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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    BIGGA, the Carolinas GCSA and more than 30 other chapters are teaming up to redefine distance education this year. For those who think traditional education in the turf industry has been redefined in Covid era, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
    Nearly three dozen golf course superintendent associations across the United States and the British International Golf Greenkeepers Association are partnering in a marathon online education conference this fall devised in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Using a tailored Zoom platform, Conference Comes to You presents 30 two-hour seminars – scheduled one a day – over 30 days starting November 2.
    Registration in the program presented by the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association opens at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 25 at www.conferencecomestoyou.org.
    The online conference, which has a week off over Thanksgiving, takes the place of the Carolinas GCSA’s annual conference and trade show in Myrtle Beach, which is the largest regional event for superintendents in the U.S.
    As official partners in Conference Comes to You, participating chapters earn discounted pricing for members – $40 rather than $70 – and will receive a share of each member registration fee. Each attendee also has the chance to share in $30,000 of guaranteed cash prizes ranging from $100 to $2,500. Members qualify for one entry with each seminar they take.
    Participating chapters include: Alabama, Calusa, Central Florida, Central Ohio, Connecticut, Eastern Shore, Everglades, Florida, Florida West Coast, Georgia, Gulf Coast, Hawaii, Heart of America, Hi-Lo Desert, Louisiana-Mississippi, Met GCSA, Miami Valley, Mid-Atlantic, Minnesota, New England, New Jersey, North Florida, Northern California, Palm Beach, Rdige, Rocky Mountain, Seven Rivers, South Florida, Southern California, Southern Nevada, Suncoast, Tennessee, Treasure Coast, Wisconsin and Virginia.
    "We're thrilled to have so many chapters joining us. This platform benefits everyone involved, and the more people who participate the more benefit there will be for everyone," said Carolinas GCSA president, Brian Stiehler, CGCS, MG at Highlands Country Club in Highlands, North Carolina.
    "We see many visitors from across the country and overseas at our traditional conference and show each year. So, in these extraordinary times, when we can’t be face to face, it made sense for our conference to go 'see' them."
    Stiehler stressed his association's gratitude for the financial backing of dozens of industry partners, including longtime education partner, Syngenta, and prize package partners, John Deere Golf, Revels Turf and Tractor, Greenville Turf and Tractor, Toro, Smith Turf and Irrigation, Jacobsen and TSP Turf.
    "This is an incredible show of support from companies we have worked with for years and in many cases, generations," Stiehler said. "That they have stepped up to help superintendents continue their professional development in times like these speaks volumes."
  • The Bayer/Monsanto Roundup story has as many twists and turns as a country road.
    Bayer recently settled thousands of Roundup lawsuits as part of an $11 billion settlement, according to published reports. The news came about a month after a golf industry professional claimed the weedkiller caused his cancer and just days before an attorney close to the case was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of extortion. It is, after all, 2020.
    Close to 200,000 people have or are expected to file suit claiming that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, caused their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. At the heart of the glyphosate debate are conflicting reports by the World Health Organization and the EPA. In 2015, the WHO concluded that glyphosate was a "probable" carcinogen. The EPA, on the other hand, has said that there is no evidence indicating that glyphosate causes cancer based on the results of more than 800 tests and studies. 
    The recent settlements for $10.9 billion include 15,000 lawsuits in which plaintiffs blame Monsanto's weedkiller for causing their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to reports. Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, already has settled about 30,000 cases and faces as many as an additional 125,000 suits that have yet to be filed, according to reports. 
    The most recent settlement comes about a month after a golf professional in the Spokane, Washington area filed suit claiming that Roundup caused his cancer. On Aug. 3, Gary Lindeblad filed suit against Bayer and Monsanto, saying it caused his cancer.
    According to the lawsuit, Lindeblad "sprayed Roundup on a regular basis" beginning in the 1970s. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1999. He has since incurred "significant economic and non-economic damages," according to the suit.
    Lindeblad worked for 31 years at the Indian Canyon Golf Course. Most recently, he has worked at the Kalispel Golf and Country Club.
    On Sept. 21, Tim Litzenburg, the Virginia lawyer representing a plaintiff who won a $289 million verdict in the ongoing litigation against Bayer, was sentenced to two years in prison after he was convicted on extortion charges. 
    Litzenburg was charged in December with extortion after threatening to "to inflict substantial financial and reputational harm" against two unnamed companies unless he was paid a $200 million consulting fee, according to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
    According to court documents, Litzenburg suggested in October 2019 that the unnamed Company 1 could avoid future costs associated with litigation, reputational damage and a drop in stock prices if it hired him as a consultant for $200 million. 
    The document said that Litzenburg and an unnamed accomplice would steer prospective litigants away from the Roundup case as part of the deal. According to the complaint, Litzenburg called his $200 million consulting fee "fair" and promised to unleash a public relations "nightmare" against the companies involved.
    The criminal complaint stated that Litzenburg also agreed to steer complainants away from Company 2. Those unnamed companies were believed to be Bayer and Monsanto, but a spokesperson for Bayer said last year that was untrue.
  • Cultural practices, like aerification, have been delayed or even canceled at some courses this year as facilities capitalize on increased play to drive revenue. Photos by Andrew Jorgensen via Twitter For some reason, it is getting harder and harder every day to distinguish between a silver lining and a storm cloud, or a glass that is half full and one that is half empty.
    For almost two decades, the golf business has been defined by how many people were leaving the game. In a nutshell, there are nearly 10 million fewer players today than there were in 2002; there are more than 2,000 fewer courses and golfers are playing almost 70 million fewer rounds than they were 20 years ago.
    In many corners of the country, golf rounds are not a problem during the pandemic. According to Golf Datatech, which measures rounds played at private and daily fee courses nationwide, year-over-year rounds played were up nearly 20 percent in July compared with the same month last year. Rounds played in July were up in every state except Hawaii.
    For many, this summer has been a case of "be careful what you wish for."
    Even as some services, namely food and beverage, have been slow to return during the pandemic, golf has brought casual players back to the course in droves and superintendents across the country have reported seeing scores of new players.
    Superintendent Joe Wachter credits the Covid-19 golf boom for helping keep the lights on at Glen Echo Country Club in St. Louis. Like every place, the club has lost a lot of money from canceled outings and weddings, and stands to lose more in the fall. Since opening in the spring during the pandemic, about 800-900 rounds a week have been played at this 1901 James Foulis design that was the site of Olympic golf during the 1904 Summer Games. After a brief dip in play in late July and early August, play is ticking up again at the end of the season.
    "A lot of people put their clubs away after Labor Day, but not so much this year," Wachter said.
    "The most important thing for us is that all this play has kept us all employed."
    There is such thing as too much of a good thing.
    The Chattanooga golf market was a mixed bag in the early days of the pandemic. Courses in the city limits were closed. The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, a state park golf course outside of town, was closed as were all state-owned facilities. All other courses outside the city limits were open for play.
    Now, The Bear Trace, which was closed for about a month early in the pandemic, is getting all the rounds it wants - and then some. With 12-minute tee times and single riders in golf carts, up to 170 rounds a day are played at the state park course along the banks of the Tennessee River.
    No golfers can tee off after 4 p.m., thanks in part to the single rider policy.
    "Otherwise, those guys (in the cart facility) would be here until dark-thirty just cleaning carts," Carter said. 
    "When I look at a tee, I see four or eight carts sitting there, and of course they play Follow the Leader. We're warm-season grass, so it's not affecting us yet, but those courses with cool-season grass are getting worn out. We haven't seen the damage yet, but it's there. The golf course, with single riders, is taking another year's worth of abuse."

    The result, thatchy, spongy greens, is nothing a good aerification can't cure. That will have to wait.
    "We usually aerify in late July or early August. We close and go Monday to Friday. It really helps us. Those five days are it; we don't do anything else the rest of the year, but we're not going to close to aerfiy this year," Carter said. "We had to give it up to keep the cash register open to make up for the month we were closed. The damage is something only a superintendent can see - spongy greens, some scalping. We'll get that back next year."
    In place of a traditional aerification, Carter and his team have been performing some pretty aggressive verticutting and punching smaller holes with 1-inch tines to remove at least some thatch.
    The tiny tines disrupt only about 1 percent of the surface area, but is better than nothing when closing for traditional aerification is not an option.
    "You're not really pulling anything," Carter said. "You're just trying to keep some holes open and manage thatch."
    There are a couple low-lying holes at Bear Trace that Carter has to keep closed throughout the winter to prevent damage that doesn't often show itself on warm-season grass until spring. The increased play and absence of aerification might necessitate closing a couple more.
    Carter's story is one that has been told throughout the country this year - too much play, but too much money to close for needed cultural practices.
    "One of the biggest limiting factors we are hearing about is all the play is wearing out the grass," said Joe Rimelspach, turf pathologist and program specialist at Ohio State University. "Many places haven't been able to core or aerate, because the course has found out that they can make more money with all the play."
    Glen Echo has benefitted from a cooperative agreement that grants golf privileges to members of the Missouri Athletic Club, a non-golf athletic club.
    "I've seen a lot of new faces this year that I don't recognize as regular Glen Echo members," Wachter said. "That has really helped drive revenue.
    "We're seeing more women and more couples this year."
    Andrew Jorgensen manages 81 holes in Florida for On Top of the World Communities, including 54 in Ocala and 27 in Clearwater.
    All of the courses managed by OTWC closed in March and began to reopen throughout April. Early spring typically is not the best time to be poking holes in mostly TifDwarf and Tif Eagle greens, but this has been anything but a typical year.
    "Normally, April is not the best time for aerification. Recovery is slower, but after doing it now, I'm all for it mostly for selfish reasons," Jorgensen said. "The weather was good. It was 75 when we did it, not 95, so it wasn't unbearable. Recovery did take longer, but we'll never be able to do that again.
    "At first, we didn't know if we were going to be closed for two weeks or all summer. We bumped up aerification to early in April and stayed closed for two weeks after that before reopening. We knew we would be ridiculed for shutting down right after reopening for aerification. By doing it in early April, we just stayed closed."
    The Florida heat and humidity has done little to keep golfers away even throughout the summer.
    "There has been a lot of increased play and increased traffic,"Jorgensen said. "I know a lot of guys who are pushing off aerification because they are packed and the cash register keeps ringing."
    With so many holes of golf available, Jorgensen has the luxury of closing courses and moving players around to keep up with cultural practices. That's a luxury not everyone has.
    In Chattanooga, there is no end in sight, at least not yet anyway. The Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team was grounded when all minor league play was canceled in June, movie theaters are only now beginning to reopen. Golf has been there for experienced players and newcomers alike almost through the duration of the pandemic.
    "We're going as long as the weather's good," Carter said. 'People are playing. There's nothing else to do. 
    "It's either golf or go fishing or go take a hike at a state park.
    "If we were on our normal nine-minute tee times with two people per cart and not closing it off at 4 o'clock we could be 250 rounds a day."
  • Bayer's digital flipbooks offer solutions for superintendents across the country.  During a time when getting reliable information from a trusted source has been made just a little more difficult, Bayer is trying to make it easier for turf managers to find the information they need to do their jobs every day.
    Bayer and its Green Solutions Team recently launched its digital flipbooks guide of agronomic resources that are specific to geographic regions nationwide.
    The new digital flipbooks feature agronomic recommendations by adaption zone. Each booklet was developed based on the specific diseases, insects and weeds indigenous to a given zone. Each booklet contains specific recommendations on how to control the pests in that zone, including diseases, insects and weeds. Recommendations include product solutions, solutions, timings and rates based on the level of pest pressure, and each booklet includes contact information for area representatives and Greens Solutions Team members.
    Geographic zones are:
    Tropical Zone
    Northern Zone
    Transition Zone
    Mountain West Plains Zone
    Southwestern Zone
    Mid-Central Zone
    Pacific Northwest Zone
    Gulf Atlantic Zone
  • By now, Tom Samples must know just about every inch of every road in Tennessee. As a turfgrass extension specialist at the University of Tennessee since he earned his Ph.D. at Oklahoma State in 1985, Samples has spent much of the past 35 years traversing the state from Knoxville to Memphis and everywhere in between.
    University employees, including Samples, have been prohibited from traveling on UT business since March. It is a common theme heard around the country as university extension specialists are not able to travel in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, Samples and many of his colleagues around the country have had to reinvent their craft and how they help turfgrass managers diagnose and manage problems on golf courses, sports fields and lawns.
    "My objective as a statewide turfgrass specialist is still the same even if I can't travel," said Samples (pictured at right). "If I do not change the way I deliver information, then I'm not doing my job."
    In the past six months, Samples has been online for more Zoom meetings than he can count, the volume of emails in his inbox each day has increased exponentially, and he has spent a lot of time trying to diagnose diseases and pest problems from cell phone photos.
    For golf course superintendents, play is up at many facilities and increased activity translates there is added stress on the turf. 
    "I try to respond to all emails within 24 hours, but the volume has picked up. Some I'm not getting to until 48 hours," Samples said. "Superintendents and sports field managers understand this is new for all of us."
    Whether this new version of extension work will be permanent or whether site visits will return is anyone's guess, but one thing is certain, there will be no one-size-fits-all solution.
    At Michigan State University, classes all are online this semester. Still, Kevin Frank, Ph.D., is able to work from his office in East Lansing, but he can't visit a golf course superintendent he might pass on his way to campus each day.
    "It certainly is different," Frank said. "The only turf I have seen in person are research plots, my lawn and the two or three golf courses I play.
    "By far this is the least amount of travel I've ever done since I was a grad student. I can't remember when I've seen so few golf courses. The two or three I play locally, that is my reference point. I have no reference point beyond that."
    Most of Frank's extension work also is limited to Zoom or FaceTime, phone calls and photos sent by email.

    Joe Rimelspach (left) says delivery of some soil samples submitted during the pandemic have been delayed by weeks. As a result, he suggests sending samples to the OTF research facility. Photos by John Reitman "The biggest challenge is you can't enlarge some photos taken by phone. They're low resolution and if you enlarge them, they get pixelated," he said. "Identifying basic diseases by photos is not that hard. The hardest thing is stress from traffic or water. People tell me 'it's dead or dying. What caused it?' How long of a list do you want me to go through? I can't always tell you for certain. A lot of what we can do remotely is limited by the technology of the person sending it in."
    Joe Rimelspach says he and Todd Hicks are facing many of the same challenges at Ohio State. 
    Although the research lab is open and the turf pathology department is accepting soil samples, delivery through the university mail system has been delayed, sometimes by weeks, so Rimelspach has been telling turf managers to send them instead to the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation research facility.
    "We've had to figure ot what we can do and not do," Rimelspach said. "On the extension side, we are adapting with the restrictions we had. We've received an exemption to keep the diagnostics lab open.
    "We normally receive samples in the building, but the carriers couldn't get into the building so they are getting sent to central mail. It has taken as much as two months to get things, so people have to get it to me directly. I am accepting samples at the OTF building and at home.
    "When I can get my hand on samples we can get things done. We have to avoid the university shipping and receiving department."
    Like everyone else, Rimelspach also is looking at plenty of iPhone photos submitted through email or text and chatting with people through Zoom and FaceTime.
    The good news, if there is any, he said is at least turf managers and extension researchers have the chance to share information in ways they could not before.
    "We're fortunate to have these tools," he said. "If this had happened 20 or 30 years ago, this would all be much different."
    Tennessee's Samples agreed. He has embraced technology that allows him to stay in touch with people across the state, but unlike so many others, he has been working from his office every day to try to stay in a routine.
    "This has forced me to become more modern in how I share information," Samples said. "It has forced me into areas I was not previously comfortable with.
    "But, I'm still getting a lot of 'what is this?' questions. We're still open, and we're still answering the phone."
  • Many superintendents say bunker management demands a disproportionate amount of time and resources. Photos by John Reitman Typically, the golf industry chokes whenever the economy hiccups. That has not been the case this year as a global pandemic has crushed business, devastated the economy and sent record numbers of people to the unemployment line. In fact, during the past six months of doom and gloom, golf has been one of the feel-good stories emerging from the pandemic. 
    Golf courses everywhere have been busy, really busy, and they have looked a little more rustic since superintendents removed many of the accessories in an effort to minimize touch points and the potential to spread the virus between players and employees.
    Not only does the removal of accessories eliminate dozens of places where funk can transmit from one person to another, some superintendents say it gives a golf course an unspoiled appeal and makes daily maintenance easier in the face of all this extra play.
    And while golf courses are really, really busy this year, anything that can make the crew's job easier is probably a good thing, at least for now, but how long will they disappear. Superintendents say that golfers can develop an odd attachment to inanimate objects like ballwashers and memorial benches, so don't expect accessories to disappear forever.
    "Course accessories are a huge maintenance headache," said Fred Gehrisch, CGCS at Highlands Falls Country Club in Highlands, North Carolina. "We have to sand and stain our wood signs every winter. All the wood posts that our ball washers and trash receptacles are attached to have to be painted every year. Just like the bunker rakes, most accessories have to be moved to weed or mow around and that costs time and efficiency. I've always accepted that as part of our job, but boy, do the hours add up just moving things. All in all though, the extras just take away from the beauty of the course."
    This movement of less is more has not fallen on deaf ears. 
    "Accessories have been an easy target for a while," said Matt Pauli, director of marketing for Standard Golf, which manufactures and distributes a line of golf course accessories. 
    "Covid has been an excuse to take them off."
    The complaint many superintendents have is accessories get in the way, they are a drain on the staff and the budget, and they detract from the course's aesthetic appeal.
    "In my opinion, golf for many years went the other way. Every where you looked you saw accessories that were not needed," said Rick Tegtmeier, CGCS at Des Moines Golf and Country Club in Iowa. "Many little golf courses used these as vehicles for advertising and for memorials. "
    Accessories companies quickly responded to the pandemic and the challenges facing golf course superintendents with no-touch products to make things easier for golfers and employees to minimize chances to spread the virus. No-touch options like ball risers and foam inserts for cups mean golfers don't have to pull flagsticks to retrieve their golf ball. Portable, no-touch grips allow golfers to safely use bunker rakes without actually touching the handle.
    "This isn't just about selling products," said Dan Brown, sales and marketing manager for Par Aide. "Golf is very popular right now. It's outdoors. It's easy to distance from others. We understand that (Covid) is real, and we truly want to help make the game as safe as possible."
    Gehrisch appreciates how removing accessories helps streamline workflow. Aesthetically, he also believes in addition by subtraction.
    "I'm a minimalist when it comes to accessories," he said. "The least amount of accessories on the course the better."
    "All in all, the extras just take away from the beauty of the golf course."

    In the bunker or out? Or back in the shop? Where do bunker rakes belong? The low-hanging fruit for many superintendents appears to be bunker rakes.
    Superintendents say they get in the way and golfers don't use them correctly - if at all.
    "As far as bunker rakes, we all hate them," Tegtmeier said. "The USGA could never tell anyone 'should they be in or should be left out of the bunker?' We hate to mow around them and the golfer hates to hit them. So, not having them this year has made both parties happy. I do think you will see them again."
    Like most golf courses, Kanawha Club in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia removed as many touch points as possible. In that time, there has been a sea change at the club in how bunkers are viewed. Superintendents must dedicate a disproportionate amount of resources to maintaining bunkers. Rededicating those resources elsewhere during the pandemic is a trend that has caught on at Kanawha.
    "Since Covid started, we've had to remove all touch points," said Paul Van Buren, the club's golf course manager. "We've also had a transition from perfectly maintained bunkers to just declaring them hazards again. If golfers aren't going to use rakes, why have them out on the course? Inevitably, someone is going to have to move them - the bunker raker if they're in the bunker, or the mower if they're out of the bunker. No rakes? No problem - for anybody."
    Par Aide's Brown also is a very good golfer. I've played golf with him at the Great Waters Course at Reynolds at Lake Oconee (formerly Reynolds Plantation) in Georgia, and he is a bomber with a lot of game. The marketing side of him wants to see accessories back on golf courses. The golfer side of him believes at least some of them are necessary.
    "Whether it is a $5 Nassau or the club championship, consistency is a key, and nobody wants to make the determination on what to do with a poor lie in an unraked bunker," Brown said. 
    "I can come up with a lot of ways that the game has evolved. And bunker maintenance is one of them. For 99 percent of us, an unraked bunker makes an already-hard game more difficult."
    Whether bunkers should be unkempt and viewed as true hazards or maintained to the point that PGA Tour players use them as a bailout option around slippery greens is a hotly contested debate. What accessories - including rakes - return to the golf course and when is, obviously going to occur on a course-by-course basis and likely will be determined by those with a paygrade much higher than the superintendent.
    "We have not put out a bunker rake or a ball washer. I do not think you will see either of those go out this year," Tegtmeier said. "Next year, I am going to budget for underground trash cans and try not to have anything vertical on the tee set up. We do have benches out for the walking golfer but do not sanitize them."
    Regardless of one's feelings about accessories. It's hard to imagine a future without ballwashers and some of the other things that until March have been commonplace on golf courses.
    But bunker rakes; what about bunker rakes?
    "I think bunker rakes will go back out," Tegtmeier said. 
    "I do think you will see them again."
  • CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT A NOMINATION
    With Hurricane Dorian bearing down on The Bahamas just last summer, Matt DiMase didn't give much thought to leaving. 
    The superintendent at The Abaco Club on Winding Bay, DiMase could have ridden out the storm with his wife and kids in the safety of the family home in Ocala, Florida.
    But he didn't.
    DiMase rode out the storm, brought the devastated golf course back from the dead and played a key role in a humanitarian effort to help members of the club, his employees and members of his Bahamian community. His selflessness earned him the honor of being named the recipient of the 20th annual TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta. 
    "For us, this is a job, but for our members, this club is their investment," DiMase said when he received the award at the last Golf Industry Show from Syngenta turf market manager Stephanie Schwenke (pictured above). "I told my team we can stay and protect their property, or we can abandon ship and who knows what will happen. . . . I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay because of the people."
    Nominations for DiMase's successor are now being accepted. Although it's hard to imagine anyone going through a more trying experience than what DiMase faced in 2019, there has been much about 2020 that has been hard to believe.
    A panel of judges will select five finalists and ultimately the winner from the list of nominees. In a year that will be defined by a global crisis and one in which people starved for outdoor recreation have flocked to courses around the country, the nominations should be plentiful.
    Criteria on which nominees are judged include: labor management, maximizing budget limitations, educating and advancing the careers of colleagues and assistants, negotiating with government agencies, preparing for tournaments under unusual circumstances, service to golf clientele, upgrading or renovating the course and dealing with extreme or emergency conditions.
    Click here to submit a nomination. Deadline for nominations is Dec. 1. Typically, the winner receives two slots on the annual TurfNet members golf trip, but with travel up in the air for the foreseeable future, an alternate prize (that has yet to be determined) will be awarded to the winner.
    Previous winners include: Matt DiMase, The Abaco Club on Winding Bay, Cherokee, Great Abaco, Bahamas (2019); Carlos Arraya, Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, MO (2018); Jorge Croda, Southern Oaks Golf Club, Burleson, TX, and Rick Tegtmeier, Des Moines Golf and Country Club, West Des Moines, IA (2017); Dick Gray, PGA Golf Club, Port St. Lucie, FL (2016); Matt Gourlay, Colbert Hills, Manhattan, KS (2015); Fred Gehrisch, Highlands Falls Country Club, Highlands, NC (2014); Chad Mark, Kirtland Country Club, Willoughby, OH (2013), Dan Meersman, Philadelphia Cricket Club (2012), Flourtown, PA; Paul Carter, The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, Harrison, TN (2011); Thomas Bastis, The California Golf Club of San Francisco, South San Francisco, CA (2010); Anthony Williams, Stone Mountain (GA) Golf Club (2009); Sam MacKenzie, Olympia Fields (IL) Country Club (2008); John Zimmers, Oakmont (PA) Country Club (2007); Scott Ramsay, Golf Course at Yale University, New Haven, CT (2006); Mark Burchfield, Victoria Club, Riverside, CA (2005); Stuart Leventhal, Interlachen Country Club, Winter Park, FL (2004); Paul Voykin, Briarwood Country Club, Deerfield, IL (2003); Jeff Burgess, Seven Lakes Golf Course, Windsor, Ontario (2002); Kip Tyler, Salem Country Club, Peabody, MA (2001); Kent McCutcheon, Las Vegas (NV) Paiute Golf Resort (2000).
  • FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM AT INSTAGRAM.COM/TURFNET TO SEE ALL THE PHOTOS FROM PASADENA

    The fate of the college football season is anything but certain. The first few games of the season have been played, but how long it will last and whether there will be bowls and a playoff are anyone's guess. 
    TurfNet's coverage of preparations for the 2020 Rose Bowl serves as a reminder of how special college football and its traditions are. 
    "TurfNet tackles the Rose Bowl" is one of three TurfNet projects recognized for writing excellence at the virtual edition of this year's Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association annual conference.
    The blog, which was produced by news and editorial director John Reitman and daughter Lauren and was sponsored by Brandt, focused on the efforts of former Rose Bowl field superintendent Will Schnell, Miguel Yepez (Schnell's former assistant and newly anointed successor) and their team to prepare the world's most famous playing field for the 2020 game between Oregon of the PAC 12 and Wisconsin of the Big 10.
    Coverage included agronomic practices leading up to the game, painting (A LOT of painting), the inventor of collapsible goal posts (who also volunteers on the game-prep staff) and the camaraderie and family atmosphere among the staff and members of the Brandt team that make this group so special.
    Click here to read more about our Rose Bowl coverage and go to our instagram page to see the scads of photos from game week.
    A total of 16 posts with more than 17,000 views earned a first place and Gardner Award (best in category) in the New Media-Blog category at this year's TOCA conference. Reitman also earned a first-place mention in the Editorial-Opinion category for “Where's the bottom for golf? It's a game of wait and see” which takes a deep look into the economics of a golf market in decline - at least in decline prior to the pandemic era.
    TurfNet's Jon Kiger also earned a Merit Award in the blog category for the “Women in Turf” series sponsored by Foley that included contributions from Peter McCormick and Reitman.
    The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association is a 200-plus member association comprising editorial, advertising and marketing professionals working in the green industry. The association's annual meeting, originally scheduled for Denver in the spring was held this week in a virtual format.
  • The surrounding neighborhood drains a lot of water into Smith Creek and onto Bellerive Country Club, including several feet during an August rain event (above). Floodwater also inundated the maintenance shop (below right). Photos courtesy of Carlos Arraya When a storm swept through Missouri in early August, it was something straight from a bad dream.
    Two years removed from a major championship, Bellerive Country Club was coming off a two-step greens rebuild project when Mother Nature unleashed her wrath. 
    The front nine, rebuilt first, opened in the spring along with a few back nine holes that were ahead of schedule. The remaining back nine holes were opened to members on Aug. 7. The following day, up to 7 inches of rain dumped on parts of St. Louis, and it seemed like every inch was channeled Bellerive's way. 
    Dubbed by meteorologists as a 500-year flood, the event transformed Smith Creek that bisects the property into a raging river that Carlos Arraya, CGCS, Bellerive's director of agronomy and assistant general manager, says left the maintenance facility and much of the golf course under 5 feet of water. 
    An adjacent home where the club houses interns also was flooded. Three interns who had been staying there were able to get out safely and have been relocated to extended-stay facilities off site.
    When the flood waters receded two days later, the golf course was covered in silt from the creek, bunkers were washed out and nearly all of the club's equipment was damaged, destroyed or washed away.
    "We didn't even have a shovel or buckets to begin removing silt," Arraya said. "We had to make a run to Lowe's.
    "I've endured hurricanes, including three back-to-back-to-back. When they were gone, you still had equipment. We don't have anything."
    The only piece of mechanized equipment that was not affected was a front end loader parked at the sand pit awaiting aerification that was to begin the following Monday.
    What has ensued has been an exercise in neighbor helping neighbor during a time of need and how to communicate up to keep members informed during a tragedy.
    "I wiggle my way into the boardroom, I'll stay late or after work and I will speak to everyone I can," Arraya said. "I have to stay in front of them."
    Indeed, golfers at Bellerive have endured a lot. First the front nine, then the back were closed for a greens rebuild last year. The year before, the course was the site of the 100th PGA Championship, and in 2016 and '17, parts of the course were closed as needed to protect greens during times of stress in advance of the tournament. 
    After the rebuild, nine holes, then 12 were opened in the spring. The remaining holes on the back nine were not scheduled to open until September. The opening was moved up to August 7 when the grow-in went better than expected. For a brief one-day period all 18 holes were open. It was the first time that had happened since last year's club championship.
    "I feel so badly for them," Arraya said. "This is the fifth summer that they haven't had the golf course open totally unimpeded. It's been brutal."
    A month later, the comeback continues. All mowing and spraying equipment has been rendered useless and the shop is off limits due to insurance issues.

    After the floodwater receded, the damage in Bellerive's shop was catastrophic. A two-decade-old study by the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District showed that anywhere from 8 percent to 17 percent of rainwater in the surrounding neighborhood ran onto the golf course in 2000. Twenty years later, construction and more impervious surfaces are bringing even more water onto the property. Areas on the golf course that once were immune from flooding now lie in a 100-year floodplain - including Bellerive's maintenance facility.
    "We have to build a new shop, but we have to move it," Arraya said. "We can't build it here. We have to get it out of the floodplain."
    Erb Equipment, the local John Deere dealer, has helped out with mowing equipment, and Bill Maynard of MTI Distributing (Toro) has helped mow fairways with one of his company's units.
    Arraya still lacks the equipment - and time - needed for fall applications, and he can't make any long-term decisions on a fleet until those insurance issues are resolved.
    "Fall applications for weed suppression, pre-emergent fungicide applications, we can't do that. We don't have the equipment, and we're already behind," he said. "We have more nutsedge and Bermuda in low-lying areas where the water sat. Weed pressure is significant. Along the creek banks there are exotic weeds I haven't even identified yet."
    Arraya and his team have concentrated their resources on short-mow areas. And members have been understanding of the challenges that lie ahead. The process, Arraya, said, is not unlike the phases of grief.
    "When you see the devastation, you wonder 'why us?' " Arraya said. "The members have been great and asked right away 'what can we do to support you?' They are feeling anger, disappointment and now acceptance and moving forward. I don't think they understand the long-term implications. We have to lead them on that path."
    Arraya has built a career defined by leadership, and that is why he has been on the fast track at Bellerive, elevating from superintendent to director of agronomy and now assistant general manager in three years.
    "This is not all about growing grass," he said. "We are showcasing leadership.
    "They definitely don't teach you this in school."
  • Although classes are in session at the University of Florida, extension education for turgrass professionals from researchers like Billy Crow, Ph.D., (center) will be virtual in an October research forum. The way people consume information is changing so rapidly during the pandemic that virtual field days that were unheard of just months ago already are becoming passe.
    With research facilities peppered across the state from the Panhandle to Fort Lauderdale, the University of Florida turf team can cover a lot of research topics with a wide range of appeal. With in-person field days all but canceled everywhere this year, the UF team dismissed the idea of a true virtual field day. When they take to the 'Net in October to update viewers on their ongoing research projects and findings, they balk at the idea of calling the event a virtual field day.
    Tabbed as the inaugural Turfgrass Research Forum, the event is scheduled for Oct. 14, and will replace traditional events at the university's main research farm in Citra, the West Florida Research and Education Center in Jay and the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center in Davie.
    "We've already had three field days whacked this year," said UF professor Bryan Unruh, Ph.D., who also is the associate director of the West Florida Research and Education Center. "We thought about jumping on the virtual field day bandwagon, but we thought we don't need another virtual field day. We are calling this a research symposium. It will be a 30,000-foot look into our research projects rather than digging down into the weeds."
    The event, which will be held on the Microsoft Teams platform, will include research updates from Unruh, Jason Kruse, Ph.D., Kevin Kenworthy, Ph.D., Adam Dale, Ph.D., Phil Harmon, Ph.D., Billy Crow, Ph.D., Laurie Trenholm, Ph.D., and Marco Schiavon, Ph.D. Topics that will be covered in the free event include entomology, nematology, plant pathology, disease management, turfgrass breeding and sports turf management.
    The format will be quite different for Unruh, who as the turf extension agent for the state spends more than 100 days per year on the road speaking at chapter meetings, helping superintendents diagnose problems and develop solutions on golf courses statewide and presenting at traditional field day and research events. Click here to register.
    "The downside is that 111 nights on the road is too many. I've done a lot of soul-searching since March about why I would want to do that," Unruh said. "I am a servant to the industry, and I have a passion for what I do, but there is a cost to 111 nights on the road both personally and professionally."
    Delivery of research projects has become the norm this year as the pandemic has canceled most if not all in-person events, including Gnat Fest, the annual field day event at UF's West Florida facility, and the annual university field day at the main research farm in Citra.
    "You don't get the personal engagement and the dynamic (atmosphere) that you have in person at field plots," Crow said. "The benefits are that we can do it. Better virtual than not at all."
  • Carol Rau, a human resources expert with Career Advantage Golf (left) shown here at last year's Women in Golf Event by Bayer, will be among the speakers at this year's virtual Green Start Academy. The application deadline for this year's virtual Green Start Academy has been extended to Sept. 8.
    The annual educational event for assistant golf course superintendents that is hosted jointly by John Deere and Bayer this year will comprise a series of virtual sessions that will kick off Oct. 14 with an opening general session. 
    The series will take place weekly over four weeks with 90-minute sessions every Wednesday at 3-4:30 p.m. The agenda is as follows:
    Oct 14: Jeff Havens (keynote speaker) – Leading in a Multigenerational Organization,
    Oct 21: Carol Rau – How to Stand Out as an Assistant When Applying for Jobs,
    Oct 28: Carlos Arraya – Leading Golf’s Multicultural Organizations,
    Nov 4: Carol Rau – Position Yourself for Success.
    Havens, a successful author, business growth expert and communication expert will provide participants with insights about how to become a better leader and guidance for successfully navigating the challenges they might face throughout their careers.
    Participants will be assigned to smaller mentorship groups with various golf industry leaders to further encourage meaningful conversation and deeper connections with other participants and facilitators. Dates for those sessions have not yet been confirmed. Mentors include:
    Carlos Arraya – Bellerive Country Club, St Louis,
    Dan Meersman – Philadelphia Cricket Club, Philadelphia,
    P.J. Salter – Riveria Country Club, Miami
    Bob Farren – Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, North Carolina
    Grant Murphy – Barrie Country Club, Barrie, Ontario.
    Lukus Harvey – Atlanta Athletic Club, Atlanta.
    Green Start Academy is open to assistant superintendents from the U.S. and Canada who want to advance their careers and build connections within the golf industry. Click here to apply.
  • In an attempt to further streamline operations of its turf division, Jacobsen will move all manufacturing of its turfcare products to its facility in the United Kingdom.
    The Ransomes/Jacobsen manufacturing center in Ipswich offers more flexibility and will lead to increased manufacturing efficiency, said Simon Rainger, vice president for turf operations for Jacobsen Specialized Vehicles since January. 
    This move will allow Jacobsen to focus its investments, skill and improvements in mower production on a single facility, and leverage existing resources and expertise at its Ipswich facility. The plant, which currently builds Jacobsen and Ransomes mowers, has been in operation for 187 years and is the oldest manufacturer of motorized lawn mowers in the world.
    "This is nothing new," Rainger said in a news conference, adding that manufacturing of some of Jacobsen's turf care products has been occurring in Ipswich for about 20 years, including as much as 50 percent in recent years.
    The company's facility in Augusta, Georgia had been home to Jacobsen's North American manufacturing operations since 2017.
    "As a consequence," said Rainger, shown at right, "we want Ipswich to be a center of excellence of manufacturing that it has built over 200 years of history."
    The move, while promoting increased efficiency will also help Jacobsen focus on customer service, which has plagued Jacobsen for years. Neither does the move represent a shift away from the U.S. market, Rainger said. 
    "North America is still our most important business sector," he said. 
    The changes to Jacobsen's operations were due at least in part to economic stresses that have resulted from the pandemic.
     "The business can't look the same coming out of Covid as it did going in," Rainger said. "We looked at what we did well and what we can improve upon. We looked at what we do habitually, and does that make sense moving forward."
    Jacobsen had moved its North American manufacturing operations to Augusta three years ago after 16 years in Charlotte. 
    "It's no secret," he said, "that Jacobsen has gone through various changes for the last few years, like the relocation from Charlotte, that were not received too well."
  • AWAITING A RETURN TO PLAY: Jon Pfeifer, Ben Wilson, Stephen Guillaumin and Alex Redd (left to right) have been busy keeping LSU's athletic fields in shape during the pandemic. Photos by John Reitman Nicholson Drive is to Baton Rouge what Rodeo Drive is to Beverly Hills.
    Unlike its West Coast cousin that caters to Hollywood celebrities, Nicholson Drive's attraction is not high-falutin retail outlets like Cartier, Prada and Versace.
    Make no mistake, Tiger Stadium, the 102,000-seat home to Louisiana State University's defending national champion football team, is the undisputed Tiffany & Co. of Nicholson Drive.
    Although the fate of this year's college football season is tenuous at best, it has been business as usual for LSU sports turf manager Jon Pfeifer and his crew since the pandemic shut down sports in Baton Rouge and everywhere else in mid-March. 
    "The grass doesn't stop growing," Pfeifer said. 
    LSU's football field was under renovation when the pandemic arrived, so there has been plenty of work there. And the baseball team was still playing across the street at Alex Box Stadium and the softball season was under way at Tiger Park. 
    Alex Box Stadium is a hub activity throughout the year. Besides college games, it is a hotspot for youth tournaments and special events, workouts by aspiring pros and campus visits by high-profile recruits at one of the country's premier college baseball programs.
    This year has been a lot of things, but typical is not one of them.
    "Typically, Alex Box Stadium is busy 11 months a year," Pfeifer said. "Between recruiting, showcases, camps, campouts and tournaments, they want the field to look top notch as much as possible."
    LSU's last game of the baseball season was a 4-1 win over South Alabama on March 11. The remainder of the season was canceled within a few days, and with it the outside events scheduled for Alex Box and the rest of LSU's athletic facilities.
    When the virus ended the baseball season right before a road trip to hated rival Mississippi, there were more questions than answers surrounding sports, and Pfeifer and his team continued to manage the baseball and softball fields to game-ready conditions amid rumors those seasons might restart.
    Pfeifer grows Celebration Bermudagrass at all of LSU's outdoor athletic facilities as well as at University Laboratory School, a nearby high school operated by LSU. It is a hearty turf that requires a lot of attention.
    "It's an aggressive grower," Pfeifer said. "We call it the thatch-master.
    "We kept everything at five-eighths (inch) and didn't vary from that. We had an unseasonably cool spring. Usually, by the first week of April, we're struggling to keep the ryegrass. This year, it's still here," he said in July. 
    "When you want to keep the rye, you can't. We didn't spray any of the ryegrass out, because we didn't know when they might be coming back or if they were coming back."
    It turns out that returning to play has taken much longer than anyone imagined back in March. Baseball and softball are scheduled to return to play in January, but whether that occurs is anyone's guess right now. And those special events? They're not happening either.
    It has been similarly quiet across Nicholson Drive at Tiger Stadium. Well, quiet for everyone except Pfeifer and the rest of his team. 

    SEASON ON THE BRINK: Will there be a return to play this year for college football, or is a long-distance look at LSU mascot Mike the Tiger (No. 7), the closest we'll get? The Celebration Bermudagrass field at Tiger Stadium was removed after last year's regular season finale, a 50-7 drubbing of Texas A&M. Installation of a new Celebration surface was completed in June, giving Pfeifer and his crew two months to grow-in a new field in anticipation of LSU's intrasquad scrimmage, scheduled for Friday.
    Staying busy and staying out of each other's way have been easy for Pfeifer's crew that includes Ben Wilson, Alex Redd and Stephen Guillaumin. Employees are screened daily for symptoms of the virus and when cleared are given a color-coded wristband. 
    Initially, the crew came in on staggered shifts, with each team working just a couple days per week. 
    "We did that for two weeks, then they told us it was going to be more long-term, so let's get some work done," Pfeifer said. "We worked a modified schedule. On Mondays, one of us would come in and start aerifying. On Tuesday, two guys would come in and mow and two more would hop on a tractor and a Pro Gator and pick up cores. We'd finish mowing on Friday. There were never more than two guys working together, and they were never really together. We did that for a month. Since May, we've done a staggered start with one group coming in at 5 (a.m.), one coming in at 6, one coming in at 7 and another at 8," Pfeifer said. "In between, disinfecting goes on, there is mandatory screening and everyone gets what I jokingly call the 'fast pass.'
    "We came up with a good plan to get our work done and still operate under social distancing guidelines. We were really fortunate. The university wanted to make sure we were being smart, but still getting our work done. They left it up to use to build our own schedule."
    Amid a host of uncertainty, the crew has breathed a collective sigh of relief since being trusted to make its own work schedule during the pandemic.
    "The unknown has been nerve-racking," Wilson said. "We are so schedule-oriented, and not knowing what was coming, or when we'd have anything again was stressful. At the same time, we tried to take advantage of that time to do things we normally wouldn't have time to do."
    Although the football team gets a new field, the baseball team will be the beneficiary of some much needed agronomic work when practice begins in January. 
    The stadium opened in 2009, but the amount of activity that occurs each year does not give the grounds team much time to perform cultural practices needed. The result is a surface that doesn't train, or play, like it should.
    The extra time to work on the field has been one of few positives coming out of the pandemic.
    "Normally, we have three weeks out of the year when we can conduct any agronomic practices that we want to on that field," Pfeifer said. "Most years, we get to aerify one time. This year, we've hit it three times already. It is unheard of the year we've had.
    "There's years of build-up. It's not from neglect; we only get one chance per year to take out 10 percent of that field. The biggest advantage this year that players will notice is that soil amendment. We've aerated three times. We've estimated that each time that is 4 million holes. We're swapping out the old material for the new."
    The softball team will also notice a difference when they take the field early in 2021.
    "It's a slow process," Wilson said. "The softball field is new. We redid it two years ago with new drainage, but you can already notice some buildup and thatchiness. This year we've been able to get on there and be pretty aggressive with it. You have to stay on top of it. Celebration is an aggressive grower and it will sneak up on you pretty quickly if you don't stay on it."
    Soon enough, the crew here will be back to painting lines at Tiger Stadium as well as at University High. While it is unknown when they actually get to press the restart button, the downtime has not been for naught.
    "It has given us time," Redd said. "Time to erase the pallet and start over."
  • In July, TurfNet announced that this year's Carolinas GCSA Conference and Trade Show would be held as a virtual event in the fall in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Today, the association released more details about how the show will take place this fall.
     
    Participants can sit for as many or as few of 30 seminars - one a day for 30 days - this fall, starting Nov. 2. The two-hour classes start at 1 p.m. eastern, making the education accessible from everywhere.
     
    The Carolinas GCSA has invested in tailored software to make the attendee experience as smooth and seamless as possible. The vast majority of classes will be presented live and carry GCSAA education points and, in participating states, pesticide credits.
     
    In addition to first-class education, participants will also share in $30,000 worth of cash prizes.
     
    Registration opens later this month but already a growing list of GCSAA affiliated chapters are partnering to promote the event to their members and will receive a share of revenues as a result. Among states where chapters have already signed on as co-promoters are Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
     
    "We have created a platform with the potential for everyone to benefit, and the more people who participate the more benefit there will be for everyone," said Carolinas GCSA president, Brian Stiehler, CGCS, MG at Highlands Country Club in Highlands, North Carolina.
     
    "Clearly, we're not the only association that has been forced to cancel meetings and events. But members can't put their professional development on hold or wait until there is a vaccine to access the latest research and advancements. We're all living in an extraordinary time right now, which is why we are taking extraordinary steps to make the best of it."
     
    The Carolinas GCSA's annual Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach is the largest regional event for golf course superintendents in the country. But the association canceled this year's in-person event in July after surveying members, exhibitors and educators this summer.
     
    "That was arguably the biggest and toughest decision in the history of our association," Stiehler says. "But out of that disappointment, we've come up with a Plan B that we believe has the potential to deliver an A-plus outcome, not just for our members but for superintendents and their chapters across the country and even overseas."
  • An oldie, but a goodie: TurfNet's Jon Kiger, John Reitman and Peter McCormick never see each other much outside of the Golf Industry Show. We see each other far less often now.  
    Few things can test faith like a long-distance relationship. One party is here; the other is there. What could go wrong? 
    Either absence makes the heart grow fonder, or it makes them grow apart. 
    For the past several months, it feels like this business has been one, big long-distance relationship. One that none of us wanted. One that has been forced upon us - with no end in sight. 
    This trial separation we all find ourselves in does not have to be in vain. Some good can come of it. Although being apart stinks now, it is giving us, all of us, an opportunity to reexamine our own little corner of this business and make changes to our operations so we not only can thrive in the future, but simply survive. Doing things the same old way "just because that's how we've always done it" is a surefire path to failure now, 
    The virus also has afforded us time to appreciate friends and others with whom we have built meaningful relationships.
    Absence indeed makes the heart grow fonder.
    Superintendents still have their crews, the infrequent visit from a distributor and maybe an occasional "safety meeting" with colleagues, but for the rest of us, including academia, media and vendors whose products fill your shops, face-to-face interaction is almost non-existent. That is tough in a business propped up as one that is about relationships first. 
    I've never really looked at myself as a people person, but I certainly have never considered myself a "no people" person, either.
    For nearly half a year, our interactions have been limited almost entirely to phone calls, FaceTime, Zoom, Skype or some other virtual intermediary we've since grown weary of. Travel bans in industry and academia ensure that these relationships will be strained for some time to come.
    We are promised every day that the Covid-19 era won't last forever; that we won't always have to wear a mask, or stay 6 feet away from those outside our nuclear families, but I'm beginning to have my doubts. 
    Doctors and politicians feed us conflicting information daily. We are told to trust the science, but, by the very definition of science none exists with this virus. Not yet anyway. Studies surrounding the virus are planned and completed in weeks, not years. They are pushed through peer-review and publication without the replication required to qualify as real science, yet are peddled as absolutes.
    What is absolute about the virus, what we know to be true is that it has exposed every crack in our society and every weakness in our economy, and this business will never be the same. Those entities already weakened or at-risk before the virus might not survive this snapshot in history. Even still, much will change for those that do survive. 
    Whenever in-person conferences, trade shows, field days and other events resume, who will attend them? Some will, but some won't. And for those who do, what will they find when they get there? The easy answer is "less." 
    Attendance at the state, regional and national events already has been in decline. And the Zoom era is proving, as much as we might not like it, that we are able to get by on less than before. Those controlling budgets and spending will decide how much of our in-person relationship we will resume, but returning to a schedule of educational and industry events that require boarding a plane is not coming back any time soon for a lot of us.
    A recent poll by Golf Course Industry magazine asked superintendents what they will miss most with no in-person GIS in 2021. The choices were networking (45.3 percent), after-hours events (44.6), seeing new products (6.4) and education (3.7). While the poll is not scientific, it is revealing to learn that 89.9 percent of those responding said the activities they will miss most have nothing at all to do with the show or the conference portions of GIS.
    Vendors foot much of the bill at the Golf Industry Show to help support education for superintendents. They also want access to you, the superintendent. When only 6 percent of those in a poll say that more than anything they are going to miss walking the show floor, how much access are they getting? With field day attendance down, how much access to superintendents are they getting? Probably not nearly as much as they'd like. Superintendents in turn counter by bemoaning a lack of buzz-generating new products that will help them do their jobs more efficiently and an educational component in need of a renovation that would make Donald Ross blush.
    As stressful to the psyche and damaging to the economy as the pandemic era has been, it also represents an opportunity for change on many levels. In a post-Covid environment, will sponsors continue to fund industry events if they don't get the access they want with superintendents with buying power? 
    Some will, but likely at a reduced level. Some likely will never return. Event planners better listen and find a solution that provides value to everyone
    Education at industry events is not exempt. In-class curriculum at all levels is changing to include some sort of virtual component, and the last several months have presented the academic community in turf with an opportunity to up its game, too. Virtual events have introduced new ways to present information and allow people to reach a much larger audience at a fraction of the cost associated with travel. Will some sort of hybrid event supplant traditional education that, according to the poll above, might need a refresher course anyway?
    Whatever the future holds for this industry when it comes to education and showcasing new products, one thing is almost certain: Nothing will be the same again, and we likely will continue to see much less of each other, at least in person.
    That's the way it goes in a long-distance relationship.
  • All hands on deck: Online for the OTF-Ohio State virtual field day this week were: top row from left, Dave Gardner, Ph.D., Joe Rimelspach and Pam Sherratt; middle row from left, Ed Nangle, Ph.D., Zane Raudenbush, Ph.D., and Karl Danneberger, Ph.D.; bottom row from left, Todd Hicks and Dave Shetlar, Ph.D. From grade school classrooms to college campuses and everywhere in between, education has been turned upside as a new school year begins.
    Some schools are wide open, some are offering classes only online, some are somewhere in between. And that's just for kindergarteners who only show up at school for finger painting, recess and an afternoon nap.
    Education for working professionals also is compromised in the Covid-19 era as university turf programs revamp the field day experience. Formats for delivery of information are as varied as the content. Some have canceled field day events outright and others have developed a virtual replacement, some are a combination of live and recorded and at least one has been, for now, replaced by an ongoing series of discussions presented once a month. 
    One thing many researchers presenting data in a virtual format agree upon is that despite the need to go online at least in the short term, there is no substitute for a live field day, because you can't touch, smell or feel through a cell phone or computer.
    "No, you can't," said Todd Hicks, program specialist in the turfgrass pathology department at Ohio State University. 
    "We still have a lot of good material to present," said Jay McCurdy, Ph.D., associate professor at Mississippi State University. "It's up to our stakeholders to make sure it is energetic and informative."
    Despite the best of intentions, that can be easier said than done.
    "I think we're all a little 'webinared out,' " said Jim Brosnan, Ph.D., of the University of Tennessee.
    Two hybrid field days this week took different paths in hopes of achieving the same end - to provide professional turf managers in their respective communities with updates on current research trials and what presenters hope is timely information on current conditions. And more are on the way.
    Every other year, the University of Connecticut attracts as many as 80 superintendents to the campus in Storrs for a golf-specific field day, said John Inguagiato, Ph.D., assistant professor of turfgrass pathology.
    This year, about 100 people logged in for a virtual event that included a combination of pre-recorded videos and live presentations from university researchers.
    Inguagiato was not sure how that would go over with viewers, but said the virtual experience allows for use of some visual aides. And because the virtual field day can potentially expand reach in-person field days in the future might also include some sort of virtual experience.
    "Based on some of the feedback I received, some people found it easier to follow along, and hopefully they were able to get more out of it," Inguagiato said. "We were able to use photos, drone imagery and graphs that help people understand the science, and there is something to be said for that."
    The Ohio Turfgrass Foundation field day at Ohio State also was an online event this week.
    This year's event included a series of eight pre-recorded videos on topics like weed control, disease management, billbug research, tips for sports turf managers and PGR use in bluegrass fairways. Attendees who registered in advance were given online access to the videos and had the opportunity to submit questions by email that OSU's research team responded to in a live Q&A session with Karl Danneberger, Ph.D., Dave Gardner, Ph.D., Dave Shetlar, Ph.D., Pam Sherratt, Hicks and Joe Rimelspach from the main campus in Columbus and Ed Nangle, Ph.D., and Zane Raudenbush, Ph.D., from OSU-ATI in Wooster.
    Attendees also could submit questions on other real-world problems not covered in the videos.
    Among the challenges for Rimelspach and Hicks from OSU's turf pathology department was to record information in July and hope it remained relevant several weeks later in a summer dominated by mild weather early, hot and humid conditions in July and hot, dry weather into August.
    Two months ago, superintendents throughout Ohio were reporting prolonged periods of brown patch. But lately, dollar spot, not brown patch, has been the biggest problem throughout much of the state.
    "We stood out on the plots and talked about what we were seeing at the time," Hicks said. "Here's what we're seeing, and here's what's working. Dollar spot was not a problem then.
    "That didn't start until probably a week after we recorded."
    When the University of Tennessee decided in the spring to cancel its annual field day held each September at the East Tennessee Research and Education Center, it was replaced with Turfgrass Tuesdays, a live webinar series held the first week of each month. 
    Subjects to date have included Poa control, sports field management, Blue Muda and zoysiagrass for golf turf and sports field applications. Topics still on tap are disease control and herbicide programs.
    "When we decided not to have a field day, we decided to do this instead," said UT's Brosnan, professor of weed science. 
    "Our sole focus has been on a new digital learning series."
    After considering several options, Tennessee settled on a live webinar platform. The format has been a hit with turf managers, with an average of about 130 logging in for each session, Brosnan said.
    "At a field day, you get to see plots, interact with people doing research and ask questions," Brosnan said. "If we did pre-recorded videos, we'd lose that interaction. That's why we went the webinar route. I don't know if it is a long-term solution, but it was the best solution in April."
    When Mississippi State University conducts its virtual version of a turfgrass field day on Sept. 17, it will include a mix of pre-recorded videos and live presentations in a webinar-type format.
    "I can say from an extension perspective that we are very good at in-person events," said MSU's McCurdy.
    "We're not like some other schools, we have not been charged with delivering material in other ways. We are trying to catch up."
    Although field days might have lost some of the personal touch in a virtual format, it is only temporary. Or is it? Like everything else during the past several months, field day education (at some, not all universities) likely will look a little different in a post-Covid era - whenever that is. An online component that can attract viewers from far away, is relatively cheap to produce and can allow for on-demand viewing, undoubtedly will be part of future curriculum, just like it is becoming in the classroom.
    Don't worry, for those who miss the in-person experience, you'll be able to get back out there on those plots soon enough.
    "I think there is webinar fatigue out there, and it's going to get worse when all the shows are out there online," Brosnan said. "So, what do you do in 2021? I think there is some digital growth area out there for programming, but what that grows into, I'm not sure yet."

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