I posted a blog entry after the 2012 Barclays held on the Black Course at the Bethpage State Park and mentioned "set-up man extraordinaire" Rich Roble. Rich passed away on Friday after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
I'd known Rich for almost 15 years as a member of the Bethpage State Park staff. I can say with certainty he was the grumpiest perfectionist with the biggest heart I'd ever known. Rich was a native Long Islander born and raised around golf. He started as a really good pla
In this episode of Frankly Speaking on TurfNet RADIO I chat with Mike Huck, former USGA Agronomist now with Irrigation and Turfgrass Services of California, about the latest on efficient water management, the situaion CA golf courses are facing, and how water use will change in the next five years. Have a listen, or download the .mp3 for offline listening.
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, I chat with my old buddy Norm Hummel, Ph.D., recently semi-retired after selling his soil physical testing lab to Turf and Soil Diagnostics. Norm and I chat about what superintendents can do "from the bottom up" to manage putting surface firmness given the new tools available to put actual numbers to firmness and moisture levels.
Norm gives guidance regarding "knowing what you're putting down" when topdressing, layering different texture sands on one ano
Topdressing ENCOURAGES accumulation of organic matter? Say what?
In this EPIC episode of Frankly Speaking, I chat, argue, holler and challenge Dan Dinelli, CGCS, at North Shore CC in Chicagoland and recipient of the GCSAA"s Presidential Award for Environmental Stewardship.
Our conversation ranges from Dan's long-term research in putting green rootzone behavior over time, to cultivar assessment and selection for the impending rebuilding of the 1924 greens at North Shore, to the successes
Methiozolin, currently trade named PoaCure, from Moghu Research Center in Korea could be a game changer. Doctor S.J. Koo, lead scientist and Cornell University Ph.D. may have in fact found a "cure" for annual bluegrass invasion. The question are we ready for this cure.
There is no question in my mind that it has the kind of selective herbicidal activity as both a preemergence and postemergence product to affect meaningful changes in populations on greens, tees and fairways. It appears to be
Anyone who has been in the golf business for more than a few years knows the excitement about Masters Week. This marks the beginning of the golf season for many in spirit. For many superintendents it is also the beginning of the whining season.
It is not just the golfers who whine about the massive difference between Augusta National and their course, but many superintendents will lament that this week is the root of all the complaints they receive. It is such an important aspect of our live
I'm taking a break from thinking about winter turf damage to watch the WGC at Doral. Listening to the commentary after the first three rounds I was struck by certain quotes. Of course Johnny Miller insisting there was grain all over the greens-south by southwest I heard him say. But Bubba Watson's comment with ESPN Golf Reporter Michael Collins gets the prize.
"I hit the shot I normally hit when playing in the US", Bubba explains of his shot that hit the green and rolled into the water, "tha
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, I chat with Paul MacCormack, superintendent/GM at Fox Meadow Golf & Country Club (Stratford, Prince Edward Island, Canada) and author of The Mindful Superintendent blog on TurfNet.com. We speak frankly about facing grief and loss with kindness, taking time to recharge during the off-season, and wellness tips that take care of your best asset during the heat of the season - YOU!
Check Out Science Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with TurfNet RADIO on Blo
Every industry has its iconic characters. In the UK few would argue Old Tom Morris, Jim Arthur and Walter Woods are not icons among greenkeepers. In the US for me we have Sherwood Moore, Oscar Miles, Ted Woehrle, and my personal favorite, Wayne Otto. In Australia there is Claude Crockford.
Crockford was the greenkeeper at the Royal Melbourne for 40 years from the 1930s to the 1970s. In 1993 he published The Complete Golf Course: Turf and Design as both an homage to Royal Melbourne and prac
What a great start to the year. I'm at the age now where both my close colleagues and college buddies, begin to get recognized for their lifetime achievements. My great honor was to be in the room on the same day that this happened to both of these people in my life. A Top Ten Day indeed!
Left my house at 3:4am to get to the area just north of NYC by 8am. On most days no problem to make it in 4, this time heavy snow and wind for all but about 50 miles of 230 mile trip-6 hrs. John Carlone, m
Every year there is a theme to the commercial aspects of the Golf Industry Show. This year it was plant health. Not that anybody could actually tell what it is but rather I assume everyone figures if they keep saying plant health and we keep talking about plant health no one will need to actually say what plant health is. Plant health plant smealth.
Professor Bingru Huang of Rutgers University in the January 2012 issues of Golf Course Management said, "Healthy plants are better able to adapt
I am fairly sure when I discussed my relationship with Peter for this year, I am confident he imagined I would contribute more than 1-2 entries per month in my "Frankly Speaking" section. Well here I am almost one-month from my last entry and if I were Peter, other than being frustrated with me, I'd be wondering where I've been.
Well here goes:
A few years ago I was asked by my department chair and senior faculty to assume the leadership of the Introduction to Horticulture class here at
The annual roar or core cultivation equipment is well underway, albeit often later these days than just 5-6 years ago. This will be an especially busy year cultivation-wise as there was widespread turf loss from the "days of hell" across the country this summer. The mantra of "what you do now benefits you next season" is what drives this activity.
I contend that when we adapt IN-SEASON with regular "venting" for gas exchange (poke), brushing to alter canopy structure (brush), and light topdr
I am away from Cornell for the next five days in Tampa, FL at the Tri-Societies Meetings, i.e., Agronomy, Crops and Soils. This meeting will be attended by more than 5,000 scientists and professionals interested in the SCIENCE of crop production. You may wonder, what the hell are you doing at a meeting of Agronomists, aren't you in Horticulture?
I figure if I have a Ph.D., I have got to be a MAJOR turf geek!
Yes in NY, and when I was in WI, and many other states Turfgrass Science is i
I've been ranting this past year about the demise of "Plant Health" as a viable term in golf turf management. The fact is the longer I ruminate about the concept that we think we can make a plant healthy, the more ludicrous plant health seems. The existence of an organism on a golf putting surface is entirely related to stress tolerance.
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Developing perennial surfaces requires a golf turf manager to understand
ALL the stresses the plants are under-imposed by us, the weather or the p
Maybe Spring will show up in much of the northern US states? Still, well before many are mowing north of the Mason-Dixon line, the annual bluegrass seedhead suppression discussion is underway; "What combination of products do you use?, What growing degree day (GDD) timing model do you look at?, Do you use phenological (plant) indicators?" All good questions but....
Why not use soil moisture?
In other parts of the world where chemical technology is more restricted and less available, you
I have been doing some great travel this season so far from Spain and England to Canada, as well as Chicago and Wisconsin. There are few things I enjoy professionally more than walking a golf course with the person charged with stewarding the land. In every case the superintendent greets me graciously and shares their thoughts on golf turf management.
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Anyone that has seen Jack Nicholson in The Shining can get a sense of what your golfers will be like this Spring--Here's Johnny!
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, I have a great conversation with Sarah Glenn Jackson, a recently married Texas Tech graduate who for six months has been the assistant superintendent at Plantation Golf Club in Frisco, Texas.
I first became aware of Sarah via Brian Cloud's GCSAA blog and immediately knew her experiences as a female assistant in a vastly male industry would make for good conversation. She didn't disappoint!
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, I chat with Dr. Paul Vincelli of the University of Kentucky about the state of turf research in general and plant pathology in particular; looking outside the turf industry for inspiration and innovation that can be applied to turf; enhancing public knowledge about climate change; and the state of genetic research.
As always, frank talk from leading thinkers in the turf industry.
Presented by DryJect and Turf Screen.
Best management practices (BMP) provide superintendents with critical tools needed to maintain golf courses to the satisfaction of golfers and owners while complying with local, state and federal regulations.
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, I chat with Dr. Bryan Unruh, Professor of Environmental Horticulture and Associate Center Director at the University of Florida, IFAS, West Florida Research and Education Center, about his role spearheading the nationwide initiative creating BMPs for
As budgets have tightened many golf course superintendents have forsaken their professional development line items. Often when this pinch occurs it is the National Show that gets cut as I have found most superintendents are loyal to their local, state and regional associations.
I certainly understand the impetus to cut a fairly big number when not attending the "National Show", but it makes me wonder if there is no longer any perceived value to attending. I am fortunate to be involved in the ed
My email and phone are blowing up these days with golf turf questions, comments, reports, inquiries about the record early Spring conditions. Golf course superintendents are asking about seedhead suppression timing with Proxy and Primo,wondering about soil temperatures and summer patch preventative control, and most importantly in the northeast US, annual bluegrass weevil sitings. With each of these issues, the old saying holds-timing is everything.
Seedhead suppression is among the most tim
Mark Twain once said, "climate is what we expect, weather is what we get". The last two seasons are among the warmest on record nationwide. It looks like we getting more than we expect.
These warmer growing seasons demonstrate tremendous departure from the historic averages. It is not uncommon to be two to three weeks ahead of normal for growing degree days, meaning while the calendar states one date, the biological organisms (i.e., your turf) are acting as if it were much later in the seaso
A few weeks ago I was speaking in England at the annual British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association Conference in Harrogate, about an hour and a half from Manchester in the Yorkshire Dales. Outside of the US and Canada it is the one of the premier golf turf educational events in the world.
I was presenting in a few sessions on Sustainable Golf Turf Management, Reduced Chemical Pesticide Use and my overall theme of resource efficient golf turf management. An Irish Greenkeeper app
As a member of the National Golf Foundation and also a subscriber to Pellucid Corporation operated by Jim Koppenhaver I have access to enormous amounts of information concerning the business of golf. Recently I have found this information fascinating as it seems since the crash of 2008, the economy has exerted the strongest influence on golf turf management I have ever seen in thirty years in the industry.
it seems since the crash of 2008, the economy has exerted the strongest influence on go
