Environmental Frontiers On the Blogosphere

"Environmental Frontiers On the Blogosphere" is my working title for the environmental solutions I find on other turf/golf related websites. I'll refine the title and focus as time goes on, but I wanted to start now as we've got a great example of what a golf course is doing to reduce stress to turf.

At the Hasentree Golf Club in Wake Forest NC, Turf Superintendent Craig De Jong has been writing "The Hasentree Club Department of Agronomy" blog since July of 2008. Craig covers everything from course news to personal views. Recently, Craig covered his solution to what I imagine is a more common problem than most would first think. See the post after the jump.


"Since we began to spray hawk the greens at Hasentree, we have had only one problem. The problem being, wherever the sprayer is parked near a green to spray, a basketball shaped burn mark left behind on the turf. We finally figured out what it was, and where it was coming from, the exhaust pipe.

Since the sprayer sits at each green for 10-15 min, the exhaust pipe blows hot air onto the turf causing it to burn out. I have heard about this problem with similar sprayers and various golf courses. Our Equipment Manager, Jim Swartzel, took charge and retrofitted an extension onto the the exhaust pipe making it point up in stead of out. Problem solved."


Interested in more?
Check out Craigs blog here or some of his recent posts listed below:

• Fungus Among Us
• FIRE ANT WARRNING!!
• Eliminating a Problem
• New Seeding Areas
• Beetle Invasion
• Fall Aerification
• Fire Ants
• Mowing the Jungle
• Greens Aerification Next Week
• Tree Work
• A New Application Method
• This summer has been quite mild compared to histor...
• Screening the Cart Storage Area
• Burn Spots on the Fairways?
• A Shock Treatment
• Fairway Aerification Finally Completed
• The Best Staff
• Mushrooms in the Fairways

Thank you Craig De Jong for allowing us to refer to your blogs material, and keep it up!

Anti-Golf Hits Venice Film Fest

I receive emails and phone calls daily about every possible issue related to golf and the environment. Recently a few friends brought to my attention a little film called Repo Chick. The film, a spin-off from an earlier success titled Repo Man, was written and directed by Alex Cox.

The story of Repo Chick, according to Variety, consists of “The terrorists' ultimate demands are for the President of the United States to close all golf courses (providing the opportunity for a ranting message against the wastefulness of golf), ban the sport entirely and also make the entire government go vegan”. So naturally, I tracked down this Alex Cox character to find out what his beef with golf is.

Repo Chick - Trailer
Tags: Repo Chick - Trailer

Turfhugger.com - Could you let us in on some of the claims/opinions on the sport of golf from your film?


Alex Cox - Not without spoiling the intricate and thrilling plot of the film, which so far has only played in Venice!

Turfhugger.com – Do these claims reflect your personal views, or simply the views of the character?


Alex Cox – Now this is a good and perceptive question. Every interview I gave after the premiere involved journalists who imagined that the terrorists' agenda in the picture must be my agenda, too. But why would this be? The terrorists in FLIGHT 93 (the film) desire to destroy the White House with an aircraft filled with innocent people. But no journalists asked Paul Greengrass why he supported jihad against America. Why is REPO CHICK being treated differently? I don't know the answer to this, unless the journalists themselves have an anti-golf agenda and are hoping I will voice it for them.

Turfhugger.com – The media have an anti-golf agenda? I don’t believe it. Ha!
Could the actions of your characters ever become reality, could/should golf be banned?


Alex Cox – I've read recently that President Hugo Chavez plans to ban golf in Venezuela (go here for details). But delving more deeply into the story it appears he has nationalized to private courses in order to turn them into public parks. Nevertheless this does suggest that the banning of golf, in certain circumstances, may occur.

Turfhugger.com – Do you, or have you ever played golf?


Alex Cox – When I was a little kid there was a golf course behind our house - for the employees of Lever Brothers, in Port Sunlight, on the Wirral. I don't think I ever played golf, though I did wield the odd croquet mallet.

Turfhugger.com – What would convince you to try the game?


Alex Cox – A thick brown envelope, full of cash.

Lot's happening as always!

WATER
Lets Start With The BIZZARE! I think this article must be a joke, people don't actually think like this do they?
From the article:
"...a plan to address the course’s longstanding drainage problem by building a storm water pond by hole eight has some council members and citizens saying the city is constructing an eyesore and a health hazard that won’t really solve the problem."
“Now we’re going to have to worry about larvae, and the juvenile state of mosquitoes,” Glickert said. “I think there’s a health concern.” "He also said the water might bring in geese, an added nuisance for golfers and something parks maintenance personnel would have to deal with. And, he said, “when the water subsides and goes down in the pond, we’re going to get an odor that is rather offensive, and that’s an area where the golfers are walking.”


The Half Moon Bay Golf Course in San Mateo County brings in Recycled Water
From the article:
"A pilot program to bring recycled water to a Half Moon Bay golf course may launch a broader effort that could one day sustain farms on the coast. Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside will treat purified waste water with a portable system that will then be trucked to the Half Moon Bay Golf Links by the Ritz Carlton. The golf course uses about 30 million gallons of drinking water a year and also draws upon well water to keep the grass green, said the golf course’s operator Bruce Russell. “Not only do we have an economic interest but there are secondary benefits to the environment as well,” Russell said. “Water resources are like gold. Water is the lifeblood of golf courses.” The sewer authority is waiting for state Department of Health approval and hopes to start the program next week, said Jack Foley, the authority’s manager. The portable water truck will supply about 2,000 gallons at a time to a segment of the golf course to see how effective and safe the water will be. The sewer authority is renting the truck for a couple of months before the rainy season hits, Foley said. Construction of a $30 million recycled water plant is planned for the coast and the sewer authority is seeking federal stimulus money to help pay for it."
Go to this link for a map of the property.


Go here for a story about the West Basins plan for recycled water for a number of industries.


Near Guelph Ontario, the GRCA has begun to cut water use due to lower than average rainfall. From the article:
"The lack of rain has prompted the Grand River Conservation Authority to ask water users in the Eramosa River watershed near Guelph to take 10 per cent less water from the river. Flows on the river have dropped to about half of what they’d normally be."


"Ground Zero For Groundwater" - From the article:
"A worrying “cone of depression” sits under the vineyards and golf courses along Highway 46 East, where groundwater levels have fallen as much as 70 feet. City-dwellers who sprinkle their yards too often are hit with a $100 fine, as Paso Robles has been forced to close down some of its wells because of declining production and poor water quality."


TOURNAMENTS

A few efforts to green the tourney. From the article:
"Sandridge Golf Club in Vero Beach is the latest club to join the effort to help save the environment. Beginning Oct. 1, the club no longer will provide Styrofoam cups for players and other visitors. The club is urging players to carry a cup with a diameter of 2 inches or less in their golf bags. Cups that size will fit into the golf car cup holders. Water and ice still will be available on the courses. Also, the first 1,000 Sandridge I.D. holders who renew their 2009/10 cards beginning Oct. 1, will receive a free 16-oz. Sandridge insulated cup."


Solar Powered Tounranment? From the article:
"Evergreen Solar, a manufacturer of STRING RIBBON™ solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost silicon wafer manufacturing technology, today announced that a solar power system using Evergreen Solar panels has been installed on the grounds of the TPC Boston in Norton for the 2009 Deutsche Bank Championship, a PGA TOUR Playoff event. "

Rivianna Golf Resort hosts Green Tourney From the Article:
"The Rivanna Resort & Golf Club will incorporate the most ecologically advanced features into its design, construction and operation, including materials election and life cycle assessment of full environmental footprint of all components. Advanced energy and resource conservation systems will be employed, which both reduce consumption and operating costs. Unique sponsorship opportunities for the event include planting a native tree on site at the resort with a small plaque indicating the planting date and name of your company. A few golf hole sponsorships are also still available. The cost for a 4-some is $200 and includes golf, cart, range balls, catered lunch and a sustainable goody bag."

Also, under WILDLIFE

Deer are being culled in Mississippi.

That's about it

Get On The Green Contest - Compost

Compost, AKA "Black Gold", has become somewhat of a lost art in the golf industry. What use to be the basis of a golf courses nutrition program is now enjoying a "Renaissance" due to fuel prices, environmental concerns and the bottom line.

Throughout the months of September and October we are inviting submissions to learn how your golf course has embraced the use of compost and/or started your own composting program. We want in on your dirty secrets!



The submission deadline is October 31st 2009, so hurry up and pass it on to your friends.

Here’s what we need to know from you

Name of Golf Course:

Location:

Your Name and Position:

Contact Information:

How much compost do you generate annually:

Explain what goes in to the compost (i.e. leaves, clippings, kitchen waste, cardboard, algae):

How many years have you been doing this?:

Where do you use the compost?:

How do you apply it?:

What is the process you use to create a your compost? (how many times do you turn it? what does your compost facility look like?):

Do you have any numbers of Approx. Fertilizer or topsoil/compost budget you've saved?:

What do the staff, golfers and/or management think:

Do you have photos of before and after, please attach them along with the above required information in an email to info@turfhugger.com


Submissions will be reviewed by Turfhugger.com and Dixon Golf. The monthly winner will receive a Voucher for One Dozen Dixon Earth Golf Balls. All submissions will be posted in the monthly contest re-cap so that we can all learn from your efforts.

Thanks for being a Turfhugger and be sure to visit www.turfhugger and www.dixongolf.com often.

Kemper Sports Interview - Part 1

Although most golf management companies have an environmental program (which usually consists of Audubon Certifications and other lesser known stewardship rating programs), Kemper Sports out of Illinois has created a new program "Green To A Tee" that their own courses are aspiring to reach. This really raises the bar in our industry, so of course I had to get an interview with someone.


But first, here’s some background info:

From the Kemper Sports website, "The Green to a Tee program encompasses environmentally focused initiatives within several core areas of facility operations, including:
· Golf course maintenance
· Habitat management
· Water conservation
· Energy usage
· Recycling
· “Green” vendor utilization
· Staff education and training

In addition to formalizing the company’s policy on environmental practices at both the corporate and property levels, the Green to a Tee program arms the more than 5,000 KemperSports staffers throughout the U.S. and PuertoRico, with tools and training in environmentally-friendly practices that they can implement on the job and in their homes".

To get the details of how this program works, I spoke with Jim Seeley, Kemper Sports Executive Vice President.

Turfhugger.com - Green to tee, where/how did it originate?
Jim Seeley - Just over 1 year ago, Kemper Sports decided as a company initiative, to formalize our environmental program due to the emphasise throughout the world of environmental concern, and specifically within our industry. Theres a lot of miss-information out there about whether golf courses are environmentally friendly or not, we believe they are.
I was asked to head up the effort to develop this program, just prior to earth day in 2008. So we formed a committee from General Manager’s, Superintendents and Food and Beverage directors for ideas to put towards an environmental plan. We realized the scope of this was much bigger than we first thought, so we formed a group of facilities in to a base test group, developed a rough format and spent a number of the next months compiling the criteria and ideas into the knowledge base. It’s basically a click and find program on our intranet system that gives users access to solutions to their specific environmental concerns.

Turfhugger.com - What resources did you use to find the background info?
Jim Seeley - A huge number of resources contributed to the knowledge base. Including EPA, Audubon International, USGA, and numerous others. During this process we realized that a number of our facilities were already doing a number of the environmental approaches recommended by the resources, but we also realized that we could compile a number of resources to help our employees bring this environmental concern back to their homes.

Turfhugger.com - Any examples come to mind?
Jim Seeley - Yes, as matter of fact, my wife is an award winning landscaper, she’s actually won three awards for our her garden. She’s used a link provided by the program to (weedalert.com) , it is a weed data base as it has helped her identify and learn how to properly treat and manage our weeds. I hear from many of our staff that they've brought these ideas home and introducing the concepts to their families.

Turfhugger.com - I understand the program is organized in to stages, how does this work?
Jim Seeley - It was organized in to tiers, so our courses could progress through increasing levels of environmentalism.
Level 1 is essentially our awareness level. Aimed at teaching staff how to integrate very simple environmental techniques that any facility could integrate in to the current operations with out greatly impacting their budget. At level one staff must take the first steps in our IPM program, which at this stage covers basic awareness principles.
Level 2, the property must register and begin work on ACSP status, reach Level 2 of our IPM program which includes establishing threshold levels and mapping and conduct a basic energy audit, usually conducted by the local utility company.
To get to level 3 you have to be Audubon certified, complete level 3 of our IPM program and conduct a more in-depth energy audit. This of course costs money, of which we have to allow the property to put their own funds towards this process.
Level 4 you have to embrace concepts such as LEED in to their buildings, solar and wind power,. Although these can be expensive, what we look for most is that they are bringing in the ideas that LEED promotes without having to go the depth of becoming LEED Certified, which would be an expensive undertaking. Also, a self contained wash water pad must be integrated in to their maintenance center.
We have a lot of municipal properties we expect to be the first to integrate these technologies because they are attempting to green all municipal facilities and are under pressure to do so. We’ve got one property that already is using photovoltaic panels on the roof of their maintenance facility.

Turfhugger.com - Will your program reflect advancements of technology, say for instance as organic products improve?
Jim Seeley - Most definitely, this is a living breathing program, not a day goes by that we learn more about how to work better with the environment. With organics for instance, we’ve got courses throughout the country that are experimenting with organic methods and products. In fact, to reach level 3 we ask that the curse is embracing some kind of organic method. We don’t dictate what the specifics are because each property is so different from each other and no one program could ever fulfill the needs of all of our properties.
As our understanding of organics, and other technologies, grow, we will require that all properties embrace those ideas. And the program will forever be evolving and we require that each course keeps up their efforts. You can’t for instance, reach level four and then take a holiday from this, the program will always be asking our properties to improve. And we are always working hard to find ways to reduce resource use, for instance with our water consumption.

Turfhugger.com - For example?
Jim Seeley – Within the IPM mapping requirements we ask that they locate where their isolated dry spots are located. This first step of knowing where your problem areas are is crucial, then they are able to get the water to where it is needed once the superintendent deems it necessary. As time goes on we can then integrate technology to help us manage these and other areas, many of our properties are looking at Remote Sensor Technology for example.

Turfhugger.com - So lets say that a Superintendent finds a particular technique to be quite helpful, say in conserving water, how does this technique make it to the rest of your courses? How is information shared?
Jim Seeley – On our intranet we have to forums, one specifically for the Green to a Tee specifically and one for turf maintenance in general. Once a new concept is introduce, we send it out to everyone in the network and ask for their feed back on the forum. We’ve been very pleased to see all staff at all levels embracing this program.

Next week I’ll post the remaining portion of the interview which dives in to the specifics of how they communicate this message to their staff, their members, public golfers and more details on the “green vendor utilization” policy, quite an impressive tool!

One Million Acts of Green

When the CBC and the Suzuki foundation envisioned one million acts of green I doubt they immediately thought of the golf industry as potential contributors. However, as an industry so intertwined with the environment I suggest we are perfectly poised to make a huge contribution to “Green programs”. The following is just a summarized list of actions we can take to reduce our impact on the environment and reduce green house gasses:

1. Pick up one piece of garbage per employee per day
We have a course policy, if you drive by it you might as well have thrown it! We also offer rewards for staff seen going out of their way picking up garbage. The program is catchy and affects their personal life. I know I cannot walk by a piece of garbage with stopping to pick it up.

2. Pesticide reduction
It is our goal to review our pesticide applications and make at least one less application per year. The money saved can be applied to other cultural programs like manual weed control, pest scouting, topdressing and overseeding with improved varieties.

3. Natural areas
In 2010 we plan to eliminate 50% of the fertilizer in the rough. We will achieve this by identifying “in play/out of play rough”

4. Greens space/Wild life preservation
Golf courses are often the largest greens spaces in the urban environment. Our course is home to over a dozen species of birds including a family of eagles, deer, rabbits, native and rare plants including owl clover.

5. Green your community as an outreach program…be the local expert
Speak to the public, industry and schools as often as you can. Offer school tours to view special projects. For example we had a bird tagging event where we invited a local school to assist.

6. Solar panels on the roofs of our buildings
Most golf courses have large building offering great potential for power generation.

7. Create and manage community compost centers
We collect all our cores, clippings, plant material and compost to be added to our rough topdressing program. We have expanded this program to allow members and staff to add their plant material to our compost.

8. Car pool
Reward staff for car pooling or biking to work.

9. Reduce maintenance
In 2009 we reduced rough mowing, fairway mowing and bunker maintenance by 50% with no complaints from our member. This has dramatically reduced our fuel consumption, wear and tear on the golf course and the equipment.

10. Paperless meetings
I have gone paperless for all or meetings, staff training and daily work assignments. Meetings are organized and presented on screen with PowerPoint; employee manuals and standard operation procedures are posted online; and the staff daily tasks and record is emailed to each staff daily and posted on the staff television in the morning at the start of the shift.

These are just the acts of green, lets here from you…

Increasing Efficiency Rates of our Fertilizer Products

As our industry strives to become more efficient, for environmental and economic reasons, I enjoy seeing products that aim to achieve both of those results. I recently had a brief email conversation with Kevin Davies of Nutrient Technology Partners, makers of NutriLife - a fertilizer meta-catalyst, which enables a higher fertilizer efficiency rate of 25% or more.


Davies says "In very quick terms, we allow the nutrients in fertilizer to be made more available to the plant – in this case turf – and therefore the user can actually reduce the amount of nutrients (fertilizer) they need to use. This use less approach is in itself the very beginning of being more environmentally responsible, but with our product they still get high quality turf. Our ability to increase the amount of nutrients that get into the plant by 50 to 75% allows superintendents and lawn care companies to trust this ability to reduce the amount of nutrients they put in the soil. In addition to using less, their is a nice economic reward to the user as even with the price of our product added to the cost of the fertilizer they save money – i.e. spend less. This is key as some of the “Greener” approaches cost too much money for the users to adopt, even if it is better for the environment they can’t afford to make the change, or they don’t deliver the quality the user is looking for. This combination of using less, and getting more into the plant gives us the environmental benefit we are all looking for – leave less".

I like the "use less", "spend less" and "leave less" approach.

Davies makes a very interesting point, it is hard to adopt some of the green options when they cost more, especially during a recession. I think in the mean time products like this have a very good place in the market.

I did notice in some of NutriLifes promotional materials that a study at Auburn University revealed that the NutriLife fertilizer significantly out-performed untreated fertilizer in a recent study. The researchers applied catalyzed 18‑5‑9 fertilizer to bentgrass at 4 pounds/1,000 square feet, and conventional 18‑5‑9 fertilizer at the same rate. Bentgrass treated with the NutriLife fertilizer had 37-percent greater average root diameter, 91-percent higher fresh root weight, and 105-percent higher fresh shoot weight.

All of that is great, but I couldn't help to notice a few other characteristics of this product that interests me. Studies have shown that NutriLife helped reduce the total amount of salt found in soil tests at Texas A&M extension service, a reduction greater than 60%. In addition, and this one I really like, Nutrient Technology Partners claim that in a Arise Research and Discovery study, NutriLife was shown to have a 48% reduction in nitrates at 12" depth, 57% in nitrates at 30" depth and decreases Phosphate leaching by 37%. The later interests me because every where I look (Michigan, Westchester, Canada) I see bans on Phosphate and calls to reduce applications of fertilizers that contain it.

Urine for a Surprise

Restroom facilities can often be an expensive part of the golf course infrastructure. Course management must ask themselves how can we manage the waste? Do we tie it in to the municipal system or develop our own water treatment facility?

Well now I suppose there is a new option... I suppose.

Sea Shells, Seas Shells, Down by the Seashore Paspalum

We've all heard a lot of buzz on Seashore Paspalum, seems like a miracle grass to me! I've decided to collect a few links to articles, products and videos to help us all better understand this seemingly amazing grass.


Seashore Paspalum - Richard L. Duble, Extension Turfgrass Specialist, Texas Cooperative Extension,The Texas A&M University System

First Course to go all out with SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum - Hammock Bay G&CC

SeaIsle 1 - Certified Seashore Paspalum

Down by the Seashore - USGA Greens Section, Larry Gilhuly

Environmental Turf has a number of products:
SeaDwarf® Seashore Paspalum
Aloha® Seashore Paspalum
PristineFlora® Zoysia

CNBC Covers Stone Creek GC

October Newsletter

Turfhugger would like to thank our readers for all the comments, emails of support, and your constant viewing of our site.
We are almost at 2000 page views a month from readers from 31 countries!

So what's been happening at Turfhugger?
Lots of interviews:
- Golf Architects Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Doug Carrick.
- Serge Gauthier from Rain Bird
- Allan Berry regarding Bio-Plastics
- Anti-Golf Film Director Alex Cox

Articles on:
- How Golf Courses can work with trees - By Darryl James
- Leeding the Way - By Scott J Morrison
- Using Your Central Control to Conserve Water - Justin Ruiz
- Colony Collapse Disorder - Michael Vogt
- One Million Acts of Green - Paul Robertson
- Looking towards the Future - Rob Malette
- Organic Golf Architecture - Jeff Mingay

Do you Compost???
Please tell us about your compost program.

Looking to the Future... Constructing an Effective Vision of Success

It seems to me that there is a large gap in the golf industry with regards to courses and their development of an effective vision of success towards improved sustainability. After investigating some 300 facilities, I was baffled to find that just one course had their on display for golfers to see (and even it didn’t mention anything about the environment); a trend that shows me people aren’t using this highly effective tool properly. I’m sure if management knew what they were missing, they would have built a powerful vision a long time ago. So here’s what you need to do...and why you need to do it.


1. Understand all the parts of a powerful vision of success: Essentially you’ll need to generate 4 crucial elements:
a. Purpose Statement: What are you REALLY doing at your golf course? Everyone is providing golf and trying to make profit, so you’ll need to find something else; something inspiring for both your employees and customers alike. And, you can’t go looking for it ‘out there’. A powerful purpose comes from within the people already in your organization. Find your common purpose and watch productivity sky rocket, add sustainability and you can expect a 74% increase in the effectiveness of your employees’ time!
b. Core Values: We all know what core values mean because we all have them for ourselves. Indelible elements of our personality that do not change over time. Same thing goes for your golf course. The real test of a core value is this though; would you up-hold it even if it meant losing business? If yes, then you know who you are, and people will be attracted to that. If no, then you’re seeking profit for profits sake...and nearly no employee or customer is inspired by wanting created more profit. The biggest opportunity you’re going to find in this area is becoming genuinely involved in sustainability. People are voting with their wallets by buying products and services that match their own core values and we all know that nearly everyone is ‘going green’ these days.
c. A ‘BHAG’ (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal): This should a be goal that will take about 30 years or so to achieve and should be about 80% likely that it can be done. Nothing motivates people like an awe inspiring challenge! How do you know when you’ve got a good BHAG? The ‘big gulp’ test. If people take a ‘big gulp’ when you tell them what you want to achieve, then you know you’re on the right track. What about being the first fully sustainable golf course in the world? Where do I sign up?
d. Vivid Description: This should be a colourful description of what it will be like to achieve your BHAG. Use language that gives ‘goose bumps’ to employees. Let them imaging being part of something exciting. Whenever there’s a dip in focus or people aren’t working as hard as you know they can, pull out the vivid description to remind them what they are working for.
2. Build it from the ground up: A huge thread from the above is that all the elements are built and agreed to together by important stakeholder within your course. After all, these people are the one’s that will be upholding and rolling out everything to move you towards your shared vision of success. If they feel like they are not involved or if it’s imposed on them, you will lose productivity and momentum. Again, be a part of the ‘green wave’ and you can ensure buy-in from nearly everyone.
3. Use your vision properly: One of the largest mistakes that’s made is that once a vision is created, managers dust their hands off and go on to the next thing, never to think about it again. A vision needs to be a lens through which you make difficult business decisions. If you are debating about the effectiveness of a decision, a vision can be a use tool in paring down options. If a choice does not align with your vision of success, it no longer is an option.
I hope this ‘crash course’ helps in creating some inspiring visions of success that I see soon on the websites of clubs across the industry.