SuperNews OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE RIO GRANDE GCSA
December 2020 President Roy Johnson Vice President Glenn Denney CGCS Secretary / Treasurer Aaron Sunderlin Board of Directors: Paul Kerr Mac Blevins Mike Atkins Past President Jimmy Rodriguez Vendor Representative John King Chapter Executive Carol Cloud rggcsa@gmail.com
GCSAA Field Rep John Walker
President’s Message Greetings, I hope this newsletter finds everyone and their families happy and healthy! Thank you for allowing me the privilege to serve as your chapter president in 2021, and thanks to all members for your continuous support. I look forward to working with our board of directors and the entire membership to continue moving the chapter forward and promoting golf course management. I want to recognize Matt Urban for his service and dedication to the chapter as he will be stepping down from the board of directors. Thank you, Matt! I also want to recognize Jimmy Rodriguez for his service, Jimmy will remain on the board of directors as immediate past president. Thank you, Jimmy! Thanks to help from Brian Cloud, New Mexico now has a published Best Management Practice (BMP) guideline for golf courses! You can access the BMP’s through a link on the GCSAA and RGGCSA websites. The BMP Steering Committee along with the board of directors will continue working with Brian to put together a facility BMP adoption program. Next month will mark 1 year since the chapter was last able to have an in-person meeting. The last 9 months have presented many challenges, not only with our own facilities, but also as a chapter. The constant changing of state health orders have made planning anything outside of 2 weeks nearly impossible, and it appears that will continue into the new year with the State’s “Red-to-Green” county-by-county plan. Continued on next page
Roy Johnson RGGCSA President
President’s Message - continued So, instead of worrying about when and where we will meet next, the board of directors has decided to switch gears and look to hosting a virtual meeting which will include education in January 2021, and potentially more virtual meetings depending on changes to the public health order and the success of the first meeting. Keep an eye on your inbox for details. The RGGCSA cannot exist without the support of our sponsors and we truly appreciate each of you. Therefore, to show our appreciation and retain you as a sponsor for 2021, we are offering all current sponsors a significant credit toward 2021 sponsorship fees. The board has approved an 80% credit toward your 2021 sponsorship, if you wish to recommit at the same level (Gold, Silver, Bronze, etc.) that you did for 2020. This means that you will get all the same benefits of your sponsorship level for 20% of the price. This offer will not be made to those vendors that did not participate as 2020 sponsors. If you wish to change your sponsorship category, up or down, those requests will be taken into consideration on a case by case basis by the board of directors. For more information please contact Carol Cloud or visit www.rggcsa.org and click on 2021 Sponsorship Opportunities. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!
RGGCSA President Roy Johnson Filling the Freezer!
GCSAA Field Staff Report
Kudos on your efforts through 2020 Johnny Walker South Central Representative Published - Nov 18, 2020 It’s a week before Thanksgiving, college football is in full swing and Dustin Johnson just won his first Masters tournament. Also, it is 85 degrees and our 30-something hurricane of the year just made landfall. Sounds just like 2020, doesn’t it? What a crazy year this has been, but I think that the GCSAA chapters in my region have done a great job navigating through all of the obstacles that they have had to deal with, and there have been many. This year forced the leadership of all chapters to increase their communication within their boards as well as their membership. I believe this one variable of the equation was the key factor for the chapters to have a successful year amid this pandemic. The increased communication also led to leadership working more closely together and engaging the general membership in more of the chapter operations. I know that I have been working more frequently with my chapter relations team at GCSAA this year to keep up with all of the regulations throughout my region and the nation to help guide our chapter leaders to a successful year. All of the staff at GCSAA had to step up their communications with each other and our members to keep paddling in the right direction. Annual meetings have just finished in my region; incoming directors have been elected to serve and outgoing presidents have been thanked for their service. Plans are being developed for 2021 and committee assignments are being made to help guide chapters to another successful year. I wanted to say a big "thank you" to all of the executive directors and board members in my region for keeping me informed during these last several months as we all worked together to make the most of a very difficult time. If you ever question the value of your GCSAA membership or your local chapter membership, remember to look back on this year and how these associations helped our industry stay open during the pandemic and worked tirelessly to help everyone navigate an extremely weird year. Great job, everyone! TAKE THE 2021COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS SURVEY GCSAA superintendent members will receive an e-mail on Dec. 15, 2020, to complete the 2021 Compensation and Benefits Report survey and assist in collecting vital data within the industry. Please submit your survey by Jan. 29. If you did not receive the survey email, contact Greg Stacey, senior manager, market research and data, at 800472-7878, ext. 5152.
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New Mexico latest state to publish BMP guidelines for golf courses The Rio Grande Golf Course Superintendents Association leads the development of statewide best management practices with grant from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America The work of the Rio Grande Golf Course Superintendents Association has resulted in the publication of “Best Management Practices” for New Mexico golf courses. The New Mexico BMPs were developed in part by using the BMP Planning Guide and Template created by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and funded and supported by the USGA. The BMPs provide guidance for New Mexico golf course maintenance professionals in 12 key areas including irrigation, water quality monitoring and management, nutrient management and pollinator protection. The Rio Grande GCSA received $15,000 in BMP grants that GCSAA funded through the association’s Environmental Institute for Golf (EIFG) in part by the PGA Tour. The BMP grant program provides funding through the EIFG to chapters for developing new guides, updating existing guides or for verification programs. GCSAA’s goal is to have all 50 states offer established BMPs by the end of 2020. “(The BMPs) give us a leg to stand on,” said Roy Johnson, Rio Grande GCSA president and superintendent at San Juan Country Club in Farmington, N.M. “It shows we are responsible, we are protecting the environment and that we care for the environment.” In addition to Johnson, others who served on the New Mexico BMP Steering Committee include Joseph Rodriguez III, director of golf course maintenance at Towa Golf Course in Santa Fe, N.M.; Brian Cloud, Cloud Golf and Turf Services in Fort Worth, Texas; John King, Winfield United in Los Lunas, N.M.; Karl Olson, CGCS, superintendent at New Mexico State University Golf Course in Las Cruces, N.M.; Matthew Urban, superintendent at Outlaw Club at Alto Lakes in Alto, N.M.; and Matthew Hughes, superintendent at Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs, N.M.
To read New Mexico’s “Best Management Practices” and to learn more about GCSAA’s BMP program, visit www.gcsaa.org/bmp. The document is also available on the RGGCSA website: Click Here
Each crop year starts with the post-harvest recovery of perennial stands as well as tilling the soil and establishing new fields. Crop 2020 had a strong start thanks to good September rains that allowed for strong crop recovery and good sprouting of escaped seed before ground was prepared for new seeding. The new seeding period started out very good with good soil moisture but was halted for several weeks due to rains that came just often enough to keep seed drills out of the fields. Many fields were planted weeks later than is optimal and some were not planted at all. Fall blended into winter almost unnoticeably and winter continued as the mildest in recent memory. Lack of cold weather and flooding meant that herbicides were less effective and pests (slugs, armyworms and voles) overwintered more successfully than we'd like. Spring arrived in spurts with a few days of very warm nice weather followed by return to cool and wet. This caused maturity gaps in the crops from which many never recovered. Spring continued with an unusually dry April and May. The on-again/off-again spring weather exhibited itself later with very long pollination periods which resulted in very
uneven ripening in many fields. Growers had to choose the crop that was starting to shatter or wait for the crop that was still ripening. June brought very much needed rain which benefited some of the later crops like perennial ryegrass and later Tall fescues that escaped the effects of the sporadic early spring. June also brought an explosion of voles in some fields. Large populations developed in some fields and reduced yields to a few hundred pounds or more. There were some reports of growers abandoning a seed crop all together in favor of hay or pulling combines out of fields because there was no seed going into the tank. 2020 pestilence. While this was happening, other areas were experiencing record breaking yields in some perennial ryegrass and some tall fescue. Results often varied widely between fields just a couple of miles apart. In the end, the variability mostly evened out and crops were somewhat less than normal, but not as disastrous as was feared as harvest began. Fall rains this year helped with crop recovery and most fields greened up well. Our current dry stretch is starting to cause concern. Some comments on individual crops: Tall fescue This crop was hard to call as results were wide ranging throughout the valley. Our cool, wet spring worked very well for some fields. In some cases, however the weather caused fields to pollinate over an extended window. This resulted in a wide range of seed maturity and when the field was ready to cut there were still a high number of seeds that were still too green. Vole damage was significant in the south valley and in pockets north of Corvallis and west of the Willamette river. Results were generally better in the northern part of the valley where a few very poor results were offset by record yields. Harvest weights of 20% higher than normal were not uncommon. Overall, the Willamette Valley crop is thought to be a bit below pre harvest expectations. The other major production area in the west of Washington saw normal yields. There has been recent discussion in the valley that the oversupply concerns from earlier in the year are greatly reduced. Perennial ryegrass The Perennial ryegrass crop came in close to average, though it too was quite variable and included many disappointing results. High temperatures during pollination and seed fill limited yields on many fields. Continued on next page
Continued from previous page The bigger picture on perennial ryegrass is the reduction in Willamette Valley acres over the past 15 years. Local growers used to produce well over 100,000 acres, but only produce about half that now. Production areas in the Columbia basin (SW Washington and NW Oregon) have been limited in recent years as growers have not been interested in producing the crop at recent price levels. Interest remains weak in all PNW growing areas. As much as half of the planned production in Canada in 2020 was lost to weather related problems. Minnesota’s early hopes of near record yields were not realized thanks to heavy damage from army worm and poor weather during seed fill. Annual and Intermediate ryegrass This mostly south-valley crop was the most affected by the high vole population of 2020. Fields that sustained little damage yielded near average results, however, there were few of those. Damage ranged from reductions of 10% to 100%. There were fields that growers did not combine because there was no seed left to harvest. The overall result was well below average for annual ryegrass—at least the diploid varieties. There are reports that tetraploid varieties were unaffected, and yields were normal. Orchardgrass Early indications of a better than average orchardgrass crop have reversed to a general impression that it was a bit below average. Cleanouts have been high and cleaners report removing a lot of doubles. Acres are trending downward. Fine fescue Oregon yields were average to average-plus for chewings and average to average minus for creeping red. Gowers report that many creeper fields came in light and fluffy and the field-run seed included a lot of doubles. Clean-outs have been high. Less than half of the fields that are usually burned in the Silverton Hills got that treatment this year thanks to oppressive smoke from the September wildfires. This will decrease some yields and increase weed pressure for 2021.
Kentucky bluegrass Kentucky bluegrass results were mixed in 2020. Central Oregon yields were below average, and the Columbia basin reported strong results. The Grande Ronde Valley was a bit below normal and the dryland area in Washington was weak. Thee dryland area in Idaho was also strong thanks to the second year in a row of timely late spring rain. Overall, it sounds like the crop was a bit better than last year, putting it about average. Bluegrass inventories have crept up recently and planting in 2020 was sharply down. Rough bluegrass Yields were fair. Acreage remains curtailed. This crop that has unusually high irrigation demands and many farms in the production area of Central Oregon choose to save their limited water supplies for other crops. Growers will face increased water rationing for the 2021 crop. Creeping bentgrass The crop this year was about average. Clean-outs so far have been a little higher than usual. Growers continue to struggle to keep hand rouging crews necessary for annual bluegrass control. Red clover Came in near average. Some elds were lost near the end of harvest as the same high winds from the east that exploded the Cascade mountain wildres blew windrows into piles. White clover Acres were reduced this year due to poor establishment or the inability to plant on fields that remained too wet through the planting season. Yields were good on acres harvested. Crimson clover Yields were strong this year and the crop was sizable. Acres will be down sharply for 2021.
Author: Sean Chaney, V.P. Professional Turf Seed Research of Oregon and DLF-Pickseed USA Thank you RGGCSA Affiliate Board Member John King for submitting this informative article!
2021 Golf Industry Show to be presented virtually
Your space. Your pace. All in one place. 2021 Schedule At A Glance All times Eastern Standard Pre-GIS • Collegiate Turf Bowl Competition • Heath in Action 5K • Silent Auction (Jan. 18 - Feb. 8) Tuesday, Feb. 2 • Opening Session 11AM - 12PM • Education Power Hour: Lightning Round Learning 12 - 1PM • Education Sessions 12 - 4PM • Trade Show Opens at 12PM with 24-hour access
• Education Power Hour: Turf Solutions: Everything but the Kitchen Sink 1 - 2PM • Education Power Hour: Equipment Managers Session: Tips and Tricks for Your Maintenance Facility 2 - 3PM • Education Power Hour: Government Affairs: State of Policy and Politics in 2021 3 - 4PM • Equipment Managers Reception 4 4:30PM • EIFG/GA Reception 4 - 5PM
cess: Journeys to Leadership 3 - 4PM • Ladies Leading Turf Reception 4 4:30PM • EXCEL Leadership Reception 4 - 5PM • Trade Show 24-hour access
• Thursday, Feb. 4 • General Session:Behind the Scenes at PGA Frisco11AM - 12PM • Annual Meeting 12 - 1PM • Education Power Hour: Key Insights to Help You Make the Right Choice 12 - 1PM • Education Sessions 12 - 4PM Wednesday, Feb. 3 • Education Power Hour: Taking Steps To• General Session: Managing the Chalwards Emotional Wellness – A Beginning lenges of Disruptive Change 11AM 1 - 2PM 12PM • Education Power Hour: Why Didn’t I • Celebrating Certification 12 - 1PM Think of That? Ideas that Make an Impact • Chapter Management Session 12 - 1PM at Your Course 2 - 3PM • Education Power Hour: Labor Session: Strategies for Pushing Through Adversity • Grassroots Ambassador Academy 2 3 4PM 1 - 2PM • Education Power Hour: Turfgrass Talk • Education Sessions 12 - 4PM Show 3 - 4PM • Grassroots Ambassador Academy 1 3 • Closing Celebration 4 - 5PM 4PM • Trade Show 24-hour access • Education Power Hour: Stories of Suc-
Past President Jimmy Rodriguez Towa G.C.
President Roy Johnson San Juan C.C.
Vice President Glenn Denney CGCS Secretary/Treasurer Alto Lakes CC Aaron Sunderlin Black Mesa G.C.
Congratulations 2021 Board of Directors
Director Mike Atkins
Twin Warriors G.C.
Director Mac Blevins
Desert Lakes G.C.
Director Paul Kerr
Mountain West Golfscapes
Affiliate Liason John King Winfield United
Guest Article
Putting Surface Quality Doesn’t Stop at the Collar! Bud White, CPAg Bud White Golf Solutions When golfers are on the tee ready to play, where is their focus? Certainly not on the tee or rough- instead, it’s on the putting green complex and how best to get there. According to golf statistics, from 100 yards and in, the putting green complex is where 60 percent plus of the game is played for the average golfer. Therefore, best management practices for the entire green complex are critical to producing conditions for golfers who can enjoy the best putting greens and surrounds possible. This approach is often overlooked in course conditioning, in both high and low budget courses. However, the collars, approaches and surrounds, including greenside bunkers, are arguably the most important areas on the course after the putting surfaces. When budgets are decreased in today’s economy and/or labor staff is limited, focusing maintenance efforts on the green complex can increase the playability and aesthetics of the course. The golfer’s attention is then directed to the increased playability, better turf quality, appearance, and bunker conditioning of the most played areas on the course. Over the years I have seen inexperienced superintendents at their first job (typically at a low to modest budget course) make the mistake of allocating this budget over the entire course versus using a priority maintenance concept. The result? No area of the course is as good as it could be. In that scenario it is difficult to show any progress to encourage increased budgets or new equipment. The staff’s hard work and effort is scattered all over the course and reduces the impact of the superintendent’s skills.
Continued on next page
Continued from previous page Focusing on the green complex and tee top allows modest budget properties to produce the best playing quality in these areas and consequently gives the golfers/management a glimpse of how good their course could be in conditioning and playability. The ‘green complex’ is usually considered the area about 40 feet beyond the collar, depending on design and terrain. It encompasses a high number of shots played by the average handicap golfer, thus maximum conditioning in this area is critical. More, if not all, courses today need to focus on this maintenance approach and will see improvements to: • • • • •
Collar quality Approach quality Chipping areas Greenside bunkers Rough surrounds
Improvements would include upgraded practices such as:
Green Perimeter Detail is Most Impactful
• Grooming • More targeted fertility • Detail to mowing quality—frequency, sharper lines, better definition • Irrigation management—better head adjustment, checking frequency • Weed control
This approach to maintenance will produce the best conditioned course possible in turf health and playability, especially on modest to low budget courses. Tee tops and immediate slopes would be next in priority, especially with weed control, mowing frequency and divot filling. This is priority maintenance at its best! Most all budget and staff situations will allow a high degree of grooming in green perimeters and tee tops. Priority maintenance can be a key to reductions in water use and labor, as well as environmental impacts. Understanding and implementing this concept is the future of golf course maintenance and can make a tremendous impact on golfers with little to no budget increases. For further information, please see the USGA Green Section article, Maintenance by Priority, http://gsr.lib.msu.edu/1980s/1981/810501.pdf If I can help you and your course develop this maintenance concept or in assisting your management/golfers understand this philosophy, please feel free to call. Bud White Golf Solutions, budwhiteturf@gmail.com, (972) 768-3245. Green Perimeter Quality is Critical
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NMSU researcher coauthors two papers on COVID-19’s impact on turfgrass industry A New Mexico State University researcher is part of a group of turfgrass experts from several land-grant universities across the United States that coauthored two newly published papers on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the turfgrass industry. Bernd Leinauer, NMSU Regents professor and turfgrass Extension specialist, teamed up with other turfgrass researchers and specialists to write a commentary and research letter to assist turfgrass managers grappling with economic uncertainty amid the pandemic. Continued on next page.
Bernd Leinauer, New Mexico State University Regents professor and turfgrass Extension specialist, teamed up with other turfgrass researchers and specialists to write a commentary and research letter to assist turfgrass managers grappling with economic uncertainty amid the pandemic. (NMSU photo by Darren Phillips)
“We published two papers aimed at helping practitioners justify why turfgrass and natural green spaces are essential during the COVID-19 era and deserving of budgetary resources,” said Leinauer, who collaborated with scientists from Cornell University, University of Florida, University of Nebraska, Oregon State University, University of Tennessee, Texas A&M University and the University of Wisconsin. In their commentary, the authors outline the benefits of managed turfgrass on golf courses, playing fields, recreational parks and urban landscapes to assist decision makers with resource allocation in the COVID-19 era. In their research letter, they acknowledge that COVID-19 has forced turfgrass managers to re-evaluate their standard practices. Unlike agricultural producers who grow crops to make a profit by maximizing yields, turfgrass managers cultivate natural grass surfaces to meet an aesthetic or functional ideal that impacts human health and wellbeing but is less easy to quantify, Leinauer said. “In a contracted economy, resources will not always be available to manage a crop or groundcover whose financial benefits are not as easily quantifiable,” said Jim Brosnan, lead author of the papers and turfgrass weed scientist at the University of Tennessee. “Although the actual minimum costs vary situationally and regionally, minimum costs required to fertilize, irrigate, and mow can be estimated using climate data, turfgrass physiology information and resource costs.” Both papers are available for free on the open access journal Agricultural & Environmental Letters.
United States Golf Association WEST REGIONAL UPDATE
No Drain, No Gain Brian Whitlark
Senior Consulting Agronomist When you think of drainage, you might picture a trench filled with gravel and pipe – easy peasy! But the old style of using gravel in a trench is flawed and here is why – gravel overlaid with sand creates a perched water table. Unless the sand depth is at least 10-12 inches, the surface can stay wet and black layer will likely form. Subsurface drainage trenches will perform much better when backfilling the trench with sand; not gravel. Sand also more effectively “wicks” water from surrounding heavier soils than gravel. Some additional and perhaps non-traditional methods to improve drainage at your facility include: Dirty sand on top of sand – Subsurface trenches should be filled with a well-drained sand – i.e., a sand that drains from 30-60 inches per hour. The top 4-6 inches of the profile should be amended with soil or peat moss to achieve a moisture retention of 15-20%. This will help to retain surface moisture and avoid the “tiger stripes” that will develop if a coarse sand is used at the surface. Put a sock on it – A geotextile fabric can be used to line the bottom of the trench to discourage fine material from working its way into the drain lines. The fabric should also line the drain pipe.
Do NOT socially distance the drain lines – Water that infiltrates soil will only move laterally very slowly and often no more than a few feet. For example, soil water will move sideways at a rate of only 0.1 inch per hour in a soil that drains at 2 inches per hour and has a grade of 5%. If the same soil is graded at only 1% slope, the internal soil water movement slows to only 0.02 inch per hour! Therefore, in heavy textured soils, drains must be spaced closely – i.e., 10 to 20 feet in many cases. Deeper is better – A good guideline for the depth at which drain pipe should be installed is 18-24 inches. The slower the soil infiltration rate, the deeper the drains should be. Shallow drains will result in chronically wet surface conditions and black layer. Surface drainage trumps subsurface drainage every time – Facilities will get much more bang for their buck by capturing surface flow before it puddles in flat and low-lying areas. Rather than focus on the wet areas, capture water with surface drains in higher elevations. From a cost perspective, it is prudent to capture as much surface flow as possible before spending a great deal of time – and money – on subsurface drainage infrastructure. Google it! – Use Google Earth to help identify surface elevations and plan for both surface and subsurface drainage. To view the elevation changes across the course, move the mouse across the screen. At the bottom right of the screen, the latitude, longitude and elevation in feet will change based on where you move the mouse. Outsource it – A completed drainage project should be functional and the trenches should be nearly undetected by golfers. Achieving a clean, level surface that blends in with the surrounding turf and terrain is no easy task. In most cases, it is best to outsource this work to a company specialized in drainage installation. Do your homework before installing any drainage system – Here are some great resources from Turf Drain America: • The Principle of Concentrations of Flow and How it Affects Drainage Designs • The Inherent Differences in Surface Water vs. Seepage Water and How They Affect Drainage • Master Drainage Plans
If your course is planning drainage work or seeking to improve firmness and playability across the golf course, reach out to the USGA Green Section for more information on these strategies or any other agronomic practices.