This Week In Green Golf - July 30th 2011

Whoa, lots happening out there. It's been a very busy summer for everyone and not just because of the weather. Sustainability and environmental technologies have seemed to grow exponentially and it's obviously at the forefront of the industries values. Yes we have skeptics, sometimes for good reason, a few golf courses are... slacking. Competition will continue to rage and slackers won't survive in this market.

On the good, I was at the Canadian Open last weekend and was pleasantly surprised by all their green projects for the event, although in my humble opinion they could have done a better job advertising it. For myself, there's a lot of interest in my line of work and I'm getting calls from courses all over North America for environmentally sustainable solutions. I recently joined forces with Andy Staples and the Golf Resource Group to provide GEO Certification Assistance services in the US and recently learned I'll be presenting at the upcoming GCSAA NorthWest Golf and Environment meeting at Oregon Golf Club in November (in very good company!). My Topic will be Sustainable BMP's: What sustainability looks like in action, and it promises to be informative and inspiring. Oh and GolfCourseTrades published my Getting to the Green: Improving Golf Cart Efficiency. Well enough about me, here's what happening in This Week In Green Golf... FYI - Articles are in no particular order and I do not discriminate against sources or topics, I figure it all paints a picture of where we are truly at. Enjoy.

10 Golf Questions Video Series

Got some time to burn? Sure we all do right now. When you do find time for some Golf and Environment related background noise check out the "10 Questions" video series produced by BunkerShot.com and GolfTV. Here's a few that Turfhugger readers will likely enjoy.

Greg Lyman, GCSAA Director of Environmental Programs

Noble Hendrix & Bill Crispin of The Golfpreserves

Dave Aardsma from Waste Management, the title sponsors of the 2010 Phoenix Open.

Mark Woodward, CEO of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America

RainBirds Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition

August 1st is the deadline for your 2011 Intelligent Use of Water™ Film Competition entries. So if you've been slacking, it's time to cram and put whatever filmmaking talents you've got towards a worthy cause by creating a short film promoting water conservation awareness. Not only will you demonstrate how diligently golf course superintendents manage their water resources, but you'll have a chance to win one of three great awards presented by conservation legend Jack Hanna in Los Angeles.

Three Awards are offered:

GREEN INDUSTRY AWARD ($6,000)
Those employed in the Green Industry will choose the winner of this award. Once finalist videos have been selected, landscapers, architects, water managers and other professionals will be encouraged to watch the videos and vote for their favorite on a site managed by contest partner Questex Media.

JURY AWARD ($6,000)
During a special screening event held in September in Los Angeles, a panel of film and water conservation experts will select the winner of the Jury Prize from a group of finalists.

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD ($3,000)
Recognizing the biggest crowd-pleaser, the Audience Choice Award will go to the finalist whose film receives the most votes from those in attendance at the Los Angeles screening.

In order for you to qualify for one of these prizes, You'll need to send in your video by August 1, 2011. Ready to make a difference? Click here to get started. Watch previous years winners here.

PaceTurf: Heat and Drought Recovery Video

From our friends at PaceTurf:
Heat and drought cause serious turfgrass damage every year. If you are experiencing catastrophic turf loss from heat, drought or other sources of extreme stress, this video will provide you with some guidelines for turf recovery.

To learn more about how PACE Turf gets superintendents the answers they need, take our member benefits tour: http://www.paceturf.org/index.php/tour/

Hear from others about the benefits of PACE Turf membership: http://www.paceturf.org/index.php/public/testimonials/

Or sign up today at: http://www.paceturf.org/membership/signup.php

Checking Moisture = Saving Money at Northland Country Club

This post was originally posted in 2010.


My name is Chris Tritabaugh and I am the Golf Course Superintendent at Northland Country Club in Duluth, MN. A few weeks ago Scott emailed and asked me if I would like to contribute to this fantastic turf management blog; I was honored and was happy to accept the invitation. For the past two and a half years I have maintained the Northland Country Club Turfgrass Management blog to update, inform and educate our membership on the day to day operations of our operation as well as efforts to create a sustainable golf course. Its an honor to contribute to turfhugger.com and wonderful to know Northland's efforts tocreate a sustainable golf course are being noticed by people within the industry. Without further ado; my first contribution to turfhugger.com.

My brother Adam is a little more than two years younger than myself. Growing up he was a classic little brother always wanting to have what I had and do what I did. Earlier this summer Jeff Johnson, good friend and superintendent at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis let me know he had purchased a TDR 300 soil moisture meter from Spectrum Technologies. Playing the role of little brother and not wanting to be left out, I purchased one for Northland as well. The meter, seen on the left, has two probes that when inserted into the soil give the percent water volume content in of the soil. After purchasing the meter at the beginning of August, its use was pretty much non-existent due to ample rain and at least the thought from myself that taking moisture readings when we were wet was unnecessary. This was until a couple weeks ago when  my "big-brother" in turf management made the post, linked below, on his blog.
  
The Minikahda Club Grounds Department: Collecting Moisture Readings on Greens

Turns out Jeff had started using his meter on a daily basis to record the average moisture readings of his greens. Just like the little brother I ran out and blew a couple months of dust off our meter and started taking our own daily moisture readings on putting surfaces.

Scribblemaps Review

The free website Scribblemaps.com allows users to scribble, draw, measure distances and areas and place markers, pictures and videos on Google Maps. Yes you can do this with Google MyMaps, but you'll see a number of incredibly useful features not found on MyMaps.

Recently Turfhugger arranged for some Golf Management related icons/map markers to be made (Thanks to RHo Solutions and Rueben Butterfield, President of the Irrigation Industry Association of BC) that reflect the major environmental infrastructure of your typical golf course. Turfhugger has recently donated these markers for use on Scribblemaps  (Thanks to Jonathan of Scribblemaps!) ...Results? A truly useful way to manage your projects with accuracy, communicate current projects in an easy to understand and accessible format.

I'm a true believer of the importance of communication through maps, and therefore Turfhugger is commited to creating new map markers to help golf course superintendents communicate their pest, tree, habitat, water and legal obligations.

Checking Soil Moisture

From our friends at Ohio State University and Buckeye Turf - During hot humid weather checking soil moisture is important in determining if to water or not.

Nest Watch at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay

I'm an avid reader of Superintendent blogs and enjoy the first hand accounts of all sorts of golf course happenings from around the world. This morning I came upon a post by Paul L. Carter,
Certified Golf Course Superintendent at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay. Paul has a number of very interesting post's that Turfhugger readers would enjoy including:

• Native Grass Area Renovation
• Renovation of Native Planting Bed
• Environmental Outreach and Education
• The Next Generation (incredible photos!)
• GCSAA/Golf Digest announce 2010 Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards
• Case Study for GCSAA's Environmental Institute for Golf

Since the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Nest Watch has been on my long list of "Blog Post To Do's" for some time, I figured I'd ask Paul permission to repost his entry here on Turfhugger. Be sure to stop by his blog, from Paul's recent post "Cornell Lab of Ornithology Nest Watch"...

Managing Military Golf Courses by the "Green Book"

"The Green Book: Environmental Guidebook for Military Golf Courses" is a publication of the Center for Resource Management's "Golf & the Environment Initiative" and the Department of Defense's "Legacy Resource Management Program". Developed for military golf course superintendents, The Green Book assists them in improving the environmental stewardship of their courses.

It is designed as a step-by-step workbook leading to the development of an environmental plan for the course and the certification of the course at one of the three levels of achievement. It is not intended to serve as a “Best Management Practices” manual, but rather as a way of organizing a variety of management ideas and practices into a logical, across-the-board approach to overall environmental improvement.

As a supplement to the guidebook, the following video shows some excellent examples of the BMP's and strategies used by Military courses.

Want your copy of The Green Book? Go here.

2011 British Open

The question on everyones mind for the 2011 British Open is surely not wether or not Rory will raise the Jug (and the bar), but what Environmental Stewardship or Sustainability efforts take place at Royal St George's Golf Club?

So, Turfhugger did some digging around and found a little something that only those who attend the event will get a chance to see, A Guide To Environmental Management of the Links.

This 34 page guide does a great job at discussing how the efforts at Royal St Georges reflect on the industry as a whole and that the R&A take sustainability seriously. It goes on to describe how habitat is protected, the ecological significance of the Sandwich Bay, the diversity of flora and fauna, management strategies to protect habitat, responsible turf management, overall environmental protection and resource conservation. All in all, a fantastic little guide. To boot it's printed on paper from sustainably managed forests.

Open 2011 Royal St Georges_Wildlife

Creating environmental guides for British Open venues is nothing new, to my knowledge the R&A has been putting these little booklets together since 2000. Here's some pics from my copy of the 2005 THE OLD COURSE A Guide to it's Environmental Management. 

Visit the R & A website at this link to see all of the Open Wildlife Publications.

(thanks to Alexandra Almeida for this link)

Mirimichi Goodness

My buddy Russ Bodie of Audubon Environmental describes some of the natural and green features at Mirimichi - Justin Timberlake's course near Memphis, TN. Recorded on August 18, 2010.

Irrigation System Management and Maintenance

I’ve been involved in the golf industry for over 14 years and since starting my own consulting business in 2008, I’ve noticed an unusual trend towards the management and maintenance of golf course irrigation systems. Superintendents are more often investing their resources towards different wetting agents, fertilizers or pesticides as opposed to investing in their irrigation systems and the maintenance and management of them.