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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman

    Time of transition

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Joe Alonzi laughs when he thinks back to a day in 1997 and one of his first conversations with David Dudones, then a brash, 22-year-old intern at Westchester Country Club.
     
    "He asked me what he needed to do to get better because at some point he wanted my job," Alonzi said. "Dave wasn't the first or the last person to say that. A lot of guys would've liked to have had my job. 
     
    "I told him that he was too young and that he should get a master's degree."
     
    Dudones took Alonzi's advice to heart. He went back to school and earned a master's degree at Cornell University under Frank Rossi, Ph.D., and spent more than two decades in the industry paying his dues, including a return to Westchester from 2002-04 to serve as Alonzi's assistant. And that all paid off as Dudones, 39, recently fulfilled his goal of succeeding his former boss as director of grounds at the storied club outside New York City. 
     
    Dudones returned to Westchester on Jan. 1 (the hire was made official last fall) after a 20-year career that includes nine years as superintendent at North Jersey Country Club and prepping under Shawn Emerson at Desert Mountain and Don Szymkowicz at Engineers Country Club. 
     
    "It is my dream job," Dudones said. "When I came here in 1997, I told him Joe I wanted his job. 
     
    "This place is on a whole other level."
     
    Straddling the villages of Harrison and Rye, Westchester is on the top shelf of golf course superintendent jobs. It boasts 36 holes designed by Walter Travis, a nine-hole executive course, and a history that rivals just about any other club in the country. It was a PGA Tour site for more than 30 years, and past members include names like Johnny Carson and Jackie Gleason.
     
    But Westchester is about more than championship golf. Much more.
     
    With a hotel, an Olympic-sized saltwater pool, squash and tennis facilities, more than 6 miles of roads and a beach club located 5 miles away from the main clubhouse, Westchester is more like a small city. Managing just a piece of that small city can be overwhelming.
     
    "The grounds are huge. There is a lot of peripheral stuff that doesn't include the golf courses," Alonzi said.
     
    "This job isn't for everybody. Some can do 45 holes, but there is also a hotel, beach club and miles of road. There were a lot more people who didn't want this job than wanted it. It's not for everybody. You have to be willing to put family second to be successful. And you have to have a wife who can be a mother and father to your kids while they're growing up, because you can't be there. If that is something you accept, great. If you can't, the job is not for you."
     
    In fact, the job is so unique that Alonzi is hanging around throughout the year on an as-needed basis to help Dudones learn the ropes, not of maintaining Westchester's turf, but of managing a piece of such a massive property.
     
    "With the size of this property, he's a great sounding board for me," Dudones said. "For me not to consider him a valuable asset would be foolish."
     
    Dudones also has restructured the turf management team to reflect the changing role of the superintendent in today's economy, naming seven-year Westchester veteran Joe Gikis as assistant director and construction superintendent. Doug Vanderlee, who has been at Westchester for four years, is superintendent of the South Course, and Addison Barden came with Dudones from North Jersey to fill the role of West Course superintendent.
     
    "We're not just growing grass anymore. This is full-time management," Dudones said. "You have to spread the wealth with your management staff. And you have to trust the people around you, you have to bring in the right people, hire the right people and train them the way you want it done or you won't be around long."
     
    After 22 years, Alonzi has seen a lot come and go at Westchester, but insists he only will help when needed.
     
    "When I first got here, there basically was an old irrigation system and nothing else underground except phone lines for the (PGA Tour) tournament," Alonzi said. "I've watched everything go into the ground. I know where the drains are. I'm only there if he needs me. I'm really looking forward to kicking back and relaxing."
     
    Alonzi said he isn't sure what life holds for him next, but he's more than ready for a change.
     
    "I'm still committed to Westchester this year" he said. "But I think after 40 years of being a superintendent and another seven or eight as an assistant, I'm ready to do something else that doesn't involve waking up at 4:30 or 5 in the morning, and that does include Saturdays and Sunday off. I might even take a summer vacation. I've never had one in my life."
  • The winter of 2014 has had golfers in Detroit partying like it is 1881. That is the last time people in eastern Michigan have seen as much snowfall as they have this year.
     
    Although the nearly 84 inches of snow that fell in the Detroit area this year ranks second all-time to the 93.6 inches that fell in 1881, it was more than enough to bring golf in the area to a standstill.
     
    According to Golf Datatech, year-over-year rounds played were down 4.6 percent nationwide in February, but that statistic doesn?t quite tell the whole story. Michigan was one of seven states nationwide, joining Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, where weather was so bad throughout the month that there were no measurable statistics on play available. In other words, it was too cold and too snowy throughout all six of those states that no one was able to play anywhere.
     
    For the year, play is down 4.1 across the country compared with the first two months of 2013.
     
    In February, rounds played were down by double-digits in six of eight geographic regions. The only areas in which rounds played were on the rise were in the Southeast and the drought-stricken mountain west.
     
    Play was up in six states, with New Mexico (up 23 percent), Arizona (10 percent) and Georgia (10 percent) leading the way. Conversely, the Golf Datatech survey of 2,990 private and daily fee courses, shows that play was down in 43 states (the survey does not include Alaska), including losses in double-digits in 38 states and Washington, D.C.
     
    Besides the seven states where no measureable rounds occurred, the biggest losses in February occurred in Pennsylvania (down 91 percent), Iowa (down 80 percent) and New York (down 71 percent).

  • Recipe for recovery

    By John Reitman, in News,

    It has been a challenging winter, with record amounts of snowfall and cold temperatures the norm rather than the exception in many parts of the country.
     
    The threat of winter injury was so severe that 372 people recently tuned in to a Webinar on the topic that was conducted by Kevin Frank, Ph.D., of Michigan State, Bill Kreuser, Ph.D., of the University of Nebraska and Frank Rossi, Ph.D., of Cornell University.
     
    Grigg Brothers, who co-sponsored the online seminar along with Aquatrols, also has developed a checklist of advice on recovering from winter damage.
     
    Grigg Brothers' agronomic team recommends the following:
     
    Where injury is severe, close the greens (or at least the damaged portion) and direct play to temporary greens. Traffic will compromise recovery significantly and delay restoring acceptable playing quality. In fact, playing on a green under recovery could double or triple recovery time.
     
    Raise the height of cut and equip mowers with smooth out-front rollers to reduce stress and wear injury to existing/new plants. Smooth rollers make the mowers much less aggressive than grooved or spiral rollers. Mow as infrequently as possible.
     
    An application of black or other dark-colored topdressing sand at a rate of 200 to 400 pounds per 1,000 square feet could help warm the soil for seed germination and an increased rate of growth.
     
    Permeable turf covers can also be used to stimulate soil warmth and accelerate growth. Be sure to monitor disease pressure under covers.
     
    Grigg Brothers also recommends developing a fertilization program that includes applications every seven days to promote recovery.

  • Chemistry 101

    By John Reitman, in News,

    It is understandable that golfers might be concerned about what sort of dangers they might be exposed to on the golf course after pesticides are applied to control disease or insect pests.   Still, despite the presence of a spray rig cutting a path along a fairway, a 2012 study conducted by researchers at Cornell University shows that a panel of pesticides commonly used on golf courses throughout the country present no carcinogenic hazards to golfers who might inhale lingering vapors in the hours and days following application.   The study measured the toxic effects of 37 chemicals commonly used on golf course greens, tees and fairways in climatic regions across nine states.   Health risks were measured by a complex calculation that estimated a golfer's lifetime average daily dose of inhaling vapors from a height of 1-2 meters during the course of a round of golf once per day over a 70-year period.   The findings of the research conducted by Hywel Wong and Douglas Haith, which were published recently in the Journal of Environmental Quality, could go a long way in helping the turf management industry dispel myths about some of the low-risk, low-use rate chemistries that proliferate today's market.   The researchers wrote that several of the chemistries studied displayed high volatilization levels (or a substance's ability to disperse as vapor), yet none present chronic health risks to golfers. The hazard quotient associated with all chemicals in the study was less than 1:10,000, while the cancer-causing risks of 10 chemistries in the study thought to be carcinogens was less than 1: 100 million. Researchers noted that anything that carries a cancer-causing risk of more than 1:1 million is considered unacceptable in the scientific community.   In the 2012 Cornell study, volatilization levels of some chemistries varied by location, which researchers attributed to weather patterns and application procedures. At least 22 of the 37 chemistries in the study showed negligible volatilization. The remaining 15 chemistries displayed volatilization rates ranging from 0.2 percent to 10.4 percent during typical annual applications   Chemistries studied were: (herbicides) 2,4-D, benefin, carfentrazone-ethyl, clopyralid, dithiopyr, fluroxypyr, isoxaben, mecoprop-p, oryzalin, oxadiazon, pendimethalin, penoxsulam, prodiamine, rimsulfuron, sulfentrazone, sulfosulfuron, triclopyr; (fungicides) acibenzolar, azoxystrobin, chlorothalonil, cyazofamid, fludioxonil, iprodione, mancozeb, myclobutanil, propamocarb-hydCl, propiconazole, thiophanate-methyl; (insecticides) acephate, bifenthrin, chlorantraniliprole, halofenozide, imidacloprid, indoxacarb, permethrin, thiamethoxam.   Some chemistries in past studies have proven to be dangerous in field studies, and research has played a valuable role in some being removed from the market. Some of those active ingredients that have been shown to be dangers in the field, such as ethoprop, diazinon and isazofos, no longer are registered for use in turf, and nine of the 15 chemistries in a 2007 study by Haith and Rebecca Murphy no longer are registered by the EPA for use in turf.
  • Flowering plants can help spruce up common areas around the clubhouse or parking lot, out-of-play areas and even near teeing grounds. But choosing the wrong one can be the difference between an aesthetically pleasing ornamental and a proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing.   As turf managers turn their attentions toward spring and making golf courses green again, the Weed Science Society of America says it is a good idea to conduct some research before making any final decisions on ornamentals so as not to unknowingly planting any invasive species.   Many invasive ornamentals that have been transplanted from other countries can tolerate poor growing conditions, thus allowing them to grow quickly and densely and can easily become difficult to control. In fact, many invasive species, although attractive when they flower, can exhibit different growing characteristics when out of their native range and are considered noxious weeds here.   One such example is Scotch thistle. Though it was introduced into this country more than 200 years ago from Europe, Scotch thistle is a weed in this country. It thrives in drought conditions and is difficult to kill, making it especially troublesome in parts of the arid west.   Although Scotch broom might be perfectly fine for use as an ornamental on a golf course in Europe, in this country it is a non-native species that is difficult to control. It produces pretty flowers, but it is an ugly neighbor, crowding out native species and producing thousands of seed per plant per year that can remain dormant yet viable for several years.   Dalmatian toadflax is a member of the snapdragon family and is native to areas around the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas. Surely, anything so exotic would be a welcome addition to any area where ornamentals are planted, right? Wrong. Unlike its native cousin, the Dalmatian toadflax is perennial that keeps on growing, can take over open spaces and is toxic to some wildlife.    Many of these invasive species are sold as ornamentals, either through online outlets or nurseries, so procuring them is easier than it probably should be.   A complete list of invasive species can be found on the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Invasive Species Information Center Web site.   The site includes information on invasive plants and aquatics, including photographs, native range, when and how they were introduced here and control tips.
  • Editor's note: The following is a column by Golfweek editor Jeff Babineau on senior writer Ron Balicki, who spent more than 30 years covering college golf for our sister publication before his passing on March 25.
      Debbie Balicki won't ever forget the first time she met her future husband. She was at a party thrown by a pro football player in the Florida Panhandle in the early 1980s, and she decided to approach a tall, handsome man with a mustache standing next to the bar.   "Are you the bartender?" she asked. "No," he answered.   "Well, think you could fix me a drink anyway?" she asked with a smile.   Later that evening, after she had departed early, retreating to a quieter beach spot down the road, the two would meet up again. They talked. They laughed. They played some backgammon. And when she got home that night, she remembers thinking to herself, "That's the nicest man I've ever met."   Lots of people would say those very same words about her husband of 32-plus years, Golfweek senior writer Ron Balicki. He simply was the nicest, kindest man one ever could meet. At his home in the woods in Mount Ida, Ark., on Tuesday morning, Balicki passed away after a valiant eight-month battle with cancer. He would have turned 66 on April 6.   CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
  • When it comes to growing the game of golf, John Deere is more than a silent partner.    The same company that donated $1 million to The First Tee during the 2013 Golf Industry Show in San Diego has erected a First Tee exhibit to be displayed at the PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open designed to educated tournament patrons about the life and leadership skills youth development program promotes. The tournament is scheduled for this week in San Antonio.   The First Tee helps promote life skills such as how to manage emotions, set goals, resolve conflict, introduce themselves to and communicate with others. A 501©(3) entity, The First Tee also focuses on helping juniors develop core values that include honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment, and finally reinforces healthy habits like energy, play, safety, vision, mind, family, friends, school and community.   According to the organization, it has helped more than 9 million youths in programs operating in all 50 states and four international locations and has helped more than 9 million youths since it was formed in 1997.   Golf patrons also will be able to visit the John Deere-First Tee display at other PGA Tour events, including the Shell Houston Open (March 31-April 6); the HP Byron Nelson Championship in Dallas (May 12-18); the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa (May 27-June 1); the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston (Aug. 27-Sept. 1); the TOUR Championship presented by Coca Cola in Atlanta (Sept. 11-14); the SAS Championship in Raleigh, N.C. (Oct. 6-12); and the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz. (Oct. 30-Nov. 2).
  • Syngenta recently upgraded Weevil Trak, an interactive tool for customized annual bluegrass weevil tracking and control recommendations. The updated platform features a new look including a customized stage notification progress bar displaying the status of users controlling the first two generations of annual bluegrass weevil. New monitoring sites were added for better geographic coverage and more in-depth data.   Upgrades were made in response to superintendent input, and now Weevil Trak users can now follow two courses, a primary and secondary, that will provide two sets of email alerts. This helps golf course superintendents be even more prepared for annual bluegrass weevil outbreaks, since the secondary course they will follow is typically south of their primary location and will move through the alert stages earlier.   A new map graphic shows a wider range of courses by geography to provide Weevil Trak users with a more complete geographical representation of annual bluegrass weevil pressure in the Northeast.   The customized progress bar takes users through Weevil Trak?s five-stage tracking system. Users will receive notifications when they enter new stages, such as the wait stage, pre-stage and in-stage phases. Along each step, the Syngenta Optimum Control Strategy is communicated, providing the recommendations for control using Scimitar GC, Acelepryn and Provaunt insecticides.   Turf managers can view the updated platform, register for a Weevil Trak account and sign up for email alerts by visiting www.weeviltrak.com. Watch the how-to videos for detection and monitoring techniques, such as soap flushes to detect adult annual bluegrass weevil in turf, and using a salt flush and soil core sampling to help identify larvae.

  • Healthy alternative

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Just because Andy Hutchinson left the golf business behind for a position managing institutional turf, it doesn't mean he is free from pressure to produce high-quality grass on a consistent basis. But it does mean he has a shorter walk for help if the pressure becomes too much.   Hutchinson, 31, spent nearly a dozen years in the golf business before leaving it in his utility vehicle mirror in 2011 for a career managing the grounds at Owensboro Health, a 157-acre healthcare campus in western Kentucky that includes a Owensboro Health Regional Hospital.    And the golf industry, he said, hasn't cornered the market on producing lush, green turf. Although there aren't green chairmen asking about Stimpmeter readings on hospital grounds, creating a strong first impression with aesthetically pleasing turf and grounds is important, Hutchinson said.   "There are a lot of similarities (between golf and hospitals) as far as aesthetics and attention to detail go," he said. "We still have very high expectations and are held to a very high standard."   Last year, Owensboro Health, under Hutchinson's guidance, was named a Certified Signature Sanctuary by Audubon International. Audubon's signature program is a comprehensive environmental awareness program that includes not only a properties natural grounds, but begins in working with property planners, building architects and others to achieve long-term sustainability practices.   "Landscaping at a hospital is very important for first impressions and curb appeal. It is not the main attraction like the golf course is," he said. "This can be a blessing and a curse at the same time.  Missing small details here would not cause headaches like they would on a golf course, but at the same time, we are not nearly as important at budget time either. Turf maintenance is very different on this side of the green industry. It is very fragmented and broken up into little pockets and islands that make maintaining a small amount of acreage very time consuming."   During his college days at Western Kentucky University, Hutchinson was a biology major and was working summers on a golf course crew. It was the lure of the outdoors that led him eventually to pursue a turfgrass management education.   He prepped at places like the 95-year-old Owensboro Country Club and Hunting Creek Country Club in Louisville, as well as at Atlanta-area tracks like the Golf Club of Georgia and Stone Mountain Golf Club.   Hutchinson and wife Lacey got the itch to move to their old Kentucky home in 2011. Initially, he took a job as the superintendent at The Falls Resort Golf Club, but the financially struggling facility closed its doors that year and has not reopened since, although a call to the facility reveals that it still is being maintained.   As luck would have it, there was an opening for the grounds supervisor at the Owensboro Health system property, and Hutchinson was hired with the understanding he would guide the property through the Audubon International program. He still remains active in professional development, both for himself and colleagues, as vice president of the Kentucky Turf Council.     "I don't think I left golf in search of something new," Hutchinson said. "My background and experience just fit the job at Owensboro Health very well. I would also be lying if didn't say that near equal pay for a 40-hour work week was very appealing."   According to hospital information, Owensboro Health's campus comprises more than 150 acres, about 110 of which are naturals comprised of turf, ponds and open spaces. The rest of the property includes hospital and medical offices as well as parking facilities.   It was at Stone Mountain, a Marriott resort and conference facility located on a 3,200-acre state park, where Hutchinson got his first taste of managing vast expanses of land and turf that went far beyond just a golf course. At Stone Mountain, both the golf course and the resort grounds have been certified, separately, by Audubon International.   "Andy is a standout turf manager because he sees the connection between things," said Stone Mountain director of grounds Anthony Williams, CGCS. "He understands how weather impacts the timing of agronomics, everything from aeration to fertilization to irrigation. He sees the environomic connection that protecting the green space also means guarding the profit line because there is a financial component in any sustainability that is linked to a business."   He has since learned that institutional grounds care shares other things with golf as well.   "The one thing that is most difficult to manage is the unpredictability of mother nature," Hutchinson said. "It's really hard to make people understand that at a certain point you just get what Mother Nature gives you and we just have to make the best of it."

  • 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

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