Calculating Carbon Emissions on the Golf Course

In last weeks TWIGG we covered the release of Syngentas GreenCast EcoMeasure, the new turf carbon calculator. Currently with 12 Marriott courses testing the calculator, the press release was meant more as a teaser than anything else. But for those of you who can't wait to calculate your operations carbon footprint, well... you don't have to!

The Golf Resource Group developed a carbon calculator, "CarbonSave", within a downloadable PDF and released it back in early 2011 (original press release). So I contacted Andy Staples (yes, this Andy Staples) of GRG to learn more, here's what he had to say...

Another look at Civitas

About a year ago I introduced Turfhugger readers to Reinie Drygala, Manager of Lawncare Products at Petro-Canada in a post called What is Civitas? That post went on to be viewed by 628 people in 13 countries! I decided to re-connect with Reinie to see how things have been going, include a few product testimonials and a few links from Turf Disease Blog.

System Check Vol. 2

Now that you have had a chance to go through your central control computer you have gone a quarter of the way.  The next step to preparing for the season is taking a closer look at your weather station.  Are you using your $7k tool to your advantage, or is it a perch for the local fowl?

Out and Back on Pinehurst No. 2

Out and Back is a website covering the "topics of golf and travel through a diverse array of lenses–from business and the media to politics, the arts and beyond". Recently site creator Tom Dunne traveled to North Carolina to see the restoration of Pinehurst No. 2 by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. This video details some of his impressions, as well as provides some insight from C&C shaper Kyle Franz.

There's some really great discussion about the video and project over at Geoff Shackelfords Blog, and we've posted other videos about this transition at Pinehurst here.


The Restoration of Pinehurst No. 2 from outandback on Vimeo.

Habitat Corridor Restoration at Jasper Lake Lodge Golf Course

While working on some habitat corridor projects this winter, I found myself making reference to one study in particular: Response of wolves to corridor restoration and human use management http://www.resalliance.org/ (A basic review can be found at Parks Canada)

Wolf Trails Before and After Corridor Route Restoration

The reason being, like in many other corridor studies, success was shown when giving a direct thruway to wildlife within their home range instead of attempting to direct them around large expanses of property or roads. Jasper Lake Lodge Golf Course sits in the valley, fully fencing off this area caused predators to use steeper terrain. The effects of displaced predators due to fragmented corridors includes (amongst negative effects to predator populations) a possible increase of prey species such as Deer and Elk. These high populations find refuge in golf courses, sometimes causing detrimental effects on the golf course itself (infrastructure, golfer and employee safety, damage to playing surface), as we've seen in Justin Ruiz's post about Elk at the Rim GC in Payson Arizona.

I wanted to learn a little more about two techniques mentioned but not outlined in the study, so I contacted Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program certified Fairmont at Jasper Lake Lodge Golf Course Superintendent Perry Cooper to find out a couple extra details I thought would be helpful for other Superintendents dealing with Deer and Elk.

Floating Islands at Hillandale GC

Dr Bill Hunt - NCState University, BAE Dept., discusses the installation of floating islands at a wetpond at Hillandale Golf Course in Durham, NC. The islands, made of recycled plastic beverage bottles, provide a floating home for wetland plants, helping the plants to establish and improving water quality in the pond.

Saturday March 26th at 8:30pm is Earth Hour, What is Your Golf Course Doing?

Superintendent Neil Ballingall and WWF panda mascot gets in a few practice shots
ahead of the night golf event on the Torrance Course at the
Fairmont St Andrews to mark WWF's Earth Hour

Earth Hour - Usually my wife and I will go for a walk to a spot overlooking the city and watch the lights turn off and join the neighbors in a howl.

Toronto's downtown skyline disappears, but the condos come up short. This year we'll be in Vancouver and I'm looking forward to being in a city that participates in this kind of stuff more actively... hopefully.

So what is Earth Hour? Do any golf courses participate in it? Check out some articles, and videos after the jump.

Water Quality Improvement with Floating Wetlands

I've had an interest in floating islands for awhile, but not much experience with them, just the odd sighting at places like Lonnie Poole GC at the North Carolina State University. I decided to contact Rob Cook of Floating Island Southeast in Chapel Hill NC to discuss with Turfhugger readers some of the benefits of these products, starting with how they can improve water quality.

Students from Centennial Campus Magnet Middle School helped
to build a “floating island” on the Lonnie Poole Golf Course

Biohaven™ Floating Treatment wetlands is a new tool for golf course superintendents who are concerned about three things in their golf course ponds: water quality, overall appearance of the pond and minimizing maintenance costs. These days you really have to balance all three factors if you want to be successful at managing your golf course ponds, the course’s ponds need to be kept looking beautiful and budgets have to be managed in today’s tight economy. At the foundation of these two factors listed above is water quality, if water quality suffers the ponds are going to be growing algae and look poorly, or you can spend a lot of money cleaning the water with chemicals. 

System Check Vol. 1

Have you checked your irrigation computer lately?  How do you know that your irrigation computer is doing what it is supposed to do?  Or, better yet, how can you tell if your computer knows what to do?

Unfortunately, irrigation computers are only as good as the information you give them.  I recently moved from a course in Arizona that was extremely reliant on efficient irrigation management.  It was imparitive that the $10k irrigation program and computer was operating to it's fullest.  Indian Summer Golf and Country Club is now my new home.  A private facility located in the South Puget Sound of Washington State.  Our water is basically unlimited compared to Arizona.  There is also twice the rain and about 20 degrees cooler during the summer.  You might say, "nice" at first.

5 Golf Course Pump Problems You Can Avoid

Many of the pump problems we see on golf course sprayer pumps are avoidable.  Read my recent article in Parks & Rec Business Magazine for the Top 5 Avoidable Pump Problems. 
These tips can save you money, boost productivity and reduce downtime. 
Please share your thoughts in the comments section here at Turfhugger.

Stimpmeter vs. Pelzmeter vs. iStimp

We've covered the iStimp App for iPhones a few times now, most recently with the help from a Pace Turf Video. Well the folks at PaceTurf put there doubts to the test and did a side by side comparison video and Printable Report using the Stimpmeter, Pelzmeter and iStimp App.

How accurate do you think the iStimp will be?

GolfStinks: Golf Ball Hell

I could talk about sustainable practices in the golf industry until I'm green in the face, however golfer and industry understanding and acceptance is the deciding factor on whether these see the light of day. The hackers over at Golfstinks.com are an honest bunch, Turfhugger will be posting a number of environment related articles produced by the guys at Golfstinks who seem to understand that golf is in a transition.

You can have a nervous breakdown trying to pick out golf balls. I hope I'm not alone in this assessment, but I can literally stand in front of a wall of golf ball boxes for like an hour, trying to figure out which ones I should pick.

A Quick Look at Bathurst Glen

I was lucky enough to tour Bathurst Glen a couple of times back in 2008 and 09. I was very impressed by the collective efforts of all staff whose common goal is to "respect the environment". One thing that stands out to me is that the course is managed by the Toronto Region Conservation Authority, a watershed management agency that delivers services and programs that protect and manage water and other natural resources in partnership with government, landowners and other organizations. 

This segment from Rogers TV's A Greener York discusses the process and steps that are taken to gain and keep this certification.

Note: there are plenty of golf clubs that have integrated environmental study classes from local schools in to their operations in Canada, the video claims Bathurst Glen is the only one.

High-Tech Eco-Course in Spain

An interesting Promo Video about the environmental features at Mosa Trajectum, crazy stuff actually:
"We use 'Controlled and Slow Release Fertilisers' in combination with a biodegradable foam mixed into the earth under our golf courses to protect the groundwater and completely avoid the contamination of the groundwater with fertilisers. It also reduces the evaporation of water by 70%. 

The lakes in Mosa Trajectum are the first in the world to be free from legionella and of low microbiological contamination through the inclusion of ionised oxygen. This method is unique in the world! We purify wastewater and rainwater in our very own pioneering purification plant. 

We have the very first completely ecological golf course in Spain."

A Call To Environmental Action By Gary Player

In a recent USA Today interview Gary Player discusses the Personal Health Investment Today Act, aimed at saving physical education programs at American schools in an effort to combat child obesity. Although the interview centered on Player's efforts  to get this bill passed, he did drop a few strong statements about the state of the game and it's effects on the environment.

"We need our leaders in golf to make the right decisions" Gary says. "We haven't started to see all the problems we're going to have with water. Nobody should be getting a permit to build a golf course unless they are using effluent water. Nobody should be using potable water". Responding to a question about the current state of the industry, Player say's "It's healthy, but we've got to stop making golf courses longer, because it means you've got to use more water, more oil, more labor, more fertilizer, and these are all hurting the game... The whole economic problem we're facing now is because of greed, and golf is no different. From Timbuktu to Washington, D.C., to Augusta, everyone made their golf courses longer. Why? We wasted hundreds of millions of dollars".

Now that seems like a strong statement from someone who benefitted so much from the golf boom, but player is well known for his environmental efforts. Like what? Here's a few snippets I was able to dig up...

Golf Environment Organisation takes over Iceland

Bjork Celebrates the news by playing
a round of golf, here she is searching
 for a lost ball in the woods.
(This is not from GEO Press Release)

Here at Turfhugger, we've discussed the success of GEO many times before, following their certification program from initial release to now 209 participants world wide. Recently Icleand golf courses have made what seems to be the biggest commitment towards supporting the GEO and possibly the most significant statement in support of sustainable golf in general, from the GEO Press Release:

Reykjavík, Iceland - Sustainable golf leadership was demonstrated on an unprecedented scale today as every one of Iceland's sixty-two golf clubs pledged to achieve the GEO Certified™ award. 

The move has been driven by the Icelandic Golf Union - the country’s administrator of the amateur game; member of the European Golf Association and affiliate to The R&A. Full endorsement has also been pledged by the Icelandic Greenkeeper Association.

At receptions in Reykjavik, attended by both the Icelandic President, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, and the Minister for Environment, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the efforts of Icelandic Golf and GEO were recognised. President Grímsson said:

“The Icelandic people are close to, and proud of, the quality of their environment. As a healthy outdoor sport, played by men, women and children from all walks of life, and with such an intimate relationship with our diverse landscapes, we are delighted that golf is using its unique position to reinforce deep rooted Icelandic values - locally and across the global golf community”.

Using your Central Control to Conserve Water

Your central control computer can be a powerful tool in your arsenal for conserving water. Most people don’t use their central control to it’s fullest potential. Specific things that you can check to make sure you are taking advantage of you central control capabilities. Evapotranspiration usage, head and nozzle assignment, head adjustments and hydraulic tree assignment are the major things you should look at next time your at your central control.

Quick Contest: Jacobsen

I've been ohhing and awing over Jacobsen's electric Eclipse 322 for awhile, secretly hoping I'll get a custom white one by surprise! Instead they've decided to one-up me and offer you something.

Jacobsen is offering Turfhugger readers a Jacobsen Hat to the first correct answer of this question:


How many hydraulic leak points are on the Eclipse 322?


Email your answer to info@turfhugger.com


The first one received will get a hat direct from Jacobsen. Thanks to Jacobsen for trying this out with us, contest's are great, and free stuff is always fun to receive. Be sure to stop by the Jacobsen booth (#614) at the upcoming Canadian International Turfgrass Conference and Trade Show to learn more about their electric mowers.

Milorganite - How it's Made

Garden experts and golf course superintendents have trusted Milorganite fertilizer for more than 80 years. Produced by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), Milorganite is marketed worldwide. Check out how it's made!

Black Sand and CITC

This coming Friday marks the opening day of the Canadian International Turfgrass Conference and Trade Show in Vancouver, follow show updates on twitter with #CITC2011. Check out the Pre-Conference Seminars, Educational Sessions and Vendors in the Trade Show. Some Turfhugger contributors will be at the show including myself, Darryl James, Jeff Mingay and even David Phipps will even be making his way up from Portland. 

I was speaking with one of the vendors the other day, Don Reynolds of Grass Roots Agronomics, about a very timely product - Black Sand. 

To put it simply, BLACK SAND offers superintendents a tool that can melt snow and ice, boost soil temperatures in the spring and fall to aid in the recovery of turf from disease, traffic, and even aeration, as well as increase the germination and establishment rate of newly seeded or sodded turf.  This is all done with an quartz sand that has been dyed black with a turf safe dye in order to maximize the suns energy.  

BLACK SAND Uses Documentation