The only thing predictable about the life of a golf course superintendent is its unpredictability. Unexpected issues are part of the job description but anticipating potential problems will go a long way toward preventing small problems from escalating.
With spring, superintendents find themselves dealing with small, isolated trouble spots on their courses. How they deal with them will likely set the tone for the entire season.
Respect for history matters, that is, knowing where the “hot spots” on the property have been in the past. Dr. Brandon Horvath, a turf pathologist at the University of Tennessee, notes history often repeats itself.
“What I ask superintendents is ‘What are the key problems they seem to face year in and year out?’” he says. “They need to be aware of where those things occur. Most of them are. They know that down on No. 2 something always happens on the back right corner of the green.
“So when it starts to warm up it’s important to just go out and scout,” he adds. “Go out and observe what’s going on on your surfaces and look for things that may be cropping up in the short term.”
It’s important to take special note of areas where changes have been made to the golf course, Horvath says. Perhaps a row of trees has been cleared out so an area that was once in the shade most of the time now receives an increased amount of sunlight.
“Does it grow more?” Horvath asks. “Do you need to treat it differently?”
Once the short-term problem is identified, it’s important to take immediate action, with an emphasis on immediate. Delaying action on a seemingly small problem can be a prelude to bigger ones, says Todd Hicks, a turf pathologist at The Ohio State University.
“On the disease front, we always recommend to be proactive,” Hicks says. “Your ‘little bit’ of disease one day, can become an out of control problem the very next morning. Once you’re behind a disease, getting back in control usually means more spraying and time spent on that area for the rest of the season.”
Horvath is an advocate for preventative product applications in the spring. “Preventative applications are always more effective than curative applications,” he says.”
But there are limits as to how proactive a superintendent can or should be. Dr. John Inguagiato at the University of Connecticut warns against jumping the gun, no matter how early spring arrives.
“You cannot go out and apply an insecticide or a fungicide (in early March) and expect to have any effect on adult ABW that are moving in,” Inguagiato says. “While we may want to be proactive, I think where we want to be proactive is not necessarily making any sort of applications at this time, but rather, because it’s a warmer spring, being proactive in our monitoring weevils coming onto surfaces while also monitoring cues like Forsythia being half gold and half green. Just being very mindful of those cues so we don’t get caught off guard when the time to make those recommended applications occurs.”
There is such a thing as overkill when it comes to chemical applications. Some superintendents have entered the trap of applying excessive amounts of product. This approach brings its own problems, such as increased resistance issues.
Horvath notes over application is a major problem and says it’s important to have an action plan in place before problems occur, however seemingly minor they are.
“You may need to make an adjustment to that plan and change how you’re going to do something because of the conditions on the ground,” Horvath says. “But it’s about having a plan and having that plan ready so you can make application where they’re needed and not just engage in what I call the Wag The Dog Strategy, which is ‘I’m just going to chuck everything I have in my tank at it and go all out right now with everything I’ve got.’”
There are few venues on Earth more scenic than a golf course. But Hicks notes that the same characteristics that make them so beautiful to behold also increase their susceptibility to disease.
“Most of the things that are created or planted on a golf course to increase the natural beauty of the area can have a significant effect on things like shade, irrigation, foot/cart traffic, and air flow,” he says. “All of these things can lead to an increase in agronomic or disease problems.”
Hicks says it’s important for a superintendent to realize not only what kind of issue he’s facing, but also why the problem developed.
“The first obvious answer is spray to get the problem under control,” Hicks says. “Next, explore why this area is a problem. By adjusting your agronomics for the area, see if that will bring your problem areas in line with the rest of your course.”
Varieties in topography also complicate matters for superintendents, Inguagiato says.
“Obviously a golf course is a very diverse landscape,” he says. “Many of the features we enjoy on a golf course like trees and topography can result in various microclimates on the property. Greens in particular can be pocketed. That oftentimes is going to result in areas that have a unique environment to them compared to other areas of the golf course. Trees are going to limit the ability of the wind to move air across the surface and that’s going to have a pronounced effect on the environment there because you don’t have that air movement.”
Dealing with spot treatment issues includes taking steps to head off future problems.
“What I recommend to superintendents is that they think about phases of work they would like to do when they’re trying to adjust the microclimate,” Horvath says. “Let’s take the area and improve the airflow here and see what it does and if it improves the situation than that will provide impetus to want to do more. A lot of times a small change, if it improves things, if you document it and communicate it, can kind of serve as the impetus to want to do more in that regard.”
