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From the TurfNet NewsDesk


  • John Reitman
    Technology in the golf turf business is changing rapidly, and nowhere is that more evident than in the world of autonomous mowing.
    As grass-mowing robots continue to make inroads into the professional turf market, the differences go well below the surface.
    More than two years ago, Kress debuted its line of battery-operated autonomous mowers on the North American turf market when the company displayed its units at the 2022 Equip Expo in Louisville, Kentucky. The company has since upped its game as it focuses more on the golf market.
    Kress mowers are guided by Real Time Kinetics antennas that communicate with the units via 4G satellite-guided technology, have a range of 10 miles, extend over and around obstacles, and eliminate the need for underground wiring and beacons to keep units on track within 2-3 cm of accuracy.
    The technology is improving faster than many could have imagined.

    Kress mowers operate of a Real Time Kinetics antenna, each of which can command mowers within a 10-mile radius. Photo by John Reitman Former golf course superintendent Tim Barrier, CGCS, is such a believer he came aboard at Kress last year as the company's golf business manager.
    "If you had asked me four years ago, I would have said we were 10 years away," Barrier said during the GCSAA Conference and Show in San Diego. "The technology just wasn't there. The adoption is coming a lot faster now."
    A recent conference highlighting robotic technology, Barrier said, was attended by about 150 golf course superintendents.
    The 10-mile range means that using the RTK technology does not require an on-site antenna as long as there is another nearby. It also does not require licensing or subscription fees. 
    The RTK technology was developed for use by the U.S. Department of Defense and later was used by the agriculture industry before being adopted for use in turf, Barrier said.
    A network of antennas working together extends the range and strength. Barrier says a network of five antennas within range of each other cover the distance between Los Angeles and San Diego. A single antenna strategically placed in La Quinta is able to reach 70 golf courses in California's Coachella Valley.
    Height of cut can be adjusted for fairways or rough areas, and can be programmed to change automatically as the unit moves from one zone to another.
    Kress was founded in 1928 in Germany and has been a leader in the manufacturing of electric batteries for nearly a century. The company joined the Positec Group, a manufacturing company based in Suzhou, China that specializes in the production of power tools and lawn and garden equipment.
    There are many benefits to using autonomous mowers, Barrier said. They eliminate fossil fuel emissions, and at 46 pounds per unit, the mowers minimize the impact on turf and can be used in rain or wet conditions.
    As labor continues to be a challenge for superintendents, autonomous mowers can help free up human resources to focus time on more detailed work around the golf course.
    "Covid created more interest in the game, but it also created a labor shortage," Barrier said. "When employees don't show up, we can't get our work done.
    "That doesn't work for superintendents. We are control freaks. It's the way we're wired."
  • More than 11,000 people attended this year's GCSAA Conference and Show in San Diego. After years on a three-year rotation in San Diego, the show will not return to Southern California until 2029. Photo by John Reitman With the exception of two years during the height of the Covid pandemic, the GCSAA Conference and Show has been relatively consistent for the past eight years in its appeal to golf course superintendents.
    Attendance at this year's show, which was the last in San Diego for several years, was, according to the GCSAA, "more than 11,000," a number that has been the norm since the 2018 show in San Antonio. The only outlier in that time was 2022 in San Diego, when a Covid-plagued show drew 6,500 attendees. The 2021 show was held virtually due to the pandemic.
    Last year's Phoenix show attracted "nearly 11,000" and the 2023 show in Orlando drew "about 11,000."
    More than 6,700 educational seminar seats were filled this year, the most since the 2008 mega show in Orlando that also set records for attendance and number of vendors renting exhibit space.
    On the trade show floor, 464 vendors rented 154,100 square feet of exhibit space in what seemed (and felt) like a long and narrow San Diego Convention Center. That is down slightly from 470 exhibitors last year in Phoenix and up from 450 two years ago in Orlando.
    Awards bestowed during the week were:
    Col. John Morley Award — Pat Finlen, CGCS, executive vice president, Denehy Club Thinking Partners. President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship — Matt Gourlay, CGCS, MG, AGS, superintendent, Hillcrest Country Club, Boise, Idaho. Outstanding Contribution Award — Wendy Gelernter, Ph.D., and Larry Stowell, Ph.D., founders of PACE Turf. Old Tom Morris Award — Ozzie Smith, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals. Emerging Leader Award — Chad Allen, superintendent, The Club at Chatham Hills, Westfield, Indiana. Edwin Budding Award — Skip Heinz, CTEM, equipment and facilities manager, Royal Poinciana Golf Club, Naples, Florida. Next year's show is scheduled for Jan. 30-Feb. 5 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. The 2027 show will return to New Orleans for the first time since 2009. Citing the cost of hotel accommodations and other costs of exhibiting on the West Coast, the show will not return to San Diego until 2029. Because the show has contracted in size during the past two decades, destinations such as Austin, Phoenix and Las Vegas, according to GCSAA, are under consideration for future dates.
  • Two years ago, the U.S. Golf Association sent a buzz through the golf turf maintenance world when it launched the GS3 smart golf ball that measures metrics like green speed as well as surface firmness, trueness and smoothness.
    The game's governing body made another splash at this year's GCSAA Conference and Show when it launched the USGA Moisture Meter. 
    Available with 1.5-inch or 3-inch tines and powered through a USB charger, the tool provides golf course superintendents with precise and consistent data that includes soil moisture, salinity and temperature. The data instantly uploads into the USGA's Deacon technology platform through the user's mobile phone that attaches to the monitor, creating a digital record that can be used to help superintendents manage water usage while also maximizing plant health and playability.
    Constructed from aluminum, the device is impact resistant, yet lightweight for ease of use.
    The monitor, demonstrated (at right) by Jeff Kinney of the USGA at the GCSAA Conference and Show, is part of the association's sustainability efforts, announced in 2023, to invest $30 million over a 15-year span to help superintendents reduce water usage on golf courses.
    The soil moisture sensors in the monitor are manufactured by Meter Group, a leading technology provider of soil-plant atmospheric data for the agriculture market for the past three decades.
    Benefits of the USGA Moisture Meter are:
    Improved course consistency: By providing accurate and real-time soil moisture data, the USGA Moisture Meter empowers superintendents to make data-driven decisions, resulting in more consistent playing surfaces throughout the season. Proprietary technology: CDX technology from Meter Group provides precise and consistent soil moisture, salinity and temperature readings. Increased efficiency: The tool streamlines the data-collection process, allowing superintendents to focus on other critical tasks. Enhanced decision-making: The integration with Deacon provides a comprehensive view of course conditions, providing superintendents with the information needed to provide what is needed precisely where it is needed. The Deacon app is a digital platform launched by the USGA in 2021 to provide superintendents with the tools to make decisions to manage turf more efficiently and improve the golfer experience. Superintendents can input data into Deacon, which tracks putting green surface management via the GS3 smart golf ball, creates pace-of-play reports, provides hole-location options and provides weather insights. 
    At the GCSAA Show in San Diego, the USGA also launched the next generation of its Deacon system — Deacon Release 23. Upgrades include an overhaul of the user experience that makes it easier for superintendents to integrate data and find information faster.
    Upgrades in Deach R23 are:
    Enhanced navigation: A reimagined interface that simplifies workflows, making it easier to access the platform's tools. Better reporting tools: More intuitive reporting functionality on both web and mobile platforms. Faster testing time: Simplified GS3 smart golf ball tests and new USGA Moisture Meter readings on mobile, providing real-time data to support decision-making. Improved application logs: Streamlined tracking of applications and nutrient management. Advanced jobs and reporting: Improved tools for monitoring and recording job activities. The USGA says proceeds from the USGA Moisture Meter will be directly re-invested into the association's efforts to meet its 15-year sustainability and water-use goals.
  • Fourteenth century poet Geoffrey Chaucer is credited with coining some version of the phrase "all good things must come to an end."
    For the past five years, the number of golfers in the game and rounds played have steadily increased, but an underlying question is how long this Covid-fueled resurgence will last.
    That was a topic for discussion during the annual state of the golf industry report presented jointly by Pellucid Golf and Edgehill Golf Advisors during the recent PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.
    "Cycles go up and down," said Pellucid founder Jim Koppenhaver. 
    None of the key indicators are going down, at least not yet. Among the takeaways from last year are a 3 percent increase in the number of golfers, most of whom are women, and a record number of rounds played.
    Continued growth in the number of golfers playing the game and the rounds they are playing was a little unexpected, said Koppenhaver, because there is no real concerted effort to grow the game on a national level, and no one really knows what is driving the increase in interest.
    "We're seeing growth continue, and it surprises me," Koppenhaver said. "It's not going to last forever."
    The report contradicts what golfers and non-golfers alike say are the most common barriers to playing the game: It's too difficult, it takes too long to play and it is expensive. 
    "I can tell you that's not true," Koppenhaver said of the supposed barriers to the game. "Because we didn't break any of those."
    Indeed, the game is still as hard as ever, still takes too long to play and green fees and the price of clubs and balls continue to go up, not down.

    A total of 23.4 million golfers played a record-high 532 million rounds in 2024, according to the annual state of the industry report. According to the report, there were 23.4 million golfers in the market last year. Those figures include 4.3 million players who left the game, a number that was offset by a gain of 4.9 million new players, for a net gain of 600,000 new golfers, 400,000 of whom are women. 
    The market retained a total of 18.5 million players. Retaining more of the 4.3 million who walked away should be a focus of owners and operators. Koppenhaver believes tools to help people play better is a key to retention..
    "Player development is important," he said. "If people get better faster, they will play more and stick with the game."
    According to the report, a record 532 million rounds were played in 2024, which, Koppenhaver said, is 10 percent above the supply-demand equilibrium and the first time the 530 million round mark was eclipsed. Koppenhaver defines supply-demand equilibrium as an average of about 40,000 rounds per 18-hole equivalent. 
    The report also revealed a net loss of 50 more golf courses (EHE) last year. A total of 25 new courses went into the ground while 75 closed. 
    The supply of golf courses nationwide has been contracting every year since 2006, and has reached a net loss of 2,115 properties (EHE) in the past 19 years, dropping from 14,848 18-hole equivalents in 2006 to 12,733 last year. 
    The 530-million-plus rounds level of play could support adding another 1,000 golf courses (in 18-hole equivalents), Koppenhaver said.
    "You can't find the land at the right price," Koppenhaver said, "to put in the right facility."
    Not surprisingly, the greatest gains in attracting and retaining golfers were among those in the $75,000-and-up age group. Perhaps the best news coming out of the report was that the game made significant increases among younger players. Those in the 7-17 and 18-34 age groups accounted for the largest gains, with the golfer population in both segments growing by 10 percent. There was a 3.4 percent gain in those ages 35-54. The number of golfers in the 55-64 and 65 and up age groups, which traditionally have carried the game, were down by 7 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
    "We don't need big ideas. Simple stuff will do," Koppenhaver said. "Just get a club in someone's hands."
  • HineCraft LLC, maker of the TurfTrainer, has created a reputation of being a family business in more ways than one. 
    Since HineCraft was founded, a team of five has been running the show; Rodney Hine, president and golf course superintendent, and Caroline Hine, vice president, have been supported by their three children, Cassie, Wesley and William.
    Five years ago, the young trio worked the company's booth at the 2019 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show here in San Diego, and this year, two of the three are returning to the show again in Southern California.
    As part of the HineCraft team, Cassie, Wesley and William have supported the business in a variety of departments. The trio have worked as the sales team at the 2018 and 2019 GCSAA conventions as well as a few regional conventions in the U.S. and the UK's BTME convention.

    From left, Caroline, Cassie and William Hine each play a key role in the family business started by superintendent, husband and dad Rodney Hine. Photo by John Reitman Off the floor, Cassie, who majors in visual media studies and production at Emerson College in Boston, focuses primarily on marketing and media production for the TurfTrainer. 
    "Having grown up and worked in the golf world, I have gained experience that has helped me refine and produce media and communications that are specific to this industry," Cassie said. "HineCraft has given me a platform to build a repertoire of skills and a portfolio, while supporting a business that is so important to me."
    Wesley, now a first-year cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy, has focused on prototyping and testing. 
    "Working as a part of TurfTrainer has taught me the complexities and dedication of bringing a product to market, and how to make that business succeed," Wesley said.
    William, a rising business and marketing student at his high school, is integral for the sales team as well as in production and shipping.
    "TurfTrainer has had a major, positive impact on me by giving me real world experience in business," William said. "Be it marketing our product at conventions, or learning how to build it, I have been able to broaden my knowledge of how a business is run. The family business has helped me discover my love for business and I continue to pursue that love in school and in clubs like DECA."
    Invented and patented by Rodney Hine in 2018, the TurfTrainer is a unique, easy-to-use and budget-friendly turf-brushing system, designed to improve turf playability, performance and health.
    For more information, visit the company's web site , or drop by booth #5411 in San Diego.
  • Unknown to many prior to the Black Desert Championship PGA event in October when four blue autonomous fairway mowers silently groomed the fairways, the engineers at FireFly Automatix have quietly challenged and in many cases discarded the traditional conventions of fairway mower and cutting unit design.
    FireFly Automatix dates to 2008 when co-founder Steve Aposhian and a small group of fellow mechanical engineers decided to fabricate replacement parts for the sod harvesters used on Aposhian’s family’s turf farm in Salt Lake City. The parts were of such high quality that they began selling them to other sod farms, some of which encouraged them to build their own complete harvesters.
    In 2011, Aposhian and his engineer buddies quit their day jobs and jumped into manufacturing of sod harvesters, but not the same-old-same-old.
    "We were the first to implement a lot of electric technology on a piece of mobile equipment like this," said Aposhian in a recent TurfNet podcast interview with Dave Wilber and Peter McCormick. "Traditional machines used hydraulics and traditional control mechanisms. My background as a mechanical engineer is in automation, so we implemented a lot of factory-type automation on a sod harvester. Since then we've become the largest producer of automated turf harvesters in the world."

    The Black Desert Championship launched the AMP L-100 into the industry limelight. Mark LeBlanc started with FireFly Automatix six years ago, doing mechanical design on those sod harvesters.
    "Sod being an adjacent industry to golf, and knowing that a lot of our customers provide sod to to golf courses, we always envisioned ourselves expanding into that market," LeBlanc said in the podcast interview. "After a couple years Steve gave me a team and a blank board and said, go design an automated fairway mower."
    LeBlanc's design team started by looking at what was out there in autonomous mowers at the time, and of course there was nothing other than early prototypes.
    "We wanted to make an autonomous mower, but we didn't want to just make a fairway mower that's autonomous," LeBlanc said. "We decided to make the best fairway mower on the market from the standpoints of cut quality, drive system, and operational efficiency. Let's just make it as good as we can make it, and incorporate autonomous technology in the process."

    Eliminating a combustion engine and operator station opened up design freedom for FireFly Automatix engineers. LeBlanc and his team started with a blank sheet of paper and redesigned a mower platform without a conventional combustion engine and operator station.
    "When we took those two pretty big design constraints out of the equation, we realized that to make the best mower on the market for fairways, it would have to be electric. Designing it from the ground up to be autonomous gave us the design freedom to go back whenever we needed to and change the way things worked mechanically and electrically to better support the autonomy," he said.
    Within three months they had a working prototype, but that was just the beginning. After mowing with it manually for a few months, they made it autonomous using software that they had developed for a previous, larger mower.
    "We went back to the drawing board, erased the whole thing and started over. We took everything we didn't like about the first prototype and designed another one, and then we did that three more times. So, here we are."
    Drive and control systems are one thing, but golf course superintendents want to know about the cutting units, where the mower meets the grass.
    "The big mower companies have done a lot of homework for us," LeBlanc quipped." We didn't ignore all of the great things that they've done in the world of cutting units. But we saw some things that we thought that we could improve on. So we took a stab at designing one ourselves that that could make the the job of the mechanic easier, that could make the the job of the superintendent easier, and that that could make the course look better."

    Simple knob HOC adjustment and locking down the bedknife and adjusting the reel to it simplify life for the mechanic and superintendent. LeBlanc and his team developed a simple hand knob adjustment where height of cut can be standardized across all cutting units in 45 seconds.
    "We know that because our parts are designed and machined in a certain way that if we make the same number of clicks on both sides of the cutting unit to adjust that height, the cutting unit is still square," LeBlanc said.
    Geometry of the bedknife within the cutting unit also came under scrutiny. The FireFly design locks the bedknife down and adjusts the reel to it, again with a hand knob and .00065" adjustment per click.
    "We designed our cutting unit to lock the bedknife down in a really rigid way to make sure that bedknife never moves. And it's always square, and it's always as flat as possible, and there's no flex in that system," LeBlanc said. "We have gotten feedback from our customers that the bedknives hold their adjustment a lot longer and don't have to be adjusted as often."
    Even with a current price tag of $160,000, the operational efficiencies of the AMP L-100 contribute to an ROI as low as two years or even lower in some cases. Efficiencies in capital expenditure, maintenance costs, energy and labor costs all contribute.
    What's the lead time for one ordered today? "About 60 days," said Steve Aposhian.
    Watch or listen to the complete conversation here or on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
  • The golf business is alive and well in northern Michigan.
    Forest Dunes, a three-course resort near Roscommon, recently announced plans to add a fourth course to its lineup. 
    The architectural team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner have been hired to design SkyFall at Forest Dunes. Unlike the other three courses at the resort in the Huron National Forest, SkyFall will be a private club with limited resort guest play.
    SkyFall will be the first project in Michigan for Hanse and Wagner, who also designed the highly regarded Black Course at Streamsong Resort near Bowling Green, Florida. Both facilities are owned by Rich Mack and Tom Sunnarborg.
    "The opportunity to have Gil and Jim craft their first original design in Michigan on what is the most compelling property at Forest Dunes is really exciting," Mack said in a news release. "I'm also pleased that we will work with Gil and Jim a second time in our career and create something really special here in Michigan."

    Rich Mack and Tom Sunnarborg, left to right, own the Forest Dunes resort in Michigan and Streamsong in Florida. The duo has hired Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner to design the private SkyFall course at Forest Dunes. Forest Dunes photo Other 18-hole courses at Forest Dunes are the property's namesake course designed by Tom Weiskopf and The Loop – a reversible Tom Doak layout. Both courses regularly show up on the various Top 100 lists of Best Courses You Can Play. The resort's Bootlegger layout is a 10-hole par-3 course designed by Riley Johns and Keith Rhebb. The Hilltop is Forest Dunes' 18-hole putting course.
    The project is a homecoming of sorts for Hanse, whose early experience includes working for Tom Doak at High Pointe Golf Club 70 miles away in Traverse City.
    The new course will be routed through 300 acres of forest adjacent to the resort's  other three courses and will feature elevation changes of up to 70 feet.
    "Gil and Jim are two of the most influential golf course architects of our era and are entrusted to advance projects of golf significance across the globe," Sunnarborg said. "We know they will find the best of the land to work with and turn it into something unforgettable that members and guests are going to thoroughly enjoy, hopefully many times."
    Construction on SkyFall is expected to begin later this year or in early 2026.
  • For nearly a half-century, Tamas "Tom" Tanto was a fixture in the golf course maintenance business.
    A native of Kormend, Hungary, Tanto (right) was a golf course builder and the founder of Tanto Irrigation, the namesake firm that specializes in golf course irrigation design and installation and course construction. He died Jan. 25 in Fort Myers, Florida at age 86.
    Tanto emigrated to the United States in 1957 as an 18-year-old in the aftermath of World War II, learned English and later served in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. 
    "I hardly spoke a word of English, and I knew I would have to work hard to make it," Tanto told the GCSAA in 2019 when he was named the recipient of the association's Col. John Morley Award. "I got a job washing dishes, and I have had a job every day since."
    In 1967, he earned a degree in civil Engineering from the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. While working for the Dravo Corp., a shipbuilder that had operations in Pittsburgh and Wilmington, Delaware, he became interested in golf and in 1969 built a municipal golf course on land owned by the family of his wife, Susan. Soon after, he borrowed $5,000 and set about the task of organizing the construction and irrigation company that bears his name and has served the golf industry for more than 50 years.

    A native of Hungary, Tamas Tanto was the founder of the golf course irrigation design and installation firm that continues to bear his name. Tanto Irrigation photo His work and that of his company could be found on dozens of the country's top 100 golf courses, including Oakmont, Baltusrol and The Country Club. Even after retiring and selling the company he founded, Tanto remained active serving as an industry mentor.
    Tanto's experience serving the golf industry cut a wide swath. He also was involved in Turf Care Products, an Atlanta-area Toro distributor that eventually came under the Jerry Pate Turf and Irrigation umbrella.
    Tanto received many honors and awards throughout his career. In 2013, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus by the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. The American Association of Irrigation Consultants named him the recipient of the 2019 Roy Williams Memorial Award. That same year, he shared the GCSAA's Col. John Morley Award with legendary superintendent and golf course owner Ted Horton, CGCS.
    A quote from Tanto on the company website reads: "How can you not feel good about being part of something that you believe in and that continues to represent the solid values upon which it was founded. I love going to work every day and enjoy those with whom I am associated both within the organization and the golf industry itself."
    Survivors include his wife of 59 years, Susan; son Dan (Karen); daughter Anne Gamble (Mark); sisters Eva Czéh and Zsuzsa Tanto Németh, both of Hungary; and many grandchildren, nieces, nephews who live around the globe.
  • Envu is unveiling several initiatives at this year's GCSAA Conference and Show in its efforts to help superintendents produce healthier turf.
    Aside from new product offerings at its booth (No. 2637), Envu will offer virtual tours, a chance to win on-site expert advice and the opportunity to enter for a chance to win a goose-chasing dog. The show is scheduled for Feb. 5-6 in San Diego.
    Envu's Green Solutions Team will be on hand to help superintendents find plant-health solutions for their respective golf courses. Superintendents visiting the Envu booth can register for a chance to have one of those GST members conduct a site-visit for an in-depth analysis report and a personalized solutions plan for the winner.

    Visitors to the Envu booth at the GCSAA Conference and Show will have a chance to enter to win a goose dog from Fly Away Geese, a North Carolina company that offers humane solutions to controlling many types of birds in a variety of environments. Fly Away Geese photo Visitors to the Envu booth also can take a virtual tour of the company's facilities in North Carolina. That includes an inside look at Envu's product-development process at its facility in Morrisville and how products then go through testing at the research facility in Clayton that includes 10.5 acres of warm- and cool-season turf research plots, an 18-acre research golf course and a 1-acre putting green built to USGA specifications.
    Envu also is sponsoring a dog giveaway at the show in conjunction with Fly Away Geese. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Fly Away Geese trains and provides goose-chasing border collies to golf courses, airports, businesses, corporations and military installations for humane and effective solutions to manage many types of birds, such as geese, ducks, seagulls, cormorants, coots and wading birds.
    Envu launched in October 2022 out of the acquisition of Bayer Environmental Science by London-based private equity firm Cinven, and is a provider of chemical solutions for the professional turf market. In November, Envu (short for Environmental Science U.S.) finalized the acquisition of FMC's Global Specialty Solutions division of FMC that includes its golf turf business.
    The company will introduce new additions to its portfolio at the show, including its lineup of products formerly under the FMC label.
  • Bunker performance is only as good as the sand that goes into it. But all sand is not created equally. 
    The wrong sand, or degraded sand can lead to a host of issues in golf course bunker performance. For superintendents who want help, or at least confirmation, in choosing the right sand for any of a variety of golf course projects, Capillary Flow recently launched an AI tool that helps remove the guesswork from the selection process.
    Capillary Flow's AI Sand Agent deciphers sand analysis reports, generates easy-to-read gradation curves and compares them to industry standards in a matter of seconds to help superintendents choose a product that meets the specific needs of any project.

    Capillary Flow's AI Sand Agent deciphers sand analysis reports to help make sand selection easier for superintendents. Capillary Flow photo Factors such as particle hardness and shape, composition and color greatly influence sand performance, stability and drainage. Sand analysis reports that quantify these factors come in many versions: metric or imperial, in passing particles or retained particles. This language can be difficult to evaluate. The Capillary Flow tool allows users to see the gradation curve, which makes it easier to compare a product to industry standards and other sands during the selection process.
    The USGA guidelines for particle size distribution can be plotted on a curve that illustrates how any given sand compares to the range recommended, and therefore show the sand’s ability to drain or hold moisture.
    Users can upload numbers manually, or drag and drop an analysis report into the calculator. In a matter of seconds, the calculator generates data to help superintendents make the correct sand choice.

    The Capillary Flow tool compares specific sands to recognized industry standards. Bunker performance hinges on precise sand management, with moisture content playing a pivotal role in playability and maintenance. Although USGA guidelines provide a framework for selecting and installing sand, maintaining its quality over time remains a significant challenge. 
    Sand performance declines over time due to the following factors:
    Sand movement within the bunker Contamination Natural degradation Degraded sand or the wrong sand can lead to a host of performance issues:
    Wet floors Inconsistent moisture Layering within the bunker sand column Discoloration Poor playability Player dissatisfaction Increased maintenance costs The tool stores previous analysis results for future reference and comparison.
    Capillary Flow offers a variety of products and services and moisture-management solutions for a variety of markets including golf, athletic fields, equestrian facilities and public areas.
  • Mach 1 ultradwarf Bermudagrass on a green at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, North Carolina. Modern Turf photo Modern Turf recently named Jamey Jackson as regional director of sales. Based in LaGrange, Georgia, Jackson (below) is responsible for sales initiatives and supporting clients in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
    Based in Rembert, South Carolina, Modern Turf specializes in cultivating and planting a diverse range of grass types for the golf, sports turf and landscaping sectors. The company was founded by a group of former superintendents with experience ranging across the United States and Puerto Rico, The Bahamas and Bermuda. 
    The company also offers other products, including compost materials, mulch, soil, sand, stone and gravel for the professional and residential markets.
    "His proven sales expertise will undoubtedly strengthen our efforts and expand our reach across the South," said Hank Kerfoot, president of Modern Turf. "More importantly, Jamey’s good nature and unwavering professionalism perfectly align with the values that have made Modern Turf a respected name in the turf industry. We are certain his enthusiasm for golf and willingness to listen and provide customized solutions will benefit our customers."
    Jackson, who will join the Modern Turf team in San Diego at the GCSAA Conference and Show (booth #2510) built a career in talent acquisition, placing superintendents and general managers in employment opportunities.
    Among the products to be highlighted in the Modern Turf booth is Mach 1 ultradwarf Bermudagrass that boasts finer and shorter leaf blades and dense texture bentgrass-like putting conditions.
  • The PGA Tour told players that it will be moving the Genesis Invitational from Riviera Country Club in fire-torn Pacific Palisades, California to another location. According to reports, the event will now be played on the North Course at Torrey Pines near San Diego.
    Riviera, which was to host the tournament Feb. 10-16, has been spared from fire damage, but the surrounding area has been evacuated and has been devastated with the loss of thousands of homes and businesses. At least 27 deaths have been blamed on the fires that have been burning since Jan. 7.
    A statement released by the Tour on Thursday read: "The PGA Tour's focus continues to be on the safety and well-being of those affected by the unprecedented natural disaster in Greater Los Angeles. We are grateful for the life-saving efforts of first responders and the tireless work being done to put an end to the tragic wildfires.
    "In collaboration with Genesis, The Riviera Country Club and TGR Live, and out of respect for the unfolding situation, we have determined that the 2025 Genesis Invitational will be played at an alternate location the week of February 10-16."
    CBS Sports reported Monday that the Tour has settled on Torrey Pines, 125 miles down the coast, as a replacement. The course in La Jolla also is the site of this week's Farmers Insurance Open. It will be a busy time in the San Diego area with the GCSAA Conference and Show is scheduled for Feb. 3-6.

    Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California, has been identified as the likely landing spot for the PGA Tour's Genesis Invitational next month. The tournament has been displaced by fires in the Los Angeles area. Torrey Pines photo Other sites reportedly under consideration as a replacement for the Genesis event were La Quinta Country Club, which was host to the American Express earlier this month, Shadow Creek in Las Vegas and TPC Scottsdale, site of the WM Phoenix Open Feb. 6-9 immediately before the Genesis.
    Riviera has been the on-again, off-again home of the PGA Tour's Genesis Invitational, formerly the Los Angeles Open, since 1929 and every year since 1999.
    Golf courses cover about 2.3 million square acres of land across the United States. That is almost the size of Los Angeles County, so it is not uncommon for them to be affected when natural disasters strike.
    That is the case in metro Los Angeles as the course burns around several golf courses, including in a riverbed that runs through southern Ventura County and right past three golf courses, River Ridge, Oliva Links and the much maligned Buenaventura that has been closed since 2023.
    Altadena Golf Course near Pasadena was not as lucky. The clubhouse there burned to the ground in the fires two weeks ago.
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently released its interim registration review on chlorothalonil.
    The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act mandates a periodic review of existing pesticide registrations every 15 years.
    During registration review, the EPA determines whether a registered pesticide continues to meet FIFRA registration standards. Where appropriate, the EPA might issue an interim review decision before completing a final registration review decision. 
    Issuing an Interim Decision is not a decision on whether a pesticide's registration continues to satisfy the FIFRA standard for registration. Instead, the Interim Decision might include mitigation measures and changes to labeling that the EPA has identified that would address risks of concern, identified data or information needed to complete registration review, and include schedules for submitting such data, conducting the new risk assessment and completing the registration review. 
    The EPA issued this Interim Decision for chlorothalonil on Dec. 26, 2024 to identify risk mitigations that would address risks of concern for chlorothalonil.
    One of the world's most widely used turfgrass fungicides, chlorothalonil was first registered for use in the United States in 1966. It also is used to manage fungal diseases in row crops, primarily peanuts, potatoes and tomatoes, according to the EPA.

    One of the most widely used fungicides on golf course turf, chlorothalonil first was registered for use in the United States in 1966. Photo by John Reitman In October 2023, EPA published the Proposed Interim Decision for registration review of chlorothalonil. Since then, the EPA has identified the need for changes to the annual application rates for non-vulnerable soils for some crops, clarified and updated vulnerable soil language to exclude most cranberry bogs and turf putting greens and included the option to use a vegetative filter strip for turf instead of the ground buffer to aquatic areas as a result of comments received on the PID. 
    The Interim Decision also addressed changes for vulnerable soils in turf (pages 81, 121), soil organic matter (page 81) and spray drift management (page 124).
    Spray boom application rules:
    During application, the sustained wind speed, as defined by the National Weather Service (standard averaging period of 2 minutes), must register between 3 and 10 mph. Wind speed and direction must be measured on location using a windsock or anemometer (including systems to measure wind speed or velocity using application equipment). Wind speed must be measured at the release height or higher, in an area free from obstructions such as trees, buildings and farm equipment. Do not release spray at a height greater than 3 feet above the ground or crop canopy, except for applications to turf. For golf course, sod and turf applications, do not release spray at a height greater than 2 feet above the ground. Applicators must select nozzles and pressure that deliver medium or coarse droplets in accordance with American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Standard 572 (ASAE S572). Do not apply during temperature inversions. Chlorothalonil also has some activity as a bactericide, microbiocide, algaecide, insecticide and acaricide. Its exact mechanism of action is not known. Chlorothalonil is registered on a wide variety of sites including turf and row crops and as a mildewicide to be added to paint and other surface treatments. 
    Click here to read or download the entire EPA Interim Decision.
  • Ice cover on Poa annua greens and cold temperatures on warm-season turf are common threats during winter. USGA photo With a winter storm blasting across the country early in the week and another one expected to continue throughout the weekend, thoughts naturally turn to the threat of winter damage on golf courses.
    Snowfall totals this week in Cincinnati totaled more than 10 inches, and 7 inches of new snow were recorded in Washington, D.C., and more is on the way this week. However, the greatest threat to golf course turf might not be snow that fell throughout much of the country, but cold weather in areas where it did not. Some areas of the transition zone received several hours of freezing rain on top of the recent snow layer.
    "I'm more worried about the cold and less worried about the snow," said turfgrass pathologist Wendell Hutchens, Ph.D., of the University of Arkansas. "I think we're getting some insulation from that layer of fluffy snow at the base. That should help some."
    Sweeping in between snow events in much of the country was a blast of unseasonably low temperatures, even for early winter.
    "This isn't an exact science, and we still don't have all the data on this," he said. "If this was December this would probably be a more serious issue, but turf has had six weeks to harden off for winter. The hope is we get some melt but not a refreeze, back to back to back."
    Overnight temperatures dipped into the teens several days this week in Fayetteville, Arkansas, conditions that were duplicated throughout much of the country in areas where both warm- and cool-season grass are managed, such as Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina.
    "I'm not worried about low 20s," Hutchens said. "If it gets to 10, 12, 13 degrees, then I'm more worried."
    Winter damage often varies between sites on the same course and from one course to another in the same area. Variables like growing environment, soil conditions, grass species, traffic patterns, maintenance philosophies and other factors all can affect winter injury, according to the USGA. 
    Winter damage on cool-season turf, most notably Poa annua is most often associated with ice cover, while warm-season turf is susceptible to extreme low temperatures. A recent example of the dangers of extreme cold came in the form of a Christmas 2022 cold snap that caused havoc on golf courses throughout the transition zone and parts of the South.
    The USGA recommends covering Bermuda greens when temperatures drop below 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Hutchens, who played a key role in a recent research project on winterkill on warm-season turf, said Bermuda probably can sustain temperatures more in the 17- or 18-degree range.
    "But why risk it?" he said. "We have a lot of ultradwarf (Bermudagrass) greens here in Arkansas. They're going to have damage if they're not covered."
    Hutchens suggests using permeable greens covers during sudden temperature drops and sustained periods of extreme cold.
    Causes of winterkill in warm-season turf include:
    extreme low temperatures sustained low temps that leads to carbohydrate exhaustion rapid temperature drop in late fall or early spring desiccation caused by too little soil moisture anoxia caused by too much soil moisture Fairways and rough-height turf should fare much better under the current circumstances.
    "Zoysia fairways will be fine. Even Bermuda fairways should be fine," Hutchens said.
    "I'm not worried about that unless we get a week straight of really cold weather. Fifteen degrees doesn't worry me, but 10 degrees does."
    Whether this week's weather leads to any damage in warm-season turf remains to be seen.
    "This is so hard to predict," Hutchens said. "If this is the only event we have and there is winterkill, then we'll be able to point to this week as the cause. If we have another snap in February or March then we won't be able to point to this single event. It's not super cold. If we have areas where there is no snow and it gets down to 5 or 10 degrees, then we'll have significant damage."
  • The Aquatrols Co., recently named Josey Groenveld to its sales team. Groenveld, who has many years on the chemical side of the turf and ornamental industry, is Aquatrols' territory manager for the Pacific Northwest and western Canada.
    His responsibilities include overseeing sales initiatives throughout the region by working closely with customers and the company's network of distributors, as well as helping identify growth opportunities.
    His experience most recently includes seven years as territory manager with Bayer/Envu in western Canada. 
    Most recently with Bayer/Envu for more than seven years as Territory Sales Manager for Western Canada, Josey brings significant agronomic knowledge as well as a deep understanding of the particular needs of customers located in this geography.
    "Josey's wealth of experience and customer-focused attitude make him a great asset for both our customers and distributors, and he will be an excellent addition to the Aquatrols team," said Wes Hamm, Aquatrols' director of North American sales.
    Based in Paulsboro, New Jersey, Aquatrols is a developer of soil surfactants and other water-management technologies that is part of Lamberti, a global specialty chemicals manufacturer headquartered in Italy.
  • One does not last 32 years in the same job without doing something right.
    Jim Husting, CGCS, developed a reputation for producing some of the best Poa annua greens in California's Central Valley during a 32-year run at Woodbridge Golf and Country Club in Lodi. That is no small feat in an area where summer temperatures often can top 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
    Husting (right), who retired from Woodbridge in 2019 after more than three decades as the club's superintendent, died Dec. 20 after battling pancreatic cancer.
    "I just talked to him last week, and he told me he was in Hospice," said Corey Eastwood, CGCS, a retired superintendent who gave Husting his first job in the golf industry in 1983 at Green Hills Golf and Country Club in Millbrae, California. "He was upbeat and positive."
    In a 2019 TurfNet Living Legends podcast (below), Husting said communicating with the pro shop and maintaining a relationship with the membership helped him be successful during his career at Woodbridge.

    Husting was a past president of three GCSAA chapters (California, Sierra Nevada and Northern California) and served as an adjunct professor of horticulture, and turf and landscape maintenance at San Joaquin Delta College for 15 years. He also played an active role in advancing the profession and fellow superintendents by serving as government relations director for the NorCal association from 1997 to 2010.
    "He was a pillar of the industry in this area," said Lou Silveira, a former assistant to Husting at Woodbridge and now the club's head superintendent.
    When Woodbridge had an opening for an assistant in 1998, Silveira knew immediately after his interview that it was where he wanted to be.
    "When I came here, I saw Jim had a presence in the industry," Silveira said. "He was a go-getter. He was spunky. He was known as the 'Poa dude' because he grew it better than anyone else in the Central Valley. I knew right away he was the person I wanted to mentor me."
    Husting came to California in the early 1980s after earning a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies in 1976 from Kent State University in Ohio. After discovering he could earn a living working outdoors on a golf course, he earned a technical degree in turfgrass management from Cal Poly in 1983.
    Eastwood and Husting both were interviewing at Green Hills at about the same time in 1983 — Eastwood for the open superintendent's position and Husting for assistant.
    "He and I started at the same time at Green Hills," Eastwood said. "I was interviewing with the GM and they told me they'd already been talking to Jim. The GM said 'We really like him. Look him over, and see what you think.' He did a great job here.
    "It was almost a second career for him. He'd gotten his degree at Kent State, then he jumped in his Volkswagen and came west. He didn't want to teach, and he went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to get a degree in turf management."
    By 1987, Husting moved on to Woodbridge as head superintendent where he remained for 32 years until his retirement in 2019. By then, Husting already had been teaching remotely at San Joaquin Delta for a decade.
    "In all those years at Woodbridge, I don't think he ever lost a blade of grass," Eastwood said. "He had the best Poa greens I'd ever seen. I don't know how he kept those damn things alive. That's a miracle out here."
    Two years after retiring, Husting moved to Camano Island, Washington, a 40-square-mile strip of land on the eastern end of Puget Sound. There he became active in and served on the board of directors of Sound Water Stewards, an environmental advocacy group comprised of trained volunteers working in and around Island County, Washington "for a healthy, sustainable marine environment through education, science and stewardship," according to the group's web site.

    Jim Husting, CGCS, had a reputation for producing great greens under grueling conditions in California's Central Valley. Lodi News-Sentinel photo Husting hired Silveira as his assistant at 27-hole Woodbridge in 1998. By 2003, Silveira moved on to multiple opportunities as a head superintendent, including stops at Brookside Golf and Country Club in Stockton and The Club at Castleton in Pleasanton.
    Husting prepped him well to go off on his own.
    "Whenever I took the weekend off when I was his assistant, I'd come back in and my desk would be covered in Post-It Notes from Jim about things I missed," Silveira said. "My last day working for him, I came in and there was one Post-It Note in the corner of my desk. It said 'You'll do great' and 'Go check the station on 27.' "
    Silveira returned to Woodbridge in 2023, this time as head superintendent. On his first day back at Woodbridge, Silveira received a call from Husting who offered his congratulations, but also to tell him he had cancer.
    When he learned of his mentor's death, the news hit Silveira hard.
    "I took the weekend to soak it in," Silveira said. "When I came in on Monday and sat at the same desk he had used for all those years, it was very emotional. Jim molded my career."
    Peter McCormick, TurfNet founder, remembers Husting from his attendance at the TurfNet Beer & Pretzels Gala events at GIS for many years, and for sporting a Jackson Browne-ish hair style.
    "Jim was a TurfNet member for a very long time, one of the first superintendents in California to sign on, as I recall," McCormick said. 'He was very active on our Forum and I got to know him from that. Being on opposite coasts, however, the only times we saw each other face to face was at the Beer and Pretzels events. He usually brought his wife and two young kids with him. They would come up to me at the end of the night so the kids could shake my hand and say thank you. That said a lot. Jim was a great guy."
    Survivors include daughter Erica of Boston and son Harrison (Marissa) of Portland, Oregon.
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