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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    Of all the challenging tasks asked of Robert Smith at Merion Golf Club, and there have been many, the most difficult has been achieving nearly impossible heights of cut for the 2013 U.S. Open.
     
    Before the start of the third round in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, Matt Shaffer, the club's director of golf course operations, asked Smith if it was possible to cut any lower for the tournament's final two rounds. Smith, Merion's equipment manager for the past seven years, answered in the affirmative. But even Shaffer didn't know, until after the tournament, what Smith was able to coax out of those mowers.
     
    "We were cutting at 0.075 (inches) on the weekend. If you read in any book, that height of cut is nearly impossible," said Smith. "It took me two years to figure out the correct angles, how thick the bedknife should be, what attitude I should run the bedknife. I've never been that deep into a mower before. I had notes, upon notes, upon notes. Even Matt didn't know for sure our height of cut by the weekend.
     
    "Achieving those heights of cut is the hardest thing I've done at Merion, but I'd do it all again tomorrow. The science behind it, that is what is so rewarding."
     
    It's also one more reason why, at Merion, Smith is known as "Maestro of the Mowers." It also is just one reason why Smith was named the recipient of the 2015 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by The Toro Co.
     
    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. Since then, he has gained a reputation for teaching and training upcoming mechanics and as an expert fabricator.
     
    As the winner, Smith receives the Golden Wrench Award and a spot in one of Toro's Service Training University.
     
    He was chosen by a panel of judges from a field of three finalists, including Rex Schad of Jimmie Austin Golf Club at the University of Oklahoma and James Sanders of Mirror Lake Golf Club in Villa Rica, Georgia.
     
    Candidates are judged on the following criteria: 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.
     
    One of Smith's more infamous fabrications involved modifying a brand new 22-inch walk mowing unit by outfitting it with an 18-inch deck to achieve a lower height of cut.
     
    "When I told him I wanted him to do it, he said ?I think I can do that,' " Shaffer said. "I told him that I didn't think he understood me. I wasn't asking if he could do; I wanted it done."
     
    Smith is intent on giving back to an industry that has provided him with so much. He has started a training program that teaches those with mechanical aptitude to be golf course equipment managers.
     
    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.
     
    Curriculum includes a lot of on-the-job training, formal on-site classes and enrolling them in training academies sponsored by Toro, John Deere and Jacobsen.
     
    "I love teaching. There's not a day that goes by that I don't learn something from them," Smith said. "Plus it keeps my mind sharp as well.
    "I don't do it to benefit myself. I do it to benefit others. Anyone who knows me, I'm a big giver. In fact, my wife gets mad at me for it sometimes. I'm in a position to give, and Matt and Merion are in a position to let me do that."
  • Platte River acquires Profile
     
    Platte River Equity has acquired Profile Products.
     
    A private equity firm, Platte River Equity plans to grow the Profile Products brand both organically and through subsequent acquisitions.
    Profile Products will continue to operate with the same management team, 200-plus-employee workforce and existing locations in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Conover, North Carolina, Blue Mountain, Mississippi, and Limestone, Tennessee.
     
    During the past six decades, Profile has developed innovative erosion and sediment control products, turf establishment products, and complementary solutions designed to minimize soil loss and accelerate seed germination for private and civil construction, energy, mining, landfill, agriculture, horticulture, sports fields, golf courses, and retail lawn and garden applications. Its products are sold in 75 countries on six continents.
     
    The transaction closed on May 21. Financial details were not disclosed.
     

     
    Syngenta names new territory managers
     
    Syngenta has named Adam Garr and Chris Threadgill as new territory managers for its turf and ornamental segment.
     
    A former golf course superintendent, Garr will be responsible for sales efforts in the lower part of Michigan. He has more than 16 years of experience in the turf industry, including the past 6 as superintendent at Plum Hollow Country Club in Southfield, Michigan.
     
    Threadgill, has nearly 30 years of experience in the horticulture industry, including prior posts with The Scotts Co. and Valent U.S.A. Corp.
     
    Five students receive Garske grants
     
    Kelsi Stieler, Brooks Leftwich, Alexis Gomez, Dalton Trout and Heidi Kastenholz were named recipients of the 2015 Joseph S. Garske Collegiate Grants.
    Established in honor of Par Aide company founder Joseph S. Garske, the Garske grant program is funded by the golf course accessory company and administered by the GCSAA's Environmental Institute for Golf.
     
    The program helps children and stepchildren of GCSAA members fund their education at an accredited college or trade school with one-time, one-year grants, awarded to five winners. Grants are based on community service, leadership, academic performance and a written essay.
     
    Stieler (Fresno State, $2,500) is the daughter of Michael F. Stieler of Spring Creek Golf and Country Club in Ripon, California. Leftwich (University of Tennessee, $2,000) is the son of retired superintendent Michael C. Leftwich. Gomez (Texas Tech University, $1,500) of Summit Rock Over Horseshoe Bay Golf Course in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. Trout (Penn State, $1,000) is the son of David L. Trout of Azalea Sands Golf Club in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Kastenholz (Butler University, $500) is the daughter of Mark Kastenholz of Tipton (Indiana) Golf Course.
     
  • As the face of the University of Massachusetts turfgrass program for 40 years, Joseph Troll always placed the needs of students first. And that is why when it came time to place them as interns, he often suggested they take positions far from home. He knew the experience would be one that paid dividends far into the future.
      "Often times, he'd take students and pull them aside in their first year and council them on where they were going for internships, and how important that decision was on the rest of your career," said Steve Curry, superintendent at Torrington Country Club in Goshen, Connecticut. "He brought me into his office one day and told me ?I'd hate to see you stay close to home and your mommy. I'd rather see you experience something far away from home.' He made the call for me to Cherry Hills in Denver, and it was the best experience in my career."  
    Troll, who retired from UMass in 1985, but never stepped away from serving the university, died June 14 at his home in Summerfield, Florida. He was 95.   A native of Patterson, New Jersey, Troll earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Rhode Island and masters and doctorate degrees from UMass.    A veteran of the U.S. Navy during World War II, he is remembered by former students for bringing a little bit of the military to the classroom, but only because he expected much from his students and wanted them to share his high standards.   "If he had an 8 a.m. class, at 8 he locked the door, and if you were late, you missed class," said UMass professor of entomology Pat Vittum, Ph.D. "Because he served in the Navy, he did not suffer fools lightly. He had high expectations, and his students had to show up and do the work. At the time, I don't think any of them particularly loved him for that, but later on they did."   Troll took over the UMass turf program in the Stockbridge School of Agriculture in 1957, including the Winter School for Greenkeepers, which predecessor Lawrence Dickinson founded in 1927 and today is the country's oldest formal curriculum for turf managers. During his tenure at UMass, he founded the Massachusetts Lawn and Turf Council Conference, known locally as the Mass Turf Conference, which eventually morphed into the larger New England Regional Turf Foundation. He was the recipient of the USGA Green Section Award in 1991 and was inducted into the Western Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame in 2013.    "I still remember my first class with Joe," said UMass alum and retired superintendent Ted Horton. "Once we got past the Navy stories, we were all carefully informed that "it takes three things to grow grass - drainage, drainage and drainage. Not too many years later I found that to be not completely accurate.  All it seemed to take was a crack in the sidewalk."   After his retirement in 1985, he remained active in fundraising activities for the university, including raising money to start the turfgrass research center in South Deerfield that bears his name. Those fundraising efforts to build the Joseph Troll Turf Research Center resulted in the creation of a turfgrass alumni group and an annual fundraiser tournament honoring its namesake.   "Joe Troll was a great teacher and mentor to young superintendents and frankly to old, has-been superintendents as well," Horton said. "He was always accessible and had a wonderful sense of humor. He was more like a friend than a professor and kept in touch with his students for years after graduation. For decades, he was at the forefront of turf research and turfgrass management teaching and it is fitting that the turf research station at UMass Amherst is named after him."   Throughout his career, Troll worked tirelessly on behalf of his students to place them at golf courses throughout the country and around the world.   "He did that better than anyone," Vittum said. "If someone was suited for Winged Foot, he made sure that person made it to Winged Foot. It was almost as if he had his own headhunting firm."   The quality of education taking place at UMass under his watch often resulted in golf course managers around the country calling him looking to fill vacancies.   "Once he started that, he'd have greens chairmen calling him to request a Stockbridge student. That really snowballed," said Roy Mackintosh, a retired superintendent who graduated from UMass in 1964. "He placed superintendents all over the world. It was a who's who of golf courses where he placed students."   UMass alumni working locally often were called up to host field trips for Troll's classes.   Always at Troll's side throughout his career was wife Lonnie, who helped him with research projects, running turf conferences or organizing his notes.   "They had a great connection," Mackintosh said. "She was always there by his side at conferences and running his research programs. She was My Gal, Friday. She did everything to back him up. They were quite a team."
  • For the past decade, John Deere Golf and Bayer Environmental Science have helped prepare the next generation of superintendents by bringing them together with some of the golf industry's most accomplished turf professionals at the annual Green Start Academy.
      Online applications for the 10th annual event are being accepted through July 12.    This year marks the 10th annual Green Start Academy, a professional development initiative presented by John Deere Golf and Bayer Environmental Science that includes educational sessions, workshops, roundtable discussions and networking opportunities for assistant superintendents from the United States and Canada.    Scheduled for Oct. 7-9, this year's event will be held at the Bayer Development and Training Center in Clayton, North Carolina, and the John Deere Turf Care factory in nearby Fuquay-Varina. Attendees will meet with fellow professionals and gain valuable insights from top industry leaders. Attendance is limited to just 50 assistant superintendents, who will receive an all-expense-paid trip to attend the event.   "Since 2005, Green Start Academy has provided assistant superintendents with the tools to advance their careers and highlight their commitment to ongoing professional development," said Ren Wilkes, marketing manager for John Deere Golf. "Through programs like Green Start Academy, John Deere can help support the ongoing success of promising assistant superintendents who represent the future of the golf industry."   Assistant superintendents interested in attending should complete the online application, which also includes submitting a resume and cover letter by July 12.   "It has been exciting to witness the evolution of GSA over the years, but one constant remains true," said David Wells, golf business manager for the Bayer turf and ornamentals business. "The high quality applicants ? all committed to the game of golf and to advancing their careers ? continue to inspire Bayer's ongoing commitment to elevate and equip the next generation of leaders to succeed and grow the industry."     Consideration is given to all applicants, representing every type of club and course. An independent panel of golf industry experts will select the 50 highest-ranked applicants. Those who are selected to attend will be notified by mid-August. Individuals who are not selected will have the opportunity to take advantage of a professional resume review and critique.    The 2015 GSA judging panel includes: Chris Condon, Tetherow Golf Club; Jeff Corcoran, Oak Hill Country Club; Chris Dew, The National Golf Club of Canada; Bob Farren, CGCS, Pinehurst Resort; Pat Finlen, CGCS, The Olympic Club; Lukus Harvey, Atlanta Athletic Club; Bryan Stromme, Billy Casper Golf; Billy Weeks, Duke University Golf Club.
  • 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.

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