It’s a vicious cycle: golfers want fast greens, so superintendents lower the mower. A lower mower leads to increased susceptibility to diseases such as anthracnose, which are very visible - yellow to orange and freckled across the putting surface. In addition to those lightning-quick putts, golfers also want “their” greens to be, well, green.
Beyond the aesthetics, of course, superintendents strive for healthy turf. Whether anthracnose develops as a foliar blight (turfgrass leaves are infected) or a basal rot (attacking the leaf sheaths, crowns and stolons of the plant), an effective solution is needed.
Crestwood Country Club
When Nick Burchard took over as superintendent at Crestwood Country Club in Rehoboth, Mass., he said anthracnose was one of his No. 1 issues on the Poa annua course.
“We were decimated by it,” he said.
Chalking it up to a new superintendent learning the property, Burchard tried several methods, including Heritage.
Burchard’s original program did not produce the desired results for his course. He found moderate success with a combination of Banner and Medallion on a 14-day interval, but the anthracnose was still present.
“It’s a matter of threshold,” he said. “Just because I see it, doesn’t mean our members see it.”
A couple of years ago, the solution came to him when Valent Professional Products asked him to participate in a trial for Tourney.
“We went out of the gate with that ... mid to late April ... and it set us up great,” he said. “And we’ve had no anthracnose the last two years.” Burchard is sure it has been the Tourney as he hasn’t changed any other cultural practices. He gives his turf a “heavy shot” at the beginning of the year and maintains throughout the season.
In addition to “shutting off the water” - not overwatering the greens - Burchard says a key to controlling anthracnose is proper fertilizing.
“The other key is staying on top of it,” he said, bookending the seasons with Tourney. “Get ahead of the curve, Go out with that heavy shot.”
Ruth Lake Country Club
Dan Marco has been a golf course superintendent for 17 years. During that time, he had only experienced one other summer that was as severe in disease pressure as 2010 was at Ruth Lake Country Club in Hinsdale, Ill.
“To combat the weather we thought we had a pretty solid spray program in place,” he said. “Mid-July, however, we came in one morning to see some anthracnose rearing its ugly head on a few of our tee boxes. Really bad on tee box No. 1 – the worst place to possibly have it.”
He thought his team had this covered, having sprayed just seven days prior with a product labeled to control anthracnose, which would keep the situation in check.
“We had also made preventative applications in spring that I thought had us covered, as well,” he said. “I was wrong, however, and the days that followed, the anthracnose worsened.
“I thought it was going to get really ugly, as my past experience is once you get anthracnose it is very difficult to get rid of and the signs will show until weather conditions change for the better,” he added.
That most likely wouldn’t be until September.
“I made a call to a vendor who suggested using Tourney as a curative application,” he said. “At this point I thought ‘why not,’ as I had nothing to lose. After spraying Tourney at the recommended curative rate for anthracnose. the disease was suppressed within a day. I was amazed.”
In 2011, Marco will use Tourney for the first time in rotation with other products in a preventative program.
“My hope is that it will prevent any anthracnose problems on tees as well as fairways,” he said. “I’m also hoping it will help prevent summer patch that was an issue in Chicago last year, as well.”
He’s not worried about his greens, though, as they regrassed to a pure stand of A-1 creeping bentgrass.
Winnetka Golf Club
In another Chicago suburb, superintendent Henry Michna succumbed to golfers’ desire for speed. The Winnetka Golf Club greens were rebuilt throughout the 1980s with Penncross sod. The greens at best, were maintained at 7/32-inch, but are presently at .130 and rolled or double rolled more than 100 times each year - putting the greens under a bit of stress.
“The weekend clientele love the ‘muni-greens’ in the 11s,” Michna exclaimed. “We were one of the first two clubs out of more than 300 in Chicagoland to have confirmed Bentgrass Basal Anthracnose (BBA) on the greens by 1997.
“No problem the first few years ... throw some strobi in the tank and I slept good at night,” he added. “Then we developed a resistance to this difficult-to-control disease.”
Michna said his team tried the Daconil/Signature program for two years to no avail. He also tried all the cultural practices of no verticutting, drying between irrigation cycles and increased topdressing, increased fertility etc. ... also to no avail. The only product that had any efficacy on this disease were the propiconazoles.
“For the last 10 years, at first outbreak of BBA, I would map out the greens and log the dates I would personally hand spray the patches with a one-half-rate propiconazole and proceed to apply twice to help get the product into the crown at the recommended rate,” he said. “It typically worked well if I sprayed within 24 hours of noticing an active patch.
But it had a growth-regulator effect, he added. There would be darker-green squares for the next month where he hand sprayed.
“Then, last year, Tourney walked into my life,” he said. “We applied Tourney (split applications) for the preventive application for Fairy Ring/Waitea diseases.”
While 2010 was a difficult turfgrass growing season in Chicago, Winnetka had no Fairy Ring or Waitea.
“And then, when I flipped my desktop calendar to August, I realized that for the first time in 14 years we had no Bentgrass Basil Anthracnose,” he said. “Needless to say, Tourney has now advanced to our fairway program and will be the only DMI used at Winnetka during 2011.”
Briarwood Country Club
During the summer of 2008, the greens at Briarwood Country Club experienced severe anthracnose. The 92-year-old original push-ups have no subsurface drainage and limited surface drainage.
Superintendent Justin VanLanduit was new to the course at the time, but has seen major improvement over the last couple seasons.
“Tourney was incorporated into our spray program starting in early May,” he said. “I liked that Tourney seems to be a bit easier on the turf than other DMIs during the warmer weather.”
Cultural practices also shifted at Briarwood. VanLanduit increased aerification, as well as a topdressing program of about every two weeks, unless weather was going to be too hot. Vertical mowing, as well, to help pull some of the thatch out.
“Reducing the amount of water, I think, has helped as well,” he said. “Previously it was a consistent 8 minutes a night unless it rained. The past two season of my being superintendent, we haven't seen any problems with anthracnose.”