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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    Wiedenmann North America has named Jeremy Potestio as territory sales manager for the company's Midwest region. 
    Potestio has more than 11 years of experience in the golf and turf industry, previously specializing in Wiedenmann equipment sales with Potestio Brothers Equipment, a Colorado-based John Deere distributor. 
    His territory includes Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, along with Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
  • For more than 40 years, the name Bob Farren, CGCS, has been synonymous with golf at the highest level as well as mentoring the next generation of superintendents.
    As a result of his contributions to the game of golf and the turf management profession, Farren, who is director of golf course management at Pinehurst Resort,  has been named the recipient of the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association Distinguished Service Award.
    Farren oversees agronomic conditions for all of Pinehurst's nine golf courses, as well as a par 3 course and 43,000-square-foot putting course.
    The award is the Carolina GCSA's highest honor and is presented annually by the 1,850-member association. Farren will accept the award in November at the Carolinas GCSA Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach.
    News of the award came as a surprise to Farren, when it was announced before about 200 industry colleagues at the recent Southeast Region Conference at Pinehurst.
    "Bob Farren has been a beacon for our profession for longer than many of our members have been alive," said Carolinas GCSA president Alex Tolbert of Orangeburg (SC) Country Club. "For decades, he has been a leader, at his facility, across our region, and on the national stage. We all walk a little taller in our roles because of his efforts and his example."
    Farren officially began his career in golf course maintenance in 1979. He joined Pinehurst three years later and led the Carolinas GCSA as president in 1995. He has been a key figure in restoring Pinehurst's standing in the game, and since he arrived at the resort in 1982, its famed No. 2 course has been the site of the U.S. Open in 1999, 2004, 2014 and 2024. 
    Designated a U.S. Open "anchor site" by the USGA, Pinehurst No. 2 will be the host site of the tournament again in 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047. The U.S. Women's Open was held at Pinehurst in 2014 and will return there in 2029.
    A native of Tornado, West Virginia, Farren grew up on the local golf course where his father worked. He is a graduate of Marshall University, where he studied hospitality.
    In his time at Pinehurst, he has been a regular speaker at industry events, and for most of the past 20 years has been active in networking and education events for assistant superintendents like the Green Start Academy. He credits his mother, who was a teacher, for helping foster the educator in him.
    "I get a sense that it's part of my mother's love of school-teaching and education," Farren told TurfNet in 2018. "And certainly the tutelage I had growing up and realizing the value and importance of having a mentor."

    Bob Farren, CGCS at Pinehurst Resort, will add the Carolinas GCSA Distinguished Service Award to his lengthy list of accolades. Farren also has overseen tremendous growth at Pinehurst as well as a return to the facility's rustic golf roots that includes a restoration of the Donald Ross-designed No. 2 course in advance of the U.S. Open and Women's Open played in concurrent weeks in 2014. 
    That restoration, led by the design team of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, included converting more than 40 acres of irrigated turf to native grasses, regrassing greens with heat- and drought-tolerant Champion Bermudagrass, eliminating overseeding throughout the property and bringing back a vintage appearance that more resembles what No. 2 looked like when Ross built it in 1907.
    Farren was inducted into the Carolinas Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2019 and was named the winner of the USGA Green Section Award in 2024.
    Previous recipients of the Carolinas GCSA Distinguished Service Award are: 2023 — Fred Yelverton, Ph.D.; 2022 — Danny Allen; 2021 — Rick Brandenburg, Ph.D.; 2019 — Steve Smith; 2019 — Wayne Smith, Jr.; 2018 — Bert McCarty, Ph.D.; 2017 — Will Holroyd; 2016 — Turner Revels; 2015 — Steve Sheets; 2014 — Michael Fabrizio, CGCS; 2013 — George Fisher; 2012 — Fred Meda; 2011 — Chuck Borman; 2010 — S. Bruce Martin, Ph.D.; 2009 — Patrick O'Brien; 2008 — William D. Anderson, CGCS; 2007 — Dr. Leon Lucas; 2006 — Randy Allen, CGCS; 2005 — Bob Bell; 2003 — Alton "Butch" Sheffield, CGCS; 2002 — James E. "Ernie" Hayes; 2001 — Palmer Maples Jr., CGSC; 2000 — George Thompson, CGCS; 1998 — Landon Miller, Ph.D.*; 1997 — Ed Ancherico; 1996 — Dr. Paul "Doc" Alexander; 1995 — James G. "Whitie" Wright*; 1994 — Wayne B. Smith, Sr.*; 1994 — Dr. Bill Gilbert*; 1993 — Dr. Carl Blake; 1993 — Charles P. Willimon, Sr.*; 1992 — Stanley Boarski, CGCS*; 1992 — Jim Spencer*; 1992 — Bob Hamrick*; 1992 — Bill Sutton*
    * Deceased
  • PBI-Gordon Corp. recently launched its new Field Development Team to serve customers and distributors nationwide.
    The team that consists of Brian Aynardi, Ph.D., Alan Estes and Kevin Miele will serve as an added resource to the PBI-Gordon end-users by providing:
    Training on new and existing products Product trials and demonstrations Consultation on emerging turfgrass issues Educational materials to end users Timely guidance on the control of problematic pests "The PBI-Gordon Field Development Team was developed with the specific needs of our end-users and distribution partners in mind," Aynardi said. "The diverse backgrounds and decades of experience in sales, research, distribution, and field application on our team gives us a well-rounded perspective on the industry. Through new and existing product training, new product trials and demonstrations, technical support, developing educational materials, and providing timely information for the control of problematic pests, we welcome opportunities to collaborate, consult, and solve."
     
    Aynardi is the regional director of the PBI-Gordon Field Development Team. He joined PBI-Gordon in 2016 as manager of university and contract research for the Northeast. His area of expertise is fungicides for both cold-season and warm-season grasses.

    Aynardi earned bachelor's and doctoral degrees in plant pathology from Penn State. There he gained extensive experience overseeing fungicide field trials and completed his dissertation on the biology of the dollar spot pathogens. Since joining PBI-Gordon, he has worked with the research and development team on the development of new active ingredients and next generation products in the company’s portfolio and has assisted with product training.
    Estes is the team's southeast field development representative. His territory covers all states from Virginia to Florida and west to Texas.
    He earned a bachelor's degree in horticulture and a master's in applied economics and statistics from Clemson, and specializes in herbicide resistance, and rates and timing of herbicide applications for weed management.
    Before joining PBI-Gordon in May 2024, Estes was the pesticide product registration manager at Clemson.
    Miele is the team's northeast field development representative, and  for the Field Development Team. His territory covers all states from Virginia north and west to the Chicago area.
    A former golf course superintendent, Miele earned a bachelor's degree in turf management and a master's in plant science from the University of Connecticut.
     
    Experienced in conducting fungicide trials and developing rotational programs for preventive turfgrass disease control, Miele has worked with a wide range of cool-season turfgrass species.
    Employee-owned PBI-Gordon offers a line of herbicides, fungicides, plant growth regulators and other products for the professional turfgrass market.
  • The association representing golf course superintendents in North and South Carolina will hand over almost $300,000 in grants for research projects to enhance the game's economic and environmental sustainability. 
    The Carolinas GCSA announced the grants during a recent conference at Pinehurst Resort.
    Money to fund the grants was raised in the annual Rounds 4 Research online auction where golfers buy tee times donated by golf facilities. Since creating the auction in 2008, the Carolinas GCSA has funded more than $850,000 in turfgrass research at Clemson and North Carolina State universities.
    "This money once again demonstrates that golf course superintendents want to be the best stewards we can possibly be, of the land we manage and of the resources we use in that work," said Daryl Ewing, the associations R4R chair and superintendent at Carolina Lakes Golf Club in Indian Land, South Carolina.
    Rounds 4 Research developed by the Carolinas GCSA at a time when traditional funding for turfgrass research was shrinking. The initiative is now administered by the GCSAA.

    Nearly $300,000 raised in the Rounds 4 Research program will help fund turfgrass research at North Carolina State University (above) and Clemson University. NCSU photo "At the time, we had some of the smartest minds at two of the leading turfgrass research institutions in the country in Clemson and NC State. Today, I am proud to say that we still do thanks in part to Rounds 4 Research," said Tim Kreger, the association's executive director. "Ultimately, the research this money pays for helps ensure the continued health of the Carolinas golf economy which is worth more than $7 billion annually."
    In the latest round of grants, projects approved for funding of a total of $286,846 will focus on soil quality testing in putting greens and methods to mitigate the impact of the turf diseases dollar spot and mini ring. The largest grant of almost $130,000 will fund a two-year study related to the health of water bodies on golf courses.
    One of the latest grant recipients is Jim Kerns, Ph.D., of North Carolina State University.
    "It's one of the reasons the programs at NC State and at Clemson are so successful. Because it not only provides an additional source of funding but one that, importantly, supports research to its conclusion," Kerns said. "The Carolinas GCSA is funding research at the level of, or above, the USGA and GCSAA."
    Last year, the Carolinas GCSA generated almost 350 items that went for as little as $40 for a foursome to as much as $10,000. 
    Said Kreger: "That only happens because superintendents at all those clubs and courses are making it happen."
  • A winter blast that swept through the South in January might be the gift that keeps giving throughout the playing season for some golf courses throughout the transition zone.
    That cold snap that lasted for much of January likely will result in at least some degree of winter-induced damage on golf courses from Oklahoma to North Carolina.
    Wendell Hutchens, Ph.D., assistant professor of turfgrass pathology at the University of Arkansas, spoke in January at a conference in Idaho. The weather he encountered when he returned to Fayetteville was not quite what he was expecting.
    "It's been a tough winter for us," said Wendell Hutchens, Ph.D., assistant professor of turfgrass pathology at the University of Arkansas.
    "When I flew back, it was 38 degrees in Idaho and 8 in Arkansas when I got back. It should have been the other way around."
    Hutchens said about 75 percent of the golf courses throughout Arkansas are growing Bermudagrass somewhere on the property. 
    The overnight low temperature in Little Rock was below freezing on 18 of 31 days in January. The deviation from the average temperature was more than 10 degrees below the historic norm on eight occasions, including a brutal stretch from Jan. 19-22 when overnight lows were 18, 13, 16 and 13 degrees, respectively.
    "We'll see what happens, but I think there will be some damage, especially to Bermudagrass," Hutchens said. "The severity is yet to be determined."
    Superintendents growing Bermuda should find out in the next few weeks if they have damage and how much.
    Areas that are especially susceptible to damage include high-traffic zones, north-facing slopes and areas with poor drainage.

    Cold weather in January could result in winter damage on golf courses in the transition zone. USGA photo The winter of 2022-23 has become the barometer by which other winters are measured. That was when temperatures in Knoxville, Tennessee dropped to 1 degree on Christmas Eve. That following spring revealed widespread damage on transition zone golf courses growing Bermudagrass.
    Two months ago in January, temps in Knoxville were below normal on 24 of 31 days and overnight lows dropped below freezing on 29 days, with lows of 8 and 4 degrees on Jan. 21 and 22, respectively.
    "I don't get the sense that this will be as bad as other years, but there are some people who are concerned going into spring," said Brandon Horvath, Ph.D., professor of turfgrass pathology at the University of Tennessee.
    "The areas that historically get whacked are going to be the slowest to recover."
    Horvath and Hutchens offered tips on next steps for superintendents worried about winter damage on Bermudagrass:
    Take samples with a cup cutter and store in a warm place to promote green-up and get a glimpse into whether winter damage is pending. For comparison, samples should be taken from areas that routinely have issues and areas that never do. "If a sample doesn't green-up in a couple weeks," Hutchens said, "it could be dead." Communicate with golfers, members and owners now about potential damage.  If damage is likely, consider ordering sod now to avoid delays or being shut out. Fix or repair areas that result in conditions that regularly promote winter damage. Do nothing. "The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result," Horvath said. "Just keep beating your head against a wall." Some superintendents in Tennessee are interseeding Kentucky bluegrass into a Bermudagrass stand, for a hybrid program that gives them the best of both worlds — green turf in early spring and a healthy warm-season surface in summer.
    "It's a hybrid solution," Horvath said. "The superintendents I know who are doing that are very happy with how it works out."
    Hutchens emphasized the importance of preparing stakeholders for the worst, while hoping for the best. A key part of that messaging should include establishing member thresholds for damage.
    "You have to determine what the landscape looks like, and is the damage enough that they want to replant with sod or sprigs, or grow-in from existing turf," Hutchens said. "If the plan is to grow-in from existing turf, you have to get nitrogen out there quickly, and when you're clear of the last frost you'll want to aerify, verticut and topdress after finding out how bad the damage is going to be.
    "Superintendents should consider prepping membership for a worst-case scenario. It's always best to under-promise and over-deliver."
  • The 2025 Pest Control for Professional Turfgrass Managers guide for superintendents, sports turf managers, grounds managers and lawn care professionals is now available.
    The guide is published annually by the North Carolina State University turfgrass management department.
    The guide covers topics including:
    Insect control Weed control Herbicide mode of action Pre-emergent weed control in cool-season grasses Pre-emergent weed control in warm-season grasses Post-emergent broadleaf and grassy weed control Product guide Nematode management PGR for turfgrass Aquatic weed control The guide is authored by Terri Billeisen, Ph.D.; Lee Butler, Ph.D.; Travis Gannon, Ph.D.; Jim Kern, Ph.D.; Ramon Leon Gonzalez, Ph.D.; Ray McCauley, Ph.D.; Grady Miller, Ph.D.; and Robert Richardson, Ph.D., all of the North Carolina State turfgrass management department. 
    Published by the University of North Carolina Press, the 96-page guide is free as a downloadable PDF, or a paperback version is available for purchase for $14.
  • For superintendents and equipment managers focused on results and simplicity, Trimax Mowing Systems in December introduced its Snake S3 tow-behind rough mower.
    The Snake S3 is the latest version of the company's Snake line of mowers, and its features are designed to eliminate daily maintenance and enhance ease of use for a more hassle-free rough-mowing experience, the company says.
    Described by the company as a rough mower with the capability to perform as a fairway mower, the Snake S3 pairs with compact tractors and features advanced articulation and zero-turn capabilities. The three-deck Snake S3 also is outfitted with a Titan roller bearing system and maintenance-free wheel hubs that together eliminate the need for daily greasing, potentially reducing the cost of ownership.

    The three-deck Snake S3 also is outfitted with a Titan roller bearing system and maintenance-free wheel hubs that together eliminate the need for daily greasing. Trimax Mowing Systems photo The mower's heavy duty flanged LazerBladez pivot off sticks and rocks to help prevent blade damage and help maintain quality of cut under challenging and wet conditions. The blades can be sharpened while on the unit. The machine's deck and blade design optimizes airflow through the cutting unit to cleanly cut and distribute clippings.
    "It seems that the blades the machine uses create a very fine clipping, so then clippings are then very easily dispersed throughout the grass," said David Dore-Smith, superintendent at Copperleaf Golf Club in Bonita Springs, Florida in a TMS promotional video. "And we've found we don't need to follow behind the Snake with a dedicated blower and another employee to distribute the grass clippings throughout the golf course."
    Some of the features of the Snake S3 include:
    Full width rollers minimize scalping in undulating conditions, allowing for mowing over curbsides and bunkers, while leaving a premium striped finish. The Trimax Titan roller bearing system is maintenance-free, requiring no regular greasing, and provides excellent retention. QuikLIFT enables mowing decks to be raised slightly for traversing paths without the need to disengage the PTO. Zero-turn capability allows continuous cutting while turning sharply for maximum productivity. Heavy-duty LazerBladez feature fling-tip blades are easier and less expensive to maintain and replace than full-blade beams. Automatic belt tensioners eliminate the need for belt adjustments and provide consistent drive to the spindles and blades.
    Full-width rollers on the Snake 3 are designed to help minimize scalping. TMS photo Bryce Gibson, superintendent at Interlachen Country Club in Winter Park, Florida, also likes the way the Snake handles clippings and how it helps streamline early morning operations.
    "What we like the Trimax," Gibson said in the video, "is how fast it is, how much more fuel efficient it is with the tractor that we have hooked to it and also how quickly the clippings are dispersed so that we're spending less time cleaning up the golf course in front of member play."
    With headquarters in Tauranga, New Zealand, Trimax Mowing Systems was founded in 1981 for use in the kiwi fruit industry. More than a decade ago, its product portfolio has expanded to include golf and a wide range of other applications, including sports turf, sod farms, municipal grounds, polo and lawn care markets.
  • The song Tiny Bubbles first made Don Ho, and his listeners, happy back in 1967.
    Fast forward almost 50 years, and bubbles that are much smaller than those the Hawaiian crooner sang about are making golf course owners, operators and superintendents even happier.
    For the past four years, NanoOxygen Systems has been focused on improving water quality and turf conditions on golf courses by injecting oxygen and ozone into irrigation water. The result is better quality water that can help golf course superintendents grow a healthier plant while also using fewer inputs.
    Through cavitation, the company's technology infuses the entire water column with non-buoyant, ultrafine bubbles that are 200 nanometers (200 billionths of a meter) in size. Because the bubbles — which NanoOxygen describes as 500 times smaller than those that are found in a glass of beer — are non-buoyant, they remain in the water longer.

    World Golf Hall of Famer Jan Stephenson, here with magician Kevin Dawson at this years GCSAA Conference and Show, is a believer in using ultrafine bubbles to improve water and turf quality at her Tarpon Woods Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Florida. Photo by John Reitman Founded by Ron Pote, a chemical engineer by trade, the NanoOxygen Systems technology works by forcing water through a series of cavitation chambers and shear planes. A controlled endothermic reaction inside the chambers produces microscopic nano bubbles that are smaller than a virus at a rate of 240 million per gallon of water.
    The NanoOxygen service begins with an assessment of irrigation pond water quality, including depth, oxygen content and sediment. 
    Those who use the technology in their irrigation ponds say the water becomes clearer, turf is healthier and requires less water and chemical inputs. Plant and other aquatic life also thrive in that environment, Pote says.
    The system has been shown to produce results that include:
    Eliminate irrigation pond sediment. Eliminate algae blooms. Reduce pathogens. Restore aquatic system health. Increase plant respiration. Reduced chemical and water costs. Some of the benefits users have reported in turfgrass systems include:
    Increase in root length and root mass. Improved respiration and overall plant health. Improved translocation of active ingredients i.e. fungicides, insecticides etc. Improved uptake and translocation of nutrients. Improved growing environment for beneficial bacteria, fungi in the soil. Improved water penetration observations. Improved stress tolerance and reduced disease. As the owner of Tarpon Woods Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Florida, World Golf Hall of Famer Jan Stephenson has been a NanoOxygen customer for more than two years.

    NanoOxygen Systems uses ultrafine bubbles to improve water and turf quality on golf courses. NanoOxygen Systems photo Rainwater contains 7-10 ppm of dissolved oxygen. The levels of dissolved oxygen in the irrigation pond at Tarpon Woods was maybe half that two years ago, Stephenson said. Since using the NanoOxygen Systems technology, she says water in the irrigation pond at Tarpon Woods is double that found in rainwater. The water in the pond is clearer, and Stephenson said the increased water quality has had lasting effects on the golf course where it brings the dissolved oxygen to the plant.
    The turf there is healthier because of improved irrigation water quality, says Stephenson, and thus requires less water and fewer chemical inputs.
    Stephenson has been so impressed with the results, she was a booth ambassador for the technology at this year's GCSAA Conference and Trade Show.
    "We're using less water," Stephenson said. "Water use is down about 20 percent."
  • To help superintendents find solutions to common turfgrass management challenges faster and more efficiently, Syngenta recently launched its GreenCast Connect mobile app.
    GreenCast Connect offers three levels of access for users. 
    The free Basic tier features site-specific weather and pest-alert tools including the Smith-Kerns dollar spot model. 
    It also includes a disease and pest guide with recommended product solutions for each, a guide for Syngenta products complete with all label and SDS information, tank mix calculator and geographic specific support.
    The Advanced subscription-based version includes enhanced pest alerts and Growing Degree Day trackers, and the Pro tier integrates seamlessly with Spiio soil sensors to provide a comprehensive, all-in-one digital agronomy solution.
    The app's customizable dashboard ensures that data, predictions and recommendations are always at users' fingertips.
    "GreenCast Connect represents a significant leap forward in digital agronomy," said Steve Dorer, head of Syngenta digital platforms. "By putting powerful, real-time data and analytics directly into the hands of turf professionals, we're enabling enhanced decision-making and more efficient resource management."
    Key features of the GreenCast app include:
    Forecasting: Accurate, GPS-based predictions for weather, pest activity, turf growth and soil conditions. Alerting: Customizable notifications for severe weather events, pest risks and changes in soil conditions. Tracking: Advanced models to monitor and predict risks from diseases, weeds and insects. Scouting: Capture photos and take notes on-site to document turf health and growth progress. Sensing: Real-time readings from Spiio in-ground soil sensors, including soil moisture, temperature, salinity and light. Monitoring: Tailored insights such as severe weather events, pest risks, spray windows, net water gain/loss, evapotranspiration, GDD alerts and growth potential.  "The ability to access live, location-specific data from our mobile devices is a game-changer for turf professionals," said Scott White, marketing manager for Syngenta digital platforms. "GreenCast Connect is built with the needs of today's turf and landscape professionals in mind, providing them with an actionable tool to optimize performance, reduce costs and improve turf health across all types of landscapes."
    GreenCast Connect is available on the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
  • For more than two decades, the face of many golf courses across North America has changed thanks to an invasive pest no larger than a dime.  
    Since it was detected in southeastern Michigan in 2002 after arriving in Detroit in packing material aboard a cargo ship from China, the emerald ash borer has cut a swath of devastation across the continent, and has left a trail of millions of dead ash trees in its wake, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
    Finally, help is on the way that might prevent a virtual wipeout of ash trees across North America by the emerald ash borer, and could result in repopulating forests and other areas, including affected golf courses, with naturally resistant trees.
    In 2010, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service officials in Ohio identified healthy ash trees scattered in an area populated with other dead, dying and infected trees. They wondered why some trees remained viable among such widespread devastation. Ensuing research indicates that those trees exhibited natural immunity to the ash borer. 
    That research has led to scientists cloning trees from the most resistant stock that they hope can be used to repopulate forests that have been decimated during the past two-plus decades.
    The cloned trees exhibited increased resistance to EAB, compared with parent trees, with some even killing the larvae, a finding that has surprised forestry officials.
    "The mantra at the time was no co-evolution, no resistance, meaning that since this insect was from a whole other continent and our trees didn't grow up exposed to them that they didn't evolve any sort of mechanisms to defend themselves," U.S. Forest Service geneticist Jennifer Koch, Ph.D., told PBS in Detroit. 
    "Now, we're convinced (cloning resistant trees) works."
    Adult ash borers lay their eggs in the tree's cambium layer between the bark and the wood. Larvae hatch and as they feed create a series of tunnels and channels through the cambium layer, cutting off the tree's circulatory system and preventing the flow of water and nutrients. 
    To date, EAB has been confirmed in 38 U.S. states and five provinces in Canada. Adult EAB can fly only a short way. Their main mode of transportation is as a stow away in infested firewood. 
    EAB recently was detected in Oregon's Willamette Valley, and researchers at Oregon State University in Corvallis wrote that the pest "will likely kill most of the ash trees in forests and urban plantings in Oregon over the coming decades."
    Researchers at Penn State, however, believe that there is enough genetic diversity in the Oregon ash that it too can be used to breed naturally resistant trees. The Oregon ash populates forests from California to Canada.

    Scientists are busy researching ash trees that are naturally resistant to EAB, and hope they can use the stock to replenish areas that have been depleted during the past 20-plus years. University of Minnesota photo Koch said reforesting could begin in the next decade, however, the USFS will have to identify geo-specific resistant parent trees to maximize the chances of success. 
    "We're working with trees from Ohio and Michigan, so I can't take those trees and the resistance they produce and plant them all the way down to Mississippi. They won't be adapted to grow there," Koch told PBS. "So we have to do what we're doing over and over to make seed orchards for each separate region."
    The USFS needs help, however, identifying other resistant trees for potential parents.
    "We need other people out there who are in the forest, keeping an eye open looking for large, surviving, healthy ash trees," said Kathleen Knight, Ph.D., research ecologist with the USFS. "Because there's not enough of us to survey every forest and there are a lot of important trees out there that could be missed if people aren't watching out for them."
  • The University of Wisconsin has been a leader for decades in providing future turf managers with all the tools needed for success with traditional, degree-based education.
    Today, the university also is playing a leading role in helping those seeking a turf management education without investing the time and finances required in a conventional baccalaureate program.
    The university's turf department recently wrapped up version three and opened registration for the fourth edition of its turfgrass apprenticeship program, an accelerated track that helps prepare students for careers in turf through a curriculum consisting of two 12-week sessions of in-class instruction and a traditional internship. The apprenticeship was developed by University of Wisconsin professors Paul Koch, Ph.D., and Doug Soldat, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendent's Association.  
    "Every time Doug Soldat and I would visit a golf course, nobody wanted to talk about diseases, or turfgrass. They wanted to talk about labor," Koch said. "We didn't have as many students and they wanted to know where their next assistant was going to come from and what we were doing to address that."

    The University of Wisconsin recently completed the third year of an apprenticeship program that helps prepare students for careers in turf management on a compressed timeline. UW photo Courses that are taught are:
    Intro to Turfgrass Management (fall semester) Intro to Turfgrass Soils, Irrigation and Drainage (fall) Nutrient Management (winter) Integrated Pest Management (winter) Classroom instruction is taught by Soldat and Koch. The fall term runs from early November to mid-December. The winter session begins in mid-January and ends in late February. Students then are required to complete a field-based apprenticeship at a golf course, athletic complex or other turf management facility. Registration for the next session begins Saturday.
    Many of the students in the apprenticeship program already are working at a golf course, but lack the education needed to advance their careers.
    "Some have already been working at a golf course for five, six or seven years, and want to take that next step that wouldn't be available to them without some education," Koch said. "Some are right out of high school, and some have a B.S. degree in something else and are career-changers.
    "Since many of these students already work on a golf course, this is more about identifying someone on your team who has potential and helping them develop that talent."
    To date, the program has graduated about 55 students. Most come from inside Wisconsin, but it also attracts students from Minnesota and the Chicago area.
    "I mean I never really had any of the formal education we get with the (apprenticeship) program," Brad Young, a graduate of the program, said in a video promoting the apprenticeship program. "It's here you learn the sciences, you learn the grasses, you learn the soils, you learn practices."
  • Capillary Flow, which offers a variety of drainage, moisture control and irrigation products and services for use in golf, athletic field, equestrian facility and public area markets, recently expanded its distribution network throughout Canada.
    That distribution expansion is the result of agreements between Capillary Flow and Soltek, BoydCo Golf and Turf and Iconix Waterworks as regional partners, and gives golf course superintendents and turf managers greater access to Capillary Flow’s bunker-management solutions.
    "BoydCo, Iconix and Soltek have the experience and dedication needed to effectively serve the Canadian market, supporting our leading bunker liner system as well as our hydroponic turf system," said James Smith, sales and installation manager, CapillaryFlow, Canada.

    Capillary Flow has reached agreements with Soltek, Iconix and BoydCo Golf and Turf to expand its reach throughout Canada. Capillary Flow photo Soltek is Capillary Flow’s new partner for customers in Quebec and Ontario, with additional sales support from Hutcheson Sand and Mix in Ontario. Based in Saint-Roch-de-l'Achigan, Quebec, Soltek is a distributor of products and services for the golf and equestrian industries. 
    With headquarters in Moncton, New Brunswick, BoydCo Golf and Turf is a distributor of pesticides, fertilizers and mechanized equipment and services and will serve as the distribution partner for Canada's maritime provinces of Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. 
    A subsidiary of the Deschênes Group, Iconix is based in Richmond, British Columbia and will serve customers in western Canada. Founded in 1999 as a provider of wastewater solutions, Iconix has grown to 40 include outlets throughout Canada and the U.S.
  • In an industry where golf course superintendents seek concrete solutions to recurring problems, longtime University of Nebraska professor Roch Gaussoin, Ph.D., served as a reminder for nearly 40 years that a fix is not always so black and white.
    "Biology is not like physics. It's not absolute," Gaussoin said. "Biology is a 'maybe' most of the time. Trying to relate it to something like managing turf, it's not that simple, it's a complex machine.
    "We're searching for new ways to do things. We used to put 8 to 10 pounds of nitrogen on greens. Who does that anymore? You adapt, and you change."
    Gaussoin is five months into a retirement that was among the best-kept secrets in turfgrass.
    Gaussoin, who officially retired in October after 33 years at Nebraska and retains the title of professor emeritus, has relocated to Advance, North Carolina in the Winston-Salem area so he and wife Priscilla can be closer to their two young grandchildren.
    "I didn't make a big deal about it. It just sort of happened," said the 67-year-old Gaussoin.
    "I didn't have a big to-do at the university. It was just time. I'm still doing some work with the USGA and some other stuff.
    "We have grandkids who are 5 and 8 in North Carolina, and my wife is retired. It was just time, and I didn't want to protract it out anymore. I have no regrets. I had a great career."
    Gaussoin earned bachelor's and master's degrees from New Mexico State in 1980 and 1983, respectively, and a doctorate in crop and soil sciences in 1988 at Michigan State.
    It was in East Lansing that he worked with two researchers who profoundly impacted his career - Paul Rieke, Ph.D., and Bruce Branham, Ph.D.
    "I was Bruce's first graduate student at Michigan State," Gaussoin said. "We were close in age, so that was like a very good friendship. Paul Rieke had a huge influence on how I look at the world."

    Roch Gaussoin, Ph.D., changed the way many superintendents think about greens aerification. University of Nebraska photo Much of his outlook in the world of turfgrass management was defying convention.
    Gaussoin has had an ongoing relationship with the USGA for much of his career at Nebraska, which began in 1991. He eventually received a grant from the USGA for work related to modifying recommendations for greens construction.
    Gaussoin decided early on that what happens after a green is built is as important, if not more, than initial construction. And he dedicated more than 20 years of his career to improving conditions below the surface.
    Throughout his career, Gaussoin earned a reputation of questioning traditional methods of aerating the soil on golf courses, namely use of solid tines vs. pulling a core. And his opinions generated a great deal of friction from within the industry.
    "Early on, people said 'Well, Roch says you don't have to aerate anymore.' I never said that," he said. "What I said, was it was possible to achieve similar results without pulling a core.
      "I was pushed on a lot over that. Some people told me I should back off on that. I told them I'm not going to pull back, I was going to push back."
    His philosophy on solid tining has since been reinforced by countless scientific trials.
    "Science is about discovering and reacting," he said. "It's not definitive; it's just changing the way you think about things and realize there might be something better. Being open minded is critical."
    For his contributions to the industry, Gaussoin was named the 1993 recipient of the USGA Green Section Award.
    "I hope that people can look back at how my career has been productive and solid," he said. "That doesn't happen without surrounding yourself with people who are better and smarter than you."
  • Dennis Lyon, CGCS, headed municipal golf in Aurora, Colorado for 37 years. Colorado Golf Association photo via Dennis Lyon Dennis Lyon, CGCS, played such an important role in Colorado's golf industry that a decade ago the state's golf association dubbed him its Superintendent of the Century.
    A former GCSAA president and superintendent and manager of golf for the city of Aurora for 37 years before he retired in 2010, Lyon (right) died Feb. 19. He was 76.
    Lyon's accomplishments in golf were many. He served as GCSAA president in 1989 and won the USGA Green Section Award in 2011. Just a few weeks ago, on Feb. 6, he received the Leo Feser Award at the annual GCSAA Conference and Show in San Diego. The award is presented annually to the author of the best superintendent-written article published in Golf Course Management magazine. While accepting the award, Lyon talked about how he enjoyed reaching out to provide feedback to fellow superintendents whose work appears in trade publications and was grateful for the support he received for his award-winning work in GCM that was a reflection on his three-plus decades as a superintendent.
    In 2013, he was the recipient of the GCSAA's Col. John Morley Award that is given each year to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of the golf course superintendent profession.
    During Lyon's 37-year career in Aurora, the city's golf portfolio grew from one to a high of seven (it currently manages five), and he was the host superintendent for the 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship held at Murphy Creek Golf Course.
    On a local level, Lyon also was a former president of the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association. In 2005, he was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and in 2011 was the recipient of the association's lifetime achievement award. The Colorado Golf Association named him its Superintendent of the Century at its 2015 Century of Golf Gala.
  • For the past 20 years, Tom Hsieh has led efforts to restore the historic Gleneagles Golf Course at McLaren Park to some level of its former glory, and he has had to come up with some inventive ways to do it. Each year, it seems as if he has to come up with a new plan to keep things running.
    The nine-hole municipal course in San Francisco has defied the odds for survival so many times, thanks to the innovative ways Hsieh (right) has implemented to overcome the many challenges that such an operation encounters on an almost-daily basis, that Gleneagles appears to have more lives than a cat.
    "It's been difficult," Hsieh said. "And there is always uncertainty of what might happen."
    When Hsieh took over management of the golf course in 2005, he lacked the resources and support from the city to get it into shape that would attract golfers and keep them coming in the door, so he turned to some private clubs in the area to help out, and they did with equipment, programs, product and personnel.
    Like many places, Gleneagles has experienced the ups and downs of the post-pandemic world. The ups included heightened popularity and increased play. The downs include but are not limited to the challenges of finding enough help. Hsieh could not hire more help, at least not much more, even if it were available. The resources just are not there. Still, golfers have their demands, and they will go elsewhere if they do not believe they are getting enough value out of their $25 greens fees. 
    His solution now is to cross train employees so that anyone can help out almost anywhere in a pinch.
    "I'm grateful to have an excellent group of employees who care as much about Gleneagles as I do," Hsieh said.
    It was not always an all-hands-on-deck philosophy at Gleneagles.

    Keeping Gleneagles Golf Course at McLaren Park in San Francisco requires everyone at the facility to pitch in. Photo from Tom Hsieh Hsieh entered into an 18-year lease with the city in 2005. Today, he is in his third successive year of a year-by-year extension.
    "That makes it difficult for employees," he said. "It makes it difficult to make long-term plans. And it's difficult for the golfers who love to play Gleneagles."
    More than a decade ago, when he needed a long-term solution for on-course labor, Hsieh worked with the city to bring trainees in a union-backed apprenticeship program to work at Gleneagles. 
    That program paired the Laborers Community Training Foundation and Northern California District Council of Laborers, Local 261 with the golf course to teach career skills to residents of one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods while providing the 62-acre Gleneagles with a pipeline to cost-effective labor. 
    The program was a favorite project of former San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. When Lee died in office in 2017, the apprenticeship program went with him.
    "When he died, that program no longer was a priority, and it needs support from the mayor's office," Hsieh said. "Ed Lee was a great friend to golf. He had a standing tee time at Harding Park every Saturday morning.
    "I would love to start that program again: The golf course gets labor while we help train people to go into the workforce. It would be a win-win."
    Then came the pandemic. Golf ran the spectrum of a banned vs. approved activity in California. Initially, nothing was allowed to open, and the Internet was rife with photos of families picnicking on fairways and greens and children turning bunkers into their personal sandbox as people looked to get outside.
    To keep the course afloat, Hsieh raised $35,000 through a Covid-era GoFundMe initiative.
    Eventually, golf became an approved outdoor activity, if not the only approved outdoor activity.

    San Francisco Bay looms in the background at Gleneagles Golf Course. Photo from Tom Hsieh People were not permitted to congregate almost anywhere except a golf course. But while the pandemic created opportunities for golf, it also created problems, namely in the way of labor issues. In response, many properties are learning and leaning more on high-tech advancements like drones, robotic mowers and other forms of autonomous equipment to help meet labor challenges without compromising turf quality.
    Gleneagles is not one of those places.
    No one is going to mistake Gleneagles for its municipal siblings Lincoln Park, Sharp Park, TPC Fleming Park, Golden Gate Park and TPC Harding Park, the site of the 2009 Presidents Cup and the PGA Championship in 2020.
    Here, innovation is limited to finding a way for a front-of-the-house employee to also help on the golf course.
    The Jack Fleming design opened with great fanfare in 1962 as the most expensive nine-hole course ever built. Fleming was an associate of Alister MacKenzie, who teamed with the latter on projects like Cypress Point in Pebble Beach and Sharp Park, another San Francisco municipal track. 
    That much-heralded opening was a long time ago, in more ways than one.
    By the 1980s, the course fell into a state of neglect and disrepair thanks to aging infrastructure and rising crime in the surrounding neighborhood on San Francisco's forgotten southeast side.
    Hsieh, a San Francisco native who has spent his career in and around local politics, took over managing and operating the course in 2005. Making a go of it has not been easy. San Francisco's recreation and parks department does not invest in the city's golf courses, and resources in the way of equipment, product and personnel never have been in abundant supply at Gleneagles at any point in the past two decades. 
    As a campaign advisor who also supports local civic projects like zoos, libraries and senior citizen initiatives through fundraising ventures, Hsieh knows what it takes to get things done. He has invested a lot of his own money in making upgrades to the course and other infrastructure on the property.
    He also invests a lot of brain power in finding new ways to tackle old problems. 
    Currently, the golf course maintenance staff consists of superintendent Ishmael Herrardo, who also is Gleneagles' mechanic, and a part-time greenkeeper.
    The bartender is also Gleneagles' starter and on his off days traps gophers on the golf course. He also mows greens when Herrardo is away.
    The course has suffered a lot of tree damage during the past two winters. Each event leaves debris scattered about the property and a total of 34 mature trees as old as 80 years or more, have been toppled by high winds (shown at right).
    "Everyone, and I mean everyone, myself included, have been pulling shifts on the golf course to get debris into a chipper, and limbs off the ninth green or off the roof of the building to get back open," Hsieh said. "That's what it takes to run Gleneagles. 
    "We cross-train as much as we can to make things work. It's not ideal, but it's working."
    Indeed it is.
    Gleneagles has enjoyed the same increased popularity and rise in play that have defined the post-pandemic industry. 
    "More people are discovering the magic of golf at Gleneagles than we saw at pre-pandemic levels. I've never seen as many women playing here as I have in the past five years," Hsieh said. "Play is up here by about 20 percent. We get wild compliments for our greens. The course looks amazing. It's the best it's been in decades. But it hasn't been easy."
  • As autonomous mowers continue to make inroads into the mainstream of golf turf maintenance, the makers of FireFly Automatix entered the market with a singular goal. According to a recent TurfNet interview, they sought to manufacture what they envisioned would be "the best fairway mower on the market."
    Recently, Firefly Automatix has made what it calls "a major update" to the autonomy software of its all-electric AMP (autonomous mowing platform) mowers. These updates, the company says, reflect a commitment from FireFly Automatix to listen and respond to users with continuous innovation designed to make their AMP mower experience more efficient and user-friendly.

    Firefly Automatix recently announced software updates based on user feedback. Smart Start
    The new Smart Start feature allows operators to drop off the AMP mower anywhere within the fairway. The mower autonomously finds its path starting point and begins mowing, significantly reducing manual driving time and streamlining operations.
    Fairway Mode
    With Fairway Mode, users can save specific mowing and operating boundaries, enabling the AMP mower to execute turns either in the rough or within the fairways. This feature can reduce the number of clean-up passes needed and provides added flexibility for each course.
    Keep-Out Zones
    The enhanced Keep-Out Zones feature empowers the AMP mower to safely navigate around obstacles in the fairways while preserving straight mowing lines and consistent striping. This capability improves efficiency and maintains the aesthetic quality of the turf.
    Refreshed User Interface
    The software update includes a refreshed user interface to enhance the operator experience. With an improved workflow and a more cohesive look and feel, the new interface makes controlling and managing the AMP mower more intuitive and efficient.

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