A story of winter recovery

We are well aware of the brutal conditions that the Mid-Atlantic region experienced this past winter. Horror stories of devastation on greens swept through the grapevine. Undoubtedly, turf kill was widespread. These situations require a lot of hard work and patience for recovery, and often times our golfer clientele do not fully understand the unpredictability of winter kill, nor the time and effort it takes to recoup putting surfaces. However, sometimes they do understand, and it's always nice to hear positive feedback from our customers during testy times.

That's why we were delighted when we got a phone call from Valley Country Club member Larry Klemow, praising the work of his superintendent, Eric Reed, CGCS. Eric has been busy babying his greens back to health after a challenging winter. Larry said of Eric's hard work, "There's a whole bunch of people who like you, and a whole bunch who don't. I'm one of those on his side. It's because of how much he respects his golf course."

Eric had nearly 20 percent damage on his greens coming out of winter, the worst he has ever had. He and a group of industry friends (volunteers) replaced approximately 8,000-9,000 plugs by taking live turf from the edge of greens and replacing it with the damaged plugs. This method allowed him to complete the work as quickly as possible since he eliminated the travel time of hauling plugs from another location. In working through restoration, Eric said communication to his greens committee was important for setting realistic expectations of recovery time.

As is typical with winter kill, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what caused the damage, but Eric believes it was a combination of crown hydration and ice cover. In preparing for next year, he plans on being diligent with his K fertility, as well as improve surface drainage by stripping and lowering the greens' collars.

Eric was also quick to acknowledge those who loaned a helping hand, and wants to recognize those individuals: Brian Bachman, Genesis Turfgrass; Charlie Miller, CGCS, The Springhaven Club; Patrick Knelly, Sugarloaf Golf Club; Matt Kuchta, Sugarloaf GC; Joe Horan, Sugarloaf GC; Chris Snopkowski, Wyoming Valley Country Club; Scott Kotula, Wyoming Valley CC; Chuck Usher, Blue Ridge Trail Golf Club.

As the saying goes, "a picture says a thousand words," so take a look:

Best of luck to Eric for the 2015 season!

Pennsylvania Golf Day rendered a success

On Tuesday, June 9, we made golf history in the Keystone State. This date marked our first ever Pennsylvania Golf Day hosted in Harrisburg, the state's capital.

What's Pennsylvania Golf Day? It's an opportunity. An opportunity to tell golf's story. An opportunity to build relationships with the legislators who govern the land where we reside and work. For superintendents specifically, an opportunity to promote ourselves as professional land managers and stewards.

We had seven participating organizations from around the state, including the CMA, two PGA sections, Pennsylvania Golf Owners (PGO), Western PA Golf Association (WPGA), Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP), and, of course, the PGCSA.

Throughout the day, participants engaged in about 80 meetings with state legislators and/or their staff. We talked about golf's economic impact in Pennsylvania – almost $2 billion annually. We talked about the number of jobs golf creates in the state – about 30,000 with a payroll approaching $500 million. We talked about the charitable contributions of golf – almost $4 billion annually across the U.S. We also met with chairmen of the committees that are responsible for fertilizer and drought legislation in the state, both of which impact the way we do business.

By cultivating these relationships with our state government, it improves our chance of having a "seat at the table" when new bills are proposed, or existing legislation is reviewed. If we can establish the trust that empowers our legislators to seek our opinions, then we are doing ourselves and our industry a great service.

In addition to the meetings, we had a large exhibit set up in the East Wing rotunda of the main capitol building. Imagine a trade show. There was a hitting simulator (huge draw), a putting green and booths for each participating organization. At our table, we promoted our BMP manual, multiple irrigation technologies, different types of turf plugs and anything else that highlighted water, fertilizer or environmental management. Anybody – including legislators – coming through the rotunda that day could stop and talk with us. The traffic was steady.

Everyone that participated found the day worthwhile and educational. Not only does this day help us promote the industry we love, but there is a great deal of learning that takes place simply by engaging. I think it's safe to render Pennsylvania Golf Day 2015 a great success. We look forward to building on that momentum in 2016!

Superintendents promoting our profession.

Left to right: Chase Rogan, Micah Lowell, Senator Vulakovich and  Tim Fitzgerald.

Our state's great capitol building.

A patron steps up to hitting simulator.