FINANCES

We continue to be a proud sponsor Golf Course Industry’s State of the Industry Report. The study identifies opportunities we can all leverage to improve and grow our businesses. At Jacobsen, we understand the more we can help your courses

increase rounds, revenue and profit, the more we all succeed. We serve the industry as a true partner by manufacturing superior-performing products, providing world-class service, and supporting key industry organizations.

For 95 years, the Jacobsen brand has been synonymous with superior turf conditions. From Oscar Jacobsen’s industry-first professional greens mower to the revolutionary technology of the ECLIPSE series of greens mowers, and most recently the new line of HR series of rough mowers, Jacobsen has been an industry leader in turf equipment reliability, innovation and performance.

Moving forward, Jacobsen will continue to work as a true industry partner, providing products, service and support that make you more successful every day.

Best regards,

Rachel Luken Thompson

With the anticipation of a new year and the reflections of this past, Nufarm is eager to see the application season unfold. The golf industry continues to gain strength over previous recession years and with that are increased demands on the quality of turf that embodies your courses. We are ready to help you in all the turf chemical needs to deliver with innovative and classic solutions.

Millinium Ultra 2 for many is a go-to product herbicide providing trusted control of the most challenging weeds by translocating to the root. For some, this may be the year to try this proven solution. For others, you may just now realize this classic solution is a Nufarm product.

Anuew is an example of Nufarm’s innovative approach to problem solving and continues to be the talk of the PGRs as we are seeing many positive reviews. Dr. Kreuser’s growing degree day tracker incorporates the data to assist in the Anuew application rates and timing allowing for better control and desired results. Logging weather, pest reports, applications and provides alerts, Greenkeeperap.com is gaining popularity.

On the new product front, Nufarm is your source for the new Dollar Spot fungicide, Pinpoint. This unique solution to managing the troublesome disease has already received rave reviews. A strobi for dollar spot, you may ask. Absolutely.

Another example of the innovative approaches Nufarm strives to deliver is Celero for control of sedges including kyllinga.

Our commitment to you is to continue to evolve as an international

organization and your most trusted supplier to the golf industry.

Cam Copley

Golf National Accounts Managerw

Dollar spot, brown patch, Microdochium patch and other foliar diseases have been put on notice. For superintendents in search of an efficient, effective control of these maladies, Bayer has introduced Exteris Stressgard.

Utilizing a next-generation succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) mode of action, Exteris Stressgard combines fluopyram, a new active ingredient for the turf and ornamentals market, with a proven QoI partner, trifloxystrobin, and unique formulation technology to introduce a stronger tool for foliar disease management.

According to Bayer, fluopyram and trifloxystrobin were combined and then formulated specifically to manage foliar disease in a way the market has not seen, thanks to new Leaf-Cote Technology. As the name suggests, Leaf-Cote Technology is a formulation enhancement that ensures significantly more product retention on the leaf surface than traditional fungicides, sticking to the leaf where it’s needed most – at the site of fungal activity.

Additional benefits include reduction in dry time and shortening of the leaf wetness period, providing benefits such as a frost and dew mitigation under certain conditions.

Laurence Mudge, Bayer Green Solutions Team manager, sees this product taking turfgrass care to another level.

“Exteris Stressgard is an excellent fairway fungicide,” Mudge says. “With broad-spectrum foliar disease control – preventative and curative – and unique formulation enhancements with Leaf-Cote Technology and Stressgard Formulation Technology, this product is going to set a higher bar for foliar disease control on fairways.”

Dr. Rob Golembiewski, a member of the Bayer Green Solutions Team, concurs with Mudge’s assessment.

“Exteris Stressgard is a new kind of fungicide that the turf market hasn’t seen before,” Golembiewski says. “The innovation with Leaf-Cote Technology brings a unique offering for a fairway product.

“More money is spent on fungicides to control dollar spot than on any other turf disease,” he adds. “Exteris Stressgard provides excellent control of dollar spot along with brown patch, leaf spot and other foliar diseases.”

Todd Hicks, program coordinator in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science at The Ohio State University, has been looking, specifically, at how Exteris Stressgard works on dollar spot. “It seems to be fantastic in the fight against dollar spot,” he says. “Bayer has a very strong line to begin with and early signs have been very positive – both preventative and curative.”

From the East Coast and Midwest, through the Transition Zone and into the South, Hicks refers to dollar spot as “one of the most ubiquitous and most sprayed for diseases in golf,” adding to the anticipation of Exteris Stressgard.

Innovation

Fluopyram is the first and only SDHI of its kind, with the ability – depending on how it is formulated – to provide benefits unlike any other product on the market, Bayer says. When combining this unique active ingredient with a proven QoI partner, trifloxystrobin, Stressgard Formulation Technology, and new proprietary Leaf-Cote Technology, Bayer created a new fungicide designed to be the best foliar disease specialist available for fairways.

“SDHIs are on the verge of becoming the largest class of fungicides in golf course management,” Mudge says. “Unlike DMI or QoI fungicides, which are all very similar, SDHIs are radically different from one another – and fluopyram is unique. It’s special. There’s a lot to be excited about with fluopyram.”

“If you look at all the SDHIs currently on the market, you would see that fluopyram is in its own chemical group,” Golembiewski adds. “There’s no other SDHI like it.”

Exteris Stressgard’s bonding capabilities are second to none.

“Exteris has been formulated for optimal foliar disease control through improved leaf surface adhesion – that’s the Leaf-Cote Technology coming into play,” he says. “Its delivery system is uniquely suited for foliar disease control, enabling droplets to adhere to the leaf tissue and then spread for better coverage. Because of this improved coverage, we’re seeing strong curative activity and very good control even at lower spray volumes.”

Lee Miller, extension turfgrass pathologist in the University of Missouri’s Division of Plant Sciences, has been testing the product in the lab and in the field.

“Over the last two years, we’ve evaluated Exteris Stressgard in Missouri for dollar spot and brown patch control on creeping bentgrass, both on its own and as a component in a fungicide program,” Miller says. “Seven applications from May-late July (1.5 and 2.0 fl oz/1000 sq ft) on 14-day intervals resulted in good control of dollar spot and brown patch, and high turfgrass quality well into late August. The impressive residual dollar spot control (28+ days) indicates Exteris is a good candidate for final ‘put dollar spot to bed’ applications in the fall. As we learn more about the chemistry, I’m curious to see its potential use for control of soilborne diseases.”

Availability

Exteris Stressgard received federal registration with the EPA in July 2016 and is registered in all states except for California, New York and South Dakota. It will launch at the Golf Industry Show the week of Feb. 6 with purchases from authorized agents on March 1.

Expectations

“Exteris Stressgard is going to raise the bar and set the new standard for foliar disease management in fairways,” Mudge says. “It offers excellent control of dollar spot as well as other major foliar diseases and is packaged with unique formulation technology. There are lots of great fungicides out there, but with Exteris Stressgard, we have a superior, high-performing product that really has the whole package.”

And superintendents aren’t going to be handcuffed, waiting for the calendar to change, according to Golembiewski.

“While many SDHIs are targeted toward spring or fall applications, we see the biggest benefit for supers in applying Exteris Stressgard throughout the year during peak disease pressure periods,” he says.

Cleveland-based writer Rob Thomas is a frequent GCI contributor.

Every superintendent is familiar with the reminder that begins “An ounce of prevention ...” That’s certainly true when the subject is irrigation pumps. Properly maintained, a pump can provide a quarter-century of service.

But some in the industry are lax when it comes to pump maintenance issues, says Brian Vinchesi, a design engineer for Irrigation Consulting Inc. “A lot of guys, if (the irrigation pumps) are working correctly, and they aren’t having trouble, they don’t go down and look at them very often,” he says.

Technology is at the heart of the matter. Today’s computer-driven systems can be monitored remotely via tablet or smartphone. But Vinchesi maintains that monitoring a pumping station from the comfort of home, or perhaps from a vehicle on the 14th fairway, is not a substitute for an in-person inspection. “You should be checking on it, at least on a weekly basis, if not a daily basis,” he says. “But the way they run now, they’re so bulletproof that a lot of guys just get real complacent and don’t (inspect them) until something is going wrong. I’m a big fan of checking on them once a week.”

Superintendents avoiding the pump house may not learn of a potential problem until it becomes a major headache. “They don’t go to (the pump house) unless something goes wrong,” Vinchesi says. “They’re all monitored remotely so what happens is, they’ll find out if something goes wrong because the irrigation won’t work, but they don’t go to the pump house or the pump station unless they have to. That’s a really common mistake.”

Putting off preventative pump maintenance is another common problem. In fairness, budgetary issues sometimes prohibit these measures. But by putting off routine maintenance superintendents open the door to potential – and often costly – problems.

“They don’t do preventative maintenance,” Vinchesi says, “they do reactive maintenance. What they do is they wait for something to break before they fix it. There are certain things you should do on a regular basis.”

Doing routine maintenance on a pump is not unlike performing the same task on a car or a truck and it offers the same rewards. Handling routine maintenance chores promptly requires some time and expense. But doing so is a big step toward preventing relatively minor issues from escalating into major problems and expenditures. Here are a few suggestions.

Don’t forget about the PUMP filter

Manually clean filters on a regular basis as opposed to backwashing them. Bryan Weemes, who services pumps for Rain Bird, says this is particularly important with the Y-screen filter that is prevalent in the industry. “When a Y-screen filter is being used, there is only so much of that this is going to be cleaned, not the whole screen,” he says. “I would say less than 50 percent. That may be adequate with some systems, but the other parts of the screen tend to get a buildup on them. They need to be pulled down and cleaned with a high-pressure washer or whatever at least once or twice a year.”

The proper interval between cleanings varies by individual circumstances.

“Is it necessary to do it every three months or was it not?” Weemes says. “Maybe six months is too long. You have to determine that frequency by doing it. But it is highly recommended that is done. Sometimes fish bones, shale or other organic materials get in the screen. The washer just can’t clear it. The stuff just won’t come out. It needs to be manually cleaned.”

Disassembling the filter for cleaning also provides an opportunity to examine parts to see if they are wearing out or need to be replaced. “Check for unexpected wear,” Vinchesi says. “Look at the part, to see if it’s wearing or thinning out because a lot of those parts are plastic. So you want to look at that.”

Lubricate

Lubricate all electric motors properly, preferably using a grease meter as opposed to simply a certain number of applications. The amount of lubricant should be monitored carefully, Weemes says.

“A lot of service professionals say, ‘I use two to five shots (of lubricant per year),’” he says. “There are vents on the same motors most of the time. If you put too much grease in there, it will go through the vents. But often those vents are clogged and the grease collects dust, there is moisture in the air, whatever, and you burn out the motor due to not properly greasing it, adding too much grease or not doing it based on time and the motor manufacturer’s recommendations.”

Listen carefully

Spend time in the pump house listening to the machinery in operation. “Go down maybe once a quarter or twice a year and spend some time there and listen to it,” Vinchesi says. “Just go in there and listen to how it’s running. And that will tell you a lot. Nobody’s looking to spend much time in the pump house, but you should listen to how the pumps are turning on and off and how the pumps are switching. You’ll figure out very quickly if it’s (working properly).”

Check connections

Periodically check to be sure pump gauges are working properly, wires are properly connected, connections are tight and surge arresters are grounded properly.

“Surge arresters are merely expensive paperweights if they are not coupled to an adequate grounding grid,” Weemes says. “Lower is better. Check ground resistance often.”

Bring in a pro

Once every 10 years, motors and pumps should undergo a thorough checkup from a qualified service professional. This is not inexpensive, but Vinchesi says it’s a necessary step.

“Every 10 years you need to have your motors and your pumps checked,” he says. “You don’t want to wait for them to get to Year 13, 14 or 15 when they just break.”

Every 10 years you need to have your motors and your pumps checked.” — Brian Vinchesi

Budget properly

Give the pump and the pumping station an annual cleaning. “It’s amazing how much longer it lasts if you do that,” Vinchesi says. “It doesn’t need a lot of maintenance, but if you don’t do the maintenance, when it breaks it’s very expensive.”

Vinchesi estimates an irrigation pump could last 25 years if it’s maintained properly, but perhaps only 15, or even less, if it is not. He strongly suggests superintendents set aside funds for maintenance in their annual budgets, particularly for a once-a-decade checkup. “That’s not going to be cheap,” he says.

There are service contractors that provide pump maintenance services but those services are not inexpensive and Vinchesi advocates a hands-on approach. “If you go down and look at it yourself,” he says, “you’ll know when something’s not working.”

When it comes to plant health, potassium doesn’t get as much attention as other elements, such as nitrogen. However, potassium (K) is a key ingredient in any protocol for maintaining healthy turf, especially golf courses maintaining full or partial Poa annua putting surfaces, and at proper levels, it may even ward off the effects of winterkill.

Potassium affects, among other things, the photosynthesis process, moisture retention and a plant’s ability to deal with stress. And it might best be described as a nutritional supplement for the plant.

Mark Kuhns, a 40-year turf industry veteran, can attest to potassium’s impact on mitigating heat- and cold-stress issues in turf.

As the director of grounds at the historic Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., not far from New York City, where he recently completed his 16th season, Kuhns’ 36 holes encompass a vast 500 acres of turf, including eight acres of putting surfaces that are a blend of 75 to 80 percent bentgrass and 20 to 25 percent Poa annua. Situated on the northeastern edge of the Transition Zone, Kuhns and his team, which includes course superintendents Dan Kilpatrick (Lower Course) and Jim Delaney (Upper Course), deal with stress during the peak of the season – including during the 2016 PGA Championship – and cold-stress issues in the winter. The staff utilizes potassium throughout the property.

“We’re spoon feeding almost everything in the summer months,” Kuhns says. “Of course, when we do aerification, we put a lot of phosphorous down, but we always include potassium with that in some amounts. Most of the soluble fertilizer we put down contains potassium.”

The Baltusrol staff utilizes a fertilizer that contains 4 percent potassium. Kuhns and his team developed the product in-house in the early 2000s. It can be purchased and stored in bulk, a circumstance that has benefited the club’s bottom line in the years since. As cold weather approaches and fall aerification commences, the potassium level is increased.

“When you’re doing your aerification, if you want to up your potassium level say in the fall a little bit to strengthen things up, you might go with something in a 1:1 ratio of nitrogen to potassium, or even 1:2,” Kuhns says.

Potassium’s benefits have been well-documented within the turf industry, Kuhns adds. “Everybody does it for different reasons,” he says. “Certainly, the plant cells are stronger with potassium (in terms of) photosynthesis, respiration, absorption of water. All these things are improved with a certain amount of potassium. The thickness of the cell walls, resistance to heat stress, stress factors in the summer, drought, heat, cold. Everybody puts it down at different rates.”

In fact, Rutgers turf researcher Dr. James Murphy remarked in a March 16, 2015 online dispatch of Plant & Pest Advisory (“Winterkill on Annual Bluegrass: Don’t Skip the K”) that a huge difference could be seen between nopotassium and potassium-fertilized Poa annua plots. Two weeks after the Poa test plots lost their winter ice cover, the no-potassium plots steadily lost their green color and become blotchy victims of winterkill. In contrast, green, healthier looking turf was observed in plots that had received potassium fertilization.

“Take home for me – don’t let your Poa annua turf become potassium deficient,” Murphy notes. “(Graduate student, Chas Schmid’s) data for suppressing anthracnose severity indicates that a soil test (Mehlich 3) =50 ppm K and a tissue level of =2% K in the clippings are indicators that the K level is good.”

From metabolism photosynthesis, to the capture of sunlight and conversion into chemical energy as sugars, and then their reutilization of those sugars, potassium impacts practically everything, says Dr. Larry Murphy, a consultant for Compass Minerals, which produces plant nutrients. With an extensive agriculture background, Larry Murphy has seen the effects of potassium firsthand.

We’re spoon feeding almost everything in the summer months. Of course, when we do aerification, we put a lot of phosphorous down, but we always include potassium with that in some amounts. Most of the solvable fertilizer we put down contains potassium.” — Mark Kuhns, Baltusrol Golf Club

Larry Murphy also cites potassium’s effectiveness as a preventative measure against moisture stress. “Potassium is involved in regulating the opening and closing of the stomata on the leaf surface through which gas exchanges and through which water is lost,” he says. “If there is an inadequate supply of potassium and moisture is limited, then even more water is lost and the plant loses its ability to withstand that kind of stress.”

Application rates and intervals vary widely, depending on climate, geography, and blend of turf. Larry Murphy advocates what might be described as a three-pronged approach. “One (application) needs to be made early in the season when everything is starting to kick off and really get going,” he says. “One needs to be made in early summer, and a third in the fall to winterize that plant against winterkill. That’s only three, but if the superintendent is making applications every time, they made a nitrogen application ... it would be good for the plant.”

Potassium aids in the task of hardening the plant for winter. “In those colder months, that’s going to give it one additional protection against freeze damage,” Larry Murphy says. The actual application rate varies considerably based on elevation and latitude. Even a minor variance can be impactful.

During the winter months, Todd Raisch defends his 27 Poa annua greens at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., against problems such as crown hydration, desiccation, direct temperature kill, and, of course, snow and ice cover. His task is complicated by the fact that the winter climate in northern New Jersey features significant temperature fluctuations, particularly early in the season. Three days of temperatures near or below freezing could be followed a few days later by temperatures of 50 degrees or higher; or the other way around. The extreme variance in temperature makes the task of hardening the plant in preparation for winter more challenging.

Raisch, who has served as Ridgewood’s superintendent for the last 21 years, says if his club were located perhaps an hour’s drive or so farther north, the task of preventing direct temperature kill would in some ways be simplified because the cold weather generally remains in that region once it arrives.

Raisch considers potassium an important tool in his agronomic arsenal. He and his team normally apply 2.5 pounds of potassium per application in a ratio of 1:2, nitrogen to potassium, or perhaps 1:3 in some circumstances. “I think potassium is part of any good Poa strategy,” he says.

Raisch does have one fact in his favor: his greens are closed each winter. However, not every superintendent has that luxury.

For example, nearby Paramus Golf Course, a public facility that hosts roughly 50,000 rounds each year (compared to 30,000 at Ridgewood), has Poa greens that date back to 1927, although they have been renovated to improve drainage.

Andy Schuckers, the club’s superintendent and general manager, has never considered converting to bentgrass greens simply because they would never stand up to the club’s volume of play. But Schuckers still faces the issues that arise when a Mid-Atlantic golf course operates year-round. Maintaining his Poa surfaces in a sometimes-harsh climate requires a preventative approach, one that wards off potential problems before they become major headaches.

“We deep tine five or six times a year,” he says, “and do venting or needle tining throughout the year.” During spring and fall aeration, Schuckers utilizes three-quarter-inch tines that penetrate about eight inches into the soil. Periodically, perhaps four times during the season, he uses quarter-inch tines. “That’s done as a preventative measure,” he says.

The same for venting or needle tining, which is done periodically through the season when conditions warrant.

Schuckers also utilizes an organic fertilizer that contains approximately 4 percent potassium. As cold weather sets in, he will increase his potassium ratio if he determines it’s necessary, based on the results of soil samples.

None of these measures offer a 100-percent guarantee against problems. All a superintendent can do is try to tip the odds in his favor. “You can only work with Mother Nature,” Schuckers says. “You can’t beat her.”

Rick Woelfel is a Philadelphia-based writer and frequent GCI contributor.