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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman

    Recovery shot

    By John Reitman, in News,

    There is a saying that life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. No one knows that better than Pat Berger.
     
    When he left Michigan State in 1980 with a certificate in turfgrass management, Berger couldn't imagine a career path that included anything other than working toward becoming a golf course superintendent. Today, Berger, 60, is director of sports turf operations at the University of Arkansas, and reflects on the circumstances that took him from the golf course to the athletic field.
     
    "There were times I'd thought about changing professions," said Berger. "But I always told myself that I was a golf course superintendent."
     
    Oh, how things change.
     
    A series of family tragedies ultimately forced Berger from a career in golf and into sports field management 12 years ago so he could spend more time at home where he was needed, and are a sobering reminder that no job is more important than the job of being a husband and father.
     
    Until that point, Berger's career path appeared to be going in the direction of many superintendents before him and since.
     
    He had just completed an internship at Oak Hill Country Club and accepted a full-time position at the club on superintendent Dick Bator's crew where preparations were underway for that year's PGA Championship. Not even his wife Beverly's pregnancy with the couple's first child, Brent, was a match for preparing for a major championship.
     
    "I was at the hospital for the delivery," Berger said. "I kissed my wife goodbye and went back to work."
     
    Indeed, while the creation of life took a backseat to a young greenkeeper's career plans, the end of life for the child of a seasoned superintendent some 20 years later was a reality check that a job is not more important than family.
     
    It was about 2000 when Erika, the third of the Berger's four children, had taken ill with a rare eating disorder. A standout high school soccer player, Erika's symptoms included the inability to hold down food. Unlike other eating disorders in which the process is voluntary and forced, for Erika, regurgitation was involuntary and uncontrollable.
     
    The Bergers spent the better part of the next 10 years crossing the country from one hospital to another in pursuit of two things - a diagnosis and hope. They were able to get one. Eventually Erika was diagnosed with gastroparesis, a disease for which there is no known cure. She died Jan. 29, 2010, 12 days before her 25th birthday. 
     
    When the family's bout with Erika's illness began, Berger had just taken a job as superintendent at Four Hills Golf Club in Albuquerque, N.M. His family remained behind in Fayetteville, Ark., as he settled in. The news hit shortly after he had made the move.
     
    His supervisors at Four Hills were accommodating, and Berger returned to Arkansas as often as possible without compromising conditions on the golf course. As much as Berger appreciated the understanding of his bosses, he knew his place as a father was with his family.
     
    As Berger weighed the decision before him, he received a call from Arkansas turfgrass professor Mike Richardson, Ph.D., informing him the head groundskeeper's job at the University of Arkansas was open. The two had become acquainted during Berger's time at Texarkana Country Club from 1987 to 1999. Although Berger had been passed over for the Arkansas job once before, there was little to lose in applying a second time.
     
    "I had a decision to make. It was a pay cut to leave the golf course," he said. "But that is where the doctors were, and it is where my family was."
     
    Richardson went to the assistant athletic director charged with filling the head groundskeeper's position and recommended Berger.
     
    "When I came to Arkansas, he was the superintendent at Texarkana Country Club and was one of the guys that I connected with during my first few years here," Richardson said. "(He is a) smart, hard worker, innovative and just a passionate grass guy."
     
    Fortunately for Berger, he had better luck at the university the second time around. He spent the next several years honing managing what Richardson says are the best playing surfaces in the Southeastern Conference and being at home as much as possible for his daughter. The latter is something that probably never could have occurred had he remained in golf, where 70-hour and 80-hour weeks during the playing season are common.
     
    Watching his daughter's condition deteriorate took a toll on everyone in the family.
     
    "We have four other kids, and it affected the whole family," he said. "Our two youngest daughters (Erin and Elizabeth), they were the ones who saw the rapid deterioration from an athletic spark plug to someone who was very sick. They still ask 'why?' "
     
    That is a question Berger still cannot answer.
     
    Six months after Erika's death, Berger's wife was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer.
     
    Thanks to an intense radiation program, Beverly, who is a nurse by profession, has been cancer free for a year, but is unable to return to work.
     
    "When radiation kills something, it doesn't just kill the cancer. It kills a lot of things," he said.
     
    Despite the challenges life has thrown his way, Berger feels he has been blessed by how some of the pieces of his life have fallen into place so that he could be part of what was transpiring.
     
    "I have been as lucky as anybody," he said. "But, I do look at things a little differently now."
     
  • The International Golf Course Equipment Managers Association is now accepting nominations for the 2013 Edwin Budding Award.   Presented by Jacobsen/Ransoms, the award is named for Edwin Beard Budding who is credited with the invention of the reel mower in 1830. The award recognizes innovators, technicians, educators, engineers, etc. that have gone above and beyond their normal day to day jobs and made a significant impact in the golf and turf business.   An award committee comprised of industry leaders and an IGCEMA member will select a winner. Click here to submit a nomination.   The winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Golf Industry Show or the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association Turf Management Exhibition (alternates each year), free admission to the trade show, name engraved on the Edwin Budding Award, a keepsake trophy and recognition on the award Web site.    This year's award will be presented at BTME, which is scheduled for Jan. 19-24 in North Yorkshire, England.   Previous winners include Dana Lonn of The Toro Co., 2012; Wes Danielewicz of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County (Ill.), 2011; Vollie Carr of Jacobsen, 2010; Eddie Konrad, Seneca College (Ontario), 2009; Eric Kulaas, Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Fla., 2008; Ed Combest, retired from Lake City (Fla.) Community College (now Florida Gateway College).
  • Spectrum Technologies and the USGA recently launched the TruFirm turf firmness meter. Based on technology developed by the USGA, TruFirm measure the firmness of turf and bunker sands, allowing golf course superintendents and sports turf managers to take appropriate actions to reach the desired firmness of golf course greens, fairways, bunkers, and other playing surfaces.   The USGA's primary objective for the development of the TruFirm is to provide championship-caliber playability by managing greens that are consistently firm and fast. By measuring the relationship between the compaction of the soil and the moisture level, greenkeepers are able to ensure healthy, aesthetically pleasing greens that offer exceptional playability.   The patented TruFirm system utilizes a hemisphere-shaped impact hammer that mimics the shape of a golf ball to better simulate golf ball impacts. The mass is dropped from a consistent height and the maximum turf penetration value is recorded and correlated to the surface firmness the lower the penetration value, the firmer the turf.   Matt Pringle, technical director for the USGA, has been working with firmness and compaction devices for more than nine years.     "The USGA is dedicated to advancing technology to improve playability by making better course decisions," Pringle said. "We decided to bring our technological innovations to Spectrum because of their turf industry knowledge, technology focus, and experience in developing affordable measuring devices."   Measurements taken by the TruFirm are instantaneous, saving time, and readouts are displayed on a highly visible screen.  In addition, logged data can be sent via Bluetooth to a mobile/handheld device for plotting specific greens or other surfaces using an associated smartphone app.   In other news, Spectrum Technologies recently launched a new version of the FieldScout GreenIndex+ app for turfgrass applications that allow users to measure the "relative greenness" of turf using a smartphone camera.   The GreenIndex+ Turf app quickly captures images of turfgrass from a smartphone, calculates the Dark Green Color Index and displays a visual rating.  Users can customize the visual rating calculation for different species of grass and specific plots of land.  Measurements can be compared to identify variability or trends in turf health across golf course greens and fairways, as well as other sports fields, providing valuable data for decisions regarding fertilization and irrigation.  Additional applications include lawn care and commercial turf for better nutrient management.  All data is logged and geo-referenced, and can be emailed to a personal computer for further analysis.   Earlier this year, the GreenIndex+ app received the coveted AE50 Gold Award from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), an award that recognizes leadership in technological innovation throughout the world for the agricultural, food, and biological systems industries.
  • If there was such a thing as golf royalty, David Dudones might qualify as a member of the game's aristocracy.
      Dudones, 38, is the superintendent at North Jersey Country Club, but as a fifth-generation member of the Worthington family, his roots in the golf business run much deeper. Great-great-grandfather Charles Campbell Worthington, grandfather Ed Worthington Jr. and his mother, Janet, all were pioneers in the turf maintenance industry.   C.C. Worthington (1854-1944) is credited with developing the industry's first commercial reel mower, a technology that was sold to Jacobsen in the mid-1940s. He rubbed elbows with A.W. Tillinghast and even solicited the architect's professional services in the creation of Shawnee Country Club on the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.   In the club's early days, Worthington invited a group of tour professionals to Shawnee for a tournament. He suggested that they form their own association, and the PGA of America was soon born.   Ed Worthington Jr., C.C. Worthington's grandson and Dudones' grandfather, later led the company and eventually launched his own outfit, the Ed Worthington Co., a turfcare supply business he ran from the back of a truck. Ed's daughter (and Dudones' mother) Janet eventually took over operation of the company and herself is a former president of the New York State Turfgrass Association.   "He comes from a long line of turfgrass professionals dating back to his great-great-grandfather Worthington," said Frank Rossi, Ph.D., associate professor of turfgrass science at Cornell University, where Dudones earned a master's degree. "David has always been proud of his heritage and the tradition of being in the golf business."   While he has an industry pedigree that dates back more than 100 years, Dudones' experience in turf maintenance is equally impressive.   In his ninth season at North Jersey, Dudones prepped under such accomplished superintendents as Joe Alonzi at Westchester Country Club, Shawn Emerson at Desert Mountain and Don Szymkowicz at Engineers Country Club.    Despite his family's longstanding place in the golf business, Dudones came close to taking a different career path.   A biology major at the State University of New York at Cortland, Dudones had planned to become a high school teacher. He had a change of heart thanks to a summer job at Craigwood Golf Club in upstate New York. After three years at Cortland, he began studying turfgrass science at SUNY Cobleskill.   After graduating in 1997, Dudones was hired at Engineers and the next several years of his career went by in the blink of an eye.  In rapid-fire succession, he landed at Cornell in 1999 where he studied under Rossi, and earned a master's degree in turfgrass science. In 2001, with his graduate degree in hand, he went west to Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, where he stayed for a year before returning to Westchester, where he had interned in 1997.   The dizzying pace all was part of a grand plan.   "He had the most scripted career plan of anyone who has ever worked for me," Emerson said. "He knew the types of clubs he wanted to work at, and he knew how long he wanted to be at each one.   "He used me as much as I used him because he had a plan."   Indeed, Dudones soaked up as much as he could from his mentors.   "Shawn taught me attention to detail and how to motivate a staff. He motivated people. Of course, sometimes he motivate you with his right foot, too," said Dudones. In fact, he showed his appreciation for Emerson's mentoring skills by presenting him with a framed likeness of Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi, who also was known as a masterful motivator. To this day, the picture hangs in Emerson's office.   "That was a great experience," Dudones said. "That's where I really learned how to water properly."   The desert climate proved to be a great environment to learn about irrigation. But in the post-911 world, Scottsdale also was too far from home, and Dudones headed back east as Alonzi's assistant at Westchester where he remained for three years before getting the job at North Jersey.   He learned more there in those three years than he thought was possible.   "Working three years for Joe was like working six somewhere else," he said.   "Joe taught me how to run a massive operation with almost unattainable expectations. He also taught me how to not let the daily grind beat you down. I learned about a lot of stuff there that isn't on the golf course, like don't tell your wife what time you're going to be home because you really don't know."   Learning under such leaders of the profession has helped Dudones achieve another career objective - to be a mentor to his own assistants, Addison Barden and Kyle DeNuys.   "I view myself as a leader and also as an up and comer in the industry," he said. "I try to live my life to be a leader on the golf course. I try to make those around me better and make myself better."   Some say if he's not already there, then he's awfully close.   "I think he's going to be one of the top-10 most highly regarded agronomists in this business," Emerson said. "He's an intense individual, he's focused and he has a calmness about him. He's at his most calm when things are going bad, things that you can't control. That's how you can tell who is a leader; they stay calm when times are difficult and that shows those under you that you are in control. Dave has that."   A true golfing superintendent, Dudones believes that it is critical to view the course from a customer's perspective.   Although he played more often before his own children's athletic events beckoned, Dudones still plays the course a few times each month, including at least once per month with some of his members.    "The best way to see the golf course is to play it," he said. "It should almost be required of the job.   "It's important to know what the members are talking about. It's a disservice to them and to you if you don't know what they are thinking and talking about. I think the guys in this business who are successful are the guys who play."   Success in this business, however, often comes at a price. And usually it is a superintendent's family at home who ends up paying the bill. Today, Dudones leans on wife Dana for support as he continues his career climb. The couple were married while Dudones was the assistant at Westchester, and they lived on the golf course. By now, she understands that long days during the summer and away from family are part of the territory.   "Anyone in this business who has had a successful run also has a wife who is very supportive," Dudones said. "In the summer, I'm here 70 to 80 hours a week. You need a strong understanding woman who gets that."   Still, Dudones tries to balance his professional and personal lives as much as possible, which includes occasional lunch dates in the office with his wife and the couple's three daughters. When the club hosted a fireworks display on the July 4th weekend, Dudones had to be on the property to make sure the course wasn't damaged. But by the time the celebration began, he and his family could enjoy the time together.   "Fortunately, I live less than 15 minutes away from the golf course," he said. "Guys who live 40 miles away don't have that chance."   Now that he has followed the family tradition - sort of - for a career in golf, Dudones couldn't imagine doing anything else.   "I enjoy the satisfaction you get when things are going right," he said. "It's satisfying to see a well-maintained golf course and a well-run operation. And being outside in nature, it's like being on a farm. You work it, you put in a long day and do the best you can. And I've always enjoyed the people, everyone from researchers, assistants, mentors to salesmen. It's rewarding."  
  • In recognition of the company's 150th year of doing business, Bayer's Environmental Science division is focused on giving back to its customers and the community through education for green industry professionals and outreach to public service organizations in need.
     
    To that end, Bayer ES is accepting applications for one of two Healthy Turf, Healthy Tomorrow Plant Health Scholarships to help superintendents further their turf education. 
     
    The Healthy Turf, Healthy Tomorrow Plant Health Scholarship program awards $2,500 to two superintendents who can use the funds to attend local, regional or national educational conferences, or to enroll in a continuing education program at a college or university. Deadline for applying is Oct. 4, and all applicants must be GCSAA members enrolled in Bayer's Accolades program.
     
    Also in recognition of the company's official anniversary on Aug. 1, more than 200 employee volunteers gave their time at Zuma's Rescue Ranch, a Denver facility that pairs rescued horses with at-risk children to promote life skills in the latter as well as improve their bonding and trust skills for both horses and children.
     
    Volunteers also helped provide labor and Bayer products in a beautification effort at the facility as well as construction and maintenance updates, including construction and restoration of landscape beds, garden gates and walkways. The team built and installed a pergola, a duck pond and a chicken coop as well as landscaped the facility's outdoor venue, cleaned stalls, seeded pastures, and painted Zuma's signs and indoor arena. The property was founded in 2004 with the mission to provide a sanctuary for voiceless humans and animals in the Denver area.
     
    Bayer was launched Aug. 1, 1863, when Friederich Bayer and Johann Friedrich Weskott started their dye factory in what is now the German village of Wuppertal. Within four years, the new start-up company had operations in Albany, N.Y., and Moscow. By 1892, Bayer had formulated its first synthetic insecticide to control nun moths. Seven years later, in 1899, the company has trademarked a name that today is a household phrase: Bayer Aspirin.
  • Rain Bird Services recently announced its beefed up training season with educational sessions scheduled for more than 90 locations nationwide throughout the remainder of this year and next.   All classes, including Rain Bird's Factory Trained Program and the Rain Bird Academy, are pre-approved by the Irrigation Association for continuing education units.   "Our training programs are very different from some of the other educational offerings in the industry today," said Robert Pfeil, Marketing Group Manager Services.  "Our classes are designed to train irrigation professionals on proven practices and techniques that can help them take their careers to the next level.  We emphasize professionalism and expertise; we are not trying to sell them products."   The Rain Bird Factory Trained Program teaches installation, operation and maintenance best practices for Rain Bird systems. Contractors who earn Installer,' Operator,' Technician' and Expert' designations through this program must re-test every three years to ensure that they are current with new technology and techniques.  Response to this relatively new program has been overwhelmingly positive.   Rain Bird Academy provides technical, college-level training for green industry professionals of all skill levels, helping them launch new careers or hone their skills in just days instead of weeks or months. Attendees can choose from five preparatory classes that can help them earn the following Irrigation Association certifications: certified irrigation auditor; certified irrigation contractor, certified irrigation designer, ceritified irrigation technician.   Individuals new to the industry can quickly learn how to install and maintain irrigation systems by attending Rain Bird Academy's Boot Camp. This four-and-a-half-day event is a hands-on necessity for beginners or those who simply want to acquire more tricks of the trade. Covering products from a variety of manufacturers, the camp includes classes on irrigation installation, technical skills, landscape irrigation design and efficient irrigation scheduling.
  • There is a difference between not having time to play golf and not making time to play golf.
     
    When he flips on the TV to watch a tournament, or reads about the ratings of televised golf, Andy Mears sees evidence that there are plenty of people who have an interest in the game, but, according to industry statistics, have quit playing or never started. Mears, the president and chief operating officer of Island Hills Golf Club in Centreville, Mich., believes factors such as time, difficulty, cost and a core audience that doesn't take kindly to newcomers all have conspired to divert occasional golfers and would-be players toward other activities.
     
    Mears wants to change that, at least in Centreville.
     
    Since 2011 patrons at Island Hills have had many options beyond playing a traditional 18-hole golf course. Five shorter routings within the 1999 Raymond Hearn layout, called Quick Courses, feature their own scorecard, and are designed to give golfers a chance to play without devoting five hours - or more - to a round of golf. The Quick Course concept is ideal for newcomers and high-handicappers as well as the scratch golfer who is challenged for time, Mears says.
     
    "We have to get people to understand that golf doesn't have to be played in traditional sets," said Mears, 52. "In an 18-hole round of golf, you leave your house, play, probably socialize a little bit, then you return home. Before you know it, you can be talking about a six-hour day.
     
    "During the past several years, there has been a huge adjustment in the way we think about our lives. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but we've changed how we look at what we do in that time. For some people, six hours out of the day to play golf is fine. For most of us, that' s too much time."
     
    Island Hills owner Bob Griffioen came up with the idea for Quick Courses after reading about a seven-hole tournament at Jack Nicklaus's Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The Quick Course options at Island Hills include a five-hole course, two seven-hole routes and a 12-hole option. All routes, Mears says, begin on Nos. 1 or 10 and end on 9 or 18. Each route was chosen specifically to minimize the distance golfers must travel from green to tee, and all can be played for a fraction of Island Hills' rack rate. For example, the five-hole Quick Course, named Honeybee Cove, includes Nos. 1, 2, 3, 8 and 9, and golfers can play it for 15 bucks. Fees for the other Quick Courses increase slightly depending on the number of holes.
     
    There are few rules regarding the Quick Course program. Those playing the regulation 18-hole course always have the right of way on the tee, and play is not permitted on weekend mornings. Otherwise, ensuring that golfers play only the route they've paid for basically is left to the honor system. Next year, golfers playing a Quick Course will have a color-coded pennant on their golf car so traditional golfers and club employees can easily identify them.
     
    Many players have readily adapted to the concept and appreciate the opportunity to play at least some golf and do so in less time than it takes to play 18 regulation holes, while there are others for whom the idea has been a tough sell, says Mears.
     
    "Golf is a slow-adapting industry, including among those who play a lot of golf," he said. "For hundreds of years we've been playing 18 holes. Anything other than that is a strange concept to people. 
     
    "We want people to know they can get their fix in an hour-and-a-half."
     
    Like most people in the golf business, Mears is troubled by the numbers passed along each year by the National Golf Foundation. Trends he finds worrisome include the 6 million people who have left the game since an all-time high of 30 million people played golf in 2002, or the net loss of 516 18-hole equivalents since a steady diet of negative growth in new course construction began in 2006.
     
    Located between Chicago and Detroit in rural southwestern Michigan, Island Hills relies on city-dwelling tourists who are drawn to the region by Lake Templene, a 1,000-acre lake that is popular for boating, skiing and fishing. Although he acknowledges an oversupply of golf courses, Mears doesn't want his course to be the next statistic, so he and his staff go to great lengths to accommodate golfers. The Quick Course system is just one example.
     
    At Island Hills, there is no charge for the use of top-of-the-line rental clubs, nor is there a fee for lessons. And golfers can play for free after 4 p.m. on Sundays. Mears, who took his first job in the golf business at age 13, figures easing entry into the game for new golfers today might lead to loyal customers tomorrow, or the day after.
     
    "All I can control is here at Island Hills and getting people in our community to play and getting people outside the area to come to our course to play," he said.
     
    "We're not trying to make a dent in the bottom line with this. We're trying to get people to realize that golf can be part of their lifestyle, and it doesn't have to take six hours to do it."
     
    Since implementing the system, Mears says he has received phone calls from golf course operators around the country who are interested in adopting similar programs locally to drive interest. Many ask Mears whether the Quick Courses have increased revenue at Island Hills. Those people, he says, don't get it. The goal of the program is to create long-term interest in the game, not short-term revenue at the cash register.
     
    "We are here to help and to drive interest in the game and hopefully build some customer loyalty along the way," he said. 
     
    "The thought process is to get people engaged at some level, then the interest will come. We can't put our needs ahead of the needs of our customers. It doesn't work that way. I see too many who do that, and they can't see the forest from the trees."
  • BASF research scientists recently gave an early glimpse into what likely will be the centerpiece of the company's booth at next year's Golf Industry Show in Orlando, Fla.
     
    Xzemplar and Lexicon Intrinsic fungicides, both of which are awaiting EPA approval, have been in testing for the past five years, and both offer  control over a broad range of turf diseases, according to scientists discussing the new products at the annual American Phytopathological Society conference in Austin, Texas.
     
    Both products contain the active ingredient fluxapyroxad, while Lexicon also contains pyraclostrobin, the a.i. common to all products in BASF's Intrinsic line. Both also are SDHI class fungicides that work by limiting the respiration process in enzymes in the target fungi.
     
    Both products have been field tested by several university researchers.
     
    John Inguagiato, Ph.D., of the University Connecticut tested Xzemplar for control of brown patch on Colonial creeping bentgrass and dollar spot on Putter creeping bentgrass, both mowed at fairway height and both under heavy disease pressure. Xzemplar exhibited control of both diseases in his trial for a period of 21 to 28 days.
     
    "Last year, our dollar spot control trial on fairway turf was supposed to be a preventive fairway trial," Inguagiato said. "But infection occurred the day before we began our treatments, so it sort of turned out to be an early curative trial. 
     
    "It provided impressive dollar spot and brown patch control."
     
    According to BASF, trial results for Xzemplar showed excellent control against dollar spot at all rates and timings. And when compared against BASF's Emerald fungicide, Xzemplar fungicide provided faster dollar spot control in the first 14 days of the trials.
     
    In other trials, Lexicon Intrinsic showed 0 percent Rhizoctonia (brown patch) infection after 21 days, compared with the untreated control plot with 70.5 percent disease incidence.
     
    In a trial conducted on Baron tall fescue, Lexicon Intrinsic showed 1.8 percent summer patch infection after 21 days. When left untreated, the turf averaged 58.2 percent disease incidence.
     
    Bruce Martin, Ph.D., turfgrass pathologist at Clemson University, has been working with both products for about four years Crenshaw creeping bentgrass and TifEagle Bermudagrass cut to putting green height.
     
    In his trials, Lexicon Intrinsic and Xzemplar were effective at controlling a variety of diseases in cool-season turf.
     
    "Crenshaw creeping bentgrass is the acid test for dollar spot," Martin said. "When I want high disease pressure if I'm working with dollar spot I always go to Crenshaw. 
     
    "I was impressed with the results."
     
    The products' performance in Bermudagrass, at least in field testing, was what stood out most to Martin.
     
    He tested the products for control of diseases such as leaf spot, pink snow mold and pink patch on TifEagle putting greens and also incorporated Lexicon Intrinsic into a Bermudagrass fairway trial that concluded in January. Nearly eight months later he still can pick out the plots treated with the new BASF product.
     
    "Those are the results that surprised me," Martin said. "Those plots were disease free all spring.
     
    "They showed excellent disease control (on TifEagle greens), and that set them apart from anything I'd seen in Bermuda. Now, will it be consistent? I don't know. This is just one trial. 
     
    BASF says it expects both products to receive label registration from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency later this year and to be available for sale next spring.
     
  • A severe storm in late July caused enough damage to the Robert Trent Jones Jr. Course at Rock Barn Golf and Spa in Conover, N.C., that the course was closed temporarily. Rock Barn is scheduled to host the Champions Tour's Greater Hickory Kia Classic in October.
     
    The course received 9 inches of rain in 2.5 hours on July 27 and was left with severe flooding and damage throughout. The course was closed until Aug. 17, when it reopened as a 16-hole layout until the repairs are completed on two holes, according to a statement on the club's Facebook page.
     
    Two greens the 210-yard, par-3 third and the 405-yard, par-4 fifth suffered significant damage and will have to be rebuilt. Greens and fairways at Nos. 4, 13, 14, 16 and 17 along with the fairway at No. 5 had up to 3 feet water and silt in some areas, according to a letter the Champions Tour sent to players. The Tour's agronomist Jeff Haley has been to Rock Barn to access the damage.
     
    Also, 22 bunkers throughout the course will need to be rebuilt. A bridge from the 13th green to the 14th tee needs repairs, as does a roadway bridge through the housing development.  
     
    Plans are still on for the Champions Tour stop, scheduled for Oct. 18-20. (The NGA Tour's Terry Moore Ford Open, scheduled for Aug. 1-4 at the course, was canceled immediately.)
     
    This is not the first time flooding has hit a Champions Tour venue. In September 2011, En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott, N.Y., home to the Dick's Sporting Goods Open, was covered in 5 feet of water from the effects of a tropical storm and overflowing of the Susquehanna River that runs along the perimeter of the course. Because of the flooding and to allow the course to recover, the tour moved the 2012 event from June to August. In 2006, the course also flooded, forcing the final B.C. Open on the PGA Tour to move 2 hours north to Turning Stone Resort in Verona.
  • Remove them, or drag them and break them up?
     
    Aeration is a necessary evil in maintaining quality playing conditions, but as advantageous as it is, it also comes with plenty of downside. Golfers hate it because it can be messy and it disrupts play. Superintendents don't like it much either because removing them or breaking them up is a long, labor-intensive chore. And just what to do with cores after aerification is one of the age-old questions facing turf managers.
     
    Modern Aerofication Methods Inc. has a solution: Unleash the F1 on them.
     
    With a name that sounds like the Defense Department's latest fighter jet, the F1 is a core-removal tool that attaches to a bunker rake and eliminates the need for raking and hand shoveling of plugs from the putting surface.
     
    According to a
    demonstration by Arizona Golf Club superintendent Kirby Putt, an operator using the F1 at his club was able to remove 99 percent of all aerification cores from a 4,000-square-foot putting green in about seven minutes. The F1 collects the cores and dumps them in a pile on the collar for removal. 
    Developed by former mechanic and superintendent James Hill and distributed by Dynamic Turf, the F1 attaches to Toro's 5000 series bunker rake, the John Deere Hydro 1200 series as well as some Smithco models. It glides safely over the surface and can be used on heavily contoured greens.
  • Those walking the floor of the Golf Industry Show might notice an abundance of one product type or another in any given year. A few years ago it was turbine blowers; this year it happened to be turf brushes and brush systems.
     
    The Buchko Brush, the latest product innovation and introduction from CTRgolf, wasn't ready for this year's GIS in San Diego but has now joined the fray in the greens brush arena.  Designed by Jeff Buchko (inventor of the Jacobsen MagKnife) and Kenny Wilson (also a former product designer and engineer at Jacobsen), the Buchko Brush Conditioning System sets itself apart in several ways:
    Electric drive enables variable brush speed that can be adjusted according to turf conditions. The brush direction is reversible via a simple rocker switch in the event a counter-rotating (forward) direction is desired. It can be used independently of the mowing reel for use as a topdressing brush, or shut off when brushing is not desired. The brush fits between the front roller and the reel (where a groomer would normally go); the platform and drive system will be adaptable to future attachments like a vertical blade groomer. Three different brush densities are available for cool season, warm season and aggressive applications.
    "It's really the grooming brush for all grasses," said Buchko of the patent-pending brush system. "The soft brush is ideal for everyday use on cool season grasses and off-season use on warm-season grasses. The medium stiffness brush and controlled rotation speed is perfect for use on Bermuda or zoysia during periods of heavy growth. The 'Grass Kicker' as we call it is the stiffest brush for ultra-aggressive conditioning of heavy grasses."
     
    The brushes are distinguished by their color (black, white and green, respectively) and can be easily exchanged via a magnetic release on the non-motor side of the unit.
     
    The Buchko Brush Conditioning System is available now for Jacobsen Eclipse walk- and triplex greensmowers, and uses the on-board electrical supply on those units. A model to fit the Toro eFlex electric drive unit is coming soon, according to Buchko.
     
    For greensmowers with traditional mechanical or hydraulic drive systems, a 48-volt lithium ion battery pack is available to drive the Buchko Brush. The battery units must be plugged in to recharge at night, and will last for eight or nine greens when fully charged.
     
    Distribution is still being set up, but for ballpark purposes the Buchko Brush unit for mounting on electric mowers sells for $2000, while the model with optional battery pack will be in the $2500 vicinity.
     
    More info at ctrgolf.com.
     
  • When it comes to managing turf under stress, it helps if a superintendent can wear more than one hat.   Eager members ignorant of the ways of science often are guilty of pressuring superintendents into producing playing conditions that defy allowable limits defined by current climatic conditions. In response, superintendents must try to convince golfers that there is a reason they should consider mowing less frequently in favor of slightly higher heights of cut during those times when daytime temperatures and humidity soar and overnight lows offer little in the way of relief.   "You really have to be part scientist and part salesman," said Lane Tredway, Ph.D., technical representative for Syngenta and former turfgrass pathologist at North Carolina State University.   "You have to have the ability to communicate to people with varying levels of knowledge and expertise, and sometimes less expertise than they think they have. You have to be able to convince them of what you need to do and why you need to do it, which is for the betterment of their golf course. Sometimes, golfers and members think the superintendent wants to do things a certain way because it makes his life easier. But it is for the long-term health and quality of the golf course."   What many golfers do not understand, Tredway says, is that ensuring quality playing surfaces throughout the season cannot be accomplished by throwing caution to the wind and mowing cool-season turf to heights of cut lower than one-eighth inch during an ongoing summer heat wave.   "It is a year-round endeavor. What a superintendent does in September and October has a direct impact on turf quality the next May, June, July and August," Tredway said. "Managing turf is a lot like a person: You can't run a marathon without training and preparing in advance. That includes everything: fertilization, irrigation, cultivation, preventive fungicide programs, everything, and for 12 months a year."   Still, golfers often get the best of well-intentioned superintendents, coercing them into ridiculously low mowing heights throughout the summer, often with predictable outcomes.   Every time he offers advice about managing turf under heat stress, Rob Golembiewski, Ph.D., admits to feeling somewhat like a broken record.   Each year, he finds himself explaining over and over basic practices such as controlling entry and exit points on greens and the need to avoid aggressive agronomic practices during times of high heat.   "Sometimes, you feel like you're giving the same old basic advice that everyone already has," said Golembiewski of Bayer Environmental Science. "But year after year you see the same mismanagement that brings about these stresses. And guys lose their jobs because of it.   "The superintendent decides he is going to give (members) the tournament that they want. He starts to lose turf and then tries to get someone to help him. He loses greens, the club fires the superintendent and brings in someone else, then he goes through the same thing. It's a vicious cycle of unrealistic expectations."   The cycle is so recurrent that PACE Turfgrass, the San Diego-based consulting firm led by the husband-and-wife team Wendy Gelernter, Ph.D., and Larry Stowell, Ph.D., re-released one of its   aimed at golfers that explains why turfgrass struggles during summer.   In the video, Gelernter cites university research to explain to golfers how low mowing heights and too much traffic coupled with excessive heat, humidity can be devastating to cool-season turf.   Gelernter explains how heat stress strikes the invisible rootzone first before becoming evident in the leaves of the turf plant. By then, she states, it almost always is too late to salvage the grass.   "The plant's ability to conduct photosynthesis is greatly reduced because of mowing, and it begins to use up the carbohydrate reserves that it built up in spring," Golembiewski said. "If that continues long enough, the plant exhausts its energy reserves to the point where it has nothing left to counteract that stress, and at that point you start to lose turf almost overnight.   "So many golfers get caught up in speed, then the superintendent ends up losing the plant."   Golembiewski suggests incorporating a program of less mowing and more rolling to reduce stress on the plant. The yeoman's work on rolling research on bentgrass has been conducted at Michigan State. A recent peer-reviewed study out of Oregon State, which Golembiewski was involved in there, examines the effects of similar programs on annual bluegrass.   "So much research has been done on rolling and the stressful impact of mowing," he said. "Any time you can incorporate rolling vs. mowing you're definitely going to reduce stress on turfgrass."   Golembiewski also suggests skipping that clean-up pass when the thermometer is mostly red.   "Going around and around is more likely to result in turf loss in those areas," he said. "Forget about that. Few golfers are putting from the fringe, and if they are it's not life-or-death."   To stem the effects of potential heat stress, Tredway suggests superintendents consider using greens-cooling fans, pay closer attention to water management and take advantage of some of the new chemical technologies on the market, including those that tout plant-health benefits, such as Syngenta's Daconil Action, Bayer's StressGard line, BASF's Intrinsic portfolio as well as Civitas.   Fans help cool the turf canopy a few precious degrees and also help circulate air movement, preventing a layer of humid air from hanging over the turf that inhibits the transpiration process that leads to heat stress in turf.   "In my opinion," Tredway said, "fans are the no. 1 innovation over the last 20 years. They make such a huge difference. It is the No. 1 thing a superintendent can do to maintain high-quality bentgrass greens throughout the summer."   Maintaining proper soil moisture can help prevent stress caused by a profile that is too dry or too wet. Tredway recommends diving greens into sixths and taking multiple soil moisture measurements in each segment.   "The idea is when going into hot, humid weather to maintain a proper balance of air and water in the soil profile so the roots can function," he said. "They'll die back rapidly if its too hot wet. If it's too hot and dry, you end up with wilt and drought stress."   And when in doubt, put on that salesman's cap and try to explain to golfers why it is important to give the greens a break from normal agronomic practices and mowing schedules during the hottest times of the summer.   "It is easier to explain why greens have to be slower for a week or two," Golembiewski said, "that it is to have to explain that you have to shut down a green because of dead turf."
  • The news isn't good, but it's not as bad as it has been.   Rounds played across the country were down 3.8 percent in June, according to Golf Datatech's National Golf Rounds Played Report. The news marks the seventh straight month of decreased rounds when compared to the same month from the previous year, according to the report that surveys 3,410 public-access and private facilities across the country.   When compared with statistics from June 2012, rounds played were up in 10 states, including the golf destinations of Hawaii (up 10.2 percent), Florida (6.7 percent), California (2.7 percent) and Texas (1.6 percent). Washington had the greatest year-over-year gain of 11.4 percent.   The greatest year-over-year losses compared with June 2012 were in Arkansas (down 14.5 percent), New York (11.6 percent), Illinois (10.7 percent) and North Carolina (10.5 percent).   Some of the drop off, but not much, is attributable to weather, according to Pellucid Corp. The Chicago firm reports a 1 percent loss of golf playable hours throughout the period. Golf playable hours are Pellucid's measure of the total number of daylight hours compared with factors that influence play such as precipitation, humidity, daylight variances, etc.   Play is down by 9.8 percent nationwide for the first six months of the year, including a 13.7 percent drop off at private clubs, according to Golf Datatech.

  • Support system

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Oak Hill Country Club has a long history of playing host to the world's best players. 
     
    This year marks the third time the PGA Championship has been contested on Oak Hill's East Course. And the club in Rochester, N.Y. boasts of being the only property to play host to the PGA Championship (2013, 2003, 1980), the U.S. Open Championship (1989, 1968, 1956), the Ryder Cup Matches (1995), U.S. Amateur Championship (1998, 1949), U.S. Senior Open Championship (1984) and Senior PGA Championship (2008).
     
    Maintaining a facility with such a long-standing history is no minor feat. In fact, there are two requirements a superintendent needs to maintain major championship conditions at a course like Oak Hill a great staff and an understanding family. Fortunately Jeff Corcoran has both.
     
    "During the summer, I'm here from 75 to 100 hours per week," said Corcoran, Oak Hill's director of golf courses and grounds. "In the final run-up to the PGA, the hours might ramp up even more."
     
    Corcoran, 40, has worked at Oak Hill since he interned there in 1994. He was hired on the following year after graduating from Penn State, and prepped under Joe Hahn, CGCS and Paul B. Latshaw, CGCS, before succeeding the latter as manager of golf courses and grounds in 2003.
     
    A typical week for Corcoran and assistants Fred Doheny, Phil Cuffare and Charles Zaranac means arriving between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. and staying until 5, 6 or 7 at night depending on daily irrigation needs. 
     
    That has been especially true this summer, which has been hot, humid and wet with 15 inches of rain (5 above the historic average) having fallen since May 1 in Rochester. Those conditions have made the run up to this year's PGA Championship particularly grueling for Corcoran and his staff of 65.
     
    "There is never a break during the summer," Corcoran said. "One of the things they don't teach you in college is the hard work and dedication that it takes to maintain a place like Oak Hill to the expectation levels we have."
     
    It also takes an understanding wife.
     
    Over the years, Corcoran's wife, Mary, has grown accustomed to playing roles of both mom and dad to the couple's two young children throughout the summer. Whether it's the mundane daily stuff like shuttling kids to the doctor or dentist's office, or summer getaways, she does it all
     
    "She definitely puts up with the long hours and me working every Saturday, every Sunday and every holiday," Corcoran said. 
     
    "She understands what I need to do where my job is concerned. She makes sure the house ticks. She carries the burden of family duties, which allows me to do what I need to do here at the golf course. If I didn't have that support, it would make it tough."
     
    Corcoran makes up for lost time at home once the golf season winds down.
     
    "I try like hell to make up for it in the winter, or if it's a rainy day when we can leave early," he said. "Anything I can do to take over some of the parental duties."
     
    Despite the stress of working nearly 100 hours per week month after month and the resulting strain his schedule places upon his family, Corcoran said he wouldn't trade his job for anything.
     
    "I love it. I can't imagine doing anything else," he said. "Why? It's simple; all those same challenges that make it so hard are what make it interesting. That makes me want to be out there and put in long hours to experience that satisfaction that comes with maintaining a golf course at the high level possible, and then every 10 years or so do it for the best players in the world. There is a lot of pride that comes with maintaining a place like Oak Hill. It's one of the top golf courses in the world because of what we do, and I am proud of that."
  • Looking back at his first job in the golf business, Chris Gray admits that he didn't know a bag of fertilizer from a bag of fungicide. But Odie Martin, a retiree who did almost everything at Angel Hill Golf Course in rural Rossville, Ind., did know the difference, and he was partial a granular fertilizer from LebanonTurf named Country Club. The results, Gray says, were exceptional putting conditions on push-up greens that were originally built by former Purdue turfgrass professor William Daniel, Ph.D.   Gray, the former superintendent and current marketing manager for LebanonTurf's professional products division, also acknowledges that not much about Country Club has changed since his high school days in the 1980s when he worked at Angel Hill - until now.   LebanonTurf is revitalizing its Country Club line with three new greens-grade granular fertilizers under the Country Club MD badge with a particle Size Guide Number of 80. The three new products are the first of many that eventually will carry the company's time-tested label, not all of which will be fertilizers.   Each of the new Country Club products (12-0-24, 18-0-18, 22-0-16) represents a homogeneous formulation of Meth-Ex, LebanonTurf's proprietary slow-release methylene urea, sea kelp meal and humic acids developed for maximum dispersion (thus the name MD) with minimal watering-in to deliver season-long feeding.   "With today's canopies, whether it be ultradwarf Bermudas, whether it be bentgrasses, everything's gotten tighter. There is less and less canopy space for fertilizer to drop into," Gray said during Lebanon's recent product launch. "It's critical that the initial size of the particle is small enough to accommodate that."   To date, Country Club MD is registered in 46 states, and LebanonTurf will begin officially taking orders Aug. 5.   Kelp meal and humic acids provide the biostimulus that provides the plant with stress protection, so that when the onset of stressful conditions occur it allows the plant to stay healthier longer and recover quicker when stress periods are over, Gray said.   "The stress protection is what sets us apart," Gray said.   With an SGN particle size of 100, the original Country Club line was a good fit for the way putting greens were managed in the 1980s and earlier. But new turf varieties with more densely packed canopies combined with lower heights of cut made smaller particle sizes a necessity. Instead of working their way down through the canopy to where they were needed, those larger particles can be picked up by mowers, golf shoes, golf balls and whatever else happen to track over them.   Other companies, primarily The Andersons, have since taken over the granular fertilizer market with products touting smaller granules that get to where they are needed most - beneath the turf canopy.   "The golf standard right now in the industry obviously is The Andersons' DG technology," Gray said.   "By all of our estimations, they have the lion's share of the market; anywhere from 60 to 70 percent of the greens grade business, and up until that time there wasn't a lot of work being doing done by Lebanon as far as a way to answer that call. We had to find a way to reposition or revitalize that Country Club line.   "Up to this point, the smallest Country Club product was 100 SGN. . . . Initially, we were running into issues with the 100 SGN it wasn't breaking down into small enough particles to get into these tighter canopies.   "It is important for us to have something that was going to allow us to compete in the same marketplace."   In dispersion testing, about 60 percent of the Country Club MD product dispersed with minimal watering-in, with about 50 percent of the material beginning to break down within about six minutes.   Former superintendent Tom Trammel used The Andersons' Contec DG with 75 SGN in preparation for some very high-profile events at the Doral Golf Resort in Miami. In fact, he was so impressed that he now reps for The Andersons since retiring as a superintendent and setting up shop as a turfgrass consultant in Vero Beach, Fla.   "It was the only granular product on the market that wouldn't wash off with the rain, get tracked off or was visible to the golfers," Trammel said.   "Doral has hosted six World Golf Championships, and I was there for all six. The Andersons was part of all of them for those reasons."   A year in the making, the new Country Club products have undergone intensive scientific testing on creeping bentgrass, ultradwarf Bermudagrass and Poa annua by researchers at the University of Illinois, University of Florida and Rutgers University, respectively.    The research phase included an exhaustive fact-finding mission by Tom Fermanian, Ph.D., of Illinois, who took a closer look at the benefits of sea plant extracts and humic acids because so little scientific information on them exists.    According to a survey conducted by Lebanon, about 60 percent of respondents said they recognize the benefits of sea plant extracts. However, few have pulled the trigger to incorporate it into their management program.   The company employed Fermanian to discover the effects of sea plants and humic acids on turf, finding out what they can do and, just as importantly, what they cannot do, Gray said.   According to the findings, kelp meal provides amino acids and aids in the dispersion process, while humic acid, another biostimulant, also helps in dispersion and acts as soil microbial stimulator and organic chelator that helps maximize a plant's systemic properties.   "Anything it didn't do, we don't make a claim for," Gray said. "We want to be accurate with that. We feel that there is too much information out, and a lot of it is not accurate.   "We knew that in addition to trying to help us get to the goal of achieving the best dispersion possible, now we've got some agronomic benefits we can tout as well. It's a win-win situation that like a lot of things we stumbled upon by accident."   Fermanian also performed a performance study, in which the Country Club MD products were tested head to head against The Andersons DG 17-0-17 at various application rates as well as the 18-3-18 composite version of Country Club. MD and the Andersons product consistently showed little mower pick up and enhanced visual turf quality, according to the study results.   The 22-0-16 version of Country Club MD also was tested in the field on cool- and warm-season grasses on at least 13 golf courses.   Matt Taylor, superintendent of the Riverside Course at Atlanta Athletic Club tested the 22-0-16 Country Club product from May 5-June 1 on the bentgrass greens (007-A1/A4 mix) on the practice facility putting greens at a rate of 0.75 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet.   Taylor said he was impressed by the quick flush of growth, green color, turf density and increased root growth.    "The overall appearance and healthiness of the greens were the best that I have seen in the six years that I have managed them," Taylor said. "However, due to the large amount of nitrogen applied, the firmness decreased and thatch levels increased quickly."   Research conducted on Country Club MD showed no signs of burn when applied to turf, an attribute Chris Carson confirmed when testing the 22-0-16 on a bent/Poa chipping green Echo Lake Country Club in Westfeld, N.J.   Although applied at the same rate of 0.75 pounds of N per 1,000 square feet, there was no flush of growth at Echo Lake, which Carson attributed to use of Primo. The particle size meant no pick up, but the dark color made it difficult to see during the application process, necessitating use of flags to avoid overlap.   "It did a decent job," Carson said. "(It was) hard to apply, (and showed) good color one month later."   Currently, greens grade fertilizers are the only new products under the Country Club MD umbrella, but plans are for the line to eventually include products with larger SGN for use on tees and fairways, as well as a foliar line. Other potential product entries in the future could include fungicides, herbicides, plant growth regulators and even seed.   "Our overall focus is to make sure that the Country Club brand is a complete line," Gray said. "Country Club MD is only one step, and is the first step toward that overall goal because Country Club MD is not a complete golf line right now. It is a fertilizer line, but it's just granular fertilizer in a bag.   "Our goal (is) trying to be a full line of one-stop shopping. . . . This product, the MD technology, is only the first step in moving forward with this. We think it's an important step.
  • After 18 months in development, Green Sweep Technologies launched The "Original", an innovative tool that the company — founded by long-time TurfNet member Patrick Sisk, CGCS — says helps golf course superintendents and sports turf managers incorporate sand and other topdressing material into the root zone in a way that is less invasive than traditional methods.
     
    Measuring 5.5 inches by 5.5 inches and weighing 10 pounds, The "Original" is designed to fit walk-behind blowers with rectangular output ports. It delivers topdressing material into the soil profile through a process called air-redirection technology, eliminating the need for brushes or mats. Air-redirection technology forces topdressing material into the desired location quicker and more efficiently than gravity, brushing or dragging with mats.
     
    The "Original" is manufactured from 16-gauge steel and features rounded leading and trailing edges to provide even greater protection for the turf surface. 
     
    At 24 inches in length The "Original" is large enough to make quick work of large-volume sand applications and small enough to get into the intricate details of putting greens, tees, infields and targeted micro-environments in a fraction of the time, says Green Sweep Technologies, a company created by turf managers to develop tools and solutions for other turf managers. 
     
    For more information, visit greensweeptech.com.

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