BIGGA Video Series: Reconstructing a Green

BIGGA's Reconstruction of a Green training video takes a look at the basic problems and solutions associated with various types of green construction and maintenance. Don't let the Old School video editing throw you off, this is an excellent introduction to understanding how a golf green works.

Super Grass: The Advantages of Endophyte-Enhanced Turfgrass in Golf Course Management

We'd like to welcome Guest Contributor Skylar Christensen to Turfhugger. From his earliest days growing up in a small northern Utah town, Skylar could always be found in the great outdoors. He developed a great love of nature and appreciation for beautiful landscapes, both natural and manmade, which led him to pursue a career that would allow him to spend as much time outdoors as possible. With an educational background in Horticulture from Utah State University, Skylar’s many years of experience in the landscape/turf industry has taught him much about working with nature. This in turn led him to realize that the future of this industry rests upon sustainability and responsible agricultural practices. He works for Naturesfinestseed.com, a company that believes strongly in the principal of sustainability.

We all remember the story of Spiderman. A boy gets bitten by a radioactive spider, transforming and infusing within him superhuman strength and spider-like abilities. He’s able to do things normal humans could never achieve. I love the story of Spiderman. Who hasn’t fantasized about the possibilities of becoming superhuman, powerful, and able to shoot web out of your hands? Although this example is a work of fiction, and human symbiosis with spiders is, sadly, out of our reach, that’s not to say that symbiosis within other life forms, such as turfgrass and fungi, is impossible.

Identifying Warm Season Turfgrasses

These two videos from the Institute of Applied Agriculture at the University of Maryland, reviews the structural characteristics of a number of warm season turfgrasses.

Video One:

Kikuyugrass -- Pennisetum clandestinum
Common Carpetgrass -- Axonopus affinis
Centipedegrass -- Eremochloa ophiuroides
St. Augustinegrass -- Stenotaphrum secundatum

Video Two:

Zoysiagrass -- Zoysia japonica
Bahiagrass -- Paspalum notatum
Buffalograss -- Bouteloua dactyloides
Seashore Paspalum -- Paspalum vaginatum
Bermudagrass -- Cynodon dactylon

Video One

Video Two

Identifying Cool Season Turfgrasses

These two videos from the Institute of Applied Agriculture at the University of Maryland, reviews the structural characteristics of a number of cool season turfgrasses.

Video One:

Kentucky Bluegrass -- Poa Pratensis
Annual Bluegrass -- Poa Annua
Roughstalk Bluegrass -- Poa Triialis
Perennial Ryegrass -- Lolium Perenne
Annual Ryegrass -- Lolium Mulilorum

Video Two:

Tall Fescue -- Festuca Arundinacea
Red Fescue -- Festuca Rubra
Hard Fescue -- Festuca Brevipila
Sheep Fescue -- Festuca Ovina
Creeping Bentgrass -- Agrostis Stolonifera
Colonial Bentgrass -- Agrostis Tenuis

Video One:

Video Two:

Fine Fescue as a Disease Management Strategy at Northland Country Club

Last week, after noticing some potential disease on the 14th fairway and approach, I sent a couple of samples to the Turf Diagnostic Lab at the University of Wisconsin. The suspected disease is a leaf spot caused by the pathogen Bipolaris sorokiniana. Bipolaris leaf spot is a bugger of a disease, which affects mostly bentgrass. While it does not completely wipe out turf it does present a challenge in that fungicide applications are expensive and only seem to suppress the disease as opposed to completely controlling it. Dr. Jim Kerns of the University of Wisconsin wrote a blog post in July on Bipolaris for the TurfDiseases blog. The post highlights some of the difficulties of dealing with Bipolaris leaf spot. 

Using Fine Fescue as a Solution to Fairway Dry Spots at Northland Country Club

We see them each summer; as you play the golf course in July and August you will notice some areas on fairways have a brown tinge to them. The photo above shows some these areas on the third hole. Over the past five seasons we have seen areas such as this become less and less around the golf course; the reason for the reduction are numerous.

Greg Evans discusses conditioning at Ealing Golf Club

In this video Greg describes the conditioning of the Ealing Golf Club, how he insists on "championship standard, 7 days a week" and the honor of being awarded a Master Greenskeeper Certificate.

Greg Evans: Wuthering Heights

You'll notice a few new things at Turfhugger in the coming weeks, including a new layout, tools, additional pages and some fresh faces. Our new contributors allow us to provide readers with material from around the world, with interesting perspectives on sustainability in golf. 


One of our newest contributors Greg Evans (Master Greenkeeper at Ealing Golf Club and Consultant at Greg Evans Golf Course Solutions) is a perfect fit for Turfhugger. Residing in London England, Greg has been pushing the limits of turfgrass and mindsets with some controversial maintenance plans. 


Now I've been lead to believe low mowing heights = more resources, Greg however has demonstrated otherwise. For his first post we're going to re-post a Q & A from The Golf Superintendents Association of Ireland's publication Greenside where Greg responds to criticism about his methods and clarifies his reasoning. If you have any questions please use the comment form at the end of this post. 


Welcome to Turfhugger Greg, I'm sure our readers will find your material fresh and thought provoking.

Wuthering Heights

Over the past eight years, Greg Evans has devised course maintenance plans for different golf courses that allow greens to be cut as low as 2 millimeters, yet remain sustainable. Evans’ methods initially encountered a surprising amount of opposition from certain quarters in the greenkeeping profession. Some worried that the greens would die, while others thought that Evans was upping the stakes too much, putting pressure on other greenkeepers to follow suit.


Evans firmly believes that his approach is beneficial to both the grass plant and the industry in general. Some of the most respected heavyweights in the golfing world seem to agree. One is Peter McEvoy OBE who wrote recently in the English Club Golfer magazine that Greg’s greens at Ealing Golf Club has: “the best greens that I have ever putted on in the UK, bar none.” Another is Luke Goddard, a former English Amateur Champion and Walker Cup Player whose commendation goes even further: “I’ve been lucky enough to play all around the world over the last few years and these greens are as good as I’ve putted anywhere.” Greenside invited Greg to address some of the questions raised by fellow greenkeepers during the debate and, in particular, to address how he has managed to keep greens sustainable when the height of cut is reduced. 

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

Growing Turf with Less Water: UMass

Which turfgrasses grow and survive best with the least amount of water? That's the focus of a study, designed to save water, being conducted by the UMass Amhers Center for Agriculture. Using its new rainout shelter, UMass researchers are studying drought tolerance that will help with the management of golf, recreational turf and lawn turf.

"Unethical" or Innovative Strategy?

They are huge water wasters, take up valuable land, uncontrollable use of natural resources and create pollution run-off - no I don't work for the New York Times and am writing about golf courses, I'm talking about big feed lots!

Now straight-up, I'm not a fan. But none-the-less, feed lots are a reality of our food systems and they have to deal with real environmental issues, more so than the golf industry.

Last year Stoney Point AgriCorp of Melissa, Texas, was an Environmental Stewardship Award Winner by the National Cattlemens Beef Association. What does this have to do with golf? Well what caught my attention is how they've chosen to use the solid waste and run-off from the dairy operation as a "nutrient rich" source of irrigation for sod growing.

Stoney Point partnered with a turf-grass company to use nutrient-rich water from its retention ponds to irrigate 35 acres of turf-grass. A portion of the nutrient-rich manure is also used to improve top soil. Use of manure in a joint venture with Hope Agri-Products to compost and bag organic matter for sale in many retail stores. They also implemented grass filter strips to reduce sediment run-off.

I'll still go with my Grass-fed thank you.

Past Ten, Next Ten: Interview with Chris Lecour

As we roll through the first year of this decade I've asked two standard questions to a few key players in our industry. I wanted to know their thoughts, from their unique role and perspective, on what we saw over this last ten years and what to expect in the ten to come.

I first met Chris when I audited his golf courses operations for the Ontario IPM Accreditation Program. Four years later, Chris is now a regular contributor to Turfhugger and I am no longer an Auditor - So no conflict of interest here!

His time at the Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay (a High-end, semi-private golf club located in Thornbury Ontario) allowed him to experiment with turf varieties, bring the course to full Audubon Certification and become one of the first IPM Accredited golf courses in Ontario.

Oh! And they hosted a number of high profile events including the 2007 Telus World Skins and the Wayne Gretzky Classic.

Chris lives in Collingwood Ontario with his wife Nada and three children Holly, Ben and April.

Consider Going "Blue" in Your Effort to Go "Green"

The resurgence of Dwarf Kentucky Bluegrass as an alternative to Creeping Bentgrass on golf course tees and fairways has received a great deal of attention over the last half decade. Newer varieties of Kentucky Bluegrass can withstand a much lower height of cut than their predecessors; Kentucky Bluegrass is a much less intensively managed turf species than Creeping Bent; and its ability to resist common turf diseases such as dollar spot, necrotic ring spot, fusarium and anthracnose is the bow that ties this neat little package all together.

The Old Collier Golf Club

The Old Collier Golf Club is fairly well known for their environmental efforts. They've done an excellent job at public education, the following video is just one example (press Read Full Article to view Video):

We all know that golf courses can have a negative connotation with non-golfing public. One way to overcome this is to educate those people and help them understand the environmental benefits of a golf course. Tim Hiers, CGCS at Old Collier Golf Club, is doing just that. He has established a tour to teach the public about what goes into maintaining a golf course.

From their website:

For generations, respect for the land has been a guiding force in Collier family businesses. Within the 1.3 million acres acquired by Barron Gift Collier in the 1920s were the 267 acres selected by his grandson, Miles C. Collier, as the site of The Old Collier Golf Club.

This pristine property, only minutes from the Gulf of Mexico beaches and bordering the Cocohatchee River, was ideally located for a world-class golf club that would complement the natural environment. Working cloesly with Audubon International and regulatory agencies, Collier Enterprises devised a water management plan with new approaches to water use and conservation, land management, landscape design, and selection of turf grass and native plants.

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