Craig Trenholme doesn’t want to relive the old days at Kaanapali Resort in Maui. The two courses there – the Championship Royal (North) Course and the Kai (South) Course – were plagued with goosegrass, affecting rounds negatively.
| MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT |
For more information about the renovation of the Kaanapali Resort, see the full article that appeared in the August issue of Golf Course Industry. |
Trenholme, the superintendent at the courses, took the reigns just as the courses were renovated and business started to rebounded. Knowing what the worst-case scenario can look like, he’s vigilant to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
To get the course into shape, Roundup was applied to kill the goosegrass. The courses then were regrassed, one at a time.
“When the Royal Course was growing in, there had been a lot less weeds to deal with than the Kai Course, so it was easier to control,” Trenholme says.
Once the courses were reseeded, it was just a matter of having the proper weed management plan, Trenholme says. He takes precautions by spraying Ronstar. The preemergent forms a bond to seal itself to the soil so the weeds don’t grow up through it. But as long as there’s good turf cover, there won’t be as many chances for weeds to appear.
Trenholme uses Revolver to spot-spray any weeds that appear. As time goes on, he applies less Revolver because there are fewer instances of goosegrass. Trenholme attributes this to Revolver having a lasting effect and to his focus on cultural practices, which include a fertilization program and verticutting and aerating the greens.
So far, the plan has been working. The courses are desirable places to play once again – rounds are twice what they were before the renovation. GCI