Golf course superintendents face disease pressure under snow cover
In the golf course market, there is concern over the health of the turf coming out of winter. Central & Southern Ohio is not used to having extended snow cover for a portion of January, all of February, and who knows how much of March.
There is pink snow mold under the snow in many areas right now. There is also the concern of poa annua desiccation coming out of winter due to multiple freezing & thawing events. Most golf courses in Central and Southern Ohio do not treat fairways in the fall for snow mold, and normally do not use a lot of snow mold chemistry on greens and tees.
Click here to download BASF Professional Turf & Ornamentals Snow Mold Program recommendations.
Northern Ohio & Michigan golf course supers normally do not let their guard down pertaining to snow mold fungicide applications that are applied in the fall for winter protection. In Central & Southern Ohio, historically 600-1,000 rounds of golf are played in the 1st quarter of the year. In 2010, this number will probably be zero rounds played during this time-frame. This is not huge revenue, but it is some early season cash flow that helps to get the season kicked off on a positive note.
7th Annual Ohio State University Spring Tee Off Conference & Sports Turf Conference-February 24-25, 2010
This conference was co-sponsored by BASF Professional Turf & Ornamentals, Helena, The Ohio Turfgrass Association, & The Ohio Lawn Care Association/Ohio Sports Turf. This was a 2-day conference for sports turf managers and a separate conference for the golf course superintendents.
There were golf course superintendents present from Northern KY, Wheeling, WV, Southern Ohio, Central Ohio, Western Ohio, Cleveland & Toledo. There were approx 75-100 golf course superintendents in attendance for the golf session and approx 75 sports turf managers in attendance for the conference pertaining to them. I spent as much time in both sessions as possible. Since BASF was one of the sponsors, we were allowed to have literature displayed for customers to have if they so desired. I was amazed with the amount of BASF literature that was given to customers and the amount of quality conversations I had with key customers. I accomplished more in 2 days with customers than I could have in several weeks of business travel.
Presentations were given by pretty much all OSU Faculty involving Disease Management for Turf, Insect Management Updates, PGR discussions, New Herbicide Options, USGA Update from Bob Brame, Pesticide Regulations Update for 2010, etc.
John Swoyer, golf course superintendent of Shorewood Country Club, Dunkirk, N.Y., is the lucky winner of the BASF Professional Turf & Ornamentals 2010 Golf Industry Show iPod® Touch prize.
