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A D V E R T O R I A L

Buil t in 1 9 1 5 , Traverse Ci ty Golf & Coun t ry C lub played host to yesteryear 's go l f ing ambassadors f r om G e n e Sarazen to Pres ident Gerald Ford. As t imes changed , so d id t he course 's need for a renovat ion that in tensi f ied play and rivaled cur ren t compet i t ion .

"Our c lub has a lways been a h o m e away f rom home for local fami l ies and summer residents, but as tour ism and gol f in nor thern Mich igan increased, so did the need to up our game," said super in tendent , Steven H a m m o n , who 's w o r k e d at Traverse Ci ty for 13 years.

For example , in 2 0 0 6 , t he c lub t rans fo rmed its ag ing dr iv ing range into a s ta te -o f - the -a r t pract ice faci l i ty equ ipped w i th seven g a m e - l i k e ta rge t greens, bunkers and fairways.

The pract ice faci l i ty wi l l c o m e in handy fo r go l fe rs need ing to ca reen thei r balls a round a massive cen tu ry -old t ree on the par-4, 3 7 7 - y a r d Ho le 18. T h e oak ob-stac le si ts sl ight ly left o f the midd le fairway, cha l leng ing both shor t and long hit ters. Shor t hi t ters shou ld lay up a long the r ight s ide o f t he fa i rway to avoid the t ree w i th thei r second shot, but b ig hi t ters shou ld power shots high to clear the t ree top.

"Players o f t e n ask h o w m u c h it wou ld cost to have the t ree s t ruck by l ightning," H a m m o n said.

H a m m o n and his ma in tenance c rew of 14 realize thei r l imi tat ions w h e n it comes to contro l l ing nature. They may not be able to s u m m o n l ightning, bu t they have innovat ive too ls w h e n s t ruck by tur f d isease. In J u n e 2 0 0 8 , H a m m o n s t rugg led w i th a ser ious b rown r ing pa tch (Wa i tea patch) outbreak.

"My 94 -yea r -o l d annua l b luegrass g reens w e r e g e t -t ing h a m m e r e d w i t h i rregular ye l low rings," he said.

H a m m o n appl ied Tr in i ty" fung ic ide at a curat ive rate o f 1.5 to 2 .0 ounces per 1 ,000 square feet . "I was so p leased w i t h t he results that __

I've incorpora ted Trini ty into my g j

prevent ive p rogram for all patch I i t diseases," he said. 1 t rus t Tr in i ty • to per fo rm w h e n I need it most."

^ T r i n i t y

To learn more about Trinity" fungic ide and BASF visi t www.bet ter tur f .com and www.basf tur f ta lk .com.

G O L F D O M ' S HOLE OF THE M O N T H IS M A D E P O S S I B L E BY:

• - B A S F The Chemical Company

w w w . g o l f d o m . c o m G o l f d o m 1 3

Hole Stats D i s t a n c e : 3 7 7 ya rds

P a r 4

The Turf Bentgrass/Annual Bluegrass

AND GOOD FOR THE

1 4 G o l f d o m S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9

GOOD FOR THE Environment,

By Ch r i s t o phe r S. Gray Sr . ,

C o n t r i b u t i n g Ed i t o r

IT ALL BEGAN W I T H A CONVERSATION

with the owner of my golf course during a late-night budget meeting.

" H o w much money did we actually save with all these environmental pro-grams?" he asked.

" B y m y n u m b e r s , m o r e t h a n $250,000," I replied.

He thought for a momen t and said, "We should tell our golfers about this."

I responded, " N o sir, we should give some of the money back to them and then tell them about it."

And that ' s the beginnings of Mar-vel Golf Club 's "Affordable Golf from

Establishing native areas on the golf course

has proven to be the largest savings con-

tributor. Nearly 50 acres of maintained turf

has been converted to native grass areas in

the past three years.

a Better Envi ronment initiative. In a nutshell, the initiative reduces the daily greens fees for the entire 2009 golfing season from $35 to $25 for an 18-hole round (with golf car) seven days a week. But the key to this program is why we're able to do it: I ts because of the numerous environmental programs implemented throughout the golf course that have re-sulted in substantial maintenance budget savings. We're providing a message that there arc real and tangible benefits for implementing environmental programs on golf courses.

A wall in the clubhouse is dedicated to the "Affordable Golf f rom a Better Env i ronmen t" initiative. O n the wall hangs a 20-foot-by-30-foot poster frame that's packed with information detailing the four major areas of environmental savings: native-area establishment, water management, fertility management and pesticide management.

Establishing and expanding native areas on the golf course, typically where golf balls shou ldn ' t go, has proved to be the largest savings contributor. Over the past three years, nearly 50 acres of mainta ined golf course land has been converted to native grass conservation areas. Through the techniques of timely glyphosate appl icat ions and selective controlled burns, the native seed bank was s t imula ted to ge rmina te . For tu-nately, in this geographic area (south-ern Kentucky), the predominant native species that prospered was broomsedge bluestem, which grows to about 3 feet and turns brown. After the broomsedge was established, no further maintenance practices were necessary in these areas.

T h e significant budget savings come in the form of associated mowing costs a n d r educed fer t i l izer app l i ca t ions .

When you don ' t need to mow 50 acres of land, you save labor, fuel and equip-ment expenses that go directly to your bot tom line — not to mention the sav-ings f rom not having to purchase and apply 50 acres of fertilizer. T h e cumu-lative savings f rom native-area estab-l ishment have added up to more than $ 150,000.

In terms of water management , it's no t s imply a ma t t e r of r educ ing the actual amoun t of water used to irrigate the golf course. T h e secondary costs involved with irrigation add up more quickly when you examine the associ-ated expense numbers.

Electricity used to transfer water into the re tent ion p o n d or to opera te the water source as well as run the irrigation pumps arc the highest costs with irrigat-ing the golf course. By capturing storm water and harvesting wastewater directly from the property using nothing more than gravity and pipes, we significantly reduced the amoun t of electrical energy needed to provide sufficient water for our irrigation cycles.

T h e s e p r o g r a m s have v i r t ua l l y eliminated drawing fresh water out of Ken tuck)' Like, which lies adjacent to

Continued on page 16

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ALL THE PERFORMANCE half the energy

Continued from page 15 the golf course — which has saved more than $40,000 in electrical costs.

T o irrigate more efficiently, we em-ploy a regimen of well-timed wet t ing agent applications. These wetting agents allow us to irrigate with less water, while maintaining proper and consistent levels of moisture throughout the soil profile. T h e cost of the wetting agents is more than offset by the reduction in irrigation cycles needed to provide a healthy play-ing surface for the golfers. In total, wet-ting agents have saved the maintenance budget about $10,000.

Marvel Golf Club was the first course in the Uni ted States to use t ranscon-tinental-seeded bermudagrass for tees and fairways. Th i s seeded variety has many ou t s t and ing at t r ibutes , includ-ing being able to fertilize with smaller a m o u n t s than t radi t ional nonseeded bermudagrass.

W e fertilize o u r tees and fairways with a simple straight urea (46-0-0) at a rate of .70 pounds pcr-thousand square feet per mon th . Timely irrigation, im-

mediately after application, reduces the volatility of the urea. These practiccs lead to a 30 percent reduct ion of fer-tilizer use for tees and fairways, saving more than $30,000.

For t h e g r e e n s , we d e v e l o p e d a s p o o n - f e e d i n g p r o g r a m wi th wa te r soluble, cost-effective Plant Marvel fer-tilizer. These applications provide the A1/A2 bentgrass with the proper levels of nutrients needed to survive in the hot Kentucky summers . W e maximize the fertilizer uptake efficiency by applying less fertilizer more f requent ly , which minimizes potential loss by leaching. Comparatively, the spoon-feeding pro-gram saves about $7,500.

Regarding pesticide managemen t , we establ ished rather high threshold levels for each area of the golf course.

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16 Golfdom S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9

By s poon - f eed i ng the g reens , M a r v e l Golf

Club s a ved about $7,500. The idea is to

max imize the fertilizer uptake eff ic iency

by app ly ing sma l le r a m o u n t s of fertil izer

more frequently.

This has also led to a considerable re-duc t ion of fungicides and herbicides. Addit ional ly, with the assistance of a Tier 1 pesticide assessment model , we identified and approved only low-risk pesticides for use on the golf course. T o date, there have been no insecticide ap-plications made to the transcontinental tees and fairways, which has meant an enormous savings to the pesticide main-tenance budget. In all, we have reduced the total number of necessary pesticide applications by about 20 percent, sav-ing nearly $15,000.

For years, our industry has tried to publicize the various env i ronmen ta l benefi ts of golf courses to the average

golfer, but unfor tunate ly these efforts have largely fallen on deaf cars. T h e av-erage golfer who plays a few times a week isn't interested in the envi ronment as much as he's interested in how much he has to shell out for a round of golf, espe-cially in these difficult economic times. That ' s not to say he or she doesn't care about the environment, only that he or she would rather focus on winning that $2 nassau among his golfing buddies.

It 's the casual goiter the init iat ive reaches by spel l ing o u t exactly h o w each environmental program has saved the golf course money, which in turn results in lower greens fees for the golf-

ing season. Message delivered and money saved. •

Christopher S. Gray Sr., a contributing editor for Golfdom, is golf course super-intendent and general manager of the Marvel Golf Club in Benton, Ky.

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L e b a n o r i T u r f

W h e n t h e s c h o o l bel l r i n g s , d o n t let y o u r d o g g o h a c k t o s c h o o l ! M a n y d o g s will n a t u r a l l y fo l l ow k id s — o r will b e e n c o u r a g e d t o t a g a l o n g . M a n y b e c o m e los t , i n j u r e d o r c a u s e a n u i s a n c e a r o u n d t h e s c h o o l -y a r d . K e e p y o u r d o g c o n f i n e d w h e n c h i l d r e n leave f o r s c h o o l . I f y o u d r ive , d o n ' t t a k e y o u r d o g w i t h y o u . A n i m a l s l e a r n q u i c k l y a n d c a n f i n d t h e i r o w n w a y to s c h o o l l a t e r o n . Br ie f s e p a r a t i o n s d u r i n g t h e d a y s j u s t b e f o r e t h e n e w s c h o o l yea r will h e l p t h o s e c h i l d r e n a n d d o g s t h a t a r e e spec ia l ly c lose . A n d if y o u r d o g is m i s s i n g , call t h e s c h o o l f i rs t !

Higgins. H i s o w n e r i s C h r i s C a n t r e l l . a s s i s t a n t s u p e r i n t e n d e n t a t C h a t t a n o o g a Go l f & C o u n t r y C l u b i n C h a t t a n o o g a . T e n n . (Photo hv: Nicole Cantrell)

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Golfdom asked companies to expand on their environmental philosophies and practices as they pertain to the golf course industry. The vignettes from 24 companies follow:

AgraQues t Ine 2 0 LebanonTur f 2 6

Agrium Advanced Technologies 2 0 Nature Sa fe 2 6

AGROTAIN In te rna t i ona l 2 1 Phoenix Environmental Care 2 7

The Ande rsons 2 1 ProGro So lu t ions Ine 2 7

BASF 2 2 Qua l i -Pro 2 8

Bayer C ropSc ience LP 2 2 Rain B i rd 2 8

DuPon t 2 3 So larBee 2 9

E-Z-GO 2 3 Solu-Ca l USA L td 2 9

Fiorat ine 2 4 Target Specialty Products 3 0

G r e e n J a c k e t 2 4 T e e - 2 - G r e e n 3 0

Halsey Tay lo r 2 5 The Toro Company 3 1

J o h n Deere 2 5 Va len t USA Corp 3 1

Biopesticide Use Increasing Golf course management is transitioning toward

better-rounded, agronomic-based, environmentally sound, management systems. This new approach places much more emphasis on soil and plant health,

resource conservation and environmental impact. With these new management systems, biopesticides are relied upon heav-ily to replace synthetic chemicals.

Societal emphasis on environmental sensitivity, and pref-erence for what is ugreen," is influencing golf course man-agement's turning green. With certainty, chemical use will be severely restricted as t ime goes by. Already, throughout Europe, Canada and now small towns and school districts across the United States, bans are being enacted. Increasingly, superintendents, general managers and owners are concerned with the risks of liability associated with chemical use.

Progressive golf course superintendents, employing intensive IPM programs, are proving that chemical use can be reduced significantly. The result is a healthier, stronger golf course that meets the same quality standards as any tradi-tionally managed course. These leading superintendents are reporting the course is actually easier to manage with the same or lower costs and with good turf quality. One superintendent l ikened his turf to a healthy person who eats right, gets enough rest, exercises regularly, takes vitamins, and who rarely gets sick or needs medicine.

RHAPSODY fungicide is the new EPA-registered microbial fungicide and is also listed by the Organic Materials Review In-stitute as organic. The product has been in research programs at 2 5 universities over the last six years. RHAPSODY helps superintendents lead their profession by being greener, and doing good. Using RHAPSODY demonstrates environmental stewardship, and earns the superintendent well-deserved rec-ognition. Using RHAPSODY also fits well within the chemical-use reduction and water quality protection requirements of the Audubon International program.

A g r a Q u e s t ^

Products, Partners for a Better World At Agrium Advanced Technologies, we constantly look for

ways to increase positive impacts on our stakeholders and the environment Our slow- and controlled-release fertilizers are engineered with advanced-generation

coatings and other proprietary technologies that increase nutri-ent uptake by plants and reduce losses to the environment.

Turfgrass professionals rely on our environmentally friendly fertilizer technologies to control nutrient release for improved plant growth and environmental performance. Agrium Advanced Technologies' earth-friendly turf product line includes slow-

and controlled-release products - POLYON®, NITROFORM®, NUTRALENE®, XCU™, DURATION CRR and PRECISE*.

PRECISE technology is the first to deliver long-term, controlled-release plant protection from an insecticide granule. Our products deliver nutrients or active ingre-dients to the soil gradually and consistently over a longer period of time, which ensures they stay in the root zone where they belong. This

results in green, healthy turf and minimizes the chance of nutrient losses to the environment by leaching or volatilization.

Agr ium Advanced Technologies is committed to purchasing only the highest quality inputs to manufacture our products, and we undertake actions that help to protect, sustain and improve the environment — today and in the future.

Agr ium Advanced Technologies has also partnered with several environmental organizations as part of an ongoing initiative to become a leader in environmental stewardship and sustain ability. One of our most notable affiliations is with the Environmental Institute for Golf, which is committed to strengthening the compatibility of the game of golf with the natural environment. Other key organizations that Agr ium Ad-vanced Technologies supports include Audubon International, PLANET, Project EverGreen, RISE and The Fertilizer Institute.

A Agrium Advanced Technologies

Smarter Ways To Crow

ANDREW MITTAG

President

I A «