Innovation. It's one of the great and wonderful words in our business. I get to chat with Kevin Hicks, superintendent at Coeur d'Alene Golf Club about thinking ahead.
How's your strategy for looking at new ways to do the same old, same old? Or does it get old at all?
A great interview with one of the most forward thinking supers in our business. And we get to talk about all kinds of everything that always leads back to talking grass.
In this important podcast, I speak frankly with Sean Sullivan of Briarwood Golf Club in Billings, MT, about his experience with skin cancer, and concerns that all superintendents should have about it.
We get into the various types of skin cancer, genetic susceptibility (as Sean's Irish heritage predisposes him), diagnosis, treatments and precautions... including Sean's references to "core removal" and PGRs.
As always, smart talk from leading thinkers, presented by DryJect.
On this Rockbottum Radio audiocast, I drop in behind the scenes at Rockbottum Country Club to investigate a missing golf cart and a stuck trackhoe... then get an earful from Ludell about his difficulties being objectified by women... and hear about changing cups on a day other than Friday. Then, Storytime.
Check out my new book, The Greens of Wrath, available in softcover and Kindle versions, at Amazon.com.
In this episode, I speak frankly with Michael Stachowicz, former golf course superintendent now agronomist with the National Park Service, responsible for managing the turf on the National Mall in Washington.
Topics range from job transition to sand-based systems, turf selection and getting the seed you want, politics and turf damage prevention.
Smart talk from leading thinkers, presented by DryJect.
Water, when it takes the form of rain and stormwater runoff, is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing when it irrigates our courses and landscapes, fills our ponds and replenishes groundwater levels. It is a curse when it washes away mulch beds or bunker sand, creates erosion damage, or overwhelms the ability of drain ways to move it out of our landscapes. Which of these consequences it ends up creating is to some extent up to us as Grounds Managers. Creating plans and methods for dealin
Leaders spend their lives inspiring others to strive for greatness, often against overwhelming odds.
As a superintendent for 40 years at multiple golf courses across California, Dick Rudolph, 71, knows the importance of encouraging and motivating others. It was a skill he learned as a noncommissioned officer in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, where convincing others to do more than they thought was possible often could be the difference between life and death.
"I learned a
Guest Post by Greg Wojick
Our industry has always been about so much more than growing grass. Eventually everyone has an issue arise, either agronomic or elsewhere in the operation. My belief is that whenever you're in trouble -- and even before you are in trouble -- you better be able to communicate well.
I'm usually impressed with superintendents' technical competence and professional conduct. If only that were all you needed for success! The reality is that a m
Back in '73, when I turned 17, which is middle age in Georgia, two of Dad's superintendent buddies, (a Mr. Maples and a Mr. Womack, if I recall) informed him that his eldest son was suffering from the worst case of golf irreverence they had ever seen. They suggested the only cure was the Great Golf Pilgrimage in April.
While it's true I may have used the offensively irreverent phrase "Overseed National", Cousin Ludell was much worse, as he often intentionally referred to our golfers as "pa
If I have a man crush, it may be with Thomas Bastis of the California Golf Club of San Francisco. That may not be much of a secret, but it's true.
Thomas and I had a chance to record a cool interview talking about education and giving back as a Superintendent. It's a wonderful concept that doesn't always work.
This podcast represents my return from a brief sabbatical to get reenergized and to get through some personal challenges as well.
I'm excited to have Thomas be my first g
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, host Dr. Frank Rossi chats with Penn State entomologist Dr. Ben McGraw and weed specialist Dr. Jim Brosnan from the University of Tennessee about pesticide resistance, ABW surveys with surprising results, old vs new chemistries, weed susceptibility testing, UT's new herbicide selection tool, and the upcoming Poa Day at UT to be broadcast via Facebook Live.
Not to mention New England sports, banjo playing and beer drinking!
Smart talk from leading thin
WARNING for those of you who wear pants! Do you suffer from Mandatory Khaki?
There has been a significant breakthrough! Watch this film . . . or suffer this summer in sweltering silence.
We all love a good story. From our favorite bedtime yarn to our best movie, stories capture us in a unique way and share what it means to be human. Stories and those who tell them bind us together as a culture and allow us to access a deep sense of shared community.
But what happens when our stories become, well, not our stories? What happens when stories are used against us for nefarious reasons? In this day and age this appears to be an increasing problem. The wild west that is the interne
As of February 28, 64% of the State of Missouri is in the moderate drought category according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. This is up from 50% the week before, and as of this writing the remainder of the state was in the abnormally dry category.
By contrast, California, which had been in a several years-long drought, is now declining in all drought categories. 75% of the state is not rated at all and even the stubborn droughty areas of Southern California are getting moisture. In fact, many
In this latest episode on Rockbottum Radio, Randy and Ludell take calls and argue about green speeds, the Alphabets, golf architecture of the future, quick couplers, water savings and the absolute best/greatest/bestest new 'muda for the south.
Oh yeah, and using common sense to stabilize golf. That.
In this episode of The Ladder, host John Reitman chats with Tom Zoller, longtime superintendent and now Managing Director at Tehàma Golf Club (owned by Clint Eastwood) in Carmel, CA. Zoller relates his experiences growing up and through the ranks of the greenkeeping profession to his current position.
In this episode of the TurfNet Renovation Report, host Peter McCormick chats with Rick Tegtmeier, CGCS MG, about the recently completed four-year, 36-hole renovation project at Des Moines Golf & Country Club where he has been director of grounds since 2007. A humorous anecdote about architect Pete Dye... mistakes made and lessons learned... tips for dealing with architects, working with contractors and how to get the best from in-house staff... Rick lays it all out for us.
Whether you're
Most of the education at BTME ended Wednesday and that left a final day for us to visit the trade show in Harrogate's Exposition Centre. As mentioned before in this blog, the BTME show is on a smaller, more manageable scale that the GIS.
We decided to visit a few familiar companies as well a few companies that may have been new to the group. Visits to both Bayer and Syngenta were the real eye-openers as we learned how relatively few chemicals European greenkeepers have to work with. Bayer's
For decades, as I pursued affordable seasonal color with wildflowers, native grasses, ornamental shrubbery and ground covers, I worried about accidentally introducing dangerous, invasive species. Our region has a history of suffering invasive species, the worst being Kudzu, Fire Ants, General Sherman, Carpetbaggers and Bentgrass.
I abandoned the traditional golf course color platform--the formal tee-side annual flower bed--for two reasons: First, beds of summer begonias, spring tulips, an
This topic isn't specific to the turfgrass industry but we are all adding more and more technology into our daily operations, which typically means new logins and passwords for various software or websites. Add to that your personal accounts for bills, family activities and more, and it can get frustrating to remember all of them. As of today, I have over 50 logins!
When it comes to daily organization, I have written in the past about my use of Wunderlist, a free app for making lists and a
Back in the day when Daughter B was in the college application mode, envelopes in the mail were opened with a combination of anticipation, excitement and trepidation. Unlike many of her peers who threw a dozen or more applications against the wall hoping that at least one of choice would stick, she had applied to a mere four or five.
When the letter arrived from Middlebury College here in Vermont, the opening yielded a somewhat confusing result: "We are pleased to offer you a place in the
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, I chat with Dr. Ben Wherley of Texas A&M about the influence of deficit irrigation on turf growth and performance, along with the many issues surrounding water and the impact of shortages on management decisions. Smart talk from leading thinkers... Frankly Speaking.
Presented by DryJect and Turf Screen.
As promised, Mark Hoban hosts this inside look at a research lab, with Dr. Mussie Habteselassie, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Soil Microbiology at the University of Georgia Griffin Experiment Station campus.
Dr. Habteselassie, while conducting an experiment dealing with Trichoderma Atroviride and its use in controlling certain turf pathogens, shows us one method for counting fungi in soils.
While this film deviates from our typical offering and feels more like a college class in soil
Here at Drury University we are very interested in supporting the ecology of our area. This effort is challenging in our urban setting. Regardless, it is an effort we see as critical. We install native plants and trees that appeal to pollinators, and act as food sources to the local insects, birds and animals. We evaluate the surrounding neighborhoods and see where we might build larger sections of habitat by creating green corridors. Over the five years I have been here I have seen the results
