Crimson guide

Red imported fire ants have spread over centuries from South America, up through Central America to the Southeast United States and now into parts of the Mid-Atlantic and the Southwest. But after more than two decades working in Alabama, Matt Devine likes to say that the Yellowhammer State in general and Tuscaloosa in particular is “the fire ant capital of the world.”

“You get a rain after it’s been dry and they are everywhere,” he says. “They’re all over the place. I had never experienced them until I moved south.”

Born and raised in Buffalo, Devine studied history at Siena College in New York and turf at Penn State University before interning at Shoal Creek Club. After that, he never left the state: Eight years as an assistant superintendent at Shoal Creek, two and a half years as golf course superintendent at Limestone Springs Golf Club in Oneonta, and nine years as superintendent at North River Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa all led him to Crimson Reserve — the new $47 million practice facility and course for the University of Alabama’s men’s and women’s teams. He has lived in Alabama almost as long as he did in New York. He knows the region’s whims. He knows where the pests are.

To combat fire ants, “Mostly we just use fire ant bait and go spot treat mounds,” he says. And to control armyworms, his other main insect nemesis, he applies a single application of a popular granular insecticide across the 45 acres of Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass and 43 acres of native grass.

“Probably the earliest you see them is mid-July and they can take over everything,” he says. After spot treating for six years at North River, Devine switched to that single preemptive application, “and that’s really helped. Last year, we didn’t do anything because there was new construction and we got wiped out, so we had to go back out and make an app. We didn’t see them this year because we had a treatment out. I’ll do another preemptive spray and that kind of treats us for the year.”

He spotted the occasional mole cricket at North River, handling them with Triple Crown T&O insecticide.

Beyond that, Devine is, so far, free from most insects at the new facility. Crimson Reserve soft opened in September 2024 and, unlike most college golf facilities, the teams have full run. Only Crimson Tide golfers and 30 donors who helped fund construction have access. Devine and his team of 10 — 15 during the peak of summer — handled about 500 rounds this year and are planning for about 1,000 next year. And there might be no superintendent in the world who plays a higher percentage of their course’s rounds than Devine: He has managed to squeeze in about 20 himself this season.

“I played yesterday,” he says. “My assistant, Brian Berberet, and I, we usually play on the weekends, and we were the only two on the golf course. When the teams come back in mid-August, I’ll joke around, ‘They’re tearing up the course!’ But we’re here for them. It’s fun to have them around because they’re really good golfers and they’re good about us working around them.” The fire ants, not so much.