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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    There was a time when Cory Blair, CGCS, could not envision being anything other than a golf course superintendent. After more than eight years out of the business, he can hardly imagine going back.
      It's not the same as when Blair, now 44, entered the turf business fresh out of Auburn University some two decades ago. Superintendents are the same as they always were - eager and willing to help each other. But the business side of golf is not so friendly, say a group of former superintendents. And now as industry vendors, each says he sees those problems more clearly from the outside when talking with friends and customers who still are superintendents.   "The business has changed. There is no loyalty any more," Blair said. "The camaraderie between superintendents is still there, but everyone is job-scared.   "In the last 10 years, there has been such a glut of young guys that if you are a super making a good salary, then you have a bullseye on your back."   Since he was fired in 2007 when he was in charge of multiple properties for the now-defunct Rarity Communities in eastern Tennessee, Blair has found his comfort zone first as a sales rep and now as golf irrigation manager with Stovall & Co., an Atlanta-based irrigation supply company and Rain Bird distributor. His experience as a superintendent not only shortened the learning curve with Rain Bird products, but gave him much-needed credibility with customers.   Many superintendents are cynical by nature, Blair said. Breaking down that barrier was easier for him as a former superintendent than it might be for a professional salesman, he said. And knowing what it is like to be a superintendent fending off salesmen has helped him approach his job as someone who wants to provide long-term solutions for a colleague, not pressure a faceless customer into a sale for short-term gain.   "When they see someone new in sales, they put a wall up. You have to earn their trust," he said. "I had instant credibility. When a guy calls you stressed out on a Friday saying 'I need this' or 'I need that' because of a mainline break, as a former superintendent I know what that's like because I've been that guy."  
    I'm sympathetic to guys on the other side of the desk. For 30 years, I was that guy."
     
    Anthony Williams, CGCS, another former superintendent-turned-salesman, had hoped to lock down another job as a superintendent after his position at Stone Mountain Golf Club was eliminated late last year. But after 30 years with Marriott Golf, high-level jobs for a 50-something superintendent were not exactly growing on trees.   "I went aggressively after another superintendent job, but the cupboard was pretty bare," Williams said. "Apparently, when you turn 50, not that many people are interested in hiring you."   Dealing with job loss was particularly hard for Williams since news of his dismissal came a year after a series of tragic events changed his life. Within a nine-week period in 2014, his stepbrother died in a one-car accident, wife Phyllis suffered a heart attack and Williams underwent open-heart surgery.   Immediately after his position was eliminated, he worked with Bruce Williams, CGCS, also a former superintendent now serving the industry as a consultant and head hunter.   "He told me that they fire you for the same reason they hire you," Anthony Williams said.   In other words, he built a system that ran so smoothly, he no longer was needed to manage it.   Williams, now 52, has won several awards throughout his career, including TurfNet Superintendent of the Year in 2009 and the J.W. Marriott Award of Excellence, and has been a regular speaker at industry conferences. In 2005, he won the GCSAA Environmental Leader in Golf Award in the resort division at the Pine Isle Resort near Atlanta. The following year, he was the public and overall winner at Stone Mountain. Because of his high-profile career, he caught one golf course administrator off guard during a recent interview.   "He looked up at me and said 'I know you. What are you doing here?' " Williams said.   His break came when he received a call from Amir Varshovi, Ph.D., founder of Florida-based Green Technologies, a maker of organic nutrient products, after someone from the company read Williams' LinkedIn bio.   Hired as the company's director of sales and marketing, Williams also prefers the soft-sell method. It's the sort of approach he appreciated from sales professionals during his 30 years as a superintendent, and figures other superintendents probably feel the same way.   "When I was a superintendent, the best kind of salesmen weren't salesmen. They were people who wanted a partner and were interested in building relationships," he said. "That's me. I'm a farmer, and if you sow your seeds hopefully there will be a good harvest at the end of the road.   "I'm sympathetic to guys on the other side of the desk. For 30 years, I was that guy."   Williams too has noticed a difference in the business since he entered it more than three decades ago. The difference appears to be tied to generational lines and economics, which seem to go hand-in-hand.   "I've been in 30 (superintendents') offices in the last month, and I've yet to find one where the mood is positive," he said. "Either it's an older guy terrified and trying to hang on, or a younger guy who is terrified that his bosses are going to find out he's not as knowledgeable as he pretends to be."   That is exactly the kind of atmosphere that has prevented Blair from getting back in the saddle over the past 8-plus years.   "It would have to be a single owner who is into golf, not a real estate developer. Even then, I don't know," Blair said.   "With a $100,000 job comes $100,000 stress."   For Blair, his time servicing golf courses rather than working at one has resulted in a whole new level of expertise in other fields.   "My skill set has changed," he said. "I'm a better manager now than I was then - on the fiscal side of the business. But my agronomic skills have probably dropped off a little. It's like anything else; if you don't use it you lose it."   Larry Balko has taken an entirely different approach to life after being a superintendent.   After working Florida's grinding 12-month golf season at Park Ridge Golf Course in Lake Worth from 2006-2011 followed by two years at Presidential Country Club in Miami, Balko felt the need to try something different. He jumped headfirst into sales and in January 2015 started his own business Biff Inc. that distributes products for a host of companies serving the golf course maintenance business.   Among the products in his portfolio are Turf Dietitian, which is a BMP implementation program, and Playbooks. He even attended the 2015 GIS in San Antonio with the Playbooks folks to learn the product and work their booth. Sales came naturally to him.   "I can talk to a telephone poll, so talking to people is no problem," said Balko, also an Auburn grad.   "I immediately sold 10 to people I know. Connections in this business are everything."   He too calls upon his years of experience as a superintendent when constructing his own sales techniques.   "I know how I wanted to be treated by vendors, and I used that to sell," Balko said. "You know the guys who you can pop in on, and you know the guys who you better call first. In Florida, it's a gate game. With some guys, if you don't call ahead and make an appointment, you're not getting in the gate. But I know how guys wanted to be treated, and that's how I treat them. I don't pressure them. Still, I have girls in college, and I need to make money."   This is the first in a two-part series on life after being a superintendent.
  • Straight from of all places Portugal comes the newest thing to hit fairway mowing since the reel.
      The Turflynx robotic electric fairway mower promises to reduce costs associated with fairway mowing, including labor, fuel and maintenance, by as much as 60 percent.    The Turflynx is available in two models. The F312 comes equipped with a lead acid battery that can mow about 6 acres of fairway turf on a single charge.    The F315 is powered by a lithium battery capable of mowing about 8.5 acres between charges.   Both can reach speeds of 5-6 mph and come equipped with three cutting units outfitted with seven blades. Optional 11- and 14-blade set-ups also are available.   Mowing patterns and schedules are established using a web-based interface that also allows each unit to find its way to the next fairway with reels in the up position allowing employees to perform other duties. An operator is required to maneuver the vehicle to its first pre-determined fairway and to return it to the shop.   Because it is web-enabled, the Turflynx automatically produces detailed reporting after each use.   Because it has a low profile and low center of gravity, the Turflynx can mow slopes up to 16 degrees in slope and has a rollover angle of 22 degrees.
  • For superintendents who need to get the most from their irrigation source, Aquatrols has launched its Advantage Plus pellet line. 
      As a supplement to Aquatrols' line up of soil surfactants, Advantage Plus is a palletized soil amendment formulation of polyhydroxyethyl alkoxy alkylene oxides designed to improve the results of hand watering. The formulation allows each pellet to dissolve more evenly thus helping distribute water more uniformly throughout the soil profile, especially during syringing and hand-watering.   Aquatrols also introduced two other Advantage Plus lines, one with humic and fulvic acid and another formulated with seaweed extracts.    Advantage Plus Humic and Fulvic Acid helps evenly disperse water in the soil profile, improves plant vigor, enhances stress tolerance and promotes longer and deeper roots.   Combined with seaweed extract, Advantage Plus Seaweed does all of the above while also promoting rapid recovery of stressed and damaged turf.   The pellets come with an applicator that fits a 1-inch or can be attached to a 0.75-inch hose by using an adaptor. Each pellet can cover up to six average-sized greens at a rate of 20 to 30 minutes per green.

  • Tech support

    By John Reitman, in News,

    A good equipment technician can be hard to find; a great one nearly impossible. Those superintendents lucky enough to have one know that an exceptional mechanic is the backbone of any successful golf course maintenance operation. Not much gets accomplished with equipment that does not work properly or reliably, or when parts are strewn about a disorganized shop.
      If your equipment tech is great or even just plain good, nominate him or her for the TurfNet 2016 Technician of the Year Award, presented by The Toro Company - the original award for golf course equipment managers. The deadline, however, is quickly approaching.   Criteria on which nominees are judged by our panel 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.   Here's a tip: Use specific examples when describing what he or she has accomplished - the more we know, the better your tech's chances of getting noticed.   The winner will receive the Golden Wrench Award (a real gold-plated wrench) from TurfNet and a weeklong training session at Toro's Service Training University at the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.   CLICK HERE to submit a nomination using our online form. All finalists and the winner will be profiled on TurfNet.   Deadline for nominations is April 15.   Previous winners are (2015) Robert Smith, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pennsylvania; (2014) Lee Medeiros, Timber Creek and Sierra Pines Golf Courses, Roseville, California; (2013) Brian Sjögren, Corral de Tierra Country Club, Corral de Tierra, California; (2012) Kevin Bauer, Prairie Bluff Golf Club, Crest Hill, Illinois; (2011) Jim Kilgallon, The Connecticut Golf Club, Easton, Connecticut; (2010) Herb Berg, Oakmont (Pennsylvania) Country Club; (2009) Doug Johnson, TPC at Las Colinas, Irving, Texas; (2007) Jim Stuart, Stone Mountain (Georgia) Golf Club; (2006) Fred Peck, Fox Hollow and The Homestead, Lakewood, Colorado; (2005) Jesus Olivas, Heritage Highlands at Dove Mountain, Marana, Arizona; (2004) Henry Heinz, Kalamazoo (Michigan) Country Club; (2003) Eric Kulaas, Marriott Vinoy Renaissance Resort, Sarasota, Florida. No award in 2008.  
  • When it comes to confrontations, Jason VanBuskirk says he prefers avoidance over engagement, but when the topic of cell phone use by maintenance staff on golf courses came up in a seminar during a recent Golf Industry Show, he could not help himself.
      While some at the seminar voiced their disdain for cell phone use on the golf course, VanBuskirk of 36-hole Stow Acres Country Club in Massachusetts, is among the growing population of superintendents who believe they have a place in day-to-day maintenance operations.   "Plenty have argued in the past that they get in the way of what we do. If your course has a policy of no cell phones, then yes, that is the reality. But if it's a superintendent who says no just to say no, that is ridiculous," Van Buskirk said. "We have to keep up with the communications standards that have been set to get the job done. It's a topic I'm passionate about.   "I am a heavy technology adopter, user and creator. I wouldn't say I see cell phones as a convenience on the golf course. I see it as a need and a necessity."   For some, the idea of employees with cell phones on the golf course might conjure thoughts of 20-something-year-old interns kicked back in a utility cart trading Tweets and texts with their friends. The reality, many say, is cell phones are replacing radios, help workers and superintendents stay connected to job boards and irrigation systems, and provide a quick and efficient way to trade photos of unexpected challenges on the golf course.    On a typical day at Lochinvar Golf Club in Houston, superintendent Kevin Cooper will 30 or more employees spread across the club's 207-acre property, and keeping in touch with everyone in a pinch would be a challenge without cell phones.   Cooper and his assistants use their smartphones to track daily readings from TDR and Pogo moisture meters.   Phones also provide a quick and easy way for any of Cooper's employees to communicate with the mechanic in an instant when something breaks down and have proven to be especially beneficial for his Spanish-speaking employees.   If an issue arises with one of his employees who speaks little or no English, they are able to call one of their colleagues who does who then can get with Cooper or his assistant.   "At first, I wasn't in favor of it, but working on a piece of property that is more than 200 acres, not everyone has a radio and cell phones are the fastest way to communicate who don't have a radio," Cooper said. "When I started seeing that, I became more lenient on cell phone usage.   "I'm still not 100 percent for it, but I'd say I'm 85 percent or 90 percent in favor of it."   Rick Tegtmeier breaks the mold of those using cell phones on the golf course. Straight out of the Baby Boomer generation, Tegtmeier once was against cell phones on the golf course entirely, but now says smartphone technology provides him and his staff with a key tool at Des Moines Golf and Country Club in Iowa.   He can manage his daily job board from his phone, meaning if someone sees something unexpected on the course that requires immediate attention, they can take a photo of it with their phone, send it to Tegtmeier or one of his superintendents who then can adjust the job board to make sure the problem is addressed in short order - all without ever returning to the shop.   "I used to be the guy on the other side of the fence. I hated them," Tegtmeier said. "We have found a lot of uses for them."   "The time in lost labor that it saves alone makes it worth having them," Tegtmeier said.   Like Cooper, he tracks daily moisture readings produced by his TDR meter as well as firmness data provided by the True Firm device.   He doesn't have to run his irrigation system through his phone, but he does anyway.   "It runs through the radio," he said. "But I run it through my phone. It's easier than the radio."   With the Solheim Cup coming to Des Moines Golf and Country Club next year, Tegtmeier is able to share changes to maps that show locations of tent placement, traffic routes, infrastructure, underground wiring, firmness readings and more with LPGA officials through the DropBox app on his phone.   Even many of the apps available through Google, such as Google Translate, make it possible for workers who are not bilingual to communicate back and forth in a pinch from English to Spanish or vice-versa.   While detractors might claim cell phones inhibit productivity, Tegtmeier says the opposite is true, at least at Des Moines Golf and Country Club.   "Being connected has its advantages. If someone comes upon a downed branch on a tree, or a dead animal, or something like that that is a hazard, they can take a picture of it and send it to us and we've been able to take care of it right away," he said. "It can lead to increased productivity, or a lack of productivity depending on how it is used."   Allowing his employees to listen to music either on the golf course or in the shop, he says, has resulted in improved morale. He even has provided three Sonos speakers for use in the shop so employees can hear their music over the din of a mower or grinder.    "The simple fact of letting them listen to a little music when working makes them a happy group of people."   Tegtmeier's iPhone also helps him stay in touch with members, who also are connected 24/7, regarding issues affecting the golf course.   "The ability to put something out on Twitter helps me address something on the golf course right away with members," he said. "And they love that."   Matthew Wharton and his employees utilize mobile technology to help them manage the Carolina Golf Club near downtown Charlotte, but he also can understand why some superintendents can't or won't use cell phones on the golf course.   "Each club is its own entity with its own dynamic. There are a lot of clubs where the membership, guests and clientele not only don't want to see you on your phone, they don't want to see you period," he said.    "We make an effort to stay out of the way, but we don't hide. There is nowhere to hide here, that's why we have to be discrete. Membership is paying you to maintain and prep the golf course, not play on a phone. It's hard to get your work done out here and be invisible."   That said, cell phones have proven to be invaluable in the day-to-day operations of the course, especially if he's on the other side of the property.   "They'll take photos and send them to me. It might something as simple as a head that is weeping," he said. "They'll take a photo and text the hole number. Then I can see the yardage plate on it, so I know exactly where it is."   Van Buskirk not only uses cell phones to manage job boards, he uses them to manage job boards that he builds himself. He figures he or his assistant is going to be on the phone most of the day anyway, and says using it for things such as filling out the next day's tasks on his job board saves at least two hours each day in labor. Extrapolate that over a week, a month or a year, and it's easy to see why he is a fan of digital technology.   "Does that equate to a monetary savings? No, but it's time that is now freed up to do something else," he said.    Even those who have recognized the value of using cell phone technology for work purposes acknowledge its use comes with a certain amount of responsibility and accountability.   "We instruct everyone from Day 1 how to use them and how not to," Wharton said. "We don't have a lot of trees here, so I can spot almost anyone on the golf course from 400 yards away."   Even with the threat of a potential rule-breaker, the positives of using cell phones for on the golf course far outweigh the negatives, says Tegtmeier.   "World is changing, employers have to recognize the value something like this offers," he said. "They can lead to productivity or lack of productivity depending on how used.   "I have a big staff and now with a phone I also have a mobile office. Those who aren't embracing are missing out."  
  • Annual bluegrass weevil is a growing and ever-changing challenge for golf courses that requires an equally fluid and variable response. To that end, updates to Syngenta's WeevilTrak are designed to make it even easier for superintendents to monitor and manage annual bluegrass weevil. And with 31 course now reporting on ABW activity, WeevilTrak's reach also is now longer than it's ever been.   The two newest features of the online ABW management tool are CrowdTrak and a growing degree days tool.   The new CrowdTrak feature allows superintendents to report their own WeevilTrak.com data that will help other superintendents in the Northeast make the most accurate predictions possible.   The Growing Degree Days model calculates GDD data for superintendents based on zip code and has been calibrated specifically to provide data for monitoring ABW development.   Other recent WeevilTrak updates include a new blog updated by independent researchers, including Albrecht Koppenhoffer, Ph.D. of Rutgers, Ben McGraw, Ph.D., of Penn State, Dan Peck, Ph.D., of Cornell, Pat Vittum, Ph.D., of UMass, Rick Brandenburg, Ph.D., of NC State and Steve McDonald of Turfgrass Solutions, and the Syngenta Optimum Control Strategy that provides information on control programs based on factors such as resistance to some active ingredients and the life stage of the pest at any given time.   The system also sends automatic email notifications on ABW activity in a specific area based on a list of golf courses each user chooses to follow. 
  • When Samson Bailey agreed late last year to lease historic nine-hole Middlesboro Country Club for the next quarter century, he never intended to make this tiny town in southeastern Kentucky a golf destination. However, through a much-needed renovation, he does plan to pull the struggling property up by its proverbial bootstraps while also using it to showcase his other Middlesboro-based business - Golf Preservations.
      "The golf course is six blocks from my house," said Bailey, an Eastern Kentucky University turf grad who spent years working on golf courses before launching Golf Preservations, which specializes in golf course drainage and construction. "I have all the construction equipment. It's going to be a showcase of what we can do for our clients."   Eventually.   Middlesboro Country Club opened in 1889 and bills itself as the oldest, continuously played course in the country. Recently, however, the course has fallen on hard times. Much of the maintenance in the recent past has been performed by volunteers, and several greens on the property became virtually unplayable until Bailey took over last November with the goal of breathing life into the once-proud layout while also holding it up as a marketing tool for his company.   The marriage of a company that specializes in golf course drainage and construction with a nine-hole property in dire need of some TLC after 127 years of business seemed like a win-win situation. But plans of highlighting the finished product hit a snag when a Feb. 29 fire destroyed Middlesboro's maintenance building and nearly everything inside it. Bailey, who has been restoring the course since taking over the lease in November, had been planning to reopen Middlesboro in May, but his focus now is just getting the place up and running again. And that is going to be a long and difficult process.    "It's almost April and we don't have a sprayer," Bailey said. "A new one is supposed to be here next week. We lost our spreader. Right now, we're using a push spreader I bought at Wal Mart just so we could get some fertilizer on the sod since it's been so warm."   Damage from the fire was estimated at $300,000, which includes $100,000 for the structure and another $200,000 for its contents, including 26 golf carts, a Kubota tractor, nine mowers (a rough unit, four walk mowers, three triplex units and two zero-turn mowers), a Sand Pro, two spray units, a Gator and two other utility vehicles, all of which were in various stages of their respective life cycles. Also lost was much, but not all, of his leftover supply of fertilizer, seed and chemicals.    "We lost a couple thousand (dollars) in seed, fertilizer and leftover chemicals," he said. "Thankfully, my big pre-order hadn't made it in yet."   Because of some of the verbiage in the fine print of his insurance policy, Bailey says any settlement with his carrier likely will fall far short of covering the cost of the damage.     Since taking on the 25-year lease agreement in November, Bailey has spent much of the offseason making improvements to the course, including rebuilding greens on top of his own drainage system. He had sunk an estimated $100,000 of his money into the project when the fire hit. He was planning on installing new irrigation this summer. And while the timetable for reopening the course might not change, some of the other work he had planned, like a new irrigation system, might have to wait a while.    "Some things are just going to have to be put on hold until we can recuperate," he said. "We're going to be using a water truck for a while.   "Our cups were getting powdercoated, so they made it, but we lost three cup cutters and our flags are gone. We can't even cut a cup right now. Thankfully, we don't have to now, but we will soon. Other things, like water hoses and nozzles are gone. It's the little things that you reach for when you need them then realize 'oh (expletive deleted), we don't have that.' "   In what might be the greatest product endorsement of all time, a U.S. General toolbox and its contents emerged from the fire largely unscathed.   Middlesboro is tucked into the southeastern corner of the state near the borders of Tennessee and Virginia, and there aren't a lot of other courses in that neck of the woods to help him out. Ladd's, a Memphis-based supplier of turf equipment for the golf industry, stepped up and, unsolicited, loaned him a Jacobsen triplex greensmower and a Lastec rough-mowing unit as the two entities work out an equipment-lease program. Nearby Wasioto Winds Golf Course at Pine Mountain State Park has volunteered some much-needed extra labor.   He has established a Go Fund Me account to help offset some of the losses and expedite the long comeback process.   Fire officials pinpointed the source of the blaze, which started in the shop at about 12:50 p.m., to a battery charger that was being used to jump start a mower that had been dormant since at least November. No one was in the shop when the fire broke out. Equipment manager John Thompson was out shopping for a transmission for a Gator that was destroyed and greenkeepers Darrell Lawless and Jeff Allen were in the clubhouse eating lunch.   Lawless discovered the fire when he returned to the shop, and called it out over the radio.   "We thought he was joking," Bailey said.   "The (mower's) gas tank is next to the battery, and a hydraulic tank is next to the gas tank. That's a bad combination of things there. Everything is pretty much gone."
  • Talk about effective visual aids.
      For the past six years, people around the world have had a unique opportunity to learn more about the secret lives of bald eagles without ever leaving their homes or offices, thanks to the folks at a state park golf course in eastern Tennessee. Followers of the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam now have a chance to visit the property to learn firsthand about the nesting habits of bald eagles.   The second-annual Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Meet and Greet and Nest Tour is scheduled for May 13-14 at Harrison Bay State Park just outside Chattanooga.   The event is open to the public, and will include displays, videos and opportunities to see a live bald eagle up close and personal, courtesy of Dave Haggard, a ranger and state naturalist at Reelfoot Lake State Park in Hornbeak, Tennessee. Reelfoot houses several rescue raptors, including hawks, owls and an eagle that cannot be returned to the wild.   The Harrison Bay Eagle Cam project took flight late in 2011 after a pair of bald eagles began building a nest in the top of a tall pine along the Bear Trace golf course inside the park. The project initiated by the Friends of Harrison Bay State Park, a community group that does projects and fundraising for Harrison Bay State Park. Park staff also reached out to the USGA, our superintendent chapters, Toro Co., Smith Turf and Irrigation, and others.   Since then, five pairs of eaglets have been hatched at Harrison Bay and locals as well as online visitors from around the world have learned more about the good stories golf has to tell.   "The Harrison Bay Eagle Cam gives people, golfers and nongolfers alike, an up close look into the nesting habits and practices of a pair of American bald eagles," said Bear Trace superintendent Paul Carter, CGCS. "It also demonstrates that if managed properly golf courses can be an environmental sanctuary where wildlife can thrive and raise their families."   This year's eaglets, HB9 and HB10, hatched March 5 and March 6, respectively.They are the ninth and 10th eaglets fledged at Harrison Bay since 2011. A pair of eaglets hatched in 2012 did not survive.   Thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Friends of Harrison Bay, the park has been able to upgrade video equipment each year, and Elliot and Eloise, who were named by Carter's daughter Hannah, have been broadcasting in high definition since 2014. The program's popularity has grown each year, with hundreds of viewers checking in from all around the globe to watch from the time eggs are laid to the eaglets hatching and eventually leaving the nest - usually five to six months after hatching, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It's not uncommon to watch online as one of the adults shreds a fish or a blackbird to feed to the young.    The meet and greet will begin May 13 with a dinner and other activities, including a history of the eagle cam project and a chance to see Haggard's rescue eagle. Officials with the USGA and the American Eagle Foundation also have been invited to participate. Donations will be accepted and all proceeds benefit the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam project.   The following day's events begin at 7 a.m. with a site visit to a spot nearby the nest and a chance to view the eagles through long-range spotting scopes.   Carter, who has been an instrumental part of the program since its inception says telling the two birds apart - bald eagle pairs stay with the same mate for life - is easy after a while.   "Eloise is about 20 to 25 percent larger than Elliott, which is common in the raptor species," he said. "Sure ways to tell them apart is to look at the orbital ridge, or eyebrow area. Eloise has a very distinct stern look about her at all times. Her beak is darker yellow and shows signs of age and use. If you look at her legs you will see white feathers on them. If watching at night, it is 99.99 percent certain that she is on the nest, as that is her nature."
  • It is a little-known fact, or maybe a well-known one, that Ohio State professor David Gardner, Ph.D., is as passionate about statistics as he is about growing turf and killing weeds. He even teaches the subject. To combine both passions into a single effort, he has been tracking daily weather patterns in Columbus for the past two decades. When golf course superintendents throughout the state call him for a look ahead to what the warm winter of 2016 might mean in the months to come, Gardner suggests looking back a few years for a predictor, instead.
      "I've been tracking weather in an Excel spreadsheet every day for 20 years. No one does things like that," Gardner said. "This is just like the winter of 2012. That would serve as a very good guide."   Documenting agronomic practices always is a good idea, but detailed records can be especially helpful during abnormal weather patterns.   For example, Gardner need only check his spreadsheet to know the average daily temperature in Columbus since December has been 35.8 degrees Fahrenheit, which is similar to the 2012 mark of 36.5. That same document also tells him that the average March 2016 temperature of 46.6 is third-warmest March in central Ohio in the past two decades. Superintendents armed with similar information can use that to predict what might occur this spring and to learn what they did to solve it way back when.   In Gardner's case, an abnormally warm spring has meant especially healthy - and large - winter weeds in his state.   "Weeds like shepherd's purse, hairy bittercress, henbit and chickweed, some are four times larger than they should be," Gardner said.    Gardner suggests such conditions throughout Ohio might warrant going a week or two early on spring weed-control applications.   "(Weeds) have had an extended time to germinate, and that has put some size on them," he said.    "You could plan on putting out most weed-control apps a week or two early, but there is more of a risk of a late-season breakthrough."   The warmer weather hasn't been confined to Ohio. Golf courses from Kansas to Canada to Maine are opening earlier than expected this year.   Warmer-than-average winters in northern climates also can affect soil compaction, says Bill Kreuser, Ph.D., at the University of Nebraska.   "One of the benefits of freeze-thaw cycles is that it can help relieve soil compaction," Kreuser said. "When the ground freezes, the water in the soil expands and pushes particles around causing frost heave. If you don't have freeze-thaw cycles, compaction relief is not as good."   An extended growing season not only affects soils, but diseases as well.   Yellow patch (Rhizoctonia cerealis) and Microdochium patch (Microdochium nivale, and pictured on front page, photo by North Carolina State University) both thrive in conditions like those that have prevailed throughout much of North America so far this year, said Pam Charbonneau, a turfgrass management consultant with DCS & Associates in Ontario.   "Microdochium loves the cool, wet weather," Charbonneau said.   "Yellow patch loves the same conditions as Microdochium. It likes cool, wet weather. We are having a long, cool wet spring."   Charbonneau recommends consulting Paul Vincelli's fungicide guide for control solutions.   "When someone has dones such a good job of compiling so much information," she said, "there is no reason to reinvent the wheel."   Insect pests also are affected by the warmer weather.   A Tweet by the Soil Arthropod Ecology Lab at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station indicates that annual bluegrass weevil already is active on golf courses in New York. And wet, warm conditions are perfect for coaxing white grubs out of dormancy earlier than usual, early-season activity comes with risks if temperatures turn cold again.   "Mild winters in the cool-season turf zones can be a mixed bag. Many of the insects that overwinter as larvae, like white grubs, expect to go dormant and remain dormant until spring arrives," said Ohio State entomologist Dave Shetlar, Ph.D. "When we have mild winters, these grubs can metabolize some of their fat stores faster than normal, break dormancy and get caught by a late freeze event. We have some super saturated soils at this point, and that can definitely cause problems for insects that have to metabolize, i.e., breath, because of the warmer temps. Other insects, like crane fly larvae, and the winter cutworm seem to thrive in these mild and wet winters. Chinch bugs, billbugs and annual bluegrass weevils overwinter as adults and saturated soils and moderate conditions can increase their mortality, possibly from diseases or them running out of food stores."   Golf courses in the plains states face an entirely different problem when there is a lack of snow cover during winter.   "Light stress is a real problem here," Kreuser said. "The plant can make sugar when it's sunny and cool, and the sun bleaches and kills the leaf down to the crown."   The statistics show, and Gardner should know, that things can change rapidly between now and May.   "The big difference right now between 2012 and 2016 is that while it is warmer than normal here in March (average temp so far are 46.6 for the month) it won't approach the spectacular March of 2012 with its average of 53.8," Gardner said. "April is the great equalizer. Every year the monthly average for April is a degree or two either side of 53.8. I almost think it is akin to nature pushing the reset button."   The statistics don't lie.
  • For more than 20 years, the Internet Movie Database has been the go-to source for everything about movies, from silent pictures from D.W. Griffith to Oscar winners from Steven Spielberg. The principals of the four groups  behind newly formed Internet Golf Course Database hope their new venture provides the same expert information on golf courses from coast to coast.
      IGDB is a joint effort of GolfCourseRainking.com, Pellucid Corp., Apparation LLC and Never-Search Inc., Internet Golf Course Database. Each of the four entities that comprise IGDB represents a different segment of the golf industry to provide golf course owners and operators with the most complete and comprehensive data available about golf courses throughout North America.   Apparation LLC was founded by Mike Dickoff, who also founded and managed a software subsidiary of Accenture that fueled the proliferation of low-cost airlines.   "When I entered the golf industry, I was surprised that certain basic infrastructure was missing, incomplete or trapped in proprietary products," Dickoff said. "The IGDB partnership is filling one of those gaps by providing a complete, accurate, transparent, usable and extensible directory of golf courses."   Founded by retired U.S. Naval officer Bob Kennedy, GolfCourseRankings.com provides golfers with what the company says are unbiased evaluations of golf courses made by other golfers who have paid to play at the course they review.   Never-Search was founded by Keith Kreft, formerly of Snap-On Tools. That company makes and markets, among other things, the Never-Search for Golf travel planning software, an updatable, PC-based map, showing the exact location of every golf course in the United States that is designed to assist vendor sales professionals.   Pellucid Corp., founded by Jim Koppenhaver, for years has provided customers with the unabashed truth about the golf industry, factors influencing golf course supply and demand and where the industry might be headed in the future. He believes IGDB can meet a need that so far, he says, has gone unfulfilled.   "The multiple industry sources for facility data that we've used over the years have proven to be inconsistent and have often disappointed on quality of facts and update timeliness," he said. "In addition, we need unconstrained use of the basic data, which today's solutions don't allow."
  • The battle of who decides where drones can and cannot be flown and what they can do when they get appears to be headed to federal court. Just to be safe, don't take any photographs along the way.
      A regulatory standoff between states seeking to regulate drone use on matters such as personal privacy and the Federal Aviation Administration on use of air space has developed in large part because of bureaucratic inertia by the federal agency, and it is setting the stage for an epic battle, according to one legal publication.     For example, in July 2015, William Meredith was arrested and charged with wanton endangerment and criminal mischief when he shot John Boggs' camera-equipped drone from the skies above Bullitt County, Kentucky. Meredith claimed invasion of privacy, saying he shot down the copter, which was flying at an altitude of about 200 feet, because he said he thought it might be taking photographs or video of his daughter lounging in the back yard.   Those charges eventually were dismissed, with a Kentucky district court judge ruled Meredith was within his rights to shoot the copter from the sky with no more regard than one would have for a duck during hunting season.   That case is hardly over.   Meredith has dubbed himself the Drone Slayer and has taken to the Internet selling T-shirts depicting a drone in the crosshairs of a rifle sight. And in January, the matter recently moved on to federal court, where the plaintiff is seeking clarity on who has jurisdiction regarding drone flight. The answer to that is clear to the FAA, which says it, not the states, has the authority to regulate drone flight.   While that might be true, it has taken the FAA a long time to assert its authority, which has led to conflicts between the states and the federal government in the first place, says the National Law Review.   Congress ordered the federal agency in 2012 to begin cracking down on drone rules and regulations with the passage of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. The act gives the FAA the authority to develop a comprehensive plan for safe use of unmanned vehicles. That plan will be rolled out in incremental phases, the first of which requires drone owners to register all unmanned aircraft between 0.55 and 55 pounds.   The U.S. Senate introduced a bill last week that would cede authority in all drone law instances to the FAA, and the agency in December issued a warning to the states not to pass any laws that are in conflict with federal rules, either in place or planned.   But a lot has happened at the state level before that warning due to the FAA's delay in acting on four-year-old legislation, according to the National Law Review.   The industry is mixed on that solution, with drone manufacturers coming down on the side of the FAA and the American Civil Liberties Union siding with the states.   Last year, 45 states introduced nearly 170 pieces of legislation addressing drone usage, including one in Arkansas that passed prohibiting all drone activity over private property. Another law on the books in North Carolina requires drone owners there to pass a test before flying a vehicle.   One of the driving forces behind the new state legislation is the increasing use of drone flights near airports. The FAA says it receives reports of drones flying near airplanes and airports every day. FAA guidelines already require drones to stay more than 5 miles away from airports and large groups of people in places such as stadiums, remain below 400 feet in altitude and be within sight of the operator at all times.
  • A job is what you do when someone tells you to do it. Art is what you do when no one can tell you how to do it. That is how Tom Zoller attacks each day at Tehama Golf Club, where the Jay Morrish design is his canvas.
     
    Located in the hilltops of Carmel, California, Tehama, is a rustic layout in a pastoral setting that embodies the rugged persona and reputation of its owner, Clint Eastwood. Ensuring the property continues to reflect that image is the job for Zoller and his assistant Gavin Dickson. How they choose to accomplish that is where art enters the equation.
     
    "It's been left to Gavin and myself, you know, whoever is taking care of the golf course, to find the path we are going to follow," said the 58-year-old Zoller, who has been at the course since shortly after it opened 17 years ago.
     
    "It's a real creative environment. After you're here a while, you get a feel for the freedom, then your creativity starts kicking in," added Zoller, a self-described right-brained artistic type. "A lot of clubs give you your marching orders. Here, you're off and marching on your own. It's pretty cool."
     
    Zoller and Dickson ride the course together twice each day, once first thing in the morning and again in the afternoon. It is during those rides together that they decide what they want to do, how they want to do it and when. Because of its location - the property is carved into the side of a high hilltop and is within site of the Pacific - Tehama is unapologetically exposed to the elements as are many other courses along the Monterey Peninsula, and the property always seems to be in a state of flux.
     
    "I think Tehama continues to reveal itself every day. We drive around two times a day, observe things and check for problems. Each day, something will just reveal itself to us, we'll play with it, and if we like what we've done, we'll do more," Zoller said.
     
    "Tehama is always evolving. It's going to change. We want everything out there to look like it's intended to look that way. That takes some creativity."

    Tehama is always evolving. It's going to change. We want everything out there to look like it's intended to look that way. That takes some creativity."
    The pair bring varied experience to the job, which they say has helped foster that creative environment. Dickson, in his fourth year at Tehama, is a graduate of the turf management program at Walla Walla Community College in Washington. Zoller, who played golf locally at Monterey Peninsula College, started his career as a superintendent more than 30 years ago in Oregon.
     
    "We bounce a lot of ideas back and forth off each other," Dickson said. "It brings a lot of balance to what we do."
     
    For example, one of those rides gave birth to islands of turf installed in bunkers on No. 11. And when Zoller was building a split-rail fence on the ninth hole, Dickson suggested erecting a longer one along No. 10 to replace a chain-link fence that prevented golfers from driving over a hillside.
     
    Having a singular owner gives them the freedom to tackle such projects. It also helps when that owner has a vision for the property.
     
    "He has an eye for rugged beauty. If he doesn't like something, he'll say it and we'll tear it out," Zoller said of Eastwood. "We put up the fence because it lends itself to the property. At the time, he was here playing, so we know he saw it. Nothing was said, so we left it in.
     
    "Mr. Eastwood is the greens committee; he's the board; he's everything here."
     
    While Zoller and Dickson enjoy allowing their creative juices to flow, a big part of their job is to make sure the golf course, particularly the greens, are the best they can be. And they're pretty darned good. Many PGA Tour pros, club pros and other superintendents and assistants who pass through Tehama have left saying the bentgrass greens there are the best they've seen.
     
    "The playability of the golf course is always No. 1, and any improvements are our secondary responsibility," Zoller said.
     
    Producing greens that might roll as fast as 13.5-14 for a tournament and keeping them healthy in sometimes-challenging conditions can require an artist's touch at times.
     
    Zoller has worked with Marc Logan of San Francisco Bay-area Greenway Golf on a high-iron, high-sulfate fertility program that also includes the use of surfactants to hold water and desalination products to flush impurities, depending on the plant's needs at any given time. The program is part of a philosophy that keeps the soils on a parabolic roller coaster ride of conditioning that in the long run, Dickson says, produces a plant that is healthier and more resilient to stress.

    We don't go home stressed. We put in a good day's work, and still have time for softball, working out, golf, all the fun stuff in life."
    "If your soils are good all the time, the grass is too active. We want the turf to be kind of stretched out a bit. In the long run, it makes for a stronger plant if it's stressed out once in a while," Dickson said. "We want it to have to work a little bit. We don't want it be riding this flat plane. We want it to be peaked out at times and under stress sometimes."
     
    Developing a greens-management program was one of the topics at last year's Northern California Golf Association Assistant Superintendent Bootcamp. Former superintendent Eric Greytok, CGCS, now of Macro-Sorb and SMS Additive Solutions, told the group they should network with other superintendents and assistants nearby and learn about their fertility programs. Upon hearing that, Dickson said he scribbled onto a piece of paper that 'no one else would agree with our program' and he slid it to Ross Johnson, an assistant at Pebble Beach Golf Links, who was seated next to him. Johnson nodded in agreement.
     
    "It's not a typical greens program, or anything that a university would recommend," Dickson said.
     
    Even California's 5-year-old drought has helped bring out the artsy side of Zoller and Dickson.
     
    The pair have repositioned hundreds of irrigation heads on at least 13 holes to maximize efficiency in some areas and turning the water off completely in others. The result is an even more rustic look that fits right in with the surrounding topography and even improves playability on the golf course.
     
    For example, some of the most severe hillsides on the course, especially those near greens or fairway landing areas, gobbled up errant shots when they were green. Today, most of those same areas are various shades of tan and brown and send golf balls careening toward the green.
     
    "The drought has made the course even more a part of the surrounding landscape," Zoller said. "It's been a real positive. It took a while to find out how to manage our water so that we didn't have failure with the turf on our greens and tees. It also took a while to come up with a program that works. Instead of the drought compromising the golf course, we've come to find out that the drought may very well have made the course better."
     
    Of course, none of this would be possible, Zoller said, without an understanding and supportive owner, great crew and skilled mechanic in Hector Uribe.
     
    "One of the biggest reasons our greens are so great is that we have a mechanic who gives us mowers that can cut greens without undue stress to the tissue that leads to disease and all kinds of other stress," he said.
     
    "He gets the mowers to where the reel and bedknife don't contact each other, but still cut a piece of paper. He's into all that spiritual mower (stuff). We're lucky we get to work for him."
     
    The culture at Tehama also means there are no 60-hour (or more) workweeks and no committee meetings, so everyone - superintendent and assistant included - are able to enjoy a life off the course. For Dickson, that means playing softball on a team with other assistants and superintendents from the area.
     
    "We don't go home stressed. We put in a good day's work, and still have time for softball, working out, golf, all the fun stuff in life," Zoller said.
     
    "We're lucky to have the opportunity to work at such a beautiful place with a good staff, great members and an owner with a great vision."
     

  • Just when you think you might have seen it all, leave it to Mother Nature to uncork a curveball, that leaves even the experts with more questions than answers.
      Late last spring, a different kind of turf pest reared its head, or more accurately its posterior, at a couple of golf courses on the Kansas side of the Kansas City City area.   The scene last June at Heritage Park Golf Course in Olathe and Dub's Dread in Kansas City was pretty much the same, said Jon Larson, Ph.D., entomologist at the University of Nebraska. Little black beetles, about a half-inch in length were partially buried headfirst in the greens.    At first glances, researchers at the University of Nebraska thought they might be sugarcane beetles, a known pest in turf, but closer inspection revealed the culprit to be its cousin the carrot beetle. Carrot beetles are nothing new, but their presence as a turf pest certainly is.   "This was the first time we had seen them on turf," Larson said.   "We don't know if they were attracted to the turf, if it was an accident, if something weird happened. We can't even figure out where they came from because there is not agricultural land surround the golf courses."   According "A Field Guide to the Beetles of North America" by Richard E. White and Roger Tory Peterson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) have a natural range that includes much of the United States. The larva prefer to eat the roots of carrots, celery, corn, potatoes, parsnips, beets and sweet potatoes, while the adults prefer foliage. Four-legged predators didn't much care what they were.   "The beetles themselves weren't causing a lot of damage. They were tunneling into the turf and leaving behind little holes," Larson said. "The big issue was skunks and raccoons coming in trying to gobble up these mommas that were trying to lay their eggs."   Early evidence of pests initially was confined to the collar areas, but spread throughout the greens throughout the month of June. Both courses have greens that are a mix of Poa and the old Penn bentgrasses.   Superintendents at both courses found controlling the adult population of the carrot beetle a bit more challenging than white grubs in the juvenile stages.   Superintendent Steve Stout at Heritage Park was on his new visitors nearly as quickly as the skunks, hitting them first with lambda-cyhalothrin in the second week of June. Although that appeared to knock down their numbers, skunk and raccoon damage picked up again about nine days later, prompting an application of carbaryl, according to a paper on the subject authored by Larson, Syngenta's Matt Giese and Dan Potter, Ph.D., of the University of Kentucky and just published Feb. 5.   Scott Cummins at Dub's Dread experienced similar results with lambda-cyhalothrin and followed with bifenthrin 19 days later when skunk and raccoon damage picked up again.   Larson wants to reconnect with both superintendents in the spring to learn whether this phenomenon happens again. Since carrot beetles, like sugarcane beetles, overwinter as adults and larvae hatch later in the spring than white grubs, control options will have to vary from traditional grub control programs.   "Their life cycle is opposite from white grubs," Larson said. "This beetle overwinters as adults, not grubs. And when they come out in spring, they are big, tough beetles, and they are tough to control at that point. You have to spray in mid-summer to get the larva that have just hatched out."
  • Whoever coined the phrase 'What you can't see can't hurt you,' most assuredly did not work in the golf business. The ground beneath the greens and fairways of golf courses everywhere are pocked with unseen obstacles, such as rocks, cables and wiring, pipe and cavities that can affect drainage and water-holding capabilities.
      Ground-penetrating radar systems that can detect unseen obstacles are among the new tech toys forging their way into the golf market to help superintendents locate underground objects during restoration, construction or repair projects or even subsurface structural deficiencies that can affect everyday play.   The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been testing the SIR 3000 from Geophysical Survey Systems to detect, among other things, bulk-water content beneath the surface of golf course putting greens at depths to 5 feet.   "Originally, our research focused on being able to map infrastructure at the base of the greens, particularly drainage systems, sand and gravel," said the USDA's Barry Allred, Ph.D., at last year's OSU Field Day. "Recently, we've been looking at it to map water content in the sand layer."   Subsite Electronics also is trying to break into the golf market.   The 2550GR from Subsite is a ground-penetrating radar system that can detect metallic and non-metallic pipes and wires at depths, the company says, of up to 19.7 feet, even when beneath rock. It is unlikely anyone in the golf business ever will have a need to test the upper limits of such claims.   Subsite's 2450 and 2550 models also can detect sinkholes and cavities that can affect not only drainage but player safety, as well as concrete and underground storage tanks.   New software for the 2550GR is designed to make users more efficient. Easy GPS connectivity allows operators to see their path and marks in real-time as they scan. A new wireless connection enables users to easily download web-based maps such as Google Earth.   These tools are no toys.   The Subsite GPR devices have a scanning width of nearly 20 inches and employ a dual-frequency antenna that allows the operator to view shallow and deep objects simultaneously on a GPS-connected monitor.   The GSS line can collect more than 8,000 samples per scan and can differentiate between sand, soil and gravel beneath the surface, and can measure and map bulk water content.   "It measures the values of depths at various locations, the spatial variation across the green, whether it is draining well or staying wet," said Allred.   Ground-penetrating radar, however, is not likely to replace hand-held soil monitors anytime soon due to their hefty price tag. The technology, according to the USDA, starts at about $25,000 per unit.
  • When it comes to negotiating deals, presidential candidates have nothing on the Syngenta Business Institute. Whether it is striking a deal with vendors on equipment and chemicals, club administrators on next year's budget or a compensation package for a new job, the art of the negotiating process is just one of the many topics covered in the annual Syngenta Business Institute.
      The Syngenta Business Institute is an intensive four-day program designed to grow the professional knowledge of golf course superintendents and assist them with managing their courses. Through a partnership with the Wake Forest University School of Business, the program provides graduate school-level instruction in financial management, human resource management, negotiating, managing across generations and cultural divides, impact hiring and other leadership- and professional-development skills.   The application period for this year's event is open through Aug. 16. This year's SBI is scheduled for Dec. 5-8 at the Graylyn Conference Center at Wake Forest. CLICK HERE for more information or to register.   Programs like SBI are a good fit for today's superintendent who must also possess an array of business-related skills.   "I'm always continuing the education process. I never stop learning," said Paul Latshaw, CGCS at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. "The vast majority of the classes I take are abuot management, because the vast majority of what we do is management."   A total of 25 attendees will be selected for this year's program from a panel of judges. Those chosen to attend in this year's event will be notified in October. Travel, lodging and meals are provided by Syngenta for all superintendent attendees.   "The reason I came is because this deals with things that are outside of our wheelhouse," said Jim Pavonetti, CGCS at Fairview Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. "Making greens great is what we do, but managing boards and owners, those are the kinds of things we can improve upon."   One of the sessions Pavonetti found most informative was a session on negotiating, led by Wake Forest's Bill Davis, Ph.D., who told attendees to always have a back up plan when trying to strike a deal. The back-up plan is so important, Davis has a term for it BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement.   "We're negotiating every day," Pavonetti said, "whether it's buying chemicals or fertilizers, or working with the finance committee over next year's budget, or selling projects to committees."
  • Philadelphia is a golf town. So, when the city was blessed with abnormally warm temperatures in January - on only six days was the daily high below the freezing mark - it was only natural that golfers flocked to the course to sneak in a round, or two or more. 
      Play was up in Pennsylvania (144 percent) and throughout much of the country was up, way up, in January 2016 compared to January 2015. A total of eight states reported triple-digit year-over-year increases in rounds played for the month. Those gains weren't enough to start the year in the black, however, as nearly half the country - 24 states to be exact - reported decreases in rounds played for the month, according to Golf Datatech's National Golf Rounds Played Report that surveyed 2,330 private and daily fee courses nationwide.   While the weather was kind throughout much of the Northeast and Midwest, golfers in other areas were not as fortunate, says Jim Koppenhaver of Pellucid Corp., as losers outgained winners for a 12.6 percent dropoff in rounds played in the first month of the year.   The largest gains for the month predictably were in places that are traditionally have cold winters. Leading the way was Michigan, where play was up by 326 percent. Other states reporting triple-digit gains were Connecticut (up 255 percent); West Virginia (237 percent); New Jersey (133 percent); New York (125 percent); and Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C. (up 105 percent).   According to Koppenhaver, golf playable hours, Pellucid's measurement of all daylight hours in which one conceivably could play golf factored against climatic influences such as precipitation, temperature, wind, etc., was down nationally by 6 percent in January.   Among the most significant losses for the month was Florida where play was down in the height of the winter season by 18 percent. Other big losers in January were Nebraska (down 85 percent); North and South Dakota (53 percent); Idaho, Montana and Wyoming (48 percent); Oregon (46 percent); Washington (39 percent), Colorado (32 percent), Kansas (29 percent), Missouri (23 percent), Arkansas (22 percent); Nevada (17 percent); Mississippi (16 percent); South Carolina and Utah (15 percent); Oklahoma (14 percent); and Alabama and Tennessee (10 percent).

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