Well I must say that I have been doing quite a bit of traveling and between the Sports Turf Managers Association National Show in San Antonio, Texas and the Golf Course Superintendents Show in Atlanta, Georgia, I must have seen about a thousand people over the past two months. Talk about sensory overload! Well I must admit it was quite enjoyable as well, between strolling down the river walk in San Antonio (although for a person from Florida I must say shivering my way along the river walk) and fending off constant outdoorsmen in Atlanta, I had a great time and both were great gatherings. The shows were both well attended and packed with much useful information.

One thing that still amazes me is that with the thousands of people that do attend these shows, they all have a common desire to learn more about their job and improve the turfgrass areas that are under their supervision. Constantly, whether I am attending an educational session or teaching one, it never ceases to amaze me the number of people there to learn.

That is why it is hard for me to understand the reluctance of some employers to send superintendents or sports turf managers to conferences and trade shows. Talk about upper management being short sighted. Attendees to these show pick up so many time saving and labor saving ideas as well as many ways to stretch dollars that the investment of a club or municipality comes back ten fold with each show.

I think employers should not only support, but insist their employees attend at least one conference and trade show each year. I also applaud the people that bring their greens chairman or city managers to at least one educational session, whether it's on a local level or a national level, to show them what these trade associations are all about. If the people in charge of spending could ever grasp how much money educational sessions save them, they should write a personal check out to cover the expenses of these meetings. Let's start a concerted effort to teach our bosses the importance of these conferences and trade shows so we can not only have more and more attendees, but advance our profession into the 21^st century.

Here is an excerpt from an article in "Golf Digest" written by David Owen entitled "The Greenskeeper's Tale". The complete article link is found below.

The following is a letter from Bruce R. Williams from the Los Angeles Country Club explaining his clubs new renovations. Thanks again Bruce for sharing your experiences with my newsletter readers.

Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 14:54:06 -0800
Subject: New Greens

Good morning!

I had to write and tell you about the great changes we made to the greens at our golf club. We spent over a million dollars redoing our greens. At first I was against the project because of the cost. But after a closer look at the plans, I voted in favor of the changes.

Boy am I glad I did. These new greens have lowered my handicap by a ton of strokes. I have no problem shooting in the 70's every time I tee it up. Before, I would three putt several times every round. Not anymore!

Furthermore, I was ready to go out and buy a new putter. Now I don't have to. The old one works just fine. In addition, I have found new life from my chipper.

Here is a photo of our 9th green. It should give you a good idea of what our greens now look like. I'm sure you will able to see the richness of new grass and how short we are able keep it (12.5 on the Stimp). I find I am confident that I can drop a putt from about any place on our greens.

I cannot remember the name of the guy who did our new greens, but I cannot say enough about him. If you want to know his name drop me a line and I will check with our greens superintendent and get back to you.

See you on the greens soon!

BRW

There are two types of turf managers in this business, those who know the health of their grass and those that wish they did.

As users of diagnostic tools, you are obviously among the turf managers who know the health of their turf. I have developed all of our diagnostic tools to accomplish one goal, to determine the overall health of your soil.

Grass is simple to grow, in fact, in nature it grows without any care at all. However, we do not live in an untouched "natural world". Our turf is subjected to wear in the form of play and wear in the form of maintenance. Regular foot traffic and vehicle traffic, utility vehicles, mowers and golf carts all lead to outside pressure being put on the soil and grass plant. All of these additional factors are not reproduced in nature and thus grass is not subjected to the same circumstances and wear.

Diagnostic tools give you the edge. In my opinion, if a turfgrass manager knows the things that are vital to their turfgrass health; they will never be surprised by the health of their turf. Key elements like root depth, infiltration, soil moisture and compaction all come into play to allow you to know the health of your soil and ultimately your grass.

We really have no control over the wear our grass is subjected to unless we install electric fences around our playing areas. We are, however, in control over the wear from maintenance to some degree and that is why we do certain practices like changing mowing directions and limiting maintenance traffic to certain areas. The one variable we have almost total control over is turfgrass health. Regular monitoring is key to determining overall soil and grass health.

The best way to find out how if you are monitoring your turfgrass health properly is to ask yourself "How and I sleeping?" If you ever lay awake in bed and wonder about your turf's health you are missing one of our diagnostic tools. I know that the soundest sleepers exist if they know their root depth, soil compaction, soil infiltration and moisture content. If all these variables are in check, what could possibly be left to remain awake about?

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The USGA Green Section is one of the assets our nation has for turfgrass research and funding. The following was written by ALEXANDER M. RADKO, Former director of the USGA Green Section and is little retrospect of the USGA Green section. This originally appeared in the October 1978 issue of the Green Section Record.

In 1917, Dr. C. V. Piper and Dr. R. A. Oakley published their book Turf for Golf Courses. Piper and Oakley were U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists who were stationed at the Arlington (Va.) Research Station, now the site of the Pentagon. E. J. Marshall, a Toledo attorney, a member of Inverness Club and apparently influential in other areas, brought the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Golf Association together. Dr. Piper agreed to serve as Chairman of the Green Section while he was head of the agronomy section of the USDA Research Station. It was the beginning of an organized approach to solving turfgrass problems on golf courses in this country. Subsequently, all Green Section research results were reported in the Green Section’s first official publication known as The Bulletin of the Green Section of the United States Golf Association. This publication was the first Green Section periodical.

From 1920 through 1953, the Green Section conducted Field Days for anyone Interested In turfgrass culture. Many golf course superintendents attended and benefited from research conducted at the USDA Research Station at Arlington, VA. and at Beltsville, MD. Through these years, the Green Section was in large part responsible for setting maintenance guidelines for golf courses throughout the nation.

In 1932, Dr John Monteith, then the Green Section Director, published Turf Diseases and Their Control, a classic study in turfgrass pathology. While controls have since changed, his description of the various symptoms associated with golf course diseases remains a classic reference. In 1946, the Green Section initiated a bermuda-grass research project with Dr. Glenn Burton at the Georgia Coastal Experiment Station. As a result, the Tifton series of Bermudagrass hybrids were introduced to golf and were widely used throughout the world where Bermudagrass can be grown. These Tifton varieties greatly improved playing conditions and putting surfaces in particular, throughout the southern United States and were responsible in no small measure for the increased interest and participation in golf throughout the South.

In 1950. the United States Golf Association, in cooperation with the U S Department of Agriculture, after many years of research, released Merion bluegrass (B-27) as an improved Kentucky bluegrass. This was a major step in turfgrass improvement, and it made a tremendous impact upon the turfgrass industry.

Merion bluegrass, was one of the Green Sections proudest developments and cooperation w/the the USDA, exhibits the low-growing, dense shoot production that made it an outstanding bluegrass and set the standard by which all Kentucky blue-grasses were subsequently rated.

In 1953, the USGA started offering the Turfgrass Advisory Service where-by an agronomist trained in golf turfgrass culture would visit the course, discuss problems with the golf course superintendent and the green committee chairman and make his recommendations in a written report.  This effort has been very successful for the USGA and allows them to be in direct contact with their member courses and clubs.

The USGA Green Section is also the developer of the most widely accepted and utilized putting green construction specifications in the world.

Do you watch TV Golf? If your answer is "yes", you have seen the Turf-Tec Moisture Sensor in use. The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour has endorsed the Turf-Tec Moisture Sensor as a "recommendation" on their "Course Conditioning Guidelines" that assist the Golf Course Superintendent in tournament preparation.

The PGA Tour has determined that regular monitoring of soil moisture not only produces superior turfgrass health, but also insures uniformity of all greens and consistency in regards to firmness and ball bounce.

Once superintendents have a Moisture Sensor, they realize it's versatility and usefulness. The advantage of actually being able to put a "number on the moisture" contained within the soil on a green gives a new sense of control over one of the most utilized practices on the course, irrigation.

For those of you that do not yet have a Moisture Sensor, it is a tool that is adjustable to read soil moisture at every inch level in the soil profile from one inch to four inches deep. The read out is immediate and tells the percentage of soil moisture that is in the air space within the soil.

The Moisture Sensor does several things for you; below they are rated by popularity.

1. By monitoring Moisture in the soil, when golfers complain that the greens are too wet, or too dry, you can take them aside and show them that you are monitoring. To be really on the ball, you can say our greens are at the 40% moisture level today and then show them. This is one sure way to have them never make that complaint again.
2. A golf course superintendent can now go on a vacation and give the irrigation tech the Moisture Sensor. Many superintendents simply tell the irrigation technician to water all the greens to 50% at the three inch deep level and they do not have to worry about the greens being over or under watered.
3. The answer to "Is that a dry spot?" is only one second away. By probing suspect areas, you can determine dry spot formation even before the dry spots become visually apparent. Also, since the Moisture Sensors probes are only 3/16 of an inch in diameter, if the turf is stressed, you do not have to remove a soil core to inspect the soil moisture. This way you are not creating a hole in already stressed turfgrass.

So many superintendents tell me that the Moisture Sensor is such a useful tool that I always reply, "I know, I wouldn't grow turfgrass without one". The fact of the matter is, as I mentioned in other parts of this newsletter, the porosity of your soil is directly affected by the amount of moisture within it. If pore space is low (compaction is high) and soil moisture is high, grass health can quickly decline. Finding the right balance for your turfgrass areas is key to having healthy grass.

Too often pore space within the soil profile is filled with moisture and turfgrass roots cannot survive under water. By monitoring soil moisture and keeping air and water in balance, it is amazing how healthy turfgrass can become.

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The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America had its national show in February 2003 in Atlanta, GA.

It was an excellent opportunity to see many educational sessions and the trade show had over 700 exhibitors. I really enjoyed meeting lots of new people and hearing feedback on the Photo Quiz in Golf Course Management. All those people that said that they would send me pictures, please remember to do so.

I also want to invite all of you recipients of this newsletter that if you wish to contribute any information that you find interesting or exciting, please send it to me and I will include it along with crediting its source.

Copyright 2003