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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    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."
  • Fire gutted the clubhouse at Indian Hills Country Club in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Photos courtesy of Bob McLean. The sight of players on the golf course is always a good sign for those with a vested economic interest in the well being of the game. But golfers on the tee never looked as good to superintendent Bob McLean as they did on Sunday, Dec. 8 when six groups showed up to play less than 24 hours after a fire destroyed the clubhouse at Indian Hills Country Club in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
    "We are open for play if weather allows. The ashes were still smoldering and there were six groups out to play Sunday morning," McLean said. 
    "To be honest, it was a good sight to see people coming out and doing what we are here to do. The golf course wasn't affected by the fire, and we're still a golf club. That's what we are: we are a golfing club."
    The golf course itself as well as the maintenance facility and all equipment inside it were spared in the blaze, but the clubhouse was a total loss. Before local and state fire inspectors were able to complete their respective investigations into the cause of the blaze, the club already had brought in two construction trailers, one as an administrative office, the other as a makeshift golf shop.
    "There's nothing in there except a place to set up (point of sale)," McLean said. 
    "As far as our operations side of it, we're still full go. It could have been traumatic from an operations standpoint, but we're still full go. Now, it was traumatic for our members. We're discussing other plans on what else we can do as a gathering place for members.
    "We're trying to get some sense of normalcy and conduct business."
    Firefighters from four companies responded Saturday night when the fire broke out in the clubhouse at 7:38 on Dec. 7. McLean, who was home watching the NHL's Nashville Predators on TV, said he knew something was up somewhere in Bowling Green when heard numerous emergency outside his family room window. Several members of the club were at the Western Kentucky University-Arkansas basketball game at nearby Diddle Arena when they began receiving text messages and phone calls about the fire.
    "I got my vest and got there as quickly as I could," McLean said. "I was going to go inside and try to get our server.
    "The fire department wasn't letting me in, and everything had just been backed up onto the cloud."

    As news of the fire made its way around the Internet, McLean received an outpouring of support from colleagues and others throughout the industry, many of whom he didn't know. He also heard from Shelia Finney of the GCSAA and Paul Carter of Bear Trace at Harrison Bay near Chattanooga, Tennessee with offers of support. McLean said he would like to hear from others in the industry who have gone through similar situations and how they navigated through the challenges associated with the aftermath.
    "This industry really is like a fraternity," he said.
    The site of golfers on the course as the clubhouse remains were smoking in the background was symbolic of the strength of the club and the dedication of its members.
    The club was scheduled to hold its annual Christmas party on Dec. 15, complete with a visit from Santa for children and grandchildren of the club's members. Even a fire couldn't dampen the Christmas spirits at this club.
    Instead of just pizza, a visit from Santa and presents for the kids, the club's members are counting their blessings by holding a potluck in the cart barn. They have invited firefighters from the four departments that responded to the blaze - Bowling Green, Alvaton, Gott and Plano - will hold a toy drive to support their Toys for Tots drive.
    "We cleared out the cart barn, and some ladies came in with lights and they're going to decorate it," McLean said. 
    Within 48 hours, club leadership had met to discuss preliminary plans to rebuild the clubhouse. 
    "This isn't going to define us or keep us down," McLean said. "I've been here for 26 years. This is a great club with great members, and we're going to get through this. It's going to take some time, but we'll all come together and get through this. Hopefully, by this time next year we'll have a grand opening and a Christmas party."
  • New York stopped short of a full ban on a common golf course insecticide used to control caterpillars, but appears to moving in that direction.
    Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Dec. 10 vetoed a bill from the state legislature calling for a ban on chlorpyrifos, a common tool in the fight to control armyworms. The governor went on to order the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to take steps toward developing its own ban, making New York the latest in a list of states to move toward banning the chemical after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decided earlier this year against canceling its registration.
    The New York measure allows for a review process of the chemistry yet eliminates all aerial applications of the chemical in agricultural use and will ban all use of chlorpyrifos except as a spray on some fruit trees by mid-2021, effectively ending its availability to golf course superintendents in that state. All use of the chemistry, even in agriculture, will be banned some time after that depending on a plan yet to be developed by the DEC.
    The governor wrote in the veto: "While I do not agree that a pesticide should be banned by legislative decree, I agree that New York must lead the way by taking action to assure the public that all regulatory options are taken to limit exposure to chlorpyrifos. The United States Environmental Protection Agency recently declined to revoke all food tolerance levels for chlorpyrifos on the basis that they did not have enough data to support revocation. However, EPA’s actions do not prevent New York from moving forward with its own review of this ingredient."
    "Therefore, I am directing the DEC to take immediate action based on the data available on chlorpyrifos exposure ban aerial spraying, and take further regulatory action to ban its use for all purposes except apple tree trunk spraying by July 2021 and banning all uses as soon as possible. DEC must recommend a course of action and initiate action so that such measures are in place on a timeframe faster than that contained in this bill."
    Opponents of chlorpyrifos say long-term exposure to the chemistry, which was patented by Dow in 1966, can cause neurological damage and claim that children are especially at risk. University research says it does not bind to the soil and is not commonly taken up by plants, but is a concern in runoff.
    A request to ban the chemical was submitted by at least a dozen public advocacy groups as well as the states of New York, Washington, California, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland and Vermont in 2007. The EPA initially decided against a ban two years ago, and reiterated those same sentiments in July. At least six of those states mentioned here now are involved in a lawsuit against the EPA challenging its decision to allow the continued use of chlorpyrifos.
    It was banned nationwide for use in the residential market a decade ago, but still is registered for professional use in 49 states. It is not registered for use in Alaska. Some states have initiated limited-use rules and lawmakers in Hawaii have enacted a statewide ban that will go into effect in 2022. 
  • Thanks to a combination of seashore paspalum that thrives in challenging conditions and filtering aquatic plants, water that is high in impurities has met its match at Vero Beach Country Club in Florida. At nearly 100 years old, Vero Beach Country Club is a classic-era golf course by definition, but the way in which it handles water is anything but old fashioned.
    Dealing with dirty water is a fact of life at many golf courses around Florida, including Vero Beach Country Club, which is a par-5 or so west of the Indian River, the brackish lagoon that is part of the Intracoastal Waterway system. A canal that drains much of Vero Beach cuts through the golf course as it connects agricultural land and residential neighborhoods to the river.
    At an elevation of just a few feet above sea level, this 1924 Herbert Strong design is prone to flooding throughout much of the year as tides back up through the canal. 
    "The main relief canal in the city runs along the golf course and into the river. Most of the area is at 2 feet elevation, which makes it a flood plain," said superintendent Shane Wright, CGCS. "We have many areas on the golf course below 2 feet. It's worst when the winds blow in and during the King Tides."
    Wright has tested water with at least 24,000 parts per million of dissolved salts. Sea water contains 35,000 ppm of dissolved salts, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
    The course has been growing seashore paspalum for more than two decades, which is longer than most, says Wright, who inherited the dirty water-friendly turf when he arrived at Vero Beach 15 years ago from BallenIsles Country Club, a 54-hole property in Palm Beach Gardens that from 1963-74 was the original PGA National Golf Club.
    "I thought working with paspalum would be enticing. They were one of the first courses around here to get it," said Wright, who celebrated his 15th year at Vero Beach on Dec. 4. "Growing Bermuda was always difficult here, so about 20 years ago, they started experimenting with paspalum from the University of Georgia."
    The course also pulls irrigation water directly from the canal that has direct ocean access through the river. The quality of the water varies depending on the season or even the time of day. The paspalum at Vero Beach is mostly SeaIsle 1 and SeaIsle 2000, and the recently rebuilt ninth hole was regrassed with Platinum TE. All of it handles all the impurities just like the water is straight from a bottle.
    "It's free, but it's high in bicarbonates," Wright said. "It can be clean or ocean level saltwater. The paspalum really handles the water. It's deep-rooted and it can handle a variety of pH's."
    Although the paspalum thrives on dirty water, Wright periodically tests the water in a half-dozen storage ponds on the property for impurities. His management program includes only occasional applications of gypsum and a regular regimen of venting and flushing the greens as needed.
    "That way, I can justify why I've added something to our nutrient or spray program," he said. "I've never been asked, but if I have the paperwork I can back up those decisions if anyone ever comes in."
    Introducing aquatics and aerators have helped clear up other issues with the surface water at Vero Beach. 
    "When I first got here, the lakes weren't planted. They were out of control with algae because of our poor water," Wright said. "The water was high in dissolved oxygen and the fish weren't doing well. 
    "I convinced the board to let me plant these out with native plants, which acts as a natural filtration system. That's really cleaned up our water."
    The rustic look the aquatics provides has been popular with members of the club that was founded on Old Florida citrus money when Calivin Coolidge occupied the White House.
    "The club is serious about protecting the environment," Wright said. "Aesthetically, the members love the look, but the function is less about aesthetics and more about maintenance."
  • Lindsey Hoffman, Ph.D., teaches a class during a recent UMass Winter School program. Long on a desire to learn, but short on time? No worries. Educational opportunities abound for aspiring turfgrass managers or those who just want to bone up on their skills in a non-traditional learning setting.
    Short courses at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Kentucky offer ongoing learning opportunities designed to meet the schedules of today’s working professionals. 
    The six-week UMass Winter School for Turf Managers is a compressed certificate program that covers all the concepts essential to maintaining high quality turf, with emphasis on environmental stewardship and fiscal responsibility. This comprehensive, dynamic short course is ideal for experienced professionals associated with the management of golf courses, athletic fields, parks, municipal and private grounds, fine lawns and landscapes.
    Scheduled for Jan. 6-Feb. 14 at the UMass campus in Amherst, in an updated, time-efficient, six-week format, the UMass winter school is certificate program designed to help experienced turf professionals brush up on their skills or provide aspiring managers who can’t squeeze a traditional academic schedule into their calendar with the skills necessary to succeed.
    Classes meet 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m.-noon on Fridays to accommodate weekend commuters. Some area hotels offer special packages for UMass Winter School students.
    UMass Amherst faculty and guests instructors lead a combination of classroom, laboratory, group project and discussion activities. Close-knit classes offer an opportunity to learn from the experiences of fellow students and to form relationships that will last a lifetime.
     
    A certificate of completion will be awarded to those who satisfactorily complete the program requirements. A high school diploma or GED is required for admission. 
    The Kentucky Certified Professional Turf Managers Level 2 Workshop is a three-day event scheduled for Jan. 8-10 offers advanced  instruction, labs and field work designed to supplement the Level 1 course. Completion of the Level 1 curriculum is not a prerequisite to registering for this program.
    A $225 registration fee includes tuition, all course work, a notebook filled with information from the instructors, lunch and a certificate of completion.
    The three-day event is limited to 30 people and will be conducted at the university’s E.S. Good Barn.
  • During a regional sports turf managers seminar hosted by the late Darien Daily in 2013 at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, University of Tennessee turf pathologist Brandon Horvath, Ph.D., infamously quipped that he was pretty good at growing grass, but really excelled at killing it. 
    Such is the life of a turf pathologist - finding what kills turf and identifying steps and products to ultimately stop that from happening on test plots so turf managers can prevent the same from occurring in real world situations.
    For his work at helping superintendents, sports turf managers and lawn care operators find solutions to disease challenges in turf, Horvath recently was named the recipient of the Dr. Tom Samples Turf Professional of the Year award.
    For the past decade, Horvath has been a turf pathologist at the University of Tennessee. He will receive the award January 7 at the Tennessee Turfgrass Association Conference and Show in Murfreesboro.
    His research efforts focus mainly on management and control of turfgrass diseases and the response of turfgrasses under biotic and abiotic stress.
    The award is named in honor of Tom Samples, Ph.D., professor and turfgrass extension specialist at the University of Tennessee since 1985, the same year he earned a doctorate degree from Oklahoma State University. It is presented annually to someone who has made significant contributions to the turfgrass industry.
    Previous recipients are: 2018, Bill Blackburn; 2017, Roger Frazier; 2016, Doug Ward; 2015, Paul Carter, CGCS; 2014, Greg Breeden; 2013, Joe Hill; 201; 2, Bobby Winstead; 2011, Dan Stump; 2010, James Brosnan, Ph.D.; 2009, Al Davis; 2008, Shelia Finney; 2007, Rodney Lingle; 2006, Alan Windham, Ph.D; 2005, Lynn and Cindy Ray; 2004, John Sorochan, Ph.D.; 2003, Jeff Rumph; 2000, David Green; 1999, Bob Campbell; 1998, Larry Shore; 1997, Andy Brennan; 1996Joe Kennedy; 1995, Jim Thomas; 1994, Dick Horton; 1993, Tom Samples, Ph.D.; 199; 2, David Stone; 1991, Lloyd Callahan, Ph.D.
  • Carlos Arraya of Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis won the 2018 Superintendent of the Year Award. If you are thankful for a great golf course superintendent this holiday season, nominate that person for the 2019 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta. 
    Since 2000, the Superintendent of the Year award has recognized dozens of nominees, like 2018 winner Carlos Arraya of Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, for their work in producing great playing conditions often during times of adversity. If this sounds like your golf course superintendent, or someone you know, nominate him (or her) for this year's award.
    Nominations can be submitted by golf course owners, operators, general managers, club members, golf professionals, vendors, distributors or colleagues, even by mothers and wives. The nomination deadline is Dec. 13.
    The winner, who is selected by a panel of judges from throughout the golf industry, will be named at next year's Golf Industry Show in Orlando, and will receive a trip for two on next year's TurfNet members golf trip, courtesy of Syngenta.
    Nominees are judged on their ability to excel at one or more of the following criteria: labor management, maximizing budget limitations, educating and advancing the careers of colleagues and assistants, negotiating with government agencies, preparing for tournaments under unusual circumstances, service to golf clientele, upgrading or renovating the course and dealing with extreme or emergency conditions. 

    2013 Superintendent of the Year Chad Mark. To nominate a deserving superintendent for this year's award, visit the 2019 Superintendent of the Year Award nomination page. For more information, email John Reitman.
    Previous winners of the award include Carlos Arraya, Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, 2018; Jorge Croda, Southern Oaks Golf Club, Burleson, Texas, and Rick Tegtmeier, Des Moines Golf & Country Club, West Des Moines, Iowa, 2017; Dick Gray, PGA Golf Club, Port St. Lucie, Florida, 2016; Matt Gourlay, Colbert Hills, Manhattan, Kansas, 2015; Fred Gehrisch, Highlands Country Club, 2014, Highlands, North Carolina; Chad Mark, Kirtland Country Club, Willoughby, Ohio, 2013; Dan Meersman, Philadelphia Cricket Club, Philadelphia, 2012; Paul Carter, The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, Harrison, Tennessee, 2011; Thomas Bastis, California Golf Club of San Francisco, South San Francisco, California, 2010; Anthony Williams, Stone Mountain Golf Club, Stone Mountain, Georgia, 2009, Sam MacKenzie, Olympia Fields Country Club, Olympia Fields, Illinois, 2008; John Zimmers, Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pennsylvania, 2007; Scott Ramsay, Golf Course at Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, 2006; Mark Burchfield, Victoria Club, Riverside, California, 2005; Stuart Leventhal, Interlachen Country Club, Winter Park, Florida, 2004; Paul Voykin, Briarwood Country Club, Deerfield, Illinois, 2003; Jeff Burgess, Seven Lakes Country Club, LaSalle, Ontario, 2002; Kip Tyler, Salem Country Club, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2001; and Kent McCutcheon, Las Vegas Paiute Resort, Las Vegas, 2000.

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