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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    It's hard to think about winter the same week the world's best golfers are competing in the U.S. Open - unless you're a superintendent growing Bermudagrass in the transition zone, then there are reminders all over the place.   There were visible blemishes aplenty at TPC Southwind in Memphis for the FedEx St. Jude Classic and at the U.S. Women's Open at Shoal Creek in Alabama, and, now that the high spring season is over in the Myrtle Beach area, nearly a dozen courses on the Grand Strand are temporarily closed while superintendents there make repairs to their greens.   The long, cold winter of 2017-18 has adversely affected countless golf courses growing Bermudagrass in the transition zone. Just a few months ago, Clemson turf pathologist Bruce Martin, Ph.D., called the winter damage throughout South Carolina the worst he'd seen in more than two decades.   In April, he estimated that 20 to 30 percent of the golf courses in Myrtle Beach had some level of damage on their putting greens, but that it would be two or three months before the full extent of the damage was known.   Today, we know.   According to The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, at least 11 courses in the area are closed, were closed or soon will be for repairs. That list, according to the newspaper, includes Glen Dornoch Waterway Links, the Tradition Club, Myrtlewood Golf Club, Indigo Creek Golf Club, the International Club, Diamondback Golf Club, Panther Run Golf Links, Long Bay Club, Lion's Paw Golf Links, Aberdeen Country Club and Sandpiper Bay Golf and Country Club.   Making matters worse has been a long, cool spring that delayed Bermuda-growing weather, Martin said.   There is enough damage at some other courses that the list of closed courses might grow.   The trials and tribulations of others would be wasted if they didn't serve as a learning opportunity for others.   Recent research at the University of Arkansas shed some light on the use of covers on ultradwarf Bermudagrass greens.   While covering greens protects them from cold weather damage, it also prevents play and requires more manpower to deploy and remove, adding to the course's operating costs.   Master's candidate Eric DeBoer looked into the effects of covers on Champion, TifEagle and MiniVerde greens at 25 degrees, 22 degrees, 18 degrees and 15 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the study, TifEagle and MiniVerde were more cold tolerant than Champion.   According to the study, Bermudagrass greens covered when temperatures reached 15 degrees survived throughout the winter with improved spring green up. Covered greens even survived two days of extreme cold temperatures where overnight lows dropped to 0 degrees on consecutive nights.   According to Martin, courses that used two layers of protection, such as a cover placed atop a blanket of pine straw that promotes airflow, came through the winter better than those with a single layer of cover.  
  • Aqua-Aid has rebranded it's stable of moisture management, soil amendment, nutritional and equipment products under the umbrella of Aqua-Aid Solutions. An entirely new website launched today at aquaaidsolutions.com, with new Facebook, Twitter and Instagram handles (@Solutions4Turf) as well.
     
    Long known for high-value or "affordable" surfactant and wetting agent products -- starting with the now legendary Aqua-Aid pellet and proportioner system back in 1986 -- Aqua-Aid has gradually added ancillary product lines to offer golf course superintendents and other turf managers a wide range of solutions to optimize growing conditions.
     
    Within the last decade, AQUA-AID Solutions expanded their portfolio with Verde-Cal products (enhanced lime, gypsum and potassium products), Imants and Vredo turf equipment from Europe and most recently Worm Power Turf vermicompost extract. Rather than disparate websites for each brand, all have now been consolidated into one comprehensive information source at aquaaidsolutions.com
     
    AQUA-AID Solutions current portfolio includes technologies that focus on each element of a turfgrass system: water, air, soil and sunlight. Their range of products provides synergistic moisture management, biological, soil and cultural solutions. Each technology is focused on long lasting agronomic value through improved aesthetics and playability on turfgrass systems in the golf and sports field arena.
     
    "We can touch any part of a turf managers agronomic program and deliver a solution to the challenges they may be facing," explains Sam Green, president of AQUA-AID Solutions. "This new platform will allow us to continue our mission of delivering unique technological advanced products to support agronomic programs while reducing environmental impact." 
     
    Before joining Aqua-Aid in 2013 as director of business development, Green was the golf course superintendent at the Country Club of Landfall and Eagle Pointe Golf Club in the Carolinas. Before his promotion to president of Aqua-Aid Solutions, Green was Chief Operating Officer of Aqua-Aid.
     
    The mission of Aqua-Aid Solutions moving forward is to "continue delivering customized innovations that solve turf and ornamental challenges by improving soil and plant health for agronomic programs around the globe".
  • How many Washington politicians does it take to solve a problem? No one knows: They've never solved one."  
    Part VI in a series of labor issues affecting the golf industry.
    To say the golf industry is facing a labor crisis is as obvious as pointing out that the game needs more players.
      Whether it's finding enough interns, AITs or just hourly employees to mow fairways and rake bunkers, it seems like most superintendents are having a difficult time finding, hiring and/or retaining enough help.    A shortage of labor is not a private club problem and it's not a daily fee problem. It's not a west coast problem or an east coast problem. It's just a problem, and it's not just limited to golf. Washington is in a unique position to help - with at least some of this problem - but don't hold your breath.   According to the New York Times, there were more than 50 teenagers in the labor force for every fast-food restaurant 25 years ago. While the number of restaurants in the marketplace has ballooned by more than 40 percent since then, the number of available workers seeking employment has been cut in half.   A Federal Reserve survey indicates that construction, retail, healthcare and agriculture are industries struggling to find enough help.   In 2000, about 45 percent of teenagers between 16-19 were employed. Today, only about 30 percent of eligible teens have a job.   Sounds a lot like the golf business, where a shortage of applicants has led many superintendents to lean on seasonal help through the H2B program.   Josh Saunders has been hiring temporary workers through the H2B program for the past five years at Longue Vue Club in Verona, Pennsylvania, mostly out of necessity.   He runs ads in the classified section of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette not only to comply with H2B regulations, but genuinely in hopes of attracting local workers.   "I would love to hire Pittsburghers. The problem is, no one wants to do this work anymore," Saunders said.    "I post ads and go through interviews, but people don't want to commit to the hours, they don't want to work weekends, and where we are, the opioid issue is a big deal. I would ask people, can you pass a drug test?' because that is a prerequisite of working here, and I'd watch as people would get up and walk right out."   Some newspapers have recognized that employers are facing a labor crunch and have increased the cost of classified advertising exponentially.   Pat O'Brien, superintendent at Hyde Park Golf and Country Club in Cincinnati said the same help-wanted classifieds that once cost him $600 just a few years ago now cost $4,500.   "It's just another piece to the puzzle," O'Brien said.    His luck in attracting local talent through the paper is about on par with Saunders'.   "In four years, I've had just one applicant for an interview," he said. "Nobody (here) wants to do this work. There is a need for temporary seasonal labor."    
    I would love to hire Pittsburghers. The problem is, no one wants to do this work anymore."  
     
    Even for those who apply for seasonal workers, there is no guarantee they will get them. The number of requests the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service receives routinely exceeds the cap of 66,000 workers with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (October 1 - March 31) and 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1 - September 30). USCIS stopped accepting petitions in February.   With those petitions for seasonal help approved on a lottery system this year, even some of those who have crossed all their T's and dotted all their I's found themselves on the outside looking in.   "The process is getting harder and harder and harder," Saunders said.   Doug Norwell at Camargo Country Club in Cincinnati experienced a five-week delay in getting his seasonal help this year.   "I like the guys we get. They are fantastic," Norwell said. "I don't enjoy the process. I do it because I have to. We have a serious lack of workers.   "The work is not going to get done otherwise. No one is applying for those jobs."   The need for hard-to-get seasonal H2B employment isn't limited to golf.   On June 5, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested 114 undocumented workers at two Corso's Landscape locations in northern Ohio. A raid of a Tennessee meatpacking facility in April netted a similar number of arrests.    Investigations into employers suspected of hiring undocumented workers were up about 60 percent in 2017 compared with 2016.   While the current administration's view on immigration policy and Congress's perpetual inertia at drafting comprehensive legislation is another topic for another day, the above examples help illustrate the fact that there are more unskilled, low-paying jobs in the U.S. than there are legal candidates (either U.S. citizens or guest workers) willing or able to fill them.   And that is something Washington can't ignore, or at least shouldn't
  • Part V in an ongoing series about labor issues affecting the golf industry.
    Cincinnati is known for many things.   It was the birthplace of Steven Spielberg and the childhood home of Charles Manson. President William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati and four other presidents, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison and William Henry Harrison lived there at one time in their respective lives. The Reds were the first Major League Baseball team, and in the 19th century the city was the country's leading pork producer and third largest beer maker.   Today, the city that is home to Procter & Gamble and served as the backdrop on the closing credits for the defunct soap opera, The Edge of Night, also is a microcosm for the labor issues facing the golf industry.   Only 7 miles separate Camargo Country Club and Hyde Park Golf and Country Club, and their respective superintendents, Doug Norwell and Pat O'Brien, are longtime friends and one-time colleagues. And for several years, both have utilized the H2B program for seasonal temporary non-agricultural workers. Both use the same consultant to complete and file paperwork and until this year, they shared similar results, securing anywhere from four to 10 guest workers from Mexico to help them get through the golf season.   "I couldn't believe it when Pat got them and I didn't," said Norwell, superintendent at Camargo, a Seth Raynor classic in Cincinnati's posh Indian Hill neighborhood.   The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services set the H2B cap at 66,000 workers this year, 33,000 who begin work in each half of the fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2017-March 31, 2018 and April 1 2018-Sept. 30, 2018).   On May 31, the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor published a temporary final rule increasing the H2B cap by as many as 15,000 additional visas through the end of fiscal year 2018, which does little if anything to help many golf courses this fiscal year.   In the past, many utilizing the H2B system felt reasonably assured they would get some of the workers they needed as long as petitions were submitted before the Jan. 1 deadline. This year, the USCIS conducted a lottery to randomly select petitions for workers. Some who petitioned for workers, including O'Brien, got what he needed. Others, like Norwell, did not."   At Hyde Park, an urban Donald Ross design, O'Brien's staff typically includes a diverse group of retirees, interns, high school students, and, since 2014, as few as four and as many as eight guest workers from Mexico. That was the case this year, because of practice range renovation program this year. In four years, I've had just one applicant for an interview. Nobody (here) wants to do this work. There is a need for temporary seasonal labor." "This year was a little more challenging," he said. "Still, most of the people I know were fortunate."
    Norwell wasn't in that group - at least initially.   Although the consultant he works with submitted his petitions at the first possible moment, Norwell, who petitioned for 10 workers, at first was shut out of the process. He eventually received eight workers, but they came nearly a month-and-a-half after the course opened for the season.   When he thought he wouldn't be getting any guest workers, Norwell planned for dramatic changes at Camargo. That included buying a second triplex because he wouldn't have enough staff to walk mow greens, and a new faster, wider roller to make easier and faster to roll greens.   Whether a golf facility receives workers or not, there is a protocol to follow that can be costly, even for those who hit the lottery. Clubs must exhaust efforts to find American workers first, and that includes placing an ad in the local newspaper for two days, notifying past employees of the openings via U.S. mail, and posting job notices in a visible place at the club for current employees to see. Employers are required to pay the average local wage for the advertised position.    O'Brien paid more than $4,000 to run a help-wanted classified ad in the Cincinnati Enquirer   "In four years, I've had just one applicant for an interview," O'Brien said. "Nobody (here) wants to do this work. There is a need for temporary seasonal labor."   Although he was granted an 11th-hour reprieve this year, Norwell is ready to implement those changes next year.   "We're still planning on it for next year," he said. "It was a difficult process this year, and it's not going to be any easier next year.    "The safest thing is to plan on not having them."  
  • As a research scientist, Brian Horgan spends a lot of time looking for ways to promote healthy turf.   He also is concerned about sustainability and ensuring that the same things that make turf healthy dont harm the environment in other ways.   Horgan, of the University of Minnesota, and Pam Rice, Ph.D., a chemist with the U.S. Department of Agricultures Agricultural Research Service in St. Paul are looking for ways to minimize the risk of pesticide and fertilizer runoff into adjacent water bodies, and at least two management practices common on golf courses could help turf managers accomplish just that.   Rice and Horgan compared the effects of two turf management practices - hollow tine coring and verticutting - on controlling pesticide runoff by simulating rain events at the university's research station. The trial was conducted on creeping bentgrass and fine fescue maintained at fairway height. The researchers simulated rain with on-site irrigation and gutters channelled runoff into a flume that allowed them to control precipitation, measure runoff and collect samples for pesticide analysis.   The work was funded in party by the USGA.   "Golf courses can be surrounded by hundreds, or even thousands, of people living right alongside them," said Mike Kenna, Ph.D., director of research for the USGA Green Section, "so it's important to us that they're managed in an environmentally friendly way, and that they are not polluting the air or the water."   Horgan and Rice measured concentrations of five different pesticides in the runoff and found that core aerifying helped the soil absorb more runoff than verticutting and was more effective than coring and verticutting together, possibly because vertical mowing can compact the soil at points where the mower blades cut into it, the researchers said. The take-home message, they said, is go with coring if you are concerned about pesticide runoff at your golf course.   The results, which can help superintendents and researchers develop management strategies to improve environmental stewardship of managed turf while providing desired turf quality, were published in Science of the Total Environment.
  • "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." 
    Ernest Hemingway
      The job of a university extension agent is to tell golf course superintendents what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. The two often are mutually exclusive.   For years, superintendents in South Carolina and beyond could rely on Clemson turf pathologist Bruce Martin, Ph.D., to do just that. After parts of four decades helping golf course superintendents and others diagnose problems and find ways to overcome them, Martin, 64, will retire from Clemson at the end of June.   "His impact here and around the country has been immense," said Tim Kreger, executive director of the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association. "There are hundreds of facilities here and nationwide that he has helped. One of the keys to the success of that program has been that he is not on campus. He's close to all the courses on the Grand Strand, and that has been critical."   Regardless of which companies were paying him to conduct product trials at the university's Pee Dee Research and Education Center 200 miles east of the main campus, Martin routinely kicked out advice and management programs that were designed to help superintendents save their jobs rather than help distributors sell more of Product X.    For example, his infamous Program 13 includes products from a half-dozen companies and for more than a decade has been widely recognized as the gold standard for helping superintendents manage creeping bentgrass in summer.   "I try to tell them what works best," Martin said. "It's like any medical protocol: If you don't do A-B-C, you're going to die. A-B-C might come from different companies, but your job in extension is to be unbiased. I joke that I try to piss off all the chemical companies equally. Nobody laughs at that."   Scott Ferguson, CGCS at Wild Dunes Resort in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, has known Martin for more than 20 years. In that time, Martin has helped him manage fairy ring outbreaks, nematode infestations and conducted trials for new products on the golf course.   It is the concern that Martin has for superintendents that Ferguson says he will miss most.   "Everyone in the Carolinas has leaned on him pretty hard over the years. He genuinely cares about our success," Ferguson said. "Most of the time, he answers the phone when you call him, and if he doesn't answer, he calls you back 100 percent of the time.    "He will be sorely missed."A native of Conway, Arkansas, Martin graduated from local Hendrix College with a degree in biology. He earned a master's in plant pathology from the University of Arkansas and a doctorate in the same discipline from North Carolina State.   He had been working at a research station in Connecticut when his wife was hired at the Pee Dee lab, so he spent his first year in South Carolina working at Horry-Georgetown. A year later, he was hired to work in tobacco and field crops at Clemson.   Because of the importance of tobacco to the local economy, all students in the NC State program learned something about diseases that affected it.   "So, I was prepared for that," he said. "Well, I wasn't totally ingornant. Let me put it that way."   At NC State he studied under Leon Lucas, Ph.D., whom he credits as greatly influencing his career in turf pathology. Lucas, who later became the staff agronomist for the Carolinas Golf Association, brought a sense of humility with him on site visits because he knew the only reason he was there was because the superintendent needed help.   "I visited a lot of golf courses with Leon," Martin said. "You don't realize when you're that young that what you are diagnosing makes a big difference to the superintendent, but it does. Leon helped me understand that."   Along with Larry Stowell, Ph.D., of PACE Turfgrass Research Institute, Martin was the first in 2001 to diagnose and name Rapid Blight (Labyrinthula terrestris), a disease in cool-season turf typically caused by irrigation water high in salts.   "(Bruce) saved the day when a new turfgrass disease was discovered in California," Stowell said. "At the time, the disease had not been observed elsewhere and pathologists around the country had difficulty seeing the organism using microscopes or isolating the pathogen from grass samples using conventional methods. It wasn't until duplicate samples of Poa trivialis arrived at both the PACE lab and Dr. Martin's lab that progress on the nature of the pathogen gained momentum and the disease was named 'rapid blight.' Bruce immediately initiated lab tests, genetic analyses and fungicide trials and quickly identified control options. After several more years and collaboration between Bruce and Drs. Mary Olsen and Robert Gilbertson at the University of Arizona, the causal organism was identified to be a unique and new terrestrial plant pathogen in the genus Labyrinthula. Bruce's knowledge, generosity, curiosity and professionalism were the key to the discovery of the cause and management of this important turfgrass disease."   When it came to other types of cool-season grasses and how to help them make it through summer, Martin was on speed dial for a lot of superintendents. Kreger of the Carolinas GCSA recalled one of his first visits to the Pee Dee lab.   "Boxes were stacked above my head," Kreger said. "When I asked what they were, he told me they were turf samples from superintendents all around the country."   Helping superintendents, regardless of their location, was the norm for Martin, who has been a speaker at events locally, regionally and nationwide for decades.   "He's always been right in the center of research on creeping bentgrass," said USGA Green Section agronomist Pat O'Brien. "If there was a hall of fame for turfgrass pathologists, he'd be in it."   Martin, however, isn't so sure. It's all part of the humble nature that has come to define his career.  
    I'm not a jokester. I appreciate a good joke, but I'm crappy at telling them. I'd rather impart knowledge."
     
    For years, he taught with Rutgers' Bruce Clarke, Ph.D., at the annual Golf Industry Show. It was a long time, he said, before they determined what their audience wanted to hear, and how they wanted the information communicated to them.   "Sometimes you're too familiar with the top. I'd read through my reviews and they'd say things like "Martin needs to up his game.' I'd have to remember that they might be hearing something for the first time, but I'm telling it for the 20th time and you'd have to jack yourself up," Martin said. "That always bothered me. Some people are really good at speaking. I'm not a jokester. I appreciate a good joke, but I'm crappy at telling them. I'd rather impart knowledge.    "Finally, one year Bruce (Clarke) and I asked our (GIS) audience what they wanted us to talk about. Instead of trying to cover every disease, we'd cover the top 10. That made a huge difference in how we presented the material, and it made a huge difference in how they paid attention."   Much of that humility was learned through mistakes, which is yet another tidbit he tries to impart on superintendents.   "I've gotten my clock cleaned plenty of times, and I tell them that the same thing will happen to them once in a while," Martin said. "Once in a while, you run across someone who thinks they are infallible, but most understand this and want to learn how to recover from it."   Currently, Martin is part of the committee searching for his replacement, and although he will continue to consult for superintendents after he retires, he will stay equally busy with his hobbies that include bow hunting, fishing and chipping arrowheads out of pieces of flint.   "Talk about a waste of time, but it is something fun that I enjoy" he said. "I like to make something out of what used to be a rock. But flint is like glass, so you bleed a lot."  
  • It is not likely that Gleneagles Golf Course will ever end up on the golf industry's blacklist of closed courses any time soon.   The city-owned course in one of San Francisco's roughest neighborhoods has had every excuse to fail. It doesn't receive the same support as Harding Park or Sharp Park, the other municipal courses in the city's golf portfolio. Crime in the neighborhood is rampant. Tom Hsieh, who holds the management contract on the course doesn't have near the resources - in equipment or manpower - as other city course.   Despite those challenges, golfers come back day after day, month after month, year after year.   For nearly a year now, disc golfers also have been paying the nine-hole stick golf rate to play at Gleneagles. During the recent Memorial Day weekend, the course, which opened in 1962, was the site of the San Francisco Open professional disc golf event.   And get this, people, hundreds of them, paid Hsieh $10 each over three days to walk the course to watch the event. Hundreds of people, not thousands, walking along and talking with the sport's biggest names, Hsieh thought, might be similar to what other emerging sports went through as they slowly caught on with the masses.   "This is a niche sport with a lot of potential," Hsieh said. "This must be what golf was like in the '50s when you could walk along with people like Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer."   Unlike the city-owned courses at Harding Park and Sharp Park, Gleneagles at McLaren Park has struggled on San Francisco's east side. The city doesn't fund it, like it does the other two courses. So the property that is in one of the city's worst crime zones must stand alone, and Hsieh has tried many different things to make sure it does.   He brought in disc golf about a year ago, after watching a steady stream of players flood into Golden Gate Park on the city's west side. He even started playing it to see what all the hubbub was about.   "I'd been watching it for 10 years. I live next to the only other disc golf facility in the city, and I drive past it every day," Hsieh said. "I watched the crowds grow bigger and bigger, and so I started to play myself to see what I could learn about it. Then I started to wonder if there were any disc golf courses on stick golf courses, and would people pay to play it."   Turns out they will.   After about a year, disc golf comprises 5 percent to 6 percent of Gleneagles' gross income.   "I'm not saying this is for everyone. I'm sure it's not," Hsieh said. "But we've hit a home run.   "It's not a lot, but it's another 40 bags of fertilizer for a second application. It's another few thousand units of water on the grass."   Although Hsieh already is in talks with the Professional Disc Golf Association about coming back to Gleneagles in 2019, getting the course to where it could host an event like the SFO was no small feat.   Setting up an 18-hole disc golf course within Gleneagles' existing routing cost between $15,000-$20,000, none of which Hsieh had just lying around a year ago. Familiar with the concept of crowdfunding, but unfamiliar with it in practice, Hsieh started a page through Indiegogo and to his surprise, raised $10,000 within the first 72 hours. Within three weeks, and against the wishes of park officials, he had the money needed to carve out a course in Gleneagles' out-of-play areas with the help of disc golf course architect Leonard Muise.   Hsieh had three goals when building the disc golf course within Gleneagles.   "I wanted to make it compatible with Gleneagles, I wanted to attract interim to advanced disc golfers, because that is the kind of traditional golfer who comes here, and I wanted to make it championship length so we could attract a major tournament," he said. "This week, we checked off the last of those. We had about 70 percent of the world's top 150 disc golfers, and we've only had disc golf open since June 2017. The locals love it and so did the pros because we have elevation changes and how it winds through the cypress trees. It plays exactly like the stick golf course does, and it sucks players into the out-of-bounds areas where we as golfers never go anyway."   For those curious about who has the right of way when the traditional golf and disc golf worlds collide at Gleneagles, the answer is simple.   "We are a golf course, first and foremost, and we will always be one. Traditional golfers are my first priority," Hsieh said. "We have asked the disc golf community to teel off after 11 a.m., and if they are holding up golfers in any way, to let them through. It has worked extremely well, and our stick golfers have been incredibly supportive."  
    We are one less statistic that gets rung up in 2018, and there are going to be a lot of them. You can take our name off that list."
     
    Hsieh has prior experience with emerging sports. In the 1980s, he founded the first trade magazine to cover the snowboarding industry. In those days, snowboarding was looked down upon by the skiing industry. As interest in traditional skiing waned, and slopes and retailers found it harder and harder to make ends meet, it wasn't long until the fledgling snowboarding industry sport was credited with bailing out its snooty cousin.   "I remember when snowboarding was a new upstart sport, and we were fighting to get onto ski resorts," Hsieh said. "They didn't like kids, the urban influence or the music. That went on for a long time, and we finally started getting on at mom-and-pop resorts. Skiing started losing its appeal, and new generations weren't going skiing. Everyone who was snowboarding was 15 to 20 years old, and that's who was missing from skiing. We knew then it was going to be big, bigger than skiing. Disc golfers feel the same way."   Hsieh lobbed a lot of the credit for the professional disc golf event's success to tournament director Sean Jack, who convinced him Gleneagles was the perfect venue for such an event.   "He told me we could make it as big as we want it to get," Hsieh said. "I'm a guy who's trying anything and everything to survive. We have traditional golf, foot golf and disc golf and a training academy for our workers. Nothing is too outside-the-box for me."   Indeed, Hsieh has a history of doing things differently at Gleneagles.   Since 2015, Hsieh has been working with a local labor union in the Bay area to provide unskilled labor in a pre-apprentice program that provides training and hope for at-risk residents from one of the city's worst neighborhoods. It also provides Hsieh with low- to no-cost labor and the satisfaction that comes with knowing he's doing something to help those who need it most.   And as golf courses continue to close at a startling pace while the industry seeks supply-demand equilibrium, such innovative programs help Hsieh keep Gleneagles off that growing list.   "I'm not saying I have all the answers. But for $20,000 I raised through crowdfunding, I have completely flipped my small business model," he said. "It's also taken some creativity and some risk-taking, but it has ensured that Gleneagles can make it into the near future, and that's a big deal. We are one less statistic that gets rung up in 2018, and there are going to be a lot of them. You can take our name off that list."
  • If you have ever watched a TurfNet University Webinar and wished you could view it again, or if you've ever signed up for one, but were unable to sit in for the live event, don't worry, recordings of the live broadcasts are available anytime, anywhere. And they're free, thanks to Grigg.
     
    Whether it is the "History of Poa annua", delivered May 23 by Beth Guertal, Ph.D., of Auburn University, or her March 12 presentation entitled "Soil tests: What do all those numbers mean?", TurfNet has a bank of nearly 200 recorded webinars conducted by dozens of industry experts dating back to 2011.
     
    Recordings include presenters from Penn State, NC State, Rutgers, Cornell, Ohio State, Michigan State, Kansas State, Tennessee, Kentucky, Auburn, Florida, Purdue, the Asian Turfgrass Center, the International Sports Turf Research Center and much more.
     
    Just like our live webinars, all recorded archives are free for everyone. TurfNet members should be logged in to their account, and non-members will have to register for a free guest account to view them.
  • There are maintenance shops that carry a lot of inventory, and then there is Saucon Valley Country Club.   With hundreds of pieces of equipment in two shops, Dave Stofanak keeps pretty busy at this 60-hole facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.   "The sheer size of this operation is the most glaring difference. We have 850 acres, 60 holes, 120 golf carts, tennis, a full-service country club and 39 club vehicles all under his responsibility," said Saucon Valley superintendent Jim Roney. "When it just comes to repairs and schedules, he's always prioritizing things so nothing slips through the cracks.   "It's not just golf, and it's not just a fleet of greensmowers. It's four fleets of greensmowers."   Stofanak's ability to see past the doors of the maintenance shop also set him apart, Roney says.   "As superintendents, we want to beat the crap out of the grass and produce the best conditions. In the process, we beat the crap out of the equipment," Roney said.    "It's a joy to work with him. He sees the big picture. We communicate well with each other, I tell him what I want, and he tells me how we can get there."   One might think an operation the size of Saucon Valley would have a virtually unlimited budget, but anyone operating under that assumption would be incorrect.   "One of his greatest attributes is his ability to manage the budget," Roney said.    "That's the biggest thing we talk about. You'd think we have unlimited resources, but that's not the case. The economy in the Lehigh Valley is strong, but this is not Philadelphia or New York. He is never over budget, and that would not be possible except for his vision of how equipment is supposed to operate and how it is supposed to be maintained."   Those are among the reasons that Stofanak has been named a finalist for the 2018 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by Toro.   The winner will receive the Golden Wrench Award and a spot in Toro's Service Training University at the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.  
    We communicate well with each other, I tell him what I want, and he tells me how we can get there."
     
    Criteria on which nominees are judged include: crisis management; effective budgeting; environmental awareness; helping to further and promote the careers of colleagues and employees; interpersonal communications; inventory management and cost control; overall condition and dependability of rolling stock; shop safety; and work ethic.   Stofanak has plenty of experience maintaining Saucon Valley's equipment. He's been doing it since Roney was in the seventh grade.   During that time, Saucon Valley has hosted the 1990 U.S. Senior Open, 2000 U.S. Senior Open, 2009 U.S. Women's Open and the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. The Senior Open will return to the Lehigh Valley in 2022, and rest assured, Roney says, Stofanak will be there to make sure it goes off without a hitch.   "Along with these championships comes a whole other level of challenges," Roney said. "Whether it is identifying areas of need and coordinating loaner equipment with our distributors and local superintendents, or the challenge of doubling your fleet and servicing both morning and evening throughout the championship."   One of Stofanak's most admirable attributes, Roney says, is his ability to stay calm under the most demanding of circumstances.    His ability to fabricate tools and come up with quick solutions on the fly are top notch. When Roney bought new core collectors for aerification days, they quickly noticed the units were rubbing against the tires of the aerifier. Stofanak quickly fixed that problem.   "That's the way it was sold. We would have gone through tires left and right," Roney said. "Dave said 'give me an hour, and I'll come up with something.' He welded on a spacer and the problem was solved. The next day he had five machines done and we were ready to go."   Previous winners include (2017) Tony Nunes, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, IL; (2016) Kris Bryan, Pikewood National Golf Club, Morgantown, WV; (2015) Robert Smith, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, PA; (2014) Lee Medeiros, Timber Creek and Sierra Pines Golf Courses, Roseville, CA; (2013) Brian Sjögren, Corral de Tierra Country Club, Corral de Tierra, CA; (2012) Kevin Bauer, Prairie Bluff Golf Club, Crest Hill, IL; (2011) Jim Kilgallon, The Connecticut Golf Club, Easton, CT; (2010) Herb Berg, Oakmont (PA) Country Club; (2009) Doug Johnson, TPC at Las Colinas, Irving, TX; (2007) Jim Stuart, Stone Mountain (GA) Golf Club; (2006) Fred Peck, Fox Hollow and The Homestead, Lakewood, CO; (2005) Jesus Olivas, Heritage Highlands at Dove Mountain, Marana, AZ; (2004) Henry Heinz, Kalamazoo (MI) Country Club; (2003) Eric Kulaas, Marriott Vinoy Renaissance Resort, Sarasota, FL.  
  • Terry Libbert survived four superintendents at Old Marsh Golf Club. Don't think for a minute that fact has been lost on any of them.   Libbert, who was hired at Old Marsh in 2000, was nominated for the 2018 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by Toro, by all four of the superintendents he worked for at the course in Palm Beach Gardens.   Because of the impact he has had at Old Marsh over such a long period of time under numerous supervisors, Libbert has been named one of three finalists for this year's award.   The winner will receive the Golden Wrench Award and a spot in Toro's Service Training University at the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.   Criteria on which nominees are judged include: crisis management; effective budgeting; environmental awareness; helping to further and promote the careers of colleagues and employees; interpersonal communications; inventory management and cost control; overall condition and dependability of rolling stock; shop safety; and work ethic.   "It's not often when you can have your equipment manager be as passionate about the golf course as much as the golf course superintendent," wrote former Old Marsh superintendent Jim Colo, who now is at Naples National Golf Club. "Terry Libbert is that individual."   His dedication to the club and willingness to do what was necessary to help provide the best playing conditions for its members made an immediate impact on former Old Marsh head greenkeeper Steve Ehrbar, when he hired Libbert nearly two decades ago.   "When interviewing Terry several years ago for the position of equipment manager at Old Marsh Golf Club, I asked him how he felt about topdressing greens weekly and the damage it causes to mowers, he said 'if that's what it takes to provide great putting surfaces for the members and guests, we'll handle it,' " said Ehrbar, now superintendent at Jupiter Hills in nearby Melbourne. "Right then I told him, 'you're hired.' "  
    It's not often when you can have your equipment manager be as passionate about the golf course as much as the golf course superintendent. Terry Libbert is that individual."
     
    Libbert has lasted as long as he has not only because of his passion but in part because of his ability to repair atypical pieces of equipment, including excavators and bulldozers, and helping his bosses manage water issues in an extremely sensitive environment that is closely monitored by the South Florida Water Management District as well as local and county water officials.   "Terry Libbert has been with Old Marsh Golf Club for over 15 years, working with four different superintendents and every manufacturer of equipment," said Old Marsh superintendent Tony Nysse. "He's gone through two renovations and taken on maintenance for the homeowners association along the way. Terry is a staple of knowledge in regards to historical value and an overall knowledge of machines, engines, cars and pumps. Terry is, without hesitation, the glue that keeps both operations moving in the right direction."    He has fabricated many inventions since Steve Ehrbar, now the superintendent at Jupiter Hills in Tequesta, hired him nearly two decades ago.   His inventions include custom-sized brushing attachments welded to the back of traditional leaf rakes to simplify grooming fairway, and he rides the course nearly everyday to make sure all equipment is working properly and that what he sends out produces the desired conditions, said Al Clements, a former Old Marsh superintendent who today manages the turf at Pablo Creek Golf Club in Jacksonville.   "I've had the privilege to work with many great technicians in my career, and Terry Libbert is one of the best in the business," Clements said. "He is a true team player who is not only passionate about his trade, but genuinely cares about the staff and the club."   Previous winners include (2017) Tony Nunes, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, IL; (2016) Kris Bryan, Pikewood National Golf Club, Morgantown, WV; (2015) Robert Smith, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, PA; (2014) Lee Medeiros, Timber Creek and Sierra Pines Golf Courses, Roseville, CA; (2013) Brian Sjögren, Corral de Tierra Country Club, Corral de Tierra, CA; (2012) Kevin Bauer, Prairie Bluff Golf Club, Crest Hill, IL; (2011) Jim Kilgallon, The Connecticut Golf Club, Easton, CT; (2010) Herb Berg, Oakmont (PA) Country Club; (2009) Doug Johnson, TPC at Las Colinas, Irving, TX; (2007) Jim Stuart, Stone Mountain (GA) Golf Club; (2006) Fred Peck, Fox Hollow and The Homestead, Lakewood, CO; (2005) Jesus Olivas, Heritage Highlands at Dove Mountain, Marana, AZ; (2004) Henry Heinz, Kalamazoo (MI) Country Club; (2003) Eric Kulaas, Marriott Vinoy Renaissance Resort, Sarasota, FL.
  • We've heard of some clandestine meeting places to interview job candidates, but a hospital room has to take the cake.     Odd as it might seem, that's exactly where Mark Fuller was hunkered down when he hired Bob Fedge, for the second time, in 2013.   Fuller was in the hospital for a couple weeks recovering from a ruptured Dieulafoy lesion when he contacted Fedge about an opening for the position of equipment manager at The Connecticut Golf Club.   The two had worked together previously at Longshore Golf Course in Westport, Connecticut and the Quechee Club in Vermont, so when Fuller needed to hire a new equipment tech, he knew exactly where to start.   "I knew he was hunting and was available, and I needed somebody," Fuller said. "I hired him right from the hospital."   Almost before Fuller made it home from the hospital, Fedge implemented a preventive maintenance program that reduced repair expenses over a four-year period by 51 percent, from $66,636 to $33,337 in 2017.    "This was accomplished despite the fact that we have not kept up with our annual equipment replacement plan," Fuller said. "Through his repair efforts we have been able to extend the life of the club's equipment as well. He is truly a 'Mr. Fix It.' "   Fedge has been named one of three finalists for the 2018 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by Toro.   The winner will receive the Golden Wrench Award and a spot in Toro's Service Training University at the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.  
    He keeps the equipment in such good shape that we've lost the opportunity to buy new pieces. He's become his own worst enemy."
     
    Criteria on which nominees are judged include: crisis management; effective budgeting; environmental awareness; helping to further and promote the careers of colleagues and employees; interpersonal communications; inventory management and cost control; overall condition and dependability of rolling stock; shop safety; and work ethic.   Fedge is not just a skilled mechanic.   "He has a strong understanding of anything having to do with plumbing, mechanicals, electrical or hydraulics," Fuller said. "His talents have saved the club from using outside services for repairs from equipment to building repairs."   But it's on the golf course where he makes his hay.   "His responsibilities include maintaining two pump houses, irrigation electrical needs, range equipment maintenance and repairs, recycled water wash area for equipment and communication equipment service and repairs," Fuller said.   "Where he's really saved us money is repairing large pieces of equipment."   His repair skills have helped extend the life of aging pieces of equipment that otherwise might need replacing or at least the help of an outside service technician. That includes replacing the electronic gears and welding a cracked arm on an aging excavator.   "We have a 1965 wood chipper, and the club will never invest in a new one because he keeps it in such good shape," Fuller said.    "He looks at repairing things as a challenge and he does it."   Recently, Fuller's request for a new fairway mower to replace a 2005 unit with 3,500 hours was denied because Fedge has kept the aging and oft-used piece of equipment in top shape.   "He keeps the equipment in such good shape that we've lost the opportunity to buy new pieces," Fuller said. "He's become his own worst enemy."   Previous winners include (2017) Tony Nunes, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, IL; (2016) Kris Bryan, Pikewood National Golf Club, Morgantown, WV; (2015) Robert Smith, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, PA; (2014) Lee Medeiros, Timber Creek and Sierra Pines Golf Courses, Roseville, CA; (2013) Brian Sjögren, Corral de Tierra Country Club, Corral de Tierra, CA; (2012) Kevin Bauer, Prairie Bluff Golf Club, Crest Hill, IL; (2011) Jim Kilgallon, The Connecticut Golf Club, Easton, CT; (2010) Herb Berg, Oakmont (PA) Country Club; (2009) Doug Johnson, TPC at Las Colinas, Irving, TX; (2007) Jim Stuart, Stone Mountain (GA) Golf Club; (2006) Fred Peck, Fox Hollow and The Homestead, Lakewood, CO; (2005) Jesus Olivas, Heritage Highlands at Dove Mountain, Marana, AZ; (2004) Henry Heinz, Kalamazoo (MI) Country Club; (2003) Eric Kulaas, Marriott Vinoy Renaissance Resort, Sarasota, FL.  
  • As an assistant superintendent at Oakmont Country Club for many years, David Delsandro always knew the importance of staying up to date on turf and personnel management issues in the golf industry. As the head superintendent at the Pittsburgh-area course that has become synonymous with the U.S. Open, Delsandro also knows how important it is for he and others in a similar position to share their knowledge with the next generation of golf course superintendents.   That's why Delsandro, who was a member of the inaugural Green Start Academy 12 years ago has since become a member of the executive board that leads the education for tomorrows superintendents.    The three-day series of seminars and discussions presented by Bayer and John Deere provides assistants with networking and educational opportunities in subjects such as career development, budgeting and labor management. The event is scheduled for Oct. 24-26 at the the Bayer and Deere facilities in the Raleigh, North Carolina area.    "Attending the inaugural Green Start Academy in 2006 was a defining moment in my professional development," Delsandro said in a news release. "Interacting with and listening to the distinguished panel of contributors was a great opportunity. The ability to network with similar, driven assistant superintendents only provided greater motivation in my daily work. John Deere and Bayer provided a first-class, fantastic experience that proved to be very beneficial. I recommend applying to Green Start Academy to our current assistant superintendents on an annual basis."    Those interested in attending can apply through an online submission form on the Green Start Academy web page. All applicants must submit an application, resume, cover letter, letter of recommendation and an essay that includes three ideas to initiate change in the golf maintenance industry in the next decade.   The advisory panel will choose 50 applicants from the pool to attend this years event. The application period is open through 5 p.m. on June 25.   Other members of the advisory board include: Bob Farren, CGCS, Pinehurst Resort; Pat Finlen CGCS, The Olympic Club; Lukus Harvey, Atlanta Athletic Club; Andy Morris, Country Club of Peoria (IL); Grant Murphy, The National Golf Club of Canada; Tyler Otero, North Jersey Country Club; Michael Stevens, Billy Casper Golf; Billy Weeks, Houston Country Club.    
  • As the lone turfgrass extension specialist for all of Kentucky's 40,409 square miles, the University of Kentucky's Gregg Munshaw, Ph.D., can get stretched pretty thin when conditions start going south.
     
    The university went a little farther south to find help for Munshaw.
     
    Travis Shaddox, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, has accepted a research and extension position at UK. He will officially start his new post July 1.
     
    "The university, the city, everyone we've met there, they've all been very inviting," Shaddox said. "We are looking forward to getting there."
     
    A graduate of Oklahoma State, Shaddox earned master's and doctorate degrees at Florida. He spent 10 years in private industry, including six years in various roles with Lakeland-based Harrell's.
     
    In four years at the University of Florida, including a year of postdoctoral research, Shaddox quickly developed a reputation for getting things done.
     
    A soils specialist by trade, Shaddox rapidly began rehabbing the Fort Lauderdale research station and worked with the state's GCSA chapter to outfit the facility with new equipment, including two devices that measure nutrient content in turf, soil or water. His appointment is 60 percent research and 40 percent extension.
     
    "He's bringing his name, his worth ethic and his smarts. Were winning in this, for sure," Munshaw said.
     
    "He's coming from a huge program with a lot of people on staff, so he'll bring a lot of new ideas that I've not thought of. He'll have things that worked in Florida that might work here, or things that didn't work there, but might work here."
     
    Like many university turf programs, Kentucky has struggled for several years with enrollment. And Munshaw and university officials have been working on ways to tweak the program since he arrived at his alma mater in 2012.
     
    He hopes Shaddox's appointment will give him more time to redraw the lines of a program built up by the late A.J. Powell.
     
    Shaddox will be asked to help re-establish connections across the state with Kentucky's golf course superintendents.
     
    "He will be instrumental in that," Munshaw said. "I'm scattered all over lawn care, sports turf, golf. He has his blinders on with golf. He's much better at bringing in that golf market than I am."
     
    The task facing him is much like what Shaddox encountered when he took over at the Fort Lauderdale station in 2015.
     
    "For all practical measures, I'll have the same type of research and extension duties as I do now," Shaddox said.
     
    "I envision identifying the needs of golf course superintendents and all stakeholders throughout the state. We need to find out what their needs are, address those needs and show the value of the program and how the university can address that."
  • Joe Vargas learned early in his Michigan State career not to question Jim Beard, much less make a bet with him.   Vargas had just started his new job as a professor in the Michigan State turf program in 1968, when Beard, the program's patriarch, ordered him along to help check snow mold research plots in northern Michigan. After they arrived in the Traverse City area, Beard expressed concern about some of his plots and whether water would be able to penetrate sand showing signs of hydrophobicity.   "I told him anything would pass through sand," Vargas said.    Beard disagreed, and proposed a wager. The loser would buy a bottle of wine at dinner.   "Well, you know who bought that bottle of wine," Vargas said. "I didn't even have my first paycheck yet. It was about $20 for that bottle, and it was probably all the money I had in my pocket."   After that day, the two worked side by side for the next seven years. Vargas learned a lot in that time, including the importance of listening.    Beard taught and toiled at Michigan State from 1961 to 1975 and is credited with building the program into what it is today, died May 14. He was 82.   A native of Bradford, Ohio, a rural community northwest of Dayton, Beard graduated from Ohio State in 1957 and went on to earn masters and doctorate degrees from Purdue. After building the Michigan State program into one of the country's top turf schools, he spent nearly 20 years at Texas A&M. While in College Station, he founded the International Sports Turf Institute and served as its director and chief scientist for years.    Throughout his career, he authored several books, including Turfgrass Science and Culture, which Karl Danneberger, Ph.D. of Ohio State called "the Bible for turfgrass managers. With the help of wife Harriet, who typed all his handwritten notes, Beard also authored more than 900 technical papers and peer-reviewed articles detailing the results of his research, and helped raise the level of turfgrass education and research along the way. He eventually donated his volumes of work to MSU's Turfgrass Information Center.    "He put the word science into turfgrass science," Danneberger said. "He did quality work, and he expected others to do quality work as well."   Danneberger recalls a time when Beard refused to sign off on peer-reviewed research that he didn't believe was up to par.   "As you can imagine, it rubbed some people the wrong way," Danneberger said. "But, he raised the quality of work in turfgrass research for everybody."  
    As you can imagine, it rubbed some people the wrong way. But, he raised the quality of work in turfgrass research for everybody."
     
    Al Turgeon, Ph.D., professor emeritus at Penn State, remembers going along on some of those drives into northern Michigan to examine research plots during his days as a graduate student at Michigan State. He recalls an atmosphere of professionalism, camaraderie and respect in the MSU program under Beard, the likes of which he had not seen before or since.   "He brought a level of sophistication to research and education that was unique," Turgeon said.   "You didn't have to go to his office and kiss his ring. He came to see you to see how things were going and to offer help and advice.   "When we would make the drive to his plots, we all behaved liked colleagues. We would go out to dinner together and discuss issues on a first-name basis. It was a wonderful experience for someone who wanted to be a turfgrass academic. I have very fond memories of the collegiality that characterized that era at Michigan State."   To illustrate his demand for excellence and attention to detail, Beard was a taskmaster in how he ran field days and the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation annual conference. Field days included practice session in advance of the live event.   "Everyone had a job and we practiced it," Turgeon said. "It was very professional."   Added Vargas: "He ran everything. We had no idea how much he did until he left and we then had to do it."   His legacy includes the Turfgrass Information Center and an expectation of excellence in the classroom and the field that continues today.   "Dr. Beard influenced generations of students and young scientists with his many books, papers.and presentations, as well as his encyclopedic knowledge of Turfgrass Science," said Bruce Clark, Ph.D., of Rutgers University. "He was a good friend, mentor, and role model who set the bar exceptionally high. He will be sorely missed."  
  • Pennsylvania is the latest state considering a ban on phosphorus in some fertilizers, and the legislature could take things a step further by requiring specialized training for professional applicators.   Senate Bill 792 passed by a vote of 47-3 on March 19, and is scheduled to go before the house for a vote in October.   A previous version of the bill first was introduced in Harrisburg in 2014. According to current version, any fertilizer product used in Pennsylvania can contain no more than 0.9 pounds of total nitrogen, at least 20 percent of which must be in an enhanced efficient (slow-release) form.   The proposed legislation also prohibits phosphorus in fertilizer products with the following exceptions: > the fertilizer is an organic-based or natural organic product, > the fertilizer is labeled for repairing an existing turf area or establishing a new one, > the fertilizer is a liquid product.   Also exempt from a proposed phosphorus ban are instances where a soil test performed in the previous three years indicates phosphorus would be of benefit.   Each of those exceptions have been fairly common in other states imposing phosphorus bans. What is unique in the Pennsylvania bill is that, as written, it will require golf courses, parks, playgrounds, schools, universities and colleges that apply fertilizers to employ a "commercial applicator" who "applies or supervises the application of fertilizer to the property or premises of another or who applies or supervises application of fertilizer."   The bill makes no mention of the actual certification process that will be put into place if an when the bill is signed into law. That includes the process itself, funding and implementation as well as enforcement.  
  • Part IV in an ongoing series about labor issues affecting the golf industry.   "Necessity is the mother of invention" is a proverb that first appeared 2,400 years ago in Plato's Republic. Those words have just as much meaning today at the Devou Golf and Event Center in Covington, Kentucky, as they did in 380 B.C. when the Greek philosopher put pen to papyrus for his historic manuscript.   A decade after an eight-year fairway-renovation project that replaced annual bluegrass turf with all Meyer zoysiagrass, the golf course at modest, city-owned Devou has what many associated with the project say are among the best fairways in the Greater Cincinnati area.   The unique project, that involved a sod cutter, a makeshift nursery and a whole lot of ingenuity, was borne partly out of choice, but mostly out of necessity.    With Devou's severely limited budget, severely sloping terrain, severely poor soil and severely humid summers, the challenges facing superintendent Ron Freking were, in a word, severe.    Neither the city of Covington, which owns the course, nor the management company operating it at the time were in a position to sink a half-million into a fairway renovation. The site, which sits atop a rocky bluff high above the Ohio River overlooking downtown Cincinnati, is ill-suited for cool-season turf for myriad reasons. For starters, the slick and sloping surface made it difficult for golfers to hold even well-struck balls on Poa annua fairways, and poor soils coupled with hot summers in the Ohio River valley presented a tall hurdle for someone managing annual bluegrass.    "This is never going to be a bentgrass course," Freking said. "Not with our budget and our water. It's not going to happen. And the zoysia is better in the summer anyway."   Freking and Ralph Landrum, the former PGA Tour pro whose management company held the operations contract at Devou at the time, decided it was best to go around the hurdle rather than over it. And a random patch of Meyer zoysia discovered during a clean-up project was the key to the project.   That small patch of Meyer was discovered decades ago while cutting down an overgrown area near the first hole.   "There was so little of it," Landrum said. "You could have covered it with two golf carts, it was so small."   According to local lore, the zoysia was pinched decades ago from Hyde Park Country Club during a restoration project at the Donald Ross design in Cincinnati's posh east side.   Freking babied the zoysia and eventually grew that small patch into a 1-acre nursery. The turf performed so well during the hot, humid summers that it soon became readily apparent that it could be a source for an in-house renovation the likes of which few have seen.   Freking used a sod cutter to pull 12-inch-by-18-inch pieces of Poa from the fairways and replace them with equal size pieces of Meyer sod. In fact, the Meyer performed so well during the Cincinnati area's rough summer weather that he was able to pull patches from it twice a year for the project, once in May and again in August.   "You can play on it all winter and beat it to death, and it's done, but it comes right back in the spring," Freking said. "By August 15, everyone else on the course was dead and the zoysia looked so good. It was like carpet off a roll. We knew that if we could get enough of it, we would have quality turf. We also knew getting from Point A to Point B would not be easy."   Devou general manager David Pena was a superintendent in those early days of the project at another Landrum-managed course 10 miles south of Devou in Florence. He and his crew were at Devou often helping on the project.   During the summer, the annual bluegrass would start to check out and the zoysia would be lush and green. In the shoulder seasons and through the winter, the Meyer would lie dormant in a checkered field of green Poa.   "It truly was a checkerboard. In those early days, it was ugly 365 days a year until it grew in," said Pena said. "Everyone trusted Ron and his foresite. The one thing that convinced you that it would work was how good the nursery always looked in the summer. He'd pull from it twice a year and the turf and it looked great, while the turf it was competing with was falling apart."   It truly was a checkerboard. In those early days, it was ugly 365 days a year until it grew in."  
    Laying the sod gleaned from Devou's own nursery took three or four summers, and the entire project took eight years to complete from sod to grow-in. And although it wasn't a perfect plan, it was an economical one for a municipal facility where green fees range from $12 to $38. The project was completed for pennies on the dollar compared with the projected cost of a full scale resodding project.    "We didn't pay anything for the grass," Freking said. "The only money we had in it was a little bit on fertilizer and some labor. We didn't spend $30,000 on the entire project, and if properly cared for, the City of Covington has great zoysia fairways for life."   Devou opened in 1922 as a low-budget nine-hole facility, and expanded to 18 holes in 1995. Back then, the construction of the second nine was completed in early fall. If the world of Meyer zoysia had a capital, Kentucky would be it, but because construction of the second nine didn't come until late in the year, it necessitated grassing over with cool-season turf.   "It wasn't finished until late September or early October," said Landrum, whose company managed Devou from 1986 to 2008. "And that meant zoysia was out."   Selling Landrum on the merits of the project wasn't tough. In fact, he'd been thinking about such a project for years before Freking got started in 2004.   "Devou never was a high-ticket place. When I took over, there was no irrigation system and no cartpaths,' Landrum said. "That course is too hilly for cool-season grass. You could stand in the middle of the fairway on a couple of holes and drop a ball out of each pocket, and one would have probably roll into the fairway on your right, and the other would have probably roll into the fairway on your left."   It wasn't a tough sell on customers also, as play hummed right along on the checkerboard fairways that    Ironically, Freking only recently learned that convincing his golf buddies on the merits of the plan was a tougher sell. Freking regularly plays with a couple of classmates - Dan Reekers and Chuck Bray - from his days at nearby Ludlow High School, where he graduated in 1980.   "About two years ago, we were looking at how nice the grass is and they told me that when we started this project, they thought I was crazy," Freking said with a chuckle. "I didn't know what to say. It kind of took me by surprise."   Pena and Landrum knew better.   "You have to give Ron a lot of credit for getting this project started and completed and keeping it going today and looking great," Pena said. "We have 200 golfers out here today. We're packed. Rounds and revenue are way up, and that is a reflection on Ron."   Still, Freking says the course he navigated probably isn't for everyone.   "I questioned myself a hundred times. When I looked at our terrain, our budget, our irrigation system and our water source, I saw no other way to get quality grass here. I didn't know what else to do," he said.   "I don't think I'd ever do it again. Not like that, anyway. Maybe I didn't know what I was getting myself into."

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