I recently completed the renewal process for maintaining my status as a Certified Golf Course Superintendent (CGCS) with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA).
This is important to me, as I’ve been a member of the GCSAA for 27 years. It’s an organization that does many great things for the game of golf and golf courses. I received my initial certification in 1990, as there are 1,800 golf course superintendents worldwide who hold CSGS status.
According to GCSAA CEO Mark Woodward, CGCS: “Twenty-five percent of GCSAA’s Class A members have elected to earn the highest level of recognition through the professional designation ‘CGCS’ by completion of the GCSAA Certification Program. This program requires their demonstration of a higher set of competencies in golf course management through testing and practical application. Employers can feel confident they employ a career professional who will increase their chances of having consistently superior course conditions.”
As I said, GCSAA does a lot for the game of golf that many golfers might not even realize. It was among the first associations to institute a professional certification program, establishing its program in 1971 to recognize outstanding and progressive superintendents. In 2005, GCSAA completed a restructuring of its certification program in order to raise the level of documented professionalism through comprehensive continuing education. The restructured program was recognized by the National Certification Commission as “one of the most extensive and comprehensive certification programs for any profession.”
Getting certified isn’t exactly like renewing your driver’s license. A candidate must have at least three years’ experience as a golf course superintendent, be employed in that capacity and meet post-secondary educational requirements and/or continuing education points. The candidate’s knowledge, skills and abilities are validated through the development of a portfolio consisting of their responses to skill statements, case-study scenarios and submission of work samples; an on-site inspection of their golf facility; and a rigorous six-hour examination covering: equipment, irrigation systems, materials and technology; golf course and grounds; human resources, rules of golf, financial and administrative systems, regulatory and programmatic systems, crisis management, project management and ethics and values.
Recertification isn’t a walk in the park, either. Maintaining certified status requires renewal every five years after the initial date of certification. To fulfill certification renewal requirements, a candidate must participate in 150 hours of continuing education and professional development.
It’s not easy, but I’m happy to do it. I learn a lot from the programs of the GCSAA, and that knowledge hopefully helps to keep the condition of Brickyard Crossing ideal for all golfers. And that’s what it’s all about!
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing
I touched on some of the turf problems you might see in your lawn a few posts back, and now that temperatures are warming up and with the above-normal rainfall we’ve had in central Indiana, I wanted to share with you some of the problems anyone who has experienced quite a bit of spring rain is likely to encounter this summer.
When soils are waterlogged, turfgrass roots tend to stay shallow and don’t develop the root mass that normally occurs in the spring. This will probably lead to turf that will be easily stressed when the soil dries up and summer temperatures climb.
Fewer roots will necessitate increased irrigation if you water your lawn, as well as more severe damage from grubs in August and September. If you’ve experienced grub problems in previous years, plan on a preventative insecticide application this year.
Shallow rooting also will make the turf more prone to damage from root-borne diseases like summer patch. This bulletin explains the disease and some of the measures you can take to help your lawn through it.
Lastly, with a decreased root system, we will probably see above-normal thinning of lawns, leading to increased populations of crabgrass, goosegrass, yellow nutsedge, prostrate spurge, purslane and oxalis.
There are a multitude of informative publications available at this Purdue University Web site if you have questions about any of the above-mentioned problems that may be seen this summer if it’s been wet in your area.
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing
As you may know, golf course maintenance equipment is highly specialized and not inexpensive. Walk-behind greens mowers can cost over $8,000, riding triplex greens mowers around $26,000 and fairway mowers over $35,000.
Throw in a few mowers for rough ranging from $25,000 – 50,000, utility carts costing $7,000 – 15,000, a computerized sprayer or two at $26,000 a pop and numerous other pieces, and you have a significant amount of money invested in equipment inventory.
The one thing that these all have in common is that they take a trained staff member to operate. Well, until now.
Enter Precise Path Robotics, Inc. www.precisepath.com, an Indianapolis company that is developing a robotic greens mower (RG3). You still need someone to deploy the robot at the green, but then that employee is freed up to complete other tasks such as changing the hole position, raking bunkers, picking up trash, etc. And considering that 55 – 65 percent of a golf course maintenance budget goes to labor, this could be a good tool to help stretch that budget dollar.
After a recent tour of Precise Paths’ facility, I invited them to bring out the working RG3 to test run on one of my practice greens. The robot is still being developed, but I have to tell you, it was pretty amazing watching a totally autonomous greens mower in action. This is not your mother’s Roomba™!
If you press the play button to look at the video clip below, you will see a very wet practice green with the unit running some practice laps, not unlike the Indianapolis 500 practice laps you will hear in the background.
Below are some pictures taken of the RG3 in action at the Brickyard.
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing
I’ll get back to turf care next time, but I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about National Golf Day and to let you know how significant the game has become.
In case you missed it, Wednesday, May 13 was the second annual National Golf Day. The leaders of 10 of golf’s major organizations met with members of Congress in Washington to share information about golf’s economic impact on our national economy and to ensure that Congress is aware and understands how legislation can affect it.
Golf is estimated to be an $80-billion industry with a total economic impact of over $195 billion. The golf industry employs over 2 million people with a total wage income of $61 billion. GCSAA President Mark Kuhns, CGCS, stated that the golf industry is larger than the newspaper industry, larger than performing arts and spectator sports, and larger than the motion picture/video business. There are more than 29.7 million people who consider themselves golfers in the U.S. Although charitable contributions probably will be down from last year, approximately 150,000 fundraising events funnel $3.5 billion to charitable causes annually.
Professional Golf Association (PGA) Commissioner Tim Finchem told reporters: “The professional side of the game has a $3.6-billion impact and last year raised $124 million for charity. And so we are integrated into communities to raise money for charity. Most of the reaction I get from members of Congress is they recognize the value of corporate sponsorships in sports marketing generally, and particularly with the PGA Tour, which is 100-percent organized for charitable purposes.”
Golf courses also have a positive environmental impact. Along with providing valuable green space with grass and trees that produce oxygen, they also offer excellent wildlife habitat. Almost 50 percent of all courses have increased their natural or unmaintained areas by 10 acres or more in the last 10 years, creating approximately 80,000 acres of new habitat. At Brickyard Crossing, we have added close to 15 acres.
Turfgrass provides exceptional filtration for runoff and for recharging groundwater from rainfall and irrigation. The majority of golf courses utilize computerized irrigation control, many with weather stations that calculate the amount of water lost to evaporation. Golf course irrigation accounts for 0.5 percent of the water used daily in the U.S., and fewer than 15 percent of golf courses utilize city water supplies.
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing
It’s spring, and you’ve noticed some problem spots in your lawn or areas of growth that definitely aren’t grass. These very good photos from the Ohio State Turf Web site are representative of things you might be seeing and can help you pinpoint the problems.
Common Chickweed
Wormcastings
Crabgrass
Dull Mower Blade
Knotweed in Compacted Soil
Leaf Spot
Poa Annua Seedhead
Poa Annua in Football Field
Red Thread - Low Nitrogen
Rust
More next week!
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing
Few things are more irritating than to have your putt deflected off-line after rolling over an old, unrepaired or incorrectly repaired ball mark. Ball marks, or pitch marks, occur when a descending golf ball lands on the putting surface.
On average, a single golfer creates nine ball marks per 18 holes (round). Assuming that there are 150 rounds played each day, the greens receive 1,350 impressions daily. That’s over 40,500 ball marks per month and more than 283,500 each year. With this number of indentations, it is clear to see that properly repairing ball marks is important to maintaining a smooth putting surface. An unrepaired ball mark takes twice as long to heal as one properly repaired. Improperly repaired ball marks take even longer.
Research (http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/gcman/article/2006feb97.pdf ) undertaken at Michigan State University looked at five different styles of ball mark repair tools and found that when used correctly, all of them produced acceptable repairs. When they were used incorrectly, only the restricted entry (short pronged) tools provided satisfactory results. The following ball mark repair method is recommended by the GCSAA and applies to the traditional two-long pronged repair tool, although a knife, key or golf tee could be used.
1. Use a prolonged ball mark repair tool (preferably), knife, key or tee.
2. Insert at the edges of the mark, starting at the back; never into the middle of the depression.
3. Bring the edges together with a gentle (less than ¼ turn) twisting motion, but don’t lift the center. Try not to tear the grass. Do this in four or five places around the outside of the ball mark.
4. Smooth the surface with the sole of your putter, gently tapping until the resulting repair is a surface you would want to putt over.
Please remember that it takes less than a minute to fix a ball mark, less than a week for a properly repaired mark to completely heal and up to three weeks for an incorrectly repaired mark to disappear. Do your part to help keep the putting surface healthy, smooth and enjoyable. There’s really nothing like watching a well struck putt stay on line and track smoothly all the way to the hole; well, except for maybe hearing your ball hitting the bottom of the cup!
The photo to the left was taken during a tournament on the Champions Tour, showing Mark Johnson (center), Morris Hatalsky (left) and Ben Crenshaw taking time to repair their ball marks and probably some left from others.
If these guys can do it, so can you!
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing
I love watching The Masters and especially enjoy seeing near-perfect greens and the exacting putts they demand. I also appreciate the amount of effort it takes to produce putting surfaces and the resulting green speed.
After checking several sources, the consensus seems to be that the green speed was 12 feet + on Sunday. Just what is green speed? How is it measured? Why measure it? What variables can affect it? I’ll attempt to address these questions and hopefully give you a better understanding of green speed and the factors that influence it.
Green speed can be defined as the averaged distance a golf ball rolls when released from a Stimpmeter at a controlled velocity. The United States Golf Association (USGA) introduced the Stimpmeter in the late 1970s to enable tournament officials to measure ball roll subjectively in an effort to promote uniform and consistent speed between greens on a given course. They also came up with the following Speed Charts that are presented for general information only.
Speeds for Regular Play
8’6” Fast
7’6” Medium-Fast
6’6” Medium
5’6” Medium-Slow
4’6” Slow
Speeds for Championship Play
10’6” Fast
9’6” Medium-Fast
8’6” Medium
7’6” Medium-Slow
6’6” Slow
The USGA’s “Stimpmeter Instruction Booklet” (http://www.usga.org/turf/articles/management/greens/stimpmeter.html) states that the Stimpmeter is an extruded aluminum bar, 36 inches long, with a V-shaped groove extending along its entire length. It has a precisely milled ball-release notch 30 inches from the tapered end.
It goes on to say that the Stimpmeter is a simple, accurate device that allows one to make standard measurement of, and place a numerical figure on, the speed of a putting green. It has proven to be an invaluable asset to the game of golf and a helpful management tool for the golf course superintendent, but it is not intended for course comparisons.
There are many variables that influence green speed, chief among them being environmental factors. Rainfall and high humidity result in slower speeds while dry and warm conditions cause faster speeds. Seasonal variations can contribute to ball roll distances of greater than 1 foot, while daily fluctuations during optimal growth periods can be 4 to 8 inches. The speed can become faster or slower, depending on conditions.
I’ve also discovered that there are many maintenance practices that affect green speed. Lowering the mowing height, to a point, will increase ball roll because there are fewer grass blades to slow the ball. Likewise, decreasing or limiting nitrogen fertilizer inputs makes for greater speed by decreasing leaf thickness and/or stand density. Rolling greens as part of an overall program can increase ball roll 4 to 10 inches without causing compaction on high sand content greens like those at the Brickyard.
One of the most interesting research studies I’ve read, from the University of Arkansas and Michigan State, shows that rolling greens has a greater impact on green speed than lowering the height of cut. The study also found that mowing frequency could be reduced without a decrease in ball roll distance if the greens were rolled on the days mowing was skipped.
This mowing/rolling regime produced the most consistent day-to-day green speeds. Light, frequent topdressing causes an initial decrease in speed but then a 4- to 8-inch increase as the topdressing works into the turf canopy. Core aerification impacts surface smoothness, and unless the holes are filled can decrease green speed for many weeks.
Plant Growth Regulators (PGR’s) are used to help increase speed by slowing the rate of growth and eliminating or reducing annual bluegrass seedhead formation.
All of the above factors, plus the type of soil, turf type and amount of thatch contribute to green speed and must be considered when developing management programs. But when everything comes together and results in fast, smooth and resilient greens like Augusta National just presented, it’s awesome!
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing
I want to follow up on my last blog, about crabgrass control, to share some information about fertilizer types, recommended programs and a handy “fertilizer calculator” that will help you get the most bang for the buck.
While you might use a 20-20-20 fertilizer on your garden, it’s not the best choice for your lawn. The 20-20-20 numbers represent, by weight, the percentage of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) found in the bag. Research has shown these nutrients occur in cool-season turfgrass in roughly a 4 – 1 – 2 ratio, so using fertilizers with this ratio makes sense.
A soil test is the best way to determine P and K levels, but unless you have either a very sandy or a very heavy clay soil, applying nutrients in this ratio, over the course of the season should be fine. Because N elicits the greatest response in turf, most recommendations are listed as pounds N per 1000 ft2 (lb N/m).
Nitrogen can be either quick release (soluble) or slow release (insoluble), and both forms are usually blended to make a single product. The soluble portion provides green up within a week while the insoluble N can release over a four- to 12-week period.
Slow-release N (SRN) can be sulfur coated urea (SCU), polymer coated urea (PCU), methylene ureas or natural organics. Quick-release N can be formulated as Urea or Ammonium (NH4) and nitrate (N03). There are myriad combinations and release characteristics of the N sources listed above.
Regardless of the way they are combined, you should probably not apply more than one-half pound N/m of a soluble source at one time while the turf is actively growing. The following table is adapted from www.agry.purdue.edu/turf/pubs/ay-22.pdf and shows several N programs recommended by Purdue University. Their research has shown that applying most of the annual N in the fall results in the healthiest turf throughout the year. The chart shows how much you should apply at each time of the year depending on what program your lawn is on:
Mid-April
Lb. N/m: .75
Pre-Emergent: Yes
Max w/Urea: No
Max w/SRN: No
Standard: No
Minimum: No
N Release Form: Slow/Quick
May 15-June 1
Lb. N/m: 1.0
Pre-Emergent: No
Max w/Urea: Yes
Max w/SRN: Yes
Standard: Yes
Minimum: No
N Release Form: Slow
July 15-30
Lb. N/m: .5-.75
Pre-Emergent: Yes
Max w/Urea: Yes
Max w/SRN: Yes
Standard: No
Minimum: No
N Release Form: Slow
Sept. 15-30
Lb. N/m: 1.0
Pre-Emergent: Yes
Max w/Urea: Yes
Max w/SRN: No
Standard: Yes
Minimum: Yes
N Release Form: Slow/Quick
Sept. 15-30
Lb. N/m: 1.75
Pre-Emergent: No
Max w/Urea: No
Max w/SRN: Yes
Standard: No
Minimum: No
N Release Form: Slow
Nov. 1-15
Lb. N/m: 1.0
Pre-Emergent: Yes
Max w/Urea: Yes
Max w/SRN: No
Standard: Yes
Minimum: No
N Release Form: Quick
Total N for Year
Pre-Emergent: 3.5 lbs.
Max w/Urea: 3.5 lbs.
Max w/SRN: 3.5 lbs.
Standard: 3 lbs
Minimum: 1 lb
The pre-emergent and maximum programs will produce the greenest turf but will also require the most irrigation and mowing. The standard program will provide healthy turf without as much mowing and irrigation, and the minimum program requires the least. An important point to remember is that if you collect clippings, you will be removing almost 1 pound N/m; essentially throwing away an application per year and would need an additional application to meet the program totals listed above.
The following link, www.agry.purdue.edu/turf/fertcalc/Fertilization%20calc.html, is a fertilizer calculator that you can use to determine how much of what analysis you need for a given area. This is a valuable tool to use when looking at different products. It will tell you which product will give you the most bang for your buck! An additional step I use is to also factor in the release time to determine the cost per day.
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing
With spring right around the corner, now is the time to think about crabgrass control. Even with the densest, healthiest turf possible, crabgrass can still gain a foothold if given the chance.
In our area, spring is a distant second best time to seed compared to late summer. If you have bare areas and absolutely must seed this spring, your crabgrass control options will be limited to either a product containing siduron or dithiopyr.
Siduron is strictly a pre-emergent herbicide, usually found in a starter fertilizer product, and can be applied shortly before or at time of seeding. This is a short-lived product, and a second application of a different pre-emergent will be needed for season-long control.
Dithiopyr has both pre- and post-emergent activity on crabgrass, is usually combined with fertilizer and can be applied to new seedlings after two mowings. One application will give season-long control.
As long as seeding is not planned, prodiamine or pendimethalin will keep crabgrass at bay for the year when applied well before crabgrass begins to germinate.
All of the above are activated with water and form a barrier in the soil that kills crabgrass and other annual grasses when they begin to germinate. If the barrier is disturbed by raking, aerifying or other mechanical means (like a 5-iron on my practice tee!), crabgrass germination can occur.
Unfortunately most crabgrass control products are combined with fertilizer, and spring is not a good time to apply much more than one-half pound of nitrogen (N) per 1000 ft2. Any more than this, especially from a quick-release source, will cause excessive leaf growth at the expense of the roots, leading to problems in the heat of the summer.
Look for a product with slow-release, N-like sulfur-coated, poly-coated, IBDU or natural organic. Research at Purdue and other universities recommends pre-emergent applications no later than March 15-April 1 in southern Indiana, April 1-15 in central Indiana and April 10-25 in the northern third of the state.
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing
I came into work here at Brickyard Crossing on Sunday, March 22 and was greeted by what looked like a winter wonderland!
Not snow, but a heavy frost covering all of the grass, telling me a frost delay was looming.
Frost delays never are popular but are necessary to maintain quality turfgrass. I always strive to open the course for play as quickly as possible. When the irrigation system is up and running, I can hasten the melting process with a light watering. Even then, while the first tee is frost-free, shaded areas and low pockets (like around the first green) can remain frost-covered! A lot of times there can be 15 to 30 minutes difference in melting time.
Why can’t we play through the frost? Have you ever noticed the sunken, black footprints in your lawn after someone has traipsed through a frost?
This is usually cosmetic injury, and the turf will recover in a week or so. Although under the right conditions, turf loss can occur.
Damage is caused by ice crystals penetrating the leaf blade and essentially cutting it off at that point. Death occurs when ice crystals penetrate the crown area and is more likely with repeated traffic on damaged areas. The lower the mowing height, the less leaf tissue there is to protect the crown.
Greens are especially vulnerable, with tees and fairways close behind. This photo shows the footprints left behind by one foursome. Imagine the damage that would occur if multiple groups played through the frost!
Jeff Stuart
Course Superintendent
Brickyard Crossing