NEW SEMINAR AT GIS SHOW FEBRUARY 8 IN ORLANDO, FL.

Nick Christians
January 14, 2011

I will be presenting a new seminar at the Golf Industry Show in Orlando this year. It is called Plant-Soil Interactions. It will be presented on February 8 from 8 to 12 noon. The primary focus of the seminar is soil test interpretations and how they can be used on the golf course.

Mike Agnew and I will also be presenting the "Calculations and Practical Mathematics for Use in Golf Course Management" seminar from 8 to 5 on Monday Feb. 7.

If you are interested in either of these, register through GCSAA.

INTERNSHIP IN FLORIDA-BY TYLER BOLEY

Nick Christians
January 12, 2011

This blog is from Tyler Boley. Tyler completed an internship at the Club at Mediterra in Naples, FL in the summer of 2010. This is part of his internship report on the experience.

The Club at Mediterra
Naples, FL
Summer 2010

Tyler Boley

Iowa State Univeristy

I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Naples, FL for the summer of 2010 to intern under recent ISU graduate Aaron Ohloff. Mediterra consists of 2 18-hole championship courses that were constructed around 2000. It was designed by Tom Fazio and built by a company called Bonita Bay Group and remained under them until recently when it was sold to the members.

It was a great experience to be down there during the summer because unlike here, the summer is their off-time beings that all of the real estate down there is strictly vacation houses. The houses that suround the courses range from $800,000 to $7,000,000. During the summer, we closed one of the courses completely for renovation while keeping the other open that was only averaging around 50 rounds a day.

My responsibilites and duties ranged every day but I received a lot of good experience. I was able to work with the IPM manager quite often doing things such as scouting, spraying, and fertilizing. I also worked with the irrigation tech and learned about the hydrolic irrigation system. I also got the chance to work with some of the crew doing daily maintenance like mowing and detail work.

By far, my biggest experience was the chance to work with a construction crew that we had hired for reconstruction on the closed course. There were a few goals of hiring this company to come in and complete, re-constuct some of the sand bunkers, help with a regrassing process, and expand the existing greens. All of the rough and fairways were 419 Bermudagrass that struggles a little bit with shade tolerance. Our goal there was to kill the areas of 419 that we wanted to replace with 3 applications of glysophate and sprig in new Celebration Bermudagrass. We replaced some turf on every hole on the south course including wall to wall turf excluding the greens on 2 holes. The 419 Bermudagrass was the toughest most persistant grass I have ever dealt with because even after 3 applications of glysophate, lome of the grass still came back. We sprigged the holes around the end of June and the surface was ready for play by the middle of August. We fertilized the turf approximately 6 times in that month and a half and watered about 6-8 times a day. There are some pictures to follow that show the beginning stages.

Just like on every other course, one of the issues that Mediterra was having was the constant downsizing of their greens. When the course was constructed a litlle over ten years ago, they put a tracing wire in the vapor barrier of the original green size so our first challenge was to locate the tracer and paint the outline of the original green. We then sprayed the area between the existing green and the new outline with three applications of glysophate and then cut out the sod in that area. The greens were Champion Bermudagrass while the collars were Tiffdwarf that had encroached the greens very badly. In order to propogate this new area, all we did was core aerate the green and push the plugs out to the trench and fertilize and watered it in. There are some pictures on the following pages.

Our last goal of the reconstruction was to redo some of the bunkers. Both courses at Mediterra were designed by Tom Fazio and as we know he is know for his deep, large sand bunkers. The memebers at Mediterra were having a lot of problems with balls plugging in the faces of some of these bunkers. Also, when the course was built, a plastic bunker liner was installed on the outside that was starting to show and make a ugly sight. Some of these bunker faces had up to 10-12 inches of sand on them and our final goal was to only have 2-4 inches. In order for that to happen, either the top had to come down of the bottom had to go up. For most of these problem bunkers we were able to cut the sod around the areas needing fixing, and dig out some soil and cut the bunker liner before replacing the sod and making it a smoother face. We also took out the mojority of the sand that was in the bunkers to end with 2 inches on the face and 4 inches on the floors. On some of the larger problem bunkers we completely took out all of the sand, replaced some of the drainage or added more, put in new bunker fabric, and added new g-angle sand that will help the plugging of balls.

Attached are some of the pictures from my internship. There are some pictures of my bunker crew, the plugs on the greens, and the new sprigs on the holes that we regrassed. Another one of the pictures shows a 16 inch water main break that happened because they had originally place the pipe on a rock and after 10 years of rubbing and vibrating it finally broke. Another picture shows me spray hawking a green, that is how we sprayed greens everytime because they didn’t want any equipment driving on the greens. A few of the pictures show some before and after pictures of the bunker edges including the bunker liner and new sod. There are also some pictures of just different holes and landscapes on the course including a couple of examples of what the houses are like around the area.

This was such an amazing opportunity and I would recommend it to anyone. I was able to experience so much that will help me further in my career including daily duites and also the construction side of golf course maintenance. We had great living arrangements and they really take care of you down there.

IPM Sneak Preview and Survey

The annual Iowa Turfgrass Conference and Trade Show is next week. On Wednesday of conference week Brett Hetland, CGCS Brooks National Golf Club, and I will be presenting about integrated pest management (IPM).

IPM is a management strategy that is gaining in popularity and is becoming more widely accepted and practiced at many facilities. As part of our presentation, I am interested in hearing our reader’s thoughts on IPM. I have set up a 1-question survey to accomplish this and the question is located below. The survey is completely anonymous and you can participate by responding to the poll located in the upper right hand corner of the blog. Please let us know your thoughts.

IPM Survey
Do you practice IPM and if not, what is the main reason why?

1. I'm currently using IPM.
2. I'm unsure about what IPM is.
3. I'm unsure how to get started with an IPM program.
4. An IPM program doesn't fit into our management strategy.
5. I think our budget would not support an IPM program.
6. Our current staffing levels don't support an IPM program.

Select your answer by using the poll in the upper right hand corner of the blog.

So why did we choose to discuss this topic? Well, the “Green” movement has been hard to escape. It seems that you notice it everywhere you turn and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. As an example consider the use of the word “Green”. Each year Lake Superior State University publishes a list of the most used and abused words and phrases that they feel should be banished from the English language. In 2009 “Green” and “Going-green” received the most nominations.

In case you’re interested the 2010 list includes: shovel-ready, transparency, czar, tweet, app, “friend” as a verb, teachable moment, in these economic times, stimulus, toxic assets, too big to fail, bromance, chillaxin, and the use of Obama-as a prefix… Obamanomics, Obamanation, Obamafication, Obamacare, Obamalicious, Obamaland, and Obamanough.

In our presentation we will discuss what IPM is and how it applies to turfgrass management. We will highlight and walk you through the new IPM Planning Guide developed by the Environmental institute for Golf. This guide can be used as a resource to development and implement IPM at your facility. Brett will also provide specific examples of practices IPM practices that he uses on his golf course.

We hope to see you at conference next week!

Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant

CORSAIR HERBICIDE TRIAL 2010-SHAWN FOPMA

Nick Christians
January 6, 2011

The information below is a report on a Corsair Herbicide trial conducted by undergraduate student Shawn Fopma at Wakonda golf club in Des Moines during the 2010 season. It was part of a Horticulture 490 special studies course.

Corsair Herbicide Treatment

Shawn Fopma

Iowa State University

In 2008, a major re-grassing project took place on greens, fairways, bluegrass green surrounds and first cut of rough at Wakonda Club. Two years later, unsightly perennial ryegrass plants had begun to germinate throughout the newly seeded Pennlinks II/Penneagle II creeping bentgrass fairways. Due to the contrasting colors of bentgrass and ryegrass, a test plot was set up to test the effectiveness and efficiency of Corsair herbicide. Corsair is a selective herbicide, which controls tall fescue, ryegrass, and many broadleaf weeds in turfgrass. Corsair selective herbicide is a dispersible granule that, when mixed with water, can be applied as a spot or broadcast spray treatment. Also, Corsair is a very active compound at low rates, which needs adequate moisture by rainfall or irrigation to activate the herbicide.

For our test, a 6,000 ft² test plot was set up on the 11^th fairway, as well as, a 4,000 ft² test plot on the fairway nursery. A 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood was laid on each test plot to cover a section of grass, which we used as a control.

For the first test, a tank mix consisting of 0.18oz of Corsair, 0.4oz of buffer and 20 gallons of water was produced. A buffer product was added due to the high alkaline-levels in the water. Then, the Corsair was applied at an extremely low rate of 0.009oz/1000 ft². Our plan was to start with a low rate and make multiple applications at this rate. The goal of this application was to see Corsair’s effectiveness at a low rate with multiple applications.

Approximately two weeks following the first application, another Corsair application was applied to the test plots at the same low-rate. That same day, another test plot similar to the first two was created to test Corsair at a higher rate. During this test, Corsair was applied at 0.03oz/1000 ft². According to the label, this application would be considered a low-medium rate. The goal of this application was to see how the surrounding bentgrass reacted to a higher rate of Corsair.

Overall, the Corsair tests proved effective; notable reduction of ryegrass was seen in all plots, especially the test plot in which Corsair was applied at a higher rate. Little to no chlorotic effects were observed on bentgrass test plots. The only problematic area observed was an area in which cart traffic was heavy on multiple days of significant heat and humidity. Due to this past summer’s high disease pressure and negative weather conditions, turf conditions became undesirable so the program was not continued; however, it is expected to continue in 2011.

New Year, New Look, New Features

Those of you who regularly follow iaTURF don’t worry; you’re in the right spot. iaTURF has a new look along with some new features. We hope the upgrades will increase your experience each time you visit the site. But before we get into the new features let’s quickly review 2010.

A Look Back
2010 was a busy year for iaTURF. Over 100 articles were written on a variety of turf related subjects. I also managed to chronicle my encounter with a very tasty Cheesy Sacremento. In total we had over 18,000 visits to the blog last year. iaTURF continues to expand as over 40% of this traffic came from new visits. A big “Thank You” goes out to our readership for helping us put up these impressive numbers.

We also started a Facebook page for the blog back in June offering our readers with another convenient way to receive our posts. Content from iaTURF can be accessed by visiting the blog, signing up for an e-mail subscription, receiving feeds through a reader, or through Facebook. If you want to receive content through Facebook simply “Like” the iaTURF Facebook page and a short summary with a link to each post will appear in your news feed whenever we add a new article. We currently have 327 “Likes”. Please help us continue to expand our presence on Facebook and recommend iaTURF to your friends.

New Features for the New Year
As part of our efforts to increase the value of iaTURF to our readers we have incorporated image galleries on the blog. We currently have galleries for turf weeds, insects, and diseases. The galleries are located within the left hand column and can be accessed by clicking on the badge. All of our pictures are archived through a service called flickr and clicking on the gallery will take you to our iaTURF flickr page. There you can scroll through the pictures a number of different ways. Plus, all of the pictures in our galleries may be downloaded for you to use.

Again, thanks to all our readers for their support and for making 2010 such a successful year for iaTURF. If you have any ideas or suggestions regarding how iaTURF can improve its value to you, please don’t hesitate to let us know at iaturfblog@gmail.com.

Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant

My Experience of 2010

Our final article of the year comes to us from Damian Richardson. Damian contributed a series of interesting articles this season about his "Overseas Adventure". Damian is now back in the States and working full time at The Club at Mediterra in Naples, Florida.

As many of the readers on iaTURF may know, I recently spent 6 months in Hong Kong working at the Hong Kong Golf Club. For my final article regarding my time in Hong Kong, I decided that I would share a few things I learned from my experience.

Blogging
Before I set off for Hong Kong, I stopped in Marcus Jones’s office to learn how to set up a blog and discuss his philosophy on blogging. Marcus is a great blogger and I really learned a lot from him. Blogging was going to save me from having to write multiple e-mails to family and friends. I also wanted to write for the iaTURF blog because I figured that many Iowa (and other) superintendents may find some of my experiences interesting.

I found writing for the iaTURF blog challenging because it made me think about my job and identify topics that were interesting to others. Through this experience, I think that in the future I will be able to write articles that other turf managers, club members, or anybody interested in turf may find interesting and educational.

Networking
While in Hong Kong, and during my college career I tried to build a network of friends and business professionals in the turf industry. As the network has grown I have come to fully appreciate how important networking is and have begun to see how valuable it is to have a network.

In my personal blog called Damian Richardson’s Hong Kong Adventure, I wrote about many of the unique friends and colleagues I met while in South East Asia. I also discovered that I like meeting new people whether they are in my line of work or not. Meeting a new person with new and different interests can open one’s mind to a whole new world.

Applying Knowledge
I’ll have to admit that I am not the world’s greatest mathematician, more precisely and candidly: I stink at algebra. I remember suffering through high school algebra, banging my head on my desk, wondering why or how in the world I could ever use matrices. To this day, I still have no idea how I would use a matrix, but I found it very rewarding when I could finally begin to really use what I learned in school.

One of my favorite parts about my internships was being able to apply what I have learned in school and use it in ‘the real world.’ I even wrote about the excitement and satisfaction I got from being able to use math in my job.

Discovering myself
While in Hong Kong, I was really able to learn a lot about myself and who I was. Personal reflection is a very important tool that we all can use in various aspects in our life. As the year is coming to an end, we may want to reflect on the most recent golf season and think if there is any way that you could have made it better, or to identify maintenance changes that could be implemented in to next year’s program.

Personal reflection can also be a great tool for managers and leaders. Was there recently a situation at work that you wish you had handled better or didn’t turn out the way you thought it should? While searching for more information about personal reflections, I found this great article.

Goal setting and planning
I have never been a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions, but instead I like to set long term, short term and weekly goals. While in Hong Kong, I was able to really see how important it is to set goals. I believe that without goals and a form of measuring the success of reaching goals true success can never be reached.

Damian Richardson

INTERNSHIP AT VAIL GOLF CLUB-2010

Nick Christians
December 28, 2010

Undergraduate student Andrew Evans completed an internship at Vail Golf Club in Vail, Colorado in the summer of 2010. Here is part of his report on the experience. The actual report is much longer than the exert reported here. This is a course with some of the best scenery in in country.

Andrew Evans

Summer Internship 2010

This past summer, I completed an internship at Vail Golf Club in Vail, Colorado. Vail Golf Club is an 18-hole public course and is located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. During my internship I had the opportunity to work in all areas of a golf course and had many of the responsibilities of an assistant superintendent.

Throughout the summer I was involved with many projects on the course. I led a small project involving reseeding two new tee boxes, laying sod around the new tee boxes, and the reconstruction of a cart path. I was in charge of 2-3 crew members and it was my job to tell them the things that needed to be done and help them complete the project.

At Vail Golf Club I was highly involved with the chemical and fertilizer application program. I applied chemicals to greens, tees, and fairways. I was also involved with irrigation repair and installation. I was able to install an irrigation system around the new pump house. This included wiring lines from an irrigation decoder to irrigation heads and valves.

One of the best experiences I received at Vail Golf Club was getting the opportunity to be the assistant superintendent for a week. During that week I gave daily tasks to crew members and worked closely with the superintendent to solve problems and get jobs done on the course.

Working at Vail Golf Club was a great experience for me because I got to work outside of the Midwest and get a hands on look at what it takes to maintain a golf course in such a unique environment.