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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    To produce the conditions necessary to keep his members happy at Valley Brook Country Club, John Shaw, CGCS and his crew once double-cut and rolled greens on a daily basis. Those days are long gone since the Pittsburgh-area club made a drastic change to how it maintains its putting surfaces.
      Beginning this season, six RG3 robotic greens mowers that cut and roll all in one pass produce straight lines, fast putting conditions, crisp and clean turns, and what Shaw calls the neatest clean up pass you'll ever see.    He even can program varying turning points so that the mowers do not repeatedly reverse direction in the exact same spot every day   "We all think we're some of the best greens mowers in the world," Shaw said. "We still can't do what this mower's doing as far as a nice gentle drop. There's never a mark on the collar."   Shaw began using a pair of RG3 mowers last year to maintain 10 greens at 27-hole Valley Brook, including the nine holes on the Gold course as well as the club's practice green. It wasn't long before he was convinced the robotic mower, which was acquired from Precise Path last year by MTD (under the Cub Cadet label), was more than up to the task of producing the conditions that members demanded.   The battery-powered RG3 works by programming boundaries for each green into an onboard computer system. A collection of beacons placed around each green guides the mower using sound and light waves that control where it goes and doesn't go. A wire buried beneath each green controls where the mower travels to complete a clean up pass.   Traveling at speeds up to 3.4 mph, the RG3 produces green speeds at Valley Brook that are up to 12 inches faster than traditional mowing and rolling. The difference, which Shaw attributes to increased frequency of clip on the RG3, was so significant, that he raised the height of cut on the greens mowed with the robots to match the conditions on the other greens throughout the property. Greens mowed with the RG3 also pass the eye test for visual quality.   "The perception is that if you have stripes when you mow, then your greens are slow, and if your greens are fast, then you don't have stripes," Shaw said. "We have stripes, and we're fast."   His staff is able to mow five greens on a single battery charge in about 3:25. The RG3 frees up staff to complete other tasks, such as rake bunkers, change cups, repair ball marks and more. One downside, he said, was cost ? each unit carries a price tag of about $45,000. The tradeoff in labor savings, however, was such that he was able to offset the cost of a five-year lease program before the ink was dry on the contract.   When the RG3 debuted before superintendents at the 2009 Golf Industry Show in New Orleans, many attendees were intrigued but admitted they would have a difficult time turning a robotic mower loose on their greens. When Shaw first saw the RG3 in New Orleans, his first reaction was: "I wondered if (the RG3) could do a better job then what we were currently doing."   Members also noticed a difference in visual quality and playability, and were intrigued by the technology. They also were hesitant for their course to be a pioneer in the use of robotic technology on greens. In the end, they entrusted Shaw, who has been at Valley Brook for 13 years, with the final decision.   "My chairman at the time told me ?if we get some weird disease, you know everyone will blame the robots,' " he said.    "It was the hardest sell I've ever done. What it came down to, I told them that if I was willing to stick my neck on the line, they should be willing to put it out there with me.   "In the end, they trusted my judgment and willingness to put my reputation on the line."
  • Jacobsen launched its Professional Series commercial-grade mowers and utility vehicles for golf course superintendents and other professional turf managers. The line of new Professional Series mowers and utility vehicles includes three lines of zero-turn mowers and six different models of utility vehicles. 
      "One of our main goals with the launch of these exciting new products was to offer a wide range of options that satisfy many different categories of customer needs," said Bryan Holby, product manager for Jacobsen. "The new mowers and utility vehicles offer a myriad of options in features, benefits and pricing that will appeal to everyone from large fleet owners to one-truck-and-trailer operations."   The flagship of Jacobsen's new Professional Series is the RZT line of ride-on zero turn mowers, which provide the power and performance to handle any turf job with ease. The RZT mows up to 5.3 acres per hour with either a 25 or 27 horsepower Kawasaki FX engine or a fuel efficient 27 horsepower Kohler EFI engine.    Jacobsen's SZT stand-on mower packs power into a small footprint and features a 26 horsepower Vanguard engine and two different deck sizes. The new mower series is rounded out with the WZT walk-behind mower. The WZT features an 18 horsepower Briggs & Stratton engine and single or dual-drive drivetrain options.   The new Jacobsen utility vehicles are led by the gas-powered Truckster MS/MX (pictured here), featuring a large capacity of 1,200 pounds and a top speed of 17 MPH. An available linked suspension on the MX model allows it to handle rough terrain with ease.    For customers needing a quiet, electric option, the Truckster MS-E/MX-E is powered with a 72-volt electric drivetrain and an impressive capacity of up to 1,000 pounds.       The gas-powered Truckster LS/LX offers an 800-pound capacity and a polyethylene bed that provides years of worry-free service.    "Today's professional turf managers are being asked to take on more responsibilities and projects," said David Withers, president of Jacobsen. "They need a wide range of maintenance tools to help them get the job done quickly and easily. That's why we've expanded our product line to include nine more dependable machines to our portfolio of products."
  • When a graduate student at the University of Kentucky first showed off an area dedicated to pollinating insects during a 2012 turf research field day, few, if any, superintendents that day showed much concern for their plight, or how it might apply to golf course operations.
      Much has changed since then. Emily Dobbs, the grad student working under UK entomologist Dan Potter, Ph.D., has moved on, and the many challenges faced by pollinating insects, and their significance, have intensified.   On Sept. 17, Potter will host "Bees, Pesticides and Politics: Challenges and Opportunities for the Green Industry", the first of two TurfNet University Webinars presented by USGA Green Section Award-winning entomologists.   On Sept. 23, Pat Vittum, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts, this year's Green Section Award winner, will discuss the latest in white grub control in "Everything You Wanted to Know About White Grubs (in 1 hour) but were Afraid to Ask".   Both are free for everyone.     Vittum's presentation will include information about the different beetle species that produce white grubs, the life cycles of each and differences between them. She also will discuss threshold levels, cultural strategies for control as well as preventive and curative chemical strategies.   Potter, who was the recipient of the 2010 USGA Green Section Award, will discuss the controversy between bees and neonicotinoid insecticides, why it matters, how to talk to the public about bees and pesticides, and how to safeguard bees and other pollinators when controlling pests in turf and landscape settings.    The presentation also will cover the differences between bees and wasps, and the major causes of bee decline including parasites, diseases, bee-keeping practices, and habitat loss, and how systemic insecticides might or might not be contributing to the problem.   These and all other TurfNet University Webinars can be found here.
  • By his own admission, Matt Shaffer is a taskmaster. Once focused on an undertaking, Shaffer is as intent on reaching his goal as a 10-year-old child fixated on a Popsicle on a hot summer day.
      "I've always been a task-oriented guy," Shaffer said. "As my dad said: 'Give that boy a round peg and he'll pound it right through a square hole.' "    That intensity and focus have been important attributes for Shaffer, who has spent the past 13 seasons of a 40-plus-year career as director of golf course operations at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. The East Course at Merion, a 1912 Hugh Wilson design, is No. 8 on Golfweek's list of the top 100 classic-era courses, and success there requires more than doing things the way they've always been done in the past. It means embracing technology, cutting edge thinking and a new way of doing things, things that might seem like unnecessary risks at other courses. It means being an industry leader in managing turf and personnel.   "He's not afraid to take chances," said Jamie Kapes, who worked at Merion from 2001 to 2007, when he left the nest to become property manager at Woodway Country Club in Darien, Connecticut. "He's calculating, and he's outspoken.   "He's never about doing what is easy. He's all about doing what is right."   Shaffer is indeed a walking contradiction. A 1974 Penn State graduate, he has earned a reputation as an early adopter and an outside-the-box thinker, traits he still embraces at age 62.    To his credit, not only is he shaking up the way golf courses can be managed, but he's doing it at a place that is highly visible; a place where his successes -- and failures -- are on display for all to see. That takes guts at a place where the great Bobby Jones twice won the U.S. Amateur (1916, '30).   "Yes, Matt certainly thinks outside the box," said longtime friend John Zimmers, superintendent at Oakmont Country Club and Shaffer's right hand during the 2013 U.S. Open. "I myself follow more of the straight road. Matt loves to experiment and try many new things. I think he has a little researcher in him along with engineer.   "He is always trying to improve something to make the course better."   The most recent cause du jour at Merion is changing how turf is managed through a program that includes reducing spray applications and watering less often.    While going the better part of a year between spray apps might sound like a one-way ticket to the unemployment office to some, it works for Shaffer and it works for Merion. He says sound agronomics are key to learning how far he can extend those windows.   "It's been a 198 days between sprays on our greens, and 212 days on fairways," Shaffer said. "It's all about understanding the plant.   "My initiative now is to figure out how to grow grass, not spray grass, water less and truly be sustainable."   Convincing others to push the limits at their respective courses can be difficult.   "Superintendents have no job security. To ask them to do something that is risky is in itself risky for them, because they can be fired if it doesn't work," he said. "My wife says it's like being married to a football coach, except we don't make as much money. In coaching, if you win you keep your job. If you lose, they pull up the slack on the trigger so fast, you're dead before you hit the ground. So, it's hard for superintendents to take risks. I'm getting close to retirement, so I'm going to take them. I work for a club that has a high profile and feels like they should be on the leading edge. If we can do risky things here, that should be leverage for any other club to do it, so kudos to the members her for that."   His revolutionary style extends beyond turf to include being an intense people manager, who drives employees to give their all and be their best while they are on the golf course, and to forget about work when they're off it.    Woodway's Kapes, who called Shaffer's management style a form of tough love, credits his former boss for giving him the tools necessary to succeed at the next level.   "Working for him was hard. This is an in-your-face industry, and he treats you the way members are going to treat you," Kapes said. "There is no polish on his message, and I don't think a lot of people come in expecting that teaching method. He's that way because he wants you to be prepared. He cares about his employees. He is fair and genuine."   Another former employee recalls a time when that intensity was ramped up even for Shaffer.   "Matt's an intense guy. One time he started coming into work like a raging bull and we all wondered what he was always yelling at," said Scott Bordner, a Shaffer protégé who has been superintendent at Chicago Golf Club since 2009. "We found out his wife had bought him an espresso machine. We learned that if you needed anything from him you had to wait until 10 or 11 o'clock when the caffeine wore off and he was rational again."   Caffeine rushes aside, Shaffer even promotes himself as a superintendent on the edge. It's a reputation that is only partly true. He's also a superintendent who cares about his workers and wants them to have a life off the golf course.   "A lot of my peers thought I was crazy for working for him," Kapes said. "They said 'He's crazy. I hear he makes you work 20 hours a day.' If you're willing to put the time in and care about the golf course, there is no one better to work for than Matt Shaffer.    "There are a lot of superintendents who might go three or four months before they give their assistants a weekend off, but Matt always made sure you had every other weekend off. When you were there, you worked, but if it was your weekend to be off, he wanted you outta there at 3 o'clock on Friday, and he didn't want to see you until Monday morning. I do that here (at Woodway) with my crew."   Shaffer's reputation as a mad scientist came to the forefront during preparations for the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, which many believed was too short for a major championship.   "When we got the Open, I got really nervous," Shaffer said. "(Professional golfers) are so gifted. It doesn't seem real how good they are. I thought 'we're only 6,950 (yards). They'll straighten us right out.' "   The only straightening out was the lesson Shaffer and his crew imparted upon the world's best players.    With pundits predicting a winning score of 10 under par or lower, Justin Rose needed an even par 70 on Sunday to win at 1 over par despite 6 inches of rain in four days that saturated and softened the course the week before the tournament. Only six players in the field were under par on the tournament's final day.    Making a short course difficult was a challenge. Shaffer sought new grasses that when planted strategically changed the way the East Course played.   "I got creative. I got really creative," he said. "I spent months looking for the worst grasses to play out of, then I found those grasses and planted them in the landing zones and in the rough. I planted some of them together in different combinations in the same area, so if you landed in a 4-foot square four days in a row you could have four different lies."   Given Merion's length, Shaffer said he thought it was his responsibility to prove the USGA didn't make a mistake in choosing the 1912 Hugh Wilson design for its national championship.   He experimented with mixing concrete into topdressing sand, but that made the greens too hard. He finally settled on an ultra fine sand, and proceeded to work that into the greens for three years, making them hard as bricks and a fair but tough challenge for the Open field.     "I thought 6 under would win it," Shaffer said. "I figured if it was 6 under or less, the Open would come back some day. If it was 10 under or more, they're never coming back here. That's what I cared about. I want the members' kids to have an Open here some day, so I figured it was my responsibility to cave (tour) golfers' heads in.   "To this day, I still can't believe plus-1 won here. I'm thankful I don't have to replicate that performance. I'm pretty sure I couldn't top that effort."   That preparation did little to ease the tension that comes with hosting a major.   "I probably slept seven hours in 10 days," he said.    "I thought the rain hurt us, but the course dried out every day and got progressively more difficult. Then oddly enough the wind came out of the east for the championship. It always comes out of the west, but when it comes from the east it makes the course play much harder. I'm positive God was looking over my shoulder for that even, which was a good time for him to show up."   Shaffer calls himself a superintendent who was "stuck" in his career until Paul R. Latshaw hired him in 1986 to be the assistant superintendent at Augusta National Golf Club. It was under Latshaw's tutelage that Shaffer learned championship golf. Ever since, he has made himself available to colleagues and competitors alike to help them achieve a similar goal.   "He always left his door open for anyone," Bordner said. "He has a lot of young guys who look up to him. He's like a father figure to a lot of us who were working there and were far from home. Merion was like our family, and like a parent, he let us go out and experience things -- without letting us do anything too stupid.   "If someone calls him for advice, it doesn't matter if it's another elite private club or a nine-hole municipal course, he'll talk to them for an hour if they need to."   Kapes said that willingness to share information is another Shaffer trait he tries to copy, sometimes not as successfully as his former boss.   "Two of my former superintendents have gone on to become superintendents, and when they call me sometimes I might not get to them within 24 hours," Kapes said. "That makes me feel awful, because Matt always gets back to me within an hour."   That willingness to share the experiences of a career that has spanned more than 40 years is something Shaffer says he learned growing up on the family farm in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania. There, he said, his parents gave him the gifts of a work ethic, the ability to forgive and the communications skills necessary to share his good fortune with others.   "He was always asking for opinions, too," Bordner said. "He never thought he had the answer to everything."   It just seems like he does.
  • The list of must-read titles for golf course superintendents is a long one. On it are books such as "Management of Turfgrass Diseases" (Joe Vargas, Ph.D.), "The Future of Golf in America" (Geoff Shackleford), "Turfgrass Management" (Al Turgeon, Ph.D.) and "Rough Meditations" (Bradley S. Klein, Ph.D.), just to name a few.
      Another selection for that list could be the "Golf Solutions Guide" (by Bayer Environmental Science).   Wait. What?   Compiled by the Bayer Green Solutions Team, the Golf Solutions Guide offer complete diagnostic tips and solutions for problems caused by turf diseases, weeds and insects.   Each section includes background information on each disease, weed or insect pest, symptoms and recommended solutions specific to warm- and cool-season grasses. Both publications also include product guides for Bayer fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. Solutions include tips on what to apply as well as label information inlcluding rates and timing.   The guides are available here.   Cool-season guide
      > Diseases: anthracnose, bacterial decline, brown patch, curvularia blight, dollar spot, fairy ring, gray leaf spot, leaf spot and melting out, Michrodochium patch, Pythium disease, rapid blight, snow mold, summer decline, summer patch, take-all patch.  > Weeds: annual bluegrass, crabgrass and goosegrass. > Insects: billbugs, nematodes and white grubs.   Warm-season guide
      > Diseases: Bermudagrass decline, curvularia blight, damping-off, dollar spot, fairy ring, large patch, leaf spot and melting out, leaf and sheath spot, Michrodochium patch, Pythium disease, rapid blight, spring dead spot and take-all root rot.  > Weeds: crabgrass, dalllisgrass, doveweed, goosegrass, annual bluegrass, sedges, tropical signalgrass Virginia buttonweed.  > Insects: billbugs, fire ants, mole crickets, nematodes.  
  • Editor's note: This letter on the importance of understanding the culture of Hispanic workers was submitted by 2014 Superintendent of the Year finalist Jorge Croda. Jorge is a Mexican national living and working in Burleson, Texas, where he is superintendent of Southern Oaks Golf Club. 
      Today's workplace environment is vastly different than it was ten years ago. Management practices that worked in the past and that suited some cultures do not necessarily work with the changing cultural workplace climate of today. According to the American Immigration Law Foundation, Hispanics represent more than one-fifth of the entire workforce in the landscape industry and 13% of the entire U.S. workforce. So what does this mean to you and your business? Understanding the cultural differences of your workforce can build better workplace relationships and impact productivity which can in turn positively impact your business. By taking the time to learn about different cultures it gives us the opportunity to broaden our perspective and make connections between ourselves and others that can allow us to be stronger leaders.    Being of Hispanic descent myself and having immigrated to the U.S. to build a better life for my family I am able to more accurately detail the aspects of my own culture, therefore this article is focused mainly on Hispanic cultural nuances. That is not to say however that the same regard and practices cannot be applied to many different cultures and produce positive results. It is worth noting that the observations made are generalizations, not all people within a specific culture are the same and there are similarities and differences within every culture.    As with most people, work ethic, family values, respect and resourcefulness are dominant characteristics of Hispanic immigrant workers. It is the culturally driven nuances behind these characteristics that can make them stand apart from other workers of different descent.    America was established as the land of opportunity. Our differences are what make this country great. Acknowledging and understanding these differences is a respectful practice that can be used to yield positive results in the workplace. Hispanic immigrants who come to the United States are pursuing the American Dream, doing so to build a better life for their family. Family values are a top priority. They are filled with optimism about the opportunities available and the ability to build a better life. Building a better life begins with securing employment. The work ethic of Hispanic immigrants is driven by the importance that they place on the opportunity to build a better life. The working conditions and wages in the U.S. are considerably superior to some countries and they want to excel at their job in order to remain in a position to stay in the U.S. and provide for their families. Hispanic immigrants tend to value stability and long-term gains over short-term gains. This means staying in a position and working their way up rather than going from job to job searching for higher wages. Understanding this work ethic and the reasons behind it is a big step in strengthening workplace relationships. Find ways to allow your employees to feel a sense of pride and ownership in their jobs and the tasks they are undertaking, this will establish a relationship between your employees and company.      Respect is an important aspect of the Hispanic culture. Hispanic immigrants have an engrained respect for authority; it is natural to respect those in positions of authority whether they are supervisors, teachers, law enforcement, or other individuals. If you gain their trust you will have an employee who is loyal to their employer and will go above and beyond to get their job done. However, at the same time respect in return is expected. The inability to gain the respect and trust of your employee can result in them appearing to be, but not actually being as productive as possible. If you are respectful towards your employees it will allow them to trust you and build relationships that will build a stronger workplace. I have monthly carne asada lunches for my crew as a way to show appreciation for their hard work and dedication to our golf course and to foster camaraderie. Knowing that people from different places and cultures have different food preferences the choice to serve carne asada was made by talking to my crew about where they are from and what they prefer to eat. When your employees know that you acknowledge and respect the cultural differences that are present in the workplace they will gain respect for you as a leader and this will strengthen the sense of teamwork.    Resourcefulness is a key characteristic to the Hispanic culture. Many Hispanic immigrant workers come from countries that do not have a variety of resources available to them. They are able to complete tasks with a resourcefulness that stems from the necessity of getting the job done regardless of what resources are or are not available to them. Connecting back to their emphasis on family values and respect, they value teamwork and will all work to pick up the slack when needed and ensure that the task gets done. An important aspect of teamwork is having a cohesive vision. Focus on being a leader and not a boss, leading by example is always important. I make sure that my employees know the vision and values of our golf course. Where we want to go and why we are doing the things we do. This allows us to be a team that has one specific goal in mind, achieving the vision through our teamwork and effort. I also encourage my crew to use the creativity that comes from their resourcefulness when completing tasks. If they can draw from this aspect of their culture and find a more efficient way to do something, this should be encouraged.    Again, these observations are generalizations and can be applied to almost any individual. The question is, "What can you do to acknowledge these cultural differences and begin seeing positive gains in your business?" Three words will begin this process; leadership, camaraderie and vision.
  • Researchers at a recent university field day believe that powerful, ground-penetrating radar might one day help superintendents gain a better understanding of just what lies beneath the surface at their golf course.
      "Originally, our research focused on being able to map infrastructure at the base of the greens, particularly drainage systems, sand and gravel," said Barry Allred, Ph.D., of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Recently, we've been looking at it to map water content in the sand layer."   Allred and others from the Soil Drainage Research Unit of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, have been testing ground-penetrating radar at two Columbus-area golf courses and demonstrated the technology's capabilities for others at the recent Ohio Turfgrass Foundation-Ohio State Turfgrass Research Field Day in Columbus.   Unlike hand-held meters that measure moisture content through the rootzone, ground-penetrating radar can go much deeper, and thus can detect structural deficiencies that might otherwise go undetected.   Ground-penetrating radar can rapidly measure and map bulk water content over vast and deep areas. The unit Allred was demonstrating at Ohio State, the SIR 3000 developed by Geophysical Survey Systems Inc. of Nashua, New Hampshire, can measure and map bulk water content from the surface to the base of the sand layer by emitting ground-piercing radar signals and measuring the time it takes to travel to and from the unit's antenna.    "It can differentiate between sand, native soil and gravel," Allred said.    "It measures the values of depths at various locations, the spatial variation across the green, whether it is draining well or staying wet."   The unit on display at Ohio State was mounted onto a three-wheeled device that looks like a steroid-enhanced baby stroller. And that mobility allows it to cover a large area in short order.   "If you have overly wet spots, you can put in localized drainage. If you have overly dry spots, you can hand water," said Ed McCoy, Ph.D., associate professor at Ohio State. "The goal would be to have this unit mounted onto a mower. Every day the mower goes across a green, it would spit out a map to the computer screen, calculate differences from one day to another and find tendencies."   A 2002 University of Berlin study by Stoffregen, Yaramanci, Zenker and Wessolek showed that ground-penetrating radar could measure water content in the soil at depths up to 5 feet. The technology is expensive, with a start-up cost, Allred said of $25,000-$30,000.   Despite the capabilities of GPR, handheld meters that operate on technology known as time-domain reflectometry are used on a wider scale, and it's not just because TDR meters have a lower cost point.   Research studies conducted by scientists at the Berkeley National Research Laboratory (Huisman, Hubbard, Redman and Annan in 2003 and Lunt, Hubbard and Rubin in 2005) as well as Kennesaw State University in Georgia indicate that TDR technology, which also measures then quantifies reflected waves, produces data that is as reliable or even exceeds that produced by GPR.    Where GPR has an advantage, said Ohio State's McCoy, is that it can detect problems with greens construction that are not detectable any other way. He also admitted that the cost means it will be years, if ever, that it makes inroads into golf.   "It can pick up problems on greens due to construction issues; cases where the integrity of the interface between the sand and gravel is disrupted for some reason and therefore never formed a perched water table, and therefore there is always a localized wet problem or dry problem," said McCoy.   "If we can incorporate this onto a mower, we will be able to get a much more rapid collection of data, each data point will cost substantially less money. There is an initial investment, but it gets cheaper over the long term."
  • Ballmarks created by golfers, or more precisely players' refusal to fix or repair them, has been a problem nearly as old as the game itself. According to a recent study in England, convincing golfers to fix the scars they create could be as simple as refining the way in which they are asked.
      Golf course superintendents have used a variety of methods, including blogs, newsletters, PowerPoint presentations delivered during green committee meetings, and even signs on bulletin boards and in restrooms to communicate the significance of correctly repairing ballmarks. All have been met with varying degrees of success. It turns out, signage that reminds players that someone might be watching them resulted in a nearly 80 percent reduction in unrepaired ballmarks in a study conducted throughout June and July at a golf course in England.   The Surrey-based firm of Sport Psychology Ltd., teamed with Wimbledon Signs to post a sign on one green at Surrey Downs Golf Club that showed a pair of menacing eyes. The sign read, "Did you leave a pitchmark? Don't leave it -- repair it."   Results were compared with two nearby greens that did not have the sign.   Unrepaired ballmarks on a control green increased by 27 percent, while the number of ballmarks on the green with the signage decreased by 51 percent, creating a difference of 78 percent.   The two greens selected for the study were similar in length and design. One was 330 yards in length and the other 347, and each with a sharp left dogleg and approach shots of 90-130 yards. Both greens also had similar design features, rising 2-3 feet in elevation from front to back. Both also shared a history of suffering from unrepaired ballmarks.   Researchers measured the number of unrepaired ballmarks after one month of play.   Kansas State University research conducted in 2005 showed that unrepaired ballmarks left cavities in the putting surfaces and improperly repaired ballmarks took twice as long to heel as those that were fixed correctly. Ballmarks that were repaired incorrectly also left the worst scars compared with those that were fixed correctly or left unrepaired entirely.   According to Sport Psychology, forward-facing eyes lead golfers to focus on the sign and its message, because, according to the group's research, the eyes have a powerful emotional impact. The group also concluded that similar signage with other messages could produce the desired results regarding other challenges superintendents encounter throughout the golf course.
  • Surveys show that playing conditions on the golf course are the most important factor in determining golfer satisfaction, not the size of the clubhouse, amount of apparel available for purchase in the shop, or quality of food in the lounge. And the golf course superintendent has the greatest influence on producing those conditions.
      Today's golf course superintendent must wear many hats to provide the best possible playing conditions for the club's golf clientele with the resources at hand.    To do that, he (or she) must be a self-disciplined, multi-tasking agronomist in charge of managing the clubs most valuable asset; a multi-lingual personnel manager; babysitter; therapist; accountant; electrician; politician; hydraulics expert; ditch digger; plumber; arborist; environmentalist; integrated pest management specialist; turfgrass pathologist; entomologist; irrigation expert; and mechanic.   If this sounds like your golf course superintendent, or one you know, nominate him (or her) for the 2015 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.  In the photo at right, Stephanie Schwenke of Syngenta presents the 2014 Superintendent of the Year Award to Fred Gehrisch, CGCS.   Since 2000, the Superintendent of the Year award program has been honoring dozens of nominees each year for their work in producing great playing conditions often during times of adversity.   Nominees are judged on their ability to excel 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.    To nominate a deserving superintendent for this year's award, visit the 2015 Superintendent of the Year Award nomination page. For more information, email John Reitman.   Nominations can be submitted by golf course owners, operators, general managers, club members, golf professionals, vendors, distributors or colleagues, even by mothers and wives. The nomination deadline is Nov. 27.   A panel of judges will select a list of five finalists and a winner, who will be named at next year's Golf Industry Show in San Diego.   Previous winners of the award include Fred Gehrisch, Highlands Country Club, 2014, Highlands, North Carolina; Chad Mark, Kirtland Country Club, Willoughby, Ohio, 2013; Dan Meersman, Philadelphia Cricket Club, Philadelphia, 2012; Paul Carter, The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, Harrison, Tennessee, 2011; Thomas Bastis, California Golf Club of San Francisco, South San Francisco, California, 2010; Anthony Williams, Stone Mountain Golf Club, Stone Mountain, Georgia, 2009, Sam MacKenzie, Olympia Fields Country Club, Olympia Fields, Illinois, 2008; John Zimmers, Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pennsylvania, 2007; Scott Ramsay, Golf Course at Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, 2006; Mark Burchfield, Victoria Club, Riverside, California, 2005; Stuart Leventhal, Interlachen Country Club, Winter Park, Florida, 2004; Paul Voykin, Briarwood Country Club, Deerfield, Illinois, 2003; Jeff Burgess, Seven Lakes Country Club, LaSalle, Ontario, 2002; Kip Tyler, Salem Country Club, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2001; and Kent McCutcheon, Las Vegas Paiute Resort, Las Vegas, 2000.
  • Golf rounds played drop 2 percent in June
      It appears that the golf business is headed for another lackluster year, according to the latest year-over-year rounds played report. Despite favorable weather conditions throughout much of the country in June, rounds played were down 2 percent nationwide compared to the same month last year, according to the Golf Datatech National Golf Rounds Played Report.    Only nine states across the country experienced an increase in rounds played, while 40 others saw a decrease. The survey of 3,620 private and daily fee facilities does not include Alaska.   Iowa and Minnesota led the way in June with a 10 percent increase in rounds played. Play also was up in North and South Dakota (8 percent), Washington and Wisconsin (7 percent), Georgia (4 percent) and Alabama (less than 1 percent.   The biggest losses were in Hawaii (down 12 percent); Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire and Vermont (all down 11 percent); and Texas (down 10 percent).   Year-to-date rounds played were up by 0.6 percent through the first six months of the year, compared with the same period last year.       WinField Academy offers education for turf managers
        The 2015 WinField Academy is an interactive program that brings career-development courses to professional turf managers and others in various markets throughout the country.   The Academy teaches attendees about new products and technologies, application processes and new business strategies for golf turf, lawn, sports turf, ornamentals, pest control, aquatics and vegetation management.   Sessions are designed to provide practical insights through interactive learning, product testing and tutorials. Instructors include Frank S. Rossi, Ph.D., Cornell University; Thom Nikolai, Ph.D., Michigan State University; Aaron Palmateer, Ph.D., University of Florida; Brandon Horvath, Ph.D., University of Tennessee; and representatives from BASF, Bayer and Dow AgroSciences.   Click here for a list of remaining classes.   United Turf Alliance launches new fungicide
      United Turf Alliance recently launched ArmorTech ZOXY-T fungicide.   A combination product that includes the active ingredients azoxystrobin and tebuconazole, ZOXY-T is labeled for control of a variety of patch, foliar and soil-borne diseases, including brown patch, dollar spot and Pythium on greens, tees and fairways.   ArmorTech ZOXY-T is currently labeled for golf course use only and available in four 1-gallon cases from United Turf Alliance members and partners.
  • Who would've thought that the saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same" would apply so appropriately to turfgrass management?
      When Ohio State University turf pathologist Joe Rimelspach, Ph.D., was preparing handouts for this year's Ohio Turfgrass Foundation/Ohio State Turfgrass Research Field Day, he printed out copies of a cheat sheet he first drafted for golf course superintendents . . . in 1995.   Entitled "Factors Noted in 1995 on Golf Courses That Successfully Maintained Turfgrass" the sheet simply is a list of 30 practices that helped golf course superintendents maintain healthy turf 20 years ago.    While a few things on the list have changed - no one at this year's field day admitted to still using water-injection aeration, and spikeless shoes no longer are "new" - most of the items on the list remain common sense advice even today, including raising mowing heights and adjusting clean-up passes prior to periods of anticipated stress. The take-home message Rimelspach tries to impart on superintendents today is much the same as it was 20 years ago: that preventing diseases in turf is a whole lot easier than treating one after an outbreak. And that message of prevention over cure is one he and Todd Hicks, program coordinator for the turfgrass pathology program at Ohio State, were delivering in 1-2 punch fashion at field day.   "Some things have changed in 20 years," Rimelspach said. "The main things are the expectations on golf courses have just gone higher and higher with green speeds, etc., which equates to a solid future for people like Todd and me, because there will be more and more diseases with these pressures put on the turf.   "People who were successful (in 1995), were those who did things prior to injury. Once you see decline, the horse has run away."   At the other end of the turfgrass research center, Francesca Peduto-Hand, Ph.D., associate professor of turfgrass pathology at Ohio State, had a similar message of prevention, not cure. She and Caterina Villari, a post-doctoral researcher in turf pathology, were demonstrating a spore trap that one day might provide turf managers with a economical and easy-to-use tool for detecting fungal pathogens long before the presence of disease outbreak in the field.   Collecting spores and determining the presence of pathogens, a process she used to forewarn California vintners of powdery mildew when she worked at UC, Davis, is a process that, in 40 minutes or less, collects spores and subjects them to a DNA-extraction process.   The system includes a battery-driven collection device in which two tiny, stainless steel rods slathered in packing grease are attached to a spinning bar. The spinning action creates a vortex that draws up just about anything that is in the turf canopy below. The rods are placed in vials containing a solution that aids in the DNA-extraction process, then boiled for 5 minutes, shaken and finally spun in a centrifuge. A small amount of the solution is then placed in a reagent which tells the superintendent whether a pathogen is present and how much, giving an indication of whether disease outbreak is imminent.      The process tested during field day was to detect for gray leaf spot, but Peduto-Hand said she is working to perfect the system to detect all major fungal pathogens common throughout Ohio. The collection process can be completed in 10-15 minutes, and the extraction can be completed with results sent to the user's smart phone or tablet within 30 minutes. Peduto-Hand said she can train a superintendent to use the system in less than one hour. She hopes to have the system ready for widespread use within a year or two.   A tool that is both economical and easy to use and provides a glimpse into the presence of pathogens before disease outbreak could help superintendents get a jump on disease control.   A field day test of the system showed a scant 50 spores of the gray leaf spot pathogen Pyricularia grisea.   "If we can detect 50 spores flying around in the air, we probably are detecting the pathogen before it is showing any symptoms in the field," Villari said.   It also could help superintendents make better use of their fungicide stock, and thus help them maximize their budget potential.   "The reason we are doing this is to try to diminish the number of fungicide applications out there on golf courses or in athletic fields," Peduto-Hand said. "We are trying to avoid calendar-based management and go on to management actually drive by detection of the pathogen.   Until that system is perfected, Hicks makes a good case for preventive fungicide applications, especially during a hot, wet summer in which conditions are perfect for multiple diseases. Once turf becomes a disease host, it can be perpetually vulnerable in the future, he said.   "Once one disease comes in, it's a multiplex," Hicks said. "Summer patch comes in on top of dollar spot, or vice-versa. They seem to marry off each other. Once you get an area that is weakened and susceptible, it's like that three-legged zebra that every lion on the safari is looking to eat, because he's susceptible to being eaten. It's the same with turf.   "What's better? Do you spray now and have a good season, or wait until you have an outbreak, try to cure it, spend a lot of money and get a bunch of crap from your GM, the owner, the golfers and have a horrible rest of the season? Take care of it now. Preventative is always the way to go."
  • By Bradley S. Klein, Golfweek
      Who would have thought that Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, which purports to be the sausage capital of the world, could become a world-class golf destination? Give the credit to the four courses associated with the American Club: two inland at Blackwolf Run in Kohler and two here at Whistling Straits along a shorefront bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, The Straits and The Irish. Together, they form a gathering point for self-appointed masochists out to sample the mad genius of golf's "Marquis de Sod," Pete Dye.   It's too bad that the PGA of America is so kind when it comes to course setup. If ever a case could be made for making golf pros sweat for their millions, it would be here at The Straits, where they'll play for the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time in just more than a decade (2004, won by Vijay Singh, and 2010, won by Martin Kaymer).     The eye candy consists of about 1,000 bunkers scattered wildly about the one course, though no one on staff knows for sure because Dye never kept count and the maintenance guys invariably quit before they get to identify all of them. No worries, because it's all a distraction, as Dustin Johnson found out on the 72nd hole in 2010 when he didn't realize that he was standing in a bunker (along with about two dozen spectators) and grounded his club. The resulting two-shot penalty cost him a playoff but secured his place in golf lore. Too bad that in the run-up to this year's event, they covered up that bunker with an expanded spectator stand.   Lesson learned: Pay attention to what's in front of you and underfoot, and forget all the glitz and fluff that Dye throws at you. Here's a how-to guide, hole by hole, for this par-72, 7,514-yard layout.   No. 1, par 4, 408 yards
    This one heads diagonally right out to Lake Michigan and into the prevailing wind. A massive fairway bunker 275 yards out on the right makes a driver seem unnecessary at first, except that unlike most holes on this layout, the fairway widens the deeper it goes: 22 yards across at 290 yards out but 27 yards wide at 310 yards. Obviously, this is meant to entice golfers to play boldly, but there's no real need to hit driver. A fairway metal or rescue club does fine, leaving a short iron or wedge into a diagonally canted green that's shallow from front to back at any point but deep along the front-right/back-left axis. At any other course, the trouble off the tee on either side of the fairway would get your attention, but it's one of the tamer holes at Whistling Straits.   No. 2, par 5, 593 yards
    From the welcoming to the vertiginous! Dye, ever intent upon frustrating strong players, was the first to champion lowering the back tees rather than elevating the forward ones, thus preventing players on the back tee from seeing much of their landing area. It's what makes this tee shot so disorienting ? the more so because it's played into the prevailing wind from the southwest (headlong, from the right). The second-shot landing area down the more favorably aligned right side is very tight, and any player going for the green has to account for a maddening lunar bunker mound 20 yards short and right of the green. It might as well be a billboard announcing, "Dye was here."   No. 3, par 3, 181 yards
    First of the four cliffside par 3s that feature a corner clinging desperately to the edge of Lake Michigan. This one plays into a prevailing crosswind from the right, to a canted, tightly bunkered green where all of the trouble is along the left side.   No. 4, par 4, 493 yards
    The party is over and the hard work begins. Long, uphill tee shot into the prevailing wind from the right to a poorly defined fairway (by intent) with a steep falloff into sand and scruffy junk down the entire left side. At 290 yards, the fairway is only 24 yards wide and narrows to 20 yards at 310 yards away, at which point it bellows out generously. The point is to entice players into playing boldly off the tee. This is one of the few holes here that provides a generous run-up. You can bet the front-right lane will be heavily used for approaches and for chipped third shots.   No. 5, par 5, 598 yards
    It's sometimes hard to distinguish between a really bad hole and one that just doesn't fit the golf course. This double-dogleg par 5 to a green fronted by a beach bunker (in Wisconsin!) makes a strong claim to both. Dye and the PGA's main setup man, Kerry Haigh, have done everything imaginable to reduce the likelihood of players coming into this wacky hole with short irons on their second shot. Most players would be wise just to hit a fairway metal or even a long iron off the tee and play it safe to set up a flip-wedge third shot. But players who can carry it 325 yards or more off the tee will be tempted to play boldly way right over sand and junk and risk ending up in an unplayable lie to a narrow shelf of fairway. The trouble is that if they hit it too far, through the narrow, 20-yard-wide neck of fairway, the ball goes into a man-made lagoon ? the same lagoon that snakes up ahead to the green. Sounds risky, except there's no risk if they end up long and wet off the tee because they get a drop (plus penalty stroke) and can still hit the green with their third from only 185 yards out. For amateur golfers, this is a fascinating hole with plenty of options. For Tour-quality players, it's a hole with a mouthful of useless teeth.   No. 6, par 4, 355 yards
    This will be an entertaining hole, thanks to a drive that can sail with a prevailing tail wind and the accessibility of the green from the tee. Plus, the steepest, nastiest, darkest hole-in-the-wall bunker Dye has ever created is embedded smack into the front right of the flank of the green. It creates a little subdivided lobe of a putting surface that will be used for a hole location at least once, maybe twice, during the PGA. When the hole is cut left, players can go after the green on their drive. When the hole is on the right, most players will lay up with an iron off the tee.   No. 7, par 3, 221 yards
    This ingenious routing, a pair of figure eights, allows the par 3s to be flipped with respect to the water; so that the front nine has the short one (No. 3) with water on the left and the long par 3 (No. 7) with water on the right. It's vice versa on the back nine. Here, the 42-yard-long green plays along an axis running front-left to back-right that mirrors the prevailing wind and brings everything behind into trouble. If the wind really howls here, it brings all sorts of trouble into play, whether high left along a sand-strewn ridge or way low right, along the rocky shoreline.   No. 8, par 4, 507 yards
    Despite the length of this hole, many golfers will play safe and short off the tee, with the prevailing wind from the left. The fairway (50 yards wide at 270 yards off the tee and 27 yards wide at 310 yards out) necks down deep into the landing area with a sandy crevice that juts out into the fairway at about 340 yards out. This is one of several greens on The Straits Course that has been reduced in size since 2010: the back has been rolled down and away to create an infinity edge to Lake Michigan right behind it.   No. 9, par 4, 446 yards
    Pretty basic drive, ideally down the left side to avoid wide-strewn bunkers right and the only tree on the course that comes into play (it overhangs the approach line 100 yards out). This is one of the most elusive, heavily sectioned greens on the course, well bunkered all around and falling off steeply down the right.   No. 10, par 4, 361 yards
    Cool little hole, drivable when it plays with the prevailing wind coming over one's left shoulder. It's a sharp dogleg left, with a chimney-stack bunker mid-fairway that's only 235 yards to carry and another, smaller one behind it that's 300 yards to reach and decidedly in play for bold players off the tee who block the tee shot. The hard part is up at the green, a domed, two-tiered putting surface that's the smallest on the course. It's also the one that falls off most sharply all around, with particular trouble for those who pitch or run through and face a demanding, up-and-over recovery.   No. 11, par 5, 618 yards
    Easily within reach in two for those who shave the sand-strewn inside line of the dogleg on this right-twisting par 5. The prevailing wind promotes a left-to-right cut, and a healthy downward kick and forward roll rewards drives that carry 310 yards on the proper line. Anything right gets beached (the hole is called "Sand Box" for good reason), and anything to the left can run through into steep bunkers on the far side. A trademark hook bunker ? massive, steep and knifed out of the ground on the left approach ? is pulled back from the green just enough to create a 10-yard-deep landing zone that can help approach shots hold the green. A full-bore second shot landing on the putting surface easily can run out and over. A little mound dead center on the approach line will steer approach shots left or right into a bunker, enough to make it very difficult to hold this green.   No. 12, par 3, 143 yards
    This 46-yard-long green is set diagonally and perched on a bluff that spills down to Lake Michigan to the right. The front of the green is wide and generous, but two-thirds of the way back, a pair of bunkers intrude enough to bisect the green, leaving a tiny globule of turfgrass cover and a hole location or two back there that effectively comprises a freestanding 1,500-square-foot target. That's how good these guys are: they can hit that target with a wedge in hand even when it plays with the prevailing wind at their back.   No. 13, par 4, 404 yards
    The last of the prevailing downwind holes. Someone will drive it, even though it's called "Cliff Hanger" because the risk of going overboard (right, into Lake Michigan) is ever-present off the tee and on the second shot. Here, too, the back of the green has been trimmed to create an infinity-edge feel when viewed from the fairway so that anything coming in too strong spills over into trouble from which it's very difficult to recover.   No. 14, par 4, 373 yards
    Out at the far northern end of the golf course, this relatively short dogleg left starts a demanding stretch of concluding holes playing directly into the prevailing headwind. From the tee, most players will lay up to about 250 yards. Beyond that, the fairway quickly narrows, from 38 yards wide at the landing area to less than half that at the 310-yard point. The wise play off the tee here is to get into position for an approach into a green bunkered heavily on the inside right and clipped behind to spill out and over into a very tough low area.   No. 15, par 4, 518 yards
    This hole is long, exposed to the wind and features a raised green. There's not a lot to aim at off the tee. The 15th is another one of those holes on which a player will have to work hard during the practice rounds to ascertain a line of flight. The right side of the fairway offers a marginally better sight line into the green, but given the cant of the fairway and the tendency of the crosswind to blow drives left, a lot of tee shots end up on the low side or in the left rough and with a partially obscured view into the green.   No. 16, par 5, 569 yards
    This hole is reachable in two, even though the longer the drive, the more accurate it needs to be. At 305 yards, the landing area is impeded on the right by a maddening bunker complex that intrudes upon one third of the fairway. Steer it left of the tee and a dense line of sand and rough will trap the ball, making it hard to reach the green in regulation. Dye knows that pros hate blind shots. Sorry, but they can't get away from one here. It's either a safe second shot way right over crinkly mounds or bold and all the way to the green over cross hazards 75 yards short that jut out across the line of sight into the green.   No. 17, par 3, 223 yards
    Sometimes an architect climbs out onto a limb and then just cuts his own perch away from the trunk. That's about what Dye has done here in creating this long, demanding hole ? one that, depending on whether it's calm or the prevailing headwind is coming from the right, requires anything from a middle iron to a rescue or fairway metal off the tee. As with all of the par 3s here, Dye has hung an edge out over the lake. To thoroughly confound players, he has piled a towering sand stack front right that bisects the approach line completely. Only a genius or a mad man would have the temerity to build something so "outré." Let the players moan and groan. It just confirms that Dye essentially thinks of them as spoiled babies. On this hole, they'll just have to stand up like men and deal with it.   No. 18, par 4, 520 yards
    Every golf course has one sick, twisted hole that is ill conceived from the start, a nightmare to build and has to be (or ought to be) rebuilt three or four times before it begins to work. Such is the eponymous "Dyeabolical," a monstrously severe hole that is overwhelming to the senses and overflowing with options. Too bad so much attention will be paid to the ridiculous decision by PGA of America staffers to cover up the notorious Dustin Johnson bailout bunker way right ? this week it sits under the leading edge of spectator stands.   The rest of the hole is still more than most can handle. The back tee, nominally 520 yards, probably won't be used; it's just too severe a hole from back there, given the uphill tee shot and a fairway landing area that ends at about 325 yards by dumping balls into the downslope of Seven Mile Creek, the stream that traverses the hole and runs in front of the green. Strong players who hit the ball hard right-to-left always can opt to turn over a drive and catch a downslope into what is suddenly a 60-yard-wide fairway, down a kick slope and to a little flat spot only a wedge from the green. That's a calculus that tends to make it mighty unappealing to play safe off the tee and end up with a middle or long iron in against the prevailing wind.   As always on this unique course, that guarantees a theatrical finish, for players and spectators alike.   - Bradley S. Klein is the architecture editor for Golfweek.  
  • The application period for a slot in this year's Syngenta Business Institute is quickly approaching.
      The Syngenta Business Institute is an intensive four-day program designed to grow the professional knowledge of golf course superintendents and assist them with managing their courses. Through a partnership with the Wake Forest University School of Business, the program provides graduate school-level instruction in areas such as financial management, human resource management, negotiating, impact hiring and other leadership- and professional-development skills, and managing across generations and cultural divides.   This year's SBI is scheduled for Dec. 7-10 at the Graylyn International Conference Center on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Application deadline is AUGUST 18.   The event includes so much valuable information that 2013 attendee Eric Frazier of Willow Oaks Country Club in Richmond, Virginia, had a difficult time pinning down what he found to be most useful.   "After a week of education and networking, it is hard to decide what was the best part," Frazier said. "I think for me that would have to be the opportunity for open discussion that happened during the educational sessions."   Interested superintendents must complete an online application, which requires them to write a 250-word essay summarizing why they should be selected for the program. Syngenta selects 25 individuals to participate based on their essays, commitment to the industry and other factors. Travel, lodging and meals are included for all superintendent attendees.   For more information, click here.  
     
     
  • Like many land-grant institutions of higher learning, the University of Kentucky has, for some time, been feeling the pinch of declining enrollment among students seeking an education in some iteration of turfgrass management. And like most other schools, educators there have been pondering just what to do to reverse that trend. In fact, the late A.J. Powell, Ph.D., who just about grew the program from scratch in the 1970s until his retirement in 2010, was involved in looking for ways to boost enrollment before he died in October 2013.
      Gregg Munshaw, Ph.D., the turf extension specialist at the school in Lexington, figures UK is like a lot of places when it comes to declining enrollment. He points at factors like a struggling golf market, the housing crisis and ensuing recession, as well as a saturated turf education market in a relatively small state, for declining enrollment. And as many universities around the country struggle with a solution for the future of their respective turfgrass programs, Munshaw is taking a step back to take a critical view of traditional turf education at UK, and he is heading efforts to change the face of the program to more accurately reflect the needs of today's students and hopefully boost enrollment in the process.   "Student numbers are down. That was something A.J. and I talked about a lot," Munshaw said. "We still thought there was a market for these kids to get jobs. It might take a little longer for them to become a superintendent, but there are still jobs out there, and there are different kinds of jobs out there now."   Although more golf courses have been closing than opening every year since 2006 according to the National Golf Foundation, UK's enrollment woes go deeper than a stagnant golf market. The state of Kentucky has three established turf programs in UK, Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky, creating quite a competition for students in a state that ranks just 26th in population with 4.4 million residents.   Todd Pfeiffer, Ph.D., department head for plant and soil sciences has been supportive of the notion of a new-look program as well, as Munshaw seeks ways to grow the program that once flourished under Powell's watchful eye.   "We should be able to find 10 more students. Why shouldn't we be able to get 10 more students who want to do this?" Munshaw said. "We talked about ways to do that. We have a recruiter out looking for students."   What students likely will find at UK in the near future is a program unlike any other in the country. Although the details have not yet been finalized, the future of turfgrass management at UK most likely will be a program that combines turf management, with general horticulture along with a landscape background.   A UK graduate, Munshaw spent several years as a professor at Mississippi State before returning to his alma mater in 2012. MSU not only has a large turf management program ? with as many as 85 students when Munshaw worked there ? but also offers a successful landscape architecture program that had nearly twice as many students as the turf program. Some combination of what worked in Starkville likely will serve as a blueprint for the future of a revamped Kentucky program.   "We taught kids how to run their own landscape contracting business. That included landscape architecture, design, lighting and irrigation," Munshaw said.    "We're going to try to take elements from those things, plus what we've traditionally done well here and come up with a new major that is not necessarily completely turf focused. We're going to broaden it out and try to attract some kids who might have gone into horticulture. The sports turf and golf guys have to deal with beds and trees anyway. By making it broader instead of so narrowly focused, 1, it offers more career opportunities, and 2, gives students more skills to do their jobs."   The new look program, although it won't be specifically a turf major, will include separate tracks of study and career-specific internship opportunities geared toward professions such as sports turf, golf and landscape management.   Since last October, Munshaw has been pulling double duty as the state's only turf extension agent and the head of turf research at the university. The plant and soil sciences department is seeking a research coordinator so Munshaw can concentrate on extension, and the university can again become a leader in research conducted at the 27-acre A.J. Powell Jr. Turfgrass Research Center.   Munshaw has solicited input from Marcus Dean about how to construct the new program. Dean is a UK alum as well as the sports turf manager in the athletic department, where he oversees several natural grass and artificial turf fields for the school's athletic teams.   He knows there are jobs out there, and wants to help position UK to become a leader in educating students for those opportunities.   "There are jobs in Kentucky for turfgrass students. I have just hired three full-time spots in the last seven months," Dean said.    "Would it have been nice to hire some Kentucky kids? Yeah, it would've."   He's also happy to see Munshaw shaking up the status quo on behalf of the university, its students and professional turf managers throughout the region. Staying abreast of current issues in turf can be a challenge for those working in the field, since they often come faster than academia can research them.   "The curriculum needs to be updated . . . with the current issues in the turf industry," he said.    "I think Gregg's thoughts and experiences at different universities around the nation have allowed him to be a much different approach to freshen up the curriculum here at UK," Dean said. "He has seen the success and failures, he knows what works and what needs to be implemented here at UK."   Munshaw thinks back to why he came all the way from his native Canada to attend UK, and hopes to recreate some of that attraction, albeit in a new wrapper that includes not only a new major with a new curriculum, but a new way of developing the whole student as well through community service projects that also fit in with their major.   "When I came here, I sat down with A.J., and he was slick and he was funny, and he was really good at recruiting. I became that way too. I always thought if I could get a kid into my office to talk to him, I thought I could land him," he said. "The thing is, we have a lot to offer. Lexington has a lot to offer. When I talk to kids and their parents, I want them to know that the kid the drop off now, when they get them back in four years, their character will have developed as well over that time. We want to do things that develop our students as people, not just as students."
  • A study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin indicates there could be a direct link fungicide effectiveness in managing diseases in turfgrass and air temperature.
      The recently published study by Paul Koch, Ph.D., and Jim Kerns, Ph.D., examined the relationship between ambient air temperature and the persistence of chlorothalonil and iprodione in creeping bentgrass. Tests were conducted in 2011 at the O.J. Noer Turfgrass Research Facility in Madison.   The researchers argued that the link between fungicide efficacy and air temperature during application is not clearly understood. Previous information indicates that fungicides are most effective when temperatures range between 15 degrees and 29 degrees Celsius (60-85 degrees Fahrenheit).   The Wisconsin study gets much more specific, indicating that "dissipation of both fungicides was greatest at 30 degrees Celsius and slowest at 10 degrees Celsius, while dissipation at 20 degrees Celsius was intermediate between 10 and 30 degrees Celsius and often not statistically different from either of the temperatures."   According to the Wisconsin study, iprodione half-life through both trials averaged 51.2 days at 10 degrees Celsius, 7.8 days at 20 degrees Celsius, and 4.0 days at 30 degrees Celsius. Chlorothalonil half-life averaged 9.5 days, 4.3 days, and 4.0 days at 10, 20, and 30 degrees Celsius, respectively.    These results indicate that fungicide persistence decreases with increasing temperature, which might explain why fungicides might fail to provide adequate disease protection during periods of hot temperatures.

  • Bluegrass beauty

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Looks can be deceiving when driving past Griffin Gate Golf Club. Other than a sign that directs traffic toward this Marriott resort course in Lexington, Kentucky, there is little evidence from the outside that such a peaceful place could exist wedged into a corner formed by six lanes of traffic-snarled Newtown Pike and as many lanes of the always-busy Interstate 75.

    Once one makes the turn and begins the slow, uphill climb toward the golf course, the hustle and bustle gradually give way to a feeling of serenity that is almost surreal given the location. In a sea of traffic that steadily has been engulfing Kentucky's Bluegrass Region for the past 35 years, Griffin Gate is an oasis.

    "That's what I compare it to," said Zach Newell, who is in his third season as superintendent. "You go from urban sprawl, Newtown and (I-)75, and then you come in here. It's pretty amazing."

    A former stop on the PGA Senior Tour, the 1981 Rees Jones design has developed a reputation in recent years for being a blueprint for environmental stewardship. That journey largely is one that began in 2002 when Scott Bender, CGCS, arrived here. And it's one that continues today under Newell.

    Griffin Gate is located on 185 acres of what once was one of Lexington's trademark thoroughbred horse farms. Everything about the property belies its location while Kentucky's second-largest city continues to grow up around it. Even the farm's 19th century mansion home, built in 1873 after the original residence erected in 1854 was destroyed by fire, still is located here.

    A 2000 University of Kentucky graduate, Bender, 39, prepped for two years under Mark Wilson at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, before returning to his hometown in 2002 to become superintendent at Griffin Gate.

    "It was nice to come back home to Lexington to work," Bender said. "In this business, you never know where you're going to end up."
     


    During Bender's tenure as superintendent, Griffin Gate became a certified Audubon sanctuary in 2008 and was a pilot facility for the e-Par environmental certification program. His work toward achieving Audubon certification included erecting boxes to attract bluebirds and bats, and establishing areas that have helped attract other forms of wildlife to this urban environment.

    In 2013, with help from UK's entomology department headed by former USGA Green Section Award winner Dan Potter, Ph.D., Bender established the first of two pollinator zones on the golf course.

    "We worked with the department of fish and wildlife and established wildlife corridors on the property where animals can pass through," Bender said. "We established two areas of butterfly gardens. It was great working with UK. Whenever they want land here, I'll find them a spot to do things like this."

    Since then, Bender has been named the property's director of engineering and grounds, giving him the responsibility of overseeing not only the golf course, but the property's 409-room, 350,000-square-foot hotel as well. Newell, his assistant for two years, is in his third season as course superintendent, but make no mistake, Bender still is at home on the golf course. His philosophy of environmental stewardship now permeates the entire property and includes resource-conserving measures inside at the hotel and outdoors on the golf course.

    "I love it out here," he said. "It's always welcome when I can get back out on the golf course."

    Just about everything that happens on the golf course at Griffin Gate likely will accomplish at least one of three goals ? improve the golf course for Marriott customers, maximize profitability for the hotel and make more efficient use of resources. Often, a project can accomplish all three goals at once.

    On July 23, the course celebrated a grand reopening after a four-month bunker renovation projected headed by Jones promises to improve playability for a wider range of golfers and more friendly to Griffin Gate's maintenance budget.

    Although the bunker count was reduced by only two, from 69 to 67, Jones took out about 53,000 square feet of hazard. Areas that once were filled with sand now are covered with zoysia sod. Nearly 400,000 square feet of it have been used during the project.

    "We went from 133,000 square feet of bunkers, which is just enormous, to around 80,000 square feet," Bender said. "There were some silly large bunkers that were not in play."

    Since Griffin Gate opened nearly 35 years ago, bunkers there were, as Bender described, like a catcher's mitt, nearly surrounding every green on the course with high, flashing sides that were difficult to maintain.

    "When we'd have rain events, we'd spend the next three days trying to recover from that," he said.

    Shaving down those sides has opened up views across the golf course.

    Griffin Gate's bunkers not only are smaller now, the high, flashed sides are gone. Couple that with the installation of Better Billy Bunker system, at Bender's request, and post-rain event bunker maintenance suddenly has become almost a thing of the past.

    With a combined 24 inches of rain falling in June and July at Griffin Gate, Bender shudders to think what the course would look like this year without a bunker renovation.

    "It has been crazy wet this year. We're finding water in places we never had it before," he said. "If we didn't go with a liner, the bunkers would have been ruined before we opened, we had that much rain."

    Weather also provided predictable challenges during the project.

    Temperatures in Lexington reached 60 degrees on March 3 and 50 degrees the following day, according to the National Weather Service, more than enough to get winter-weary golfers back onto the course. By the night of March 4, temperatures dropped into the 20s and 17 inches of snow fell during the next 36 hours. Then came the rain.

    "We would seed, and the rain would wash it off," Newell said. "We paid to hydroseed, and the rain washed it off."

    From horseshoe teemarkers to 150-yard markers fashioned from old hitching posts, links to Griffin Gate's past are everywhere. Perhaps the property's most important legacy is Bender's minimalist philosophy.

    He's instituted use of LCD bulbs throughout the hotel, a policy that Newell is taking to buildings around the golf course, as well as an extensive recycling program. Next up are sensors in restrooms so lights are on only when needed.

    "Our first fairway app usually isn't until June," Bender said. "We'll grow some dollar spot before we freak out. We really watch the weather, and we'll stretch our fairway apps as much as we can to get a three-week spray, or even longer.

    "Our philosophy here is to go green, and economics is a big part of that."

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