed. The verticutters, he says, are
set up to “whisper” verticut.
“By that I mean we’re not trying to remove thatch or disrupt the stolon/sand/mat layer,”
Wood says. “We’re only trying to thin out the canopy and remove any long leaf blades that
may try to lie down.”
Aerating is only done once a year. “You do need to aerify because the density of the sur-
face is such that you can’t use coarse-particle sand; you have to use fne sand,” Wood says.
“Since the fne sand, over time, will seal things off, you need to aerify. You backfll aerifcation
holes with a very coarse 45-mm sand. Once the greens are 90 percent healed from the aeri-
fcation, we start back on the fne 65-mm sand routine.”
From early April to mid-May and from mid-September to mid-October, maintenance is
restrained. Crews topdress every other week and use colored sand to help hold heat and
stimulate warmer soil temperatures.
Regarding fungicide treatments, Wood says his four disease concerns are Pythium blight
and Fusarium patch during low-growth periods in the winter, early spring and late fall; spring
dead spot, which means preventive applications in the fall; and leaf spot during extended
cloudy and overcast weather in summer or following a dry-down of soil moisture that leads
to wilt.
While some superintendents must deal with Rhizoctonia zea, Wood has not seen it at
Sedgefeld. His main pests, he says, are nematodes, which he controls by spraying with Avid
in the spring and fall.
Wood says the greens are much more successful when you don’t overseed, adding that
the ultras “play great when brown. Depending on how tight you mow them going into the fall,
they will play very well. As a matter of fact, sometimes they get too fast because they’re not
growing.”
Depending on how cold it gets in the winter, superintendents may have to use green covers.
The Texas touch
Superintendent Gary Chambers, who maintains 36 holes of ultradwarf bermudagrass at
Firewheel Golf Park in Garland, Texas, says, “With just a little bit of work the dwarfs are great.”
A 40-year veteran of bentgrass management, he says, “Bents cost more because you’re
spraying fungicides. The only time I spray bermuda is to prevent spring dead spot in October,
and Eagle fungicide at the 12-ounce rate is the only treatment my greens need.”
Some superintendents complain about verticutting and topdressing the ultradwarf greens,
Chambers says, “But it takes me no more time to verticut in two directions than it would just
to mow the greens. I mow behind that and lightly sand in two to three passes and irrigate it in.”
It took him two years to work out a regimen that includes brushing the greens and top-
dressing lightly every 10 days; verticutting twice every 10 days; and applying a small amount
of Primo every 10 days “and you can get those greens putting great.”
Mowing the greens at 1⁄10 inch, Chambers says, “Ultras will read 11 (on the Stimpmeter)
consistently and 12 easily.”
Regarding his fertility program, he says he uses a lot of foliar products. In the spring and
fall, every three weeks, he applies slow-release granular 13-4-13 with humic acid at a rate
older Tifdwarfs needed warm soil temper-ature, (the new ones) react quickly to air temperature.”
Frye says the ultradwarfs came to the marketplace as a replacement for Tifdwarf, which had replaced Tifgreen 328 as the ber-mudagrass of choice in the mid-1990s.
Agronomically, the PGA Tour’s Cooper puts it bluntly: “With bermuda, you’re not exposing yourself to the annual possibility of catastrophic turf loss.”
“I’d rather have a green that I’m try-ing to hold back from getting too aggres-sive than one I’m trying to keep alive,” says Gary Chambers, CGCS, who has con-verted 28 holes at the 63-hole municipal Firewheel Golf Park in Garland, Texas.
Pinnacle’s Smith, a 34-year GCSAA member, says the reasons for conversion at his Greensboro course were both economic and agronomic.
“What we’ve eliminated is the risk that our businesses faced with bentgrass. That’s the economic side of it that really is attrac-tive: you have virtually eliminated risk in terms of potential bentgrass loss, potential putting green surface loss.”
He adds, “We felt it had the potential to improve our bottom line inasmuch as we can promote play on that course now with an ultradwarf bermudagrass that we might not otherwise be able to in the months of July and August. And because of our typi-cal weather patterns, bentgrass becomes stressed in most years, and it’s hard to pro-mote rounds of golf at a pace that would maximize the revenue potential of the golf course.”
At Suffolk GC, Luke was looking at a combination of savings and lost revenue because of losing three or four greens that would die every year. More importantly, it was more sustainable to serve Suffolk’s pa-trons with exceptional greens in the months when the most golf was being played.
O’Brien refers to clubs moving to a new “business model.” That is, because ultra- dwarfs are only aerated once a year, instead of the two or three necessary for bent-grasses, they can add two months a year to their golfng revenue.
“It’s impacted the business model, par-ticularly at public courses and resorts, be-cause they’re not having downtime due to aeration and their golfers playing else-where,” he says.
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 52 10/18/13 10:51 AM
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54 GCM November 2013
When Morris Brown of Champion Turf Farms in Bay City, Texas, developed the no-till renovation method (see sidebar, “No-till, no worries”) and converted Champions Golf Course in Houston, speed of conver-sion became a major selling point. With the no-till method, a conversion in Texas can be completed in as few as four or fve weeks, while in most of the country it ranges from eight to 10 weeks.
“If it took 100 days, it wouldn’t be hap-pening,” the USGA’s O’Brien says.
Perhaps, perhaps not.
The time factorHaving completed conversion at the
Lakes Course in four weeks and Olde Course in fve weeks, Firewheel’s Chambers may hold the world’s record.
Or maybe not.“From north Texas to the coast you can
get them open in four to fve weeks,” says Chambers, a 36-year member of GCSAA, “partly, I guess, because we’re pretty warm in the summer. I closed them on July 4, re-opened on Labor Day, and people couldn’t believe how great the greens were.”
But Sedgefeld’s experience is more com-
of ¼ to ½ pound/1,000 square feet. To keep
thatch under control on the greens, in June he
sprays a liquid 12-0-0 iron product and mixes
in a micronutrient package at 3 ounces/1,000
square feet and iron at 3 ounces/1,000
square feet every 10 days.
A question of speed
Hank Kerfoot of Modern Turf says ultra-
dwarf bermudas “have made the Stimpmeter
relevant again. … The discussion used to be,
‘How fast can we make our greens?’ Now the
Stimpmeter is relevant because we can have
an intelligent conversation. You can make the
ultras too fast to play. Going by the slope and
quality of greens, the caliber of the members,
you can have a conversation between the
superintendent, pro, owner, greens commit-
tee, ladies, and you can dial in the speeds by
how you maintain them. What’s the budget?
Speed is a cost factor. It costs more to main-
tain an 11 than a 9½.”
The challenge of ultras
The PGA Tour’s Cooper says, “There are
challenges with the grass. You have to ensure
it is not stressed going into winter. If you pro-
tect yourself during winter months, you’ll be
fne in the spring.”
Superintendents have a lot more tools
today, he noted, mentioning tarpaulins that
can cover greens quickly; black topdress-
ing sand to keep in the heat; pigments that
are colorants to make dormant brown ber-
muda green; and moisture meters to prevent
against moisture levels getting too low or high
during winter months.
“Desiccation is the real enemy, not cold,”
Cooper says. “Moisture problems are diffcult
to see if the grass is dormant. But with meters
you can identify what percentage you need to
maintain moisture and can largely mitigate
the problem.”
Sedgefeld’s Wood declared his fndings:
“You’ll get ball marks for the frst year or 18
months as the turf matures and knits together
and creates a tight mat layer. But once they
turn from juveniles to adults, it’s amazing; the
ball marks disappear; the stress is gone.”
The stress is also gone from the superin-
tendents overseeing these ultradwarf bermu-
dagrass putting surfaces.
— M.L.
Hank Kerfoot of Modern Turf Inc., which installs MiniVerde ultradwarf bermudagrass, says golfers are embracing the conversions at courses throughout the Southeast and Mid-South.
mon for the rest of the Southeast and Mid-South. Wood, a 17-year GCSAA member, says John McConnell of McConnell Golf, who bought the course in 2011, notifed the membership of the conversion in April 2012. The maintenance crews spent two weeks defoliating the bentgrass and prepar-ing the greens for planting. The course was sprigged with Champion on May 23 and 24 and was ready for members to play on Aug. 7 and for the Wyndham Champion-ship three days later.
“In the Carolinas you have a short win-dow to get it done,” Wood says. “Some-times May is too cool, so we were taking a chance in late May. You need eight weeks of good growing weather, and if you do it in June you’re at late August opening up.”
The cost factorUsing the no-till method, the cost for
an 18-hole transition varies from $100,000 to $200,000 depending on the size of the greens, architectural changes, irrigation, tree removal and other factors.
“The infrastructure is the key,” says Frye, “because once the grass is on the ground, it’s a quick conversion to get the
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 54 10/18/13 10:51 AM
56 GCM November 2013
Not so quick!The stigma attached to golf courses that don’t
use bentgrass is sometimes the overriding rea-
son the powers that be at a course decide against
converting to ultradwarf bermudagrass. However,
the “two-way option” allows many multicourse
facilities to have it both ways and retain a bent-
grass course or two while converting others. But
more often than not, climate is the deciding fac-
tor when it comes to converting to bermuda. As
USGA Green Section agronomist Patrick O’Brien
says, “We have them (bermuda courses) in the
Carolinas everywhere but in the mountains where
it’s 4,000 feet.”
“You get the question, ‘Can we do it in Kansas
City?’” says Hank Kerfoot, president of Modern
Turf Inc., which installs MiniVerde ultradwarf ber-
mudagrass. “Yes, you can, but ask yourself, ‘Does
it make sense?’ Are you prepared to keep ber-
muda alive in cold and snow? … When you push
the envelope going north, you have to put more
thought into just what your expectations are.”
The stigma
A number of clubs, when debating bentgrass-
to-ultradwarf conversion, declare proudly, “No
way. We’re a bentgrass club.”
“It can be tough, but it’s easier now than fve
years ago,” says PGA Tour competitions agrono-
mist Bland Cooper. “Until four to six years ago
there weren’t a number of higher-end private
clubs that had done it, so there was a stigma.
That stigma still exists. People consider bermu-
dagrass as a second-tier grass. They think bent is
the grass for prestigious clubs.”
O’Brien agrees, adding, “There’s still a deeply
ingrained ‘bentgrass purity’ down here with some
people.”
Best of both worlds
Some superintendents are fortunate enough
to have more than one golf course and therefore
can hedge their bets or simply offer their golfers
both the bent and ultra option. Gary Chambers
of the 63-hole municipal Firewheel Golf Park in
Garland Texas, is one of those superintendents;
Kevin Smith, CGCS, vice president and director
of agronomy for Pinnacle Golf Properties in Char-
lotte, N.C., is another.
Firewheel has two clubhouses — one boast-
ing 27 holes of 962 bentgrass and another of-
fering 36 holes that were converted from 328
bermudagrass to an ultradwarf bermuda in 1999
and 2000.
While Chambers and the region’s golf associ-
ations supported switching the bent courses, the
city’s course manager determined it was better
marketing to have 27 holes of bentgrass out of a
new clubhouse.
“It’s worked out real well,” Chambers
reported.
The same reasoning prevailed at the Bryan
Park Golf and Conference Center, home of the
bentgrass Players Course and the Champions
Course, which hosted the 2010 U.S. Amateur
Publinks Championship and recently was con-
verted to ultradwarf.
“We feel that by having one bermuda and
one bent course, we can maximize our revenue
potential at virtually any time of the year,” Smith
says. “In the summertime we can promote the
Champions Course and not have any concerns
about wearing out the putting surfaces. In the
fall or spring and times in the winter when it’s
conducive to play golf, we have a bentgrass sur-
face that hopefully will be superior. But we found
the ultradwarfs are very playable year-round, and
many superintendents have decided to paint the
grass, so golfers don’t realize the bermuda has
gone dormant.”
“At every club we work with, the subject (of
conversion) has been discussed,” says O’Brien.
“Not everybody decides to do it. You could be a
club in the city where the market pressures are
such that you continue to have bent. It goes to
market pressure more than anything now. It’s not
agronomic alone but other issues as well. A lot
of times, agronomics is the lowest thing on the
totem pole.”
— M.L.
golf course open again.”Luke says Suffolk GC’s cost was $175,000, which included $50,000 in lost revenue.Hank Kerfoot, president of Modern Turf Inc. in Rembert, S.C., who installs Mini-
Verde, says, “For the grass itself, you’re in the $50,000 to $75,000 range to have it planted; that (same amount) for sand and fertilizer and the methyl bromide to kill the old greens.”
Cooper recommends one way for clubs to size up the investment.“We don’t know the life cycle of ultradwarf greens,” he says, “but certainly if a super-
intendent says, ‘If I can get 10 years out of this grass and the conversion costs $200,000, that’s a $20,000-a-year investment. Not bad.’”
It appears this cost will take a hit on Jan. 1, 2014, when the government’s ban on methyl bromide begins.
“The popularity of no-till has ridden the coattails of methyl bromide,” Kerfoot says. “When we started, it cost 17 cents per square foot. In 2014 it will probably cost 30 to 35 cents per square foot for fumigation.
“It’s going to change the way people look at doing it.”Other options for killing bentgrass greens exist. While the race has been on for years for
The PGA Tour’s annual Wyndham Championship raises the profle of the converted greens at Sedgefeld CC.
Photos courtesy of Keith Wood
Photo courtesy of Modern Turf Inc.
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58 GCM November 2013
companies to fnd a replacement for methyl bromide, superintendents have used Basa-mid soil fumigant with varying results.
Also, Kerfoot says, if a course under-takes its transition a little later in the sum-mer, it could use Roundup and Fusilade in the spring and spot-treat with it. The resid-ual on Fusilade is about two weeks and two applications will cause “a two good kills on bermudagrass,” he says.
Once the conversion is complete, by all accounts, maintenance of ultradwarf bermudas is less expensive than bentgrass. That’s the reason that frst drove public courses to convert to them. The ultras use less water, less fungicide and less pesticide, meaning less labor. They also thrive on thatch, low height of cut and heavy groom-ing, so many superintendents are putting those savings right back into the course by constantly improving grooming programs (see “Writing the textbook,” Page 50).
East Lake’s Kepple explains, “We didn’t change to save money, and I don’t feel we have. The resources we spent keeping bent alive, we spend trying to make the product better.”
“We didn’t change
to save money,
and I don’t feel
we have. The
resources we
spent keeping
bent alive, we
spend trying to
make the product
better.”
— Ralph Kepple, CGCS
Bland Cooper, competitive agronomist with the PGA Tour, says the greens conversion at Sedgefeld CC is “a grand slam from the Tour’s viewpoint.”
The bottom line
As the USGA’s O’Brien says, “You couldn’t believe the percentage of our time we spend assisting clubs to do with this — and with incredible success.”
“When you look at the results,” says Cooper, “I don’t know how clubs can be in the position not to do it.”
“It’s a breath of fresh air for superinten-dents who have struggled with bentgrass,” says Sedgefeld’s Wood. “You don’t struggle any more. You sleep at night. The greens aren’t my worry anymore.”
GCM
Mark Leslie is a free-lance writer based in Monmouth,
Maine, and a frequent contributor to GCM.
042-061_Nov13_dawarf.indd 58 10/18/13 10:47 AM
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The GCSAA National Championship and Golf Classic is presented in partnership
with The Toro Co.
knowledgeLooking for inside information on the courses
hosting the 2014 GCSAA Golf Championships?
Just turn to the golf course management
professionals who know these venues
the best.
Scott Hollister
The par-3 16th hole on the Palm Course at Walt Disney World, one of the host venues for the 2014 GCSAA Golf Championships. Photos courtesy of Walt Disney World Golf
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 62 10/17/13 2:25 PM
November 2013 GCM 63
Like a chef’s personal recommendations from a
menu that he crafted himself, the best advice and
most pertinent information on a golf course — how
it plays, where its challenges and opportunities lie
and how conditioning and maintenance factor into
both — comes from its golf course superintendent.Want to know if a putt on a particular green really does break toward the water?
Ask a superintendent. Need to know if a new naturalized area impacts the playabil-ity of a certain hole? Check with the guy who probably created it. Curious how a recent renovation or switch to a new stand of turfgrass has changed the way a course is cared for? Defnitely talk to your friendly neighborhood turfgrass manager.
That’s why when GCM began considering ways it could showcase the six Orlando-area golf courses that will be playing host to the 2014 GCSAA Golf Championships Feb. 1-3, we decided to go straight to the source and let some of Central Florida’s most respected golf course management professionals talk about these courses and what makes them unique, in their own words and from their own perspectives.
And although this crew brings a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to the table, they also share one common trait — a deep insight into their own golf courses and a willingness to share some of those secrets with the more than 400 competitors that are expected to take part in the event in February.
A platinum celebrationIn 2014, the GCSAA Golf Championships will be celebrating more than just a
return to one of the tournament’s most popular locales (Orlando has hosted play six times, more than any other city in the event’s history). It will also be celebrating its long-running relationship with The Toro Co., which will be marking its 20th con-secutive year as the tournament’s supporting partner.
Hosting the celebration of that long-running partnership and the tournament’s return to Orlando will be one of the area’s most revered locations, Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. That’s ftting, since three of the six courses hosting tournament play — the Magnolia, Palm and Lake Buena Vista courses — are all affliated with Disney and managed by Arnold Palmer Golf Management.
Two Marriott properties — Hawk’s Landing and Grande Pines — along with Celebration Golf Club round out this year’s rotation.
For complete information on the tournament, visit www2.gcsaa.org/conference/tournament/default.aspx.
Mike BrunoDisney’s Magnolia and Palm Golf Courses
If there is one superintendent you wouldn’t blame for not looking ahead to February and the GCSAA Golf Cham-pionships — at least not yet — it would be Bruno, the GCSAA Class A superin-tendent overseeing maintenance at both Disney’s Magnolia and Palm layouts.
That’s because the 12-year GCSAA member has spent the last several months knee-deep in an extensive ren-ovation of the Palm Course, an effort that’s included new greens and greens complexes, new tee surfaces and signif-cant bunker improvements. It was a nec-essary project on the more-than 40-year-old facility — and a similar project is on tap for Magnolia later next year — but it’s one that’s kept Bruno and his team hopping during the second half of 2013.
A New York native who moved to Florida when he was a young child, Bruno worked in Texas for nearly a de-cade, including six years as the head su-perintendent at Frisco Lake Golf Club, before returning to the Sunshine State
Top: Disney’s Magnolia Course, with its signature Mickey Mouse bunker on the par-3 sixth hole, and the Palm were
home to a PGA Tour event for more than 40 years, a tradition that continued until 2012.
Bottom: Mike Bruno, superintendent of both the Magnolia and Palm courses.
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 63 10/17/13 2:25 PM
64 GCM November 2013
and the Magnolia and Palm courses last July, 10 months after Palmer Golf as-sumed management responsibilities for the Disney courses.
Both courses are familiar with big events, having served as the primary hosts for the PGA Tour’s Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic for many years before that event ended in 2012.
Both the Magnolia and Palm courses have
been long-time favorites for visitors to Orlando
and the Walt Disney World Resorts. Both are
Joe Lee designs that opened in the early ’70s,
and both push through more than 70,000
rounds annually. The renovation projects we
have under way on the Palm and have planned
for the Magnolia are really designed to modern-
ize these courses and to make sure they remain
popular destinations for golfers for another 40
years.
On the Palm, we are addressing some of
the maintenance challenges we face in the
renovation, mainly in the bunkers and on the
greens. For the GCSAA event, the greens will
have been completely rebuilt from the ground
up and regrassed with TifEagle ultradwarf ber-
mudagrass. In the bunkers, we are improving
drainage, replacing sand and reshaping all of
the bunkers and complexes, so the style of the
bunkers will be dramatically different from what
Joe Lee originally designed. The work we will do
on Magnolia in 2014 will be very similar to what
we’re currently doing on the Palm.
Since both Magnolia and Palm were built
on former swampland — the entire Walt Dis-
ney World Resort was actually built on that type
of ground — they are both pretty fat, typical
Florida resort courses. Magnolia has a little
more movement to it, because they used the fll
from the construction of the lake at the Magic
Kingdom to create a little elevation. The Palm is
much fatter, and at some points is only 2½ feet
above the swamp.
On Magnolia, the one signature feature that
everyone will notice is the greenside bunker on
the par-3 sixth hole, which was built in a sil-
houette of Mickey Mouse. Renovating that bun-
ker was one of the frst projects we did when I
arrived here last year. We obviously kept that
same famous shape, but we did improve the
drainage, the lining and replaced the sand. My
assistant, Brent Burroughs, oversaw all that
work, and it turned out really great.
9001
6The number of times the GCSAA Golf Champion-ships have been contested in Orlando, making it the most popular host city in the tourna-ment’s history. Palm Springs, Calif., has hosted fve times.
The number of consecutive years that The Toro Co. has served as the presenting partner for the GCSAA Golf Championships.
The number of rooms at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa (https://
disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/grand-
foridian-resort-and-spa/), which is the host hotel for
this year’s event.
The number of days that this year’s event has been bumped back from what competitors experienced a year ago in San Diego — Saturday through Monday in 2014 vs. Sunday through Tuesday last year. The change was made so tournament participants can still take advantage of a full day of education on Tuesday at the Golf Industry Show.
The number of options available to tournament participants in Orlando. Players can take advantage of
the Four Ball Competition on Saturday, Feb. 1, then can choose either a shamble tournament on Sunday, Feb. 2,
or the two-day National Championship or Golf Classic portions of the event Feb. 2-3.
The number of consecutive years that Disney’s Magnolia and Palm Golf courses — both in the rotation for the 2014 GCSAA Golf Championships — played host to a PGA Tour event before that streak ended following the 2012 Children’s Miracle Network Classic.
By the numbers
Disney’s Palm Course is currently undergoing an extensive renovation that is improving greens, tees and bunkers. The course is expected to reopen before the frst of December. Shown here is the par-3 third hole.
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 64 10/17/13 2:25 PM
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66 GCM November 2013
Mark HarperDisney’s Lake Buena Vista Golf Course
As both an accomplished golfer and a veteran superinten-dent, Harper brings a wide variety of perspectives to his job as the superintendent at Lake Buena Vista. And he knows he’ll tap into many of those perspectives when he and his crew are pre-paring the layout for the specialized clientele who will be taking part in the GCSAA Golf Championships.
“We know there are a lot of things superintendents will see on the golf course that the average golfer won’t — sprinkler heads trimmed out, quality of cut, overall turf health,” the nine-year GCSAA member says. “So while the overall aesthetics of the golf course won’t be all that different, we’ll defnitely take our detail work to another level for this event.”
A golfer since he could frst begin lugging clubs around the course with his father, Harper played the game at the college level at Ohio Valley University, a NCAA Divi-sion II school in Vienna, W.Va. He graduated there with a degree in business, but was soon drawn to a career in turf and picked up a two-year turf degree from Morehead (Ky.) State.
After working a variety of assistant superintendent positions along the East Coast, Harper landed as the frst assistant at Crofton (Md.) Country Club late in 2007. That facility was managed by Palmer Golf, which also manages the courses at Walt Disney World, and in September 2011, Harper jumped at the opportunity to take over the top spot at Lake Buena Vista.
Lake Buena Vista is a Joe Lee design that is known at Disney as “the Country Club.” The course
was in a three-course rotation with Disney’s Palm and Magnolia courses for the PGA Tour’s visit to
Orlando for most of the 1980s and ’90s before being removed after changes to the course to ac-
commodate the construction of two Disney Vacation Club resorts made the hosting of a professional
event too much of a logistical challenge.
The course is located in a low-lying former swamp area; therefore, the golf course was shaped
and elevated out of the food plain with heavy muck soils. The top 3 inches of the root zone has
sandier qualities, which allows the turf to grow and be managed, but also brings on the high pres-
sure of drainage issues during rainy summer months, isolated dry spots in fall and winter months,
and mole cricket infestation in early spring through summer. Insects, weeds and managing soils are
defnitely the biggest challenges.
Top: The greens at the Lake Buena Vista Course, the third Disney property in the rotation for the 2014 GCSAA Golf Championships, underwent renovations in 2006 to grass them with TifEagle bermudagrass. Shown here is the par-3 seventh hole.
Bottom: Lake Buena Vista’s par-3 16th hole.
Mark Harper
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 66 10/17/13 2:25 PM
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68 GCM November 2013
The greens at Lake Buena Vista were rebuilt to USGA recommendations in 2006 and were
converted to TifEagle bermudagrass. The greens do see a lot of insect (nematodes), disease and
weed pressure, so they are managed very intensively nearly year-round. We verticut them every
other week from March through November to reduce thatch and grain.
Our tees, fairways and roughs are all 419 bermudagrass, with the exception of the tees on Nos.
7, 8 and 17, which are seashore paspalum. Again, these areas will all be overseeded in February
with perennial ryegrass.
While visitors won’t see many beds of plant material on the course, there are a large variety
of natural trees and plants that line the boundaries of every hole. Spanish moss is very visible on
cypress and oak trees providing a great background to each hole.
Chris Flynn, CGCSMarriott’s Grande Pines Golf Club
Golf course management is defnitely a family affair for Flynn, a 16-year member of GCSAA whose father and grandfather were both superintendents before him. “I re-ally did grow up around the profession,” he says. “I spent plenty of summers working on the golf course.”
That doesn’t mean he was an immediate convert to a career as a superintendent. Flynn kept his options open through high school and didn’t immediately attend col-lege after graduation, trying his hand at other things. But he soon found himself back on the golf course and “that’s when I realized how much I enjoyed it and how much I wanted to learn more about it,” a revelation that led him to the renowned turf program at SUNY-Cobleskill in upstate New York.
Early in his career, Flynn worked stints in New York, Texas and North Carolina, most notably working for the Pebble Beach Cos. as the superintendent at The Links at Spanish Bay. Itching for a return closer to home in New York, he took a break from the superintendent game and worked with his father’s golf course construction company before fnally fnding work in Florida with Marriott and Grande Vista Resort eight years ago.
Marriott’s Grande Vista is the largest timeshare resort within the Marriott Vacations Worldwide
portfolio. There are 1,616 guest units (made up of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom villas)
located in 24 different buildings, all set on more than 400 acres at the headwaters of the Florida
Everglades.
Golf is one of the primary amenities at Grande Vista. There is the Marriott Golf Academy, the
nine-hole Grande Vista Golf Club and, of course, Grande Pines Golf Club, an 18-hole championship
course that opened in 2003 and is a design partnership between golf course architect Steve Smy-
Top: A former National Resort winner in the GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards, Marriott’s Grande Pines GC will present plenty of chal-lenges for competitors in the GCSAA Golf Champion-ships. Photos courtesy of Marriott Golf
Bottom: Chris Flynn, CGCS, the director of grounds for Marriott’s Grande Vista, who oversees mainte-nance at Grande Pines.
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 68 10/17/13 2:25 PM
TIFEAGLESOARS AT PRESTWICK C.C.
You’ll find TifEagle Bermudagrass at the spec-tacular Prestwick Country Club in Myrtle BeachSC. This links-style gem was designed by PeteDye and his son P.B. Dye and openedin 1989. Superintendent Paul Kaufmanis responsible for the day-to-day man-agement and upkeep of this top-flightcourse that features towering dune-likeberms, stairway bunkers and bulkhead-pro-tected greens. It was Paul along with his bosseswho made the decision to go with TifEagle. “Our Tifdwarf was really beginning to show itsage and was getting to be almost unmanage-able. On top of that, the Myrtle Beach area is socompetitive. There are almost 100 courses herenow in what’s essentially a one-mile by 30-milestrip, and the majority of them have ultradwarf
greens. From a competitive standpoint we were just lagging behind. So I put in a combinationtest green with TifEagle, MiniVerde and Champion
and and evaluated all three grasses for over two years. I also looked at a lot of
other clubs, and talked to a lot of other superintendents, We decided to no-till andshut the course down on June 18th. Believe
it or not, we were open for play on September 1with superb new TifEagle greens.” Take a tipfrom Paul Kaufman. Whether you’re renovatingyour existing greens or planning a brand new facility, insist on the best. Specify certified TifEagleBermudagrass by name. You can sod it, sprig itor even no-till it under the right conditions. Justcontact one of the TifEagle growers below orvisit www.tifeagle.com.
“To be honest, Championwas on my mind early on,because it was the sexy, in-vogue pick. But I put in a test green with TifEagle,MiniVerde and Champion,and after 2 years of playingaround with all three, I gotto see the limitations andstrong points of each grass. I also looked at a lot of TifEagle courses. In the end, my bosses and I agreed that TifEagle was by far the best ultradwarf for Prestwick.”
TEAM
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Paul Kaufman-Superintendent Prestwick Country Club Myrtle Beach SC
Adel GA Ph: 229 896-7581 • Fax: 229 896-7584
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www.pikecreekturf.com
Hobe Sound FLContact: Homer Greene ([email protected])Ph: 772 546-4191 Fax: 772 546-3482www.southfloridagrassing.com
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062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 69 10/18/13 11:07 AM
70 GCM November 2013
ers and six-time major champion Nick Faldo.
A Certifed Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary and the National Resort winner in the 2010
GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards, Grande Pines is also regarded as one of
the most challenging resort courses in Orlando. The course features TifEagle bermudagrass greens
and TifSport bermudagrass tees, fairways and roughs. Both tees and fairways will be overseeded
at the time of the GCSAA tournament.
At Grande Pines, we’ve made several tweaks to the original design to help improve playability
and pace of play. In 2008 and 2009, we removed 22 of the original 73 bunkers from the course.
The 51 that remain are still challenging, deep and quite penal for novice and average golfers. The
course also used to feature many forced carries over native grasses off the tee; as a part of our
plan to improve playability, those areas were removed and sodded.
Despite those changes, Grande Pines can still be a handful. There are numerous risk/reward
situations that golfers will face during their round, and strategic shot-making is really required on
just about every approach into the course’s greens.
Joshua KelleyMarriott’s Hawks Landing Golf Club
Marriott Golf has developed its very own super sub in the person of Kelley, an eight-year GCSAA member.
Kelley’s full-time position is as the assistant superintendent at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Orlando. But in early October, he was pulled onto a temporary “task force” as the interim superintendent at Hawks Landing when that facility’s superintendent, Aaron Thomas, was reassigned within the Marriott Golf family to a facility in Arizona.
The move marked the third time in Kelley’s eight-year tenure with Marriott that he’s been asked to work on these task forces, which are created when courses need assis-tance with special projects or, in cases like this one, when there are temporary vacancies within the maintenance department.
“I know these kinds of situations aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoy the vari-ety,” Kelley says. “The timing isn’t always the best, but they always present new chal-lenges and they offer a lot of opportunity for growth. It keeps you on your toes.”
If Kelley remains on property through the GCSAA Golf Championships, it won’t be his frst time in the association spotlight. Earlier this year, Kelley was honored for his environmental work at The Ritz-Carlton GC with the National Resort award in the 2012 GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards.
Hawks Landing Golf Club spans more than 220 acres at the Orlando World Center Marriott Re-
sort, the world’s largest Marriott Hotel. The course was originally designed by Joe Lee in 1986 and
Top: Wildlife sightings are plentiful on Marriott’s Hawks Landing GC, including the threatened Florida sandhill crane.
Bottom: Joshua Kelley currently serves as Hawks Landing’s interim superintendent after the course’s previous superintendent took another position within Marriott Golf in October.
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72 GCM November 2013
Top: Celebration GC, which was the fnal design col-laboration between Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Jr. The course opened in 1996. Photos courtesy of Celebration Golf Club
Bottom: Ryan Burke oversees maintenance at Celebration GC.
was renovated by Robert Cupp Jr. in 1998. At over 6,800 yards, the par-71 course features water
in play on 15 holes, challenging greens, undulating fairways and enough wind to keep it interesting.
Clusters of multifarious trees and native grasses on the course put a premium on shot accuracy.
The golf course features Tifdwarf bermudagrass greens, and Tifway 419 bermudagrass tees
and fairways. One green that has seen some recent work is the par-3 17th, where the collars
and surrounds were regrassed with Celebration bermudagrass. For the GCSAA tournament, the
greens, tees and fairways will all be overseeded.
Renovations like the one on 17 aren’t rare at Hawks Landing. Last September, the driving range
tee and the frst tee were renovated and regrassed, creating more teeing space and a better open-
ing tee shot. In the next few years, several more renovations are being planned. The greens will
be converted to TifEagle bermudagrass to provide guests with the best-possible playing surface
year round and allow us to forego overseeding. In addition, tees will be regrassed with Celebration
bermudagrass, which will aid in a better teeing surface, especially in the shadier areas.
Hawks Landing has been a Certifed Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary since 2008. It is common
to see animals throughout the property on a daily basis. Many animals of special concern such as
the American alligator, tricolored heron, and Suwannee bass, as well as a few threatened species
such as the Florida sandhill crane, osprey and bald eagle, call the course home. The occasional
appearance of the endangered bobcat is not out of the question.
Ryan BurkeCelebration Golf Club
If Burke’s frst year working in the golf course management industry in Florida didn’t drive him away, pretty much nothing will.
A native of Vermont who was educated at the University of Massachusetts, Burke headed into the Sunshine State looking for work and found it as a foreman on the crew at Grand Cypress Golf Club in Orlando. He also found himself in the middle of one of the most active hurricane seasons in the state’s history, with four named storms (not to mention two other tropical storms) making landfall in the state.
“It was a bit of a shock to the system,” the one-year GCSAA member admits. “But I knew that if I could handle that, I could handle just about anything that would get thrown at me down here.”
After his stint at Grand Cypress, Burke moved into an assistant superintendent role at the Golden Bear Club before taking over maintenance duties at Celebration two years ago.
Celebration Golf Club has the honor of being the last design collaboration between Robert Trent
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 72 10/17/13 2:26 PM
SILVER partners
GOLD partners
GCSAA Partners Support Your Future
PLATINUM partners
GCSAA’s industry partners support you and
your profession through the funding of GCSAA
education programs, scholarships, leadership
opportunities and networking events. They are
dedicated to you, your profession and your
GCSAA. Support our partners and together
we can all continue to strengthen the
golf course management industry.
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 73 10/17/13 2:26 PM
74 GCM November 2013
In today’s fast-paced digital world, it’s
all about the upgrade, and the Golf Industry
Show is no exception. Attendees registering
for the 2014 event, Feb. 3-6 in Orlando, will
notice some of these upgrades right away.
First, online registration, which opened
Nov. 5 for GCSAA members and opens Nov.
19 for nonmembers, is getting a facelift —
thanks to GCSAA’s new vendor, Expo Logic.
As part of the improvements, the registration
confrmation email will now include a QR code
that will allow attendees to quickly and eas-
ily print their badge at a self-service kiosk in
Orlando.
Everything attendees need to register and
get ready for the Golf Industry Show can be
found at www.golfndustryshow.com, includ-
ing a link to the digital brochure. The digital
brochure, which was introduced last year to
replace the printed version, has a full listing of
all the conference and show’s seminars, ses-
sions and events.
Another change for the 2014 Golf In-
dustry Show is an altered schedule, which is
detailed in the digital brochure. In brief: The
GCSAA Education Conference will be at the
Orange County Convention Center, Monday
through Thursday, Feb. 3-6. The trade show
will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Feb.
5-6, at the same venue. Unlike in recent
years, there will be no activities on Friday in
2014. The USGA session moves to 8-10 a.m.
Thursday, prior to the start of the second day
of the trade show, and will become the
Upgrade Orlando
General Session.
Member services at the show will undergo
a transformation as well. In past years, such
services as career consulting, skin cancer
screening, the media center and Silent Auc-
tion booth have been at locations scattered
throughout the convention center. In 2014,
all association booths and services will be lo-
cated together in the Association Clubhouse
on the show foor. A full listing of Association
Clubhouse services and location can be found
in the digital brochure and onsite directory.
The Golf Industry Show’s 2014 theme —
“Connect, Learn, Grow” — will get a boost
from the new Design and Construction Center
on the trade show foor. Here, members of the
American Society of Golf Course Architects
and the Golf Course Builders Association of
America will be on hand to provide compli-
mentary design and construction consulta-
tions. To learn more about the Design and
Construction Center or to book an appoint-
ment, contact D&[email protected].
As always, the topic of turf will be front
and center at the education conference,
but communication and renovation will gain
prominence with two sessions making their
debut in 2014: “Time to Talk Business: Com-
munication and Leadership Skills for Super-
intendent Success” (Monday, 10:30 a.m.-
noon) and “Selling Up: Working Together to
Get the Project’s Green Light” (Tuesday, 1-3
p.m.).
Jones Sr. and Jr. The course opened in 1996.
The course features Champion bermudag-
rass greens, while the rest of the course is
grassed with 419 bermudagrass. At the time of
the GCSAA tournament, our greens will be over-
seeded with Poa trivialis at 10 pounds/1,000
square feet. The rest of the course will be over-
seeded wall to wall with perennial ryegrass at a
rate of 450 pounds/acre in the short grass and
350 pounds/acre in the roughs.
At Celebration, we have a crew of 17 that is
responsible for the maintenance of the course,
golf village, clubhouse grounds and the Cel-
ebration Golf Academy. All grounds are main-
tained with a feet of Toro equipment.
Celebration was built on a low-lying piece of
property that consists of a pretty heavy soil. The
key to maintaining this property is water man-
agement. There is a great deal of hand watering
here, and we try to limit the overheads as much
as possible to keep frmer conditions. The use
of soil surfactants is also a major tool here to
pull the water through the profle evenly.
In addition to these practices, we have in-
stalled additional drainage in our most problem-
atic areas to improve playing conditions and still
keep the green, lush conditions that the course
is known for.
With 50,000 rounds annually and the
course closed only on Christmas Day, you def-
nitely need to get creative here with your cul-
tural practices. Everything is done ahead of play
— aerifcation, overseeding, etc. — with little
or no impact on the guests’ playing experience.
Needless to say, there are a lot of early morning
starts here at Celebration.
GCM
Scott Hollister ([email protected]) is GCM’s editor-
in-chief.
The West Lobby of the Orange Country Convention Center, home to the 2014 Golf Industry Show, Feb. 3-6. Photo courtesy of the Orange County Convention Center
Log in! ebrochure.golfndustryshow.com
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 74 10/17/13 2:26 PM
Partner Recognition Program
GOLD PARTNER
Grounded in the turf industry.
With over 90 years of experience in the turf maintenance industry, Jacobsen has built a legacy of
precision craftsmanship, legendary quality-of-cut and a history of innovation. With a singular focus on
helping our customers achieve perfectly groomed, healthy turf, Jacobsen equipment maintains some of
the fnest golf courses, sports felds and formal turf areas around the world.
Innovations that Go Well Beyond Cut
Jacobsen’s legendary quality-of-cut means more than just precisely trimmed turf. We believe in
developing innovative technologies that make our machines better for the natural environment and
customizable for individual course needs—all while delivering a better total cost of ownership.
Our commitment to innovation can be seen in the revolutionary Jacobsen Eclipse 322 riding greens
mower. Completely hydraulic free with intuitive controls and easy accessibility, this riding greens mower
allows you to program your frequency-of-clip, mow speed, transport speed and other settings through a
password-protected menu. Change your settings as course conditions change throughout the year.
Quality that Speaks for Itself
Since 1921, one thing has remained the same at Jacobsen—a focus on quality. We take a “quality
comes frst” mentality with everything we do. Our engineers are focused on designs that perform and
last. Our manufacturing processes have built-in quality checks. The parts and components we use must
meet high standards for performance and reliability. And our products must meet rigorous testing
standards. This focus on quality behind the scenes has resulted in Jacobsen’s legendary reputation
for quality on the course.
Guided by the Environment
The environment is the cornerstone of our business, and we continue to design equipment that uses less
fuel and minimizes or eliminates hazardous waste. Jacobsen developed the industry’s frst electric mower
and has become the industry leader in electric and hybrid technologies. As a proud supporter of the
Environmental Institute of Golf, we are squarely focused on achieving a more sustainable approach to golf
facility management.
A Partner in Progress
As part of our commitment to the turf maintenance industry, Jacobsen is proud to be a Gold-level sponsor
of the GCSAA. As we continue engineering new technologies and equipment that deliver proven results
without sacrifcing the health of the environment, we applaud partners like the GCSAA who help us push
the envelope and grow the industry we serve.
GOLD PARTNERS
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 75 10/17/13 4:02 PM
062-077_Nov13_Championship.indd 76 10/17/13 2:26 PM
Fertility: The truth often lies in the recommendation
Fertilization is necessary to produce a healthy
stand of grass that can minimize weed, moss and algae en-
croachment while maximizing recuperative potential to produce
excellent playing conditions. Nutrient replenishment is serious
business to superintendents. Many of them have developed their
own concoctions following years of experience at their site, or
consultants or salesmen have prepared formulas for them based
on soil test results.
Soil testing is unquestionably important to determine the nutrient status of the root zone. Unfortunately, soil test recom-mendations for turfgrass are often based on research on crops like corn, which may be a member of the grass family but is also an annual crop. Therefore, some soil test recommenda-tions can lead to unnecessary applications of certain nutrients.
Over the past decade, Frank Rossi, Ph.D., at Cornell Uni-versity has made a personal crusade of informing any super-intendent who would listen that most potassium applications are of little value to the turfgrass plant. I’ll be happy to add that overfertilization with any nutrient can create nutrient imbalances that may lead to symptoms of nutrient defcien-cies in the turf. To further complicate things, according to folklore, certain nitrogen carriers decrease green speed; create pest problems; or seal off the turf surface, thereby decreasing infltration.
To begin to address many of these concerns, a study was initiated at Michigan State University in 2009 by graduate student Miyuan Xiao (Nancy) under the direction of Kevin Frank, Ph.D., on a Penn A-4 creeping bentgrass green seeded in 2008. Included in the study were nine fertilizer programs applied on three putting green root zones: a root zone built ac-cording to USGA recommendations, an 80-10-10 sand-peat-soil root zone, and a push-up sandy clay loam soil.
Fertilizer applications included in the study were urea alone; urea with phosphorous or potassium based on soil test recommendations; methylene urea; an organic carrier; and Grigg Brothers Gary’s Green, which is a liquid foliar-applied fertilizer. With the exception of an unfertilized check plot and a Gary’s Green liquid treatment applied at 1.5 pounds of nitro-gen per 1,000 square feet, all other treatments were applied at the rate of 3 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per year.
In 2013, after fve years of continuous applications with
the nutrient carriers mentioned above, the frst visible nutri-ent defciency (a phosphorus defciency) was observed follow-ing snow melt in the spring. The purplish symptoms appeared only on root zones built to USGA recommendations on plots fertilized with the urea-only, urea and recommended potas-sium, and methylene urea treatments. The site is now in the perfect condition to extract soil tests and run tissue analysis that will aid in the development of better fertilizer recommen-
Up to Speedby Thomas A. Nikolai, Ph.D.
Unfortunately, soil test
recommendations for
turfgrass are often based
on research on crops like corn
... Therefore, some soil test
recommendations can lead to
unnecessary applications of
certain nutrients.
dations for creeping bentgrass greens.Some other interesting observations have been made on the
site over the past fve years. With the exception of the un-fertilized check plot, there were no meaningful differences in green speed among treatments, although plots treated with the organic fertilizer always resulted in the shortest ball roll. Ad-ditionally, plots treated with the organic fertilizer had more Poa annua encroachment than any other treatment. In fact, the other treatments had very little Poa encroachment at all. Among the root zones, the push-up greens had signifcantly more Poa.
Continuing biannual soil and tissue tests along with vi-sual observations should lead to improved recommendations for creeping bentgrass greens. Keep a lookout for more results from this groundbreaking study.
GCM
Thomas A. Nikolai, Ph.D., is the turfgrass academic specialist at Michigan State
University in East Lansing, Mich., and a frequent GCSAA educator.
78 GCM November 2013
078-079_Nov13_Nik_col.indd 78 10/17/13 2:26 PM
80 GCM November 2013
research
Although golf course superintendents may sometimes forget, it’s all about a game. And, like it or not, this game has a set of rules, and the Rules of Golf (3) are rather lengthy, and at times, diff-cult to understand. Until about 10 years ago, I had little knowledge or interest in the Rules, although I routinely taught classes to students who were hoping to become golf course superintendents. It was only after my son became competitive in junior golf that I began to really take notice of the impact the superintendent has on the Rules.
In early 2013, a survey was developed to get a better understanding of golf course superinten-dents’ perception of the Rules, to fnd out who at the course oversees marking of the water hazards and to test superintendents’ knowledge on some basic Rules related to course maintenance.
The electronic survey was developed at Kan-sas State University and was made available online for superintendents to complete between March 25 and May 24, 2013. The link to the survey was included in a GCSAA This Week update to all members and was also made available through various electronic media, including turfdiseases.org and distribution through Twitter. As an incentive to complete the survey, one participat-ing superintendent was randomly selected to win a case of red hazard marking paint, courtesy of
The Rules of Golf and the superintendentA greater familiarity with the Rules of Golf can help superintendents better understand the game and make them more confdent in marking the course.
Jack D. Fry, Ph.D.
Standard Golf of Cedar Falls, Iowa.In addition to the questions noted on the fg-
ures in this paper and the Rules questions in Table 1, superintendents were queried on: their per-ceived knowledge of the Rules of Golf on a scale of 1 (ignorant) to 5 (PGA Tour rules offcial); whether they had taken the USGA/PGA three-day Rules seminar; and whether they had been through one or more presentations on the Rules of Golf. Although some basic statistics were run on the numbers, the survey was not all-encompassing as it ultimately sampled a relatively small group of superintendents. Nevertheless, the response across a wide geographical area was impressive.
The survey was completed by 177 superinten-dents across 10 countries and 42 U.S. states. Of those surveyed, 39% were from private facilities, 23% from daily-fee, 20% from municipal, 8% from resort, and 10% from other (most of which were described in comments as semiprivate). Over three-quarters of those surveyed were at 18-hole facilities, with the remainder evenly distributed across 9-, 27- and 36-hole facilities.
Perception of the Rules
Over half of the superintendents surveyed thought that it was extremely important for them to have a good understanding of the Rules of Golf
Superintendents should be familiar with the golfersÕ options should they encounter movable (left) or immovable (right) obstructions. Photos by Jack Fry
080-091_Nov13_TechwellCC.indd 80 10/17/13 2:27 PM
November 2013 GCM 81
research
Rules of Golf quiz
Question % selecting each answer Reference†
1. Which is not a loose impediment on the apron of a green? Definition of loose impediments
A plug of earth removed during core aerification 9.7
An unattached divot 10.7
*Loose soil 44.6
A worm 35.0
2. Which of the following statements is correct concerning the teeing ground? Definition of teeing ground
It is the area prepared by the superintendent for commencing the play of holes from variably placed tee markers. 9.0
It is a rectangular area one club length in depth with the front and sides defined by the outside limits of two tee markers. 5.6
*It is a rectangular area two club lengths in depth, with the front and sides defined by the outside limits of two tee markers. 80.8
It is a rectangular area with the front and sides defined by the outside limits of two tee markers; there is no limit to how far behind the markers the player may tee his ball.
4.6
3. A player’s ball entered a water hazard and crossed a yellow line in the process. Which is NOT one of the possible options he has for taking relief in this instance?
Rule 26-1
*Drop a ball within two club lengths from where it last crossed the margin of the hazard, no nearer the hole (1 penalty stroke). 50.2
Drop a ball as far back as he wishes, keeping the point where it last crossed the margin between him and the pin (1 penalty stroke). 24.9
Play from the same place he played his last shot (1 penalty stroke). 11.3
Play from the ball where it lies in the hazard (no penalty). 13.6
4. A player’s ball comes to rest against a bunker rake lying in the bunker. Which depicts the proper sequence of events the player should undertake?
Rule 24-1
*Mark the ball (optional but recommended) and remove the rake. If the ball moves, replace it. 77.9
Pick up the ball and remove the rake. Replace the ball where it was. 4.0
Mark the ball (optional but recommended) and remove the rake. If the ball moves, drop it within 2 club lengths of where it lay. 15.3
Pick up the ball and remove the rake. Drop the ball within 2 club lengths of where it lay. 2.8
5. Which of the following can a golfer do in a bunker? Rule 24-1
Take relief from casual water without penalty by dropping outside the bunker. 21.5
*Remove a soft drink can lying behind his ball. 70
Lightly ground his club behind the ball. 1.7
Remove a large tree limb lying behind his ball. 6.8
6. In taking relief from casual water, you may not drop the ball on the fairway if your ball is lying in the rough, even if this is the nearest point of relief.
Definition of nearest point of relief
True 42.4
*False 57.6
7. Ground under repair includes material piled for removal, whether it is marked or not. Definition of ground under repair
*True 63.3
False 36.7
8. An aeration hole on a putting green is a hole made by a superintendent and so the player may take relief from it.Decision 25/15 (Note: A committee may adopt a temporary local rule allowing relief.)
True 20.3
*False 79.7
9. A golfer may take relief from an immovable obstruction if it interferes with her stance, swing, or line of sight. Rule 24-2
True 35.6
*False 64.4
10. In stroke play, a player may not move aside a large weed growing next to his ball. Rule 13-2
*True 88.7
False 11.3
*Correct answer. The percentage of superintendents who selected each answer is indicated to the right, along with where the rule can be found in the Rules of Golf (3) or Decisions on the Rules of Golf 2012-2015 (2).†References are in the Rules of Golf (3) or Decisions on the Rules of Golf 2012-2015 (2).
Table 1. A 10-question Rules of Golf quiz taken by each superintendent in the survey. The correct answer is indicated by an asterisk; the percentage of superintendents who selected each answer is indicated to the right, along with where the rule can be found in the Rules of Golf (3) or Decisions on the Rules of Golf 2012-2015 (2).
080-091_Nov13_TechwellCC.indd 81 10/17/13 2:27 PM
82 GCM November 2013
research
(Figure 1). However, it was surprising that 38% had never been through any presentation on the Rules. The USGA and PGA jointly offer a three-day seminar on the Rules at locations throughout the U.S. each year, but only 10 superintendents (6%) surveyed had taken that seminar. Superin-tendents seeking more information on the Rules have many options available. If a three-day semi-nar is too much, the USGA and PGA also offer a shorter, two-day seminar. State and local golf associations also frequently offer Rules seminars. In the past, GCSAA has offered webcasts and half-day and two-hour seminars at the annual conference that address interactions between superintendents and the Rules.
Over 60% of the superintendents indicated that golf course maintenance practices have a signifcant or tremendous impact on the Rules (Figure 2). I have grown to appreciate the impact superintendents have on the Rules, and have high-lighted some of these in a column (“Through the Green”) that has appeared every other month in GCM since February 2013.
Marking hazards on the golf courseIn order for a golfer to properly follow the Rules,
water hazards and lateral hazards on the course must be marked with stakes and/or painted lines. Stakes are used to identify the hazard to the golfer from a distance, whereas the painted hazard line defnes the margin of the hazard. Just over 50% of the superintendents surveyed indicated that stakes were present on their golf course, but lines were painted only before important tournaments (Fig-ure 3). About 24% of superintendents had stakes on the course, and painted lines regularly, and 7% said they paint, but don’t use stakes.
Regarding who marks the golf course, 71% indicated that the golf course superintendent (maintenance staff) marked the course, whereas 19% indicated it was the golf professional (pro shop staff) (Figure 4). About 3% said the course would only be marked by a golf association before an important tournament. Just over 7% indicated “other” when asked who marked the course, and nearly all of them indicated it was a team effort between the golf professional and superintendent. Taking this into account, 80% of the superinten-dents surveyed were involved in marking the golf course, either individually or cooperatively with the golf professional.
Knowledge of the Rules
The quiz consisted of 10 questions on the Rules of Golf that had some relationship to maintenance of the course (Table 1). There were fve multi-
Understanding the Rules of Golf
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 Not Somewhat Average Above-average Extremelyimportant important importance importance important
Per
centa
ge
Figure 1. Responses of golf course superintendents (177 total) to the question: “On a scale of 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important), how important do you believe it is for a golf course superintendent to have a good understanding of the Rules of Golf?”
Effects of golf course maintenance
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0 No Limited Moderate Significant Tremendous impact impact impact impact impact
Per
centa
ge
Figure 2. Responses of golf course superintendents (177 total) to the question: “On a scale of 1 (no impact) to 5 (tremendous impact), indicate to what degree you believe golf course maintenance practices impact the Rules of Golf.”
080-091_Nov13_TechwellCC.indd 82 10/17/13 2:27 PM
November 2013 GCM 83
research
ple choice questions and fve true/false; some of these questions were taken from “999 Questions on the Rules of Golf ” (1). Before taking the quiz, over 90% of those surveyed considered themselves to have average or better knowledge of the Rules. Some of them were correct. The average score on the quiz was 68%, with the low score 30% and the high 100%. As a group, the most frequently missed question was No. 1, which addressed the defnition of a loose impediment. By defnition, soil and sand are only loose impediments on the putting green.
Only 50% of the superintendents gave cor-rect answers regarding the player’s options if the ball crosses a yellow line as it enters a water hazard (question 3, Table 1). Because they so often work with establishing hazard lines on the golf course, marking hazards and the golfer’s options after entering a hazard are areas where more education is needed.
There was a positive correlation between how superintendents ranked themselves in knowledge of the Rules, and the score they received on the quiz. In other words, if they thought they knew more, their quiz score refected that. It’s also inter-esting to note that superintendents who indicated that they had been through one or more presenta-tions on the Rules had a higher average quiz score (72%) than those who had not (61%).
As a superintendent, you may be intimidated by the Rules of Golf, but don’t fret. Improving your knowledge of the Rules will pay off, especially those Rules that interact directly with course main-tenance. Establishing a foundation of knowledge of the Rules will allow you to better understand the game that is responsible for your employment. In addition, you’ll be more confdent in marking the golf course, and in communicating with the golf professional and golfers.
How do you start? Keep a copy of the Rules of Golf 2012-2015 in your offce. Spend some time looking over the defnitions. Here’s a list of Rules that is a good place to start (you will affect all of these with course maintenance practices): 13 (Ball Played as it Lies), 16 (The Putting Green), 23 (Loose Impedi-ments), 24 (Obstructions), 25 (Abnormal Ground Conditions, Embedded Ball, and Wrong Putting Green), and 26 (Water Hazards).
Want to be a better superintendent? Improve your knowledge of the Rules.
Acknowledgments
Thanks are extended to Steve Tyler, Standard Golf, for pro-
viding the hazard marking paint to the winner of the random
selection. I appreciate the assistance of Scott Hollister, GCSAA,
and John Kaminski, associate professor at Penn State, in distrib-
Using stakes and painted lines
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
No hazards
Course isn’t marked
Stakes, but never lines
Stakes, lines prior to tournament
Stakes and lines
Lines but no stakesPer
centa
ge
Figure 3. Responses of golf course superintendents (177 total) who were asked about their use of stakes and painted lines for water hazards and lateral water hazards at their course.
Marking water hazards
Figure 4. Responses of golf course superintendents (177 total) when asked who at their course marks water hazards, lateral water hazards, and out-of-bounds areas with stakes and/or painted lines.
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Golf Professional
Golf Course Superintendent
A golf association overseeing tournament
Other
Per
centa
ge
080-091_Nov13_TechwellCC.indd 83 10/17/13 2:27 PM
research
84 GCM November 2013
uting the link to the survey. Finally, thanks to Kenton Peterson,
Ph.D., for assisting in analysis of the survey data.
Literature cited
1. Rhodes, B. 2010. 999 Questions on the Rules of Golf. G2
Entertainment Ltd., Kent, United Kingdom.
2. United States Golf Association. 2011. Decisions on the Rules
of Golf 2012-2013. USGA, Far Hills, N.J.
The research says
➔ An electronic survey about
the Rules of Golf was completed by
177 superintendents across 10 coun-
tries and 42 U.S. states.
➔ Superintendents who ranked
themselves higher in knowledge of
the Rules received a better score on
the quiz.
➔ Superintendents who had
participated in one or more presen-
tations on the Rules had a higher
average quiz score than those who
had not.
➔ Superintendents need more
education on marking hazards and
the golfer’s options after entering a
hazard.
Vvv
(Top left and right) Well-marked hazards prevent golfer confusion on how to proceed. (Bottom) Unrepaired divots are not “ground under repair,” and golfer education on divot repair can pay off.
3. United States Golf Association. 2011. Rules of Golf and the
Rules of Amateur Status 2012-2015. USGA, Far Hills, N.J.
GCM
Jack Fry ( [email protected]) is a professor in the department of
horticulture, forestry and recreation resources at Kansas State
University, Manhattan, Kan.
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November 2013 GCM 85
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Pollinators, especially bees, are vital to agri-cultural production. Honey bees get most of the credit, but in the United States, there are also about 4,000 species of native bees, including bumble bees, orchard mason bees and leafcutter bees, that provide pollination services. Without bees, crops such as apples, almonds, blueberries, tomatoes and many others could not be economi-cally produced. Wildfowers and many other wild plants also rely on bee pollination to produce fruits and seed. Pollination services provided by insects are valued at more than $29 billion per year in the U.S. alone (2).
Recently, however, populations of honey bees and native bees have declined alarmingly (8). In particular, colony collapse disorder (CCD), a sud-den disappearance of honey bees from seemingly normal hives, has focused attention on whether or not insecticides, especially neonicotinoids, may be contributing to pollinator decline. Some of those insecticides are used in golf course maintenance, so it is important that superintendents understand the issue and are able to discuss it with the pub-lic. This article outlines current knowledge about causes of pollinator declines and summarizes our recent research to objectively evaluate whether turf insecticides pose a hazard to bees and, if so, how the risks can be minimized.
The plight of the beesWhy are bees and other pollinators dying, and how can the golf industry safeguard bees and even augment their populations?
Jonathan L. Larson Daniel A. Potter, Ph.D.
What’s driving pollinator decline?Researchers agree that there is no single reason
why bees are in trouble (8). Rather, a perfect storm of stresses, outlined below, are acting together to contribute to declining pollinator populations.
Habitat loss and fragmentation Loss of habitat is among the biggest threats to
pollinator health (8). In the U.S., about 1 mil-lion acres of farmland or natural habitat are con-verted to urban areas each year (7). Urbanization can lead to shortages of the foral resources that bees depend on for food. Even farmland is usu-ally not optimal for bees as monocultures of crops such as corn and wheat offer little in the way of nectar and pollen that wild bees need to survive. Most types of native bees nest in specifc places. Bumble bees, for example, take over abandoned rodent burrows as homes for their colonies. When meadows and woodlots are converted to human use, nesting sites for bees may be limited. When only remnants of these former natural areas are left behind, worker bees must forage greater dis-tances, use more energy and face greater risks to bring food back to the nest.
Parasites, diseases and changes in beekeeping practicesManaged honey bees are susceptible to several
microbial diseases including deformed wing virus, American foulbrood, chalkbrood and Nosema. Increased global trade in bee colonies makes it easier for exotic bee pathogens to be introduced inadvertently to the U.S. For example, the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, which has been implicated as one of several causal factors in CCD, was frst identifed in Israel but now infects hives around the world. Honey bees are also susceptible to tra-cheal mites that clog their breathing tubes and to blood-sucking Varroa mites that parasitize all life stages. Bees that become infected by one stress agent are weakened and may be less able to fend off the others (8).
Shipping honey bee colonies around the coun-try for commercial pollination can weaken them, increasing vulnerability to these agents, and they may bring diseases with them that will infect local bee populations. Beekeepers provide colonies with supplemental food — often sugar or corn syrup
This research was funded in part by the United States Golf Association.
The inside of a bumble bee hive shows the honey pots (open cells with shiny contents), where the bumble bees store their limited supply of food. The closed cells contain baby bees or eggs. Photo by Jonathan Larson
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— to compensate for the lack of wild forage in agricultural monocultures and to replace the bees’ honey stores, which are harvested for sale. Artif-cial bee foods, however, lack some of the nutrients in real honey that larval bees need to develop a strong immune system (9).
Neonicotinoid insecticides
Neonicotinoids are synthetic insecticides that affect the nervous system of insects. Imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam are the ones most widely used to control turfgrass pests. Neonicoti-noids are also the most widely used class of insec-ticides in agricultural settings around the world. They can be applied as sprays, in granular form or as seed dressings. On golf courses, they are mainly used for preventive control of white grubs, bill-bugs and other soil-dwelling pests. They are sys-temically translocated from roots to grass stems and foliage.
Above a threshold, oral or contact dosages of neonicotinoids are acutely toxic to bees (1). Even nonlethal exposures have the potential to impair the complex behaviors and reproduction of bees. For example, studies have shown that when worker bees are fed syrup containing a neonic-otinoid, they become lethargic, and their normal foraging, homing and grooming activities may be impaired (4,10). If enough workers are intoxi-cated, the colony may lack a suffcient work force to feed itself. If enough pesticide-tainted nectar or pollen is brought back to the hive and fed to the larvae, the colony may struggle or die.
We recently conducted experiments to assess the hazards to bumble bee colonies when neonic-otinoids are applied to lawn-type turf with fow-ering white clover (6). Colonies were confned to forage for six days on clover blooms that had been sprayed along with the turf, or on nontreated plots. The bee colonies in their hives were then moved to a safe site to forage on nontreated clover and other fowering plants for six more weeks.
The neonicotinoid-exposed colonies gained less weight than their non-exposed counterparts, and they subsequently produced no new queens (Figure 1). Colonies that fail to produce queens are doomed because the new queens are the only life stage that survives the winter to start the next generation.
Notably, though, once the clover fowers pres-ent at the time of treatment were removed by mowing and new fowers grew to replace them, new bee colonies placed on the treated weedy turf were not harmed. Indeed, residues in the clover nectar dropped from toxic to essentially non-toxic levels after the frst mowing. Thus, while
Areas of weedy turf were treated with insecticides and irrigated. Tents were placed on treated plots to contain the bees so they would feed on treated clover fowers. Photo by Daniel Potter
Effect of insecticides on bee weight gain
Figure 1. Weight gain in bumble bee hives exposed to two different insecticides, clothianidin and chlorantraniliprole, as well as control hives that fed on nontreated fowers. Hives exposed to clothianidin gained weight at a slower rate than the untreated areas.
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
-500 7 15 28 42
Days after introduction
Mea
n w
eight
gai
n (
gra
ms)
Clothianidin
Chlorantraniliprole
Untreated
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November 2013 GCM 87
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the research validates EPA label precautionary statements not to apply neonicotinoids to bloom-ing nectar-producing plants, it also indicates that in the case of turfgrass weeds that are regularly mowed, such applications don’t pose a prolonged systemic hazard to bees.
Another key fnding from our study was that Acelepryn (chlorantraniliprole, Syngenta), a rela-tively new anthranilic diamide insecticide that is used to control grubs, cutworms and other pests on golf courses, did not adversely affect bumble bee colonies even when the worker bees were exposed to fowering clover that had been directly sprayed.
Bee-friendly golf course management
What can golf course superintendents do to help conserve pollinators? Clearly, direct contami-nation of fowering weeds by neonicotinoids is a bee hazard, but that is rarely a problem with appli-cations to greens, tees and fairways where weeds are controlled with herbicides or mowed before they can bloom. Golf course applicators extending insecticide treatments into roughs should follow label directions not to spray those products when blooming weeds are present, or to at least mow off the fower heads before treatment. With those simple precautions, neonicotinoid insecticides can
be used on golf courses without harming bees. The insecticide Acelepryn appears nonhazardous to bees and most other benefcial insects (6,5).
Pesticide applicators should follow label pre-cautions and not apply insecticides to trees, shrubs or fower gardens when they are in bloom. The hazards of misapplication were highlighted by a high-profle incident in Oregon in June 2013 that led to the deaths of some 50,000 bumble bees when blooming linden trees in a shopping mall parking lot were sprayed with a neonicotinoid insecticide, in direct violation of the pesticide label. Communicate these precautions to mem-bers and homeowners in residential golf course communities to help them cultivate pollinator-friendly lawns and landscapes.
Golf courses are often some of the last non-fragmented green space remaining in urbanized areas. Environmental initiatives such as the Audu-bon Cooperative Sanctuary program, the Mon-arch Waystation Program (www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/) and Operation Pollinator (3) provide diversifed habitat in out-of-play areas that is favorable to bees and other charismatic pollina-tors such as Monarch butterfies. Increasing the acreage of naturalized habitat on golf courses also reduces mowing and the need for inputs of water, fertilizer and pesticides.
Hives were dissected and total workers, baby bees, queens and honey pots were counted inside each to determine what impacts the insecticides had on hive health. Photo by Daniel Potter
Adult queen bumble bees were collected from different hives at the end of our trial. On the left are the many queens from a control hive. On the right is the original queen recovered from a hive exposed to clothianidin. Hives exposed to clothianidin produced no new queens and, by the end of the trial, had only the queens they started with. Photo by Jonathan Larson
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Conclusions
Responsible use of insecticides on golf courses is not contributing to pollinator decline. How-ever, public perception is important, so profes-sionals who apply pesticides must diligently fol-low label precautions when using neonicotinoids on or around fowering plants. The U.S. EPA has added new label warnings to these products to highlight their potential hazards to bees. Recent restrictions on neonicotinoid usage in Europe and Canada underscore why it is important for turf-grass managers in the U.S. to be good stewards of these tools so that they will continue to be avail-able. Golf course superintendents can also con-tribute to pollinator conservation by using target-selective insecticides, and by diversifying the golf course to provide food plants and habitat for bees and other pollinators.
Funding
We thank the United States Golf Association, the University
of Kentucky’s Nursery Endowment Fund and the Bobby C. Pass
Research Endowment for helping to support this research.
Acknowledgments
We also thank Syngenta for supporting the Kentucky Opera-
tion Pollinator project, and A. Kesheimer, C.T. Redmond, E.
Dobbs and S. Marksbury for technical assistance.
Literature cited
1. Blacquière, T., G. Smagghe, C.A.M. van Gestel and V. Mom-
maerts. 2012. Neonicotinoids in bees: a review on concen-
trations, side-effects and risk assessment. Ecotoxicology
21:973-992. doi:10.1007/s10646-012-0863-x.
2. Calderone, N.W. 2012. Insect pollinated crops, insect pol-
linators and U.S. agriculture: Trend analysis of aggregate
data for the period 1992-2009. PLoS ONE 7(5):e37235.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037235.
3. Dobbs, E.K., and D.A. Potter. 2013. Operation Pollinator
for golf courses. Golf Course Management 81(4):100-103.
http://gcmdigital.gcsaa.org/i/118283/111.
4. Henry, M., M. Béguin, F. Requier et al. 2012. A com-
mon pesticide decreases foraging success and survival
in honey bees. Science 336:348-350. doi:10.1126/
science.1215039.
5. Larson, J.L., C.T. Redmond and D.A. Potter. 2012. Compar-
ative impact of an anthranilic diamide and other insecticidal
chemistries on benefcial invertebrates and ecosystem ser-
vices in turfgrass. Pest Management Science 68:740-748.
doi:10.1002/ps.2321.10.
6. Larson, J.L., C.T. Redmond and D.A. Potter. 2013. Assess-
ing insecticide hazard to bumble bees foraging on fow-
ering weeds in treated lawns. PLoS ONE 8(6):e66375.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066375. www.plosone.org/
article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0066375.
7. McFrederick, Q.S., and G. LeBuhn. 2006. Are urban parks
refuges for bumble bees Bombus spp. (Hymenoptera: Api-
dae)? Biological Conservation 129:372–382. doi:10.1016/j.
biocon.2006.05.014.
8. Potts, S.G., J.C. Biesmeijer, C. Kremen et al. 2010. Global
pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers. Trends
in Ecology and Evolution 25:345-353. doi:10.1016/j.
tree.2010.01.007.
9. Wenfu, M., M.A. Schuler and M.R. Berenbaum. 2013. Honey
constituents up-regulate detoxifcation and immunity genes
in the western honey bee Apis mellifera. PNAS 110:8842-
8846.
10. Whitehorn, P.R., S. O’Connor, F.L. Wakers and D. Goulson.
2012. Neonicotinoid pesticide reduces bumble bee colony
growth and queen production. Science 336:351-352.
doi:10.1126/science.1215025.
GCM
Jonathan L. Larson is a doctoral candidate and Daniel A.
Potter ([email protected]) is a professor in the department of
entomology at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
The research says
➔ Populations of bees and
other insect pollinators are declining
worldwide, potentially threatening the
productivity of agricultural crops and
natural plant communities.
➔ No one factor is causing bee
decline; multiple interacting stresses
such as habitat loss, pathogens, para-
sites, changes in beekeeping practices
and other factors are in play.
➔ Exposure to certain pesticides
can weaken bee colonies and make
them more vulnerable to other stress
agents.
➔ Our research shows that neo-
nicotinoid insecticides can negatively
affect bee health when flowering
turf weeds are contaminated by
sprays; once the treated site has been
irrigated and mowed, the systemic
hazard appears negligible.
➔ Chlorantraniliprole, represent-
ing a different chemical class, appears
to be non-hazardous to bees.
➔ Superintendents can help con-
serve pollinators by adhering to label
precautions when applying insecti-
cides and by incorporating flowering
plants in naturalized roughs.
Operation pollinator is a way for golf course managers to encourage populations of bees and other pollinators with diverse plantings of nectar-producing fowers. For more information, see the April 2013 issue of GCM (http://gcmdigital.gcsaa.org/i/118283/111). Photo by Emily Dobbs
Vvv
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November 2013 GCM 89
cutting edgeResearch in progress
Teresa Carson
Endophyte affects dollar spot severity in hard fescue
Some hard fescues contain the fungal endo-phyte, Epichloe festucae. Genetic or endophyte-mediated resistance to diseases such as dollar spot would greatly improve quality of hard fescue under low maintenance. Dollar spot resistance levels in hard fescue can vary greatly, but inheritance of resistance in this species is not well understood. Endophytes have been reported to confer disease resistance in other fne fescue species. Several resis-tant and susceptible progenies of hard fescue were tested for the presence of the endophyte. Dollar spot was rated on a 1-9 scale, where 1 is disease-sus-ceptible and 9 is disease-resistant. In progeny that tested positive for the endophyte, dollar spot ratings averaged 8.4 and in progenies that tested negative for endophyte, dollar spot ratings averaged 3.9 for 2010-2012. Because these samples are genetically similar, this resistance to dollar spot is likely medi-ated by the endophyte. This is the frst report of endophyte-mediated dollar spot resistance in hard fescue, but further research is needed to confrm this association. — Trent Matthew Tate (tmt103@scar
letmail.rutgers.edu); William A. Meyer, Ph.D.; and Stacy
A. Bonos, Ph.D., Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.
Rolling and sand topdressing to reduce pesticide use
The objective of this study was to compare turf grown on native soil and areas topdressed with sand, and evaluate the effects of season-long rolling frequency (one, three or fve times/week) on turf quality and disease severity for a mixed-stand fairway of creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass. No fungicides were applied; plots were maintained at 0.5-inch cutting height. Vibratory rollers, attached to a triplex mower, were used for
the rolling frequency treatments. The three-year project was initiated in July 2011 at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. Turfgrass on the sand topdressed areas had less dollar spot incidence and was rated higher in quality com-pared to the native soil areas in 2011. Hot, dry weather in June and July 2012 could be the reason for the insignifcant difference in disease severity between sand and native soil plots and between rolling frequency treatments compared to 2011 results. — Thomas Okada Green (greenth7@msu.
edu); John N. Rogers III, Ph.D.; Thomas A Nikolai, Ph.D.;
Joseph M. Vargas, Ph.D.; and James R Crum, Ph.D.,
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
Photo by G.L. Miller
Suppressing spring dead spot A three-year feld study on a plot naturally
infested with spring dead spot (SDS) caused by Ophiosphaerella herpotricha was conducted using a strip-plot design with nitrogen source as the main plot and sulfur and fungicide as subplots. Nitrogen source treatments included urea, ammonium sul-fate, calcium nitrate, Ufexx and Umaxx applied at 1 pound nitrogen/1,000 square feet in June, July and August. Flowers of sulfur (2 pounds/1,000 square feet) was applied to plots at the same time as nitrogen, or left untreated. Plots were treated with tebuconazole (0.6 f oz/1,000 square feet) once or twice during the fall or left untreated. Disease severity was assessed with digital imaging analysis. SDS was signifcantly less severe in plots receiving sulfur and/or tebuconazole compared to plots receiving only nitrogen. Fungicide plus sul-fur treatments also provided more SDS suppression than fungicide alone. — Derek Joseph Cottrill and
Gerald (Lee) Miller, Ph.D. ([email protected]), Uni-
versity of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.
GCM
Teresa Carson ([email protected]) is GCM ’s science editor.
Photo by T.M. Tate
Photo by T. Okada Green
080-091_Nov13_TechwellCC.indd 89 10/17/13 2:28 PM
PRODUCTnews
Stens Corp., a global supplier of replacement parts for the outdoor power equipment, golf and industrial industries, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 16 at its new facility on the south side of Jasper, Ind. As one of the frst local companies to take advan-tage of the newly minted Jasper tax abatement ordinance, Stens frst announced in December 2011 that it would in-vest in renovating and equipping the 208,400-square-foot facility, adding up to 98 new jobs by 2015. Stens currently em-
ploys approximately 200 associates in Jasper and 275 across the country.
The company completed its move to the new facility in July.
Underhill International has entered a partnership agreement with
KALO, supplier of turf and ornamental products, including Tournament-Ready,
Hydro-Wet, H2O Maximizer and Medalist. The agreement was jointly announced by
Ed Underhill, president of Underhill International, and Chuck Champion, president
of KALO Inc. KALO turf and ornamental products will now be sold and marketed
exclusively by Underhill International under the co-branding agreement. “This part-
nership presents a unique opportunity to provide golf course superintendents and
turf professionals with water conservation products that enhance turf quality while
applying water effciently,” Underhill says.
WinField agreed to acquire Matrix Turf Solutions LLC. WinField is a
large distributor of professional products for golf, lawn and sports turf, ornamen-
tal, pest control, aquatics and vegetation management. Based in the Northeast,
Matrix Turf Solutions is an organization in the professional products industry, with
a premium brand and value proposition similar to those of WinField, offering solu-
tions, service and insights, primarily in turf and ornamental operations. Matrix Turf
Solutions services New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecti-
cut, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
WinField has 80 service centers across
the country. “This acquisition will allow
WinField to grow its business and le-
verage existing distribution infrastruc-
ture in the northeastern United States,”
says Kanchan Chavan, director profes-
sional products group, WinField. Win-
Field also announced it entered into a
purchase agreement for the acquisition
of the professional products business
assets and inventory of Wilco-WinField
JV, which primarily services the turf
and ornamental segments in the Pa-
cifc Northwest.
John Deere announced that
two new distributors joined its net-
work — Potestio Brothers
Equipment Inc. in Colorado and
Belkorp Ag LLC in California.
Both will provide superintendents,
club managers and technicians an
enhanced level of service, support
INDUSTRYnews
92 GCM November 2013
Happenings and people you should know about
Deere world champions recognized
Left to right: David O’Malley, John Deere Financial; and Shawn Emerson, Mike Scully and Bob Jones, Desert Mountain Golf Club, Scottsdale, Ariz. Photo courtesy of John Deere
A team composed mainly of Arizona residents won the 27th annual John
Deere World Championship in September at Greenbrier Resort
in Sulphur Springs, W.Va. The team was made up of Shawn Emerson, Mike
Scully and Bob Jones of Desert Mountain Golf Club, Scottsdale, Ariz.; and
David O’Malley of John Deere Financial, Johnston, Iowa. The John Deere
World Championship allows golf course maintenance professionals from all
over the world to join their colleagues and John Deere personnel for team
building on a course other than their own. This year’s event featured 208
golfers from seven different countries.
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 92 10/17/13 2:28 PM
November 2013 GCM 93
and value. Potestio Brothers, already
a John Deere Gold Star Dealer, is
supporting Colorado golf courses.
The distributor has made signifcant
investments in an expert parts staff,
as well as six mobile service vehicles,
and is a strong partner with John
Deere Landscapes. Belkorp Ag LLC
is serving the California region with
its acquisition of former John Deere
dealer Mid-Cal Tractor. It has eight
locations throughout the Central Valley
and the North Coast regions. Belkorp
Ag also owns Big Sky Golf Course in
British Columbia.
Trojan Battery announced
that Taijin Instrument &
Electric Co. Ltd. will distribute
Trojan’s deep-cycle batteries for the
golf car market in South Korea. Taijin
is selling and servicing Trojan products
at the country’s more than 400 golf
courses. They will offer Trojan’s broad
line of deep-cycle fooded, AGM and
gel batteries.
Profle Products recently
completed a yearlong upgrade to their
manufacturing facility in Blue Moun-
tain, Miss. The upgrade allows the
company, it says, continued expansion
of production capacity and fexibility
in its product mix, further enhancing
its position in the sports turf, golf and
agriculture markets.
Representatives from the North Caro-
lina Department of Labor and elected
offcials joined employees of Profle
Products to commemorate
750,000 consecutive hours without
a lost-time incident at the company’s
manufacturing facility in Conover, N.C.
The company reached the milestone in
August; the streak began in February
2008.
United Turf Alliance (UTA)
added Chattahoochee Turf
Products, a Georgia-based dis-
tributor of professional turfgrass main-
tenance products, in an ownership
Jacobsen expands sales force
Jacobsen continues its expansion of its sales and support team.
Doug Foucheaux is director of sales, responsible for the western
U.S. and Canada. Foucheaux previously was senior regional manager
at Rain Bird Corp. Lee Frie is territory sales manager, supporting
dealers and customers in the northwest U.S. and Canada. Frie also came
from Rain Bird, where he was district and regional sales manager. Kyle
Mirk is territory sales representative for the western Michigan territory.
Mirk had been at at CDW as sales account manager. Jacobsen also
added Andrew Echenique, Gary Kuhl and Dean Mori-
son as product support managers.
position. Chattahoochee Turf Products,
owned by Roger and Susan Myers, has
been an independent dealer partner of
UTA for three years. The company has
primarily done business in Georgia, but
will now expand into Alabama, Mis-
sissippi, Louisiana and the panhandle
in Florida. “My experience with UTA
tells me that taking my involvement to
the next level will be advantageous for
my customers, my employees and my
company as a whole,” Myers says. “I
look forward to what lies ahead.”
Pacifc Links International
(PLI) announced the acquisition of the
virtual club assets from Interna-
tional Club Network Lim-
ited ( ICN). The ICN acquisition is the
latest phase of growth PLI has seen
this year, which includes partnerships
with the PGA Tour and GolfBC and a
portfolio of nearly 100 clubs through-
out the U.S., Canada, Australia and
Asia. Since 1998, ICN has developed
what it says is the world’s largest
private club access program consist-
ing of 275 participating clubs in 22
countries. As part of the transaction,
PLI will own and manage this network
as well as ICN’s Privileged Play pro-
gram. The largest program of its kind
in Canada, Privileged Play provides
members priority access and green fee
savings at notable daily-fee courses for
public and resort golfers. Also included
in the network assets sold to PLI is a
50 percent interest in Access Global
Golf and Travel Network.
Global Turf Equipment
(GTE), an independent seller and
exporter of pre-owned golf course
equipment, established Global Turf
Equipment Denmark in partnership
with Denmark golf industry veteran
Tom Larsen. Larsen has been selling
pre-owned turf equipment in Denmark
since 2009 and repairing an array of
light and heavy machinery for decades.
The partnership will allow Danish golf
course and turf professionals to access
GTE’s unmatched inventory of pre-
owned products. Serving golf facilities
in more than 80 countries worldwide
and all 50 U.S. states, GTE offers golf
Foucheaux Frie Echenique
Kuhl Morison
“A single sedge tuber can produce more than
1,900 shoots.”
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94 GCM November 2013
course owners, operators and super-
intendents a substantial cost savings
by offering late-model alternatives to
brand-new machines.
Turf Solutions Group (TSG)
built Nations Park in Newberry, Fla.
The 16-feld complex is composed of
natural grass and synthetic turf. The
scope of the project included laser
grading, drainage and irrigation for
each of the 16 baseball felds.
Billy Casper Golf (BCG) ac-
quired Women on Course, a
golf networking organization. Women
on Course is maintaining its name,
and Donna Hoffman, who founded
it in 2005, remains president and is
based at BCG corporate headquarters
outside Washington, D.C. BCG plans
to dedicate extensive resources to sig-
nifcantly expand Women on Course’s
membership base and expose millions
of women to golf. Since 2010, Women
on Course has increased its participa-
tion by more than 40 percent.
Hunter Products was chosen
by Del Mar Thoroughbred
Club for installation of a new turf
course 20 miles north of San Diego.
The turf course features Hunter’s I-90
and I-40 rotors, IBV valves and Pilot
central control system. Additional
grounds areas featuring native plant
material will be watered using Hunter’s
multistream, multitrajectory nozzle, the
MP rotor. The project is expected to be
completed in time for opening day of
the 2014 race season.
PEOPLEnews
Valent Professional
Products announced that Jim
Crockett and Nancy Voor-
hees were hired as territory manag-
ers for the company’s southeastern
and western regions, respectively.
Crockett most recently served as a
horticulturist at Auburn University. He
has worked in a leadership capacity at
a number of major turf and ornamental
companies during his career, including
vice president of operations at Color
Spot Nurseries, the largest nursery in
the U.S. He also was national sales
manager and director of horticul-
tural sales for Cleary Chemical Corp.
Voorhees has worked as a lawn-
care specialist and assistant branch
manager for ChemLawn Services. She
spent the last 24 years with Target
Specialty Products as a distributor
sales representative and most recently
as the company’s landscape business
manager.
Nic Neimeier and Rob
Vanscoy joined La Crosse
Forage & Turf Seed as sales
representatives. Previously, Neimeier
served as seed coordinator for All
Points Cooperative in Nebraska. Nei-
meier focuses on serving customers
within Nebraska and its surrounding
states. Vanscoy comes to La Crosse
Forage & Turf Seed following more
than fve years as operations manager
for Oliger Seed Co. in Ohio.
Chris Phillips is the new vice
president and general manager of
Yardney Water Manage-
ment Systems Inc. Phillips,
son of Yardney president and CEO Ken
Phillips, joined the company in 2004
as manufacturing technical support.
Since 2007, he has served as opera-
tions manager.
Norm Tuohy is the new regional
sales manager at Arkansas Val-
ley Seed. Tuohy has worked in the
seed sales and distribution industry
for more than 30 years, including the
position of national accounts manager.
GOLFbriefs
Tripp Davis and Associ-
ates completed work on their frst
golf course project in China. Eco-
City International Country
Club, located in Tianjin (fourth-larg-
est city in China) is their site for an 18-
hole championship course, extensive
practice facilities and state-of-the-art
clubhouse. Eco-City International CC is
surrounded by Ying-Cheng Lake, and
the site occupies low land marshes
near the Bohai Sea. In order to provide
stimulating contrasts to the otherwise
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November 2013 GCM 95
fat landscape that afforded panoramic
views of the extensive water frontage,
Tripp Davis and Associates created
bold bunkering to present strategic
and visual defnition. An offcial grand
opening is anticipated for May 2014.
Total Driving Range Solu-
tions (TDRS) was chosen to build
a new driving range facility at Oak
Hills Park Golf Club in Nor-
walk, Conn. Plans call for a two-tiered,
30-bay structure with heated, all-
weather capability on the lower level.
The range will extend 250 yards and
will be conveniently located adjacent
to the frst tee to accommodate golfers
warming up before a round as well as
those who visit just to practice. The
First Tee also will be involved at the
facility, which is expected to be com-
pleted next spring.
Staples Golf Resource
Group is launching a “Community
Links” concept in Hobbs, N.M. Named
Ocotillo Park Community Links, the
project is set to invigorate the city’s
golf course by implementing design
practices that reinforce the course’s
link to the surrounding community. The
Coppinwood earns environmental honor
GCSAA Class A member Scott Pratt led the effort at Coppinwood Golf Club in Goodwood, Ontario, to
be recognized for environmental excellence. Coppinwood achieved designation as a Certifed Audubon Cooperative
Sanctuary through the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary program of Audubon International. Coppinwood became
the 52nd golf club in Ontario and the 1,017th worldwide to earn the honor. “We worked with the world’s leading
golf course architect, Tom Fazio, to build the course with the environment in mind, building on what was already
there with minimal changes to the landscape,” says Pratt, a 15-year GCSAA member. Coppinwood is located on
357 acres of rolling terrain with stunning elevation changes 30 minutes northeast of Toronto.
primary focus of the plan is to attract
youth and beginners to the game of
golf by redesigning the existing 18-hole
golf course that incorporates family
tees, expand the practice facility and
add a nine-hole executive course with
a SNAG (Starting New at Golf) facility.
The plan keeps overall turf acreage
to a minimum, integrates a minimal
irrigation delivery system that utilizes
the city’s effuent water system, has
chosen drought-tolerant grasses and
keeps the overall focus on how the
course can be maintained effciently.
Additional elements such as walking
trails, trail heads with rest areas and
other outdoor spaces within the prop-
erty have been included to increase the
use of the facility by the non-golfng
community. A complete rebranding of
the facility also is planned. Construc-
tion is set to begin by the end of the
year.
Fry/Straka Global Golf
Course Design completed
its work at Ambiente Golf
Course at JW Marriott
Scottsdale Camelback
Inn Resort & Spa in Arizona.
The course is expected to open for
play this month. Ambiente features
only 90 acres of maintained turfgrass,
requiring a minimum of maintenance
resources. The remainder is a mix of
desert riparian plants, upland desert
trees, shrubs and grasses.
Bull Valley Golf Club in Wood-
stock, Ill., chose KemperSports
to manage its facility. Bull Valley was
built in 1988 and has been a host site
for a U.S. Open qualifer. Dick Nugent
designed Bull Valley Golf Club, ranked
as the 19th-best golf course in Illinois
by Golf Digest in its bi-annual state-by-
state rankings.
The Arlington Club, a private
country club in Richmond, Ky., decided
to retain KemperSports for
its club management. KemperSports
is evaluating all aspects of the club,
including membership categories and
programs, the condition of the physical
plant, etc.
GCM
Submit items for “Industry News” to
“In one year, one
sedge tuber can become 6,900 new tubers.”
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 95 10/17/13 2:28 PM
PRODUCTnews
96 GCM November 2013
What’s new and hot for your course
Spectrum Technologies Inc. and the USGA introduced TruFirm turf frmness meter and also launched a new version of the Field-Scout GreenIndex+App for turfgrass. TruFirm offers a quick, easy and affordable method to measure the frmness of turf and bunker sands. Data acquired from the device
allows golf course superintendents and sports turf managers the ability
to take appropriate actions to reach the desired frmness of golf course
greens, fairways and bunkers as well as other playing surfaces. The
USGA’s primary objective for the development of the TruFirm is to provide
championship-caliber playability by managing greens that are consistently
frm and fast. The patented TruFirm system utilizes a hemisphere-shaped
impact hammer that mimics the shape of a golf ball to better simulate
golf ball impacts. The mass is dropped from a consistent height and the
maximum turf penetration value is recorded and correlated to the surface
frmness — the lower the penetration value, the frmer the turf. Mean-
while, FieldScout GreenIndex+App utilizes the latest advancements in
technology to allow users to measure the relative greenness of turf using
its smartphone camera. Contact Spectrum Technologies Inc., 800-248-
8873 (www.specmeters.com).
The FMC Professional Solutions Early Order Program is
ongoing until Dec. 20, 2013. It allows participants to purchase products at current
pricing prior to 2014 price increases, receive a base rebate incentive and beneft
from extended payment terms. Popular FMC products included in the program
are Blindside, Dismiss, Dismiss South, Dismiss CA, Echelon, Solitaire, QuickSilver
and Segway. Rebates are based on
purchase amounts. To qualify, a rebate
form must be submitted with copies of
invoices via mail, fax, e-mail or online
at www.fmceop.com by Jan. 15, 2014.
For more information, go to www.
fmcprosolutions.com/home/
promotions.aspx
The 2013-14 Power of MORE
rebate program from Dow
AgroSciences is on now for
customers who purchase qualifying
products through December 2013. In
addition, checks will be mailed twice
during the program year for more
frequent payouts. Customers earn
cash back when they purchase Dow
AgroSciences’ products and prod-
ucts containing Dow AgroSciences’
active ingredients. Cash rebates are
available on more than 55 participat-
ing products, including formulator
brands and on-fertilizer formulations.
In addition, customers can earn
bonus rebates based on the total
rebate amount earned throughout
the year. Qualifying products must
be invoiced during the purchase
period Sept. 1, 2013, through Aug.
31, 2014. Completed rebate forms
and invoices must be postmarked by
Jan. 15, 2014, to receive a check in
March or by Sept. 30, 2014, to re-
ceive a check in December. Contact
DowAgroSciences, 800-255-3726
(www.Powerofmore.com).
E-Z-GO introduced its redesigned
Freedom TXT personal
golf car, updating the model’s
classic look and proven performance
and offering a host of enhancements
to make the vehicle even more fun for
the family, whether it’s crossing the
fairways of the golf course or travers-
ing the neighborhood paths. Freedom
TXT’s new styling follows modern
automotive design cues, giving it a
sleek, contemporary appearance. Its
front cowl and body panels are crafted
from durable automotive-quality ma-
terials with an attractive painted fnish
resistant to scratches and fading. The
new front bumper withstands repeated
5 mph impacts, and TXT’s steel-
reinforced rear bumper is the strongest
in the industry, the company says. The
new sun top boasts a double-walled
construction and an industry-frst
molded-in grab handle. The canopy is
angled downward to eliminate standing
water, and a 360-degree drip edge
funnels water away from occupants to
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 96 10/17/13 2:28 PM
November 2013 GCM 97
keep riders dry. Also, upgraded seating
provides better lower back support and
more cushioning. The forward-neutral-
reverse switch was relocated to a
central location along the bench seat’s
centerline, placing controls at the
driver’s fngertips. The dashboard has
larger cupholders. Contact E-Z-GO,
800-241-5855 (www.ezgo.com).
Bayer’s Specticle FLO
and Celsius have been approved
for use in California. Specticle FLO
is a pre-emergent herbicide that
protects against a broad spectrum of
broadleaf and grassy weeds including
Poa annua, crabgrass and gooseg-
rass. Celsius, meanwhile, delivers
post-emergent control of more than
150 weeds and offers reduced risk of
phytotoxicity during summer months.
Celsius offers best-in-class safety on
bermudagrass, zoysiagrass, St. Au-
gustinegrass and centipede turf types
and provides a single solution for many
diffcult-to-control grassy and broad-
leaf weeds. Contact Bayer, 800-331-
2867 (www.backedbybayer.com).
Standard Manufacturing
introduced Bunker Barrier,
a two-phase liquid-applied bunker
liner that creates a frm, fexible layer
that stops contamination of the sand.
Phase One is a binder coat that dries
within an hour of applying with exist-
ing spray equipment. Phase Two is a
topcoat and can be applied as soon as
Phase One has dried. Both phases will
spray on white but will clear as soon as
they dry. Cleanup is simple with a mild
soap solution. Sand can be added to
the bunker the following day. Contact
Standard Manufacturing, 626-375-
2515 (www.standard-mfg.net).
SnowEx released SS-4000,
its walk-behind rotary broom with a
plow attachment for snow removal
and other cleanup applications. It
is powered by a Honda GXV Series
engine, features a floating pivotal
broom head with five angle settings
to adjust the trajectory of snow and
other materials. The 16-inch-diame-
ter broom is centrally driven, allow-
ing the unit to work against curbs,
walls and other obstacles from either
the left or right side. Brush rotation
GolfBoard provides a new way to ride
GolfBoard from SolBoards Inc. is an electric long board that
allows riders to travel across the course at the same speed of a golf
car and experience the terrain like a surfboard. The four-wheel drive,
lithium-powered longboard caters to experienced riders and newcomers.
Its removable standup handlebar/golf bag holder offers the inexperi-
enced rider a balanced point, a secured mount to attach a golf bag and
the added bonus of a drink and ball holder. Contact SolBoards Inc.,
888-328-2841 (www.golfboard.com).
With its patented combination of dual active ingredients,
Echelon® goes beyond conventional preemergence
crabgrass and Poa annua control to fight sedges and
other weeds present at the time of application. What’s
more, Echelon impacts sedge tubers underground to
reduce future populations of perennial sedges.
Can Your Fall or Spring Treatment AlsoPrevent Sedges? Echelon® Herbicide Can.
Source of tuber facts: Tumbleson & KIommedahl, 1961. FMC and Echelon are
trademarks of FMC Corporation. ©2013 FMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
Save big on Echelon herbicide and other products with the 2013 FMC Early Order Program! Visit www.fmcprosolutions.com or ask your FMC Authorized Sales Agent or Distributor for more information.
NIP ITIN THETUBER
FMC Turf @FMCturf
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 97 10/17/13 2:28 PM
speed is infinitely adjustable and
down pressure can be increased
or decreased by raising or lowering
Netafm showcases Octave,
a technically advanced ultrasonic
water meter that utilizes double-beam
sensors to monitor fow. It offers a
new level of accuracy to measuring
fow data because the water-fow path
is unrestricted. There are no moving
parts or impeller. With no wear-prone
parts, Octave’s ultrasonic technology
reduces maintenance and improves
long-term reliability. The meter’s
measurement method is based on
dual-beam sensors that determine the
length of time it takes an ultrasonic
wave to travel the distance between
the two sensors located in the me-
ter’s body. The sensors alternate as
both senders and receivers with the
ultrasonic waves traveling both with
and against the direction of the fow.
Plant Food Co. launches biopolymer
Plant Food Co. Inc. introduced Omega, a benefcial
biopolymer. It is a combination of chitosan and plant extracts that has
taken stress recovery to an entirely new level, the company says.
Plant Food Co. also features Impulse Green-T, a product derived from
natural stress-resistant plant complexes, which increases potassium and
calcium levels within the plant cell walls while decreasing H202 levels.
Contact Plant Food Co. Inc., 800-562-1291 (www.plantfoodco.com).
FINALLY, A PHOSPHORUS YOU CAN ROOT FOR
Add Crystal Green® to your nutrient program. A season-long supply
of slow-release P, N, plus Mg in each granule builds high-performing,
wear-resistant turf.
Te unique, plant-activated mode-of-action releases nutrients only
when roots ask for them, minimizing nutrient loss caused by tie-up or
runof. Tat means fewer applications, reduced rates and lower costs.
Enhanced efciency Crystal Green®
Phosphorus when your turf needs it. Peace of mind when it doesn’t.
Crystal Green® is a registered trademark of Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologieswww.crystalgreen.com
the pneumatic support wheel. For
heavier snow, operators can install
a front-mounted blade attachment,
which comes standard with the
SS-4000. The 40-inch blade uses
a unique pin system for easy instal-
lation and removal. Contact TrynEx
International, 800-725-8377 (www.
snowexproducts.com).
A Family Tree makes custom-
engraved, high-grade stainless steel
tree tags that are both environ-
mentally responsible and a permanent
reminder of a friend, a family member
or a signifcant moment, such as
a hole-in-one. The tree tags are
engraved with a diamond-tipped
custom-engraving tool etched into
the steel. A patented spring allows
the tag to be placed anywhere on the
tree. The tree tag can be custom-
ized with golf course logos. Contact
A Family Tree, 877-289-2381 (www.
afamilytree.com).
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 98 10/17/13 2:49 PM
November 2013 GCM 99
submitted under the Toxic Substance
Control Act (TSCA). The ChemView
Web tool displays key health and safety
data in an online format that allows
comparison of chemicals by use and
by health or environmental effects. The
search tool combines available TSCA
information and provides streamlined
access to EPA assessments, hazard
characterizations and information on
safer chemical ingredients. Addition-
ally, the Web tool allows searches by
chemical name or Chemical Abstracts
Service (CAS) number, use, hazard ef-
fect or regulatory action. Go to (www.
epa.gov/chemview).
PortaPump from Pump-
Biz Inc. is designed for pumping
wastewater with ease from footings,
trenches, pits, bunkers and founda-
tions. There is no need for electricity
supply or separate pump units. The
Honda 4-stroke propane-converted
engine provides hassle-free opera-
The fow rate is determined by the
time differences between the two
waves. The meter features an easy-
to-read, multiline digital LCD display
that provides immediate reporting and
visual indicators for critical condi-
tions. Octave is available in sizes from
2 inches to 12 inches and monitors
fow ranges from 1 gpm to 5,500
gpm. Contact Netafm, 888-638-
2346 (www.netafmusa.com).
Arysta LifeScience has
announced that a 30-pound bag is
replacing the 40-pound bag of Aloft
insecticide. Aloft SC and G formula-
tions are broad spectrum and long
lasting and provide systemic and con-
tact activity for control of many pests
in and around lawns, landscapes,
golf courses and many other turf
and landscape sites. Contact Arysta
LifeScience, 866-761-9397 (www.
arystalifescience.us).
ChemView, launched by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), is a Web-based tool designed
to signifcantly improve access to
chemical-specifc regulatory informa-
tion developed by the EPA and data
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 99 10/17/13 2:29 PM
100 GCM November 2013
This practice green was the frst to be hand-watered on this particular day.
The utility vehicle that carried the hose also carried a small poly tank flled
with a selective herbicide. The standard practice on this course, which
does require quite a bit of hand watering, is not to allow hoses in the same
utility vehicle as herbicide tanks. However, at the end of the previous day,
one of the maintenance workers had parked his utility vehicle on a slight
incline, causing trace amounts of the herbicide to leak from the tank onto
the hose in the vehicle bed. When the water hose was dragged across
the wet green during the hand-watering process, the herbicide was re-
activated and caused burn spots to appear the following day. Since this
was the frst green that was hand-watered that day, it is the only green
where these marks appeared; the marks on the putting surface healed
completely in about four to fve days.
Picture submitted by James Newton, the superintendent at Dataw Island
Club in Beaufort, S.C., and a three-year member of GCSAA.
If you would like to submit a photograph for John Mascaro’s Photo Quiz, please send it to:John Mascaro, 1471 Capital Circle NW, Suite #13, Tallahassee, FL 32303, or e-mail to [email protected].
If your photograph is selected, you will receive full credit. All photos submitted will become property of GCM and GCSAA.
John Mascaro
President of Turf-Tec International
PHOTO quiz answers
PROBLEM A
It’s common knowledge that grass never dies in a straight line, so obviously
this problem is man-made. This resort course in upstate Michigan hosts
a Kids Day Adventure Camp during the summer, and on one hot day, the
camp counselors decided to put down a heavy plastic tarp for use as a
slip-and-slide on the bentgrass/Poa annua lawn area located behind the
resort’s hotel. The problem was they put the tarp down at 9 in the morning
but didn’t use the slip-and-slide until mid-afternoon. At that point, the tem-
peratures had climbed into the low 90s, causing the grass to bake under
the tarp. What's interesting about this photo is that the shorter grass was
not affected by the heat as much as the taller grass. The turf recovered on
its own in about a week and a half, and the lawn was back to normal before
the same area hosted a large reception that was a part of a convention that
was taking place at the resort. All water activities at future camps will be
restricted to the pool area from this point forward.
Photo submitted by Tom Alonzi, the GCSAA Class A superintendent at Boyne
Highlands Resort in Harbor Springs, Mich., and a 23-year GCSAA member.
PROBLEM B
Presented in partnership with Jacobsen
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 100 10/17/13 2:29 PM
1.888.922.TURF | www.jacobsen.com
The new Jacobsen LF510™ fairway mower offers affordability from the start, simplif ed maintenance
and a reliable Kubota diesel Tier 4 f nal engine – making it easy to afford, use and maintain through its
entire life. The LF510’s clean and consistent quality-of-cut is provided by the new TrueSet™ cutting units with
Classic XP™ reels that boast an industry-leading 425-lbs. of holding power. Mow your fairways without
scalping your budget with the new Jacobsen LF510. See your local Jacobsen dealer for more information.
©2013 Jacobsen, A Textron Company/Textron Innovations Inc. All rights reserved.
SUPERIOR QUALITY-OF-CUT. SURPRISINGLY AFFORDABLE.
LF510™
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 101 10/17/13 2:29 PM
tion and, in comparison to gasoline,
uses less fuel, has reduced emissions
and does not require mixed fuel.
PortaPump is light, balanced and ftted
with an adjustable handle and carry
strap for user comfort and complete
control. It features a convenient on-off
switch and throttle control built into the
handle. Contact PumpBiz Inc., 800-
786-7249 (www.pumpbiz.com).
Starting Time Golf has
launched mini Golf, a golf game
that can be played indoors, outdoors
or on any smooth surface. The product
is manufactured in Germany and is
durable, lightweight and portable. It
includes an interactive training aid to
help improve the skills of both veteran
golfers and newcomers to the sport.
It is designed to appeal to any age.
Contact Starting Time Golf, 800-851-
5442 (www.myminigolf.us).
ArborSystems introduced
Pointle Palm, a new quick-
connect injection tip for its Wedgle
Direct-Inject Tree Treatment System.
The tip, according to ArborSystems,
was designed to get into the toughest
plants and place the chemical or nutri-
ent in the right spot. Treatment is de-
livered fast and effectively at a known
dose rate with virtually no environmen-
tal exposure associated with foliage
spray, soil injection or drenching. The
3-inch Pointle Palm Injection Tip has
a pointed end that aids the tip getting
into the palm. The chemical ports are
recessed to minimize plant material
from clogging the tip. The tip design
was developed to penetrate a palm’s
outer husk and deliver chemicals
into the inner active layers. Contact
ArborSystems, 800-698-4641 (www.
arborsystems.com).
Armada Technologies re-
leased a new electrical meter tailored
to the needs of landscape lighting pro-
fessionals. The digital clamp-on mul-
timeter known as Pro91 combines
simple button control with advanced
True RMS measurement technology
that is critical to installing and trouble-
shooting modern electronic lighting
systems. Pro91 provides accurate
measurement of the complex currents
and voltages found in LED lighting
systems, allowing quick verifcation of
installations and location of problems.
Contact Armada Technologies, 616-
803-1080 (www.armadatech.com).
Civitas One is now OMRI-listed
(Organic Materials Review Institute).
Civitas One is a pre-mix of the Civitas
mineral oil synthetic isoparaffn and
Civitas Harmonizer in one convenient
2.5-gallon jug, which, when used at
label rates, can be expected to protect
about 18,000 to 37,600 square feet of
turf. Contact Civitas, 866-335-3369
(www.civitasturf.com).
Spectral Evolution released
its PSR-3500 spectroradiometer
for ground truthing and correlating
satellite data with feld data. According
to the company, accurate data can
be collected quickly and easily using
PSR-3500 with DARWin SP Data
Acquisition software, and the spectra
are saved as ASCII fles for immediate
use with ENVI software. In addition,
DARWin SP provides access to more
than 19 vegetation indices to highlight
particular vegetation properties of
interest. Contact Spectral Evolution,
978-687-1833 (www.spectralevolu-
tion.com).
Larson Electronics released
its LM-20-3S-TLR Trailer-
Mounted Light Tower that
features a single-axle trailer and
heavy-duty steel construction and
can elevate light fxtures or electronic
equipment to 20 feet in height for max-
imum coverage of large areas. Contact
Larson Electronics, 800-369-6671
(www.magnalight.com).
Golf GameBook, the free
smartphone app featuring a golf
community, live scoring, tournament
manager and social chat, joined forces
with BlackBerry. Via its mobile live
scoring function, golfers can keep
score in multiple groups and track
leaderboards hole by hole. An in-app
chat-style commenting option, similar
to Facebook, allows users to interact
with friends while they stroll the fair-
ways. Golf GameBook offers an online
service where all games and larger
DEMANDSPECS
EXPECTRESULTS
888-970-5111www.sandtrapper.com
When choosing your renovation materials,
demand product specifi cations and expect results.
Since the advent of bunker liners, Sandtrapper
has been there, delivering consistent quality
and performance that professionals rely on.
We’ve made reliability the hallmark of our
manufacturing and customer service processes
so the facility can make renovation project
decisions easily and with confi dence.
Contact us today for the details of bunker liner
dynamics and product specifi cations.
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 102 10/17/13 2:29 PM
tournaments can be recorded from the
app for live tournament scoring, all for
free. Contact Golf GameBook, 561-
306-1777 (www.golfgamebook.com).
GCM
Submit items for “Product News” to
ONcourse
Nov. 7-10 — PGA Tour, The
McGladrey Classic, Sea Island
Resort, St. Simons Island, Ga., Berry
Collett, CGCS, Golf Course
Maintenance Director.
Nov. 7-10 — European Tour,
Turkish Airlines Open, The
Montgomerie Maxx Royal, Antalya,
Turkey.
Nov. 8-10 — LPGA, Mizuno
Classic, Kintetsu Kashikojima Country
Club, Shima-Shi, Mie, Japan.
Nov. 14-17 — PGA Tour, OHL
Classic at Mayakoba, El Camaleon
Golf Club at Mayakoba Resort, Playa
del Carmen, Mexico.
Nov. 14-17 — LPGA, Lorena
Ochoa Invitational presented by
Banamax and Jalisco, Guadalajara
Country Club, Guadalajara, Mexico.
Nov. 14-17 — European
Tour, DP World Tour Championship,
Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, United
Arab Emirates.
Nov. 18-24 — PGA Tour,
World Cup of Golf, Royal Melbourne
Golf Club, Victoria, Australia.
Nov. 19-22 — Champions
Tour, Q School, TPC Scottsdale
Champions, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Nov. 21-24 — LPGA, CME
Group Titleholders, Tiburon Golf Club,
Naples, Fla., Dale Conzelmann, CGCS,
director of golf course maintenance.
COMINGup
Nov. 4-8 — Irrigation Show
and Conference, Austin, Texas
Phone: 703-536-7080
Website: www.irrigationshow.org
Nov. 5 — Environmental
Seminar, Oregon Golf Club, West
Linn, Ore.
Phone: 877-375-1330
Website: www.ogcsa.org
Nov. 6-8 — November Turf
Conference, Hyatt Regency,
Cambridge, Md.
Phone: 410-548-1599
Website: www.esagcs.org
Nov. 7 — GCSAA Webcast: My
Best Feature is Fairways
Contact: GCSAA Education
Phone: 800-472-7878
Website: www.gcsaa.org/education/
webcasts.aspx
Nov. 7-8 — Virginia Turf
Summit, Wintergreen Resort,
Wintergreen, Va.
Phone: 804-747-4971
Website: www.vgcsa.org
Nov. 12-14 — Texas
Turfgrass Conference, Dallas
Sheraton Hotel
Phone: 800-830-8873
Website: www.texasturf.com
Nov. 13-14 — 2013 Turf and
Ornamental Seminar, West Lafayette,
Ind.
Contact: Jennifer Biehl
Phone: 765-494-8039
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.agry.purdue.edu
Nov. 14 — GCSAA Webcast:
Planning for Replacement: How
Long Does This Stuff Last?
Contact: GCSAA Education
Phone: 800-472-7878
Website: www.gcsaa.org/education/
webcasts.aspx
Nov. 14 — Midwest Turf Clinic,
Medinah Country Club, Medinah, Ill.
Phone: 630-243-7900
Website: www.magcs.org
Nov. 14 — Seven Rivers Toys
for Tots Fundraiser, Juliette Falls,
Dunnellon, Fla.
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 103 10/17/13 2:29 PM
Phone: 800-732-6053
Website: www.foridagcsa.com
Nov. 19-20 — Carolinas
GCSA Annual Trade Show, Myrtle
Beach Convention Center, Myrtle
Beach, S.C.
Phone: 800-476-4272
Website: www.carolinasgcsa.org
Nov. 20 — Bunker Renovation
Seminar, Location TBA
Phone: 480-609-6778
Website: www.cactusandpine.com
Dec. 3 — Toy Drive at Avery
Ranch Golf Club, Austin, Texas
Phone: 512-388-2874
Website: www.ctgcsa.com
Dec. 3-5 — Kansas
Turfgrass Conference, Kansas
Expocentre, Topeka
Phone: 785-532-6173
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.kgcsa.org
Dec. 3-5 — Ohio Turfgrass
Foundation Conference and Show,
Greater Columbus Convention Center,
Columbus, Ohio
Phone: 614-285-4683
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ohioturfgrass.org
Dec. 4 — Iowa GCSA Seminar,
Cedar Rapids Country Club
Host: Tom Feller, CGCS
Phone: 515-635-0306
Website: www.iowagcsa.org
Dec. 10-11 — Wisconsin
Turfgrass Symposium, American
Club, Kohler, Wis.
Phone: 920-643-4888
Website: www.wgcsa.com
Dec. 10-12 — 38th annual
Green Expo, Trump Taj Mahal Casino
Resort, Atlantic City, N.J.
Phone: 973-812-6467
Website: www.njturfgrass.org
Dec. 11-12 — Pesticide
Seminar, Oregon Convention Center,
Portland, Ore.
Phone: 877-375-1330
Website: www.ogcsa.org
Dec. 11-13 — Virginia Tech
Turfgrass Short Course,
Fredericksburg Expo Center
Phone: 757-464-1004
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vaturf.org
Dec. 16 — 22nd Annual Duff
Shaw Classic, North Ranch Country
Club, Westlake Village, Calif.
Phone: 310-320-6400
Website: www.californiagcsa.org
Dec. 16-17 — Common
Ground Conference, Overland Park
Convention Center, Overland Park,
Kan.
Phone: 816-561-5323
Website: www.hagcsa.org
Jan. 6 — First Annual G.C.
Horn Memorial Turfgrass Education
Seminar, Gulf Coast Church of Christ,
Fort Myers, Fla.
Phone: 239-513-8016
www.evergladesgcsa.com
Jan. 22-24 — Ontario Golf
Course Management Conference
and Trade Show, The Westin Harbour
Castle, Toronto
Phone: 519-767-3341
Website: www.ogsa.ca
Jan. 27-30 — VTC
Conference & Show, Fredericksburg
Expo Center, Fredericksburg, Va.
Phone: 757-464-1004
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vaturf.org
Jan. 28-30 — Iowa
Turfgrass Conference & Trade
Show, Downtown Des Moines Marriott
Phone: 515-635-0306
Website: www.iowagcsa.org
———
To learn if you can receive
education points for any of these
upcoming programs, visit the External
Education Listings in the education
section at www.gcsaa.org/education/
externaled/current.aspx.
———
We want to know about your event in
advance. To submit an entry for
“Coming up,” please send your
information five to six months before
you'd like to see it in the magazine. We
run event information for three months.
Send a contact name if all details are
not final. Contact Golf Course
Management, Attention: Coming Up,
1421 Research Park Drive, Lawrence,
KS 66049-3859; 785-832-3638; fax:
785-832-3665; email: hrichman@
gcsaa.org.
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 104 10/17/13 2:52 PM
NEWmembers
ALABAMA
Joshua A. Slaven, Supt. Mbr., Troy
ARKANSAS
Denver K. Cooper, Student,
Fayetteville
Robert D. Forsyth, Class C, Little
Rock
CALIFORNIA
Dillon Griffth, Supt. Mbr., Fresno
COLORADO
Joshua L. Hess, Student, Fort Collins
William Seese, Student, Fort Collins
FLORIDA
Ryan P. Cannon, Class C, Pompano
Beach
Tony J. Italiano, Class C, Naples
Joseph W. Schopp, Class C, Fort
Myers
Daniel Yates, Class C, Tequesta
GEORGIA
Anthony A. Wright, Class C, Atlanta
ILLINOIS
Trevor A. Elliott, Student, Malta
IOWA
Desmond S. Decker, Student, Ames
Daniel R. Irons, Student, Ottumwa
Blake K. Nelson, Student, Ames
KANSAS
Tyler D. Henley, Student, Manhattan
Quentin H. Waite, Student, Manhattan
MARYLAND
Zachary D. Callahan, Student,
College Park
Steven M. Smith, Class C, Chevy
Chase
Garrett Sterling, Student, College
Park
MASSACHUSETTS
Greg M. Bennett, Supt. Mbr.,
Winchendon
David H. Bradford, Student, Amherst
MINNESOTA
Josh Blenker, Class C, Monticello
Joshua D. DeRosier, Student, Anoka
NEBRASKA
Brett B. Lacey, Affliate, Lincoln
NEW JERSEY
Chase Christiaens, Student, New
Brunswick
Michael D. Elliott, Associate, Pine
Valley
NEW YORK
Norman W. Hummel, Affliate,
Trumansburg
Aaron W. Storace, Class C, Verona
NORTH CAROLINA
Jesse D. Cigary, Class C, Cornelius
Patrick R. Fitzgerald, Student,
Raleigh
Michael J. Fouweather, Class C,
Whittier
James R. McGinnis, Student, Supply
OHIO
Jonathan Brownsell, Student,
Columbus
Patrick C. Carroll, Student, Columbus
Brandon R. Hoover, Student, Wooster
Thomas R. Parker, Class C, New
Philadelphia
Josh Stewart, Student, Columbus
Craig A. Stout, Student, Salem
Xinyu Tian, Student, Columbus
PENNSYLVANIA
Jack R. Blythe, Student, State College
Robert E. Bond, Student, State College
Ryan J. Budd, Student, University Park
Hunter A. Keech, Student, State
College
Sarah A. Ongaro, Student,
Doylestown
Ryan L. Schroeder, Student,
University Park
Andrew D. Zook, Class C, Millersville
SOUTH CAROLINA
Riley F. Boyette, Class C, Johns Island
Alex P. Cauthen, Student, Conway
Charles M. Wideman, Supt. Mbr.,
Newberry
Daniel W. Woolley, Student, Conway
TENNESSEE
Jeremy Niederklein, Class C, Waverly
TEXAS
Kevin D. Cloud, Student, College
Station
Garrett G. Parker, Student, College
Station
WISCONSIN
Adam J. Freeman, Supt. Mbr.,
Nekoosa
Tyler J. Gerritts, Student, Madison
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 105 10/17/13 2:29 PM
106 GCM November 2013
AUSTRALIA
John P.W. Mann, ISM, Melbourne
CANADA
Chris J. Copeman, Student, Guelph,
Ontario
Justin J. Heptinstall, ISM, Port
Carling, Ontario
Sean Van Beurden, Student, Guelph,
Ontario
DENMARK
Jeppe Krogh Kristensen, ISM,
Kerteminde
GCM
Editor’s note: The information in this re-
port was pulled from GCSAA’s member
database on Sept. 24, 2013.
ON THEmove
ALABAMA
John H. Freeman, CGCS Retired,
formerly (AA) at Turtle Point Yacht &
Country Club, is now (AA) at Black-
berry Trail in Florence.
ARIZONA
Peter Ferlicca, formerly (SW) at
College of the Desert, is now (C) at
Tonto Verde Golf Club in Rio Verde.
Ryan M. Howell, formerly (S) at Penn
State University-University Park, is now
(C) at Desert Highlands Golf Club in
Scottsdale.
CALIFORNIA
Ryan R. Hardin, formerly (C) at
Seascape Golf Club, is now (C) at
Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz.
Jacob M. Valentino, formerly (C) at
The Lincoln Hills Club, is now (Supt.
Mbr.) at Ashwood Golf Club in Apple
Valley.
COLORADO
Robert W. Walt, formerly (C) at Uintah
Parks & Recreation, is now (C) at The
Black Bear Golf Club in Parker.
CONNECTICUT
Christopher M. Konow, formerly (SW)
at Penn State University, is now (C) at
Black Hall Golf Club in Old Lyme.
FLORIDA
John V. Andersen, CGCS, formerly (A)
at Serenoa Golf Club, is now (A) at
Ocean Breeze Golf & Country Club in
Boca Raton.
Benjamin S. Crum, formerly (A) at
TimberCreek Golf Club, is now (A) at
Tiger Point Golf and Country Club in
Gulf Breeze.
Harold L. Davis III, formerly (I), is now
(A) at The Polo Club of Boca Raton in
Delray Beach.
Jeffrey L. Johnson, formerly (SM) at
Southern Wayne Country Club, is now
(C) at ChampionsGate Golf Club in
Davenport.
Joseph R. McColgan, formerly (S) at
Florida Gateway College, is now (C) at
Naples Grande Golf Club in Naples.
Shane B. Schutte, formerly (SM) at
Cane Garden Country Club, is now (C)
at Mallory Hill Country Club in Lady
Lake.
GEORGIA
Matthew E. Ayer, formerly (C) at
Sedgefeld Country Club, is now (Supt.
Mbr.) at Doublegate Country Club in
Albany.
Jason C. Edwards, formerly (A) at
Pine Hill Country Club, is now (A) at
Lion Golf Club in Bremen.
K.R. Buege, CGCS, formerly (A) at
Misty Creek Country Club, is now (A)
at Esplanade Golf and Country Club at
Naples in Naples.
HAWAII
Seril Shimizu, formerly (C) at The Club
at Kukui'Ula, is now (Supt. Mbr.) at The
Challenge at Manele Bay in Lanai City.
IDAHO
Benjaman D. Wilmarth, formerly (C)
at White Tail Golf Club, is now (Supt.
Mbr.) at Osprey Meadows at Tamarack
Resort in Donnelly.
ILLINOIS
Nicholas S. Marfse, formerly (C) at
Cog Hill Golf and Country Club, is now
(Supt. Mbr.) at Cog Hill Golf and Coun-
try Club in Lemont.
Ross W. Page, formerly ( I), is now
(Supt. Mbr.) at Weber Park Golf Course
in Skokie.
William A. Sharp, formerly (C) at
Chicago Highlands Club, is now (C) at
Effngham Country Club in Effngham.
INDIANA
Alex J. Hamberg, formerly (Supt. Mbr.)
at Avon Fields Golf Course, is now
(Supt. Mbr.) at Grand Oak Golf Club in
West Harrison.
KANSAS
Josh C. Thomas, formerly (C) at
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 106 10/17/13 2:29 PM
Shadow Glen Golf Club, is now (Supt.
Mbr.) at Country Club of Leawood in
Leawood.
Ron Wright, CGCS, formerly (A) at
Blue Tip Course, is now (ART) at Golf
Course Superintendents Association of
America in Lawrence.
KENTUCKY
Collin R. Murphy, formerly (AS) at
Mineral Mound State Park, is now (C)
at Kentucky Dam Village State Resort
Park in Gilbertsville.
MASSACHUSETTS
Joshua D. Beland, formerly (C) at
Sharon Country Club, is now (C) at
Hawthorne Country Club in North
Dartmouth.
MICHIGAN
Matthew P. Chapman, formerly (C) at
Cascade Hills Country Club, is now (C)
at Barton Hills Country Club in
Ann Arbor.
Jesse M. Sholl, formerly (A) at
Chandler Park Golf Course, is now (A)
at Michigan State University in Brimley.
MINNESOTA
Randy Juliar, formerly (Supt. Mbr.) at
Mississippi National Golf Links, is now
(SMRT) at Turf Solutions Management
LLC in Red Wing.
NEVADA
William D. Rohret, CGCS, formerly (A)
at the Legacy Golf Club is now (AA) at
Highland Falls Golf Course in
Las Vegas.
NEW JERSEY
Kevin N. Smith, formerly (C) at Scot-
land Run Golf Club, is now (C) at Med-
ford Village Country Club in Medford.
NORTH CAROLINA
Shane Harrelson, formerly (C) at
Carolina Golf Club, is now (Supt. Mbr.)
at The Lake Course in Hickory.
OHIO
Charles K. Day, formerly (C) at
Heatherwoode Golf Club, is now (Supt.
Mbr.) at Heatherwoode Golf Club in
Springboro.
PENNSYLVANIA
Donald G. Dodson Jr., CGCS, formerly
(A) at Hunt Valley Golf Club Inc., is now
(AFCR) at Genesis Turfgrass Inc. in
Glen Rock.
SOUTH CAROLINA
James I. Brown Jr., formerly (Supt.
Mbr.) at Eagle Nest Golf Course, is now
(Supt. Mbr.) at Black Bear Golf Club
in Longs.
Jason Wallace, formerly (C) at
Colleton River Plantation Club, is
now (Supt. Mbr.) at Colleton River
Plantation Club in Bluffton.
TENNESSEE
Bill Davis, formerly (Supt. Mbr.) at The
Country Club of Sebring, is now (Supt.
Mbr.) at Poplar Meadows Country Club
in Union City.
TEXAS
Robby G. Boyd, formerly (C) at Hawks
Creek Golf Club, is now (Supt. Mbr.) at
Timarron Golf Club in Southlake.
Christopher Bussard, formerly (SM)
at Penderbrook Golf Club, is now (C) at
Longwood Golf Club in Cypress.
Justin LaRue, formerly (C) at
Sammons Park Golf Course, is now
(Supt. Mbr.) at Sammons Park Golf
Course in Temple.
UTAH
Charles L. Hansen, formerly (C) at
Flagstaff Ranch Golf Club, is now
(Supt. Mbr.) at Moab Golf Club in
Moab.
VIRGINIA
Steve Brohawn, formerly (A) at
Piankatank River Golf Club, is now (A)
at Kiskiack Golf Club in Williamsburg.
AUSTRALIA
Brittney Goldsworthy, formerly (AS)
at Lake Karrinyop Country Club, is now
(C) at Lake Karrinyop Country Club in
Karrinyup.
CANADA
Adam M. Zubek, formerly (Supt. Mbr.)
at Capilano Golf & Country Club, is
now (Supt. Mbr.) at Mississauga Golf &
Country Club in Mississauga, Ontario.
JAMAICA
Matthew W. Voluse, formerly (C) at
Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall Jamaica, is now
(ISM) at White Witch Golf Course in
Rose Hall, St. James.
GCM
Editor’s note: The information in this re-
port was pulled from GCSAA’s member
database on Sept. 24, 2013.
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 108 10/17/13 2:29 PM
November 2013 GCM 109
Lely USA Inc 110 (888) 245-4684 www.lelyusa.com
Milorganite 106 (800) 287-9645 www.milorganite.com
Neary Technologies 49 (800) 233-4973 www.nearytec.com
Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies, Inc. 98 (604) 408-6697 www.ostara.com
Peat, Inc. 111 (800) 441-1880 www.peatinc.com
Phoenix UPI 47, 55 (888) 250-8856 www.phoenixenvcare.com
Pifer 110 (888) 442-8442 www.pifergolf.com
PlanetAir Turf Products 29 (507) 446-8399 www.planetair.biz
Pure Seed 11 (503) 651-2130 www.pureseed.com
Rogers Sprayers Inc. 111 (800) 975-8294 www.rogerssprayers.com
Sand Trapper (IVI-Golf) 102 (888) 970-5111 www.sandtrapper.com
Select Source 37 http://selectsourcellc.net/
The Andersons, Inc. 25 (800) 253-5296 www.AndersonsPro.com
TRIMS Software International Inc. 110 (800) 608-7467 www.trims.com
Turf Screen 51 (267) 246-8654 www.turfmaxllc.com
Winfeld Solutions 13 (855) 494-6343 www.winfeld.com
Wood Bay Turf Technologies 99 (800) 661-4942 www.woodbayturftech.com
AMVAC 35 (888) GO-AMVAC www.amvac-chemical.com
Aqua-Aid Inc. 69* (800) 394-1551 www.aquaaid.com
BoardTronics 6-7 (800) 782-9938 boardtronics.com
Bos Sod Farms 110 (800) 267-7763 www.bossod.com
Champion Turf Farms 8-9* (888) 290-7377 www.championturffarms.com
FMC Professional Solutions 93, 95, 97 (800) 235-7368 www.fmcprosolutions.com
Foley United 53 (800) 225-9810 www.foleyunited.com
Frost Services 99 (800) 621-7910 www.frostserv.com
GCSAA Services 8-9*, 65, 71, 73, 75, 107 (800) 447-1840 www.gcsaa.org
GE Capital, Equipment Finance Cover 3 (469) 586-2010 www.gecapital.com/golf
Georgia Seed Development Commission 69* (303) 431-7333 www.tifeagle.com
Golf-Lift Div. Derek Weaver Co., Inc. 111 (800) 788-9789 www.golf-lift.com
Greenjacket 111 (888) 786-2683 www.greenjacket.com
GreensGroomer Worldwide, Inc. 59 (888) 298-8852 ext. 500 http://www.greensgroomer.com/
Grigg Bros. 33 (888) 623-7285 www.griggbros.com
Growth Products Ltd. 17 (800) 648-7626 www.growthproducts.com
J2 Golf Marketing 94, 104 (877) 263-1614 www.j2golfmarketing.com
King Ranch 27 (800) 445-2602 www.miniverde.com
Kochek 110 (800) 420-4673 www.kochek.com
John Deere Co. 4-5 (800) 257-7797 www.johndeere.com/Golf
The Toro Co. 67, IFC-1 (800) 752-0463 www.toro.com
Jacobsen 31, 60-61, 101 (800) 232-5907 www.jacobsen.com
Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC Cover tip, Cover 4 (909) 308-1633 www.syngentaprofessionalproducts.com
Barenbrug USA 39 (800) 547-4101 www.barusa.com
Baroness 19 (707)283-0610 www.baroness.us
Civitas Fungicide (a.k.a.Petro Canada) 57 www.civitasturf.com
Club Car 76-77 (800) 445-6680 www.clubcar.com
Floratine Products Group 79 (901) 853-2898 www.foratine.com
Lebanon Turf 14-15 (800) 350-6650 www.lebanonturf.com/
Par Aide Products Co. 2-3 (513) 470-0160 www.paraide.com
PBI Gordon Corp. 21, 103, 105, 108 (800) 971-7233 www.pbigordon.com
Precision Laboratories, Inc. 23 (800) 323-6280 www.precisionlab.com
Quali-Pro 90-91 (888) 584-6598 www.quali-pro.com
Tee-2-Green Corp. 40-41 (800) 547-0255 www.tee-2-green.com
PARTNERS
PLATINUM PARTNER
GOLD PARTNER
SILVER PARTNER
Advertiser Page number
Telephone URL
AD index
*Denotes regional advertisement Denotes affliate member
Advertiser Page number
Telephone URL
092-109_Nov13_backCC_.indd 109 10/18/13 1:21 PM
110 GCM November 2013
GCMarketplace
110-111_Nov13_MPCC.indd 110 10/18/13 4:05 PM
November 2013 GCM 111
GCMarketplace
110-111_Nov13_MPCC.indd 111 10/17/13 3:54 PM
th
e f
na
l sho
t
Ph
oto
gra
ph
er: Z
ach B
auer
Title
: Golf cou
rse superin
tenden
t
Cou
rse: T
he B
roadm
oor Resort, C
olorado S
prin
gs, C
olo.
GC
SA
A m
em
bersh
ip: 1
4-year G
CS
AA
mem
ber
Th
e shot: T
he su
perin
tenden
t for the W
est Cou
rse at th
e Broad
moor, B
auer sn
apped
this p
hoto of a p
lum
e of sm
oke rising far b
ehin
d th
e resort’s clubhou
se in Ju
ne
of this year. T
he sm
oke was a resu
lt of the B
lack Forest Fire, a w
ildfire th
at destroyed
more th
an 1
4,0
00 acres,
509 h
omes an
d claim
ed tw
o lives. It was th
e most
destru
ctive fire in th
e state’s history. T
he B
roadm
oor, fortu
nately, w
as spared
dam
age from
this fire.
Do you have a photograph that you’d like the G
CM
staff to consider for The Final S
hot? You can submit photos for consideration by e-m
ail to thefinalshot@
gcsaa.org or to GC
M editor-in-chief S
cott Hollister at
112_Nov13_Fshot.indd 112 10/18/13 9:52 AM
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