July 2012 Hole Notes

Hole Notes The official publication of the MGCSA

Vol. 44, No. 6 July 2012

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Upcoming Events August 27 MGCSA Championship New Richmond GC Host: Tom Johnson October 8 Wee One Event North Oaks GC Host: Brian Boll October 15th Fall Shoot Out Horse and Hunt Club Host: Bill Gullicks Page 2

CONTENTS

Vol. 44, No. 6 July 2012

Feature Articles:

EDITOR DAVE KAZMIERCZAK CGCS

DAVE@PRESTWICK.COMCASTBIZ.NET

Monthly Columns:

Drainage, An Infrastructure Upgrade

Contributed by Mark Luckhart, XGD Systems

page

Facters Affecting Fungicide Performance

pages 18- 22

Written by Dr. Jim Kerns, Department of Plant Pathology, UW-Madison

Super-In-Site: Eric Counselman, Somerby Golf Club

Written by John Meyer, Koch Agronomic

Presidential Perspective

Scottie Hines CGCS

page 5

In Bounds

Jack MacKenzie CGCS

page 7

Within the Leather

Dave Kazmierczak CGCS

8-14

pages 34-37

pages 38-39

About the cover: This awesome picture was taken and contributed by Troy Carson of The Toro Company. If you have any exceptional pictures please send them to jack@ mgcsa.org for considration as our cover shot. Thank you Troy for this incredible macro photograph.

...Even More Content...

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

By Kendal Klaus of Klaus Nursery

pages 19-22

On Board:

BOD members share their views MGCSA

pages 27-30

PULL!!!!!

MGCSA Gun Raffle for Research $5 per chance or $10 for three chances

Weatherby Orion Grade 3 over/under 12 gauge shotgun $2,500 retail value jack@mgcsa.org for more information

Meet Eric Counselman, Superintendent at Somerby Golf Club, “Motion W”, John Meyer’s second Super-In-Site review.

Hole Notes ( 108-27994) is digitally published monthly except Enter today for your chance to win and this January/February beautiful over/under bimonthly in November/December by the 12 g auge s hotgun.

P roceeds f rom t he r affle will supplement Minnesota Golf Course Superintendents’ Association, 10050 204th the Research for studies done Jack at the University CGCS of Street North, Forestfund Lake, MN 55025.

MacKenzie Minnesota’s T ROE C enter.

T he s hotgun w ill b e g iven a way at publisher. Please send any address changes, articles for publication, th the October 5 MGCSA Shootout. The winner need not advertising and1concerns toFall jack@mgcsa.org. be present at the shooting event.

Contact Jack at :

Page 3

2012 Board of Directors President

Joe Churchill Reinders Inc.

David Kazmierczak CGCS Prestwick GC

Eric Counselman Somerby GC

Matt McKinnon The Legacy Courses

Kerry Glader Plaisted Companies

Bob Porter Hiawatha GC

Brian Brown Chisago Lakes GC

Bill Gullicks Bellwood Oaks GC

Jake Schmitz Olympic Hills GC

Treasurer

Jeff Ishe Golden Valley G&CC

Executive Director

Scottie Hines CGCS Windsong Farm GC

Vice-President

Roger Stewart Jr. TPC Twin Cities

Secretary

E. Paul Eckhom CGCS Heritage Links GC

Page 4

Directors

Jack MacKenzie CGCS MGCSA

Presidential Perspective

by Scottie Hines CGCS Wow! Can you believe it is just past July 4, Independence Day? I hope everyone had a great holiday with family and loved ones. Seems like it should be closer to Labor Day, doesn’t it?

product and further education are. As golf course superintendents I believe we are the best educated and most responsible users of any end product.

The GCSAA will be coming out with more “Action Alerts”. I strongly encourage everyone to do their part and be heard. Contact your elected officials locally and federally. Be a Based on the last 10 days, summer is definitely voice, be an advocate of our professionalism. here! If we don’t see any more of that weather Our law and policy makers want us to be this year, that would be fine with me. At least involved. Please take the time and respond to that last stretch was a bit drier than the similar these “Action Alerts” from GCSAA. If you run we had last summer. I find when we get into really feel passionate about some of these issues, periods of weather like that it is as important to be pro-active and contact these people on your manage the health, physical and mental, of your own. We are a big industry of small businesses key staffers as it is turf health. Long days in that and we are significant contributors to our local heat dragging a hose is not much fun. Better economies. We matter and we count for more than shoveling up washed out bunkers, but still than just great golf conditions! not fun at all. Making sure people are getting enough water, rest and food is a real juggling act One final note: As I see it, we are about 5 weeks at times. I still manage to run myself into the from safety. Why? I look to August 15th as ground during these times even though I know I the day that if I haven’t killed it, I can’t. At that have a great staff around me. I don’t know if I point we are losing 3-4 minutes of daylight per will ever learn! day. Yes, it can get hot, but it will not stay hot for long. The sun angle is lower which takes From the GCSAA side of things there is some a little stress off things. Disease pressures are good news to report on the NPDES legislation. lower. We have aerified or are near aerification Currently, H.R. 872 has been included in the time. The mornings start getting “crisper”. The House Farm Bill Draft Proposal. This would mist starts to come off the ponds again in the eliminate the need for the NPDES General mornings. August 15th, my Independence Day! Permit, etc. to spray on, in and around waters of the US. However, the other side of the aisle 2012 seems to be the year of managing let this same legislation drop from the Farm extremes. Despite the heat, humidity and all Bill Proposal. I strongly feel more legislation, that goes with it find some time for family and more fines, more paper-work, more…anything loved ones. We are almost there…. is not the answer. Responsible use of any

Page 5

Page 6

In Bounds

by Jack MacKenzie CGCS

A short while back my wife Kim and I went on a weekend ‘road trip’ to Grand Marais on a mission to check out their annual wooden boat show. Cool stuff…many of the boats were hand crafted at the North House School and by local boat masters…and talk about handsome! The display, both on and off the water was very impressive, but not as personally enlightening as our ‘road trip’ entertainment.

building after challenging divorces, we obviously had forgotten some of the lessons as we intently listened to, paused the cd and discussed the Dr.’s perceptions.

Also, as our relationship had matured with time so had our ability to communicate through constructive or destructive habits.

Over time we discovered that we forgot how different the sexes really are.

Our audible journey presented material we already knew…but had either forgotten or through living patterns stopped practicing. Lets face it, often times relationships get into ruts and if not appreciated those ruts can become

To make the miles melt, my spouse communication crevices; difficult to and I have learned that audio books can overcome and sometimes insurmountable. be a very welcomed distraction. We have Men Are… brought Kim and me back to embraced the funny, the tragic and the reflecting upon our inherent differences, dramatic productions written by many both good and challenging, and gave fine authors as Kim and I adventure about. us tools to improve our marriage…not On this trip we listened to something that either of us have been or were ever enriching, enlightening, inspirational, dissatisfied with the other. emotional and very, very educational…

Men Are From Mars and Women Are

The chapters took us through From Venus by Dr. James Gray. many scenarios, some quite funny and some gravely serious, but each with

Although each of us had read the a lesson. Beyond physical aspects, self -help book back in the early nineties we are as different from each other as while struggling with relationship Dollar Spot (continued on page 32.)

Page 7

Drainage, an Infrastructure Up-Grade

by Mark Luckhart, XGD Systems

Some would say that with the arid fall, winter and spring we are experiencing that proper drainage is not very important at all. In fact, probably some golf pros, general managers and greens committees may be speaking that kind of language as I write this.

However, forward thinking, progressive golf facilities are possibly looking for ways to budget some unexpected money that may be becoming unleashed for some capital expenditures to further improve their course and put it in the best possible condition to perhaps be more attractive to prospective members or the golfing public in general.

Page 8

When speaking of the importance

of “proper drainage” to golf courses I like to think in terms of “infrastructure upgrades”. Most of North America’s urban areas are in dire need of these upgrades to roads, bridges, sewers, water mains and the like. A large amount of this infrastructure can be 50 to 100 years old and significant advancements obviously have been made in product development and installation techniques.

I believe the same can be said for most golf facilities. Many golf courses do not hesitate to spend one to two million on irrigation system renovations and most of these upgrades are on only twenty to thirty year old irrigation systems. While I understand

this type of infrastructure spending for the golf course I can’t help but ponder how often it is utilized, for instance unless a course has truly adopted the deep and infrequent watering mantra that I totally support (but few clubs really practice), I purport that the only times the irrigation heads are really used are after an aerification event and it may be a little dry and windy on their playing surfaces. Lets face it, most mid to high-end golf courses really only hand water (see popular twitter hash tag #whosgotmyhose) their putting surfaces these days which gets me to my point, if golf facilities will routinely spend this type of capital on an irrigation system, why won’t they spend it on equally important infrastructure (in my

eyes anyways) like subsurface drainage

upgrades?

Drainage infrastructure upgrades are generally a quarter to half the cost of an irrigation system replacement and will generally last almost twice as long as irrigation pipe, which is under constant head pressure unlike a gravity flow drainage system. But what is the value or importance of drainage? Well, the last two hot and wet summers have really solidified that non-argument.

Simply put, when wet soil gets hot turfgrass roots will bake. When they bake, turfgrass roots shrink upward and when they do so the turf plant is susceptible to a host of diseases and insect infestation issues. In essence,

Page 9

my take away point in this article is that well thought-out golf subsurface drainage infrastructure is the best way to get your turfgrass plant healthy enough to withstand the environmental onslaughts that Mother Nature frequently throws at you. Now before you think I am against irrigation system upgrades, I will say they are also a major player in aiding in turf health as well. Irrigation and drainage are the most important tools in a golf superintendent’s arsenal to impact on positive soil moisture content, which again promotes the healthiest turfgrass plants.

I believe it was Donald Ross who coined the popular phrase “ the three most important components to a successful

Page 10

golf course are Drainage, Drainage and Drainage”.

Obviously, that phrase is likely well over eighty years old and one could easily argue that we are not driving around in cars from that era, so I will counter that with while that is certainly true, shouldn’t careful, thorough drainage still be in the top three? Precipitation event frequency really hasn’t changed. We still need to manage the excess moisture. Currently, many water challenged facilities are looking in to recycling as much course runoff as possible back to their facilities.

Moving forward, this type of rainwater management will begin to be adopted by

most if not all golf courses sooner than later. Courses who can get out in front of these planning challenges will be the facilities other courses will look to model themselves after.

One other advantage that drainage has over irrigation is the ability to warm the soil two weeks earlier in the spring (compared to undrained areas) and two weeks longer in the fall, resulting in four weeks of extra root growth per year.

Subsurface drainage systems perform this by eliminating useless gravitational groundwater that keeps, the soil cooler in the early spring and late fall periods.

Conversely, in the heat of the summer and during a heavy precipitation event a golf drainage system will help cool the subsoil temperature in the same way by reducing

the groundwater and introducing oxygen in to the soil profile to aid in cooling your playing surface.

The importance of proper drainage to the golf course is completely unglamorous and does not give you visual style points like showing your greens committee how you can program your irrigation head from your smart phone. I only urge you to also communicate the importance of drainage to aid in giving your facility the optimum soil moisture level needed to reduce your other agronomic inputs to a sustainable level for the long term.

XGD Systems stands for “eXisting Greens Drainage�. However, it is not limited to greens as we have always Page 11

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installed it on tees, fairways and approaches as well.

XGD was developed by TDIGolf nearly twenty years ago in southwestern Ontario. TDIGolf began as a small company installing fairway drainage systems on golf courses and sports fields in the greater Toronto area. It quickly expanded its focus as golf course restorations began to dominate its yearly sales. With our extensive farm and golf drainage background, we received several enquiries on how to revive a pushup green without rebuilding it completely.

We knew how to accomplish this, but Page 12

leaving the green completely playable after the installation was our challenge.

So we “guinea pigged” a few greens in the Toronto area using some rudimentary installation methods compared to today’s flawless installations, and the process was born and quickly became a hit in southwestern Ontario.

When TDIGolf moved in to the US market about fifteen years ago the “TDI greens drainage process” followed it and immediately was exposed to thousands of pushup greens in need of a greens revival.

After about 10 years the “TDI process” was becoming busy enough to separate

it from the parent company and formed its own subsidiary company named XGD Systems LLC. At this time we also began to slowly expand from a single crew to our present day six crews in the busy install seasons.

gravitational groundwater.

Generally speaking, I refer to the XGD System on golf greens as a major tool in a superintendent’s arsenal. We believe it is as important as irrigation to help aid in soil moisture control. XGD has been

So what is XGD Systems exactly? It installed on over 2000 greens across North is a subsurface piped, gravity flow drainage America over the last fifteen years. That system installed in to the subsoil utilizing is over 10 million square feet of putting basic agricultural drainage principles. These surface, and doesn’t include our systematic general principles focus on gravitational fairway XGD installations which uses a groundwater control. Not unlike a farm more economical version of the greens field drainage system applied to the scale of drainage principles. One might say our a golf green where the agricultural crop is fairway XGD installs are similar to a high value turfgrass, 2” pipe is installed on marriage of our greens drainage to the basic a 6’ spacing with a minimum depth of 14” farm field drainage I have described earlier. across the entire putting surface. However, unlike farm drainage the trench spoils are

How long will XGD last? Our oldest removed and trenches are backfilled with installations are still performing strong in an organic sand mixture. southwestern Ontario after 20 years time.

The secret to longevity of any drainage

This backfill is utilized mostly so that system is positive grade on all pipes the trenches can be compacted immediately installed. This allows any silts and fines and the sod replaced, and the green is that may accumulate in a pipe to flush out returned to play after a one day installation after one of Mother Nature’s deluges, or period. The system does not rely on the after an irrigation flushing event. XGD is a sand backfill to direct surface water to major investment for any golf facility, and the drainage lateral as one might assume, I have to stress that it is an investment in rather it relies on lateral groundwater your highest value playing surfaces for the movement to the XGD laterals. This long term. Again, it is not a panacea for all occurs once saturation point is reached your greens ailments, as sunlight and air after a heavy precipitation event and all movement are the other major factors, but the soil pore space is filled with useless subsurface drainage will play a great role in gravitational groundwater. At this time the preserving the long term agronomic success groundwater table is flushed and lowered of your finest playing surfaces for the long to a manageable level which draws oxygen run. in to the soil profile previously occupied by Page 13

Bio: Mark Luckhardt Vice President of Sales XGD Systems LLC 772-528-5459 www.greensdrainage.com blog.greensdrainage.com Twitter: @xgdsystems Twenty five years of experience in golf restoration industry. Mark helped develop and perfect TDIGolf’s XGD Systems process twenty years ago. A significant part of his career has been with TDIGolf as a Senior Project Manager. As Vice President of Sales, Mark is responsible for sales and business development.

Page 14

“SPECIAL COLLECTION” To all MGCSA Members,

I know times are tough and budgets are tight and it seems like there is one golf event after another. Each one asking for this and that and each time we all are asked to dig into our pockets, into our budgets to help. Yes the Wee One Foundation is one of those golf outing I am talking about. We are asking for you to dig into your wallet or your budget and find some dough to help one of our own members.

From time to time at church on Sunday there is a “Special Collection” for an unforeseen natural disaster or special need…the tsunami in the far east a couple of years ago the day after Christmas, the earthquake in Haiti, the floods in Fargo. Well we should consider this a “Special Collection” for all of our friends in this business whom we wish didn’t need the contents of this special collection.

know that that form of cancer is NOT good but Wayne’s friends and colleagues from AROUND the INDUSTRY stepped up to the plate with that “Special Collection” and created a golf outing to raise money for his treatment. The Wee One Foundation was born. Wayne lost his battle with cancer in October of 2004, but his smile lives on and HIS Foundation is here to stay and to help others that are in need.

Today eight years later there are Wee One Foundation golf outings in many states including Minnesota. The Wee One Foundation has helped many families in OUR industry throughout the country that have been in financial need. The Wee One Foundation has already given two Minnesota families $30,000.

Ours is a very special industry in that we are always lending an extra hand for our fellow turf managers. Well this is one hand out I hope I never need to ask for...but my heart swells to know that my peers are there for me if I do.

Please join me at North Oaks Golf Club on October 8th for this year’s Wee One Fund Raiser.

The Wee One Foundation was started eight Lets make that “collection” basket overflow with years ago when a group of Wisconsin and Illinois the goodness of ourselves, our good fortune and superintendents had a “Special Collection” our professional camaraderie. for one of their [(our) – we are all in the green

industry] own, Wayne Otto, C.G.C.S. Wayne was Kind Regards, a superintendent in the Milwaukee area for many years and sometime in the spring of 2004 Wayne John Meyer was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. We all

Page 15

A TOAST, IN APPRECIATION OF YOUR BUSINESS.

HERE’S TO YOU.

At Par Aide, we’d like to raise a paper cup to you, our valued customer. Because it’s your unyielding dedication to the course that inspires us to keep building the industry’s most innovative products.

So from Par Aide, we salute all you do. Cheers.

Wherever golf is played.

Page 16

Page 17

What’s Creeping You Out Now Ideas In Pest Management Factors Affecting Fungicide Performance Jim Kerns, PhD. University of Wisconsin, Madison As summer approaches so to does the battle between diseases and golf course superintendents. Although in a perfect world it would be nice to manage fungal diseases without using a pesticide, yet we do not currently have that option. Fungicides are necessary in order to maintain the quality playing surfaces golfers demand, but it never hurts to understand the factors that affect fungicide performance. With an understanding of these factors, I believe that golf course superintendents could maximize their fungicide programs and possibly even extend residuals of some of their applications.

The primary factors that affect fungicide performance are what Rick Latin refers to as deposition factors, depletion factors, disease pressure and fungicide resistance. Dr. Latin discusses these factors extensively in his book A Practical Guide to Turfgrass Fungicides, which in my humble opinion is by far the best Turfgrass text I have ever read! Deposition factors refer to deployment of the fungicide, which includes application rate, application volume, application timing and application interval. Depletion factors refer to the removal of a fungicide either through degradation processes, mowing or rainfall. Disease pressure refers simply to the disease triangle- there are some circumstances when the pressure is so intense that more frequent and higher rates of products are required to maintain suppression. Finally fungicide resistance is essentially the natural selection of tolerant individuals through the repeated use of a fungicide, especially ones with single site modes of action. The remainder of the article will examine these factors in a bit more detail.

Page 18

w?

Deposition Factors:

Fungicides are typically applied using water as the carrier and one of the most controversial topics is how much water should I use. Most researchers apply fungicides in 2-gallons/1000 ft2, yet most golf course superintendents try to limit that water volume for efficiency during the application. Do you run the risk of losing performance when the water volume is cut from 2 gallons to 1.5, 1 or even lower? Coverage is not ideal when spraying fungicides from a sprayer traveling at 6 mph so why reduce water volume too much (Figure 1A). Most of the current research has focused on evaluating different water volumes for the control of dollar spot. Research conducted at Kansas State University demonstrated that water volumes could be reduced without sacrificing dollar spot suppression when using chlorothalonil (Figure 1B). These applications were conduced biweekly, which probably demonstrates that frequency of applications are important when lowering water volume.

The question I pose is what happens if we use a DMI or another product and expect more than 14 days of control? Does the residual control change with increasing water volume? I ask these questions because we routinely get exceptional control in our dollar spot trials with limited breakthrough, yet I rarely hear of the same control from golf course superintendents. Yes I know we do not have traffic and golfers at the OJ Noer and most certainly an argument could be made about how this influences disease pressure. However, keep in mind that we as plant pathologists are morbid and we do everything possible to induce disease development, so it’s unlikely that the pressure observed at any particular golf course is higher than the pressure at the OJ Noer. We plan to deploy our own water volume experiment this summer looking at residual control of dollar spot, in other words can we extend intervals just by increasing water volume? If you are interested come to the Wisconsin Turfgrass Association Summer Field Day on July 31st for the results.

Page 19

Depletion Factors:

Once a fungicide is deployed into the environment there are many factors that remove it from the plants we applied them to. One of the biggest factors is mowing. Constant mowing is an excellent way to remove or dilute fungicides from the targeted area. Notice the word dilute because in some cases we are removing protected tissue and as the new growth emerges it may or may not be protected. Another factor that we have worked on extensively is the degradation of fungicides in response to temperature. Paul Koch has focused his PhD research on how fungicides persist in the environment and has found that fungicides degrade rapidly when temperatures increase from 50 to 68 to 86oF (Figure 2). It is interesting that by 14 days we cannot detect iprodione on turf when temperatures are at 86oF. Based on this particular research, we think that microbes are the main entities degrading iprodione in the environment.

Therefore as temperatures increase so to will the degradation of iprodione. This is why Paul and I say increase rates and intervals during the summer months and when disease pressure is highest.

Another question I commonly receive is how long does it take for a fungicide to be absorbed. To answer this question, Pete Dernoeden’s group did a very nice study that applied water 30 minutes after fungicide application.

They used four different fungicides, Emerald, Chipco 26GT, Daconil Ultrex and Banner MAXX in this experiment and used dollar spot to evaluate the efficacy after rainfall. Emerald and Chipco 26GT were not affected after rainfall, but Daconil Ultrex and Banner MAXX were. This tells us that Daconil and Banner’s performance can be affected if a rainstorm occurs within 30 minutes after application. However, typically fungicides dry quickly and once they do, it is difficult to dislodge them. Therefore it is imperative to water-in fungicides immediately after application when targeting take-all patch and fairy ring.

Disease Pressure and Fungicide Resistance:

Like the past two summers, sometimes the summers are perfect for diseases.

Page 20

Figure 1. A. Various coverage on water sensitive paper when applied with different nozzles, at different speeds and in different water volumes. Notice the coverage when applying at 6 mph at 1 gal/1000ft2. B. The graph depicts the effect of water volume on the control of dollar spot with chlorothalonil.

When conditions are quite conducive, it can be difficult to manage diseases even with the best fungicides. As disease pressure increases so to must the fungicide rate and interval in order to successfully manage turf diseases. For example, the past two summers have been perfect for Pythium blight especially in creeping bentgrass fairways. When conditions are ripe for Pythium, this is not the time to use low rates. Also it seems like the tendency is to assume fungicide resistance when fungicides fail to perform during the summer. While this can be a real and difficult problem to manage, it is imperative to have this tested before assuming that you have an insensitive population. I think many

Page 21

failures can be attributed to lack of protection because the fungicide has been degraded. I find it suspicious that fungicide resistance is typically alleged when extreme disease pressure occurs and when it is hot. I think we forget that our fungicides do not last very long in the environment or at least that’s what our research shows. Before applying a fungicide this summer, I hope you consider these factors in order to maximize performance!

Figure 2. The effect of temperature on the degradation of iprodione in 2011.

Iprodione was applied once and plugs were brought to the lab 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35 days after application to incubate at 50, 68 or 86oF. Fungicide concentration was measure using a commercially available ELISA kit.

Page 22

I Wear My Sunglasses at Night

By Kendall Klaus, Owner of Klaus Nurseries

I Wear My Sunglasses at Night is a great song recorded by Canadian singer Corey Heart. In August of 1984, the song rose to number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is considered by many to be a classic ‘80’s pop rock song. You may wonder why I bring this up – continue reading – it will all come together shortly.

I was lucky enough to grow up alongside a small lake in the Twin Golf Digest Top 10 2009 Best New Course

GOLF Magazine 2009 Best New Public Course Honorable Mention

HERFORT Phone: 952.361.0644

G o l f

Cities area. Like many of you who grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s, when I wasn’t in school, I was outside. Much of my youth was spent on the water, winter and summer, fishing, swimming, water skiing, playing hockey, etc. I can still remember being outside on a sunny winter’s day, having fun.

Upon returning to the indoors, you wouldn’t be able to see anything for 10 minutes, after having been LINKS Magazine Top 10 Best New Public Course

NORBY

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Fax: 952.361.0645 e-mail: golfnorby@earthlink.net

Golf Inc. 2009 Best New Public Course Runner-up

The Preserve on Lake Rathbun Hole 5 - 536 Yard Par 5, Photo by Peter Wong.

web: herfortnorby.com

Page 23

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Turf Guard®

Wireless Soil Monitoring System Toro® Turf Guard Wireless Monitoring System helps you improve your turf, soil and water efficiency. The Turf Guard system is a revolutionary technology that lets you know what’s going on beneath the surface of your course, so you can make timely more-informed adjustments.

Turf Guard uses small dual-layer sensors buried under a putting green, fairway or tee box. Installation is quick and easy without any wires or trenches, and golfers never know that the sensors are there. Once in the ground, each sensor accurately measures moisture, temperature and salinity levels of your soil at two depths, in real time. That data is then collected and compiled into easy to view and understand tables, graphs, and dashboards. This information can be accessed from any Internet-connected computer by connecting to the system’s Web-based interface. You can even access your sensor information from a Web-enabled cell phone.

Features & Benefits • MONITOR MOISTURE LEVELS AND ADJUST IRRIGATION Reduce water usage and improve playability without risking turf quality. Promote root growth by avoiding over watering. Detect dry areas before it impacts the turf’s health.

• TRACK SALT BUILD-UP AND SCHEDULE FLUSHING Take the guesswork out of monitoring and managing salinity levels. Get positive confirmation that your flushing reduced soil salts. Know when and how much water to flush with.

• MONITOR DAILY SOIL TEMPERATURES Predict peak soil temperatures early in the day to start remediation activities before an emergency.

Schedule fungicide applications and pesticides for optimal effectiveness. Understand evaporation rates and syringing needs.

• WIRELESS NETWORK No wires between the repeaters and the sensors, or the sensor and the probes means that sensors can be installed anywhere on the course without disrupting play. Install sensors in greens, fairways, tees and other areas without having to trench or pull wires.

MTI Distributing, Inc. 2131 16th St. N. Suite C Fargo, ND 58102 800-782-1031 701-281-0775 Fax: 701-281-9417 Page 25

outside with the sun reflecting off all of that snow. I’m sure sunglasses had been invented, but I don’t remember ever wearing any as a kid. I don’t think I had my first pair of sunglasses until I could drive a car.

Last June, after returning from a fishing trip, I noticed a white growth on my right eye. It had been a particularly windy week up north and I assumed my eye irritation was a result of being out in all that wind. After a week of Visine use, it still felt like I had sand in my eye, so I made an appointment with my optometrist. Much to my surprise, he informed me that I had something called Pterygium! Not only had I never heard of it, I couldn’t even pronounce it! Definition: Pterygium (noun, pronounced te-‘ri-jē-um) “a fleshy mass of thickened conjunctiva that grows over part of the cornea usually from the inner side of the eyeball and causes a disturbance of vision.” Sounds lovely, huh?! In severe cases, Pterygium can block your vision completely. After a visit with a surgeon of Ophthalmology it was confirmed – not only did I have it in my right eye, but also my left.

It became clear that relief would come only through surgery, which I did have this past January. He only operated on my right eye, since the Page 26

growth on my left eye is not yet big enough for surgery. My surgeon used the “no-stitch, amniotic graft method” and it went beautifully. For anyone interested in seeing this type of procedure, there is a You-Tube video; however, it is graphic and not for the squeamish!

The primary cause of this condition is ultraviolet radiation from sunlight. Other causes include exposure to dusty, dry environments; spending significant time on or in the water may double your exposure to ultraviolet rays.

My surgeon believes that 90% of my exposure occurred before I was 16 years old!

Although I don’t ‘wear my sunglasses at night,’ I do wear them from sunrise to sunset, sunshine or clouds. Please have all of your employees put those sunglasses on when they’re outside, and by all means, if you have kids or grandkids get some good sunglasses on them whenever they are outdoors. Just remember the song, “And I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can Keep track of the visions in my eyes.”

Protect your vision – wear those sunglasses whenever you are outdoors!

On Board: Q & A

with a member of your BOD

Describe your most amazing event on your course...the worst or best?

Brian Brown, Superintendent at Chisago Golf Club

The worst thing that happened to me occurred when I was young in my career. I was employed as an Assistant Superintendent and it was the summer between my first and second year of Turf School. I was instructed to load up the fertilize spreader and fertilizer.

I was to fertilize greens heavy especially the 3 worst greens that were surrounded by trees. I fertilized all the greens and those three bad ones I fertilized in two directions so I knew that I got

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On Board:

it like it was yesterday.

Ferndale is located at the ....the worst or best. base of a bluff and above the Root River Valley. In the morning I would grab it “Heavy”. After a light watering I a fresh cup of coffee and head out went about my day and didn’t think on the greens mower. With so few another thing about it. The day had employees I mounted a rack on the very little wind and temperatures greens mower to carry the cup cutter reached 90 degrees. I am sure and bucket with supplies. Hole 6 is a everyone knows where this is going sharp dogleg that rises into a coulee but I didn’t until a day or two later of the bluff and overlooks the valley. when I noticed through my sunglasses My favorite spot to park and breathe that there looks to be checkerboard in the view was behind this green. lines on those three greens. I told One of these spectacular mornings the Superintendent what I saw and the sun was rising above the thick he told me to immediately water blanket of fog that covered the Root the greens. As you can imagine the River Valley. Just as if I were in the turf completely died in a distinctive peaks of a mountain. Deer meandered checkerboard pattern on the three across the fairway, turkeys were greens. The Superintendent took the clucking from a nearby field and birds most of the heat from the owner but were soaring above. To me it was a I will not forget the ride out to view spiritual experience of God’s great my destruction. I was devastated and creation.

I couldn’t sleep for weeks. I did get to spend plenty of time with those greens that summer spiking, seeding “The Championship” and watering those greens. This was a lesson I will never forget.

New Richmond Golf Club

continued.

My best experience was at my prior position at Ferndale Country Club in Rushford, MN. Even though it was ten years ago I can remember

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August 27th

See YOU there!!!

On Board: continued. ....the worst or best.

Paul Diegnau, CGCS, Keller GC

Remember the old adage “haste makes waste?” Well, back in 1997, in my second year at Keller GC, haste almost cost me my life. It was a late afternoon in late October and the sun was dipping below the barren trees. I had been spraying snow mold chemical all day and was racing the sun in the hopes of finishing my last tank and the job.

The spray rig at the time was a platform-mounted unit that rode in the bed of a three-wheel Cushman. The tank was half full and I could see the Page 29

end in sight. Rather than take the cart path from the tee I had just finished spraying, I opted on a short cut down the hill to a nearby green. What an idiot! Needless to say, as I started down the hill one of the rear tires hit a depression in the ground and the load shifted. In the blink of an eye the unit rolled and flipped over upside down.

The first thing I remember as I gathered my hazy thoughts was the unmistakable smell of gasoline as it dripped on my back. The vehicle continued to run for a while but eventually died. As I tried to orient myself I realized I was pinned under the utility vehicle in the space between the bench seat and the steering wheel. The amazing thing was how close I came to a broken neck. The metal handle on the edge of the bench seat was just inches

from my neck.

I remained under the vehicle for five or ten minutes while I cleared my head. Light was fading fast and the temperature was inching downward.

I was eventually able to extricate myself with a lot of wriggling back and forth. Considering I had a broken collar bone and multiple cracked ribs, that was quite a feat in itself. I ended up in the emergency room and spent several weeks recuperating.

We purchased a dedicated, lowprofile sprayer the following year.

That was a tough way to get a new sprayer! To this day I still think about the day I almost died on a golf course. My accident helped me to realize that most things in life can wait until tomorrow. Haste does truly make waste!

August 1, 2012

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Enter today for your chance to win this beautiful over/under 12 gauge shotgun. Proceeds from the raffle will supplement the Research fund for studies done at the University of Minnesota’s TROE Center. The shotgun will be given away at the October 15th MGCSA Fall Shootout. The winner need not be present at the shooting event.

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(continued from page 6) is different from Brown Patch. Each triggered or calmed by different inputs.

And as G.I. Joe says, “Knowing is half the battle!” Thus the material we listened to allowed us insight into valuable knowledge about the opposite sexes ‘buttons’. Here are a couple of examples.

Guys are problem solvers. To solve problems they often become quiet and remove themselves to a mental and/or sometimes physical ‘cave’. Through this isolation and introspection problems can be solved. There is nothing wrong with this process. Prodding questions such as, “Why are you so quiet? What is wrong with our relationship? Why are you ignoring me?” will send a guy deeper into the cave as he doesn’t need to nor wants to solve these ‘new’ problems. Other guys respect caves as they have one of their own. Men want to solve their own problems, come out of the cave and be appreciated when they either come out of the cave and/or have solved the problem at hand.

Appreciation is the quickest way to a man’s heart.

Gals are different in that rather then going into a cave they vocalize their challenges, in a cooperative effort, seemingly disconnected sentences and ideas that, as a guy who solves problems, each comment brings along a challenge to be solved. Women are fully capable of figuring their own solutions but rather than going into a cave to figure them out Page 32

they talk about them in a more social arrangement. There is nothing wrong with this problem solving method. Other women respect this and thus listen as their girlfriend gabs away in seemingly disconnect until she solves her own problem. Women just want to be listened to. Practice these words, “Uhuh, sure, yup and wow.” As much as you want to and know you could… don’t solve her problem unless invited to.

Learn to give an open ear and shut mouth and you will very soon be appreciated.

If Dr. Gray is only half correct about women as much as he is so absolutely right on about guys then this is a must read or listen to for each of you. Go to this link for the Cliff Notes version: http://www.wikisummaries.org/Men_Are_ From_Mars,_Women_Are_From_Venus

Better yet, plan a road trip with your significant other, grab an audio copy and travel a road less explored. Perhaps if you learned a few new tricks on listening and she learned how to keep out of your cave, especially during the stressful summer season, you relationship will grow. Mine has, both individually and with my wife as we try our best to listen to and appreciate one another while understanding the vast differences between our needs and how they are met.

Gas up, it is a long journey!

A SneAk Peek! Below is a sneak peek at a few of the speakers and topics from the upcoming Northern Green Expo! Complete schedule is on NorthernGreenExpo.org.

erik Christiansen

JAnuAry 9-11, 2013

• Golf Course Irrigation • Irrigation: Site Inspection • Irrigation: Design and Specs

MiNNEApolis CoNvENtioN CENtEr

Don Shelby Keynote: The Importance of Sustainability

rob Golembiewski • Interseeding into Established Greens • Turf Water Use and Soil Amendments

kevin norby • Master golf course planning • Superintendent Panel discussion of master planning

A complete schedule-at-a-glance can be found online at NorthernGreenExpo.org.

Join the conversation on Twitter #GreenExpo13.

David yocca The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES™) – Project Profiles/Lessons Learned

John Ball • Trees: Threats on the Horizon • 2012 Tree Care - The Year in Review

Brian Horgan &

eric Watkins

• Turfgrass Research Update • Is it Time to Rethink Tall Fescues for Sports Turf? Do they Deserve More Respect?

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Super-In-Site

“Motion W” with Eric Counselm

By John Meyer

There was something

I really liked about the man but couldn’t put my finger on it right away. I first met Eric Counselman in his office years ago and it is painted bright RED. Hmmm, I said to myself, could it be? No, probably not, not here in Minnesota. We talked briefly in his office and then continued out to the course to look at some of the turf.

Eric took his keys and knife out of his pocket and started cut out a sample of turf to look at more closely and I said, “Stop.”

I saw this bright RED “Motion W” on his key ring and I immediately dug in my pocket and pulled out my key chain with the same “Motion W” and then stated, “I Page 34

guess we have something in common.”

Born on the east coast, Eric Counselman is the furthest from an east coaster. The second oldest in a family of four, he is a very down to earth person that grew up in east central Wisconsin.

Plymouth to be exact, not to far from Pete Dye’s gems in Kohler. As a matter of fact Eric’s first experience on a golf course came at Blackwolf Run when he was 16.

Eric worked on Pete’s “burial mounds” for three summers during high school.

After graduating from Plymouth High School, Eric went to the University of Wisconsin where he studied under

man

Doctors Wayne Kussow and John Stier, and their Turf Science program.

During the summers at UW, Eric interned one year at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO and another year at the TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Potomac, MD. After graduating from THE University of Wisconsin, Eric went to work back home as an assistant to Ron Bierwirth at the Kohler Courses. In July of 2003 Eric took the assistant position under Casey Conlin during the final stages of the

grow-in at Somerby Golf Club in Byron, MN. Casey left Somerby in 2006 and Eric has been Superintendent ever since. Currently, the avid bow-hunter is assisted at Somerby

by Jake Kocak and Robbie Holmes.

Eric met his bride, Shannon at UW in 1997. Shannon and Eric got married in March of 2009 and earlier this year they had their first child.

A beautiful baby girl, Esme Marie, born on Eric’s birthday.

Eric and Shannon love to Page 35

vacation. One year they take a “cultural vacation” and the next year they take a “tropical vacation”. A great idea to mix it up. This fall Eric and Shannon are traveling to Tuscany and Florence, Italy. In season, Eric and Shannon get away to Shannon’s parent’s cabin up in Zimmerman.

Eric enjoys hunting, fishing, nordic skiing, mushroom hunting and a whole host of outdoor activities. Eric has skied in five (5) of the last six (6) American Birkebiners, the famous cross country ski race from Cable to Hayward, Wisconsin…only a mear 51 kilometers (30 miles). Eric also enjoys making his own wine and volunteering on the Environmental Commission of

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the Olmsted County Board. Eric has been on the Minnesota Golf Course Superintendents’ AssociationBoard of Directors for the past four years.

And finally, a “Motion W”. It is true! The W not only stands for Wisconsin, but it stands for Winner.

Eric is a Winner and his golf course and community activity reflect that. If you are ever planning on traveling through Bryon give Eric a call ahead of time and stop on by. If you are a wine drinker, let Eric know when you call. Bring a bottle and exchange it for one of Eric’s fine home brews…I know this works as I have done it a couple of times.

From one Badger to another Badger, THANK YOU Eric for your time.

Somerby Golf Club · Opened in 2004 · Privately owned by Ames Construction · Managed by O.B. Sports out of Scotsdale, AZ · Architects o Tom Lehman o John Fought · Housing development with home sites still available · Superintendents o Casey Conlin – 2003 – 2006 o Eric Counselman – 2006 – present · Grasses o Greens – A-4 o Tees – L-93 o Fairways – L-93 o Roughs – Kentucky Bluegrass and Scottish Links Fescue · Irrigation o Toro System o 2100 Heads o Wall to Wall Coverage

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Within the Leather

by David Kazmierczak CGCS Man, it was hot. Like, Africa hot on the 4th of July 2012.

I went in to the course and turned on a few irrigation heads first thing in the morning, and made the usual tour of the course. Everybody showed up, and on time, and the crew was getting sent home after the morning jobs because of the holiday, and because of the heat. Not that that was particularly different from any other 4th of July day at Prestwick, but this day was a little more special.

This 4th of July, after leaving the course, I loaded up the family and a cooler or two and headed north. We had been invited up to friend’s cabin for the rest of the day and I planned to take the following day off as well. It would be a rare moment of quality family time away from the golf course in the dead middle of summer.

Secure in the knowledge everything was alright at the course, I left it to my capable assistants and off we went. What a day it was.

There is not much anybody wants to do in 102 degree, 70-plus percent humidity day unless it involves a pontoon boat, a couple jet skis and a large body of water. That is precisely what we had. My friend’s cabin is in Wahkon, on the south shore of Lake Mil Lacs right next to Izatys Resort. The lake was fairly calm for its’ standard, and we had an absolute blast tubing, swimming and riding the jet skis.

My daughter, who is wheel-chair bound, even got to go out on a slow tube ride with the help of my son and myself and it will probably be the highlight of her summer.

By mid-evening we pulled in the dock and headed for Izatys where we booked a room. We cleaned up Page 38

quickly, and raced back to the cabin for dinner and an evening filled with cheer, revelry and fireworks. This was my first trip to Izatys, and I naturally noticed the golf course as it pretty much surrounds the entire complex. I had heard the stories about its’ history as an upper-tier golf facility that had fallen on harder times after a few ownership changes and a bank foreclosure. Things looked nice and green and since I was not going to play on this family trip, I just kind of tried to keep golf course off my mind.

As hot as it was when we left my friend’s cabin, by the time we got back a north wind had developed from somewhere and the evening was really pleasant. In the distance we could hear a few rumbles and I of course went straight to the phone to check radar. Sure enough, a large thunderstorm was passing just north of us but would not interrupt the evening. By the time the town of Wahkon was sending their aerial show up for us to the east, Mother Nature was conjuring up her own little treat to the west of us. We decided to leave right away after fireworks and get our family to the hotel room before it was too late. We got to Izatys, and to our room as lightning lit up the entire western sky. It was going to be a gullywasher at best, something more at worst.

I think everybody in the state has had at least one or two of these nasty storms hit their area, with differing degrees of destruction. The Mil Lacs region was no different, and especially this night. The storm took out power at Izatys for a while, and for at least a half an hour, we had to listen to a fire buzzer go off in the room next door because of it. The storm passed finally and we all got a little sleep after a long but fun day.

The next morning we got up and I packed up what I could in the van. The first tee and practice facility was right next to the parking lot.

The bunkers were completely full of water and there were branches here and there, but it did

not deter a nice line of golfers from waiting their turn at the first tee. My wife and daughter were taking their usual amount of time getting ready so I decided to walk down between the pool/ volleyball area that was flooded and the practice green to look at the lake. Mil Lacs was like an angry sea this morning, sending three-foot waves crashing upon the beach due to a very stiff north wind. Having gazed upon its’ aggressive beauty for about five minutes, I walked back to the room taking me straight over the practice green.

As I got there, I noticed there was a worker pulling up on a triplex mower to mow the green. I also noticed some small branches and twigs on the green in front of me. Naturally I started policing the green for him. He made his first pass and motioned that I did not have to do that at which point I replied that I was used to it and introduced myself. The guy on the mower was Steve Schumaker, Superintendent of Izaty’s Resort.

I had never met Steve before, but we did have some common acquaintances as it turned out, and he relayed to me the story of how he was the superintendent when the courses were built, and what he was dealing with now just to keep the course running on a bare-bones budget. It was a nice conversation until it was interrupted by my wife. She said she was stuck on the second floor with my daughter as the elevator had stopped running due to the storm. When Steve heard this he instantly ran over to the pool area, talked to one guy who told him the guy he was looking for was next door. The two of them then dropped what they were doing and literally ran over to the building to help us. Ten minutes later the doors were opening and we were able to get Susan down to floor level.

As we left Izatys and headed east, back to my friend’s cabin for another day of fun, a few general observations popped into my head from the morning’s experience. The most obvious was

how great the guys were in helping us out.

They did not just pass the buck, or slowly get to the issue. They bolted to help us, and made sure we were taken care of when they obviously had a lot of other urgent things they had to take care of. My thanks to Steve and the staff at Izatys.

The next thing I mused upon was how frustrating it must be to be Steve and any of his staff that at one time was allowed to maintain the course at the highest of levels, but now must make do and find a way to keep the place a notch below. I think everybody in the business can understand the feeling of not being able to bring the course to where they want it to be on a daily, weekly, monthly level due to lack of funding, lack or personnel, etc. If that is you, hang in there and keep plugging.

Ultimately though, I started putting the pieces together and decided that strange fate had worked in my favor again. Had I not taken the time to stare at the lake, I would not have picked up twigs off the putting green. Had I not picked the twigs, I would not have met Steve. If I had not met Steve, not only would I have not made a very nice new friend in the industry, but we most definitely would have been trapped on the second floor for a lot longer than we would have otherwise. It was kind of like the DirecTV commercials only in reverse. I am a firm believer in if you do good things, good things will happen to you and as I age, the concept of fate, and every action will have either a positive or negative reaction seems to come into play more and more.

At the end of the DirecTV adds, the announcer proudly proclaims “Don’t sell your hair to a wig shop,” or “Don’t wind up in a roadside ditch.” I am here to say: “Always stop to pick up twigs on a neighbor’s putting green.”

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