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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    Rain Bird offers full slate of training
      Rain Bird Training Services will conduct more than 70 irrigation training events throughout the country through May 2017. These classes are open to all irrigation professionals regardless of experience. All Rain Bird training classes count toward CEUs from the Irrigation Association.   Classes include three education tracks - Rain Bird Factory Trained classes, which provides training on installation, management and maintenance of all Rain Bird products; Rain Bird Academy, which provides instruction on general irrigation skills on products from various manufacturers; and Rain Bird Customized Training which provides customizable onsite training for professionals from medium-large operations.   Click here for the schedule.   Nominate a turf professional for OTF award
      The Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Professional of the Year Award will recognize one turf industry professionals who has made a significant difference in the turfgrass industry in Ohio.   Nominees for OTF's most prestigious award will be judged on willingness to assist others, leadership in developing new ideas and trends, professional and civic involvement and leadership, and service to the industry.   Nomination forms are available online. Nomination deadline is Oct. 15.   The winner will be recognized Dec. 6 during the keynote address at this year's OTF Conference and Show in Columbus.   Rounds played down almost 5 percent in August
      Year-over-year rounds played were down 4.6 percent nationwide in August compared with the same month last year, according to Golf Datatech's monthly rounds played report.   The big losses were recorded in flood-plagued Louisiana (down 46 percent), Arkansas (26 percent) and Mississippi (23 percent). Double-digit losses also were recorded in Alabama (15 percent); Illinois, Missouri and Texas (14 percent); North Dakota and South Dakota (13 percent); Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada and Washington, D.C. (10 percent).   Year-to-date rounds played are up about 1 percent compared with the first eight months of 2015.   Rounds played in August were up in just 18 states, with the biggest increase of about 5 percent coming in Maine, New Hampshire, Utah and Vermont.  
  • Gannett Co. has acquired Golfweek from the Turnstile Media Group, the parent company of TurfNet.   Effective immediately, Golfweek joins Gannett's USA Today Sports Media Group. The acquisition includes Golfweek, Golfweek.com, Golfweek Custom Media and Golfweek's events division, which oversees the Golfweek's Best course-rater program.   Orlando, Florida-based Turnstile Media Group retains TurfNet, Professional Artist, a community newspaper division and The Golf Wire, all of which will continue to operate business as usual.   "The news that Golfweek was sold to Gannett should have no long-term effect on us at TurfNet," said TurfNet founder Peter McCormick. "Although owned by Turnstile Media Group for the past 15 years, TurfNet has always operated relatively autonomously. We are a profitable business entity with a proven product and long track record, and there's no reason for that to change."
  • To those who believe, as professional turf managers, they already are walking a fine line where irrigation is concerned, scientists at the University of Florida have some news: Chances are, you ain't seen nothing yet.
      "Water is the Achilles heel of the golf industry," said Bryan Unruh, Ph.D., professor of environmental horticulture at UF, during a recent educational event at the university's South Florida Research and Education Center in Fort Lauderdale. "It drives everything."   One need only look at the message the USGA is sending each year during the U.S. Open for proof.   "We are hoping to change players' perceptions," said USGA executive director Mike Davis during the 2015 U.S. Open at dried-down Chambers Bay in Washington. "For years, we have gone lush and plush. Players like that. They are used to it."   Although golfers like lush and plush, but just about everyone else knows that is an unsustainable model and the pressure to use less and less will only intensify.   Water-saving measures have been in place in Arizona and Nevada for years, and California's drought restrictions that were imposed in 2015 were well publicized. As access to usable water becomes more challenging in the years to come, those who grow finely managed turfgrass will fall under increasing scrutiny in a country where the average non-superintendent uses 80-100 gallons of potable water per day, according the U.S. Geological Survey, to do things like shower, brush their teeth and do laundry.   According to the USGS, there are about 332.5 million cubic miles of water on the planet. The amount of water present on earth has held relatively steady for "eons", said UF assistant professor Jason Kruse, Ph.D. In fact, the amount of water that falls in the form of precipitation outpaces the amount lost to evaporation each year by about 30 percent, representing a potential annual net gain of nearly 9,000 cubic miles, according to the USGS. Clearly, the problem is not availability of water, it's that so much of it is unusable in its current state.    Of that total volume of earth's available water, fresh water comprises only 2.5 million cubic miles. And only half of that is usable, with the rest is frozen atop mountains worldwide.   "We're not losing water," Kruse said during the two-day event for professional turf managers. "What is changing is where that water is located.   "We may never run out of water technically, but we're going to run out of good water. And that is going to increase the cost of water if we have to start desalination plants for drinking and living purposes. Price of water, or an inability to make coffee in the morning are going to affect how we use water in the landscape at some point."   The point UF researchers were illustrating is that there is a difference between availability of water and quality of water.   Kruse pointed to two examples to make his point - his native Idaho and his current home, Florida.   Southern Idaho receives most of its scant 10 or so inches of rain each year in a matter of weeks, not months.   "The aquifer where we pumped water from at the house I lived in was 650 feet down, so by time water made it to that aquifer, it was pretty clean," he said. "The problem was it was being pumped out through so many wells by farms in the area that it was draining quickly. Availability was the concern, not quality."   In Florida, the growing concern is water quality. It is estimated that as many as 1,000 people per day are moving to Florida, and the pressure that growth is placing on the state's system of underground aquifers is leading to saltwater intrusion on some occasions.    "What is reality is we may reach a point where our water use in the landscape is even more heavily scrutinized, which is already happening in places like California," he said.   "Availability of water sets the pace for how we manage a landscape."   Indeed. The United Nations says that by 2025 1.8 billion people will be living in areas under what it called "absolute water scarcity" and that two-thirds of the population will be living in water-stressed conditions.   For those same reasons, there is likely to be a push from within the golf industry to convince superintendents of the benefits of irrigating turf based on evapotranspiration. Although some are irrigating that way now, the majority do not.   Unruh suspects superintendents don't irrigate off of ET now because it is a shifting dynamic that changes daily based on factors like humidity, wind and sunlight.   "Uniformity of distribution is all over the place," said David Dore-Smith, superintendent at Copperleaf Golf Club in Bonita Springs, of ET-based irrigation. "I know superintendents who hand-water everything on greens."   The University of Florida recommends irrigating turf based on 70 percent of ET. Anything more that could push nutrients below the root level is wasteful.   "Sandy soils can't hold all that water. It goes right through," Unruh said, likening the soil's ability to consume to that of a greedy teenager.   "What happens when you give a teenager everything they want? They use it all," he said. "Overwatering turf is like giving that teenager everything they want, plus more, they're lazy and not much use."   Finally, water-use analogies in terms we can relate to.
  • Daily fee golf is under attack.   Nearly 1,000 golf courses have closed in the past 11 years, and a disproportionate number of them have been daily fee facilities, according to the National Golf Foundation.   Public-access facilities comprise about 75 percent of the golf course supply, yet they represent about 93 percent of the 177 net closures of 18-hole equivalents in 2015. Private facilities, which make up 25 percent of the supply, accounted for the remainder of all closures - about 7 percent.   There are many examples of cities that "get it" when it comes to the muni golf dynamic, but there are many others that do not.   For the past three years, golf course architect Andy Staples has been trying to help municipal golf operations reinvent the wheel through a program he calls "Community Links."   More than just a golf course, the Community Links concept is a full-blown scheme designed to attract families to facilities that include not just a golf course but other amenities that focus on family togetherness, health and wellness, diversity, and conservation and education.   Because only about 7 percent of the U.S. population plays golf, publicly owned facilities are under increased scrutiny to be self-sufficient. Subsidizing renovation and construction projects, like Community Links, can be an easier sell since it offers amenities, like parks, trails and open spaces, for the other 93 percent of the population as well.   Staples recently published a white paper on the concept that he has titled "Innovate or Close".   His first project at Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs, New Mexico, opened last year and transformed a money-losing municipal course into a vibrant property that Golf Digest and Golf Inc. both named among their best new developments for 2015.   The Hobbs project includes 27 holes, including a short course, double-sided practice range, chipping and putting areas, trails, open spaces for events, a 5-acre lake and a classroom for new golfer instruction.   Funding of the project wasn't cheap, with the city committing $12 million for the restoration of the golf course and additional family-friendly amenities.   Staples' white paper details the history of the municipal golf model and why, with some exceptions, so many cities are struggling to make it work.   Rising management costs and declining demand have combined to provide a difficult environment in which municipal operations can thrive. Municipal golf was developed primarily as a way to bring recreational opportunities for the masses at less than - far less than - private club fees. An inflated golf market through the 1990s diverted too much attention away from golf and onto other amenities as golf facilities everywhere looked for additional ways to drive revenue. A recession, many of the effects of which continue to linger, and interest in the game that is sinking like a boat with a hole in it, have left many municipalities rethinking their commitment to muni golf, like Jackson, Mississippi, which recently closed its nine-hole Grove Park Golf Course.   The Community Links concept is a grassroots effort to grow the game and drive interest in family friendly outdoor activities. It's moving at a snail's pace, but it is moving.   Late last year, Staples began working with the City of South Jordan, Utah on developing a $10.8 million master plan for its Mulligans golf center in hopes of converting it into a similar Community Links project. On Sept. 23, a city review committee approved Staples' Community Links master plan, passing it on to the full council for consideration at its next meeting. He also is in talks with cities in California, Nevada and South Dakota on similar projects.   Like the Hobbs project, the South Jordan plan includes a golf course renovation that produced a product focused on high-handicap players, parks and other open spaces aimed at getting families off the couch and outdoors.   According to feedback from the Hobbs community, non-golfers have a more positive view of the open spaces and their benefits than golfers, with 91 percent saying they are interested in trying to play golf. Growing the game at the grassroots level is what municipal golf is all about.  
  • When it came to building a worldwide design empire on the basis of his fame, Arnold Palmer succeeded like nobody else. Palmer, who died Sunday at age 87, was a smart-enough businessman to know that his clients would be thrilled even if he were to show up only at the occasional ceremonial event to bless work that was well underway.
      He cared enough to monitor progress on the 306 design projects that came his way during the last half-century of his life. He also knew the key was to hire good associates and to entrust and empower them. He assembled a deep roster, notably Frank Duane, Ed Seay, Harrison Minchew, Erik Larsen, Vicki Martz and, more recently, Thad Layton and Brandon Johnson.   Nobody mistook Palmer for the architect. At news conferences and ribbon cuttings, Palmer would defer to his design associates to provide technical details. Such is the confidence when you're The King.   There also was no other way to undertake the flood of work that came his way. What began as one of many ancillary businesses along with a string of dry cleaners and an eponymous drink combining iced tea and lemonade was little more than a vanity enterprise. It quickly grew to a point in the mid-to-late 1990s that the offices of Palmer's design firm in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida., arguably were the busiest in the world, with 25 employees churning out plans and overseeing work, with little hope of catching up on the backlog.     Back then, a 30-foot long "Current Projects" board in one design studio tracked the status of 38 courses in various stages of Phase I (planning and routing); Phase II (construction documentation); and Phase III (actual construction) across 14 states and eight countries. Seven other signed contracts were in some version of "hold," if not for environmental-permitting issues then simply because of financing shortfalls. There also was a list of two dozen good prospects for which contacts had been made, business plans discussed and preliminary negotiations underway.   Those were the days. More recently, the Arnold Palmer Design Co.'s workload, like that of the entire golf industry, slowed to a near crawl. His design staff has been trimmed to two full-time designers, Layton and Johnson, and the workload handled easily in a small office at Palmer's beloved Bay Hill Resort & Lodge in Orlando, a 1962 Dick Wilson design that Palmer owns. He repeatedly tweaked the layout so that it remained a fresh test for resort guests and the toughest crowd of all to please, his fellow professionals who, starting in 1979, assembled there every March for a PGA Tour event that honored Palmer. The course used to favor aerial bombardment. Interestingly, there's now more ground game out there, including low-cut approaches and greenside rollouts into chipping areas.   His design legacy embraces 37 U.S. states, 25 countries and five continents (all except Africa and Antarctica). His first project was the back nine at his boyhood home course, Latrobe (Pa.) Country Club, with his dad, Deacon Palmer, in 1963. His last was Fazenda Boa Vista in Sorocaba, Brazil. He as an ambassador for the game all the way, never more so than in 1985 when he debuted the first course in China, Chung Shan Hot Spring Golf Club, just inland from Macau.   Palmer's design style evolved with the golf-development market. His early designs emphasized elaborately shaped bunkering and the occasional photogenic beach bunker or bulk-headed peninsula green. Gradually, he cultivated a more site-specific approach. Isleworth in Orlando, Fla., was a flat grove when Palmer and Seay went to work there in the mid-1980s. Semiahmoo in Blaine, Wash., on the Canadian border, was carved through the rolling terrain of a dense conifer forest.   At Tralee in Ardfert, Ireland, the task was less to build holes than to allow them to emerge naturally from native sand dunes on a peninsula projecting into Tralee Bay. And at PGA West (Palmer Private) in La Quinta, Calif., Palmer emulated the high-tech glitz that was the rage then with hyperactive putting surfaces, tightly fortified green complexes and four dramatic holes on the back nine into raw mountain rock.   But Palmer's design team also was capable of scaling it back, which is what makes his most highly ranked course, Old Tabby Links on Spring Island in Okatie, S.C. so impressive. The 1,200-acre site is a low-lying old tabby ruin in the middle of Intracoastal Waterway tidal marshland. There can't be more than 4 feet of natural elevation change on site. Two-thirds of the entire property are set aside for a nature preserve, and the golf course weaves in and through boggy terrain and sandy waste areas without much hint of real estate anywhere. The back nine culminates in holes that brush up against the marsh, with the now-famous 17th hole a par-3 sitting on an isthmus. As an engineering achievement, it's a brilliant piece of drainage. As golf design, it's endlessly fascinating for the angles of play and the way different long views open, depending upon the line of approach.   Palmer was respected by his peers in the American Society of Golf Course Architects. They awarded him their Donald Ross Award for lifetime achievement in 1999 and made him an honorary member and subsequently a group fellow. It didn't matter that he wasn't technically trained in topographic analysis and landscape engineering. What mattered was Palmer's commitment to a professional design ethic through the people he empowered in his firm and through his professional credibility as the game's preeminent spokesman for half a century.   - Bradley S. Klein, Golfweek   Arnold Palmer's best designs
    Kapalua Golf Club (Bay Course), Maui, Hawaii (1974) Whistler Golf Club, Whistler, British Columbia (1980) Tralee Golf Club, Ardfert, Ireland (1984) Chung Shan Hot Spring Golf Club, Zhongshan, China (1985) Isleworth Golf & Country Club, Orlando, Fla. (1986) Semiahmoo Golf & Country Club, Blaine, Wash. (1986) PGA West (Palmer Private), La Quinta, Calif. (1987) Kildare Hotel & Country Club (Smurfit), Straffan, Ireland (1990) Park Hyatt Aviara Golf Club, Carlsbad, Calif. (1990) Dakota Dunes Country Club, Dakota Dunes, S.D. (1991) Musgrove Mill Golf Course, Clinton, S.C. (1992) Old Tabby Links on Spring Island, Okatie, S.C. (1994) Oasis Golf Club (Palmer Course), Mesquite, Nev. (1995) Running Y Ranch Resort, Klamath Falls, Ore. (1997) Tradition Golf Club, La Quinta, Calif. (1998) ArborLinks Golf Course, Nebraska City, Neb. (2001) TPC Boston, Norton, Mass. (2002) Reunion Resort & Club (Legacy), Kissimmee, Fla. (2003) Newport Dunes, Port Aransas, Texas (2008) Fasano Las Piedras, Punta del Este, Uruguay (2012)
  • With 1,000 golf courses, 2,000 high schools, thousands of parks and a population of almost 20 million people, Florida claims to have the nation's largest turfgrass economy.
      According to the Florida Turfgrass Association, 178,000 people contribute to the state's turf industry, creating an economy worth nearly $8 billion. Whether it is golf, sports turf, lawn and landscape or parks and rec, one thing turf managers from each segment of the industry have in common is a need for education.   The University of Florida is stepping up help to help fill that void with the first of what it hopes will be many installments of turf education designed to help everyone, from entry level lawncare operators to the most experienced golf course superintendent or sports turf manager.   Bryan Unruh, Ph.D., professor of environmental horticulture and associate center director of the University of Florida's West Florida Research and Education Center in the state's Panhandle, has been wanting to start such a program for most of the past two decades. Several research and teaching positions flipping in the past several years, stalling his plan, until the recent addition of Travis Shaddox, Ph.D., at the South Florida Research and Education Center near Fort Lauderdale.   "In my 21 years in Florida, through various surveys, a need for more in-depth education continually came forward," Unruh said. "As we brought on Dr. Shaddox here in Fort Lauderdale, the time just seemed right."   "We wanted golf course superintendents, athletic field managers, landscape contractors, all these different groups of people from around Florida coming in to learn the science behind turfgrass management, realizing they have varying levels of knowledge and skills. We feel that diversity makes for a great learning environment, because they are teaching each other."   Limited to 40 attendees, Turf School I - Evidence-Based Turfgrass Management was a two-day series of seminars, workshops, demonstrations and field trips that provided in-depth information on water, light and temperature, and how those three factors influence almost everything turf managers do on a daily basis. As the name implies, all curriculum presented was the result of scientific research, not anecdotal evidence from someone down the road.   "The object is to provide turf stakeholders in Florida with an opportunity to come in and ask questions, and for us to provide answers from an evidenced-based point of view," Shaddox said.   "There is a lot of anecdotal evidence out there, and observational evidence, but from our perspective, when we provide answers to questions, those answers need to evidence-based from a scientific perspective. That way, turf managers can take that information and immediately implement it into their programs and create a more efficient program by reducing their costs, producing the same turf conditions with fewer resources or enhance their programs and produce better-quality turfgrass."       The obvious challenge with a diverse audience with varying levels of expertise is developing curriculum that is meaningful to all, regardless of experience.   Each presentation slide shown throughout the two-day program included a footnote about the scientific research supporting the data, some of which was provided as supplemental handouts.   "We have people in here with less than three or four years of experience in turf and some with 20 years or more. There is a great variation of knowledge in the audience," Shaddox said.    "We made conscious efforts to address multiple levels of knowledge in the audience. Among the things we did, in the lectures, we tried to present the information in layman's terms, while providing scientific manuscripts for the experienced turf managers."   The event also included a field trip to the adjacent Miami Dolphins practice facility, where sports turf manager Ed Lamour shared how he manages Bermudagrass and paspalum on two NFL fields.   David Dore-Smith, superintendent at Copperleaf Golf Club in Estero, Florida, was eager to attend the event after meeting with Shaddox at chapter meetings.   "He was very open with us how he wanted to approach his testing at this facility," Dore-Smith said. "He wanted to show evidence-based research, in that we could get over here and get our hands dirty, look at the different products and ask the relevant questions that appealed to us.    "When I read the curriculum those were the sorts of things that appealed to me."   Audience diversity, said Jason Kruse, Ph.D., associate professor of turfgrass management at the university's main campus in Gainesville, has added to the back-to-school experience.   "It's been great to see the spectrum of people we have drawn into this," Kruse said. "That spectrum of experience has made this a richer experience for everyone already. We tried to welcome a dialogue throughout this process, and we have people with different levels of expertise of their own that they have brought to the discussion."   UF will follow up with the second installment of its evidence-based turf school, probably in early 2017 so as not to conflict with the Golf Industry Show in February in Orlando. Turf School II will teach attendees primarily how to manage insects, weeds, diseases and nematodes.    "We are going to bring in other players from the UF turf team," Unruh said. "And in we will want attendees at the next event to come in and take part in a lot of lab exercises where they will learn how to extract nematodes from a sample. or grow out a pathogen so we can say 'yes this is the problem you are experiencing in the field.' "
  • With dozens and sometimes hundreds of courses shuttering their doors each year, saving money, regardless of how much or how little, is more important than ever in the current golf economy. That is especially true at multi-course facilities like 72-hole Cog Hill Golf and Country Club near Chicago.
      Saving money, however, is not the impetus, behind an agronomic experiment that is helping Cog Hill superintendent Chris Flick slash water, fertilizer and pesticide inputs on on the property's No. 1 Course.   For Flick, finding a way to perfect that experiment so he can use it on Cog Hill's other courses is all about sustainability and staying a step ahead of pesticide rules and regulations.   "This program is a result of seeing all the legislation that is being handed down," Flick said. "If you look at New York and California and Canada, I feel like we're all going to eventually feel that. I wanted to teach myself and the guys here how we can manage that before we are required to to manage that. I wanted to stay ahead of the curve a little bit."   For two years, Flick has been experimenting with three low use rate programs that include a variety of pesticides and nutritional products. Each program, however, has one common thread - Civitas.   "I've been experimenting with a variety of things, and different rates and intervals, but Civitas is the cornerstone of the program," Flick said.   "We keep pesticide use to a minimum here, and what that boils down to with this is half-rate fungicides going into the tank. It's a process, but we're getting closer."   So far, the results have been dramatic for Flick.   Overall turf health and visual quality are up, inputs are way down without compromising playability for his members. Water use also is down, by about 30 percent, Flick said. That's a bonus on a course that gets about 20,000 rounds per year.   "We were expecting some water savings, and Civitas sort of claims to be able to produce water reductions," Flick said. "But I didn't know if we would be able to pull that off because of the traffic we get."   A graduate of Clemson University, the 33-year-old Flick said, when it comes to projects like this, he is fortunate to manage such a large piece of property.   "We have a ton of turf we manage, so we can get away with a little experimentation, a little failure and take away some learning," he said. "We fail from time to time, and that is part of the learning process. I don't mind that as long as I can communicate with customers about what trying to prove.   "If we had just one golf course, we could never tolerate this."   Flick continues to tweak and make changes to his program so that he can find the limits of what he can and cannot do to reduce inputs while still providing excellent playing conditions at one of Chicagoland's most well-known properties. Once he defines those limits, his plan is to expand it.   "I definitely plan to expand it. We've seen some excellent results on Course 1, especially on greens and approaches," he said. "When you are doing so many things like we are, it is important to define what works and what doesn't.    "Not going to get better until we find what works and what doesn't, and nothing will ever make sense if all we do is fail."    Although he definitely is saving some money, Flick said money never was his goal.   "I'm not in it for the cost savings. Anyone has that goal not going to be successful," he said. "Civitas is not cheap. None of these products are. Of course, there are some cost limitations, and you have to be effective in how you spend your money. But if you're just going to throw this out there to make yourself feel good, it's just going to be a waste."   In fact, Flick recommends that anyone attempting a similar project should set clear goals before beginning.   "My advice is set reachable goals to start and don't expect a lot right away," he said. " I expected a lot, because I wanted to see a lot, and what I did was get confused.   "Pick a goal, monitor that goal and work toward that goal."  
  • As the home to the U.S. Air Force's 30th Space Wing, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is ground zero for the military's space and missile testing. For the past 59 years, it also has been home to Marshallia Ranch Golf Course. Even Marshallia Ranch's unique status in the golf industry has done little if anything to ensure the property is immune from the challenges that exist outside Vandenburg's gates.   Citing declining play and rising water costs, the Air Force closed Marshallia Ranch last month. The practice range and clubhouse remain open, but the golf course no longer is open for play.   Reportedly designed by Bob Baldock, who has more than 80 course designs to his credit, Marshallia Ranch has been the site of several military tournaments was dubbed by the Air Force as its "Best Kept Secret."   The real secret is out now.   According to published reports, the course, once open only to retired and active military personnel, opened its doors to public play in 2005 and has been operating in the red for 10 years. That's a problem for military courses that are part of the Morale, Welfare and Recreation division. As such, they must be self-sustaining and receive no additional funds from the government.    From 2006 through 2015, there has been a net loss of 993 golf courses, according to the National Golf Foundation.   Air Force personnel said the course has been buying water from the state for more than a decade, and the cost of water has risen 500 percent in that time.   Superintendent George Stiles has made changes in recent years in an effort to cut back, including turning off water in the fairways and cutting back on greens and tees. That still wasn't enough, as water costs soared to more than $250,000, making the operation financially unfeasible, the Air Force said.   The golf shop, practice range, putting green and chipping area all will remain open.  
  • Golf is a game inexorably linked to its past. It clings to and celebrates its history and former champions, living or dead, like no other sport.
      Although football might be the nation's most popular sport, its early pioneers, like Sammy Baugh, Otto Graham and Jim Taylor, are not revered nearly in the way golf's greats, like Jones, Hogan, Snead and Nelson, or even Palmer and Nicklaus, are remembered.   We embrace golf's venues and those who built them as icons. Augusta, East Lake, Merion, Medinah, Oakmont, Olympic and more stand the test of time in an era where football and baseball stadiums - with a few exceptions, i.e., Wrigley Field and Fenway Park - are razed to build new ones with more money-making luxury boxes. Even South Florida has its iconic tracks, and the Grand Dame of Miami-Dade is not the Biltmore or the Blue Monster at Doral, but Miami Springs, a 6,800-yard, tradition-rich layout that once was host to the longest tenured tournament in professional men's golf.   To understand Miami Springs Golf Course, one must understand the community that has embraced it for nearly a century.   Opened in 1923, the city-owned course was built by Glenn Curtiss, a giant in aeronautics and civil rights before the latter was fashionable. Today, the course remains the oldest in the Miami area. Besides being a home for many years to an early professional tour event that regularly attracted the game's greats, the course,billed as one of the country's first desegregated golf facilities, also was the home of the annual North-South Tournament.    Superintendent Laurie Bland embraces her role at the course and its place in South Florida golf history.   "There is so much history here. Everybody used to play here," Bland said.   While the course has gone through a roller coast ride that saw it rise up, fall into disrepair only to rise up again, it shares many traits with the city, namely it is small, quaint, unpolluted by time and the envy of the metropolitan Miami area.   City-owned Miami Springs is tucked into a planned community of the same name that, with its triangular shape, is bordered by a canal to the west, 36th Street and the massive Miami International Airport to the south and the Miami River that connects the two from the northwest to the southeast before emptying into Biscayne Bay in downtown Miami 8 miles away.    The town, which cannot expand because of its hard boundaries, stands in contradiction to the growth, congestion and general hub-bub that have risen around it. To date, it has some of the highest real estate taxes - and real estate prices - in Miami-Dade County, is a reminder of the romance of early South Florida and proof that sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same.   The course opened as the Miami-Hialeah Golf Club. It wasn't designed by MacKenzie or Ross, it was the work of Palmer . . . not that Palmer. Tub Palmer was a founding member of the Miami Coconuts, a group of South Florida golf aficionados seeking another place to play.   Residents of Miami Springs have been protective of the property ever since it went into the ground. Many of the town's residents are descendents of those who settled here on land once owned by Curtiss. When a hotel chain tried to buy a sliver of a city land adjacent to the golf course to complete a larger real estate purchase so they could build a hotel near the airport, residents voted it down by a two-thirds majority.   "People here love this golf course," Bland said. "They didn't want anyone building anything on land owned by this golf course."   Like residents of the town he built, Curtiss, who later constructed a home on the golf course, was cut from a different cloth. Considered the father of naval aviation, his Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co. merged in 1929 with the Wright Brothers' Wright Aeronautical to form Curtiss-Wright, which still is in operation today. Once an airplane and engine manufacturer, today Curtiss-Wright, with sales of more than $2 billion in 2015, provides technology solutions for the defense, industrial, commercial aerospace and power-generation markets.   Curtiss was a visionary who bought up scads of land in what is now Miami-Dade County, 116 acres of which he sold for the development of what today is Miami International Airport just south of Miami Springs.   When he paid nearly $100,000 to build the golf course, he used Seminole Indians as laborers, not to exploit them as a cheap source of labor, but to give them an opportunity for work because he could see they were a segment of the population that was being left behind as northerners swarmed into Florida in the early 20th century. Curtis, whose home on the golf course is being renovated into a museum, also established a bank just for the Seminoles.   "He could see they were being discriminated against," Bland said. "And he wanted to help them."   That ideology continued throughout the course's history.   From 1955-1989, the annual North-South Tournament was contested at Miami Springs. An integrated tournament that provided an outlet for play for black servicemen in the post-World War II era, the North-South events drew celebrity players such as Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Althea Gibson as well as professional golfers like Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder and Jim Dent.   By then, the course had developed a reputation as one of the country's top golf tracks, and was the site of professional golf's Miami Open from 1925 to 1955, which was the same year the original clubhouse was lost to a fire. Past winners there include Gene Sarazan, Sam Snead, Tommy Armour, Ray Mangrum and Frank Stranahan. Its run as the longest-tenured PGA professional event of its era ended in 1956 when the City of Miami, which then owned the course, refused to support the tournament. Major League Baseball players filled the void, and played in tournaments at the course each year during Spring Training from 1956-67.   The City of Miami Springs bought the course in 1997, and though a few tees and greens moved over time not much else had changed until Bland was named superintendent three years ago. The course had fallen into disrepair and lost more than $8 million since the ownership change, and golfers left for greener pastures.   When Bland arrived, the fairways had more weeds than turf. Some areas under heavy shade were so bad that nothing grew there and Bland, who prepped under Tom Trammell just a couple miles away at Doral, thought it might take years before she could make the course playable. During her interview, she told then-city manager Ron Gorland he would have to fork out a lot of money just to give golfers something they'd want to play.   "When I started here, the fairways were dead. I told the city manager it was going to take at least $1 million to get this place back in shape, including buying products you need," she said.   She also delivered another dose of bad news.   "You're not going to get your money back. You're just not going to see that much revenue," she said. "You just need to get this place in shape first. If you put a million into a golf course don't expect to get it back. That's the kind of shape it was in. I told them to be ready to lose more money."   Eventually Bland whipped the course into shape through a program that included aggressive aerification and topdressing sand, as well as an herbicide program that comprised a lot of Xonerate, Revolver and Monument and what she described as "every ounce of Tribute available in South Florida."   "Everyone understood my gameplan," she said. "I had to attack the weeds and get those out of the way, and then the grass would come back. And it did with a lot of cultural practices, aerification and topdressing, and it worked."   Her plan and its implementation made city and course leaders happy they listened to her during the interview process.   "I refer to her quite often has my 'claim to fame.' What she has accomplished here in the three years we have been here is astonishing," said Miami Springs general manager Paul O'Dell, who took over management of the facility three months before he hired Bland. "This historic track was in shambles in many ways and she has brought the turf back to life, rebuilt all the tees, bunkers and aesthetics of this Grand Dame that is the oldest golf course in Miami."   Indeed. O'Dell, who was brought aboard to clean up the operation, has more than three decades of experience in the golf business and Bland already has been identified by city leaders as his eventual replacement whenever he decides to retire.    "In my years in the golf course business historically, it's (been) the head pro/director of golf (who has) ascended to the GM's position," O'Dell said. "Laurie will be one of the first to break that mold. She has the intelligences, demeanor and ability to direct all the departments and carry out all the functions of the general manager's position."   Since mid-July, Bland has been slowly integrating clubhouse duties into her schedule, including running the business end of the food and beverage department.   "I never knew there were so many laws, especially liquor laws," she said. "If you run out of Jack Daniels, you can't just go down to the local liquor store and buy a bottle. You have to buy it from a vendor.   "The trick is don't run out of Jack Daniels; make sure you keep it on hand. So far, we've been doing pretty good with that."   The entire city of Miami Springs is located atop the Biscayne Aquifer, and 22 well houses installed in the 1920s, including seven on the golf course, supply potable water to the City of Miami as well as Miami Springs. The sandy profile between the surface and the aquifer makes for a naturally efficient drainage system, something Bland learned early in her career there.    Her first major rain event at Miami Springs came in July 2013, the same month she was hired. By the time the rain stopped late in the afternoon she had recorded 8 inches at the golf course.   Rain in August in Miami is a common occurrence, but 8 inches is a lot, even here. That much precipitation can be especially troublesome on a course that relies solely on Mother Nature for drainage.    "There is no drainage on this course; absolutely none," Bland said. "The locals told me how well it drained. They said 'you'll see.' "   See it she did.   "When the rain ended around 5 p.m., the course, I mean it was just flooded," she said. "I thought, 'oh no, I'm going to have to shut it down tomorrow.' The next morning, I couldn't believe you could drive carts on the fairways, and we were able to reopen."   When the course was built, Tub Palmer didn't install a lot of bunkers, and most of the ones he did pencil into the design were pretty small. Since getting Springs' weed problem under control and bringing back the Bermuda turf in the fairways, Bland has rebuilt the bunkers and reduced the overall number of traps from 38 to 26, mostly by enlarging and combining them so there are fewer hazards to maintain.   "What is one bunker now used to be three small bunkers with big, deep faces. We don't need that here. It doesn't fit on this kind of golf course," she said.    "The course already is challenging because of the greens. We want to challenge golfers, but we also want to attract people and encourage them to play golf, so we needed to make the bunkers easier and easier to maintain. Now, I only have to send one person out in the morning to rake bunkers."   Some of those golfers who left when the course went to pot have never come back, though many have, enough to keep a steady stream coming through the door, even in 98-degree heat with soaring humidity.    Convincing many of them to give Springs another chance has taken some effort.   "It took a lot of work to convince them that we had changed and to come back," she said. "We offered them free golf or to just ride the course and see what they think.   "A lot of them didn't come back, but a lot did."   Those who did realized that at Miami Springs, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  
  • Once rejecting Bayer AG's proposal of a merger, Monsanto has agreed to a coupling with the German chemical company.
      Bayer AG, which is based in Leverkusen, Germany, will acquire St. Louis-based Monsanto for $66 billion in cash, pending regulatory review, the company's said in a joint statement. It is the latest in a rush of chemical company mergers that includes a $130 billion merger between Dow and DuPont that was announced in December. That merger was followed by a $43 billion buyout of Syngenta by the China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina).   The mergers, according to Reuters, are taking place as companies scramble for position in a burgeoning global agricultural market. The deal is expected to receive intense regulatory scrutiny as lawmakers voice concerns over antitrust issues and the rising cost of food for consumers.   Monsanto, which manufactures Roundup for The Scotts Co., rejected Bayer's initial takeover bid in May, with Monsanto board members calling the $62 billion offer financially inadequate.   There could be even more mergers coming, with Monday's announcement of a planned merger between Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, both of Canada.   Monsanto has long been considered a coup for any chemical company in a takeover bid because of its presence in the ag seed market. Monsanto is the world's largest seed producer and a leader in genetically modified foods and seeds. Bayer AG, whose subsidiaries include Bayer Environmental Science, makes a host of products for the healthcare, agriculture and chemical industries.   Once the deal has passed regulatory review, the combined agriculture business will have its global Seeds & Traits and North American commercial headquarters in St. Louis, its global Crop Protection and overall Crop Science headquarters in Monheim, Germany, as well as its presence in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina, according to Bayer.   Nothing is certain in a merger of this size, especially in an election year, analysts say. According to Bloomberg news, mergers valued at more than $10 billion have a 1 in 3 chance of being rejected. To that end, the Dow-DuPont merger has hit several roadblocks since European Union regulators opened a full investigation into the merger in August. The latest delay was announced Sept. 11, leaving both firms to conclude the merger will not be approved, if at all, until 2017.   If Bayer-Monsanto deal is not approved, Monsanto will be owed a $2 billion breakup fee by Bayer.
  • In more ways than one, 1904 was a historic year in St. Louis. Not only were the Olympics in town that summer, but so was the World's Fair. It was, as most know by now, the last time that golf was contested as an Olympic sport until its return this summer in Rio de Janeiro.
      Golf is a game with global roots, though that sometimes can be difficult to remember since more than half the world's supply of golf courses are in North America.   It is clear that part of the intent of golf's governing bodies in working to get the game sanctioned as an Olympic sport for 2016 and 2020 (Tokyo) was to spread its footprint, and Brazil provided the perfect opportunity.    Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by population with 200 million people, and, according to the World Bank, is growing at a rate of nearly 1 percent per year. Whether the games have their intended effect of bringing golf to the masses in the southern hemisphere's largest country remains to be seen, but, golf is a global game, and organizers are looking far beyond South America to expand it. From a participation standpoint, it appears they are succeeding, according to statistics released by the National Golf Foundation.   Here are some facts about Olympic golf, according to NGF.   > 88 percent of the 208 countries competing in all Olympic sports have golf facilities;   > 74 percent of the top 50 golfing countries were represented in the Olympics;   > 29 of the top 30 golfing countries were represented;   > the top 25 golfing countries all had golfers in the Olympics;   > five nations outside of the top 50 in golf supply were represented Paraguay, Bangladesh, Russia, Hong Kong and Israel;   > the United States had the most golfers (7) in the Olympics, and has the most golf facilities in the world;   > 23 of the 120 golfers in the Olympics represented the top five countries in golf supply (U.S., Great Britain, Japan, Canada and Australia);   > Israel, which sent golfer Laetitia Beck to the Olympics, has only one golf facility;   > Paraguay, a country with seven golf facilities, had two Olympians in the field - Fabrizio Zanotti and Julieta Granada;   > countries of origin for the men's medalists (Great Britain, Sweden, United States) represent 55 percent of the world's golf course supply;   > Countries of origin for the women's medalists (South Korea, New Zealand, China) represent 4 percent of the world's golf course supply;   The International Olympic Committee will decide next year whether golf will continue as an Olympic sport beyond the 2020 games in Japan.  

  • News and people briefs

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Rounds played down slightly in July, up for '16
      Year-over-year rounds played were down a pinch at 0.6 percent nationwide in July according to Golf Datatechs monthly report.   The largest gains were in Indiana, where rounds played in July were up 21 percent compared with the same month last year and North and South Dakota, where play was up by 18 percent. The biggest losses (nearly 12 percent) were felt in rain-plagued Louisiana.    Despite the slight downturn, rounds played for the year are up 2 percent compared with the first seven months of 2015.   DryJect expands franchise network
      DryJect recently expanded its business operations with the addition of two new franchises in the western U.S. - Northwest DryJect and Four Fleming LLC.   Northwest DryJect Inc, which is owned by Boise, Idaho-based Doug Roberts, will serve customers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana, while Four Fleming will handle Utah and Nevada under owner Jerry Fleming.   Both have several years of sales management experience, some of which has been in the golf business.   Rain Bird taps Maloney for marketing post
      Rain Bird has named Carolyn Maloney as channel marketing manager for its golf division.   Maloney formerly worked as a product manager for Rain Bird Golf, leaving in 2013 to become a fleet sales representative for Textron, a global manufacturer of task-oriented vehicles for commercial and recreational applications, including golf. Maloney directed all aspects of sales, business development and customer management for over 200 accounts in Textrons E-Z-GO Golf Division. During her tenure, she received numerous accolades for surpassing sales objectives and developing a new territory management system.    In her new role, Maloney will be responsible for managing marketing communications, segmentation strategy, data analytics and strategic marketing plans for Rain Bird Golf. She will also work with Rain Bird product managers on quality improvement and product design changes, as well as new product development for the golf irrigation market, and will oversee the division's social media presence.  
     

  • Perfect storm

    By John Reitman, in News,

    Timing, so the saying goes, is everything. Look no farther than Dubsdread Golf Course in Central Florida for proof.
      In 2008, when the economy was in the tank and owners began sucking money out of golf courses, funding already had been earmarked for a restoration of historic Dubsdread. Factor in changes in management that brought a fresh approach to customer service, and this humble city-owned, Thomas Bendelow classic in Orlando's College Park neighborhood has been able to hold its own in a market saturated with more than 150 golf courses.   "If you look at the golf recession in Florida, 2008 was a tough year. That is when things really tightened up," said Michael Stevens, southeast regional director of agronomy for Billy Casper Golf, which manages Dubsdread. "Dubsdread was well positioned by luck of timing and location in an affluent part of the city that is able to support the golf course."   Dubsdread has a long, rich history.    Built in 1923 and purchased by the city in 1978, Dubsdread is the oldest public golf course in Orlando and was the home of the former Orlando Open. Only the private Country Club of Orlando, which opened in 1911, is older. Today, a rejuvenated Dubsdread, under the watchful eye of superintendent Alan Lichter, looks more like it did in the 1920s than at any time in the past half-century. That value of playing a restored muni classic and a management company focused on customer service keep golfers coming back - about 50,000 of them - every year.   Customer service isn't just a catchphrase for Casper and Dubsdread, it's a grassroots philosophy that every employee must share, or they're not going to last. The company uses secret shoppers, not to gather dirt on its employees, but to provide honest feedback on how well the company is doing on meeting its customer service goals.   So far this year, Dubsdread has an average customer satisfaction score of 97, according to information provided by Stevens.   "It's that above-and-beyond experience that not only has helped us hold onto our customers, but also attract new ones from around the market," he said.    "As competitive as the golf market is, it's really the experience that sets you apart from everybody else. And we work really hard as a company to provide that above-and-beyond experience.    "A lot of companies say it; we all have our customer-service strategies. It really is part of our culture. It comes down from the day we hire personnel. Before we ever talk about skill sets, it's more about personality and the individual and making sure they believe in our philosophy. Once we get that the rest is easy."   Getting Dubsdread to this stage has taken some doing. Much had changed there since Bendelow put it in the ground 93 years ago. Greens and tees had moved and roads popped up, seemingly out of nowhere.   "We had two roads that went through the golf course and through holes," said Dubsdread general manager Rodney Reifsneider. "Golfers had to wait for cars and hit over the street."   In 2005, the city and Kitson Partners, the former manager of Dubsdread, began working on securing funding for a much-needed renovation. That funding came through in the form of a grant from the St. John's Water Management District as well as additional dollars from the City of Orlando Department of Public Works and the Florida Department of Transportation.   Granted, those seem like some unlikely sources for golf course renovation funding, but as luck would have it, the project coincided with plans to upgrade Little Lake Fairview that lies just north of the golf course.    Again, timing is everything.  
    He looks at the course not only from an agronomic standpoint to do what is best for the overall health and sustainability of the golf course, but he's also looking at it as to how (golfers) are going to appreciate their round of golf."
     
    The two projects were combined, and in exchange for funds for the renovation, the golf course was reworked to help take stormwater runoff from nearby Interstate 4. The water feeds through a pond system and eventually replenishes wetlands to the north, Dubsdread's aqua practice range that is used to irrigate the golf course as well as the massive Floridan aquifer, all of which occur unbeknownst to the golfer.   "The Army Corps of Engineers had nowhere for water to go north of downtown," Reifsneider said. "The golf course takes water from two locations. The water feeds in slowly. We are like a giant filter.   "It feeds through so many ponds, the golfer doesn't even realize what is happening here. It doesn't affect them.   "We take the stormwater, put water back into the aquifer and the residents get a new golf course with trees that are 100 years old. It was a perfect storm."   Lichter seems to be just the sort of superintendent a course like Dubsdread needs.   The course not only is a favorite of the locals, but thanks to third-party tee time providers, it gets a fair amount of play from tourists coming to Orlando for its famed theme parks, including many players from overseas. People who play here are serious, not only about their golf game, but also about the value they receive for the golfing dollar.   A native of Hinsdale, Illinois, Lichter, 46, has been the superintendent at Dubsdread since 2005, and oversaw the renovation as a Kitson employee. He graduated from Danville (Illinois) Area Community College in 1995 and made his way to Florida shortly thereafter to try his luck on the mini-tour circuit.   It wasn't long before he realized he needed to put his degree to work, not his putter. Still, his experience as a scratch golfer gives him a different perspective - that of a golfer.   "He has done an incredible job taking care of that golf course, and representing not only himself and his team, but us and our company," Stevens said. "He absolutely embraced our culture.   "He gets the golfing aspect of golf course maintenance. He is a very good golfer, so he has that opportunity to appreciate how to set up a golf course from all levels of play.   "He looks at the course not only from an agronomic standpoint to do what is best for the overall health and sustainability of the golf course, but he's also looking at it as to how (golfers) are going to appreciate their round of golf."   Lichter came to Dubsdread from Bay Hill where he worked for Dwight Kummer and John Anderson.   The experience he gained there, particularly preparing for an annual PGA Tour event, was instrumental in helping mold him into the superintendent he is today.   "It's where I learned about cultural practices, hard work and dedication," Lichter said. "We worked long, long hours."   It also is where he first learned about customer service, so when Casper acquired the Kitson Partners portfolio in 2013, focus on the customer already was old news for Lichter.   "Most of them know who I am, but I don't always have a chance to interact with them, because I'm usually out in front of them," Lichter said. "I have my regulars who I shoot the birds and the bees with. They want to know about mole crickets and how we kill them, or how we kill weeds.   "It's all about customer service. We strive to give our customers the best product available. If we treat them right, they will be loyal and want to come back."  
  • Upon passing his citizenship exam, David Dore-Smith did not give much thought to the actual swearing-in process that would take place the following week, completing his quest to become a U.S. citizen. After all, Dore-Smith, an Australian by birth, already had been in the United States for nearly two decades.
      As the event drew closer, however, he thought more about what being a citizen in the United States actually meant and how lucky he was.   "I was dismissive of it until a couple of days beforehand," said Dore-Smith, who has spent the past 13 years as golf course superintendent at Copperleaf Golf Club in Bonita Springs, Florida, located between Fort Myers and Naples. "So many people contacted me and told me it was an amazing experience. That's when I decided to invite my family to be part of it."   So, on the morning of Aug. 30, David Dore-Smith, wife Christine, daughter Brooke, son Brady and Christine's parents and made the 150-mile drive north to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in Tampa where he and 50 others officially were sworn in as U.S. citizens.   "When you have your hand on your heart and go through the oath, it grabs you," Dore-Smith said. "You think about how many people around the world want to be in that situation. I think I'd taken for granted how fortunate I've been."   Immigrants must be a permanent resident of the U.S. for five years before they can apply for citizenship. From there, the application process takes about three months to complete. Applicants must pass a written civics exam and prove they can read, write and comprehend English.   
    When you have your hand on your heart and go through the oath, it grabs you. You think about how many people around the world want to be in that situation. I think I'd taken for granted how fortunate I've been."
     
    For Dore-Smith, motivation came largely in the form of current events.   "I want to be able to vote and make a difference," Dore-Smith said. "There is nothing worse than sitting back and doing nothing about what is going on. I've been paying my taxes and social security, and now, I am eligible to sit on a jury and take part in elections."   Dore-Smith came to the United States 19 years ago from his native Melbourne, where he was studying turf management at the Holmesglen Institute. He was part of a group of a dozen Australian greenkeepers headed to the United States to continue their education through the Ohio State International Program. Also aboard that flight was Matt Tacilauskas, now superintendent at Palm Beach Country Club, just across the Intracoastal Waterway from downtown West Palm Beach. That was the first time the two had met, but they have been fast friends ever since.    Knowing that Dore-Smith has successfully completed the process of becoming a U.S. citizen has helped to motivate others, including Tacilauskas.   "Yes, I certainly want to become a U.S. citizen," Tacilauskas said. "I have been studying for the test for some time, but I just can't find the time to do it. He has certainly motivated me to get it done."   Although he is now an American citizen - though one could never tell from listening to him speak - Dore-Smith said he will always be an Australian.   "I've been afforded some amazing opportunities here. I advanced quickly and was a head superintendent when I was 27," Dore-Smith said. "I've made some great friends, and I've never been homesick once. But, I'll always be an Australian. The judge who swore us in was an immigrant, and he told us never to forget our heritage. To this day, I teach my kids who they are and where they come from. It's very poignant."
  • Getting the most from a spray program depends largely on getting the most out of a sprayer, and that means accurate calibration. But calibrating a sprayer is something most spray applicators don't do nearly often enough, says Zane Raudenbush, Ph.D., of Ohio State Agricultural Technical Institute, who began teaching sprayer calibration during his days at Kansas State University.
      "I have been teaching sprayer calibration while studying for my master's and Ph.D., and now at ATI, and I have taught it a couple of different ways," said Raudenbush, turfgrass management program coordinator for ATI in Wooster. "There are a lot of opportunities for errors. From what I've seen, it's something that people struggle with."   Calibrating a sprayer to ensure an efficient and accurate spray application is not that difficult, Raudenbush said during the recent Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Turf Research Field Day.   According to Raudenbush there are three key steps in sprayer calibration: sprayer speed in mph, gallons per minute and nozzle selection/spacing.   "When calibrating a sprayer, the place I start is ground speed," Raudenbush said. "If you're on a golf course and spraying fairways, you don't want to travel 2 miles per hour, or you'll be out there all day. Pick a speed for your sprayer speed that can be repeated every time, allows operators to work in a safe manner and gives you good coverage. You know what your staff is capable of. I made that mistake of picking a wrong sprayer speed, filled the sprayer and the 11th hole was so steep the sprayer couldn't pull itself up the hill."   Drift, non-target movement and wasting product are big concerns any time a spray unit is fired up, says Raudenbush. Managing any one of the three factors mentioned above, speed, gpm and spacing, can greatly influence spray volume, as can spray unit pressure, for which, he said, the industry standard is 40 psi.   "You can change speed, but that is one I leave alone," Raudenbush said. "Next would be psi, but that is for fine tuning, not to change spray volume. The easiest way to change spray volume is to change out the nozzles."   During a demonstration at the OSU field day, Raudenbush had a sprayer outfitted with four different TeeJet nozzles: 8001, 8002, 8003 and 8004, which deliver at 0.1 gpm, 0.2 gpm, 0.3 gpm and 0.4 gpm, respectively.   If the operator keeps keep everything else constant, spray volume can be cut in half just by changing nozzles from an 8004 to an 8002.   Changing pressure and nozzle size also will influence droplet size, which can affect drift. More pressure and a smaller nozzle orifice result in finer droplet size, increasing the chance for movement. Raudenbush suggests using water-sensitive paper (available through most nozzle vendors) to check droplet size and coverage.   A rule of thumb is that nozzle spacing should be the same as the distance from the spray boom to the turf surface to ensure proper coverage.   Other ways to check nozzle accuracy include the catch-can test, but Raudenbush prefers using a SpotOn sprayer calibrator from Innoquest Inc. Models range in price from $150-$219 and measure flow rate and wear in each nozzle by determining how long it takes water passing through the nozzle to reach a series of electrodes.   "If you don't like the droplet size or coverage, confirm when you go to spray what volume is and check spacing and angles," he said.    "The catch-can test can take some time. With the flow meters you don't need a second person or a stopwatch. That's why I like to use these.   "A lot of times, things get loose and you start to see where nozzle patterns will collide with each other, and that's where you can get some streaking taking place."
  • When it comes to scientific research, some ideas stick, while many others do not. One idea that "stuck" began as a test project by Bill Kreuser during his days as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin.
      A trial on the edge of a test green that nearly a decade ago used a growing degree day model to predict plant growth regulator applications has since turned into an ongoing project at multiple universities and an invaluable resource for many golf course superintendents.   It was in 2008, when Kreuser was working toward a master's degree under Doug Soldat, Ph.D., that he got the idea to predict plant growth regulator application intervals based on a growing degree day model.    "I hid it on the side of Doug's green. One day, he asked me what we should talk about at field day, and i told him I had this crazy idea I'd been working on," Kreuser said. "Ever since then, in July 2008, we've continued to look at it and develop it."     Plant growth regulators are an integral component of nearly every golf course superintendent's toolbox, yet there is much still to learn about them and how they can best be used to achieve the desired results.   Some exhibit a systemic mode of action, while others are foliar absorbed. Some work better on Poa annua, some better on creeping bentgrass.    "When people say they are all the same, they are not all the same," said Karl Danneberger, Ph.D., professor of turfgrass science at Ohio State during the recent Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Turfgrass Research Field Day.   Indeed.   Although Primo and later Primo Maxx (trinexapac ethyl) have been on the market for more than 20 years and other chemistries, such as flurprimidol and paclobutrazol, have been around even longer, research still is being conducted at several sites around the country to help professional turf managers determine the best time to apply based on real-time weather conditions.   Bruce Branham, Ph.D., at the University of Illinois is one of the early pioneers of weather-based PGR research, and his early studies showed that as temperatures rose, the half-life of many PGRs was severely shortened.   "Either they got metabolized really quickly, or broken down and were just gone," Danneberger said. "Your first inclination would be to increase rate. That didn't do any good. Why? Because the product doesn't break down in a linear fashion.   "It breaks down like this," he said, pointing downward at nearly a 90-degree slope.   Research that predicts application intervals based on a growing degree day model took off under Kreuser, Soldat and Jim Kerns, Ph.D., at the University of Wisconsin and has since spread to other universities throughout the country.    "When it is warmer out, metabolism in the plant speeds up, and reactions happen faster," Soldat said. "When you put down a plant growth regulator, it affects the physiology and hormone production in the plant. The warmer it is, the faster the plant breaks down that material.   "Calendars don't tell you anything about metabolism. Growing degree days is a calendar based on metabolism."   Kreuser, of course, went on to earn a doctorate under Frank Rossi, Ph.D., at Cornell and is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska, where he has helped take PGR-GDD research to new heights.   He has developed an PGR GDD Tracker Excel spreadsheet that calculates growing degree days and makes application recommendations for eight different plant growth regulators based on daily weather data entered by the user (either in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit) and a 200-day GDD interval. That document, which makes predictions based on cool-season turf in a non-shaded environment says Kreuser, also allows users to plan ahead for projected application dates by entering advance forecast data. A color bar in the product recommendation column changes colors as the number of GDD accumulates. Green is good, yellow is cautionary and red means it is time to start the sprayer.   Kerns, now associate professor at North Carolina State University, also has Wisconsin roots, and was an assistant professor there during some of the early days of GDD-PGR research. He has continued the work at NC State on ultradwarf Bermudagrass.   "There are two factors involved in how well a plant growth regulator works for you," Soldat said. "How well do they suppress growth? That's why you are buying it. And how long does it work?   "We are now applying seven plant growth regulators to different grasses and measuring how each works, when each wears off, and with that we can make recommendations on another application."   Research has shown that PGRs suppress growth more effectively in higher-cut turf than in low-mowed turf. The hypothesis, Soldat said, is that the stress associated with mowing leads to an increase in gibberellic acid production, which shortens the life of the PGR.   "We haven't confirmed that," he said. "But that is our hypothesis."   Also potentially contributing to that dilemma, Kreuser said, is the natural release of fertilizer in the soil during times of higher temperatures.   "People confuse mineralization with growth regulation," Kreuser said.    "That's a weather thing; a soils thing; not a PGR thing."   Kreuser also has developed the Greenkeeper application that includes everything built into the Excel document and so much more. That app, which can be accessed from a laptop or mobile device, also helps track and schedule pesticide applications and is accessible by multiple users at the same golf course. It also does a lot of the legwork for the user.   "The problem with the Excel sheet is that you have to enter all the weather data. With this, you tell it when you applied and it tracks all of the weather for you," Kreuser said. "Besides growing degree days, it does spray apps, does all the math, all the record keeping and reporting. We're going to keep making improvements to it."   And it's all because of a side project that Kreuser hid until he learned it might work.   "You never know how these things are going to work out," he said. "It was a crazy idea that worked out fine."  

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