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
An interesting topic popped up on the TurfNet Forum the other day, asking if club managers have more influence on purchasing decisions now than in past years. I gave it several seconds of deep thought and answered “Yes”, but only in my mind, primarily because I’m not intellectually equipped to debate TurfNetters with years of post-graduate work. (My post-grad work at Fort Bragg was limited to a short thesis entitled “Why You Shouldn’t Throw a Grenade up a Staircase”–the effects of the lab expe
An interesting topic popped up on the TurfNet Forum the other day, asking if club managers have more influence on purchasing decisions now than in past years. I gave it several seconds of deep thought and answered Yes, but only in my mind, primarily because Im not intellectually equipped to debate TurfNetters with years of post-graduate work. (My post-grad work at Fort Bragg was limited to a short thesis entitled Why You Shouldnt Throw a Grenade up a Staircase -- the effects of the lab experim
Rockbottum CC has never managed to get one of our golf course dogs into the TurfNet Superintendent’s Best Friend Calendar. It’s not like we haven’t tried hard, it’s just that the level of competition is so high. After all, this is the Big One, The Original, The First golf course dog centerfold calendar . . . it should be tough to be selected. We’ve tried everything–bribery and threats, pleading and whining–but nothing has worked.
The photos we submitted were apparently intercepted by elemen
Rockbottum CC has never managed to get one of our golf course dogs into the TurfNet Superintendents Best Friend Calendar. Its not like we havent tried hard, its just that the level of competition is so high. After all, this is the Big One, The Original, The First golf course dog centerfold calendar . . . it should be tough to be selected. Weve tried everything bribery and threats, pleading and whining but nothing has worked.
This year, when we realized Bosco and Chopper had been turne
It’s almost time to crank big mowers, defibrillate the pump station
and check the lawn furniture: The tee bench, the 150 yard barber pole,
(the g-rated name) and that most essential of all golfer toys, the ball washer.
The ball washer WILL function with smooth precision, whether it is the crank-wheel design that allows the operator to make engine starting noises–or the favorite among those of us with delayed maturity issues, the VPM or Vertical Plunger Model.
The VPM, when operated vig
Its almost time to crank big mowers, defibrillate the pump station and check the lawn furniture: The tee bench, the 150 yard barber pole, (the g-rated name) and that most essential of all golfer toys, the ball washer.
The ball washer must enter the season perfect and shiny.
The ball washer WILL function with smooth precision, whether it is the crank-wheel design that allows the operator to make engine starting noisesor the favorite among those of us with delayed maturity issues, the V
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
Skeletal Golf is the driving force that separates Rockbottum CC from other golf courses. I designed and built Rockbottum in 99, according to the teachings of Skeletal Golf, a cult I founded immediately after I lost both of my posterior seating elements in the tech-crash bubble of that same year.
Rockbottum was meant to be a low overhead, depression proof course -- because I could see another bubble on the horizon -- and the course is doing very well in these hard times. For those of you wh
Inside the human brain are all sorts of thoughts and ideas yearning to get out through our unique ability to speak. Releasing all of these ideas can lead to ridicule,
bruises, shame and death. Thats why humans, especially the humans that have performed well in the process of natural selection, possess a special filter in the brain that suppresses the release of impractical, soft-headed screwball outbursts.
The unfortunate humans born without this special brain filter are subject to unendi
I received this today in my email from a source that shall go unnamed because she/he/it is dumb enough to use the word Doctor around my name. Kind of like using the word Beautiful around Susan Boyle. She can sing, however. I can’t.
“Dear Dr. Wilber
In a post in the TurfNet Turf Blog Aggregator this week, Sean McCue of Castle Pines said, “While driving around today I noticed an interesting phenomenon from applications of iron and other biostimulants to some of our trees. We have been treating a
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
Here at the Rock, we like to think we are progressive, looking to the future and that future includes preparing to manage our golf course with less.
Less water, less intensive maintenance, less overall input and more emphasis on coexisting with nature, rather than forcibly subduing the natural world; Rockbottum is not only applying the philosophy of rugged minimalism to golf, we are the trailing edge, the back of the pack.
Ludella Hogwaller, although less well known than others in this
The Splintered-Interest Good Parent Syndrome is squeezing golf.
In our modern world, there are so many things to do, so many activities like watching poker on TV, jumping concrete steps on a skateboard, World of Warcraft, Mixed Martial Arts, arguing on forums, and paralytic frozen immobility triggered by the increased gravitational field near any sofathat golf has lost some of the mystique and glitter that once held our game at the top of the mountain of obsessive pursuits.
To further sp
The best tee markers are... I dont know what they are. I thought I knew what they were, until I started reading a discussion on tee markers that unfolded at high speed on the TurfNet Forum.
For years, I favored AITMs, (Angle Iron Tee Markers) short strips of 3 angle iron, due to their low cost and durability. They were easy to paint every year and it was possible to store plenty of replacement AITMs in the event an angry golfer wanted to test their float characteristics or simply see if w
But there was evil afoot, as we had unknowingly stumbled upon a small kingdom that was under the spell of a powerful golf pro, who reigned from his Pro Castle on the highest peak of the kingdom. He was a pro of extraordinary power, dark and menacing
I love early morning meetings. 7:30 AM and we get hit with words like Systemic Acquired Resistance and Activator Triggers. It’s a warm yummy feeling, like maple syrup over bacon and waffles and I couldn’t be more happy to be in the front row. Yum Yum Yum. Pass the Pathology, please!! Especially when we are talking about natural plant defenses.
To be smart and fair, I should digress a moment as to last night’s activities. Every year our annual meeting includes a dinner. We turn the 130 or so fo
I love early morning meetings. 7:30 AM and we get hit with words like Systemic Acquired Resistance and Activator Triggers. Its a warm yummy feeling, like maple syrup over bacon and waffles and I couldnt be more happy to be in the front row. Yum Yum Yum. Pass the Pathology, please!! Especially when we are talking about natural plant defenses.
To be smart and fair, I should digress a moment as to last nights activities. Every year our annual meeting includes a dinner. We turn the 130 or so fo
I can’t find a decent picture anywhere of Joel Simmons and it’s too dark to take a good picture, so this will have to do.
Joel is on a mission. He’s good at it and he’s taken way to much crap for understanding and going all in for a great thing. He’s saying things like “Give Me Humus or Give Me Death” and if you’ve followed anything that I’ve done or said over the years, you know that I believe in this and I live it as well. Joel and I have put our work into play at some pretty cool places and
I can't find a decent picture anywhere of Joel Simmons and it's too dark to take a good picture, so this will have to do.
Joel is on a mission. He's good at it and he's taken way to much crap for understanding and going all in for a great thing. He's saying things like "Give Me Humus or Give Me Death" and if you've followed anything that I've done or said over the years, you know that I believe in this and I live it as well. Joel and I have put our work into play at some pretty cool places
I can’t hold it against him. Dr. Wong wanted to be with his wife in the DC area and well let’s face it, The University of California system is pretty much on life support. So now, Dr. Wong takes up residence in the DC area and he finds himself working with Bayer Environmental Sciences. Guess what? Good fit. Good for us all. I love Dr. Wong. He’s an amazing guy and whatever he is doing he is going to
be great at it. Really great.
So today Dr. Wong is doing his job and talking about Bayer pro
I can't hold it against him. Dr. Wong wanted to be with his wife in the DC area and well let's face it, The University of California system is pretty much on life support. So now, Dr. Wong takes up residence in the DC area and he finds himself working with Bayer Environmental Sciences.
Guess what? Good fit. Good for us all. I love Dr. Wong. He's an amazing guy and whatever he is doing he is going to be great at it. Really great.
So today Dr. Wong is doing his job and talking about Baye
It’s clear that Dr. Fred isn’t from around here. The accent is like smooth Carolina sweet tea. But the only Tea he’s talking about today has to do with Plant Growth Regulators.
(sorry Dr. Fred. No picture here….we’ve got the room to dark and I don’t wanna be beaten down by using my flash…plus the iphone flash is like…well…a phone flash)
Dr. Fred is working with a lot of PGR timing. And it’s clear that one of the things I’ve been saying about timing is key. Check out this past Zealot Post. Dr.
