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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    Yamaha recently expanded a golf car/utility vehicle recall that now includes more than 350,000 vehicles.
    According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, about 352,000 Yamaha vehicles have now been recalled because the accelerator pedal spring can fail to return to idle when a user stops pressing the accelerator pedal, posing a crash hazard. The CPSC says Yamaha has received at least 2,200 reports of incidents involving accelerator pedal return spring failures. No injuries have been reported.
    According to a report in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Academy of Orthopedics, there are more than 15,000 golf car-related injuries resulting in emergency room visits each year in the United States. 

    More than 350,000 Yamaha golf cars and utility vehicles have been recalled due to reports of a faulty accelerator spring. The CPSC says the recall affects Yamaha vehicles sold from July 2015 through December 2024. The expanded recalled now includes the following:
    model year 2016 Yamaha Drive gas/electric model years 2017-2024 Drive 2 gas/electric model years 2016-2018 Adventurer model years 2019-2024 UMAX golf car vehicles. Customers are advised to cease using vehicles that fall under the recall, and contact a dealer to schedule a free repair even if the vehicles in question previously were repaired for a prior recall.
  • A Texas A&M study on developing irrigation and fertilization protocols for growing-in sprigs in warm-season greens is among three research projects that will receive funding from the GCSAA Foundation. Texas A&M photo Three new university research projects have been chosen for funding support by the GCSAA.
    The projects, all chosen by a committee that included two members of the GCSAA board of directors, superintendents and university researchers, will receive a combined $182,000 from a block grant through the GCSAA Foundation. 
    The following three research projects will be funded for two years:
    Chemical and biological control of Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) on golf course putting green surfaces: Ming-Yi Chou, Ph.D., Rutgers University. Impact of soil properties on plant-parasitic nematode populations: Alec Kowalewski, Ph.D.; Hannah Rivedal, Ph.D.; Emily Braithwaite; Charles Schmid; Ph.D.; and Jen Moore, Ph.D., Oregon State University.  Environmentally sound irrigation and nitrogen management strategies for sprig establishment of warm-season putting greens: Benjamin Wherley, Ph.D.; Weston Floyd; and Ashton Franks, Ph.D., Texas A&M University There are now 11 ongoing research projects funded by GCSAA, totalling $587,535 in funding.
    Funding for research comes to GCSAA through the foundation and donors.
  • Anyone familiar with boxing might recognize the infamous photograph of Muhammad Ali standing over a fallen Sonny Liston during their 1965 heavyweight title bout, imploring him to get up only so he can knock him down again.
    A former champion who lost only four of 54 fights — two to Ali — Liston stayed on the canvas in what has become a metaphor for handling life's many and difficult challenges. Despite his many victories in the ring and the 883 days he spent as world heavyweight champion after beating Floyd Patterson in 1962, that defeat, thanks in part to that dramatic photo of the victorious Ali, has come to overshadow Liston's accomplishments and define his career.
    Some people are equipped to handle adversity. Others are not.
    Metaphorically speaking, longtime superintendent John Colo has taken a series of gut punches that would leave many unable to get off the mat. Even real-life challenges like job loss and wife Peggy's terminal battle with cancer were not enough to count out Colo, who has been director of golf course maintenance at Frenchman's Reserve in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for the past five years.
    The past decade has been an example of what it means to face adversity head-on and beat it. But that ability to bounce back from adversity began a long time ago, says Colo's twin brother Jim.
    "My brother, John, has been through the obstacle course of life which started back in high school when he was hit in the head by a baseball off a bat as he stood right behind the pitcher’s mound," said Jim, superintendent at Naples National Golf Club on Florida's Gulf coast. "He spent a few days in the hospital and recovered. Although knocked down, he got back up."
    When he lost two jobs as a superintendent in less than a year in Pennsylvania, he did whatever he had to do to continue to provide for his wife and their two sons, Robert and Kevin.
    "I did landscaping. I plowed snow. I drove limousines. I was a UPS helper during the holidays," Colo said. "I just kept busy. You had to keep busy. I had to make money. I had to support the family, so I kept going. You know, perseverance. It was a big juggling act."
    A native of Painesville, Ohio, Colo is a disciple of the late Jim Loke. He had been superintendent at the Country Club of York in Pennsylvania for nearly 10 years when he was squeezed out in December 2012. Eight months later, after working for two months as superintendent at Hartefeld National in Avondale, Pennsylvania, life dealt out another blow.
    "Two days before I got let go at Hartefeld is when we found out Peggy first had cancer," Colo said. "So that's always nice."

    Every time life takes a swing at John Colo, he manages to pick himself up off the mat. Photo by John Reitman Rather than stay down, he picked himself up, took a yearlong leave of absence and went home to take care of his sick wife and their family.
    "You know, it was God saying, 'OK, Colo, you can't work an hour away from home. You have to be at home to take care of Peggy and the boys,' " he said. 
    "No matter what it is, you have to lace up your shoes and keep moving."
    He later took a landscaping job and immersed himself into the gig economy before returning to the golf course in 2015 as superintendent at Little Mountain Country Club in his hometown of Painesville. He had been there less than six months when the phone rang during a trip to an amusement park. On the other end of the line was Steve Ehrbar at Jupiter Hills in Tequesta, Florida offering Colo an assistant's position. It was the second time Ehbar, another Loke protegé, tried to recruit Colo to Florida.
    "Steve had called me twice, the first time was in early 2014. "Man, I'd love to come, but I have to sit tight.
    "The second time, we were in Sandusky at Cedar Point for the week. Peggy and I talked about it. She grew up in Kilkee, a seaside town in County Clare, Ireland, and she always wanted to live close to the beach. We decided it was time."
    Colo eventually moved up to superintendent of the Hills Course before getting the job at Frenchman's Reserve in 2020, two years after Peggy succumbed to her fight against cancer.
    "Through his golf course management career he has been through the lows and highs of this business," said Jim Colo. "John has been excused from a couple jobs, but has not let that deter him from being the best among superintendents. He was knocked down but got back up. Six years ago, John lost his wife Peggy to the dreaded disease, cancer. Again, hit directly in the teeth by life, he did not waiver. After a devastating life event, John has continued to rise and become a stronger father to Robert and Kevin and rely on his skills as a superintendent to produce conditions second to no one."
    The move to Florida reunited Colo with his brother and best friend, who has been in Naples for 13 years.
    "I have great friends, namely Jim and Steve, who have really helped me get through this," Colo said."
    Said Jim: "John’s ability to get back up and overcome everything is a testament to his perseverance and resiliency to lead a team and keep his family together. At the end of the day, he and I look for each other's phone call. Our conversation goes on for a few minutes or up to 20 minutes as we both share our day during the car ride home. It's a bond that can't be broken."
  • For superintendents seeking to maximize efficiency, Steel Green Manufacturing has added Razor Tracking GPS fleet coordination to all its new  equipment coming straight from the factory.
    The Razor Tracking software platform helps Steel Green equipment users see where their assets are performing while generating and maintaining detailed records of agronomic tasks.
    Each new machine comes with a free year of Razor Tracking service, so customers can experience the benefits of GPS-guided equipment. Customers with older inventory can buy the service and have it retrofitted to their existing older equipment.
    Located in Lebanon, Indiana, Steel Green is an employee-owned maker of a line of high-capacity zero-turn spreader-sprayers for the turf industry.

    New Steel Green equipment now comes outfitted with a factory-installed GPS fleet-coordination system from Razor Tracking. Razor Tracking helps users manage their equipment fleet through dispatching, driver location insights, details on equipment performance and video telematics for all industries. The company's real-time vehicle-tracking helps ensure operators are on the correct job site and are actually operating the equipment. The system also has built-in theft-protection and offers weather map overlays.
    "By integrating Razor Tracking into our 2025 spreader/sprayer lineup, we're giving turf professionals real-time visibility of their fleet, allowing them to optimize routes, monitor equipment performance, and improve overall productivity," said Steel Green vice president Matt Smith "At Steel Green, we’re dedicated to innovation, and with Razor Tracking, we're raising the bar on what it means to get the job done right."
    Razor Tracking is a Fargo, North Dakota-based provider of advanced GPS fleet tracking, video telematics and management software platforms to track vehicles and assets in any industry. The company also makes products that include dash cameras, equipment inspections, safety scorecards, tank monitoring, geofencing and dispatching software.
  • The Golf Course Builders Association of America has named Ellen Davis as the recipient of the 2025 Perry O. Dye Service Award.
    Davis, manager of SportZmix Solutions, was recognized for her service, leadership, and commitment to the association, GCBAA Foundation and the golf industry overall.
    The award is named for the late Perry O. Dye, whose leadership and financial stewardship helped guide the Association through its formative years, and is presented to those who contribute "above and beyond the call of duty to strengthen the GCBAA and its mission." The son of Pete and Alice Dye, Perry O. Dye passed away in 2021 at age 61. 
    Davis served on the GCBAA board of directors from 2006 to 2018, holding executive board roles including secretary (2008–18) and vice president (2018). In 2018, she transitioned to the GCBAA Foundation board and in 2021 served as president. Her passion for service to the association manifested through her work with the foundation’s Sticks For Kids program and auction and volunteering behind the scenes.
    SportZmix Solutions is a division of Faulks Brothers Construction Inc. 
    "Ellen Davis exemplifies the values that Perry O. Dye held dear—selflessness, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to service," said Justin Apel, GCBAA executive director. "Her decades of leadership and her passion for growing the game through the foundation have helped shape the direction and culture of our organization."
    In 2023, Davis played a key role in the acquisition of Kempker Greens Mix Blending to solidify the company's position in custom soil blending for golf courses and sports fields. She described the acquisition as a chance to "build upon both of our strong businesses, recognized brands, quality services and continue to be the leading custom soil blending company."
    Under her guidance, SportZmix Solutions and Waupaca Sand and Solutions have worked to deliver the highest-quality materials while helping clients exceed their project goals. Her strategic leadership and commitment to customer relationships dovetail with the principles the association seeks to honor through the Perry O. Dye Service Award.

    Ellen Davis (third from right) with (from left) Leasha Schwab, Cathy Harbin, Laurie Bland, Stephanie Schwenke of Syngenta, Kayla Kip, Davis, Beth Guertal, Ph.D., and Jan Bel Jan at the third annual Ladies Leading Turf event at the 2020 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show. File photo by John Reitman In 2020, she helped promote the role of women in the turf industry as a panelist in the "Ladies Leading Turf" meeting at the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in Orlando. The following year, she was recognized by Golf Inc. as one of the 10 Gurus of Golf Course Construction, acknowledging the unsung heroes who influence golf construction through their expertise and innovations on both the design side and the shovel side of the business.
    "Ellen has always led with humility, purpose, and a genuine care for everyone in this industry," said Jon O’Donnell, GCBAA president. "Ellen has always led with humility, purpose, and a genuine care for everyone in this industry. Her influen". Her influence stretches well beyond boardrooms and business—she’s been a steady hand, a mentor, and a true champion of the GCBAA mission. There is no one more deserving of this recognition."
    Previous recipients include Perry Dye (2005); Jim Kirchdorfer Sr. (2006); Rick Elyea (2010); Steve Christman (2013); Tommy Sasser (2015); Dennis Wagner (2018); and O’Brien McGarey (2021).
    Davis will be presented with the award in August at the 2025 GCBAA Summer Meeting in Boston.
  • The scientific community has found another arrow in its quiver to fire at golf.
    A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates a link between increased incidence of Parkinson’s disease and living near a golf course.
    According to the study, people who live within three miles of a golf course showed a greater risk of contracting Parkinson’s disease than those outside that three-mile arc. Those living within a mile of a golf facility faced a 126 percent greater chance of getting the disease than those who lived at least six miles from a course.
    Although the study indicates a possible link between golf course management practices and the likelihood of contracting Parkinson’s disease, it does not and cannot prove a direct cause and effect.
    Limitations of the study include:
    Limited geographic context Limited demographics Does not account for surface water drinking sources Does not account for changes in golf course management practices  Does not account for other factors that play a role in causing Parkinson’s disease Does not account for other impurities in drinking water supplies
    The study indicates that those who shared a groundwater source with a golf course had a 96 percent greater chance of getting Parkinson's disease, compared with those who did not, and a 49 percent greater chance compared with those whose water came from private wells.
    The study was based on residence and health records of more than 400 participants in the Rochester Epidemiology Project from 1991-2015. Data were analyzed in the summer of 2024, and the findings published May 5 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
    The Rochester Epidemiology Project is a collaborative effort of clinics, hospitals and medical facilities in Minnesota and Wisconsin that have agreed to share medical records for research purposes. That list of facilities includes the Mayo Clinic, Olmstead Medical Center and Zumbro Valley Health Center. 
    Authors of the study included researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and the University of Rochester in New York.
    There are several factors this study fails to account for.
    Among those factors is the limited geographic and demographic context of the research that was limited to a largely caucasian population in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin only. It also is unable to reliably account for changes of residence three years before onset of Parkinson’s was detected. 
    The study also fails to account for other factors that contribute to Parkinson’s disease — such as genetics — that can take decades to manifest.
    Golf course superintendents have proven time and again to be good stewards of the environment, and as such much has changed in the way they manage golf courses since 1991 (the first year of data in the study). Many products that were common 35 years ago have since been banned and/or replaced by safer products with lower use rates, changes researchers were unable to factor into their findings.
    Most notably, the study does not account for the fact that most golf courses are by their nature located near population centers and that there are other impurities found in municipal drinking water supplies that come from many other sources than golf courses. 
    The Rochester team that conducted this study says it next plans to seek more information on the threat of Parkinson's disease by analyzing health records for 22 million people on Medicare and data from "about 16,000 golf courses," which sounds like all of them.
    No word yet on whether the expanded study will include effects of other contaminants from sources like agriculture runoff, industrial plants, landfills, underground fuel-storage tanks and sewage dumps, or how things like lead and microplastics get into the water system.
    People in golf should be accustomed to singularly focused attacks by now. Just know that there are more coming.
  • One of the country's most prestigious names in golf is set to embark on a project to help improve and sustain water quality in one of California's most sensitive bodies of water.
    The Pebble Beach Co., is teaming with the California Coastkeeper Alliance, The Otter Project and Monterey Waterkeeper in an effort to enhance the protection of water quality in the Carmel Bay, which is designated as an Area of Special Biological Significance.
    South of Monterey Bay on California's Central Coast, Carmel Bay is bounded by the Monterey Peninsula to the north, the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea to the east, the Carmel Highlands to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the west.
    The Pebble Beach Co. is owned by a consortium that operates Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, The Links at Spanish Bay, Del Monte Golf Course and the Hay nine-hole golf course on Monterey Peninsula.

    The Pebble Beach Co. is part of a group project to clean up Carmel Bay. Pebble Beach photo As part of the project, the company will get a special Clean Water Act permit for discharges from Pebble Beach Golf Links into the Carmel Bay, increase water-quality monitoring and developing updated best management practices related to discharges into the bay. The Pebble Beach Co. also will donate $50,000 to the Big Sur Land Trust to support environmental projects related to water quality in the bay and programs to facilitate access to it.
    "Pebble Beach Company has long been a leader in ensuring environmental sustainability and water quality," said David Stivers, president and chief executive officer of the Pebble Beach Co. "We are proud to collaborate with these organizations to further our longstanding environmental commitments through this landmark initiative."
    The Carmel Bay ASBS is one of California’s 34 Areas of Special Biological Significance, designated by the State Water Resources Control Board to safeguard distinctive biological species and communities.
    "This collaboration represents a significant advancement in our mission to protect California's coastal waters," stated Sean Bothwell, executive director of California Coastkeeper Alliance. "Pebble Beach Company's commitment to our environment is second to none, and its actions here are a model for other companies to follow. We are committed to working with Pebble Beach Company to ensure the long-term health of Carmel Bay through this innovative permitting, monitoring, and reporting framework."
  • A rendering of the new short course and putting course to be built at BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens. BallenIsles CC image The one-time home of the PGA of America is growing.
    BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, is adding a new 10-hole short course and a putting course, both of which will be designed by golf course architect Rees Jones. 
    With holes ranging in length from 80 yards to 160 yards and a nine-hole putting course covering a combined 4 acres, the $6 million project is scheduled to open in fall 2026, according to BallenIsles.
    "We are so proud of the work Rees Jones and Bryce Swanson did with us (on the South Course) in 2019 that we could not wait for the opportunity to work with them again," Jeff Fitzherbert, BallenIsles director of golf, said. 
    "We are eager to get to work and see what the Rees Jones design team will come up this time."

    The East Course at BallenIsles Country Club, No. 14 shown here, was the site of the 1971 PGA Championship when the facility was known as PGA National Golf Club. BallenIsles photo The 54-hole BallenIsles was developed in 1964 as PGA National Golf Club by entrepreneur and philanthropist John D. MacArthur, who also is credited with developing and naming Palm Beach Gardens five years earlier in 1959. 
    The club's East and North courses, both designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee, opened in 1964. The East Course was the one-time home of the PGA Tour Qualifying School, and Jack Nicklaus won the 1971 PGA Championship there. 
    Rees Jones most recently renovated the Wilson/Lee-designed South Course in 2019. 
    Wilson was the architect of other notable South Florida designs like Pine Tree in Boynton Beach and the Blue Course at Trump Doral in Miami. Lee is credited with more than 100 designs worldwide, including dozens in Florida.
    When the PGA of America moved across Florida's Turnpike in 1973, its former home was renamed JDM Country Club in MacArthur's honor. It remained JDM until 1988 when the foundation bearing MacArthur's name sold the property that was renamed BallenIsles Country Club.
    The PGA of America moved its headquarters from Palm Beach Gardens in 2022 to Frisco, Texas.
  • Despite their threatening appearance, periodical cicadas are harmless, and according to some, quite delicious. Photo by John Reitman The shrieking noise spreading across golf courses in at least a dozen states can mean only one thing. No, it is not golfers screeching about green speeds. That shrill sound means another brood of periodical cicadas has emerged from the ground like something from The Walking Dead, though some might find it difficult to recognize the difference.
    Every 17 years, or 13, depending on the brood, periodical cicadas rise from the ground in overwhelming numbers to inundate lawns, golf courses and forests across their range. This spring, cicadas, or their exorcised outer shells, from Brood XIV can be found in the canopies of trees, on branches or twigs, in the grass or on fences. They can also be found on posts supporting tee signs and ball washers or just about anything above ground, such as your leg, your shoes or your dog. Although they look like something from a sci-fi flick with their bulbous red eyes, pitch black body, bright orange wings and grotesque, zombie-like appearance, cicadas are nothing more than a harmless, if not haunting, nuisance. That is, unless you consider cicada pee harmful. 
    These spooky-looking creatures have no interest in getting tangled in people's hair. Their sole purpose in life is to mate and — one way or another — die. The sound they make comes from randy males seeking amorous arthropods of the opposite sex so they can hook up and propagate the species before they die or get eaten by something higher up the food chain — like Ohio State's Dr. Dave Shetlar. 
    Looking back four years ago at the emergence of a previous brood, Shetlar, professor emeritus of entomology at Ohio State, served up a reminder — literally — that cicadas can be a food source for more than just birds.

    Cicadas arrive all at once to overwhelm potential predators and guarantee the species' survival. Photo by John Reitman Throughout his 35-year career in academia, Shetlar has provided hundreds of golf course superintendents with timely insect-management tips. Four years ago, he gave advice of a different nature when, drawing upon his skills in entomophagy (the art of cooking bugs for consumption), Shetlar told us not only are cicadas edible, but with 11 herbs and spices they can be downright tasty. And he was more than willing to put his money where his mouth is.
    His tips on preparing fettuccine a la cicada were all the rage in 2021 when a news crew from WCMH-TV in Columbus was on hand as he cooked up a skillet full of pests and pasta.
    According to the U.S. Forest Service, there are 15 broods of cicadas found across the U.S. A dozen of them are on a 17-year cycle, while the other three have a 13-year internal clock. The system of naming and distinguishing 17- and 13-year species using Roman numerals was developed in 1902 by U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist Charles Marlatt.
    Brood XIV is the nation's second largest swarm, covering parts of Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia at populations up to 1.5 million cicadas per acre, according to Gene Kritsky, Ph.D., professor emeritus of biology at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati. Their mind-numbing numbers are an example of evolution at work, as they arrive all at once so as to overwhelm potential predators and guarantee the species's survival.

    When Brood X swarmed across central Ohio four years ago, Ohio State entomologist Dave Shetlar, Ph.D., cooked up a few during a Columbus newscast. Image from WCMH-TV According to Kritsky, juvenile cicadas spend their lives deep in the soil at depths of 8-12 inches and emerge from their long hibernation when soil temperatures reach 64-65 degrees. He has developed a Cicada Safari web site and mobile app for all things cicada. The free Cicada Safari app is available on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
    Brood XIV was first detected this year in late April in southern Tennessee and northern Georgia. They have since emerged throughout northern Tennessee, into Kentucky and in parts of the Cincinnati area. With a widespread range, Brood XIV soon will emerge throughout its northern range as soil temperatures rise in those locations, Kritsky said.
    After emerging from the soil, the cicadas shed their exoskeleton and the mating process begins with males wooing prospective mates with their haunting song. Females will then lay their eggs in slits they create in trees. When the eggs hatch about two months later, the nymphs drop to the ground and burrow deep into the soil where they remain for 17 years and the cycle begins anew.
    While underground, the juveniles survive for up to 17 years on plant roots and other organic matter. In their short life above ground (about a month) they consume tree sap, and a lot of it, up to 300 times their weight. It is understandable that relief comes in the way of a voluminous jet-like spray commonly known as cicada rain, according to researchers at Georgia Tech. 
    The presence of periodical cicadas were known by American Indians for centuries, but the Pilgrims were the first Europeans to recognize them in North America when what is now Brood XIV greeted them in Plymouth Colony in 1634. 
    To their credit, the Pilgrims stayed anyway.
  • John Deere is making a long-term commitment to invest across its many business segments in the next decade.
    Deere announced at its recent quarterly earnings meeting to commit $20 billion in investments companywide, including expansions at its Greeneville, Tennessee facility that manufactures turf maintenance equipment, the company said.
    The plan includes investing $100 million in Deere plants nationwide, including $15 million and 25 new jobs at the Greeneville plant for expanded zero-turn mower manufacturing, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
    The Greeneville facility employs about 600 people.

    A plan by John Deere to spend about $20 billion in companywide investment projects includes expanding a remanufacturing facility in Missouri where used Deere parts and equipment are restored to like-new condition. John Deere photo Among other projects is a 120,000-square-foot expansion of Deere's remanufacturing facility in Stafford, Missouri. Remanufacturing involves taking used, worn-out products and restoring them into like-new condition.
    Other projects are construction of a new excavator factory in Kernersville, North Carolina and new assembly lines for a high-horsepower tractor in Waterloo, Iowa.
    The company employs more than 30,000 across the U.S.
  • PH Holdings, a supplier of equipment and products to the turf market, recently acquired Turf Pride USA, a manufacturer of professional turf maintenance equipment.
    Founded in 2023, PH Holdings is the Missouri-based parent of PH Outdoors and PH Turf and specializes in turf care, land management and outdoor stewardship. PH Turf offers a line of maintenance equipment for the professional and residential turf segments that includes Allett specialty mowers, Thatch-Away thatch-management equipment, Patchwork GPS guidance technology and Greentek turf conditioning equipment. PH Outdoors specializes in land and wildlife habitat management.
    With headquarters in Andalusia, Alabama, Turf Pride USA was founded by Don Cotton and manufactures parts and equipment for the turf and agriculture markets. 

    PH Holdings, the parent company’s of PH Turf, has acquired Turf Pride USA, the maker of a line of products for the turf industry, including aeration equipment (above). Turf Pride's portfolio includes products such as lifts, finish mowers, roller mowers, stacked bearings, thatch-management equipment, bed knife and reel sharpeners, mower blades, core collectors, deep tine aeration equipment, reel racks and sweepers.
    "After 23 years of growing Turf Pride, I wanted to ensure the next chapter was in good hands," Cotton said. "PH Holdings shares our core values, work ethic, and passion for this industry. I couldn’t ask for a better team to continue the mission."
    Turf Pride's Alabama-based operations will remain in place.
  • In the business of golf, keeping up with the Joneses in South Florida comes at a cost. A very steep one.
    In the ultra-affluent South Florida climes of Martin and Palm Beach counties, one of the few areas nationwide where new course construction is setting a blistering pace, playing catch-up can be even more costly.
    With 36 holes designed by Jack Nicklaus in the 1980s, Bear Lakes Country Club is just minutes from downtown West Palm Beach and wedge shot from Interstate 95. The private club boasts a sophisticated membership and claims to have one of the lowest collective handicaps anywhere. With at least a dozen new high-end courses either recently opened or still under the shovel within an hour’s drive of Bear Lakes’ maintenance facility, the club is determined to maintain its lofty status as home to more golf courses than any county across the country. 
    To remain competitive with the other 160 courses in golf-crazy Palm Beach County, Bear Lakes is set to embark on restoration of its Links Course by Davis Love's Love Golf Design. The course was designed by Jack Nicklaus in 1987 as a traditional links design. Although Nicklaus lives in nearby North Palm Beach, Love's firm was chosen for its vision of what the next version of the Links Course will look like. Work on the project will begin next year.

    Superintendent Mike Rienzi discusses the future of Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, which includes an upcoming restoration of the Links Course by Love Golf Design. Photos by John Reitman “Here at Bear Lakes, we really are a players club,” said Mike Rienzi, a superintendent of 31 years, including the past four at Bear Lakes. “I'd bet a large sum of money that if we don't have the highest concentration of single-digit handicaps in the state of Florida, we're in the top two or three.”
    The renovation will come on the heels of a recently completed practice facility, a soon-to-open sparkling new maintenance facility and a new equipment package.
    A graduate of the Rutgers turf program and a staunch LSU football fan, Rienzi's passion and excitement for what the Links Course will become are obvious.
    “It’s going to be a non-stop complete and total facelift of everything,” Rienzi said. 
    “Palm Beach County is almost like a state unto itself. Boca and South Palm Beach County are different than West Palm and Palm Beach Gardens, which are very different than Jupiter. We’re very uniquely positioned centrally. We're the closest right here to West Palm, and we’re right near the airport, so it’s a very exciting time for this club.”
    Among the projects under Love Golf Design, the professional golfer’s eponymous architectural firm based in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, include developing a comprehensive master plan at Hazeltine National Golf Club in suburban Minneapolis and an ongoing restoration of Harbor Town in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
    The Links Course at Bear Lakes complements the Lakes Course, a 1984 Nicklaus Signature Design.
    The club’s vision for a reinvented Links Course was a true Scottish design. The Love Design team of Davis Love III, brother Mark and lead architect Scot Sherman eventually concluded creating a true Scottish-style links course in South Florida would be a tall, if not impossible, mountain to summit.
    “It's so difficult to recreate Scotland in West Palm Beach,” Rienzi said. “The grasses, the climate, it's just very difficult to do that.
    “If you think about all those clubs; Oakmont, Shinnecock, Merion, Oak Hill, they all have their fescues. We can't grow fescue, but everyone and their brother has been trying to recreate fescue in the South forever.”
    The Love group countered with a twist on links-style course they called an American links design that embraces non-links features like water that already exist on the property.

    The Links Course at Bear Lakes in West Palm Beach, Florida, will be getting a facelift beginning next year by Love Golf Design. "My brother Mark, our lead architect Scot Sherman, and I are thrilled to be working with the team at Bear Lakes," Love Design founder Davis Love III said in a news release. "As our first course in Southeast Florida, we are excited to begin work at a club with such rich history and know that reimagining the Links course will be a unique and exciting project. With our renovation, we plan to give Bear Lakes a course that is visually appealing, fun to play for members and guests, and one of the most highly regarded in the region."
    Rienzi has been busy studying architectural features and grasses since the club decided to reinvent the Links Course, including visits with Bear Lakes GM Chris Hull and director of golf Jimmy Gascoigne to such places like the National Golf Links of America, the 1911 Charles Blair Macdonald classic in Southampton, New York.
    The management team of Hull, Rienzi and Gascoigne is as solid as the handicap index list hanging in the men’s locker room. The trio also worked together at Grand Harbor in Vero Beach before being reunited at Bear Lakes.
    “So all three of us came together. It was a very unique situation,” Rienzi said. “Immediately Chris changed the way the club was run.”
    And now they are going to change the way it looks and plays.
    Rienzi’s research has taken him to another course in Florida to look at a bunker-renovation project, picking out grass at Green Acres Turf Farms in Estill, South Carolina and a day at Love Designs home turf in Georgia before returning to Long Island.
    “I've become so immersed in Macdonald architecture,” Rienzi said. “I've absolutely become immersed in Macdonald. I feel like I know him. We’re going to hit three or four more Macdonald courses up there.”
    Love’s experience in the game is legendary. A 21-time winner on the PGA Tour, including the 1997 PGA Championship, he captained the U.S. Ryder Cup teams in 2012 and 2016, the 2022 U.S. Presidents Cup squad and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017. Brother Mark was his longtime Tour caddie.
    “You know, those two guys have walked on just about every significant golf hole in the world,” Rienzi said.
    “I think you can probably tell by the excitement in my voice. Oh, yeah. I am so excited about this project. So excited.”
  • For nearly a decade, Audubon International has provided golf courses around the globe with an opportunity to quantify their respective impact on the environment and share their findings with golfers and non-golfers alike.
    Through a partnership with BioBoost Nest and Seed King Enterprises, Audubon International's BioBlitz program is a wildlife-, insect life and plant life-inventory competition that helps superintendents count the species that call their golf course home. Interested superintendents can click here to register for the program that runs through June 15.

    BioBlitz is an Audubon International program that helps superintendents take inventory of the plant and animal life on golf courses. Photos by John Reitman Those who register will receive a toolkit that will assist with the logistics of setting up the program and engaging golfing and non-golfing members of the community. The toolkit includes promotional materials, event instructions and resources for participants.
    In its ninth year, the program also gives participants a chance to connect with members, golfers and the public to help in the species count, share findings and spread positive PR about the environmental stewardship work of superintendents. BioBlitz also can help document rare species or others not previously observed on property.
    Some of the program's benefits are:
    Meet outreach and education certification and recertification requirements Demonstrate your property's environmental value to your community Contribute to assessments of biodiversity Observe and measure the trends and status of multiple species over time
    BioBlitz is in its 10th year of helping quantify the global environmental impact of golf courses. Audubon International is a non-profit organization that offers certification and initiatives in a wide range of areas, including the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses. Its board of directors includes golf industry professionals, such as Jim Pavonetti, CGCS at Fairview Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut; David Robinson, CGCS, of Target Specialty Products; Jennifer Grant, Ph.D., entomologist at Cornell University; Henry DeLozier of GGA Partners; and Bryan Stromme of Century Golf Partners.
    BioBoost Nest provides customers with a program that utilizes beneficial bacteria for pond remediation. Seed King Enterprises is a supplier of native grass and wildflower solutions for the golf and landscape industries.
    In last year's competition, Southwinds Golf Course in Boca Raton, Florida, received the Community Engagement Award for the second straight year, while Naples (Florida) Lakes Country Club received the Biodiversity Award, with 370 species identified. The award for Best Photograph went to La Iguana Golf Course at Los Sueños Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, for a photo of a three-toed sloth near a tee box.
  • Advanced Turf Solutions recently reached a partnership with Arborjet-Ecologel that will provide professional turf managers with property-wide management responsibility with a full portfolio of tree-care products.
    The agreement will bring the Arborjet-Ecologel line of tree-injection technologies into the Advanced Turf Solutions distribution network, including both plug and plug-less injection systems, trunk-injected insecticides and fungicides, plant growth regulators, and more for an integrated plant-health approach.
    "This partnership allows us to offer a wide range of tree care products to our customers," said ATS chief executive officer Scott Brame. "By joining forces with Arborjet-Ecologel, we're expanding our customers' ability to care for all aspects of the properties they treat, not just turf and ornamentals."

    Arborjet's line of products are designed to help a host of plant-health issues, including disease, water and insect pest management and soil and nutrient deficiencies.
    "As pioneers in tree care solutions, we're committed to helping ATS customers elevate the health and longevity of the landscapes they care for—with advanced equipment and proven formulations designed for real-world results," said Arborjet CEO Russ Davis.
    Founded in 2001 in Fishers, Indiana, Advanced Turf Solutions is an employee-owned green industry distributor serving professionals in the golf, lawn care and sports turf markets.
    Arborjet was launched 25 years ago, and in 2018 merged with Ecologel.
     
  • A new interactive tool gives professional turf managers a weapon to quantify the environmental impact of the properties they manage.
    Designed for professionals in the turf, tree, lawn care and landscape industries, the Clean Air Calculator from Project Evergreen was developed using research conducted at Ohio State, the University of Guelph and the U.S. Forest Service. It allows users to measure their property's ability to positively impact the immediate environment by contributing to cleaner air through carbon sequestration and offsetting vehicle emissions in a measurable way that can be communicated with others.
    Users can map an area using the interactive tool to track the benefits of turf, trees and shrubs. Once a property is mapped, the tool calculates cubic yards of clean air produced per year, pounds of sequestered carbon dioxide and how many miles of combustible engine exhaust are offset.

    A new clean air calculator helps users quantify the environmental benefits of the properties they maintain. Photo by John Reitman The tool can store multiple maps for those who manage more than a single property.
    The calculator is based in part on research conducted in 2010 at Ohio State that showed trees, shrubs and turf are able to sequester carbon at rates of 7.5-13 pounds, 0.15-0.5 pounds and 246-307 pounds per year, respectively.
    A 2022 sustainability study by researchers at the University of Guelph concluded that "a carbon calculator can be used as a tool to help educate homeowners, contractors and businesses to make informed decisions about how their maintenance practices influence the carbon sequestration potential of urban plant systems."
    The U.S. Forest Service cites more than two dozen research projects and publications touting the carbon-sequestering abilities of trees and forests and their positive environmental contributions.
  • The makers of an enzyme system for thatch management that has been in limited production since it was first developed recently launched the product into its first full year of production.
    The product now known as Thatch Zyme is a sprayable laccase enzyme-based thatch-management system that was initially developed by researchers at the University of Georgia and now marketed for sale by Colorado Springs-based ZymeCo.
    Excess thatch can lead to slow water and nutrient uptake in turfgrass and contribute to issues such as soil water repellency and soft, spongy greens. 
    According to early studies at the University of Georgia, the reduction in thatch layer thickness by laccase treatments was similar to reductions achieved by cultural management. Thatch control was maximized, researchers wrote in published research, through a program of laccase (Thatch Zyme), cultural practices and a wetting agent.

    Samples taken from a Maryland golf course indicate an 18 percent reduction in thatch in the treated area (left) compared with the control. Thatch Zyme is one of several products for the turf and agriculture markets offered by ZymeCo.
    During trials conducted in 2021-23 at nine golf courses in Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Montana, Vermont and Wyoming, laccase helped decrease thatch buildup by an average of 15 percent across all sites, and by more than 26 percent at sites in Jackson Hole.
    In a 2023 field study on golf turf in Colorado, biweekly treatments resulted in a 14 percent reduction in thatch during the golf season and increased root growth of 2 percent in a separate greenhouse study.
    A similar trial on 20-year-old bentgrass/Poa annua greens in Maryland, resulted in improved rooting and a reduction in thatch buildup of nearly 19 percent.

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