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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    Through the years, Bruce Clarke's name has become synonymous with anthracnose research.
    Professor and extension specialist in turfgrass pathology at Rutgers University, Clarke has served in various roles at Rutgers since 1981. In that time, he has authored more than 80 scientific articles and books. And his research work has become the blueprint of anthracnose management from coast to coast.
    Recently, Clarke was named the recipient of the Nebraska Turfgrass Association Presidential Award. The award is given annually to "an individual who has made a significant contribution to the turfgrass industry in Nebraska, the nation, or both."
    The recipient of the 2016 USGA Green Section Award, Clarke's research lab has produced several graduate students who have significantly impacted the field of turfgrass pathology. His research with anthracnose is just one of these impactful areas of study.
    The NTA also honored superintendent Ron Kothe and Jerry Deines with its Distinguished Service Award.
  • Bill Davis, Ph.D., of Wake Forest University (foreground) leads a negotiations session at a recent Syngenta Business Institute. Golf course superintendents looking to take their leadership skills to the next level can  apply for the 2020 Syngenta Business Institute, scheduled for Dec. 1-4, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  
    Now in its 12th year, the SBI program is led by Wake Forest University School of Business faculty. The graduate-level curriculum has been tailored specifically for golf course superintendents and focuses on topics such as financial management, work/life balance, navigating generational and cultural differences, leadership skills, effective communication and negotiation tactics. 
    "We know superintendents are responsible for more than managing the agronomics of a course. They are also held to a high standard for budget and employee management," said Stephanie Schwenke, turf market manager for Syngenta. "That's why Syngenta is committed to going beyond our innovative turf solutions and continues to offer opportunities like SBI. Through this program, superintendents learn skills that will help them grow as leaders on the course and within our industry."  
    Syngenta will select approximately 25 individuals employed in the United States as a superintendent, director of agronomy or at an equivalent level to attend the three-day program. Applications must be submitted online by midnight on Aug. 11. 
    "The value of SBI is so great. I've attended a lot of continuing education seminars, and this was definitely the most impactful post-college educational activity I've ever been able to participate in," said 2019 SBI attendee Thomas Slevin, golf course superintendent at Napa Golf Course at Kennedy Park in Napa, California. "The amount of personal reflection I've experienced from SBI has only just begun. If you're willing to challenge yourself and do the personal reflection, you'd be absolutely crazy not to apply."
    To learn more about the Syngenta Business Institute and to apply, visit GreenCastOnline.com/SBI. Superintendents can also contact their local Syngenta territory manager for more information. Completed SBI applications are due by midnight on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. Selected participants will be notified of their acceptance in October. 
    Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter with @SyngentaTurf by using #SBI20. 
  • As trends in the golf industry shift - namely fewer people playing on a shrinking number of courses, heavily scrutinized management practices and a labor crunch, and no end in sight for any of it - golf course architecture too must take a different path.
    Golf course architect Andy Staples is out to change the way people view the game. He believes factors like courses that are shorter than 18 holes, have few if any hazards and are easier to maintain and traits like compelling design don't have to be mutually exclusive.
    In fact, the concept that a good golf course has to fit a certain template and level of difficulty is a tradition as old as the game itself, and it is a hurdle that comes up in conversation so often, it makes Staples laugh when asked about it.
    "I hear it all the time," said Staples, principal of Scottsdale-based Staples Golf Design. "The perception is that a course that is built in a sustainable manner and is easy to maintain either is a lower-tier course, or you can't afford to maintain it."
    Sustainable and compelling design that minimizes time spent on maintenance, mowing and inputs and reduces water and energy consumption can help grow the game, Staples says. 
    "I believe design matters; architecture matters," he said. "I believe compelling, interesting architecture compels people to play more. Years ago, just the game itself brought people out to the golf course. It's not that way anymore. Compelling design that is easily maintained is what golfers find appealing."
    It also is what the industry desperately needs, says Staples. 
    Golf course superintendents from coast to coast are struggling to find and retain labor. Golf courses are competing with and losing to retail outlets and restaurants for labor. The situation is even worse in states where mandated raises in the minimum wage are underway.
    High school students once lined up for golf course jobs thanks to the allure of free golf and working outdoors. Now, it's the job no one wants.
    Golfer demand and scrutinized maintenance practices from those outside the industry who don't know and don't want to know what happens inside the ropes often are at odds with each other. Access to adequate water supplies is a real issue in much of the country and it's a challenge that is not going away.

    Andy Staples renovated Rockwind Community Links in New Mexico in 2013. Staples got his start in the business with Wadsworth Golf Construction and has owned his own design firm since 2002. Today when he meets with decision makers at daily fee courses and private clubs on projects such as master plans, renovations and total rebuilds, he brings up alternative to traditional golf course design like 12-hole designs, removing bunkers or eliminating them entirely and for those who decide to keep them, changing the design to reduce maintenance time spent in bunkers or on the faces of them.
    His firm boasts more than 100 projects varying in size and scope, and he implements a sustainable design philosophy in all of them, including elements that support water and fuel efficiency and require minimal maintenance input.
    One project currently underway in Arizona, the golf course once had 60 bunkers totalling more than 90,000 square feet. Today, the same course has 58 bunkers occupying just 60,000 square feet. That's a reduction of more than 30 percent. 
    "I tried to have several holes with no bunkers at all, but the members saw that idea and said 'there has to be something.' " he said. 
    He hopes one day he can convince people that it's OK to have a golf course with no bunkers at all.
    "I have one project now going on that has just seven bunkers and some transition areas," he said. 
    "It's not an easy conversation. My dream is to have a client that allows me to design a course with no bunkers."
    Although no one has taken him up on the idea of a bunker-free golf course, Staples has not lost hope.
    "Every property is unique and different," he said. "Conversations with owners and superintendents are getting easier. Now, they're actually expecting a philosophy around water conservation and energy efficiency, things we never got into years ago. Now, the No. 1 issue on everyone's list is labor. We're trying to reduce bunker quantity and maintenance and we're think about interest rather than putting mindless bunkers in everywhere.
    "In my business today as opposed to when I first started, we were not having these conversations. We were ignoring them. I never had a sit down with a senior group of players on a Tuesday afternoon after their round. Now, I'm having those kinds of meetings all the time, communicating, educating and building trust."

  • News and people briefs

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Lebanon directs focus on Emerald Isle line
    LebanonTurf, a provider of plant nutrition products for the golf and landscaping industries, is launching a new campaign highlighting its Emerald Isle Solutions True Foliar Technology. 
    Emerald Isle Solutions use fulvic acid and sea plant extract to deliver nutrients directly to the plant through foliar absorption. As part of the program, LebanonTurf announced a new, permanent lower price point for Emerald Isle Solutions and expanded the True Performance rebate program. Now, it is no longer a product bundle, and customers can get the rebate from Emerald Isle Solutions without having to buy the LebanonTurf Country Club MD product. The available rebates include a 10 percent rebate on $8,000 of Emerald Isle Solutions and a 5 percent rebate on $4,000 of Emerald Isle Solutions.
    LebanonTurf also is giving away a $500 Amazon gift card each month, plus a $5,000 grand prize donation to the winner's local GCSAA or STMA chapter.
    Andersons names new director of turf segment
    The Andersons has named Anthony Goldsby as director of its Professional Turf business. Goldsby will replace Bob Eichenberg upon his retirement in March and will be directly responsible for the division's business strategy, sales and marketing initiatives and customer service.
    Goldsby joined The Andersons in May 2018 as an agronomist for the professional turf business. Since then, he has provided technical and agronomic support. Prior to joining The Andersons, Goldsby was national turf products manager for Ewing Irrigation.
    He received bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from Kansas State University, where he also served as a research technician for the university's 13-acre turfgrass research facility.
    Profile Products acquires HydroStraw
    Profile Products, a maker of erosion-control products, announced the acquisition of the erosion-control and seed businesses of HydroStraw. 
    The transaction includes all HydroStraw erosion-control and seed product lines, as well as the company's Rockford, Washington, production plant/distribution center and employees. 
    The transaction closed on February 20, 2020. Financial terms were not disclosed.
  • The University of Minnesota is among the recipients of 73 research grants funded by the USGA this year. The USGA will fund 73 research grants this year totaling nearly $2 million to help superintendents maximize conditions and the golfer experience while minimizing inputs.
    The 2020 grant recipients – 16 of which involve new projects – will receive an average of $25,000 this year. Notable grant support includes a focus on conserving water by better understanding new technologies and the social aspects of irrigation scheduling through the University of California at Riverside, in addition to a continuing effort to define the value of golf courses from an ecosystem services perspective through the University of Minnesota.
    Since the founding of the Green Section in 1920, the USGA has supported the largest private turfgrass and environmental research effort in the history of golf. The USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Program, which is one of several continuous efforts led by the Green Section aimed at enhancing golf course sustainability, develops and supports research that produces a healthier environment and improved playing conditions.
    Since the research program’s inception, the USGA has invested more than $41 million to advance golf by using science and innovation as the foundation to impact thousands of courses and millions of golfers.  
    Led by Cole Thompson, Ph.D., the research program is part of the USGA’s mission to advance the game through an annual $10 million investment to support the health of courses. Universities or research companies submit grant applications that are reviewed by 17 scientists on the TERP committee. As part of its ongoing mission to advance the game, the USGA will complement current turfgrass and environmental research with projects that benefit other areas of course sustainability, including golfer experience.
    Recipients include Environmental & Turf Services, Kansas State Univeristy, University of Minnesota, Loyola University Chicago, Rutgers University, Penn State, University of Nebraska, Oklahoma State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of Florida, Texas A&M, University of California at Riverside, Purdue University, Cal Poly Pomona, University of Georgia, University of Arkansas, University of Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, University of Massachusetts, New Mexico State University, Colorado State University, Oregon State University, Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin, North Dakota State University, North Carolina State University, University of Tennessee, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Ohio State University, Texas Tech and the University of Connecticut.
    Through the program’s emphasis on sustainable turfgrass management and environmental protection, the USGA has improved the efficiency of key areas of course management, including water conservation, pesticide and nutrient distribution, and turfgrass breeding.
    Collectively, superintendents across the country have reduced overall water use by 19 percent since 2005, in part due to research-based irrigation methods such as employing weather data in plant water-use estimates, replacing potable irrigation water with recycled wastewater, the adoption of precision irrigation technologies and improved educational opportunities for superintendents.
    USGA research has contributed to the reduction of an estimated 86,000 tons of annual fertilizer use on golf courses since 2007 and has defined application strategies that limit the transport of nutrients to surface water and groundwater.
    USGA-supported turfgrass breeding programs have developed more than 30 cultivars that use fewer resources and produce better playing conditions. These cultivars have been used worldwide in golf, sports turf and residential lawns.
    Research from the program also has contributed to USGA recommendations for putting green construction.
  • If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make any noise?
    That's the question Ken Schumacher, a golf course superintendent in southeastern Michigan, asked himself when he wrote and implemented a BMP program then didn't tell anyone about it.
    "I wrote a BMP program after collecting bits and pieces from what other superintendents and chapters were doing," said Schumacher, superintendent at Bedford Hills Golf Club in Temperance, Michigan since 1993. "Finally, I asked myself 'what good is this if no one knows about it?' "
    So, eventually, Schumacher, right, decided to share his work with municipal leaders in Bedford Township. Before he realized what he had done, he had been recruited to serve on the board of the township's green initiative committee. And his work on the golf course has helped reinforce the environmental stewardship efforts that so many golf course superintendents excel at but struggle to share with others outside the industry. 
    Now, Schumacher, 46, attends not only green committee meetings, but township meetings and more as well, but his success at the local level illustrates the challenges that face golf course superintendents when trying to convince others of their stewardship work on behalf of the environment.
    His BMP program includes fertilizer and chemical use, water management and wetting agents, recycling, conversion to LED lights and more. And he is able to prove what he is doing through regular testing of soil and water.
    "When I wrote our BMP program, I used information from 10 other places, and when I wrote it all down I discovered more than half of what we were doing we already had been doing for years," Schumacher said. "I thought if no one knows about, what good is it? How can you say you are not polluting if you don't have the data to prove it? Now, we have the data to prove it.
    "A lot of people (in local government) are anti-fertilizer. When I brought it to the township they asked me to be on the (green initiative) board. It has opened doors for us and it has made it easier to work with the township. We gained business from it."
    Schumacher's BMP program has gone a long way in changing the way some in local government think about golf.
    "We were a little apprehensive when we heard 'golf course.' When you hear that, you think about generating revenue and cutting expenses," said Al Prieur, Bedford Township Deputy Supervisor. 
    "Environment is not the first thing you think of when you hear 'golf course.' "
    At least some in the township have changed their way of thinking, even if it is just how they think about Schumacher and Bedford Hills. In response to his efforts, the township honored Bedford Hills with its Environmental Excellence Award.
    "Ken is very focused on the environment," Prieur said. "What he has done is a real breath of fresh air.
    "If you have a golf course that is environmentally friendly, it means you have a golf course that is a good neighbor, and you don't have to worry about what is coming off the golf course to areas around it.
    "We are hoping to take what he has done at the golf course and take it to our local businesses." 

    Although Bedford Hills is in Michigan, the southern edge of the course literally runs along the Ohio state line and the densely populated Toledo metro area. Schumacher even lives in Ohio and spends more time at OTF conferences in Columbus than he does East Lansing.
    Don Lawrence has known Schumacher for years. A former OTF president, Lawrence is also an ex-superintendent and a Michigan State turf grad. A sales rep for Advance Turf Solutions, Lawrence believes Schumacher's path is exactly what superintendents should follow to help dispel the notion that they do not water and spray without regard for the ecosystem.
    "He only does what is needed where it's needed when it's needed," Lawrence said. 
    "It speaks highly of him to put himself out in front and be part of that community and be a voice of reason for the golf industry."
    There are a lot of golf courses in the Toledo area that includes southeastern Michigan, and although there is no cookie-cutter solution that fits all of them, Schumacher is willing to share his program with anyone who wants to use it as a template on which to build their own program.
    "I was surprised the township asked me to be on the board. I wasn't ready to get involved. That was not my intention," Schumacher said. 
    "I don't want a parade, but I think when someone shows interest you have to tell them what you are doing. To me, this is the future of greenkeeping. If we don't all do this, we're going to die."
  • Emerald ash borer is now found in 35 U.S. states and five provinces in Canada. Photo by U.S. Forest Service From one extreme to the other, people in the emerald ash borer's growing range are grousing, saying the tiny bug is becoming a bigger and bigger problem.
    The ash borer's presence in the Northeast is expected to intensify this year, according to experts, and scientists on the western side of its range are introducing other non-native species of insects in hopes of controlling its spread and the damage it causes.
    The spread of EAB since it first was found in the United States nearly two decades ago can be attributed to the lack of natural predators, but also to host susceptibility. Ash trees in EAB's native Asia have built up some immunity to the pest over time, while host trees in the U.S. have not.
    "Several of us around the country have evaluated host susceptibility to EAB since we first detected it in 2002. We've used a variety of experimental designs to evaluate host susceptibility," said Nate Siegert, entomologist at U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, in a webinar hosted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
    "What we consistently find across these studies is that North American species of ash are more susceptible than Asian species of ash due to co-evolution of the host and the insect pest. European species tend to be intermediate in terms of susceptibility."
    In Nebraska, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently introduced at least two species of non-native, non-stinging wasps in the fight against EAB. The wasps, which are native to Asia, are natural predators of EAB and parasitize the pests in their larval stage.
    EAB entered the United States in 2002 aboard a Chinese cargo ship. Since then, it has spread to 35 U.S. states and five provinces in Canada and caused billions in damage, killing trees on golf courses, in parks and forest land. 
    Native to eastern Asia, the EAB borer burrows into ash trees as an adult where it lays its eggs. The larvae feed on the layer beneath the bark, disrupting the tree's vascular system and its ability to take up water and nutrients and eventually kill the tree.
    The ash borer's current range has increased dramatically, according to the web site emeraldashborer.info, and borders Colorado to the west, Texas and the Gulf Coast to the South, the Atlantic to the East and north all the way to Maine. It is an area that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Florida, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming are on high alert.
    It is found in Canada in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec. 
    The EAB web site is a news and information portal that is a cooperative effort between Michigan State, Purdue and Ohio State universities, the Michigan and Ohio departments of Agriculture; the Michigan, Indiana and Ohio departments of Natural Resources; the USDA Forest Service; the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
    In recent years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been raising non-stinging parasitic wasps from Asia to help control EAB.
     
    Four species of wasp have proven to be effective at parasitizing 50-90 percent of the target EAB ova or larvae, Spathius galinae, Spathius agrili, Oobius agrili and Tetrastichus planipennisi, the last two being the same species used recently in Nebraska.
    Those parasitic predators lay their eggs on EAB larvae and when they hatch the juvenile wasps eat their way out, killing the host.
    The wasps are raised at the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service facility in Brighton, Michigan.
  • Dan Dommer at Ozaukee CC in Wisconsin won the Golden Wrench in 2019. In an era defined by a shortage of labor from Alabama to Alaska and everywhere in between, it helps to have a team member who can be all things to all people - like Dan Dommer.
    The winner of last year's TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, Dommer is the do-it-all equipment manager at Ozaukee Country Club in Mequon, Wisconsin. There, Dommer excels as a mechanic, makes sure mower reels are sharpened to keep pace with Ozaukee superintendent Brett Hosler's aggressive topdressing program, mows and topdresses fairways and oversees all clubhouse maintenance.
    Nominations for Dommer's successor are now being accepted for the 2020 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by John Deere.
    Criteria on which candidates 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. 
    Click here to nominate your equipment manager. The nomination deadline is April 30
    Three finalists will be profiled on TurfNet. The winner, who will be named later this year, will receive the Golden Wrench Award and some other good prizes from our new sponsor, John Deere, the details of which are still being finalized.
    Previous winners include (2019) Dan Dommer, Ozaukee Country Club, Mequon, WI; (2018) Terry Libbert, Old Marsh Golf Club, Palm Beach Gardens, FL; (2017) Tony Nunes, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, IL; (2016) Kris Bryan, Pikewood National Golf Club, Morgantown, WV; (2015) Robert Smith, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, PA; (2014) Lee Medeiros, Timber Creek and Sierra Pines Golf Courses, Roseville, CA; (2013) Brian Sjögren, Corral de Tierra Country Club, Corral de Tierra, CA; (2012) Kevin Bauer, Prairie Bluff Golf Club, Crest Hill, IL; (2011) Jim Kilgallon, The Connecticut Golf Club, Easton, CT; (2010) Herb Berg, Oakmont (PA) Country Club; (2009) Doug Johnson, TPC at Las Colinas, Irving, TX; (2007) Jim Stuart, Stone Mountain (GA) Golf Club; (2006) Fred Peck, Fox Hollow and The Homestead, Lakewood, CO; (2005) Jesus Olivas, Heritage Highlands at Dove Mountain, Marana, AZ; (2004) Henry Heinz, Kalamazoo (MI) Country Club; (2003) Eric Kulaas, Marriott Vinoy Renaissance Resort, Sarasota, FL.
  • Attendance this year? 'About' the same as last year. There is no question that the Golf Industry Show is nothing like it once was. The decade-plus-long trend of declining attendance and shrinking convention floor space have made measuring shows since the 2008 recession against those before it an apples-and-oranges comparison.
    As the GCSAA's largest money maker and the engine that drives member education, its place in the industry cannot be overstated. Given the corresponding trend of industry contraction and changes in the way people gather and consume information, the show also has entered a critical time in which its future and how it will be constructed in years to come must be discussed.
    The changing nature of the show is indicative of a few things, among them market contraction (there are 1,472 fewer courses today than there were 15 years ago) and cost of attendance (especially for those whose club will not cover the cost). It also is reflective of a dynamic industry in which it no longer is necessary to get on a plane and spend a week in a hotel to get certified education or learn about the latest and greatest products designed to help superintendents be more efficient.
    Not knocking GIS education at all. It is one piece in a puzzle of how many superintendents stay ahead of the curve in an evolving industry. But it does not take a genius to figure out there are many more people in classrooms early in the week than there are on the show floor on Wednesday and, umm, Thursday.
    As we've heard over and over during the early days of the presidential primary season, "do the math" and it appears some cracks are starting to show. 
    It was easy to look at numbers each year and gauge the health of GIS. The way some of the data are now measured by the GCSAA even makes it a challenge to compare this year's show in Orlando with ones as recent as, oh, last year in San Diego.
    Attendance last year was 11,900, including 5,950 folks the GCSAA calls qualified buyers, or those who have the ability to make a purchase agreement on the GIS trade show floor. A total of 510 exhibitors rented 208,650 square feet of space at the San Diego Convention Center. Attendance also included 5,479 education conference seats sold.
    How does this year's show compare? That's a good question, but given the reporting of metrics this year, "about" the same will have to do. Gone are the days when GCSAA had ironclad numbers on all its show metrics before everyone left town to return home. I'm sure vendors are privy to exact numbers, but after four requests, we got "about" and "nearly".
    Attendance this year was "nearly" 12,000 and there were "nearly" 6,000 qualified buyers, according to GCSAA. The association also said there were "more than" 500 exhibitors and the trade show covered "more than" 450,000 square feet inside the Orange County Convention Center - 450,000.
    If that number looks a little off, it should.
    That figure is more than double that of last year's show in San Diego and is 50 percent more than 2008 in Orlando. The difference is those shows reported only rented booth space. This year's 450,000 sf includes the GCSAA store and all common areas.
    Anyone who remembers that 2008 show in Orlando on the west side of International Drive will recall how massive and daunting that trade show floor was. Navigating this year's show was anything but. It was defined by wide aisles, little competing foot traffic and enough unoccupied space on the periphery to build a small subdivision. 
    Requests for specific numbers were met with silence and the reason behind changes to reporting trade show floor space was "This figure give(s) a more clear picture of the trade show floor." So, there you have it.
    What we do know for sure is this, there is a loud and clear message that fewer superintendents are unable or unwilling to travel to the show and many who do attend for education fail to find value in the trade show model. 
    Changes in technology change the way society works. It's part of evolution. When cars were invented, no one poured more money into the horse and buggy trade, and the Internet has decimated the newspaper industry. Changes to GIS will be necessary at some point to maximize how it best serves GCSAA members, the association itself and those called upon to fund your education.
    I recall a discussion with the golf market manager for a very large industry vendor - he no longer is in the business - who told me how he would be happy to donate money for superintendent education but skip the expense of exhibiting at the annual GIS trade show. He also knew he never could follow through because of fear that it would cause a snowball effect and he didn't want to be known as "the guy who killed the Golf Industry Show."
    That was in 2005. 
    How the GIS model works in the future is up to you, your association and those asked to pay the bills. But before you help decide, you should know all the numbers, not just "about" and "nearly". You deserve more than that.

  • News and people briefs

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Syngenta expands social media footprint 
    Syngenta has launched a new Facebook page to provide additional turf management resources for golf course superintendents, sports turf managers and lawncare operators.
    The interactive platform is designed to provide more social content and supplement Syngenta’s Twitter page. It includes expert advice on disease and pest control, as well as product information, testimonials and videos, and news items such as the TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award and the Ladies Leading Turf event at this year’s Golf Industry Show. 
    It also includes features on personalities like groundskeeper extraordinaire George Toma, who has helped with field prep for every Super Bowl since the inaugural game in 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
    Aquatrols adds to sales team
    As a result of a recent strategic agreement between Aquatrols and Redox Turf, Aquatrols has expanded its sales team with former Redox employees, Daniel McCann and Barry Bennett. 
    In their previous roles, McCann and Bennet both served as Manufacturing Representatives for Redox. 
    They will join the sales team as territory managers and will help the company promote the new, expanded Aquatrols and Redox lines. “
    Customers can contact McCann at DMcCann@aquatrols.com and Benett at BBennett@aquatrols.com.
    Rain Bird taps Lawson for sales manager post
    Jeff Lawson recently was named national sales manager for the Rain Bird golf division. 
    He will be responsible for leading Rain Bird’s sales and distribution teams in the U.S. and Canada with the ultimate goal of driving golf product and pump station sales.
     
    Most recently, Lawson served as Rain Bird Golf’s western regional sales manager. During that time, he built relationships with distributors and strengthened his sales team. 
  • Conditions at Monterey Yacht and Country Club rival those at private clubs in South Florida. Photos by John Reitman Names can be deceiving.
    On the surface, Monterey Yacht and Country Club in the well-to-do town of Stuart, Florida, sounds like one of South Florida's premier golf clubs. The name alone rivals high-budget courses in the area like Mariner Sands, Champions Club, Sailfish Point and the Floridian Club that was built in the 1990s by late garbage magnate H. Wayne Huizenga. 
    In reality, Monterey YCC is a modest, yet well-maintained nine-holer that redefines low-budget golf. There are no yachts here, and the course weaves so tightly through a 55-and-older condo complex that the buildings there create a stadium effect that is every claustrophobe's nightmare. In many respects, Monterey is the poster child for the mom-and-pop type courses that are the backbone of the golf industry and too often are closing. 
    In an area peppered with courses designed by the likes of Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Joe Lee, there is no architect of record at Monterey. Although the course is barely on Florida's mainland, it can seem like an island for superintendent Matt Lean.
    Lean has so few resources at Monterey - his total budget for everything is about $100,000 - he admits he sometimes is embarrassed if colleagues from around the industry come calling for a visit.
    "Nobody comes here. No magazines, nobody," Lean said in the days after this year's Golf Industry Show. "You're the only one who's come here, and I was embarrassed to have you here the first time."
    For the record, this recent visit to Monterey was the second for TurfNet, and the first in nearly four years. There are a lot of courses like Monterey and a lot of superintendents like Lean throughout the country, but their needs and accomplishments often are overshadowed by their high-rent neighbors. And their stories, good as they are, rarely get told.
    OK, so "nobody" visiting might be a bit of a stretch. In his 10 years as superintendent at Monterey, Lean has developed a few trusted contacts, mostly vendor reps who he knows he can rely on for the unvarnished truth when he has serious issues or just a simple question. Still, he's right when he hints he's not exactly on everyone's radar screen. To his credit, Lean won't come out and say it, but let's face it, a nine-hole, executive course that barely measures 1,200 yards and winds past a shuffleboard court and bocce complex in a senior condo community hardly fits the alphabet crowd's agenda. Ironically, many of the courses that do fit the golf industry model would love to have the 140-plus rounds per day that are played at Monterey throughout the winter.
    One of those contacts is Mike Bailey, a WinField rep who has become Lean's close confidant.
    A former superintendent for two decades, Bailey has been on the commercial side of the business for 18 years and builds trust with superintendents by taking a low-key approach to sales.
    In those early days of Lean's career, Bailey talked to him about disease, invasive turf species, height of cut, cultural practices and more. He still does.
    "I've known Matt for so long, I can't remember where we first met," Bailey said. "I don't call on people as a sales person, I talk to them as a fellow superintendent. They ask questions and we talk as colleagues."

    With no formal turf education, Matt Lean has been superintendent at Monterey Yacht and Country Club for 10 years. Even when Lean hires contractors, sometimes they show, sometimes they don't, sometimes they're just late, leaving him feeling like the Rodney Dangerfield of golf course superintendents.
    He's not bitter about being among the latter in a world of haves and have-nots; but if he wants things done and done right he knows he's on his own. Once an aspiring tennis professional who chased his dream decades ago on the mini-tours in California, Lean doesn't have a formal turf education. He learned on the job nearby at the Joe Lee-designed Piper's Landing Golf and Yacht Club (they have real yachts there!) and continues to learn daily through trial and error at Monterey.
    Lean's brain is always racing and he's constantly asking questions and posing hypothetical situations about cultural practices, pests and diseases and the chemistries used to manage them, water issues or how he has to think outside the box 365 days a year because of his general lack of resources to give his members a playing surface. Trying to keep up as he darts from one topic to the next can be an exhausting exercise in futility.
    "I think I've always been like that, but this job has probably made it worse, or heightened it. I think I like heightened better," he said. "But, if you're in this business and you're not always thinking, you're going to have problems."
    To call the resources at Lean's disposal "modest" would be an understatement. 
    His shop does not have a lift and he has walk-in closets in his home that are larger than his 5x5 office.
    His aerifier - circa 1998 - recently broke down, leaving him with only a tow-behind spiker until he finds an alternative. The motor on his 30-year-old irrigation pump burned out just before GIS leaving him without water for 12 days. Fortunately, it did rain two days in the interim, but there were scars around the course that he's masked with a colorant. His 2001 utility cart doesn't always respond when he steps on the pedal, and his 20-year-old sprayer is still chugging along - between repair jobs.

    About 140 rounds per day are played at Monterey throughout the winter months. "It's like a World War II fighter, it runs great," he said.
    The last time the sprayer went down, Lean saved thousands by finding parts online and making the repairs himself. It's what he has to do.
    Lean has a background in basic mechanics and used to rebuild vintage hot rods.
    "I'll do some of the basic mechanics around the golf course, but I won't grind reels," he said. "You have to pick your battles." 
    His "staff" consists of 70-year-old Joe Dovutovich, a retired ironworker from Pittsburgh with a work ethic and an edge that is hard to find today. Lean would be sunk without him, just don't ask Dovutovich about Ohio State football, unless you're ready for a fight.
    Dovutovich has a lot to say about the current state of the industry, but the volume of four-letter words interspersed through his opinions - on golf, or the Buckeyes for that matter - make it a challenge to get him on the record.
    With all these limitations, Lean is a veritable magician. His greens are pristine, and when he has bumps and bruises after 12 days with no water, he has managed to hide most of them. He's so good that he leaves his clientele wanting more and expecting him to deliver. They want conditions that rival those at courses where the initiation fee for each member is more than his total budget. 
    A native of Stuart, Bailey recalls riding the school bus along Palm City Road to Martin County High School in 1973 when the golf course was under construction. He'd played it several times long before Lean was ever hired there, and is amazed at the product he is able to turn out.
    When asked about Lean's ability as a superintendent compared with his budget, Bailey barely can contain the laughter. 
    "It's spectacular," he said. "It's a small golf course and a small property, but what he is able to do there is amazing."
  • What would be the fourth trial alleging that Roundup causes cancer has been delayed - again.
    The trial, originally scheduled to begin Jan. 24 but was delayed amid reports of a possible pending settlement, was to begin today but has been delayed indefinitely and some reports say the case is not expected to resume. Another trial, scheduled to begin Feb. 24 in San Francisco, also is expected to be delayed indefinitely, further fueling the notion that a global settlement could be near, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. 
    According to that publication and Investors Business Daily, Bayer is dedicating $8 billion to settle current suits filed by those who claim Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and another $2 billion for future settlements. Bayer attorneys are on the record saying fewer than 50,000 cases have been filed against the company, which acquired Monsanto - the maker of Roundup - in 2018.
    Just last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it concluded a regulatory review of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, and reaffirmed its stance that it is not a carcinogen.
    The World Health Organization labeled glyphosate as a possible carcinogen in 2015, a claim the EPA refuted a year later after conducting a regulatory review.
  • One simple phrase served Mark Wilson well throughout his career as a golf course superintendent.
    "Life is short, sod it," said Wilson, who spent 22 years at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was the host superintendent of two PGA Championships and a Ryder Cup.
    A few months ago, I ran into Wilson at a memorial service for his friend, the late Jerry Coldiron. Shortly thereafter, we caught up to take a look back over his long career as a golf course superintendent.
    "I tried to make nature my friend, not my enemy," he said. "One of my strengths was I was always able to remember that the turf could always be fixed; problems were never permanent. Warm-season grass in spring can be downright ugly, but it will get better. On the other hand, cool-season grass in August can look pretty bad, but I knew September was close and it would get better in a hurry."
    Turf conditions on golf courses might not always be on an upward plane, but Wilson's career path pretty much was. Since the 1970s, when he worked on the crew at Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, Florida, through a work history that spanned parts of five decades at three clubs in Louisville until he retired a decade ago, Wilson's career was the stuff of legend. He worked for Gleason when Inverrary still was the site of what today is the PGA Tour's Honda Classic, and was hired by the Gahm family in 1988 at Jack Nicklaus-designed Valhalla. Hired shortly after grow-in at Valhalla, Wilson had been the superintendent at Audubon Country Club, a 1908 Thomas Bendelow design 20 miles away. 
    "Most of my career, in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s, it seemed like I had the wind at my back, and I was going downhill," Wilson said. "The industry was strong, and people were demanding new golf courses, and we were always trying to grow better grass.
    "We had big intentions at Valhalla, but a lot of it was luck. The course was built at the right time during the golf boom and it was kind of early in Nicklaus' designing career."
    His career at Valhalla included managing the turf for the 1996 and 2000 PGA Championships and the 2008 Ryder Cup Matches.
    Jumping into high-level tournament golf wasn't necessarily a goal or a choice. It just sort of happened, Wilson said.
    "As far as tournament golf, I just hopped on the bandwagon," he said. "I was at Audubon when the Gahm family built Valhalla. After the grow-in, they asked me to apply. I went from the oldest club in town to the newest.
    "I grew up in northeastern Ohio, so my big treat was seeing Firestone. Then I got to play Arnold Palmer's Laurel Valley in Pennsylvania, so I came to appreciate great golf courses at an early age."
    A native of Beloit, Ohio in the Cleveland area, Wilson went to turf school 350 miles away at Eastern Kentucky University, where he also was a walk-on on the school's golf team.
    A 1976 EKU graduate, he remembers many of his teammates believing they had a future in professional golf. Wilson, who mowed greens before high school and college tournaments, had no such delusions.
    "Nobody I played with went on to play professional. It was a good thing I went on to a career in turf management," he said. "In fact, the other players on the team called me turfgrass boy. I remember mowing greens before a tournament, running to the car and getting my clubs and then playing in the tournament. I think it was the best tournament I ever had."
    Wilson started working on golf courses during high school and interned at Louisville Country Club while attending EKU. He counts turf legends like former LCC superintendent Louis Miller among his mentors.
    "He was the Daniel Boone of superintendents in Kentucky," Wilson said. "He had a degree from Penn State and was, as far as I know, the first formally educated superintendent in Kentucky."
    A lot has changed in turf management between those days of working for the Daniel Boone of Kentucky superintendents and when Wilson retired from Valhalla in 2010.
    "The norm then was a quarter-inch on greens. When I left Valhalla, it was a tenth (of an inch), or lower," he said. 
    "We had fans on all 18 greens. We can't grow grass now without fans? It seems like we complicated everything.
    "I like to think I'm pretty organized, but it was frustrating. We had three or four acres of greens, but we had to maintain 430 acres. I was frustrated how much time and money was spent on greens compared to the whole operation. I wanted to manage the whole property, but the greens took away from that."
  • Syngenta turf market manager Stephanie Schwenke presents Matt DiMase with the TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award at this year's Golf Industry Show. With Hurricane Dorian bearing down on The Bahamas late last summer, Matt DiMase didn't give much thought to leaving. 
    The superintendent at The Abaco Club on Winding Bay, DiMase easily could have ridden out the storm with his wife and kids in the safety of the family home 400 miles away in Ocala, Florida.
    But he didn't.
    "Someone asked me today if I had it to do over again, would I do it again," DiMase said. "If it happened again, I would stay again, but I hope I don't ever have to make that decision again."
    DiMase rode out the storm, brought the devastated golf course 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.
    For the selfless way he put the needs of others ahead of his own during a natural disaster in which many lost their lives, DiMase was named the recipient of the 20th annual TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta. The award was presented Jan. 30 at the Syngenta booth during this year's Golf Industry Show.
    DiMase and his team are responsible for managing the golf course, all beach areas, landscaping, grounds on the estate homes and the right-of-way on more than 7 miles of roads.
    "For us, this is a job, but for our members, this club is their investment," DiMase said. "I told my team we can stay and protect their property, or we can abandon ship and who knows what will happen."
    The club still was wrapped up in a search for a GM making DiMase the property's senior employee. He could hardly leave the people who had been so good to him and his family with a rudderless ship.
    "I didn't want to leave," he said. "I wanted to stay because of the people."
    That decision changed the course of life for DiMase and many others who were fortunate he stayed.
    Within hours of reaching its peak strength, Hurricane Dorian slammed ashore on Abaco Island in The Bahamas as a Category 5 storm with sustained winds reaching 185 mph. That was way back on Sept. 1, but the effects of the storm live on.
    Since September, DiMase has worked harder than anyone on the island to help others there rebound from the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record.

    Syngenta turf market manager Stephanie Schwenke with the finalists for the TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, Ryan Gordon, Paul MacCormack, Jake Mendoza, Matt DiMase and Kyle Callahan (from left). The storm devastated the club and most everything else on Abaco Island. The wake of destruction included buildings that were flattened, blown away or washed away and entire towns devastated. According to some reports, more than 75 percent of the homes in the town of Marsh Harbour had been destroyed. Some of the loss went far beyond loss of property. To date, the official death toll in The Bahamas as a direct result of the storm is 70 people, though many remain unaccounted for.
    With no electricity or phone service, the immediate concern after the storm was looting. There were rumors that stores and homes in town were being pillaged and for DiMase a 12-gauge shotgun was never far away. 
    "We had two choices if people showed up at the club," he said. "We could kill them with kindness, or fire warning shots over their heads and worry about the aftermath later."
    Within days, a private security detail hired by the club that included former U.S. Navy Seals and ex-Marines, was on site. 
    "People might have looted stores in town, but nobody was getting by them," DiMase said.
    In the days, weeks and months after the hurricane, DiMase stayed on Abaco Island in The Bahamas during Hurricane Dorian and used his experience as a golf course superintendent to head up relief efforts on the golf course and for his community.
    The club was without utilities for several weeks and conditions in town were worse, but eventually most of the team made it back.
    "Ten days after the storm they were asking what they could do," he said. "And these were people who'd just lost everything."
    DiMase, who worked in Punta Gorda in southwestern Florida when Hurricane Charley tore through the area in 2004, could have put The Bahamas in his rearview mirror and returned to the U.S., and there isn't a soul alive who would have blamed him. But as his friend Gary Cotton wrote in nominating DiMase for the award: "Any adversity Matt faces he takes it head on. It's one of the things that makes him stand out and one of the things I admire the most. If Matt is presented with a challenge or told something can't be done, it's best to sit back and watch, because he thrives on challenges.
    "Everyone has a story, and every superintendent in their own way is deserving, however 2019 for Mr. DiMase has shown me and several other superintendents there is more to (the job than) just growing grass."
    DiMase said he is unsure where he will hang the award, in his home in Ocala or his office in The Bahamas.
    "This is amazing. I'm humbled and grateful to win this award," he said. "Any one of these guys is deserving of this award. Everybody on my team who came back to work had a part in this. I'm going to go back and share it with them."
    DiMase was chosen by a panel of voters from across the golf turf industry from among a field of five finalists that include Kyle Callahan of Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana; Ryan Gordon of the Club at Snoqualmie Ridge in Snoqualmie, Washington; Paul MacCormack of Fox Meadow Golf Course in Stratford, Prince Edward Island; and Jake Mendoza, Detroit Golf Club.
     
    The award is given annually to a golf course superintendent who excels at one or more of the following criteria: 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.
    The winner receives a trip for two on the annual TurfNet members golf trip that in October heads to Scotland.
    Previous winners include: Carlos Arraya, Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis (2018); Jorge Croda, Southern Oaks Golf Club, Burleson, TX & 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).
  • Leasha Schwab, Cathy Harbin, Laurie Bland, Stephanie Schwenke of Syngenta, Kayla Kip, Ellen Davis, Beth Guertal, Ph.D., and Jan Bel Jan (left to right) at the third annual Ladies Leading Turf event at this year's Golf Industry Show. Even growing up in South Florida within close proximity to so many golf courses, Laurie Bland never knew a career as a golf course superintendent was even a thing. It wasn't until a school field trip to what then was known as Lake City Community College that she knew stewarding finely managed turf on golf courses was a career option.
    Since being named director of golf course operations at city-owned Miami Springs Golf and Country Club in 2013, Bland works hard to help introduce the business of being a golf course superintendent to young girls throughout South Florida.
    "Telling them that there is a whole turf industry out there is important, because when I was in high school, I didn't know there was such a thing as a golf course superintendent, and I live in the golf capital of the world," Bland said during the third annual Ladies Leading Turf event at the Golf Industry Show. 
    "I talk to Future Farmers of America, I talk to kids locally to promote what I do. I think it's important. We all want to leave it in good hands."
    Bland was one of five panelists speaking at the event sponsored by Syngenta and moderated by golf course architect Jan Bel Jan. The panel also included Kayla Kipp, a golf course equipment manager at Wisp Resort in McHenry, Maryland, Ellen Davis of SportZMix Solutions, golf course owner Carthy Harbin and Beth Guertal, Ph.D., of Auburn University.
    In its third year, Ladies Leading Turf was developed by Leasha Schwab, superintendent at Pheasant Run Golf Club in Ontario. The event debuted at the 2018 Golf Industry Show in San Antonio and since has given a voice to women in the industry who continue to break down barriers to professional development and encourage others to follow them.
    Kipp manages equipment at Lodestone and Fantasy Valley golf courses. She learned automotive mechanics at a young age and many other skills at her father's knee. Even after six years in the U.S. Air Force, a commitment that included tours in Afghanistan and Kuwait, Kipp said earning credibility as a mechanic was not very easy.
    "Being a wrench turner, you're a female in a man's world straight up," Bland said. "Women don't make up a large section of that field, and I refused to be left behind. I'm very bull-headed."
    Reaching for diversity in the workplace is more complicated than just men vs. women, she said.
    "What does diversity mean to me? To me, it means bringing all the pieces together: ages, genders, cultures, religions, languages, education and experience," Kipp said. "Bringing all these pieces together cultivates a creative environment."

    Laurie Bland (left) and Kayla Kipp have taken different paths on their way to successful careers in the golf turf business. A 2008 graduate of Lake City (now Florida Gateway College), Bland admitted there were rumblings when she was hired at Miami Springs, which had slipped into disrepair in the years prior to her arrival. 
    Opened in 1923, Miami Springs was home to the PGA Tour's Miami Open from 1924-1955. Despite the prevailing conditions when she arrived - huge swaths of playing areas were completely without turf - it was plainly evident when she arrived just how much the historic course meant to the people who played there and how long it would take to get the course back into shape. 
    Huge swaths of playing surface were completely devoid of turf, and whipping the course into shape, a process Bland called a resurrection, would take years to complete.
    "There were no cultural practices in place. We had to start from the ground up," she said.
    "What was unique about this property, there were golfers, there were golfers still out there playing, which showed me that they really truly cared, that this was something special to them. They didn't mind paying whatever the fee was, they were still out there to enjoy themselves because that was their home, so it motivated me to make sure I take care of their home."
    Bland prepped under Tom Trammell at Doral Golf Resort - now Trump National Doral - before taking over at Miami Springs. With the resurrection pretty much complete and hopes of a full scale renovation somewhere over the horizon, Bland no longer has to prove herself at the historic course in the shadows of Miami International Airport. She's a proven commodity when she approaches those girls at local high schools around South Florida about potential careers in turf. And are they responsive to her efforts to build awareness about the profession of being a golf course superintendent?
    "They're responsive to the salary," Bland said. "When you tell them the sticker number; when you tell them how much you can make, their eyes get really big."
  • A fourth trial alleging that the weed killer Roundup causes cancer was postponed as both sides seek a settlement, according to reports.
    Attorneys told The New York Times that an agreement had been reached to postpone the trial that was scheduled to begin Jan. 24 in St. Louis to give parties on both sides time to reach a settlement. There are thousands of claims of the herbicide causing non-Hodgkins lymphoma awaiting litigation. Reports of how many cases are pending are all over the place and range from about 50,000 to more than 75,000, according to Ken Feinberg, the court-appointed mediator working with attorneys on both sides in hopes of reaching a settlement. 
    Rumors of settlement figures have been published, but have not been confirmed. A news release from Bayer says no settlement has been reached and does not hint at when one should be expected - if at all.
    "While Bayer is constructively engaged in the mediation process, there is no comprehensive agreement at this time. There also is no certainty or timetable for a comprehensive resolution."
    Reaching a settlement that all sides can agree upon will likely be a tall task.
    In three previous court cases, juries in California have awarded millions in damages. The pending St. Louis case was to be significant on two fronts: it would be the first that groups multiple plaintiffs (four) in a single case, and St. Louis was Monsanto’s home for 117 years, since the company was founded in 1901 until it was acquired by Bayer in 2018.
    In the first three trials, juries awarded plaintiffs $289 million, $80 million and $2 billion. All awards were subsequently reduced by the judges.

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