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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    Batches of fungicide marketed under the names ALT 70 and Viceroy 70DF have been voluntarily recalled by NovaSource, a business unit of Tessenderlo Kerley, after a string of recent incidences of damaged turf on golf courses were traced to quantities of the products tainted with the herbicide sulfometuron methyl, the company says.
      According to TKI, laboratory testing indicates the issue is confined to ALT 70 and Viceroy 70DF produced in 2013 bearing batch codes that begin with the number 6 (e.g., 6101701).   ALT 70 is marketed and distributed by United Turf Alliance and Viceroy 70DF is marketed and distributed by United Phosphorus Inc. Both are post-patent systemic fungicides manufactured by NovaSource TKI. Each contains the active ingredient O-ethyl phosphonate (aluminum tris) is labeled for control of anthracnose, Pythium and Phytophthora.   NovaSource is offering product users the opportunity to return ALT 70 and Viceroy 70DF with batch numbers starting with the number 6 for full credit, including reimbursement of costs associated with the return. Product can be returned to the point of sale or to distributors.   Sales of both products were stopped June 5 after reports of damaged turf began to pop up on multiple golf courses. Damaged turf thought to be connected with use of ALT 70 and Viceroy 70DF has been reported on at least eight golf courses in seven states.   According to the Web site alt70info.com, an investigation is under way and additional information including turf management options for mitigating potential turf injury and other information will be shared on that site.   According to information on that site: "No one has concluded that ALT 70 alone affected the turfgrass in question. However, it is confirmed that the product was used at the golf courses in question in spray tank mixes."   All other Armor Tech products come from other sources unrelated to NovaSource TKI, and are safe to use.    According to alt70info.com, general observations at the affected golf courses include:   Golf course superintendents reported cool-season turfgrass stopped normal spring green up and stopped responding to normal treatments after fungicide and growth regulator programs were initiated. ALT 70 was one of the products in the program. Slowing of turfgrass growth was noted in both bentgrass and bent/Poa mixed stands on greens, collars and approaches. Symptoms generally were noticeable 7-14 days after application. Older varieties of bentgrass (particularly older German bentgrass) and 8-10-plus year-old Penncross varieties seem to be more susceptible to decreased turf quality and turf loss, whereas newer varieties of bent seems to decline temporarily, but recover more quickly. In mixed stands of bent/Poa, the Poa also recovered and survived much better than bent varieties in the same stand. On one course, areas of ryegrass collars were also affected. Turf loss also seemed to occur rapidly on at least one golf course when turf showing signs of stress (purple bentgrass leaves) received a soil drench application of a of Pythium fungicide tank mixed with a biological nematicide. It was generally noted that turf growth was reduced for several weeks after applications of fungicide tankmixes that contained ALT 70 with previous or subsequent applications of growth regulators. Once turf declined, some turf did not recover and some turf seems to be taking several weeks to recover. Additional observations noted that where aeration cores were pulled and previously top-dressed (last fall or early spring) and newly established bentgrass was growing in the topdress-filled holes, turfgrass recovered and survived much better in the holes than turf in close proximity but not in the aeration holes. The plugged pattern of turf survived better for some unknown reason. Speculation includes better drainage on those roots in the fresher sand and potentially higher oxygen exchange in the holes. It may be possible that whatever product(s) ended up harming the turf was held in the plant or soil longer outside the punched areas than inside the aeration holes.    The ALT 70 label specifies that the product is not compatible for tank mixing with wetting agents and several other fungicide types.
  • FMC Professional Solutions recently released a new water-soluble formulation of Solitare herbicide.
      With the active ingredients sulfentrazone and quinclorac, Solitare WSL is labeled for use in warm- and cool-season grasses for control of more than 60 weed species, including kyllingas, sedges, annual bluegrass, chickweed, crabgrass, dallisgrass, dollarweed, goosegrass, purslane and spurge.   The new Solitare formulation contains a surfactant for faster plant penetration and will not settle out or separate when mixed with water.    It is formulated for use on well-established turf, and results typically are visible within days after application.   Any orders placed before July 31 will qualify for a $5 discount off every 0.75-gallon jug.  
  • When the inaugural group of trainees showed up for their first day of a program designed to transform both the future of San Francisco's Gleneagles Golf Course as well as some of the city's most at-risk residents, it was not long before the group realized that this would be no ordinary job.
      "Seven people showed up, and four of them had their pants pulled down around their hips," said Tom Hsieh, who holds the management contract on the city-owned property located on the edge of one of San Francisco's most crime-plagued neighborhoods. "That's how people dress on the streets. It might be appropriate in some circles, but it's not appropriate on our job site."   And the group's trainer Ken Mochida, a former U.S. Marine who also grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in nearby San Leandro, let them know that to be a success at work and in life they would have to learn to change how they dress and how they act.   "People perceive you as you present yourself," said Mochida, in his fourth year as a trainer for the Laborers International Union of North America. "If you want to be perceived as a professional, you have to present yourself as a professional."   The pre-apprentice training program known officially as the Mario de la Torre Training Academy, is a collaborative effort that includes a host of city and county agencies (parks alliance, public utilities commission, public works, housing authority, department of environment, chief administrator's office, board of supervisors, mayor's office, unified school district), the chamber of commerce and the Northern California District Council of Laborers. Members of each of those groups were on hand June 10 at Gleneagles to help dedicate the program in its namesake's honor.   Named for a San Francisco labor union icon, the academy's goal is to equip at-risk residents with training and skills needed to be successful at work and in life. It also avails downtrodden Gleneagles of cost-effective labor for daily maintenance. The partnership has secured financing to pay 80 workers during the first year of the program. Trainees will rotate through Gleneagles in groups of six to 12 for a period of six weeks each before they are eligible to move into more advanced union training. The first group of seven trainees recently graduated, with five of them moving on to an apprentice-training program for the construction industry.   Although the city owns Gleneagles, it provides little if any financial assistance for things like mowing and spraying, virtually all of which has been funded by Hsieh's company. The partnership forged with the Northern California District Council of Laborers is currently the only thing separating a golf course that remains playable well into the future and one that is not.   The program also is the only thing that stands between a lifetime of bad choices and a chance to succeed in life for many of the trainees. Hsieh believes the program could be duplicated at other urban layouts with similar problems.   "The current way of doing business is not a sustainable model here," Hsieh said. "I've been thinking of ways that a golf course can be repurposed for the greater good. There are a lot of different things you can do, one is this training academy. I think the training academy will be successful and allow the golf course to be here for another generation of golfers."   Among those on hand for the dedication was San Francisco Mayor Eddie Lee.     "You look at this facility, in years past it was pretty run down. . . . And for rec and parks, this was a drag on your monies, your limited amount of maintenance monies," Lee said. "Yet again, it's in a city where we host PGA tournaments on a world-class basis at Harding Park. So why can't a golf course sitting next to Sunnyvale public housing in the southeast sector of the city do better than just survive?   "More and more, we are presented with these unique opportunities to do something different, something innovative, something inspirational and still fulfill a long, long promise to the residents in this neighborhood that you can be part of this city and be successful at the same time."   Candidates for the union training program typically are minorities from San Francisco's worst neighborhoods, including the area around Sunnyvale. Many grew up in single-parent homes and lack the discipline, accountability and skills needed to communicate effectively in a professional environment. Gang activity and run-ins with the police are common. Mochida is out to change all of that.   On the first day of training, he reminds each worker that class begins promptly at 7 a.m. Anyone who arrives at 7:01 is dismissed from the program. Profanity and slang are not tolerated. Saying "please" and "thank you" are expected.   "The pre-apprenticeship program places a high emphasis on discipline and respect for yourself and for others," Mochida said. "A lot of these people did not grow up with any discipline or structure or manners that others would find commonplace.   "I treat them with respect to help build them up, but I have to break them of their bad habits, too. Make no mistake about it: I am very strict with them. This program gives them the skills to thrive on the job site and in life."   And the trainees respond. Rather than reject the military-like demands placed on them, they embrace them by showing up early and following instructions to the letter.   "You'd be amazed how many love the discipline," Mochida said. "They need it.   "A lot of these job sites are in areas where they have to interact with other people, not just people they work with. They have to be able to coexist with everyone. That is our overall goal, to give them the work ethic, soft skills, teamwork skills to be able to be on a job site and stay on a job site."  
    When you are in a gang environment, it is eat or get eaten. ... You have to get away from that environment."
     
    Mochida has credibility with the trainees because his background is not a lot unlike their own.   Growing up in San Leandro, Mochida resisted the temptation to join a gang, but many of his friends did not. The difference, he said, was his father, Tooru Mochida, who instilled discipline and integrity despite the surroundings. The Marines was a ticket out of town.   "When you are in a gang environment, it is eat or get eaten," Mochida said. "I tell these trainees that the hardest thing you will ever have to do is to separate yourself from your friends. I tell them not to spend their money, but to save it until they can move. You have to get away from that environment."   Hsieh has seen other public jobs projects fail because they provide a vocation, but no training   Innovative programs that promote the business of golf while also serving the public could represent the future for similar facilities struggling to survive in an urban environment, said Hsieh, who is active in San Francisco politics as a campaign advisor for many public-service causes.   "We are creative, and we have good partnerships. There are a lot of programs that spend millions to create jobs, but do not prepare people for a career. Most programs give people a fish rather than teach them how to fish.   "You can't walk in the door and interview properly if you don't have that skill set. We can teach them to rake bunkers and repair fuel lines. But you'll never get a job if can't interview because you can't talk to people."  
  • A total of 25 golf course superintendents have signed on to be part of OnGolf's Innovator Special Program.
      OnGolf is the industry's first cloud-based decision platform for improving golf course management. And 25 superintendents from throughout the United States and Canada took advantage of a chance to be among the first to use the platform to help them manage diverse environmental and management challenges, including water restrictions and high water costs, disease mitigation and rising labor costs.   "The early success of this program is validation that golf course management can operate from one dashboard for the entire course," said OnGolf chief executive officer Walt Norley. "Similar to the agricultural market, the golf industry is poised to adopt a business intelligence platform that has been highly successful in reducing the costs to manage while improving performance and yield levels."   OnGolf gives superintendents the ability to customize the best solutions for their course and manage it all in one place. Features of the platform include water management, health indicators, playing conditions indicators and labor management. As the initial users of the platform, the OnGolf Innovator Special Program subscribers are adopting the practice of making decisions based on factual insights from their course data as a guide critical to turf health, playing conditions and operating costs.     "As a new golf course superintendent, I recognized how much real-time data and historical documentation can make a significant financial and agronomic impact for a facility," said Tyler Bloom, golf course superintendent at Sparrows Point Country Club in Baltimore. "We have 27-holes of golf and 275 acres total to manage on a daily basis with a very unique setting and membership. With the help of OnGolf, I am more equipped to lead our golf course, department and facility into the future."   The initial roster of subscribers includes: Mississaugua Golf Club, Ontario; Llanerch Country Club, Havertown, Pennsylvania; Duke University Golf Club, Durham, North Carolina; Rivermont Country Club, Johns Creek, Georgia; Westmoreland Country Club, Wilmette, Illinois; The Vaquero Club, Westlake, Texas; Philadelphia Cricket Club, Flourtown, Pennsylvania; Sparrows Point Country Club, Baltimore; Grayhawk Golf Club, Scottsdale, Arizona; The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California; Saucon Valley Country Club, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Secession Golf Club, Beaufort, South Carolina; Shadow Creek Golf Club, North Las Vegas, Nevada; St. George's Golf & Country Club, Setauket, New York; Wade Hampton Golf Club, Cashiers, North Carolina; Woodway Country Club, Darien, Connecticut; Bob O' Link Golf Club, Highland Park, Illinois; Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida; The Los Angeles Country Club, Los Angeles; Desert Mountain, Scottsdale; Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pennsylvania; Medinah Country Club, Medinah, Illinois; Kirtland Country Club, Willoughby, Ohio; Card Sound Golf Club, Key Largo, Florida; SunnyBrook Golf Club, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.  
  • Heritage Action fungicide from Syngenta is now available for sale.
      Heritage Action combines azoxystrobin, the active ingredient in Heritage, with acibenzolar-s-methyl (the same active found alongside chlorothalonil in Daconil Action) to help boost the turf's natural biotic and abiotic stress-management capabilities.   Heritage Action offers Qol disease control and systemic root-to-leaf tip protection. It is safe for use on warm- and cool-season grasses and promotes better utilization of water for reduced heat and drought stress and quicker recovery from aerification. It also contains the only active ingredient registered in turf that is recognized by the Fungicide Resistance Action Committee to have systemic acquired resistance (SAR) effects, the company says.   To further boost turf performance while maintaining turf safety, research shows that Heritage Action and Daconil Action fungicides, when used together as part of a program, successfully maintained healthier turf seven days after irrigation was withheld.    Just like Daconil Action, the key to the effectiveness of Heritage Action is the inclusion of the active ingredient acibenzolar-s-methyl that promotes systemic acquired resistance, or the plant's natural ability to manage stress.
  • Every year since 2002, the TurfNet Superintendent's Best Friend Calendar has showcased 14 golf course dogs and their tireless contributions to golf courses across the country and around the world.
     
    Nominate your canine friend for a place in the next TurfNet Superintendent's Best Friend Calendar, presented again for 2016 by Syngenta.
     
    Some tips to improve your chances of winning:
    Shoot at your camera's highest resolution setting. Images should be taken in a horizontal format; we can't use vertical photos. Get down to the dog's level; don't shoot down at them from a standing position. Fill the frame with the dog as much as possible, but try not to center your dog in the frame. Left or right orientation often can result in a more dramatic photograph. Avoid clutter and distracting backgrounds. A scenic course background is fine as long as the dog is featured prominently. All dogs must belong to the course or to a course employee and spends significant time there. Submit your best photo; multiple entries are discouraged.
     
    A panel of judges will select the 14 dogs for the calendar, including the cover and December 2015. To nominate your dog, email HIGH-RESOLUTION photos to Anna Murray at amurray@turfnet.com and be sure to include the dog's name, age and breed; photographer's name; owner's name, phone number, email address; and the name of the golf course where the owner and dog both work. Or, submit photos using our online submission form. Deadline for nominations is July 31.
       
  • United Turf Alliance and Phoenix | UPI have voluntarily suspended sales of Armor Tech ALT 70 and Viceroy fungicides (respectively) pending an investigation into reports of adverse effects of the products on cool-season grass at multiple golf courses in the Northeast.
      With the active ingredient aluminum tris (O-ethyl phosphonate), ALT 70 and Viceroy are systemic fungicides labeled for control of anthracnose, Pythium and Phytophthora. Post-patent products, they are marketed as alternatives to Bayer Environmental Science's Signature fungicide. Bayer has issued a statement indicating there is no association between damaged turf and use of Signature.   Both products are manufactured by Tessenderlo Kerley Inc. of Phoenix, Arizona, and marketed as Armor Tech ALT 70 by United Turf Alliance, a consortium of distributors, and as Viceroy by Phoenix | UPI, a division of United Phosphorus, Inc.   The investigation was launched after reports of damaged turf at northeastern golf courses growing a combination of Poa annua and creeping bentgrass where ALT 70 was used as a component of a spray program.   A Web site, www.ALT70info.com, has been established as a central online location for the product manufacturer and distributor to share news and information about ArmorTech ALT 70 fungicide.   Armor Tech has not concluded that it was ALT 70 that adversely affected turf on these golf courses, but has retained help from researchers at Rutgers University and the University of Rhode Island who are helping to review spray patterns and programs and the resulting effects. In the meantime, customers can return unused product to UTA for credit.   All other Armor Tech products come from other sources unrelated to Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc. and are safe to use.    The ALT 70 label specifies that the product is not compatible with wetting agents and several other fungicide types. Click here to view the company's halt-sale letter.  

  • Steady hand

    By John Reitman, in News,

    (This story appeared in the June 2 edition of The Journal News in Westchester County, New York)
      Think about the level of pressure that comes with a sweeping downhill putt from seven feet to win a major championship.   It's a task that requires a steady hand.   Dave Dudones can relate to the queasiness. The director of golf and grounds at Westchester Country Club will be on the spot when the KPMG Women's PGA Championship gets underway. If the West Course looks spectacular on television and the competitors are complimentary, the members will respond with more than polite applause.   It's a task that requires a strong heart.   "We know Dave can handle this, and there is a tremendous amount of pressure with a national television audience looking on," said Westchester Country Club greens chairman Mark Christiana. "He's done such a good job since taking over last year. I don't believe Dave will sweat this. He is so easy-going. I talk with him every single day, and I can be a pain in the backside. I'll make suggestions and he's not afraid to let me know that a lot of ideas will not work. And when I persist, it's just, 'Mark, trust me.'"   Babysitting the likes of Mother Nature can make for a long week.   (Click here to read the rest of the story)  
  • It has taken a pair of earth-orbiting satellites that are the result of a joint effort between an American university, a German space agency, an R&D arm of NASA and launched from a Russian cosmodrome to get a handle on the fate of groundwater in the United States and around the world.
      From 310 miles above the surface of the earth, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites (known as GRACE), can calculate the amount of groundwater lost over time by measuring changes or anomalies in the earth's gravitational field. And the information those satellites are sending back to earth is disturbing.   Launched in 2002 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, the GRACE satellite project is a true global collaborative effort between the University of Texas Center for Space Research, NASA, the German space agency DLR and Germany's National Research Center for Geosciences known as GFZ. Daily operations and data collection are conducted by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California.     The two satellites, which were built in Germany, orbit the earth 137 miles apart, and take measurements of gravitational changes in the area between them. The data are converted into usable maps, with yellows, reds and browns indicating dry conditions and blues indicate wet conditions.   Information sent back from those satellites shows that groundwater supplies beneath parts of the United States, notably California, other parts of the American West and Florida, are being depleted at alarming rates. And if those areas are ever to be replenished, it will require water in almost-unimaginable volumes to do so.   Variations in the earth's gravitational field can be caused by many factors, including how much water is stored underground, in the rootzone and at the surface. And the GRACE system is able to see all of that.   In December, NASA imagery revealed that more than 11 trillion gallons had been lost from 2011-14 from California's Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the United States. That volume of water, says NASA, is more than the state's nearly 38.8 million residents use each year for non-agricultural purposes. The delta, which empties in San Francisco Bay, is steadily losing about 4 trillion gallons per year, according to NASA.   The space administration also says about two-thirds of those losses are due to groundwater pumping in the state's Central Valley. Occupying 22,000 square miles, the Central Valley represents about 1 percent of the country's agricultural land, but produces nearly 10 percent of the country's food supply.    It will require a water windfall equivalent in volume to Lake Mead (the country's largest reservoir), to replenish what has been lost in the delta.   NASA doesn't just measure groundwater storage beneath California. It has been monitoring it around the globe, and California isn't the only place where a lack of groundwater exists.   Predictably, other parts of the west, notably much of Arizona, Nevada and Utah are facing groundwater deficits, as are parts of the Midwest and the Northeast. Even much of Florida, most of which receives 50-60 inches of rain per year, is lacking sufficient groundwater supplies.     The same technology that shed light on the groundwater supply underneath the surface in California also has revealed that from 2004 to 2013, about 17 trillion gallons had been lost in the Colorado River basin, a major source of water for tens of millions of people in seven states, including places like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Southern California. Some 13 trillion gallons of that total was lost groundwater, according to NASA.   In 2014, PBS published a story citing GRACE data on the relentless draws from the massive Ogallala aquifer that supplies water to parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. The story indicated that over the previous 10 years the aquifer had been depleted by a volume equal to Lake Tahoe. Many of the states pulling from the aquifer have been in some stage of drought in recent years, including Texas, where officials say they have been pulling water from the Ogallala at a rate six times greater than what is going in.   In response to information provided by the GRACE system, California Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014 signed into law the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, multifaceted legislation that requires water agencies to develop plans to ensure long-term protection of the state's groundwater resources.   Since the advent of the GRACE system, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in 2012 enacted its own Ground Water Management Plan designed to protect the state's underwater springs, surface water impoundments and provide a foundation to help regulate agricultural practices that use these resources.   The hope, of course, is that the GRACE system provides enough information that groundwater supplies can be protect rather than depleted further. In the past, protecting groundwater has been a difficult endeavor, because measuring what is in the ground has been difficult and unreliable.    Until now.   This is part of a multi-part series on golf and water in California.
  • The season got off to a rousing start in many areas of the country where golfers are itching to put winter behind them. 
      Rounds played were up 4 percent nationwide in April compared with the same month last year, a mark that included increased play in 31 states, according to Golf Datatech's National Golf Rounds Played Report.   Predictably, the greatest increases in rounds played occurred in places like Minnesota, up 102 percent, and North and South Dakota, where play was up 94 percent. Other states with double-digit increases in rounds played in April were Wisconsin (45 percent); Iowa (30 percent); Michigan (26 percent); Colorado (15 percent); Illinois (13 percent); and Idaho, Montana and Wyoming (up 12 percent).   According to Jim Koppenhaver's Pellucid Corp. there was an overall 8 percent increase in favorable weather conditions nationwide, a measure he calls golf playable hours. For the year, golf playable hours are up 11 percent.    For the year, rounds played are up 2.2 percent with the greatest impact being felt at public-access courses, where rounds are up 3 percent for the year, compared with 0.1 percent at private clubs.   The greatest decline in rounds played in April were in New England, where rounds were down 12 percent to 18 percent throughout a region that failed to capitalize on warm, dry conditions. Play also was down in the South-Central United States, led by Louisiana (down 18 percent) and Kentucky and Tennessee (down 13 percent).   The survey includes self-reported statistics from 3,465 private clubs and daily fee facilities in 49 states, excluding Alaska.
  • BASF's Pillar G Intrinsic OK'd for use in California
      Pillar G Intrinsic brand fungicide from BASF recently was granted label registration by the California EPA.   Pillar G is a combination Insignia fungicide (pyraclostrobin) and Trinity fungicide (triticonazole) on a granular carrier. This combination of two highly effective active ingredients delivers preventive control of dollar spot, anthracnose, brown and large patch, take-all patch, summer patch, pink snow mold, leaf spots and more.   Pillar G Intrinsic brand fungicide is formulated on a clay granule that provides spreading characteristics because of its density and uniform particle size. The active ingredient moves quickly off of the granule after regular irrigation or precipitation so that it can protect turfgrass soon after application.   Pillar G Intrinsic brand fungicide is labeled for use on most turfgrasses for both lawns and golf courses and provides healthier and higher quality turf, especially during environmentally stressful periods.   Nufarm promotes Copley to oversee golf market
    Nufarm Americas recently named Cameron Copley to the newly created role of golf national account manager for the company's turf and ornamental division.   A former assistant golf course superintendent, Copley will be responsible for the overall development of the Nufarm product line as well as all sales initiatives.   Before being appointed to his current position, Copley managed Nufarm's Southeast region in the T&O segment. He was on board during the integration of the Cleary Chemical line in 2013, and most recently has been working to integrate the Valent Professional Products line into the Nufarm's portfolio.   FMC rebates help superintendents save while targeting sedges
    FMC Professional Solutions has launched a rebate program that will help superintendents save between $5-$12.50 on various sizes of Dismiss South and Dismiss CA herbicides while controlling sedges and kyllinga.   The rebate program includes savings of $12.50 instant rebate on each half-gallon jug of Dismiss turf herbicide, $10 on each pint of Dismiss South herbicide, $5 on each 6-ounce jug of Dismiss CA turf herbicide and $5 on each 6-ounce jug of Dismiss turf herbicide.   Dismiss herbicide controls yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga in warm and cool-season turf. It attacks sedges at the surface for quick visible control, while also controlling tubers. This dual action helps prevent future sedge outbreaks and the need for retreats.    For turf managers fighting purple nutsedge, Dismiss South herbicide achieves fast, effective results against purple nutsedge, yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga in warm-season turf.    Registered for use in California and Arizona, Dismiss CA turf herbicide delivers fast, visible control of sedges like yellow nutsedge, purple nutsedge and green kyllinga, as well as a significant reduction in new sedge populations.     California OK's Syngenta's Velista
    The California Environmental Protection Agency recently approved Velista fungicide from Syngenta for use on some of a golf course's most critical areas.   With the active ingredient penthiopyrad, Velista is a broad-spectrum SDHI fungicide that controls anthracnose, fairy ring, rapid blight and more on greens, collars, fairways and rough areas. It is ideal for cleaning up diseases during transition times from spring to summer and fall to winter on all turf types.    Launched at this year's Golf Industry Show in San Antonio, Velista is a water-dispersible granular formulation and can be tank mixed with other products to enhance control. When mixed with Briskway fungicide, Velista has exhibited excellent control of summer stress diseases on greens when temperatures transition from warm to hot.  

  • It's complicated

    By John Reitman, in News,

    When vandals destroyed a temporary dam holding back 50 million gallons of water earmarked for recharging groundwater, police in Fremont, California were quick to respond, but not because they were worried about ensuring local ne'er do wells paid restitution to replace the rubber structure. They responded because enough water to supply 500 homes for a year, according to the Alameda County Water District, went to waste as it was whisked off into San Francisco Bay.
      The story from May 21 serves as a snapshot of just how serious officials in California are about conserving water, and how many questions remain moving ahead. And just like no two fingerprints are alike, it seems no two solutions for saving water are the same amid one of the worst droughts in the state's history.   Restrictions placed on the state's 411 urban water providers by the California Water Resources Control Board through an April 1 directive from Gov. Jerry Brown, range from 8 percent to 36 percent. The board has largely left it up to each district to achieve its quota any way it sees fit, with the end goal being a statewide 25 percent reduction in urban water use over the next year.
    Restrictions placed on the state's 411 urban water providers by the California Water Resources Control Board through an April 1 directive from Gov. Jerry Brown, range from 8 percent to 36 percent...
      The complexity of this issue illustrates the need for a solid foundation of relationships between the golf industry and government agencies and water providers. Such relationships are necessary so superintendents have the flexibility to responsibly manage water in a manner that works for them and their golf course rather than be held to a cookie-cutter solution handed down in seeming random fashion by a government agency or public utility.   "We're doing things that the golf industry has done in other states, and that is to get organized and learn how to work with governments," said Craig Kessler, director of governmental affairs for the Southern California Golf Association.    "It's up to individual water districts to interpret (drought restrictions), so we have to get in front of them."   Those types of relationships already exist in many other states as well as in some parts of California, but not everywhere. Standing as Exhibit A is the East Bay Municipal Utility District that serves customers to the east of San Francisco Bay.   Solutions for saving water on golf courses range from reducing irrigation in practice ranges, roughs and even fairways to replacing cool-season turf with drought-tolerant Bermudagrasses to constructing new catch ponds and wells, or expanding existing ones.   Converting turf to unmanaged, unirrigated space has been popular, especially in areas of Southern California where water districts have offered rebates of up to $1 per square foot.   It's clear this ride is only beginning for golf course superintendents, and it likely will be a long time before they will be able to disembark. Welcome to the new norm.    "Guys in this region are going to have to keep turf on the borderline," said Bob Zoller of Monterey Peninsula Country Club. "The course will still play well, and it won't really affect enjoyment of the game, but the course might not be as pretty as what people have become used to seeing."   To those outside California's borders, saving 25 percent might seem, on its face, a challenging-but-reasonable solution if it helps the greater good. If only things were that easy. The demands placed upon golf courses by individual water districts are just as fluid as the water they are ordered to conserve.   
    To those outside California's borders, saving 25 percent might seem, on its face, a challenging-but-reasonable solution if it helps the greater good. If only things were that easy...
      To call the situation complex is an understatement of dramatic proportion.   The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is formed by the confluence of two of the state's largest rivers to create the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast. The Delta eventually co-mingles with the Pacific to create San Francisco Bay. It also supplies much of the surface water used to irrigate golf courses in Northern California. Although many water suppliers are pulling from the same well, so to speak, their methods of conservation vary.   To wit: In the San Jose area, where cutbacks of 20 percent have been ordered by the CWRCB, some courses have been ordered to reduce water use by as much as 25 percent, while others are having their surface water supply turned off completely, only to have it replaced by more expensive potable water - with no restrictions.   In Marin County, where cutbacks of 20 percent and 24 percent are in place, some courses on untreated surface water say they haven't been asked to curb their use by a single drop. Instead, water districts there are focused on reducing consumption of potable water supplies.   In central Alameda County east of Oakland, where mandated cutbacks range mostly from 8 to 28 percent, the story is much the same. Some golf courses have been affected modestly. Then there is the East Bay Municipal Utility District, which has been directed by the CWRCB to cut water use by 16 percent.   One of the largest water providers in California with more than 1.25 million customers, East Bay MUD has taken things a couple of steps further, requiring an overall savings of 20 percent from its customers, and imposing restrictions of 40 percent on some of its larger users, such as municipalities and golf courses. EBMUD also limits its customers to watering just two days per week.     These recent restrictions are only the beginning. Current restrictions are mandated at the state level only until June 1, 2016. No one knows what will come next. Do the restrictions in place now become the new baseline?   Many of the state's water providers say they have enough water to get through this year and next under current drought status. What happens five years down the road, or 10? At least one study has linked the drought to changes in ocean temperatures, and some scientists have indicated that the drought could last for another 30-50 years. Will superintendents next be required to save 10, 25 or 40 percent from what they are using now?   This isn't a problem reserved only for California. Cash-for-turf programs have popped up through the years in Nevada and Arizona, and further restrictions there and in places like Colorado and Texas are only a matter of time.   This much is clear, it's a problem that likely isn't going away soon. California is filled with superintendents who have been voluntarily conserving 10-20 percent and even more, and those who stay in front of their water purveyors and educate public stakeholders on their conservation efforts will always have the best chance for succeeding during such challenging times.   This is part of a multi-part series on golf and water in California.
  • OnGolf, a cloud-based information platform for the golf turf industry has developed partnerships with hardware and software provides that will help superintendents make more informed management decisions. OnGolf product and data partners include Davis Instruments, Spectrum Technologies, Motor Controls, Campbell Scientific, ezLocator, GreenSight Agronomics and Growing Solutions.
      "(T)heir technologies will now be key data and informational sources of the OnGolf platform for our mutual customer base," OnGolf chief executive officer Walt Norley.   OnGolf is a cloud-based, data-analytics software program that aggregates key line-item data and provides superintendents with information they need to manage soil conditions, water use, fertilizer and pesticide use, labor and more as efficiently as possibly.   Founded by Norley, who brought golf UgMO (Advanced Sensor Technologies) and Matt Shaffer, director of grounds at Merion Golf Club, OnGolf was derived from an existing ag-based platform known as OnFarm.     Based in California's farming region, OnFarm is a cloud-based data-aggregation platform that has been helping growers increase yield and reduce the cost of production for three years. OnFarm has more than 1,000 clients large and small. More than 1.3 million acres of agricultural land are under management with OnFarm since 2012.   OnGolf's cloud-based system collects data from soil-monitoring technology and computerized irrigation systems, utilizes its own weather system and also can capture information such as fertilizer use, fungicide and pesticide inputs, and mowing schedules so superintendents can make informed decisions on inputs and other agronomic practices and manage human resources. By partnering with leading companies in each product sector, OnGolf is integrating products that already have a proven track record in golf course management, and now will be able to collaborate within the OnGolf platform. The plug-and-play model gives customers the ability to seamlessly navigate all of their systems in one place in real time. Superintendents can manage the information in an automated, cloud format on a browser or any mobile device.   Davis Instruments, a privately held manufacturing company and developer of instruments for weather, marine, and automotive use, offers professional wireless or cabled weather stations designed to provide a high level of accuracy, reliability and ruggedness. Spectrum Technologies was founded in 1987 and is a leader in providing advanced soil-monitoring technology for agriculture, horticulture and turf markets. Motor Controls Inc., founded in 1980, manufactures control systems as well as complete packaged pumping systems.   Campbell Scientific offers 41 years of experience in weather stations and systems and is a leader in dataloggers, data-acquisition systems, and measurement and control products, and ezLocator is a manufacturer of pin-placement software.   GreenSight Agronomics has a drone-based imaging service that delivers 1-inch resolution image maps, NDVI maps and 3D terrain models. By next year, the company's services will include automatic daily over-flight to monitor soil moisture, detect pests/pathogens, and deliver daily alerts related to these causes. Finally, Growing Solutions Inc. is a leader in pH control, providing cutting-edge technology for golf and maintenance facilities.
    "The customer is the driving force for our partnerships," Norley said. "Our business model is to include all hardware and software products on our platform based on what the customer currently has in on their course, or wants to have on their course. This offers customers a seamless experience with automation of data coming from these products which eliminates any manual inputting except Stimp meter readings and mowing practices."  
  • It is safe to say that James Sanders made a favorable impression on Steve Gross when they worked together at Brookstone Golf and Country Club near Atlanta. When Gross moved on to become superintendent at nearby Mirror Lake Golf Club and eventually needed a new equipment manager, he called on his former tech to ask if he was interested in a new job.
      "I went looking for him," Gross said. "We have a pretty tight budget, so I had to find some innovative ways to afford him. It all worked out eventually.   "I really can't say enough good things about my equipment technician, but as I think of what to say he really just performs his job like those people that are truly passionate about what they do."   That was two years and one management company ago. Since then, Sanders has been busy keeping Mirror Lake's aging equipment fleet in top condition every day. For that reason, Sanders has been named a finalist for the 2015 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by Toro.   Criteria on which nominees are judged include: crisis management; effective budgeting; environmental awareness; helping to further and promote the careers of colleagues and employees; interpersonal communications; inventory management and cost control; overall condition and dependability of rolling stock; shop safety; and work ethic.   The winner will receive the Golden Wrench Award (a real gold-plated wrench) from TurfNet and a slot in Toro's Service Training University at the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.   Most of the rolling stock at Mirror Lake, Gross says, ranges from 12 to 15 years in age. Keeping that equipment ready for use on the golf course with a tight budget takes a skilled mechanic who also happens to be a frugal shopper.   "Jimmy, knowing that our budget is tight will take the time to find the best price on equipment parts," Gross said. "Just the other day, he called the distributor for a clutch assembly that was going to cost $ 1,300. Jimmy took the time and ended up getting the same new part on EBay for $300. He could have just bought the higher-priced part, but Jimmy sees the bigger picture. He operates the shop finances like (the money) was coming from his own personal checkbook."   The triplex greensmowers Gross and his crew use every day are at least 10 years old and each has more than 5,000 hours on it.   
    The triplex greensmowers Gross and his crew use every day are at least 10 years old and each has more than 5,000 hours on it.
     
    His military work ethic also carried over to Mirror Lake.
      "It was time to replace those probably 1,500 hours ago," Gross said. "Thanks to him, they're still going strong, and we cut at 0.120 consistently."   Even when Gross bought a refurbished fairway unit, Sanders, who received formal training as an aircraft mechanic in the U.S. Air Force, essentially rebuilt the unit so it met his standards. 
     
    "He is just passionate about what he does," Gross said.   "A lot of time in the summer, this job requires more than just an 8-hour day. And there are many nights when he's so busy during the day that he's here until 10, 10:30 or even 11:30 at night grinding and making sure reels are ready for the next day.    "That's a work ethic that only comes from a passionate employee."  
  • A few years ago, when Matt Shaffer took delivery of a new fleet of walk mowers at Merion Golf Club, one thing immediately stood out.
      "The 22-inch floating head wasn't cutting low enough for us," Shaffer said.   Then Shaffer had an idea. He looked at a riding unit with 18-inch heads and then turned toward equipment manager Robert Smith and said: "This isn't good enough. I want you to take these 18-inch cutting units and put them on these 22-inch mowers."   "He told me he thought he could do," Shaffer said. "I said to him 'good, because I want you to do it anyway.' It worked way beyond our imagination. We built a whole fleet of mowers like that, because, at the time, they weren't available like that from the manufacturer."   Shaffer tried to keep the invention under wraps, but colleagues eventually noticed them, and soon, Shaffer says, so did the manufacturer, who eventually began sending off the assembly line pretty much the same thing Smith had been building at Merion.   It's just one reason why Smith, who Shaffer calls 'maestro of the mowers,' has been named a finalist for the 2015 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by Toro.   Criteria on which nominees are judged include: crisis management; effective budgeting; environmental awareness; helping to further and promote the careers of colleagues and employees; interpersonal communications; inventory management and cost control; overall condition and dependability of rolling stock; shop safety; and work ethic.   The winner will receive the Golden Wrench Award (a real gold-plated wrench) from TurfNet and a slot in Toro's Service Training University at the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.   A graduate of Penn State's now defunct turfgrass equipment maintenance program, Smith started as an equipment operator at Merion for four years before taking over as equipment manager.    He has gained a reputation for teaching and training upcoming mechanics and as an expert fabricator.   When an equipment operator drove ruts into a fairway last winter during a tree-management project, Shaffer told his mechanic to weld 1-inch tines onto a backhoe bucket, which then was dropped into each rut, turned and lifted, removing each truck tire rut just like it was a giant divot-repair tool.  "If Shaffer can dream it, Robert can build," Shaffer said.  

    If Shaffer can dream it, Robert can build it..."
     
    Smith has started his own training program to help fill a void of qualified mechanics in the golf business. At any given time, Smith has one entry level mechanic just entering his program, and one nearing completion of training. Trainees begin by mowing greens and raking bunkers for part of the day and stay in the program for two to three years before graduating. One of his trainees will "graduate" this fall and already has three job offers.
     
    Current or past trainees include former golf course superintendents and even college students majoring in engineering. Graduates have gone on to work as equipment managers at such places as Saucon Valley Country Club.
      "Merion is all about teaching," Shaffer said. "We have a saying here: ?If you're not teaching, you're not learning.' "   The training program is a rare way of giving back for a club that definitely is unique in how it conducts its turf management business.   Shaffer has become known for his minimalist philosophy in maintaining turf, and says he has not made a fungicide app since last September.   "We're mowers, not chemical dumpers," Shaffer said. "Robert is a big part of us being able to do that."  
  • When the Foley grinder is humming at the Jimmie Austin Golf Club at the University of Oklahoma, the sound echoes through the maintenance facility like an aria playing across campus in the Cimarron Opera House.
      "That's music to my ears," said superintendent Eddie Roach, Jr. "When I hear (the grinder) running, I know the blades are going to be perfect."   Perfect reels are important at Jimmie Austin, where just about everything except fairways and roughs are kept trimmed with an expansive fleet of walk mowers. Roach keeps about 20 walkmowers on hand, as well as a stockpile of about 50 reel and bedknife units.   Keeping those reels as sharp as possible is the job of equipment manager Rex Schad. And although golfers at Jimmie Austin might not know Schad, who eventually came to the golf business after learning diesel mechanics in the U.S. Navy, the side effects of his grinding skills are felt from the first tee to the 18th green.   Schad, who eventually came to the golf business after learning diesel mechanics in the U.S. Navy,    "We have a Foley bedknife grinder, and he keeps it rocking and rolling at least two times a week," Roach said. "He always a grind first mentality. He wants reels perfect all the time. He always has a bunch ready to go so he can pull others out and work on them. This way, everything is always ready when you need it."   Because of his ability to allow Roach and his staff to provide excellent quality of cut every day, Schad has been named one of three finalists for the 2015 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by Toro.   Criteria on which nominees are judged include: crisis management; effective budgeting; environmental awareness; helping to further and promote the careers of colleagues and employees; interpersonal communications; inventory management and cost control; overall condition and dependability of rolling stock; shop safety; and work ethic.   The winner will receive the Golden Wrench Award (a real gold-plated wrench) from TurfNet and a slot in Toro's Service Training University at the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.   In his eight years as superintendent at Jimmie Austin, Roach has been so impressed by Schad's grinding skills that he has dedicated space to him on his turf maintenance blog in hopes of sharing with patrons just how valuable he is to the golf course maintenance operation.   "His position specifically is not one that is highly visible to members, but he has a tremendous impact on our product that we put out there every day," Roach said. "He gives us exceptional quality of cut. Our members and patrons don't see that, or know his face. He's not the guy who gets a lot of 'attaboys' like other people who golfers see out on the course."   Providing this kind of quality of cut means more than just keeping reels and bedknives in top condition. It means keeping all mowing equipment in as-new condition. And often, that means fabricating a tool for a specific task.    For example, when the hydraulics that hold gang units on the rough mowers in a closed position relaxed over time, causing the wings to drop when not in use, Schad fabricated a brace system to hold the decks in place.   "They created too large of a footprint," Roach said. "We needed that space."   Other inventions include a trailer system for spreaders that connects directly to utility vehicles.   It's not enough for equipment to run like it's new, it has to look that way, too.   "It's aesthetic, I know. But there is an image we are putting out there," Roach said. "You can have an old clunker piece of equipment that still achieves a superior quality of cut. But what is the golfer's perception of that? I don't want them to think we don't know how to take care of anything. It has to be an asset to the golf course."  

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