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  • John Reitman

    Fast track

    By John Reitman, in News,

    While some believe it is better to be lucky than good, Andy Magnasco is living proof that a little bit of both can go a long way in forging a career path.   At age 27, Magnasco is entering his third season as head golf course superintendent at Carmel Valley Ranch in Carmel, Calif. For those keeping score, that means Magnasco was 25 when he landed his first job as a head golf course superintendent. And it has been a combination of meeting the right people, asking the right questions, having the guts to ask the tough questions and in inner drive that does not stop that have helped Magnasco reach a level of professional development much faster than what has become the industry standard.   In fact, Magnasco has been working in the golf business since age 13 when he was washing carts to gain community service hours at Tayman Park, a nine-hole course in Healdsburg, Calif.  originally built by Alister MacKenzie. By age 14, he was running a triplex and was responsible for course set up on weekends while also running his own lawn service operation as well as competing in golf, soccer and wrestling as a high school freshman. It was a schedule few kids that age could manage.    Although Magnasco admits there were many who helped him along his path to success, including mentoring from Dick Rudolph, management skills from Jeff Markow and soil management from Jason Goss, it soon became clear to many who crossed paths with him that he was driven like few others.    "He had ability to communicate with people from all walks of life, more so than others his age," said Rudolph, superintendent at Aetna Springs in Napa, Calif., and Magnasco's career mentor.   "He was an aggressive kid, who, you could tell, wanted to get somewhere really fast."   That somewhere is a full-service golf resort that is rewriting the books on providing customers and employees with a well-rounded experience found in few other places. And it's a place that would allow Magnasco to draw from his previous experiences.   Looking back, it was a stroke of luck that Magnasco and Rudolph met while the former was still in high school while also helping maintain Tayman Park and the latter was playing golf there. Sparked by mutual Fresno State ballcaps, the meeting changed both of them forever.   "Here was this man playing golf who looked like Robert Redford, and he asked me what I wanted to do with my life," Magnasco said. "When I told him I wanted to go to Fresno State and be a golf course superintendent, he told me he was a superintendent and he had gone to Fresno State.    "He told me if I really wanted to be a superintendent, that he wanted to meet my parents so he could tell them everything I needed to do."   Rudolph helped Magnasco plan his education, which included two years at Santa Rosa Junior College and two years at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.   Magnasco also went off the reservation from the pre-established plan once or twice, moves that define his personality and that have paid immense dividends.   While making the drive to Cal Poly, he stopped at Pebble Beach just to introduce himself. He made enough connections on that stop, including Bob Yeo at Spyglass Hill, that he has been volunteering at events at Pebble Beach ever since, including the PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.   While a student at Cal Poly, he picked up the phone one day to ask Markow for an internship at Cypress Point, a move that even Magnasco admits was pretty gutsy at the time.   "Cypress Point is the best golf course in the country. That's where I wanted to be," he said. "I'd never met Jeff, but I'd heard nothing but great things about him. So, I called him and told him I wanted to intern there."   Markow receives a lot of requests from turf students wanting to intern at Cypress Point, so he can afford to be selective.   "Basically what we look for in an intern is a passion for the industry, a willingness to experiment, learn and a relaxed attitude. The rest we will help teach and shape," Markow said. "It is also important they learn to get along with the crew and understand, appreciate their efforts because as a superintendent your success relies on the efforts and quality of your crew. How they are treated goes a long way in forging that relationship.   "Andy had and still has a great mental attitude, that willingness to learn and try things and also how to treat and respect his crew. While continuing education is important, the best lessons are to "Learn by Doing", to steal from Cal Poly's theme, which he is always willing to try. His dedication to his facility and providing the best possible conditions will ensure his success."   Magnasco said it was that brief time working for Markow that he learned not only about managing turf to meet golf demands, but how to manage people as well.   "Those were the most valuable three months I've ever spent working for someone else," Magnasco said. "He is perfect in  how he can communicate and get members and owners to understand what is needed on the golf course and the options available. He is cutting-edge and his professionalism is top-notch. It's refreshing that a gardener, a greens guy, can show that his strongest suit is being a businessman. He is what every superintendent should strive to be."   That positive attitude and willingness to learn and try new things that Markow talked about have come in handy at Carmel Valley Ranch, which is much more than a hotel property with a golf course.   Redefining diversity under the vision of resort manager Kristina Jetton, 500-acre Carmel Valley Ranch has areas for staging weddings, bocce ball and tennis facilities, a small organic farming operation, small vineyard, a salt house that pulls sea salt from ocean water out of Monterey Bay, hundreds of lavender plants that eventually are distilled for oils used in soaps and lotions and an apiary for raising organic lavender honey, all of which fall under Magnasco's supervision.   Managing lavender plants for a customer focused property like Carmel Valley Ranch is much more than raising flowers in a bed. It requires manipulating the plants so they are in bloom for customers longer, and when it's time to harvest them, Magnasco's staff pulls out every other row, to leave some in the ground as long as possible.    "We harvest every other row, so you don't wipe out an entire field of it for the guest experience," Magnasco said.    "If people come to Monterey Peninsula to play golf and golf is all that is on their minds, then they're going over there to the coast," he said of places like the Pebble Beach properties. "But, if you have a family, and you want to see what California is all about and also play some golf, it's incredible what we offer here. And I am a steward of this property."   Being a steward of the environment and wanting to learn more took root in Magnasco early.   Dave Wilber of Sierra Pacific Turf recalled visiting Goss at Sonoma and being chased down by the assistant superintendent who had a lot of questions to ask.   "I remember being about two hours later than I wanted to be leaving Sonoma Golf Club because Andy sat with Jason and me and just asked questions," Wilber said. "He wanted to know. Not because of a critical ?that's not what they taught me in school' attitude, but because he was observing some different things being done and wanted to know why."   Years later, Magnasco still is asking questions, seeking ways to make Carmel Valley Ranch better for its customers. He deflects much of the credit for his outlook to Jetton, who Magnasco says, has that one intangible you can't see, but you know it when someone possesses it.   "She gets it. And she makes me want to come to work," he said.   "She talks about generating revenue and what we can do to get to the next level. We want to make sure we are a step ahead. And right now, in my opinion, we're three steps ahead of most resorts in what we offer.   "When I got here in 2009 as an assistant, this was just a golf resort, and golf was my passion. It still is, but I want to be like an innkeeper. I have the heart of an innkeeper. My mind is all over the place all the time. No. 1. I want to make this a beautiful golf course that plays well. We're doing that, but we can be good at other things."  
  • Those who make golf courses, or other venues, available for anything other than their intended purpose have officially been put on notice after, of all things, a high school cross country meet.   Last month, the parents of high school runner who died as the result of a fall while warming up for the 2012 state championship meet in New York filed a lawsuit naming Erie County and the local volunteer fire department as defendants.   On Nov. 9, 2012, Ronan Guyer slipped and fell during a practice run at county-owned Elma Meadows Golf Course. According to the suit filed in the New York State Supreme Court in Buffalo, Guyer, a 14-year-old high school freshman, slipped in the mud, landed hard on his chest and suffered cardiac arrest. Emergency medical responders called to the scene were able to revive him and transport him to a Buffalo hospital where he died five days later.   The suit says Erie County and the Jamison Road Volunteer Fire Department were negligent for not making sure an ambulance and proper medical personnel were at the site prior to the start of the meet, for not having an automated external defibrillator (AED) on hand and for not alerting parents and participants about the absence of all three.   Article 19, Section 917 of the New York Education law says an AED is required for all school-sponsored events, even those that are held off campus.   Family members have said that Guyer had no prior history of heart problems.   According to the suit, the fire company had been contacted to provide an ambulance the day of the event, but did not, nor did it tell meet officials that it had not planned to do so. It also did not contact another fire district to provide an emergency medical vehicle, the suit says.   The suit, which also names the Southold Union Free School District and the New York State Public High School Athletic Association as defendants, seeks an unspecified amount of damages.
  • Oregon State University has made available a new scholarship opportunity to help promote the education of a future turfgrass manager while honoring the memory of another.   The Jason Oliver Memorial Scholarship is available to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in Oregon State's turf management program with a minimum grade point average of 3.25.   The scholarship is named in honor of Oregon State alumnus Jason Oliver. A 2007 graduate of the university's turf program, Oliver was an assistant superintendent at Stanford University Golf Course when he died at age 25 in 2010. Police in Palo Alto, Calif., closed their 11-month investigation in 2011 without ever being able to explain the circumstances surrounding his death.   After an 11-month investigation into Oliver's death, Palo Alto Police closed their investigation in 2011, and his death remains unexplained to this day.   At Oregon State, Oliver was an accomplished student with lofty career goals. He was on the dean's list every year he was in college (2003-07) and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a 3.83 grade point average. His career goals included one day being head superintendent at Augusta National and becoming the youngest president in GCSAA history. 
  • Eloise and Elliott are back.   For the fourth straight year, the adult bald eagles are displaying their parenting skills for the entire world to see as they nest in the treetops above the golf course at Harrison Bay State Park near Chattanooga, Tenn.    Elliott and Eloise, a pair of adult bald eagles named by the daughter of The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay superintendent Paul Carter, CGCS, first showed up at the park in 2011. Each year since, Eloise has laid and hatched a pair of eggs. The latest additions to their family, HB5 and HB6, hatched March 15 and 16, respectively.   Their exploits can be viewed in real time on the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam in place above the nest, courtesy of the climbing exploits of park ranger Angelo Giasante.   The Eagle Cam project is a cooperative effort that includes support from The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay golf course, the USGA, private donors and the Friends of Harrison Bay State Park, a non-profit environmental group that raises funds to promote projects and awareness of the park and the activities that take place there.   A pair of eaglets that hatched in 2011 thrived before leaving the nest, as did the pair that was hatched last year. Neither eaglet that hatched in 2012 survived.    According to the American Bald Eagle Foundation, both the male and female eagles share time guarding and incubating the nest for an average of 35 days before the eggs hatch. Eaglets have a mortality rate of about 50 percent. Once an endangered species, bald eagles are on the rebound thanks to conservation efforts that have resulted in an estimated 7,000-plus pairs now nesting in every state except Hawaii.  
  • As the game of golf continues to lose players amid a price war between golf facilities and third party tee time providers, Craig Kessler has one question: "If the demand isn't there, is anything affordable?"   That is one of the questions that Kessler, director of government affairs for the Southern California Golf Association, and others will attempt to answer at this year's Symposium on Affordable Golf. The fifth annual event is scheduled for March 31-April San Luis Obispo, Calif.   The event will explore topics including the economics of producing tournament conditions, sustainability and how non-traditional golf courses and learning centers can help drive interest in the game.   Speakers include Mike Huck of Irrigation of Irrigation and Turfgrass Services, Bruce Williams CGCS of Bruce Williams Golf Consulting, Mike McCullough of the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency and GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans. Also speaking at the event will be golf course architect Andy Staples of Andy Staples Golf, Ted Horton CGCS of ValleyCrest Golf Maintenance, Tom Elliott, CGCS and PGA professional Jim DeLaby of Monarch Dunes Country Club, Ben Hood of Richard Mandell Golf Architecture, Dick Wilhoit and Wes Wilhoit of Estrella Associates and golf course architect Richard Mandel, who began the symposium in 2010.   The Symposium on Affordable Golf was started to raise awareness and understanding of the challenges of the golf industry through open discussion, exchange of ideas that promote the health and sustainability of the game and the business of golf.

  • Recognize your tech

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Superintendents often buy or lease equipment with the notion that they will get at least five years of heavy use out of it. At Corral de Tierra Country Club, superintendent Doug Ayres plans on getting three times the normal use out of anything with an engine on it, thanks to equipment manager Brian Sjögren.
     
    When Ayres recently spent more than $300,000 on new equipment, he was quick to point out that some of the machinery that was being replaced had been bought as far back as 1989. To put that in perspective, some of the equipment recently retired at Corral de Tierra was in use at the club in Monterey, Calif., in the same year Dustin Hoffman won an Oscar for his performance in Rain Man, and an earthquake interrupted the San Francisco Giants-Oakland A's World Series. That is a long time ago.
     
    Sjögren has kept a 1970s-era Ford tractor in such good condition that it didn't make the cut for replacement and is still used regularly at Corral. 
     
    Those are just two examples of why Sjögren was named the recipient last year's TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by The Toro Co. 
     
    If you have an equipment manager worthy of such appreciation, then nominate him or her for this year's Golden Wrench Award - the original award honoring golf course equipment managers and technicians. 
     
    Criteria on which nominees are judged include: crisis management, effective budgeting, environmental awareness, helping to further and promote the careers of colleagues and employees, interpersonal communications, inventory management and cost control, overall condition and dependability of rolling stock, shop safety and work ethic. 
     
    Three finalists and a winner will be chosen from a panel of judges and all will be profiled on TurfNet. The winner receives the Golden Wrench Award and an all-expense paid trip to Toro's headquarters in Bloomington, Minn. for a weeklong session at the Toro University Service Training Center.
     
    Click here to nominate your technician (or someone else's). Please provide specific examples of his or her achievements. The nomination deadline is April 30. 
     
     
  • Damage from weeks of ice cover is not the only threat facing superintendents as they prepare for the upcoming golf season.   Although spring is coming, snow mold is a recurrent problem caused by prolonged periods of winter weather. Heavy and frequent snowfall along with long periods of colder-than-average temperatures have dominated winter throughout much of the country's northern tier, making snow molds more of an issue this year.   Snow mold is active at temperatures just above freezing in moist conditions, in other words during thaw periods. However, there are many types of snow mold and correctly diagnosing it is important.   The gray snow molds (Typhula incarnata and Typhula ishikariensis) most often occur when snow cover exceeds 40 to 60 days. However, pink snow mold (Michrodochium nivaile) does not require any snow cover to develop.    All cool-season grasses are susceptible to snow mold damage, but it can be especially troublesome in creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass.    With pink snow mold, circular patches develop from several inches to more than a foot in diameter. The color can vary considerably from pink to tan or brown infected turf. Under wet conditions, pink snow mold patches appear slimy; when dry, the turf leaves appear matted and collapsed.    Typhula gray snow mold symptoms appear as circular patches of straw-colored to grayish-brown turf. The turf may also appear matted, with the appearance of grayish-white mycelium at time of snow melt. The mycelium often dries and becomes encrusted over the patch.   To identify gray snow molds, look for the sclerotia (a compact mass of mycelium that is the survival structure of the pathogen) on the leaf tissue and debt. Typhula incarnata has reddish-brown to dark-colored sclerotia that are up to 0.2 inches in diameter. Typhula ishikariensis has smaller sclerotia that appear to similar to flecks of black pepper on the leaves and debt. Active mycelium is white to gray in color.   Pink snow molds do not produce sclerotia, and the active mycelium is a pinkish white in color. Both pink and gray snow molds can occur together, so it can be difficult to determine which is the predominant pathogen.   If damage from gray snow mold is present, little can be done to undo the damage, so focus should be on recovery. To help determine the extent of damage, take samples of affected turfgrass into an environment that is warm, lighted and conducive to growth. To assess potential turf recovery, observe the growth of the plants, watching for the development of new shoots. With both snow molds, recovery may take some time. Warm temperatures are required for new shoots and leaves to develop in damaged areas.   Tips for recovery
      > Remove snow and ice from turfgrass areas > Lightly rake the grass to promote air circulation and to allow light to penetrate the canopy and encourage new shoot and leave development. > If there is any dead or matted material, rake and remove. In the case of dead turfgrass, renovate the site. > If the site did not receive appropriate fertility in the fall, a modest application of starter fertilizer is recommended. > For gray snow molds, the damage is done, so fungicide applications are of little to no benefit at this time. In the case of pink snow mold, fungicide applications still can help and are recommended, especially if cool, wet conditions are experienced in Poa annua putting greens.   Joe Rimelspach, Ph.D. Todd Hicks Francesca Peduto Hand The Ohio State University
  • It doesn't take a weatherman to look outside and come to the conclusion that it's still winter.   Since Jan. 29, snow has fallen in parts of all 50 states, and on Feb. 13 there was snow on the ground at the same time in all of them ? including Florida, according to the National Weather Service.   The cold and snowy January that still has a grip on much of the country two months later has led to a slow start for golf.   According to Golf Datatech, rounds played in January were down 3.6 percent compared with the same month in 2013. Considering how brutal conditions have been in many areas, that doesn't seem so bad at first. But rounds played in January 2013 were down nearly 10 percent from 2012.   At this time last year, Golf Datatech had three categories in its legend: rounds played up 2 percent and higher, rounds played between 1.9 percent and negative 1.9 percent, and rounds played at negative 2 percent. Conditions have been so bad this year there is a fourth category in the legend: off season.   In January, that new category included 28 states.
    Play was down in all but 16 states, including Florida, where rounds played were down by 16.8 percent. In fact, in states pelted by snow on a regular basis since December, like Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, it's hard to imagine how there was any golf played in January.   January wasn't all bad news, however. Play was up in more than a dozen states, including Nevada (up 40 percent) and California (up 23 percent). Play also was up by 26 percent in Iowa, which was relatively snow free in early winter, and 64 percent in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
  • A recent study conducted at Michigan State University provided a scientific look at what could be the most effective methods for melting ice on golf course putting greens.   The study showed that dark colored, light-absorbing products were more effective at raising surface ice temperature and melting ice on golf course putting greens compared to standard chemicals and ice-melt products.   The study was conducted Jan. 31 by researchers from Michigan State and the University of Minnesota at MSU's Hancock Turfgrass Research Center in East Lansing, Mich.   Researchers studied the ice-melting capabilities of 20 products in three categories: standard chemicals/salts (applied at 28 pounds/1,000 sf); ice melt products (applied at 28 pounds/1,000 sf) and solar-absorption products.   Surface ice temperatures were about 25 to 26 degrees Fahrenheit during the study. All products were applied to a test plot under 2 inches of ice cover under somewhat cloudy conditions. Within an hour of application, many of the dark colored, light-absorbing products had raised surface ice temperature to 35 to 37 degrees with visible melt.   The following treatments produced the most visible melt: Milorganite (greens grade, 56 pounds/1,000 sf), Sustane (greens grade, 40 pounds/1,000 sf), Top Cut biosolids SGN 90 (53 pounds/1,000 sf), Eon 75 humic acid (47 pounds/1,000 sf), and black sand (100 pounds/1,000 sf).  The standard salts and safer ice melt treatments produced little visible ice melt.   None of the products were able to melt ice through to the surface.   For more information on the threats associated with ice on greens, click here.   Products used in the study
    Standard chemicals/salts
    Calcium chloride Sodium chlorida Potassium chloride Magnesium chloride Ice melt products
    Calcium magnesium acetate Sodium acetate Enviro Melt (carbonyl diamide/urea) Safe Paws (amide/glycol) Paw Thaw (CMA and fertilizer) Ternderfoot Ice Melter (DeFrost and urea) Ammonium sulfate Solar absorption products
    Milorganite Sustane Top Cut biosolids SGN 90 Top Cut SGN 200 Top Cut/DeFrost SGN 200 BioDac/DeFrost SGN 200 BioDac/DeFrost/Colorant SGN 200 Eon 75 humic acid Black sand  
  • News of the departure of Keith Ihms, CGCS, from the Country Club of Little Rock does not affect his tenure as president of the GCSAA, at least not for the near future.   The GCSAA announced today that Ihms left his position as director of grounds maintenance at the Country Club of Little Rock on March 1, just 23 days after he was named the association's president at the conclusion of this year's Golf Industry Show in Orlando, Fla.   It was unclear from the communique from GCSAA why Ihms, who has served on the GCSAA board as an officer or director since 2006, left the position in Arkansas he has held since 2005.    According to Article VI, Section 1 of the GCSAA bylaws, only Class A members who are actively employed as golf course superintendents are eligible for election as officers or directors. In the event of job loss, a sitting officer or director can continue to serve for up to six months.    If in six months Ihms must resign as GCSAA president, vice president John O'Keefe, CGCS, would replace him, according to Article VI, Section 5 of the bylaws. O'Keefe, who was elected to the board in 2007, is director of golf course management at Preakness Hills Country Club in Wayne, N.J.
    In a letter published by GCSAA, Ihms wrote to members: "Per GCSAA bylaws, I will continue to serve as your national president during this time of transition. I want to assure you that while I am exploring new opportunities in my career as a golf course superintendent, the duties and responsibilities that come with the presidency of GCSAA will never be far from my mind and will continue to receive my full attention and focus during this period."   Click here to read the full text of Ihms' letter to GCSAA members.  
    According to GCSAA, no sitting president ever has surrendered his seat due to an interruption in employment.  

  • #WorstWinterEver

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Throughout much of the country, the winter of 2013-14 has been one to forget. Problem is, it won't go away, and when it finally does, its effects will last for months for many superintendents.   Many cities have set or are close to setting records for cold temperatures or snowfall, or both. Partial thaws followed by cycles of refreezing, freezing rain and more snow (often all in the same day) have resulted in turf under ice for up to two months in some areas. In areas where snow has been scarce, freezing temperatures and high winds have created other problems, such as desiccation.   To help superintendents manage through the effects of the winter of 2013-14, TurfNet, Aquatrols and Grigg Brothers are presenting #WorstWinterEver, a three-person Webinar by Kevin Frank, Ph.D., of Michigan State, Bill Kreuser, Ph.D., of the University of Nebraska and Frank S. Rossi, Ph.D., of Cornell.    This 90-minute presentation (GCSAA-approved CEUs are pending) will include information on the threat of ice damage and desiccation, why plants die under winter stress, preventive strategies and options for recovery heading into this year's playing season.   Click here for more information or to reserve your seat.
  • Just 15 minutes from Manhattan is a bastion of environmental stewardship that defies is proximity to the world's financial capital. And Matt Ceplo, CGCS, has worked hard to make certain that Rockland Country Club in Sparkill, N.Y., is a place where acting as a steward for the environment and providing a great golf experience for members and guests can work hand in hand.   Over the years, Ceplo has earned numerous awards and accolades for his work synchronizing Rockland and its members with the environment. His most recent honor came when he was elected to serve a four-year term on Audubon International's board of directors.    Ceplo, 54, replaces Dan Dinelli, CGCS at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Ill.   Ceplo guided Rockland to Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Status in 1999. Serving on the group's board of directors is, for him, akin to public service.   "It's an opportunity for me to give back to an organization that helped me learn and grow," Ceplo said. "Back in the day, if anyone had told me to take a class in ecology in college, I would have asked them why. Now, it would be the first thing I'd tell someone. I think it can't hurt to take some classes in ecology and minor in business. What I've always loved about Audubon is that it taught me what to do and what to look for so I could say we were managing the property in an environmental way. And it does so without a set of rules that are so strict you can't work with them. It allows you to do what you can with the property you have and the customers you have, because it recognizes that your first have to keep your customers happy.   "There is no way I can do as much for Audubon as it has done for me."   Since guiding Rockland to status as a Cooperative Sanctuary, Ceplo has expanded his involvement with Audubon International to become a member of the Audubon Steward Network and has been an advocate for various environmental initiatives, especially among fellow members of the Metropolitan Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Metropolitan Golf Association. Rockland Country Club was named a member of the New York State environmental leader's program in 2013.   "Matt is well-respected throughout the golf industry and recognized by his peers as a leader in environmental sustainability on the golf course," said Ryan Aylesworth, president and chief executive officer of Audubon International. "As a superintendent, he was an early-adopter of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, and under his leadership the course earned certification over a decade and has been successfully re-certified seven times. Matt has also generously volunteered his time over the years to mentor other superintendents by serving as a member of the Audubon Steward Network. As a valued certified member of our program, Audubon Steward, and highly regarded golf industry professional, Audubon International has been benefiting from Matt's knowledge and experience for years. It is very exciting to have him join our Board, and I am confident our organization will benefit considerably from the well-informed perspectives he offers in this new role."   Ceplo conducts an annual bird count at Rockland, and recently, with the help of local naturalist and butterfly expert John Lampkin, completed the club's first butterfly count. At least 42 species of birds and 15 species of butterflies have been found at Rockland.   In 2012, two local Girls Scout troops conducted a Monarch butterfly tagging day as part of a University of Kansas butterfly-tracking study, an annual fishing derby not only allows local children to have some fun, but also gives Ceplo a chance to teach others about the importance of water quality.   Those efforts helped him win the 2013 GCSAA President's Award for Environmental Stewardship.   He has installed areas with native plantings, areas he now calls "God's gardens" rather than native or natural areas, that help minimize inputs and also save in labor costs,    A new pumphouse that will open this spring will have a green roof that will be topped with drought-tolerant fescue rather than heat-absorbing asphalt shingles.   Ceplo sees his role as an environmental steward charged with managing a greenspace much the same way an artist would view a canvas.   "You have the ability and the open space to do so many things," he said. "Who has 20 acres top provide a butterfly habitat? How many other businesses can say ?we can help your flooding problems downstream by doing this, or doing that?' Nobody can. To manage this much land and property opens up a huge opportunity that few people or businesses have."   Ceplo spends a great deal of time educating Rockland's members on the possibilities that come with owning such a piece of property. He has formed an Audubon committee at the club, which includes at least one board member as well as representatives from outside Rockland's membership.   "You have to have an allegiance to your members," he said. "It's hard sometimes when you have an idea of what you want to do, but you have to go to the owners and tell them that what you want to do is going to cost them more money.   "But you still work in a profession where you have to have an allegiance to golf and to your profession."   Often education of members also is a refresher in economics.   When Ceplo converts part of the property to a native area, there are those who appreciate and those who do not.   "In fact, there are some who would be happier if you just mowed it all down," he said. "I tell them that's fine, but it's more expensive to do that, and here is how much it is going to cost you. That argument goes a long way. But if someone loses a $2.50 Titleist in an area that we just say is for butterflies, that's a hard argument to make."
  • During this year's Golf Industry Show, visitors to the Direct Solutions booth had a chance to win a prize for shooting "turf monsters" with foam darts. The game was symbolic of a new approach by Direct Solutions, the Colorado-based distribution arm of the Canada's Agrium Advanced Technologies. The metaphor is that Direct Solutions wants to help superintendents slay monsters on the golf course, not just on the trade show floor.   As a subsidiary of one of the world's largest multinational chemical companies Direct Solutions seemingly would have a large enough product portfolio to sell from without leaving the umbrella of its parent company. Instead, Direct Solutions sells from a line up that includes a mind-boggling 3,000-plus agronomic products from multiple manufacturers. And based on customer feedback, it is throwing its weight behind exactly four of them.   "We've received feedback from our customers, and it says ?I need products that help me now, I need a great price and I need after-sale service and support,' " said Rob Stevenson, the company's PR voice. "They're telling us they need a partner."   Based on that customer feedback, Direct Solutions has gone from a product-based approach to meeting its customer's needs to a program-based solution. The approach is consistent with the term "turfonomics" that arose during GIS, a term that signaled an overall, solution-based approach that so many companies are adopting to better help superintendents be successful. And for many of these companies, providing broad-based solutions has been a very new way of doing business.   "It's a different approach for us," Stevenson said. "We've been product focused in the past, but now we are more of a solution-based company. It is all about what is best for the customer."   That program includes exactly four products that Direct Solutions' technical team believes will meet the needs of superintendents during the early part of the upcoming golf season. It's an approach that Direct Solutions launched during the fourth quarter of 2013 and has continued into this year.   The current program the company is promoting includes Syngenta's Acelepryn (chlorantraniliprole) insecticide for grub control, a combination of Dow's Defendor (florasulam) and Dimension (dithiopyr) for crabgrass control and Radiate (3-indolebutyric acid and cytokinin), a plant growth regulator from Loveland Products formulated to help strengthen transplanted turf.   Stevenson says that Direct Solutions' agronomic team came up with this list of products to help superintendents this spring based on current weather conditions, historic weather patterns and current turf conditions throughout the eastern half of the country.   "We have more than 3,000 (products). We've picked four. That means we have 2,996 other products, but we're devoting our time and attention to helping superintendents understand why we think these four can help them do their jobs better.   "There is a little prognosticating, a lot of science, a lot of agronomy and a little bit of luck involved."   Direct Solutions sister company, Crop Protection Services, is operating a similar program west of the Mississippi River.   Those who didn't make the current list can take heart that the program-based approach changes quarterly based on changing needs of superintendents. Although some courses still are covered in snow, and thousands have yet to open, Direct Solutions' technical team already is working to identify the best program to fit the needs of superintendents this fall.   Maybe even one day some of the products on the list might be from Agrium.   "We're product-agnostic," Stevenson said. "It's all about educating the superintendent. It's about experience, and it's about confidence."
  • The future is now for those wondering when zero-turn technology that is so popular in landscape mowers finally would get a foothold in golf course maintenance.   The Sand Pro 2040Z bunker rake from Toro, one of many new products on display in the company's booth at this year's Golf Industry Show, has a new "flex" tooth rake system with a patent-pending "lift in turn" feature that lifts the inside rake during a tight turn, leaving no unraked teardrops or tire marks behind. The 84-inch wide flex tooth rake has three reversible rubber trowels that won?t tear bunker liners or turf on bunker edges. Each of the rake?s three sections moves independently.   The 2040Z is powered by a gas-driven 12.2 hp Kawasaki engine. A unitized transmission design  minimizes hydraulic lines and connections. Top transport speed is 12 mph.   Driving the machine is done via two independent control sticks with power steering that operate the 2040Z just like a zero-turn mower. The rear attachment is activated through a thumb switch on the control stick, making full operation safe and easy.   Optional accessories for the Sand Pro 2040Z include an LED light kit; mesh storage bag for tools, trash or debris; Bimini sunshade; seat suspension kit and Turf-Trac tires.
  • By Bradley Klein Golfweek   Behind the hype that we have come to expect from Donald Trump, there a lot more substance and attention to detail than anyone would imagine. He cultivates the bluster for show. Meanwhile, his focus and willingness to spend time and money on projects and his confidence to hire fine people to work with that make him excel at business, and now at golf.   That's also why, despite sitting on a pretty compromised site with little to recommend it for golf other than location, Trump National Doral Miami-The Blue Monster, which Trump unveiled earlier this month, has turned out really well.   The soil is heavy and poorly draining while offering no elevation change, and the 800 acres comprising the Doral resort is surrounded by commercial, residential and quasi-industrial sprawl. At least it has a good location, 13 miles northwest of downtown Miami and six miles from Miami International Airport.   What The Blue Monster also had was an inflated reputation that was wearing thin. Enter Trump, and with him, his unlikely golf counterpart, the modest, soft-spoken Gil Hanse. Gil's the kind of guy whose first instinct at Doral was to go back and study the plans of the original design, Dick Wilson, from 1962. Trump's inclination was simply to turn it into the best resort course possible. "I could have fixed it up and made it work," he said last week at the gala reopening of The Blue Monster following a nine-month renovation. But I thought we have a chance to do something special. His instructions to Hanse were pretty simple, as it turns out. "Let's do it right. Do what you need to do to make this the best possible course."   That meant a total transformation, not some cosmetic fix. And the strange thing is that together, along with $13 million, they achieved what might be the hardest thing to do in golf design ? a complete renovation in place, one that makes the course look totally new and upgraded, and yet one that occupies basically the same routing in place.   As Hanse remembers it, a crucial moment came early in the design process, when Trump and Hanse were walking the property. "We're standing on this unused area behind the 8th green," says Hanse. "We're looking towards the 18th green, the 9th green, the clubhouse. It was the best vantage point for seeing so much but was being wasted. And Trump simply started seeing things, how we could open it up, create this vast spectator amphitheater."   The pieces fell in place. Move the eighth green, put a new ninth tee looking toward that vast open area, move the ninth tee, swing the 10th over, create all of this space for a practice range that would be twice the size of the old one. They took out a boggy area behind the ninth green and created better access, so that now the whole area from the 18th green, across nine and including the tee and drive on the 10th hole, all fall within a massive envelope. The effect is dramatic and makes for great spectating.   It helped having 60-70 unused acres in the middle of the old routing to work with. This gave Hanse room to shift fairways, move greens, expand ponds. The effect is of a whole new golf course, yet it also evokes the basic shape of the traditional course. And to honor the Blue Monster's legendary finishing hole, Hanse basically left the 18th hole untouched. The fairway got the same sand capping for improved drainage as all the other holes. And the green was rebuilt with the same substructure as all the other holes. Other than the addition of a few trees in the left corner of the dogleg and along the right side to block off bailout, it's the same hole, the least changed of any at Doral.   As for the rest of the course, here's a quick run down of the major changes:   ? Expanded green surfaces with new contours designed to tie in better with surrounding bunkers and to create the need for carefully selected angles of approach from the fairways. ? Raised, sand-capped fairways for improved drainage and with more contour to require shot shaping off the tee. ? All new bunkers, with shapes more classically inspired and scruffier in look than the deep, rounded pits Doral use to have. ? A clearing out of the understory and a whole new planting scheme of large palms and live oaks to raise the profile of the course while improving views across the grounds. ? Dramatically expanded lakes. ? Viewing minds for spectators designed to enhance views of the action, often on multiple holes. Fans of Doral who used to be stuck low along the side will gain much-improved vistas of the action. ? A practice range that's more than double in size and has night lights. How cool will it be to see players at the WGC-Cadillac Championship working on their games at 10 p.m.? ? A course that's longer, wider and requires more thought to play. ? The first hole, a waterless, downwind, pushover par 5 of only 529 yards, is now a 578-yard hole with a mid-fairway bunker deep in the second shot landing area that has to be avoided, and a necked-down green perched over a new pond on the right that will combine for a fascinating risk/reward first hole. ? The old short par-3 15th hole has been radically transformed by a tripling of the green's size, with water now wrapping around three sides of it, and surface contours comprising sweeping decks that are hard to transit from one to the next. This green will see more dramatic action than any other on the course. ? The PGA Tour is preparing a detailed memo to WGC contestants that will explain each change and each hole. It will also contain the not-so-subtle proviso to learn what amounts to a new course and not simply criticize the new one for being different.   Some will like it. Others will not. Expect the new Blue Monster to be a hotly debated topic. But there it is, the product of an unlikely merger of two differently talented people. And give Trump credit, he gets things done, on time. Which is not always the case, as Hanse knows full well from the tortoise-like pace of work he's mired in with the 2016 Olympics Course in Brazil ? a year behind schedule. Small wonder Hanse tossed out the line of the day at the Doral opening. "I wish we could bring him [Trump] to Rio," said Hanse. "We'd get a lot more done more quickly."  

  • The enemy below

    By John Reitman, in News,

    As a blanket of snow begins to melt off in much of the country this week, superintendents are left wondering just what they are going to find underneath.   In some parts of the country, that snow layer has served like a warm, cozy blanket since December. For others, it masks a layer of ice that might be benign, or one that could spell disaster.   Jim Bluck, CGCS at Forest Dunes Golf Club in Roscommon, Mich., says he is expecting to find some of the healthiest turf he's seen in years whenever the snow melts at the course in north-central part of Michigan's mitten. The reason, he says, is timing.   "It got cold fast and the ground just froze. Then, the snow came. It's been like an insulating blanket for the turf," Bluck said.    Located about 100 miles south of Mackinac Island, Forest Dunes typically receives upwards of 150 inches of snow per year and remains covered from early December until early April. The Roscommon area has received about 140 inches of snow so far this winter, Bluck said.   When dry ground freezes rapidly, a lack of moisture in the plant means the snow can help protect the dormant, but otherwise healthy turf, throughout the winter, said Nathaniel Mitkowski, Ph.D., at the University of Rhode Island.    "If there is no ice in the snow pack, particularly at the soil interface, you can leave the snow on the green all winter," Mitkowski said.   Even when overnight temperatures in Roscommon dipped to as low as minus-16 degrees on four occasions in January, and with accompanying wind-chill factors in excess of minus-30, that snow blanket kept the surface temperatures at manageable levels, Bluck said.    "It was 20 degrees at the surface, because we had so much snow," he said. "The cold hasn't gotten to the turf. The wind hasn't gotten to the turf. I expect my turf to come out just fine."   Just to south, however, the news isn't so good.   Snowfall amounts in southern Michigan and other parts of the Midwest are way above normal. But those snow events have been accompanied by freeze-thaw cycles and, in some parts of Ohio, freezing rain followed by snow on at least three occasions.   About 65 inches of snow has fallen since Dec. 1 in the Detroit area, including a record 39 inches in January. The norm through mid-February is 27 inches, according to the National Weather Service.   Ice layers underneath the snow have sent some superintendents out with aerifiers equipped with solid tines to break up the ice, or bags of heat-hugging black sand or Milorganite to expedite the melting Process. Some even are taking blowers to greens to dry the moisture prior to the next freeze cycle.   Others, like Dan Koops at Findlay Country Club in northwestern Ohio, have become innovators at protecting turf from winter conditions.   To date, 63 inches of snow have fallen in northwestern Ohio, and the 42 inches that fell in January was a record, according to the National Weather Service. Like the Detroit area 90 miles to the north, Findlay also was hit hard by sub-zero temperatures, heavy snow and strong winds in early January. When the wind blew snow from the greens, Koops and his crew removed some from the bunkers and anywhere else they could find it and piled it on FCC's annual bluegrass putting surfaces that the superintendent says haven't been renovated since architect Thomas Bendelow built the place 106 years ago.   With temperatures the third week of February expected to climb into the 50s for a day or two, some of the snow and ice is expected to melt off. The question is, what will happen to saturated turf when overnight temperatures dip below 20 degrees by the weekend and into single digits again within a week in areas where snow cover this winter is measured in feet rather than inches.   "The problem arises when you get freezing and thawing cycles and/or rain," Mitkowski said. "When this happens, water percolates to the bottom of the snow pack and inevitably freezes back into ice.    "My guess is that if the snow melted today and the ice went with it, the grass would probably be fine. But if the temperatures get severe afterwards and more snow/ice/freeze/thaw happens, you could still be looking at damage."   At Findlay, ice has been on the course for about 35 days, Koops said. He's unsure of what to expect when the snow melts this week. He is more concerned about damage from the flood-prone Blanchard River that winds through the course. Entering his third season at the club, Koops avoided any flooding events in 2012, but the river ran up on parts of the course three times in 2013. As voluminous amounts of snow begin to melt away, the first event of 2014 is almost a certainty.   Opinions vary on how long Poa can survive under ice, but Michigan State turfgrass pathologist Joe Vargas, Ph.D., says the range typically is 45-90 days before turf death can occur due to toxic gas exchange. Bentgrass, he says, can survive for up to 120 days.   If the ground is frozen when an ice layer is formed, there is less chance for an exchange of turf-killing toxic gasses, Vargas says. The warmer the soil, the faster oxygen escapes the turf, increasing the chances for the exchange of toxic gasses and turf death.   In December thaw cycles, Koops has used squeegees to remove water from Findlay's greens. In January, there often was too much snow, and above-freezing temperatures lasted for a day or less.   "If the Poa annua breaks dormancy and takes up water swelling the crown and the ice melts and refreezes that night wherever there was standing water it will die," Vargas said. "Creeping bentgrass does not break dormancy for a long period of time and is not affected by the reformation of the ice. It is going to be interesting to see what happens with the late winter."   Of major importance, Koops said, is maintaining an open line of communication with the membership.   "I have been warning them that we probably will have some pockets of dead turf in those areas where water settles and ice has been standing," he said. "I haven't seen any spots that are brown. I would like to get a full meltdown and see what's out there. This is one of those winters where you don't know what you're getting out of it. And there isn't anything you can do about it."  

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