Today's golf course superintendent has a better understanding of agronomics and the needs of the turfgrass plant in thanks to thousands of research projects conducted at universities and golf courses around the world.
Here in the badger state we are fortunate to have the top notch O.J. Noer Research Station and a great staff of UW Wisconsin professors who do product and method research right here. The research station is near University Ridge Golf Course and the work done by the current staff of Dr. Doug Soldat, (soils) Dr. Paul Koch (pathology) and Dr. Chris Williamson (entomology) along with Bruce Schweiger manager of the diagnositc lab and Tom Schwab facility manager have brought Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendents to the forefront in education.
Today's products are specialized for certain diseases or insects rather than the treat-all mercuries, leads and other heavy metals used up until the 1980's. It takes over 10 years from the time a new compound (fungicide, insecticide) is found for it to make it through the registration and testing process at a cost of over 256 million dollars on average.
Today's products are safer for the applicator, the golfer and the environment. They are also on target and many are very low use with ounces per acre rather than gallons. With any product, along with the research and technology comes a higher price tag so the goal is to use as little as possible.
Occasionally golfers will make comments such as "the fish in the ponds have three eyes", "you must glow at night after spraying" or "I wouldn't eat fish out of those ponds".
Although our ponds are not made for swimming I do not hesitate to go in them when needed for maintenance or to rescue that push cart with clubs that got away. The water is as clean as any other clay based pond and the fish will be as healthy. The lower ponds on 1, 9, 10, 18, 19 and 27 do take a lot of runoff from neighboring roads and parking lots but so do a lot of ponds.
Research has clearly shown that very little chemical or nutrients run off from healthy turfgrass. That coupled with the fact we use as little fertilizer and chemical as possible makes me confident that our water and soils are safe for animals and humans... but we still do not allow swimming for golf balls!
As far as the glowing at night comment the dose makes the poison. The products we use are safe when handled and used according to the label. I wouldn't drink them, but I would't drink houshold cleaners and products either.
If you play golf on Tuesday or Thursday morning you may think we spray something every day, but if you play the other mornings you rarely see this sprayer. And if you play after noon you may have never seen the sprayer.
For us Tuesdays and Thursdays work out the best to apply plant products because Mon, Wed, Fri are our large staff and mow days while Tuesdays and Thursdays we have smaller staff mowing only greens and rough. Spraying is a bit time consuming but it is important to do the job right with precise coverage.
So what is in that tank? It depends on the area and the weather.
ROUGH - The 200 acres of rough are sprayed once per year either in October or May with a 3-way herbicide mainly for clover and dandelions. Some years we will go back in July with a spot spray and just catch the patches of clover. We will spot spray the no-mow areas in June for thistle and other noxious weeds.
GREENS FAIRWAYS and TEES - These areas are usually sprayed every 14 days through the main season. That seems like a lot of spraying but there is a good reason for it.
- Fertilizer - Based on color and growth rate we apply a very light rate of fertilizer .1 to .15# of nitrogen per acre every 14 days to keep the turf healthy and somewhat green without encouraging heavy growth. Heavy growth means we have to mow more often and greens are slower or fairways look shaggy with less roll. Light frequent fertilization is better than one or two heavy applications because it is less likely to produce growth spurts, wash away from the surface or leach through into the ground and away from the roots. A iron source is usually added to each spray tank to provide color without growth. Potash and phosphorus are rarely needed per our soil tests and recent research in Madison has shown how little these nutrients are needed in turfgrass at least in Wisconsin.
- Wetting agents - Wetting agents "make water wetter" so to speak and allows the irrigation or rain water to enter the soil in a even pattern without dry and wet spots. The use of wetting agents has greatly improved our fairways and greens and allowed us to keep them dryer without the risk of dry spots and trouble re-wetting the soil if it becomes hydroscopic and resistant to taking in water.
- Herbicides - We generally do not use herbicides on greens but tees are usually sprayed for crab grass once per year and fairways for clover and knot-weed once per summer with a three way herbicide. This year crab grass has been heavy throughout the state so we may need to spot treat some of the rough areas next year.
- Insecticides - We have been lucky in our area and have had little grub problems in the rough so we have not applied any products there. Fairways greens and tees are preventativly treated for grubs early in the season. Grubs of all kinds eat at the roots of grass plants causing drought like symptoms. They can also lead to damage from crows, skunks and turkeys digging up the turf looking for a tasty meal. New products provide season long control of grubs without any damage to beneficial worms and other insects. Greens receive treatments for cutworms once or twice per year while ant mounds are treated by hand as needed.
- Fungicides - Our main fungus problems are dollar spot in the summer and snow mold in the winter with occasional brown patch or pythium during very hot and humid periods. Fungicides are added to the spray tank when needed based on the weather pattern and forecast. Research started in Madison and continued at other universities has been invaluable to reduce fungicide use and reduced fungicide use is the goal of researchers, the superintendents who apply it and the golfers who have to pay for it. The "Smith-Kerns" Dollar Spot Predictor Model came out of UW Wisconsin and can substantially reduce fungicide use by just tracking the weather. It also puts science behind the 6th sense turf managers have had all along.
- Growth Regulators - Our final category of product is the growth regulator designed to enhance plant health and lateral growth while curtailing vertical growth. This year our regular use of growth regulators has allowed us to mow fairways three times a week rather than 4 (a savings of 12 man hours per week) and allowed us to skip two mowings a week on greens (a savings of 8 man hours per week) during normal weather patterns. The other benefit of growth regulation is smoother greens and closer mowed fairways with less clippings laying around after mowing. With growth regulators more is not better, and in some cases more can harm the turf or stunt growth to a point recovery from traffic and play is reduced.
With greater technology comes more applications of less overall product overall savings in dollars. This was a short description of a very in-depth topic. If you ever want more information on the products applied to the turf you play on feel free to ask.
