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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    Rain Bird is introducing a new integrated course control solution that makes it possible to install satellites and the company's IC System on the same wire path. The Integrated Control Interface Plus (ICI+) allows superintendents to renovate or expand their existing satellite system in phases, at a lower cost and with less disruption to the golf course.
     
    This interface offers fully integrated course control, allowing the golf course to splice into the nearest satellite wire path and add integrated control modules without running wire all the way back to the maintenance facility. With the ICI+, courses with satellite systems can now easily integrate the IC System and its companion IC CONNECT devices, which offer advanced diagnostics, easy expansion, precision watering and the ability to integrate and interact with sensors and other field equipment, says Carolyn Maloney, Rain Bird product manager.
     
    Available in two different versions, the ICI+ System replaces Rain Bird Golf's current MIM and MIM LINK Satellite interfaces, as well as the current ICI. The ICI+ two-wire version communicates with existing and new Rain Bird Satellite and IC Systems, and the ICI+LINK version communicates with existing and new LINK satellite systems (with the option to add the IC System). 
     
    Rain Bird has also developed a new IFX Satellite Board that will be installed in all new PAR+ES Satellites and is also backwards compatible with the company's older satellites and the MIM Satellite interfaces. This board allows courses to put IC rotors or Integrated Control Modules (ICMs) on a satellite's wire path. Because the IFX board is both backward- and forward-compatible, courses can connect their current satellite systems to the future-forward technology offered by IC and IC CONNECT simply by installing a simple interface board at a fraction of the cost.
  • Carlos Arraya was named Superintendent of the Year at last year's Golf Industry Show. The year 2019 was a memorable year in the golf business, even if some would like to forget it. It seems like 2019 was the year in which many people and places came out against pesticides, including many that are used on golf courses. Lawsuits and use bans made headlines nearly every week, and the golf industry continued its slow, steady retraction toward that elusive market equilibrium.
    We have compiled a list of the top-10 most-read stories of 2019 from the pages of TurfNet. Click the headline to read the full text of each story.
    10. TurfNet turns 25
    Armed with little more than a freshly inked monthly print newsletter, a $20 bill in his pocket, and a blank slate for ideas to come, Peter McCormick filed the incorporation papers for TurfNet on February 1, 1994. His initial goal was to not be one of the 90% of new businesses that fail within the first five years. With the support, participation and intellectual investment of forward-thinking superintendents and commercial members, TurfNet made it. In spades.
    9. Brewing brothers share passion for beer
    As a former golf course superintendent, Dan Miller is accustomed to the pursuit of perfection. Nowadays, as the owner of Mighty River Brewing Co., in Windsor, Colorado, Miller exhibits the same quest for excellence in brewing the nearly 15 different beers his family-owned and operated business has been churning out since it opened last fall.
    8. Managing the world’s most famous field is serious business
    Since Warren Harding occupied the White House almost 100 years ago, playing in the Rose Bowl - the game and the stadium - has been a dream for countless kids across the country. It's a legacy turf superintendent Will Schnell takes seriously at the world's most iconic stadium that opened in Pasadena, California in 1923.
    7. Autonomous mowers help cut costs
    There was a time when golf course superintendents could not envision entrusting putting surfaces to autonomous mowers. But 12 months after incorporating the technology into his day-to-day routine at the Presidio Golf Club in San Francisco, Brian Nettz cannot imagine ever going back to walk mowing greens.
    6a. OSU research helps monitor greens conditions
    Putting green quality is the measuring stick by which golf course superintendents are measured. At Ohio State University, associate professor Ed McCoy, Ph.D., has developed a simulation model that helps turf managers monitor organic matter accumulation, decomposition and dilution and provides a way to manage organic matter on a site-specific basis.

    Lee Butler (left) and Jim Kerns, Ph.D., say the business of turfgrass pathology is pretty good thanks to golfer demand to produce increasingly faster putting surfaces. 6b. Pushing conditions? NCSU researchers say enough is enough
    When it comes to pushing turf to please golfers, Butler and Jim Kerns, Ph.D., associate professor of turf pathology, believe that science and superintendents have gone about as far as they can go. The demands that golfers place on superintendents to produce championship conditions every day - or else - are a threat to the sustainability of the turf and the game itself.
    5. Glyphosate ban in Miami should be wake-up call
    No one should have been surprised earlier this year when the city of Miami approved a resolution banning the use of herbicides containing glyphosate on city property. The ban affects city works and contractors working on behalf of the city. The PR campaign to stop the use of such pesticides is well organized, much more so than any efforts to save them.
    4. EPA says glyphosate does not cause cancer
    In the PR war being waged against glyphosate, no one can accuse the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of buckling to public opinion. As the debate wears on about whether the world's most popular weed killer causes cancer, the EPA reaffirmed its findings from 2017 that there is no evidence to support claims that glyphosate is a carcinogen.
    3. Golf hasn’t found the bottom yet
    The definition of purgatory is a place where the souls of sinners suffer and atone for their misdeeds in life before going to heaven. Like the ghost of Jacob Marley who wears his burdens in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the golf business has been going through its own version of perdition for several years. contraction, the golf industry might be stuck in this state of limbo for much longer than anyone ever thought possible.

    Dan Dommer of Ozaukee Country Club in Mequon, Wisconsin is the recipient of the 2019 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award. 2. Dommer wins Golden Wrench
    The TurfNet Technician of the Year Award is given annually to a golf course mechanic who excels at a variety of tasks associated with maintaining the golf course. The criteria on which the recipient is determined might need updating after Dan Dommer of Ozaukee Country Club in Mequon, Wisconsin, won this year's award. Besides excelling as a mechanic in a 100-plus-year-old shop at this historic 1922 William Langford-Theodore Moreau design, Dommer mows and topdresses fairways and fills in wherever else he is needed.
    1. Arraya wins Super of the Year
    Personal tragedy caused Carlos Arraya to question whether he had made the right career choice by becoming a golf course superintendent. If he ever has those thoughts again, Arraya, the director of agronomy and grounds at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, probably has a future as a motivational speaker. That tragedy, the death of his son, Isaih, in a car accident in 2016, was the impetus for some honest introspection and sobering changes to the way he manages his life and his team as the 2018 PGA Championship loomed at Bellerive.
  • Keeping mechanized equipment tuned and ready to go at a moment's notice is important at every golf course. It is especially important at a facility with seven golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus.
    Doug DeVore is the man in charge of doing just that on two of Desert Mountain's seven golf courses - the Geronimo and Cochise layouts. Even with a staff of four mechanics - two for each course - that is no small feat, says his superintendent.
    The inventory in that shop includes 25 walk mowers and more than 30 other pieces of mechanized equipment, including utility vehicles, and an armada of triplex, fairway, tee and rough mowers.
    Despite what many might think about Desert Mountain, there is no bottomless budget at this 8,000-acre golf and luxury residential community in Scottsdale.
    "That is definitely not the case. We have a budget, just like everybody else," Terry Negen, superintendent of the Geronimo Course, said with a wry laugh. 
    "When there is a crisis situation anywhere on the mountain, Doug is one of the first employees that jumps in to assist to make sure the crisis is averted. . . . Managing a fleet as large as Desert Mountain's takes careful planning and execution to make sure things are where they need to be at all times.
    "He always has equipment ready to go, and if something does break down, he always has it back up and running right away."
    The way DeVore is able to manage so many balls in the air at once at such a massive operation was good enough to earn him a spot as a finalist for this year's TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by John Deere.
    Being budget conscious at a place this big means keeping all the commonly used parts on hand in an ultra clean and tidy shop and ordering everything else when needed.
    "Doug is really good about keeping just the necessary parts," negen said. "We can get the other stuff we need pretty timelys, so we don't spend money on a lot of excess"
    "When one steps into the shops at Desert Mountain, you can see that we strive for cleanliness and organization. Safety is our top priority, so Doug keeps the shops very clean. Everything has a place, and when you go to look for something it is always where it should be."
    DeVore is equally skilled at one of a golf course equipment manager's most sought-after traits, welding and fabricating tools, gadgets and attachments to fill a need where no solution currently exists.
    He has fashioned countless specialized tools that have helped Negen save money and helped his team work more efficiently.
    Among the tools he has devised include a rack that attaches to the back of a utility vehicle and raises fertilizer spreaders off the ground for easy transport around the golf course.
    "Doug is very innovative and has a knack for fabricating parts when the situation arises," Negen said. "He has fabricated special tools for the golf courses, and is always willing to take on a new challenge. He's real handy."
  • Brandon Hoag inherited what superintendent Chris Frielinghaus described as "a mess" when he was hired as equipment manager at Glens Falls Country Club. In the two years since then, Hoag has turned things around so dramatically at the club in Queensbury, New York, that Frielinghaus is concerned about being able to hang on to his equipment manager.
    "If you need anything fabricated, he is the guy," Frielinghaus said. 
    "He built a cage to go around and protect an F-150, and it turned out so well some company down south offered him a job just to make those for trucks."
    Fortunately for Frielinghaus and golfers at Glens Falls, he was able to convince Hoag to stay. And it wasn't the first time he had to do that. Hoag's predecessor was at Glens Falls only for a short time, but left his mark anyway.
    "This place was so disorganized and so messed up that Brandon almost quit at one point because the job was so daunting," Frielinghaus said. "We've picked away at it, and now we are on the right track."
    For his ability to turn things around so quickly at Glens Falls, Hoag was named a finalist for the 2020 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by John Deere.
    Much of Hoag's first year on the job was taken up with repairing a constant line of malfunctioning and improperly maintained equipment. He finally has caught up and has all equipment on a preventive maintenance plan that keeps everything running on the golf course and out of the shop.
    Hoag came to Glens Falls from a job in a metal-fabricating plant - a skillset that aligns perfectly with that of a golf course equipment manager.
    "He takes great pride in building solutions to problems, and he looks forward to creating something unique and being creative," Frielinghaus said. 
    "He has improved our roller and sprayers with his ingenuity. He solved a recurring problem with axles on Cushman trucksters by designing and building a brace to prevent the axles from bending under heavy loads. He refurbished a used truck that can now be used for winter sanding and in-season projects."
    Because he came to Glens Fall from outside the golf business, Hoag had to learn grinding and taught himself just about everything there is to know about it.
    "Brandon realized the importance of properly ground reels and bedknives," Frielinghaus said. "He educated himself on the proper setup and operation of our grinders, and he rebuilt both grinders back to factory specifications."
    He has applied the same initiative in taking control of Glens Falls' inventory. 
    The shop once was a stockpile of little-used parts that can be ordered and delivered on short order, the club now only stocks what it needs on a regular basis.
    He also has inventoried and recorded everything that was on hand when he started, including loads of bearings of varying sizes that were scattered around. 
    "He found huge inventory of different bearings, seals that had never been inventoried," Frielinghaus said. "He saved our budget just from things he found sitting on the shelves that we didn't know we had because the purchases had never been inventoried."
    The club's golf course maintenance department also is responsible for clubhouse maintenance, and Hoag fixed a long-recurring plumbing problem in one of the bar areas when he renovated some of the building's drainage.
    "The plumbing in this bar would constantly back up and drain slowly," Frielinghaus said. "He was able to design an improved drainage system and built it himself with no additional help. It has functioned flawlessly since his redesign.
    "He's just so meticulous. When you want something fixed, he fixes it right the first time."
  • It has been four years since superintendent Ryan McCavitt and equipment manager Evan Meldahl arrived in New Orleans for the construction and grow-in of Bayou Oaks at City Park golf course. Ask McCavitt today, and he will say he still feels like he owes his technician for sticking it out.
    During construction Meldahl worked in the parking lot first under one tent and then another for a year-and-a-half until construction of the maintenance shop was completed with nothing but a small fan that did little more than blow the sweat around on his brow in the thick and humid New Orleans air. 
    "It was horrible. He worked under a tarp with lights strung to an electric pole," McCavitt said. "He was there for almost a year, then he moved inside a tent, but still had no lift. I think we had a box fan in there. It was miserable. I sold him a bag of B.S. to get him here, and I thought he was going to bail on me any day. But he never said a word."
    The pair came from Illinois where they worked together and where Meldahl was helping care for his mother. Meldahl was hesitant to make the move so far from his family. It was his mother who convinced him that being part of the new Rees Jones design at City Park would be a good career move. She died about a month after he moved.
    "I felt horrible about convincing him to come here," McCavitt said. "I took that last month away from him. I feel like I have a responsibility toward him."
    Part of satisfying McCavitt's own guilt was nominating Meldahl for the TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by John Deere. 
    Bayou Oaks at City Park is owned by the city, but managed by the TPC. Located in historic City Park that was smashed by Katrina in 2005, proceeds from the course help support the Bayou Oaks Foundation that supports the surrounding Gentilly neighborhood. As such, the operation has to meet the standards of the Tour as well as local golfers, because without their patronage there is nothing to give to the foundation.
    Meldahl's ability in helping keep equipment in top shape is no small role in Bayou Oaks' success.
    "Everybody wants Tour-quality conditions, but we have a daily fee budget," McCavitt said. "The expectation level here is Augusta, and Evan helps us get there.
    "Evan is dedicated to the Nth degree to the golf course and what needs to be done. He is very critical of his craft. To say we couldn't do any of this without him is an understatement."
    Meldahl also plays a critical role in helping McCavitt meet that daily fee budget each year, and he does so by fixing equipment when possible rather than spending money on parts, and when new parts are necessary, he shops around for the best deal.
    "Instead of buying something he'll see if he can fix it with something we have in house," McCavitt said. "He doesn't ask me, he just does it. He knows me; I'm cheap. And if we need a special tool for something, instead of buying something he just makes the tool and makes it work."
    McCavitt appreciates having a right-hand man he doesn't have to explain everything to. Someone who just "gets it."
    "He's always the first one here and the last one to leave," he said. "If anything needs to be done, he just does it. If we have to sharpen reels, he'll stay at the end of the day and do them all in one day. He's just a great mechanic."
  • Jake Mendoza, left, and USGA agronomist Paul Vermuelen during the inaugural PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic. Longevity and loyalty are nothing new at Detroit Golf Club.
    Former superintendent Clem Wolfrom lasted 51 years there until he retired in 2013, and the club has had the same green chairman for a decade. An honorary member of the club, Wolfrom still plays at Detroit and about once a month current superintendent Jake Mendoza meets with him to pick his brain.
    "Clem is an honorary member here, and he still plays golf here a lot," Mendoza said. "He's always available and I have lunch with him about once a month. He's been a huge asset for me during this transition."
    Every once in a while, change is good, even at a place like Detroit Golf Club, where all 36 holes were designed originally by Donald Ross.
    Mendoza has to put into place management practices today that superintendents from Wolfrom's generation might never have imagined. 
    "A lot of things have changed here," Mendoza said. "We get in front of the members and explain things, why they are changing, why we are now walk-mowing greens, why we use the fertilizer we use. It helps them feel empowered and active in what happens at their own club."
    "No way they would have mowed at 0.10 or lower. Rollers have changed everything. It gives the modern superintendent the ability to push the envelope. It goes back to that it used to be as long as it was green it was good, even if it was soft and slow. Today's golfer is OK with a little brown because they expect the greens to be hard and roll at 13. Golfer expectation has changed."
    In his second year on the job, Mendoza was charged with getting Detroit ready for a PGA Tour event. The inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic held last year at Detroit replaced the Quicken Loans National played for a dozen years at Congressional, Aronimink, Robert Trent Jones GC and finally at TPC Avenel in Potomac, Maryland.
    Mendoza had plenty of opportunity prepping a classic facility for big events and just for everyday play for a demanding membership in 10 years under Curtis Tyrrell at Medinah.
    "I learned the way he did things. With 54 holes you can't do it all yourself," Mendoza said. "You have to put people in the right place to get things done. We're doing the same things here we did at Medinah. You have to understand peoples' strengths and abilities and do what is best for the club.
    "We have a very supportive membership that is very involved in what is going on on the golf course. We've had the same green chairman for 10 or 12 years, and he is excited to learn about what we do, so we keep an open line of communication about what we do and why we do it."
  • Paul MacCormack has opened the door for people in the turf industry to discuss a difficult topic - mental health. For the way he has brought the subject of mental health to the forefront and made it a subject OK to discuss for an entire profession, Paul MacCormack has been named a finalist for the TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta. The following four paragraphs are taken from a nomination submitted by Frank S. Rossi, Ph.D., of Cornell University.
    "Paul MacCormack's story is one of a guy from a small island off the coast of a northern town in Canada who transformed an industry from experience gained from failure and desperation. His public honesty alone seemingly gave permission to hundreds of his colleagues to express their own feelings of sadness, anxiety, grief, joy and love for each other. 
    In this expression our industry has come together, cynics and nappers, to address mental health concerns. Paul is the reason. He started it with the mindful superintendent blog, then speaking engagements, then seminars, then a retreat and now he is the face of mindfulness in the golf turf industry.
    Most Superintendent of the Year finalists are recognized for things they did at their own place, with their crew or in their local community. Paul's work is nothing short of an international movement committed to sharing the burden, lightening the load and giving each other a break.
    Some superintendents are great grass growers, others master communicators, and a rare few are true leaders, not just of their own operations but leaders in every sense that they have a vision and a plan. Leaders face obstacles and overcome them, but along the way sometimes leading will hurt, it will frustrate and will demand sacrifice. Paul's journey is out there for all to see, success and challenges. He shares that journey so honestly and it is resonating with many."
    MacCormack entered into the world of mindfulness years ago after losing a job.
    "My experience with mindfulness meditation practice began a decade ago after a major shift in my career," MacCormack said. "I had lost a job after a long two year renovation project and knew that if I was to continue in the industry things had to change. My wife, Jill, presented me with a book that introduced me to mindfulness, and I knew immediately that it would be an important piece of a healthier lifestyle."
    Initially, his goal was to help himself. It soon turned into something more.
    "The overall goal with mindfulness practice was to move toward living a life with more balance," he said. "It has become so much more and has grown into a vital part of my life. 
    "The feedback from other supers with regards to the blog and the speaking has been very positive and rewarding. Many folks have shared their own personal stories and talked about their own struggles. Knowing that the message helps in some small way inspires me to continue writing."
  • Ryan Gordon has turned his hearing loss into a positive by focusing on communication at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge. Ryan Gordon likens his career to the disease triangle. The host is his personality, the pathogen is the collection of life experiences he has encountered, and the environment was a matter of him being in the right place at the right time, which included his time at Oregon State studying under Tom Cook and Brian MacDonald.
    When checking the boxes for criteria on which nominees are judged for TurfNet Superintendent of the Year, Gordon meets most of them.
    He works to further the careers of his employees at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, provides tournament-ready conditions daily for members and an annual Tour event, deals with all the unexpected headaches that arise on a daily basis, manages the local environment to ensure the club is a sound environmental neighbor in the Seattle area.
    That he does so facing the communications challenges he does is nothing short of amazing.
    "My philosophy for managing turf is very similar to how I approach my relationships with people," Gordon said. "I seek to create a sustainable, continually improved upon operation with smart, repeatable systems in place that provide consistent conditions for our members and their guests."
    Superintendent at Snoqualmie Ridge since 2012, Gordon was born with a 90-percent hearing loss that makes communication much more of a challenge and his accomplishments much more significant. For his accomplishments at Snoqualmie Ridge, Gordon was named one of five finalists for the 2019 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.
    One of the biggest challenges for superintendents in the Pacific Northwest can be water. There are times of the year when there is far too much it, and other times where there is not nearly enough. Drainage was added throughout the course to ensure that the course stays dry when rain is plentiful, and added quick couplers to keep the turf alive when water is scarce.
    The end result has been a reduction in water use of at least 15 percent.
    Communicating effectively at Snoqualmie Ridge requires a different approach to some tasks, including mowing practices.
    "Ryan expanded the yardage book of the club and made it an agronomy guide of the do's and don'ts of the maintenance department," wrote Dean Miller, vice president of agronomy for Arcis Golf, the Dallas company that owns the club. “It details out mowing patterns and how to get to areas of the golf course and allows them to verbally communicate while also giving the team members a visual on where and how to get the job done. First of its kind that I have ever seen and has proven to be a great tool for the club."
    Gordon's hearing impairment is something that he, his team and everyone else he works alongside at Snoqualmie Ridge have learned to overcome through utilizing non-verbal communications technology like Google Docs, the use of assistive-listening devices, some sign language and Gordon's own mad lip-reading skills. In fact, effective communication is such a non-issue that when pro golf's senior circuit tees off next week at Snoqualmie Ridge, no one who knows Gordon or is in anyway affiliated with the Boeing Classic will give his hearing - or lack of it - a second thought.
    "Ryan is a servant leader that is always willing to help out across all departments at the club or anyone who may reach out that needs it," Miller said. "Ryan lives by the 5 P’s – Perfect Planning Prevents Poor Performance – and pulls it off on a daily basis. He is one of the best in the business."
    In a story that appeared on TurfNet last summer, Ryan Ingalls, operations manager for the Boeing Classic, an annual Champions Tour event played at Snoqualmie Ridge, said: "I would say I've never met anyone who cared for a golf course more than Ryan does, and that bleeds out to other people."
  • Workers make repairs to the golf course in the months following Hurricane Dorian. With his golf course devastated by a hurricane, it would have been understandable for any superintendent to focus on clean up and recovery efforts inside the gates and let the rest of the world fend for itself.
    That is not Matt DiMase's way.
    When Hurricane Dorian crossed The Bahamas last Sept. 1, the storm devastated The Abaco Club on Winding Bay where DiMase is superintendent, and pretty much the rest of The Bahamas as well. The scene was horrific: homes and buildings flattened or gone, towns devastated, dead bodies, dead animals, debris everywhere. In the days, weeks and months after the hurricane, he stayed on the island during Hurricane Dorian and used his knowledge and experience as a superintendent to head up relief efforts on the golf course, for members of his team and for locals in his community.
    For his efforts to help his employer, employees and local community, DiMase has been named a finalist for the TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.
    A veteran of Hurricane Charley in 2004 when he lived in southwest Florida, DeMase and his team did all the normal things one does to prepare for such an event - sweep the course of everything that is not nailed down, fill fuel tanks, make sure chainsaws are ready. It's what he did afterward that stood out.
    He began work to restore water and clear a way to his maintenance facility, which was flooded and nearly everything in it destroyed. The club, which hired a security team to protect it from looters, was without water and electricity for 45 days. With no phone service, it was weeks before he was able to reach everyone on his team. His immediate concerns were the wellbeing of his staff and trying to keep his greens alive.
    The club-provided home he was living in was destroyed, so he moved into another house owned by the club and opened its doors to others from his team displaced by the hurricane.
    He was a point person for recovery efforts, meeting multiple times with the Bahamian prime minister, head of immigration and other government officials.
    When he received a plea for help from a member of his crew, he and the security team went into town to rescue him and his family. And when the mother of a crew member and a contractor employed by the club had to be evacuated for medical reasons, he contacted the U.S. Embassy to organize a U.S. Border Patrol air evacuation to Florida. 
    As if all of that was not enough, in the months leading up to the hurricane, DiMase organized the first chapter or golf course superintendents in the Caribbean.
    "Any adversity Matt faces he takes it head on," said Gary Cotton, a sales rep for Winfield based in Florida, in his nomination letter supporting DiMase. "It's one of the things that makes him stand out and one of the things I admire the most. If Matt is presented with a challenge or told something can't be done, it's best to sit back and watch, because he thrives on challenges."
  • In just six years at Victoria National Golf Club, Kyle Callahan has built a career defined by efficiency.
    That's usually the way for every superintendent, but it is especially important at Victoria National, a 418-acre tract in Newburgh, Indiana that stretches 3 miles from one end of the property to the other.
    "Working for Paul B. Latshaw, we were always thinking ahead. I've instilled that same culture into our program," Callahan said. "If you start a project and aren't thinking through that project, if you forget something in shop, you can make four trips and you've lost an hour of work."
    For his ability to manage a huge property with a modest staff as efficiently as possible, Callahan has been named a finalist for the TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.
    A graduate of Oklahoma State, Callahan worked under Latshaw at Muirfield from 2006 to 2010.
    "I'm not one who sits in an office," Callahan said. "A good leader leads by example. As much as I have office work to do, I have to instill the things taught to me, and I have to be out there to teach that."
    Efficiency also is important because Callahan is managing bentgrass - L93 tee to green - in an area where all other courses are growing zoysiagrass, which is more tolerant to heat and dry and conditions.
    "We're all cool-season grass, and everyone else around here is all zoysia," he said. 
    "L93 can handle heat and humidity, but not drough. The trend now is to go a little brown, but if we back off the wate, it doesn't just go brown; it goes brown and dormant."
    Victoria National is an undulating course with a lot of elevation change. It took seven members of his crew several days to push mow grass bunkers and banks throughout the course. Callahan eventually found an alternative method - the use of robotic mowers from Evatech - that has helped save labor hours and allows him to redirect human resources elsewhere.
    "I personally have worked at five golf courses across the country with four of them being ranked in the top 50 in the country by Golf Digest, and I have never been part of a team that can successfully complete multiple tasks with limited people in such a short amount of time," wrote assistant superintendent Dane Olsen in his nomination of Callahan for the Superintendent of the Year Award. "Kyle has a talent for being able to schedule members of our Agronomy team to efficiently get multiple jobs done at once with strategic placement."
  • TurfNet has been a pioneer in the golf turf industry since 1994, offering an online platform to help superintendents do their jobs better, faster and more efficiently before most people even had an email address. 
    TurfNet in January will begin its 13th year of offering Web-based education in conjunction with Brandt and BASF. 
    The TurfNet University schedule begins Jan. 8 when Anthony Williams, CGCS, of the Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas, kicks off the new year with "Jumpstarting your career in 2020."
    Williams will discuss how setting career goals for 2020 and beyond and working to attain them can help ensure career longevity. 
    When it comes to facing - and overcoming - adversity, Williams is something of an expert.
    Nearly six years ago, in a span of just more than two months he lost his stepbrother in a car accident, his wife suffered - and survived - a massive heart attack and Williams himself underwent emergency open-heart surgery. About a year later, his position at Stone Mountain Golf Club near
    Atlanta was eliminated, leaving him without a job.
    His presentation in January will include how to establish realistic standards and how to go about working toward achieving them. He also will talk about how to market yourself, from self-promotion and public relations strategies in your current position and resume-writing and other career advice tips designed to help you realize your next opportunity. 
    Other presenters throughout the year will include Bill Kreuser, Ph.D., of Nebraska, Beth Guertal, Ph.D., of Auburn, Brad Klein, Ph.D., of The Golf Channel and Golf Advisor, Bruce Martin, Ph.D., of Clemson University (retired), Frank Rossi, Ph.D., of Cornell University and many more. 
  • During the past several years, TurfNet has reported live from many events, such as the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the 2017 Solheim Cup in Iowa, the inaugural U.S. Senior Women's Open in Chicago and this year's Presidents Cup in Australia.
    Add the 2020 Rose Bowl to that list.
    Beginning Dec. 27 (thanks to a chance meeting earlier this year facilitated by our friends at Brandt) TurfNet news and education director John Reitman will be volunteering for the New Year's Day game in Pasadena, California, on field superintendent Will Schnell's team and sharing the experience with readers in the TurfNet Tackles the Rose Bowl blog, sponsored by Brandt.
    Reitman will be there through game day, sharing a behind-the-scenes look at what Schnell and his crew do each year to provide college football players with a surface that is the envy of the college football world and even has earned comparisons to Augusta. TurfNet also will visit other historic venues in the area, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Brookside Golf Course which for every special event, including concerts and UCLA home football games, is transformed from one of the area's most popular golf courses into a parking lot and tailgate area thanks to an around-the-clock effort by superintendent George Winters and his team.
    Follow our experiences in real time on Twitter.
    Throughout the week, Reitman will be posting updates to the live blog, sharing photos through Instagram and producing a couple of videos so readers can get an up-close-and-personal feel for what it's like to prepare a field for the oldest postseason game in college football.

  • Environmental stewardship is more important than ever for golf course superintendents. At next year's Golf Industry Show, Nufarm will feature plans and programs to help superintendents maintain naturalized areas.
    Throughout the week, visitors to the Nufarm booth can learn more about Nufarm products like Aneuw plant growth regulator; Sure Power, Millennium Ultra and SureGuard SC herbicides; and Traction and Pinpoint fungicides.
    Naturalized Areas Presentations: With the growing focus on naturalized areas, Nufarm has solutions for making every course the best it can be. Attendees can come by Nufarm booth 4217 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Jan. 29-30 during the show to hear Rick Fletcher and Aaron Hathaway, Nufarm’s technical services managers for turf & rnamental, talk about the care and cultivation of naturalized areas.
    Naturalized Areas Rotation Plan: Nufarm offers expertise in planning and caring for naturalized areas on the golf course. Superintendents will learn how a rotation that includes Sure Power for tough broadleaf weeds like ground ivy and wild violet, Millennium Ultra 2 to melt away unsightly weeds like Canada thistle, and SureGuard SC to keep dormant areas clean through the winter, will help superintendents manage naturalized areas. Plus, Millennium Ultra 2 preserves milkweed, which benefits pollinators. Attendees can come by the Nufarm booth to learn more about customizing a plan for their course.
    Win an Original Grain Timepiece: While learning how to manage naturalized areas, attendees can enter to win one of two watches from Original Grain. These timepieces feature stainless steel and reclaimed wood – the perfect reminder to take time for nature.
    EXCEL Leadership Program: Nufarm will host the most recent group of EXCEL participants into the third year of the program. The EXCEL program offers leadership training and development opportunities for participants. Program participants will take part in the education and networking opportunities provided at the show, as well as community involvement and further professional training later in the year. Each class participates for three years, completing a curriculum focused on personal development, leadership at their course, and leadership within the industry as a whole. Learn more about the EXCEL program and how to apply for the next class at the Nufarm booth.
  • The parasitic wasp known as larra bicolor parasitizes a mole cricket. Photo by University of Florida entomology department. For the better part of a generation, entomologists have been trying to convince golf course superintendents why they should plant wildflowers on golf courses. The typical selling point has been to provide habitat for beneficial insects, such as bees and butterflies.
    University of Florida entomologist Adam Dale, Ph.D., has a new hook to convince superintendents why it is important to manage natural areas on golf courses with the right mix of plants.
    Dale is promoting a program of diverse native plants that attracts not only honeybees and monarch butterflies, but also predatory insects that can assist in organic pest control.
    Through the years, Dale has consulted with one of the experts in the field of establishing natural areas to attract beneficial insects.
    "I've had a lot of discussions with (University of Kentucky entomologist) Dan Potter, and I know what he's done in the past. My research focuses on managing insects in urban landscapes and turf systems," Dale said. "Golf courses are good avenues for conservation and biological pest control. This is a great opportunity for golf courses to conserve wildlife, conserve inputs and reduce pests."
    A program of at least nine wildflower species that bloom throughout the year attracted a variety of pollinators as well as predators of various turf pests. The program was implemented throughout 2017 at three golf courses in north-central Florida - University of Florida Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Top of the World in Ocala and Adena Golf Club in Ocala, which closed abruptly in mid-2018.
    "We planted specific wildflowers to attract wasps and other parasitic insects," Dale said. 
    The most abundant predator found throughout the study was a parasitic wasp called the red and black mason wasp, which is a predator of caterpillars, Dale said. 
    The female wasp stings and paralyzes the armyworm, carries it to its nest then lays and attaches an egg to its prey. When the next generation of wasp hatches it feeds on its host.
    When fall armyworms were released on fairways, the study showed that predation increased by 50 percent.
    The study measured the effects of a program that included a mix of nine wildflower species and one with just five wildflower species. One included a mix of Canada toadflax, lanceleaf coreopsis, goldenmade tickseed, Indian blanket, spotted beebalm, blue mistflower, shrubby false buttonweed, slender blazing star and wand goldenrod, the other just five wildflower species.
    The nine-flower program outperformed the five-flower program, Dale said because it provided habitat for predators throughout the year. 
    "We wanted to learn if a diversity of flowering plants in the mix affect the attraction of insects and is there a translation to the level of pest control," Dale said. "The takeaway is that a high diversity wildflower mix of nine species or more maximizes predation because there is something always flowering and providing a continuous source of pollen and nectar."
    The wildflowers also attracted other predatory wasps, including larra bicolor, which parasitizes mole crickets, and scoliid and tiphiid species that parasitize white grubs in the same manner of the red and black mason wasp.
    "One of the drivers of doing this is to help superintendents justify doing this," Dale said. "We wanted to identify the direct benefits to them beside saving bees. We wanted to be able to demonstrate that we can attract other insects to help reduce turf pests on golf courses."
    Dale is seeking funding to expand the research to other parts of Florida.
    "We want to do this on a larger scale, include more courses in more regions. We still lack information to make better recommendations," he said.
    "This is a good opportunity to educate people on the broader value of golf courses. Golf courses are large areas of vegetative space that provide benefits to the landscape, but nobody sees that. We are trying to demonstrate that they can benefit Florida's overall ecosystem and make programs like this justifiable for superintendents."
  • You know those commercials you see on late-night TV asking if you are a Roundup user recently diagnosed with non-Hodkin's lymphoma? Well, you might start seeing a lot less of them - finally.
    The Virginia lawyer representing a plaintiff who won a $289 million verdict in the ongoing litigation against Bayer has been charged with extortion. According to reports, Tim Litzenburg, a Charlottesville, Virginia attorney, has been charged with extortion after threatening to "to inflict substantial financial and reputational harm" against two unnamed companies unless he is paid a $200 million consulting fee.
    According to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Litzenburg has been charged with transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort, conspiracy and attempted extortion.
    According to court documents, Litzenburg suggested in October that the unnamed Company 1 could avoid future costs associated with litigation, reputational damage and a drop in stock prices if it hired him as a consultant for $200 million. 
    The document goes on to say that Litzenburg and an unnamed accomplice would steer prospective litigants away from the Roundup case as part of the deal. According to the complaint, Litzenburg called his $200 million consulting fee "fair" and promised to unleash a public relations "nightmare" against the companies involved. He expected to resolve the issue by the end of the year or Company 1 would face further litigation by January.
    The criminal complaint, signed by federal judge Joel Hoppe, states that Litzenburg also agreed to steer complainants away from Company 2. According to published reports by CBS, spokespersons for Bayer and Monsanto said they are not the unnamed victims in the complaint. Bayer acquired Monsanto last year.
    Litigants claiming that Roundup was responsible for their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma won a flurry of awards in 2018 and 2019, including a $2 billion verdict earlier this year. There are thousands of other cases still awaiting adjudication.
  • The other day, I was reading a story about a handful of turtles that turned up dead on a golf course in north-central Florida. My first reaction was probably similar to the one you had just now: however unfortunate, the incident likely can be attributed to something totally disassociated from the golf course, however, the golf course probably will shoulder the blame, at least in the short term. If reader comments at the end of the story are any gauge of public opinion, then we probably are right.
    I was trying to figure a way to parlay this into something useful here. You know the story, how to defend the reputation and actions of the golf course against not what you do, but what some believe you do. After all, perception is reality. But it doesn't always have to be that way.
    It was while listening to a recent TurfNet University Webinar by Bryan Unruh, Ph.D., of the University of Florida on "Water quality monitoring on the golf course" that it hit me: combine the incident on the golf course with content from the webinar and voila!
    I enjoy history, and believe it is one of our greatest teachers, so hang in there.
    Sun Tzu was a sixth century Chinese general and philosopher who authored The Art of War, a treatise on the strategy of armed conflict that is still a must-read for military leaders today. Victory, he believed, was as much about recognizing your own strengths and weaknesses as it was knowing those of your foe.
    He famously wrote: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." 
    We're not advocating you vanquish those who criticize what you do on the golf course, and you don't have to be staring at dead turtles to learn from Unruh's webinar, but in the ongoing struggle to convince those outside the ropes of the positive environmental impact golf courses represent, it is important to know who you are facing and equally important to know what really is happening on the golf course - and be able to prove it.
    When a woman discovered the carcasses of four freshwater turtles in early December at Chula Vista Golf Course in The Villages in north-central Florida, she notified someone on the greens staff who notified the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. In CSI-speak, the cause of death is under investigation.
    In the news story, the FWC said it has been researching the deaths of freshwater turtles across north Florida for about a year-and-a-half. Although the FWC said it might never know what is killing turtles in the St. John's River watershed, it suspects a virus, perhaps attributed to algal blooms, specific to turtles could be responsible. There is nothing in the FWC's findings to date to indicate that the deaths are the result of any actions on golf courses, including the 50 championship and executive courses at The Villages, the mega-community for the 55-and-older set located between Orlando and Ocala.
    As we've come to expect, the facts do not prevent the uninformed from voicing their opinions, and in this case reader comments include blaming the golf courses at The Villages, the golf business in general, a general reliance on chemical pesticides, construction and loss of habitat.
    For superintendents struggling to swim upstream against the current of negative public relations waged against the golf industry, Unruh's webinar - "Water quality monitoring on the golf course" - could not have come at a better time. (Hint, the recording of Unruh's presentation and many others - all sponsored by Brandt and BASF - can be found here.)
    Many golf courses claim that water is cleaner when exiting the golf course than it is when it enters. That's all well and good - if it is true. To ensure it is, it is critical to regularly test water at entry points and exit points on the golf course, Unruh said. Anecdotal evidence that golf courses are efficient natural filtration systems is one thing, being armed with scientific proof that your golf course is actually accomplishing this is another. Especially if someone starts slinging accusations that the closest golf course must be responsible for the next environmental hiccup just because. 
    "Water-quality management, it is the foundation for determining if your management program is effective or not," Unruh said. "Are you having an impact? In the absence of data you can't answer that question."
    Unruh gives examples of a golf course he is working with to develop strategies moving forward after it was blamed for causing water quality issues when in fact the property takes on untreated overflow water from a treatment plant on one end and untreated runoff water from an adjacent residential area on the other. 
    Water at both ends has test high in nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, but without data on water quality at both entry sites the source of the problem has yet to be identified and the golf course is defenseless against accusations until it has the data it needs.
    "We tend to tout those statements that water is cleaner when it exited the golf course than when it entered the golf course," he said. "Well, if you don't have data from your specific facility, I would caution you in how you use those canned statements that we so often times use.
    "Are there problems? In short of taking data, you can't answer that question. Are you maintaining water quality standards. Short of having data, you don't know.
    "If you don't have data, you don't know what needs to change."
    Such issues are near and dear to Unruh, who was a key figure in developing content for the GCSAA BMP Planning Guide and Template that was launched at the 2017 Golf Industry Show in Orlando.
    Consider the case of the Gordon River Greenway, a popular park and wetlands area in Naples, Florida that is adjacent to more than a half-dozen golf courses, thousands of residential and commercial real estate units and an airport. When test revealed the water in the wetlands is impaired, Unruh said many predictably pointed at the golf courses. The golf courses around the park and wetlands have come together to develop a water-monitoring program, testing water at entry and exit points and build a database so they have concrete results of water entering and leaving each property.
    "Without this information, the folks can point their fingers and say 'it's the golf course causing the problem,' " he said. "Without the data nobody can refute those claims."
    Water quality tests are expensive and are chemistry specific. Unruh suggests starting a water quality monitoring program by testing for just a couple of products each year. 
    "It's an interesting dynamic. People fail to realize the impact that golf brings. Not economic but even environmental and the green space that is provided and they completely fail to grasp any of that, so when it comes time to point fingers then they point and then again without data we can't argue."

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