CELEBRATING THE EFFORTS OF AUSTRALIA’S TURF MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS KlzaVV U QLL1U A Melbourne Cup to remember for O’Keeffe Ultimate Test Manuka Oval gears up for international debut sydney.com Partnering with the OAGCSA Purchase Syngenta products and earn your way to the 2019 Australasian Turfgrass Conference in Brisbane. Earn great industry education opportunities through the Syngenta Turf Rewards Program, including AGCSA Memberships and discounts on site visits, drone cinematography or on the full delegate registration fee for the 2019 Australasian Turf Conference in Brisbane. By partnering with the AGCSA, Syngenta aim to assist turf managers in pursuing education and technical services. For more information and to register visit www.greencast.com.au and start earning points. syngenta For Full Terms & Conditions and to view the Points Table and Reward Options visit www.greencast.com.au Syngenta Turf Rewards Program runs from 1 October 2018 to 31 March 2019. 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AGCSA Board President: Brett Balloch Directors: Chris Burgess Stephen Lewis Peter Lonergan Chief Executive Officer Mark Unwin E: mark@agcsa.com.au Events and Education Manager Simone Staples E: simone@agcsa.com.au Membership Coordinator Allison Jenkins E: admin@agcsa.com.au Accounts Philip Horsburgh E: philip@agcsa.com.au AGCSATech Bruce Macphee (Senior Agronomist) E: bruce@agcsa.com.au Tim Fankhauser (Agronomist) E: tim@agcsa.com.au AUSTRALIAN golf media ASSOCIATION Printed By Southern Colour Pty Ltd 2 Southpark Close Keysborough Vic 3173 Copyright © 2018 The AGCSA believes that material sourced and produced for Australian Turfgrass Management is accurate, but gives no warranty in relation thereto, and disclaims liability for all claims against the AGCSA, its subsidiary companies, its employees, agents or any other person which may arise from any person acting on the materials contained within. No portion, in whole or part, may be reproduced without the written permission of the AGCSA. NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 1 CONTENTS Heavy going A Melbourne Cup to remember for O’Keeffe Ultimate Test Manuka Oval gears up for international debut iQiS \_vql-Lc. CuL: aid Aust Open Metropolitan, The Lakes deliver on world stage COVER The Lakes Golf Club: The 4th hole at The Lakes Golf Club during the 2018 Emirates Australian Open. Photo: Brett Robinson. The Melbourne sandbelt is well known for the unique land upon which it resides and it certainly came to the fore at the recent ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf. Not many courses would have held up for four days of tournament golf the way that Metropolitan did after copping 75mm of rain in five days. But as ATM editor Brett Robinson writes, that wasn’t the only sto ry to come out of the tournament. The events that transpired on tournament hole 13 on Sunday morning were an even greater testament to the incredible skill, teamwork and ‘can do anything’ attitude that a golf course maintenance crew possesses in the heat of the moment. FEATURES The Lakes crew Ancers Open call 14 The Emirates Australian Open returned to The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney in November with superintendent Anthony Mills preparing the course for his second national tournament. ATM looks into preparations with the help of assistant superintendent Simon Blagg. O’Keeffe’s Cup runneth over 22 Flemington track manager Liam O’Keeffe certainly won’t forget his first Spring Carnival in charge as Mother Nature literally took the reins. Manuka set for ultimate Test 24 It is set to be one of the biggest summers of cricket in Canberra with Manuka Oval gearing up to host its first ever international Test match between Australia and Sri Lanka. Curator Brad van Dam looks at preparations for this auspicious event. Subcontinent sojourn 28 Over the past 20 years the turf management profession has taken Shaun Satterly far from his home state of Tasmania. Since 2014 he has been superintendent at the Gary Player-designed DLF Golf & Country Club in northern India. Killara breaks new ground 34 Sydney’s Killara Golf Club is undergoing a major course transformation not only in terms of its greens, tees and bunkers, but also in regards to its turf varieties. Right at Home 36 Stuart Campbell, David Hurst and Liam Scott got the opportunity of a lifetime back in July after being chosen as inaugural participants of Toro Australia’s Assistant Superintendent St Andrews Internship. TIME FOR WATER QUALITY TESTING! Let us provide you with a truly independent Ph. 03 9548 8600 Fax. 03 9548 8622 Email, bruce@agcsa.com.au tim@agcsa.com.au water quality report Send samples to ^lll^A n a I y 11 ceA^^a^n^^ c^a?^Consult ices Suite 1, Monash Corporate Centre 752 Blackburn Road Clayton 3168 Vic 2 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 COLUMNS PETER MCMAUGH hat’s in a name? 40 Australia’s turf doyen Peter McMaugh ^highlights the important difference between a turfgrass ‘trademark’ and a ‘variety’ to help turf managers sort fact from fiction abotu the grasses they purchase. GRASS-ROOTS WITH JOHN NEYLAN No dry argument 44 Agronomic expert John Neylan looks at the importance of water management planning and pays tribute to one of this country’s great superintendents and lateral thinkers. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Tournament test Kate Torgersen Metropolitan Golf 54 looks at how Club’s plantation areas stood up to the recent World Cup. COMPLIANCE AND HR Legislation and operational excellence meet reality 56 Compliance expert Terry Muir highlights a number of recent, imminent and future legislative issues that turf managers need to be across. AGCSA HR advisor Vicki Crowe also looks at some important workplace law changes. Also in this edition... Foreword Thinking Research - Thatch-mat development Regional Profile - Port Lincoln GC, SA Around the Trade Association Reports Up the last... Chris Blagg 4 50 60 66 70 78 Contributors to Australian Turfgrass Management Journal Volume 20.6 (November-December 2018) Gary Beehag; Nathan Bennett (SAGCSA); Andy Blacker (Port Lincoln GC); Chris Blagg (Globe Growing Solutions); Simon Blagg (The Lakes GC); Nathan Bradbury (NSWGCSA); Simon Bourne (GCSAWA); Spencer Cooper (NZGCSA); Vicki Crowe (PGA of Australia); Ryan Fury (Killara GC); Getty Images; Phil Hill (TGCSA); Damian Hough (SACA/Adelaide Oval); David Mason (Metropolitan GC); Peter McMaugh (Turfgrass Scientific Services); Anthony Mills (The Lakes GC); Terry Muir (epar); John Neylan (Turfgrass Consulting and Research); Liam O’Keeffe (Victoria Racing Club/Flemington); Barry Proctor (VGCSA); James Royal (Bayer); Shaun Satterly (DLF G&CC, India); STA Victoria; Kate Torgersen (Environmental Golf Solutions); Toro Australia; Mark Unwin (AGCSA); Brad van Dam (Cricket ACT/ Manuka Oval); Jim Vaughan (Turf Queensland); Jenny Zadro (Turf Australia). In the last edition I wrote about how in the lead-up to the recent ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf, Metropolitan Golf Club superintendent Dave Mason had been posting regularly on Twitter about course preparations for the tournament. In each post, which garnered plenty of attention throughout the industry, he included the hashtag ‘#winningteam’. Mason was all about engendering a real team environment for the tournament, as well as recognising the crew for their hard work in bringing a major PGA Tour event to fruition in Australia. I’ve been fortunate to cover many tournaments and major events during my time as ATM editor and seen first-hand the lengths that maintenance crews will go to get the job done. It’s an innate part of all those who work in this industry to rally around and put the shoulder to the wheel when the need arises. And no more was that on display than during the early hours on the final day of the World Cup. As you will read in this edition’s lead story, the Metropolitan tournament crew had to deal with some pretty significant dramas with two of the bunkers on tournament hole 13. It was incredible to witness over the course of a couple of hours how the crew worked together seamlessly to rectify what were some major playability issues. Despite the enormity of the task that faced them and working against the clock, no one lost their cool. They systematically worked through the problem, came up with a workable solution and went about executing it with speed and precision. At one stage I reckon the entire tournament crew, including Mason, assistants Nick Launer and James Cocker, all the volunteers, even mechanic Greg May and his son who was assisting him for the week, were either digging sand, hauling sand, scraping sand, shovelling sand, spreading sand or packing sand in order to make the bunkers playable for the groups that were literally a few holes away. It was a remarkable effort and by the time the first group made it through 13 you would never have known that just a few hours earlier there had been any issue whatsoever. It was a classic example of teamwork and good old fashioned hard work and the crew more than deserved the praise that came from all quarters following the event’s conclusion. Hats off guys! While I don’t normally like to end things on a down note, while putting this edition together it was deeply saddening to learn of the passing of two industry practitioners in the lead-up to Christmas. A contractor working at a golf club in Perth was tragically killed (authorities are still investigating at the time of writing), while in Melbourne the Riversdale Golf Club crew lost one of its own following the sudden passing of assistant superintendent Danny Adams. Adams, who came to Australia in 2010 from the UK, had become an integral part of the Riversdale team and was a member of the 2017 AGCSA Future Turf Managers’ Initiative at the Twin Waters conference. He was considered by many to be one of the next generation of course superintendents coming through and had a real passion for the industry. Tragically, Danny has left behind partner Kelly and their one-year-old son Reggie, but true to the supportive nature of this great industry it has rallied around them in their hour of need. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time. Please stay safe this festive season and thank you all again for your continued support of ATM over the past 12 months. I look forward to bringing you more great stories and articles that highlight our wonderful industry and its great people in 2019. Enjoy the read... LOOKING FOR GREENKEEPING STAFF? Advertise on the AGCSA website - the Australian turf industry’s LEADING online job resource Post your job online now at www.agcsa.com.au or email admin@agcsa.com.au NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 3 FOREWORD THINKING MARK UNWIN, AGCSA CHIEF EXECUTIVE Busy, exciting times ahead for AGCSA and wider turf industry The AGCSA has been consulting with various parties and involving the state associations on what the next 12 months may look like for the industry. We have started work on the potential to continue delivering enhanced educational and networking opportunities, advocacy for the industry and value for you as members and our trade partners. Without giving too much away and as plans are still being worked through, I am enthusiastic about the potential for the transformation of the turf management industry and motivated about our ability to deliver some compelling changes to the industry within the next 12-18 months. Some rather ambitious plans are underway... The first of these will be evident in early 2019, with the delivery of seven AGCSA National Sportsturf Education Seminars throughout March and April catering for all sectors of the industry. Toward the end of 2019, these national seminars will be replicated with more of a leadership and development approach, along with further sessions planned around industry-wide operations and environmental management. This is in addition to increased localised education activities in conjunction with each of the state associations and, of course, our flagship event the Asia Pacific Turfgrass Conference and Trade Exhibition in Brisbane which is shaping up to be a great programme. Among other developments being worked throughfornextyeararesomechangestothe industry­ leading ATM, enhancements to the membership structure and benefits programme, revisions to the educational curriculum, redevelopment of the AGCSA Accreditation Program (did someone say CTP?) and the opportunity for significant updates to the conference and exhibition. Some busy but exciting times ahead... As another year draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on the previous 12 months and reviewing the successes the association has had, along with those areas we are planning for the next 12 months and assessing our progress. OAGCSA The successes this year have been highlighted in previous editions of Australian Turfgrass Management (ATM). Among those include the launch of a new website and CRM system to streamline operations, the ‘Thank a Superintendent Week’ campaign which received a lot of very positive feedback from the industry, delivering a successful conference and trade exhibition in Wellington and, most recently, expanding the membership benefits programme. Many other successes have not been as well publicised, including activities in continuing to advocate for turf managers in the content and delivery of education standards nationally and ensuring the voice of all turf managers was heard strongly by the Fair Work Commission in opposition to proposed penalty rates and working conditions changes. The AGCSA has also been supporting the state bodies with more localised issues including advocating for infrastructure, for recycled water allocations, management and licensing requirements as well as support for environmental and facilities funding across the entire industry. All in all it adds up to a successful year by and large for the AGCSA. We have also seen, pleasingly, a much closer alignment and working relationship between the national and state associations, one which has resulted in working together for the betterment of members in a more collaborative way. I’m hoping that early in the New Year we’ll have more information about these developments and outcomes to share with members. However, the work is far from done. PROUDLY AUSTRALIAN PROUDLY INDEPENDENT OAGCSATech Analytical, Diagnostic and Consultancy Services • GOLF COURSE, SPORTSFIELD AND RACETRACK ASSESSMENTS • CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS • SOIL, PLANT AND WATER ANALYSIS • DISEASE DIAGNOSIS AND NEMATODE COUNTS • DRONE SERVICES (TURF HEALTH ASSESSMENT AND AERIAL IMAGERY) Senior agronomist - Bruce Macphee bruce@agcsa.com.au 0409183 710 Agronomist - Tim Fankhauser tim@agcsa.com.au 0422 418 038 www.agcsa.com.au/agcsatech (03) 9548 8600 4 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT Without giving too much away, I am enthusiastic about the potential for the transformation of the turf management industry and motivated about our ability to deliver some compelling changes to the industry within the next 12-18 months. PASSION PERSONIFIED The last few months have been witness to many major golf tournaments on the Australian Tour calendar, with exceptional courses laid on for local and touring professionals. The course managers and teams should be exceptionally proud of the work undertaken for these tournaments as well as all the volunteers who gave up their time to assist. At the same time, AFL and NRL finals series saw grounds teams produce terrific surfaces often in trying conditions, while turf managers in all states have made the transition from winter to summer codes which always brings about varying challenges. The work, the passion and the results delivered yet again prove why Australian turf managers are among some of the leading turf professionals in the world. Conversely to the positive news, we have seen some pretty severe weather conditions at the same time, with bushfires and floods impacting many parts of Australia. Catastrophic drought conditions in many parts of the country have put additional pressure on turf managers to produce and maintain surfaces, and summer has only just started! It’s during these times I hear many pleasing comments from our members - in offers of support, assistance, advice and help whenever it’s needed to their fellow turf professionals. This is one element of the industry that cannot be understated - the willingness to help and assist fellow turf managers in need which is a testament to the great industry we work in and to the calibre of its people. Lastly, and on a personal note, I would like to take this opportunity to pass on my thanks to you - our members - for your continued support throughout the year, to the staff at the AGCSA for their continued hard work, diligence and patience (with me at times!) over the past year and also a heart-felt thank you to each and every one of our invaluable trade partners and industry sponsors. What we do wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the continued support you provide ourselves and all turf managers. On behalf of the AGCSA board and staff I wish you and your families all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year. OAGCSA Australian Golf Course Superintendents’ Association PREMIUM PARTNERS The AGCSA is indebted to the support of the following premium partner companies J PLATINUM AGCSA PLATINUM SPONSOR Angrow TORO J GOLD AGCSA JACOBSEN & NUTURF A Textron Company specialists providing solutions rmn^bird syngenta J SILVER ■ EQUIPMENT SOLUTIONS l/Vor/d leading technologies and design. qlobe John Deere The AGCSA encourages all members to support these companies who support your association NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 5 TOURNAMENTS Despite receiving 75mm of rain during the ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf, The Metropolitan Golf Club held up its reputation as one of Australia’s best conditioned courses Standing on the 18th green at The Metropolitan Golf Club, a somewhat tired and relieved looking superintendent Dave Mason, dressed in his Sunday best, watches on as Team Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry are handed the 2018 ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf trophy. Heading into the final round with a seemingly insurmountable five shot advantage, the Belgians manage to stave off a spirited late charge from Aussies Marc Leishman and Cam Smith who light up the hometown crowd with a second consecutive round of 65. There is good reason why Mason appears a little weary. While Team Australia had done its utmost to create some final round drama, a few hours earlier Mason and his tournament crew were in the midst of their own. If truth be told, they had been up against it all week, especially with more than three inches of rain falling on the course over five days. All bar the q Ln ( 1 The Melbourne sandbelt is well known for the unique land upon which it resides and it certainly came to the fore at the recent ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf. Not many courses would have held up for four days of tournament golf the way The Metropolitan Golf Club did after copping 75mm of rain in five days. But as ATM editor Brett Robinson writes, the weather wasn’t the only adversity the tournament crew had to overcome. 6 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 kitchen sink had seemingly already been hurled at them, but as they went about their preparations one last time ahead of the final round on Sunday, there was one more twist left in the tournament tale. UNLUCKY FOR SOME If Mason wasn’t a superstitious man beforehand, then chances are he probably will be now after the events that transpired on tournament hole 13 (Metropolitan’s normal 12th) in the lead up to and during the World Cup. It all began late on the Sunday before the tournament when volunteer Simon Grieve, across from Glenelg Golf Club in Adelaide, noticed water bubbling up through the base of the right hand greenside bunker. A few weeks earlier the bunker had needed some minor drainage repairs following a 38mm dump on Melbourne Cup day, but since then no further issues had presented. Heading out to investigate, Mason would soon find himself on an excavator digging a 15-metre- long trench (next to a 200mm irrigation mainline) to try and locate where the water was coming from, and more importantly, to figure out where it was to go. He finds pipes no problems - five of them in fact - but they’re not the ones he wanted. With water still coming, at 7pm Mason makes the call to dig a hole in the middle of the bunker and start pumping. With no pits nearby, staff pump water into 10OO-litre shuttles, but as fast as they can pump the hole keeps filling up. Finally, 12,000-plus litres later, the flow finally abates. Still shaking his head at what he has just witnessed, Mason gets on the phone to local shaper Ron Nyhuis of Classic Links to see if he can come in the next morning. Despite scheduled to be doing some work across town at Green Acres Golf Club, come 6am Monday Nyhuis is on the 13th and firing up the excavator. Metropolitan course superintendent Dave Mason addresses the crew NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 7 TOURNAMENTS Above: Simon McDaniel (left) and Simon Grieve (Glenelg GC) remove surface water on the 17th Top right: Metropolitan’s Mitch Mahoney on the edge Foreman Andrew Anderson stimps tournament 13. Green speeds were between 12’ and 13’ Peter Ireton cuts tournament 12 ahead of the final round. Greens were cut at 2.4mm Throughout the course of the day he and the crew shell the bunker out before capping the inlet and outlet pipes with clay. A 2m deep hole is dug in the centre of the bunker and a 350mm stormwater pipe with slits in the side is placed inside the hole and gravel packed around it, effectively creating a makeshift sump. A lid is placed on top and the whole thing is buried under 400mm of sand. The idea behind it was pretty simple - water collects in the sump and all that staff need to do is dig out the sand, pull the lid off, drop a bunker pump in and remove the water. Sure, it’s a stop-gap measure, but one which should get them through the tournament, after which time they can look more in-depth into what has caused the problem. Come Tuesday morning the bunker is back in play and there is little sign that it has effectively been rebuilt inside of 24 hours. Then comes the rain - all 75mm it. Tuesday 38mm, Wednesday 12mm, Friday 15mm, Saturday night/Sunday morning 10mm. Throughout the week, the crew religiously check the bunker to see how it is holding up, digging up the sand, popping the lid and pumping out any water. Up until the final round the temporary fix has worked a treat, but with such a large amount of rain things literally reached saturation point. As soon as the crew start pumping out the sump for what they think is the last time, they can only watch on in shocked disbelief as the front edge of the bunker starts caving in. ALL HANDS TO THE PUMP By 9.30am and with the first group literally 25 minutes away from teeing off in the final round, eight members of the Metropolitan crew are working feverishly at rectifying the growing situation. Among them is David Johnston, working his last day as part of the Metropolitan crew, who with bunker pump in hand is knee-deep in the hole that has opened up under the front lip. Around him are Scott Allott, Grieve and fellow Adelaide volunteer Cody Tucker all armed with shovels digging out sand and gravel. Sam Fleming runs back and forth ensuring the hoses and connectors through which the water is being pumped into the nearby rough don’t spring any leaks, while Portsea Golf Club superintendent Chris Rogers mans the throttle on the bunker pump in between shovelling. Metropolitan assistants Nick Launer and James Cocker, who have been on course set up all morning, arrive and survey the scene, reporting back to Mason. As Mason arrives shortly after, another situation starts presenting. The far left hand side fairway bunker some 100m back towards the tee is also holding water and with it in play off the tee a solution is needed quickly to ensure its playable. With Johnston and co continuing to beaver away on the greenside bunker, and starting to slowly win the battle, attention turns to the 200- plus square metre fairway bunker. Surface water is channelled into a hole and pumped out. Within minutes more crew arrive with shovels and boards and they set about scraping off the top two inches of sodden sand and dumping it into the back of three utilities. Mason jumps on a bunker rake and starts smoothing out the base as two tractors arrive towing trailers fully laden with topdressing sand. By now there are now nearly 20 crew members in the fairway bunker scraping wet sand off, shovelling fresh sand off the trailers and spreading it across the CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 8 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 Cover more ground with theTR Series. Built to tackle hard-to-reach areas, the TR Series pairs superior slope capabilities and maneuverability with the unique ability to cut every blade of grass before driving over it. The TR330's AdaptiShift technology allows operators to effortlessly shift all three cutting reels to either side of the machine, creating up to 18-inches of offset. This eliminates the characteristics of the tyres to continually run in the same track pattern. The TR Series' versatility enables you to cover more ground while maximizing Jacobsen's legendary quality of cut. To find more information and to book a demonstration, please contact your local dealer. www.jacobsen.com OFFICIAL SUPPLIER 2018 RYDER CUP © 2018 Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc. TOURNAMENTS The Metropolitan fairway crew cut tournament 11 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 Volunteer Cody Tucker (Royal Adelaide) rolls the 18th green. Pedestrian rollers were used floor. Remarkably, by 11am, some 10 tonnes have been placed. All that is left is to prep the bunker as per normal - base raked, faces broomed - and aside from the difference in colour of the sand, there’s little to indicate its previous state. Up on the greenside bunker it’s a similar situation. With the water finally abating, so begins the process of packing the hole back up with native sand and reinforcing the face with geofabric material so that it doesn’t slump. With the hole repaired, fresh sand is placed back over the top, the bunker prepped and ready for play. Again, to the untrained eye you would not even know anything was wrong. All in a morning’s work for the crew at Metropolitan... TEAMWORK Now, it may seem a little unfair that the above episode has been singled out above all the other work that the Metropolitan crew undertook to get the course ready for the World Cup, but it serves to highlight a couple of salient points. The first is the innate collective skill of a course maintenance crew to deal with almost anything that is thrown their way and come up with a workable solution. And second, it demonstrates their ability to pull together as a team in a time of need or when under pressure and to execute as one clinically and proficiently. The teamwork demonstrated throughout World Cup week, from handling the above situation through to the presentation of the course ahead of each round, can only be marvelled at. It was a bloody trying week for the 40-strong crew that Mason had at his disposal and they deserved every ounce of credit that came their way. Sure, the greens may not have quite reached the level of firmness that Mason had hoped to produce due to all the rain, but on the flipside not many courses would have been able to stand up to that amount of rain and remain playable. The way the course held up certainly wasn’t lost on the players either, with the likes of 2018 Emirates Australian Open victor Abraham Ancer and Belgium’s Thomas Detry marvelling during their post-second round press conferences at how well Metropolitan absorbed effectively a month’s worth of rain. “It was certainly a difficult week but the course held up really well,” reflects Mason, who has been Metropolitan superintendent since August 2015. “With all the rain we had, the greens performed really well and by the Sunday they started to get more to where we hoped they would be. What was most pleasing was that the PGA Tour didn’t need to stop play at any stage. Speaking with PGA Tour agronomist Cal Roth, who was with us for two weeks during the tournament, he hadn’t quite experienced tournament conditions like this before. “I can’t credit the crew enough for the way they handled the week. The weather is out of our control so you just have to do whatever you can to get through and get things done. The blood pressure was certainly up on the Sunday morning when we had those bunker issues, but the way the crew stepped up when it mattered was unbelievable. Everyone stayed calm and took it all in their stride. 10 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEME “It’s not often that a PGA Tour event comes to Australia and I really wanted the guys to enjoy the week. Obviously the weather didn’t quite come to the party, but it was great seeing the enthusiasm of the guys during the week and taking pride in what they were presenting. I remember standing on the 18th green after the first round with (assistants) Nick and James and shaking their hand and saying congratulations on a job well done. Sure we still had three rounds to go, but I knew the amount of work they and the crew had already put in just to get the course to that point.” While Mason had his challenges during tournament week, there were also a few in the lead up as well. Not surprisingly, it was again due to the weather. “We really didn’t get much hot weather in the lead-up,” explains Mason. “We probably had just two or three days over 30 in November which meant our soil temperatures weren’t as high and it was hard to get the couch moving. We actually only started cutting the fairways full-time from about 10 days out from the tournament. “With the fairways we had to lift the heights of cut from 6mm to 8.5mm because we started to get some scalping. Despite throwing fertiliser on those areas to get them back up, they just didn’t respond, hence why we lifted the heights. That was a little frustrating, but the fairways, which we are known for, still presented very well. “The greens pretty much looked after themselves. We had some warm weather the week before the tournament but the guys were all over it and made sure they got through okay. They know which areas to jump on. In saying that, we went in with a lot more grass on them and we managed them a little differently to what we would normally because of the tournament. Like the fairways we didn’t have much growth on the greens and up until two weeks before the tournament we were still only cutting them three times a week.” HELPING HANDS Despite all the challenges and the stiff hand dealt by Mother Nature, few could fault the presentation of Metropolitan which has long been revered for being one of Australia’s best conditioned golf courses. Assisting the crew in delivering that during advance and tournament weeks were a total of 20 volunteers. Twelve arrived at the course at the start of advance week, with a further eight joining the team for tournament week to take the total crew to 40. In addition to Grieve and Rogers who were mentioned earlier, superintendent Paul Irvine made the trip down from Howlong Golf Club, while Vince Demarzo, a seasonal member of The Lakes crew in Sydney, backed up after the 2018 Emirates Australian Open the week before. As well as the course volunteers, a contingent of more than 20 were rostered on across the four days to rake bunkers for each group. Among those manning the much talked about rakes were Adelaide-based superintendents Nathan Bennett (Royal Adelaide GC) and Tim Warren (Glenelg GC), Barwon Valley Golf Club superintendent Colin Foster, The National’s Mark Holmes, epar’s Nathan Tovey and a healthy contingent from Thirteenth Beach Golf Links. Also riding shotgun for the two weeks was Roth who has presided over more than 140 tournaments in a 35-year career with the PGA Tour. Roth, who is about to retire from his role, was hugely impressed with the way the course presented and the manner in which the crew responded to the varying challenges over the week. “Cal was fantastic,” says Mason. “I think he was blown away by how well the course handled the weather, the whole green surface to the bunker edge look, how firm the bunker faces were and the overall turf quality. Most of all I think he was impressed by the crew and the way they conducted themselves. “It was really good to work closely with him. Each morning we drove hole by hole and walked each green and just discussed things. It was great having someone like-minded and passionate who you can seek advice from, bounce ideas off and learn about the ins and outs of hosting a PGA Tour event. Despite battling the weather all week, the bunker crew did a phenomenal job in presenting Metropolitan’s famed hazards Cameron McColl does laps on the 18th fairway Metropolitan assistant James Cocker changes the hole on 14 ahead of the final round ► NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 11 TOURNAMENTS One of two Canadian seasonais from Capilano G&CC on the Metropolitan crew for the World Cup, Kevin Williams cuts the green on tournament 13 “He understood that I wanted to get some firmness and speed in the greens which was difficult given the weather we experienced. The one thing I did love was the way the PGA Tour pushed the boundaries with some of the pin placements. They used some areas on the greens that we don’t normally use. “It was a tremendous experience working alongside the PGA Tour. They really are such a well-oiled machine. What blows me away is that this is happening all over the world literally every week. The amount of work that is involved and the energy that goes into hosting these sorts of events is quite something. It’s the pinnacle of your job and the opportunity to work alongside the likes of Cal and the rules officials was a lot of fun and we built some great relationships.” Roth visited the course earlier in the year and spent a couple of days with Mason going around the course and getting a handle on some of the very different management practices employed on the Melbourne sandbelt. Any changes that Mason and the team wanted to make had to be run past Roth, among them switching the type of bunker rakes used and Mason’s desire to roll tees - yes tees! “From the get go we talked about how we were going to prepare the bunkers for the tournament,” says Mason. “We went out and set up the bunkers with the different raking options and decided to go with a Jost landscape rake over the standard Accuform rake. The Jost rakes worked really well especially in the wet conditions and helped to stir the sand up. We did have to go through Cal to get the okay, but he was more than happy to go with it. “We also rolled the tournament tees which certainly raised a few eyebrows, especially among the players. Again, we had to get the all clear from the PGA. It was a bit left of centre I’ll admit, but there was some method to the madness. “It all came about because we were rolling some areas in the couch surrounds to try and get the puffiness out of them. I thought the same approach could be taken with the tournament tees to get them nice and smooth. We ended up doing it for a few weeks and it brought them up beautifully. We also weren’t divotting tees as I didn’t want that sand look, so the rolling helped compress the surface. A few of the players were certainly surprised. Matt Kuchar was out playing and saw us rolling the tees, so took his putter out on one of them and had a putt!” Superintendent volunteer Chris Rogers (Portsea GC) plugs out pitch marks on tournament 4 green The wonderful vista looking from behind the 3rd green Tournament 7 (Metropolitan’s usual par five 6th) during a rare moment of sunshine 12 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 John Deere GOLF Celebrating the John Deere 2018 Trans-Tasman Team Championships Hosted by the Maroochy River Golf Course on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, the two-day event took place in near perfect weather conditions. Congratulations to the winning team from Akarana Golf Club closely followed by Royal Freemantle Golf Club in second place and Nudgee Golf Club in third! Our thanks go to the team at Maroochy River Golf Club and all the participants for your support. Interested in taking part in future John Deere golf events? Speak to your local John Deere Golf dealer for more information. OFFICIAL GOLF COURSE EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER The Lakes 4th hole ahead of the third round of the 2018 Emirates Australian Open nthony Mills has experienced plenty during his 25 years in the golf course management industry. He’s seen Mother Nature at her worst, waged ongoing battles against nematodes and dealt with the numerous agronomic and management curveballs that invariably get thrown a course superintendent’s way. But nothing could quite prepare him for what transpired in the lead-up to the recent 2018 Emirates Australian Open. With course preparations having ticked along nicely and the hard work already done, on the Saturday before the tournament a cohort of 32 course volunteers arrived at The Lakes Golf Club maintenance facility. Their arrival saw The Lakes crew swell to 55 for the approaching week and after being inducted and assigned their tasks were all sent out onto the course to get familiar with one another. The following morning, at 5am, the crew went through their tournament paces for the first time to ensure run times were spot on for the week ahead. Aside from a couple of tweaks here and there, all was pretty good. Then, out of the blue, it started... One by one, staff and volunteers alike started dropping like flies. Over the course of the next five days a mysterious virus would rip through nearly a third of the crew. It struck quickly and violently in most cases and without going into graphic detail some of those affected often had to heed the call of nature while in the midst of their on-course preparations. At its worst, a number couldn’t even make it in for their shift. With more than 15 struck down at varying 5ydney.COm The Lakes tournament crew celebrates with 2018 Emirates Australian Open victor Abraham Ancer from Mexico N O S N B O R I T T E R B : S O T O H P 14 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 stages up until Friday’s second round, it created a bit of a logistical headache for Mills and his two assistants Simon Blagg and Aaron Taylor. “It wasn’t the most pleasant of memories I’ll take away from the Open, but it was certainly a standout one,” laughs Mills, whose, thankfully, cast iron constitution somehow saw him escape the contagion. “It was pretty ugly and didn’t discriminate between The Lakes staff and the volunteers. Luckily it was just a 24-hour thing and most of the guys were okay the next day, but it certainly knocked the guys around. It caused a bit of reshuffling with tasks, but we just prioritised things and pulled some guys away from their rostered jobs to plug any gaps.” Despite having to deal with that unexpected outbreak, The Lakes tournament crew soldiered on throughout the week and again produced a course that was befitting an Australian Open. Mexican PGA Tour player Abraham Ancer certainly appreciated their efforts and his five shot winning margin will go down as one of the biggest in the event’s history. His victory was a fitting finish for Mills, who was quick to praise the efforts of his team across the week. “I was really grateful for the efforts of the staff and the volunteers who really made the week,” says Mills. “Without the volunteers you can’t prepare the course to such a high level and in such a short space of time each day. It took 55 people to get this place ready before the start of each round and we could not have done that without the volunteers. It was great that they were able to give up their time to help us out. That was my highlight for the week. Graeme Wallis roils the 1st green ahead of the final round. Rollers were only brought out for the final two rounds The Lakes crew Ancers Open call For the seventh time in its history, The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney hosted the 2018 Emirates Australian Open. ATM editor Brett Robinson looks back on the 103rd staging of the tournament, the second national Open for host superintendent Anthony Mills. ■ \ . ■ ■■ ■ NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 15 . SO TOURNAMENTS Volunteers Nathan Bradbury and Taylor Wills set the final pin on 18 ahead of the final round The Lakes superintendent Anthony Mills wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty (or feet wet) then if I was stressed or nervous, but to be honest I didn’t really have time to think about it - it was all go, go, go, things had to be done. “Obviously, this time I had a lot more influence on the condition of the golf course to be able to present it in the best manner possible. I was able to plan from a lot further out and have detailed programmes in place, with various checkpoints along the way so we knew where we needed to be. That was a luxury I didn’t have in 2012. “Tournaments go very quickly and I don’t recall much of the last one. In fact, I don’t recall much of this one! But what I don’t think I realised back in 2012 was just how much of an effort goes into producing one of these. Because I wasn’t involved in the full programming last time, I didn’t appreciate how big a task it is and all the work that goes on in the months leading up.” To help him achieve a better product this time around, Mills has slowly and judiciously tweaked the way he manages course during his six-year tenure as superintendent. As he quickly attests, The Lakes presents multiple management challenges, both in terms of agronomics and labour. In regards to the former, The Lakes is in a constant state of battle with the likes of nematodes and wintergrass, while the huge sandy waste areas (The Lakes has some 8ha of exposed sand) takes a huge amount of time and product to keep on top of. The nematode and wintergrass issues are a classic Catch 22 situation for Mills. Everything he does to get on top of one seemingly has a negative impact on the other. With nematodes you’ve got to keep everything fresh, fertilised and happy, but in order to keep wintergrass out you need to keep the turf lean, dry and hungry. Mills has managed to walk that fine line to date to present acceptable playing surfaces, but admits it’s a constant balancing act. “It certainly keeps you on your toes this place,” says Mills. “I haven’t made any massive changes since being here. It’s more about constantly tweaking our practices and evolving them depending on how we go each year. One area we certainly manage a lot better now is the use of wetting agents. We go CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 “I was also really impressed with the way The Lakes guys stepped up. Even if we had a 4am start, the guys were in here 45 minutes beforehand getting machines out and making sure they were ready to go when everyone came in. And we didn’t have to ask the guys to do that, they just stepped up. Assistants Simon and Aaron were brilliant all week as well and in the many months leading up.” SECOND BITE While it was The Lakes’ seventh occasion hosting the Open, November’s tournament was just Mills’ second in charge. His first came about in rather rushed circumstances just a few months after he arrived at the eastern suburbs club in 2012. Ask him about that year’s Open, won by Peter Senior after a final round weather delay, and Mills honestly doesn’t recall much. Having joined The Lakes initially as assistant superintendent that June, just three weeks later he was thrust into the superintendent’s role. It proved to be a whirlwind few months to get the course up for that tournament and it went by in a flash. The goal this time around was to present something better, which Mills definitely thinks they did. “That last tournament was very different to this one,” reflects Mills. “I effectively inherited the golf course a few months out from the 2012 tournament and didn’t have much of a say in terms of planning for it longer term. A lot of people asked me back Vince Demarzo and Jordan Thompson (Royal Canberra) cut the 17th green ahead of the third round 16 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT Connecting Soil and Water • 100% Australian Made • Formulated for local conditions • Backed by independent data hydrolink -'rapid globe •e •* hydrolink ^profile globe hydrolink ^^retairV globe hydrolink -'advance globe globe ^^CDn\A/IMC QCll I 11 GROWING SOLUTIONS Your professional partner for turf and urban horticultural solutions globegrowingsolutions.com.au TOURNAMENTS Brendan Eccles and Matthew Walker cut the approach to the 2nd. Walker (right) came down from Yaralla Sports Club in Gladstone to volunteer at the Open The Lakes’ funky and unforgiving short par four 13th CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 through a lot here being on sand, but by shortening the application window and adding a penetrant to our irrigation system we have found the turf stands up a lot better, and it showed during the tournament. “Nematodes are still our biggest issue though. The numbers are as high as they have ever been, but we are managing to keep a much better surface now. We still have Sting nematode numbers of over 1000 per 200g of soil on some greens - our highest at one point was 1400. The turf still falls apart and just peels back, but not as much as it once did. “We don’t use nematicides on the kikuyu anymore. Any of the budget that went into chemical control now goes into extra applications of wetting agents and products such as kelps to keep moisture in those areas. Even though the nematode numbers aren’t lower, the turf surfaces are much healthier.” DIALLING IN As Mills alluded to earlier, a structured programme of works was implemented a long way out to get The Lakes dialled in for the 2018 Open. Starting as far back as last year (as mentioned in the last edition of ATM - Volume 20.5), The Lakes undertook a major 18 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 reconstruction of its practice facilities over two stages, with the last stage completed in April 2018. Heading into this past winter a number of projects were also earmarked, the biggest of which was the renovation of the fescue bunker surrounds (see Vol 20.5 for more on this as well). In addition to that, ‘one-percenter’ jobs such as re-levelling sprinklers, removing kikuyu runners from greens surrounds, re-turfing tee surrounds, reshaping sandy wastes, re-painting cart bridges, repairing pathways, under-pruning trees and roping off trafficked areas on fairways were also completed during winter. After giving the A4 greens a light renovation with 5mm hollow tines in late July, spring renovations occurred in late September. The kikuyu fairways were double scarified before being cored with 25mm hollow tines. The greens were cored with 10mm hollow tines, with the holes hosed out, greens rolled, then heavily topdressed and amendments applied. Greens surrounds were cored with 5/8” hollow tines. Tees were scarified and cored with half-inch hollow tines, followed by a heavy topdress and applications of Dolomite and an upfront granular fertiliser. Post renovations, the crew completed regular chemical applications of bifenthrin and imidacloprid insecticides, as well as wetting agents, on the fairways and surrounds. In the week following renovations The Lakes received more than 65mm of rain which, while timely, did affect some spraying schedules. Temperatures also remained cool for quite some time which did little to assist the warm­ season grasses bouncing back after renovations. As it transpired, The Lakes would go on to record more than 160mm for the month of October. After receiving a heap of attention over the winter, the bunkers also became a focus again about a month out from the tournament, this time with the trimming of the kikuyu edges. Walk-in and entry points were the focus as well as shifting sand around with a Sand Pro to ensure the bases were flat and uniform. The last of the turf from the club’s fescue nursery (which was used to house tournament infrastructure) was also harvested at the same time and used to patch out areas that didn’t come back as strongly from the winter works. On Saturday 21 October, a storm ripped through the course, dumping 25mm in 30 minutes, with a lightning strike taking out the Toro irrigation central control computer as well as a number of decoders. Despite getting a replacement quickly, it wasn’t until the following Thursday that the system was back up. Despite that slight hiccup, preparations continued as normal, including verticutting greens (one direction) and dusting with around 20 tonnes of a 90/10 USGA construction sand (hand-broomed in). A few days later the greens were Sprayhawked with a liquid nitrogen/iron fertiliser (15%N, 6%Fe, 2%Mn) to assist with colour and also received a preventative fungicide for brown patch. CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 2018 EMIRATES AUSTRALIAN OPEN - TOURNAMENT WEEK PREPARATIONS MONDAY 12 NOV First full practice round for 2018 Emirates Australian Open field. Greens rolled and hand watered. Holes cut in centre of greens. Applications of liquid calcium and growth regulator made to the A4 bentgrass greens. Fescue bunker surrounds and kikuyu entry points whipper-snipped, with full rake of bunkers and rakes positioned on the outside of bunkers for tournament week. Full cut on the kikuyu fairways, surrounds, Santa Ana tees and driving range tee and fairway. Practice holes changed. Afternoon run sees pitch marks repaired, greens hand watered and ongoing weed removal in sandy wastes and alligator weed from the 13th pond. • Afternoon: Pitch marks repaired on greens and surrounds cleaned using backpack blowers. Full divot on fairways, tees cleaned and divotted, driving range divotted, fairways blown off. Greens moisture checked and fescue surrounds watered. FRIDAY 16 NOV Round 2, crew in at 4am for 6.45am two-tee start. • Morning: Greens double cut (up and back on the same line), stimping 10.1 feet, holes cut in Round 2 positions. Tee markers set by Golf Australia. Full cut on fairways, surrounds, tees, driving range tee and fairway. Bunkers full rake. • Afternoon: Greens surrounds cut. Pitch marks repaired on greens and surrounds cleaned using backpack blowers. Full divot on fairways, tees cleaned and divotted, driving range divotted, fairways blown off. Greens moisture checked and fescue surrounds watered. Bunkers hand watered to firm sand up. Cut made at +2. TUESDAY 13 NOV Second practice round, crew in at 5am. Single cut on greens (2.9mm all week), collars cut, full cut on fairways (10mm), surrounds (10mm) and tees (10mm) and driving range tee and fairway. Australian Open flags put out on course, practice holes changed. Greens hand watered. Weaker areas on fairways sprayed with wetting agent and kelp. Full rake in bunkers. Sponsor boards on tees whipper-snipped, sandy wastes cleaned of debris, weeded and raked. 13th pond cleaned. Greens cut again in afternoon using brush attachments on front of the Flex 21s. WEDNESDAY 14 NOV Pro-Am day with crew in at 3.30am for 7am and 12.30pm double shotgun. • Morning: Single cut on greens, full cut on fairways, surrounds and tees, driving range tee and fairway. Greens hand watered. Holes cut in specific positions, practice holes changed. Tee markers set up by Golf Australia. Full rake on bunkers. Morning run takes 2.5 hours to get the course fully cut and set up. • Afternoon: Full divot on fairways and debris blown away. Tees cleaned and divotted. Greens hand watered and pitch marks repaired. Bunkers blown out and walls broomed. THURSDAY 15 NOV Opening round of the 2018 Emirates Australian Open with crew in at 4.30am for 6.45am two-tee start. • Morning: Greens double cut (up and back on the same line), stimping 10.1 feet, collars cut, holes cut in Round 1 positions. Practice holes changed. Tee markers set by Golf Australia. Full cut on fairways, surrounds and tees, driving range tee and fairway. Bunkers full rake. After the morning run, a tree branch comes down at the main entrance with staff cutting up and removing. SATURDAY 17 NOV Round 3, crew in at 4am for 6.45am single-tee start. • Morning: Greens single cut and rolled, stimping 10.10. Holes cut in Round 3 positions, practice holes changed, tee markers set by Golf Australia. Full cut on fairways, surrounds and tees, driving range tee and fairway. Bunkers full rake. • Afternoon: Greens surrounds cut. Pitch marks repaired on greens and surrounds cleaned using backpack blowers. Full divot on fairways, tees cleaned and divotted, driving range divotted, fairways blown off. Greens moisture checked and fescue surrounds watered. SUNDAY 18 NOV Final round, crew in 4am for 6.45am single-tee start. • Morning: Greens single cut and rolled, stimping 11 feet. Holes cut in Round 4 positions, practice holes changed, tee markers set by Golf Australia. Full cut on fairways, surrounds and tees, driving range tee and fairway cut. Bunkers full rake. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Lakes Golf Club maintenance crew wish to thank all the volunteers, sponsors and golf clubs who assisted during the 2018 Emirates Australian Open. Special thanks to the following companies and golf clubs: • Companies: Nuturf, Toro, Living Turf, Syngenta (breakfasts), Bayer (evening dinners on two days), Colin Campbell Chemicals (fruit), JT Turf. • Golf clubs: Killara Golf Club (superintendent Ryan Fury) and New South Wales GC (superintendent Mark Parker) for each lending a Toro 5510 fairway mower. Charlestown GC volunteer Liam Way cuts the 6th fairway with Steve Maraca in the background Ben Williams was one of five international volunteers to fly in specially to work at the Open. He is pictured here rolling the 6th green Royal Canberra volunteer Brad Lingard lines up the flag on the 9th TOURNAMENTS Divotting and levelling the driving range tee CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18 With around three weeks remaining, applications continued to be made on all surfaces with fertiliser and plant growth regulator applied to fairways and green surrounds on 29 October, as well as wetting agents. On 1 November the greens were given their final dusting before the tournament with 20 tonnes of dusting sand, again broomed in by hand. The Lakes experienced its first real hot day (38°C) of the season on 2 November which meant the hoses were out in force for the first time. An application of a preventative fungicide (for pythium), larvaecide (for stem weevil) and wetting agent (tank mix) was also made, while tee tops were given an application of fertiliser, growth regulator and miticide. Incidentally, all applications on greens and tees at this point were being made using pedestrian sprayers for more accurate application, cleaner finish and easier manoeuvrability due to advertising hoardings. With Advance Week arriving (5-11 November), Open preparations continued to go up a notch and included the following; • 5 Nov: A Barracuda sand-sieving machine was used to tidy up the sandy waste areas on holes 4, 5 and 18. The machine, which sieves the top 30mm, removed nearly two tonnes of stone and rock. 6-8 Nov: Greens given a preventive spray for brown patch. All fescue areas were given a foliar feed (iron) to darken them up and enhance the contrast between the kikuyu fairways and bentgrass greens complexes. Bunkers were weeded, faces broomed and raking patterns finalised. 8 Nov: After 160mm in October, the course received 23mm of rain on the Wednesday evening which, after the heat and humidity of the previous week, helped to freshen the course up. The greens were cut with a brush attachment on the front of the Toro Flex 21s. Greens at this stage were still only being single cut with a perimeter cut skipped every other day. The Lakes assistant superintendent Simon Blagg makes a final sweep of the 14th green James Bonser (left) and ian Howell cut the 17th runway tee 20 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 • 10 Nov: With the course closed, the last application of growth regulator and fertiliser to fairways and surrounds was made. Perimeter ropes erected around all playing surfaces and existing course fixtures and furniture removed. That Saturday (10 November) also saw the arrival of the 32 course volunteers for the tournament. A total of 25 clubs from around Australia and overseas were represented with the likes of superintendents Nathan Bradbury (Eastlakes GO), Adam McMahon (Longyard GC) and Ian Elphick (Gunnedah GC) heading the list of those putting their hand up to assist. Also among the volunteers was Pennant Hills apprentice greenkeeper Jack Parker, son of the legendary former SCG curator Tom Parker. Five internationals also journeyed to Sydney especially for the Open - Ben Williams (first assistant at Royal Cinque Ports GC, UK), Martin O’Reilly (from Ireland - most recently at Le Golf National, France), Ben Goodchild (Northwood GC, UK), Alex Wilson (from England - most recently at St Norn La Breteche, France) and Ross Robertson (Jacks Point, NZ). Robertson had previously volunteered at the 2016 Open at Royal Sydney Golf Club, while O’Reilly and Wilson were both part of the course team to prepare Le Golf National for the 2018 Ryder Cup. Wilson arrived having made the dash from Turkey the previous week where he had volunteered at the European Tour’s 2018 Turkish Airlines Open. With all volunteers on deck, the crew was in early on 11 November for their first full run to get tournament week timings right. After a few tweaks it was then full ball into the main event (see page 19 for more on tournament week preparations) with Mills very satisfied with the final product on display. “Overall I was very happy with the playing surfaces,” says Mills. “We had a very slow start to October and there was a point there where we had 17 days of straight rain, cool temperatures and little sunlight. We renovated the tees last and they just sat there under sand for the first three weeks of October and I was definitely starting to panic there at one stage. I was a little worried about the tee tops, but all the other surfaces were pretty good. “We did a mountain of work in the months leading up and the biggest of those was renovating and reseeding the fescue bunker surrounds. It was a massive job considering the bunkers we have here. We fight it year in, year out, but this year we decided to start from scratch again in a lot of places that were overgrown. It was six months in the making and we had some doubters who didn’t think we could get it up in time, but the boys stepped up to the challenge and we made it. I think the fescue made the place to be honest and gave some wonderful contrast to the kikuyu surfaces. It was phenomenal.” Editor’s Note: For a full rundown of tournament preparations, read the comprehensive updates compiled by The Lakes assistant superintendent Simon Blagg, with the assistance of ATM editor Brett Robinson, located on the AGCSA website. Waldo Miticide Active Constituent: 500 g/L diafenthiuron 1 Don't gamble with Mite Control this season Take the safe bet, Waldo Miticide "Innovative & Professional Turf Products" www.turfculture.com.au RACING N O S N B O R I T T E R B : S D R O W . S E G A M I / Y T T E G Y E N O O R I N N U Q : O T O H P Flemington track manager Liam O’Keeffe certainly won’t forget his first Spring Carnival in charge at VRC ‘headquarters’. Above: All in a day’s work for Flemington track manager Liam O’Keeffe. O’Keeffe grabs the reins of Galaxy Raider after it fell in Race 9 on Melbourne Cup day. Both horse and jockey Jordan Childs were uninjured 22 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT O’Keeffe’s Cup . runneth over The wedding suit was a write-off. Watching Race 9 next to the Clocktower on what had already been an eventful 2018 Melbourne Cup day, Flemington senior track manager Liam O’Keeffe could do little but watch on in shock as gelding Galaxy Raider clipped the heels of the horse in front with 150 metres to the finishing post and went down hard. The role of a track manager is all encompassing on race day and while getting the track up to the required standard is first and foremost, the welfare of horse and jockey is also of equal importance. So it was on instinct that O’Keeffe leapt over the fence and sprinted the 10m onto the track to grab hold of Galaxy Raider by the reins before it could do itself or jockey Jordan Childs, who was curled up in a ball on the track, any further damage. Thankfully both horse and rider escaped without injury, but the same couldn’t be said of O’Keeffe’s suit! “It happened right in front of me so I ran straight out to secure the horse and make sure he didn’t get up and injure Jordan,” recounts O’Keeffe. “The horse actually stood on my foot and I fell over, but luckily I didn’t let go of the reins and was able to get them back up over its head and captured him. I tore my wedding suit in the process so needless to say my wife Hanna wasn’t too happy! “It was just one of those things. You have to be ready for anything on race day - I was there on the spot and it’s something that anyone else in my role would have done. It’s part of our job. Thank goodness both rider and horse were okay. I’ve never caught a loose horse before because there are far better horsemen than me who work on the track. As for the suit, I had to turf the pants, but I hit up Peter Jackson for a new suit on a radio interview afterwards!” HEAVY GOING It was certainly a Melbourne Cup O’Keeffe won’t forget in a hurry, his first in charge since being promoted in March of this year. In addition to Galaxy Raider’s fall, there was the tragedy surrounding the breaking down of Cliffsofmoher during the Cup, but from a track management perspective it was Melbourne’s fickle weather which conspired to give O’Keeffe the most headaches. Up until the morning of the Cup, the Spring Carnival had gotten off to a great start. Derby Day on Saturday had run without incident, with the track starting out at a Good 4 rating before being upgraded to a Good 3. The track pulled up well and staff put the rail out to 2m from its ‘true’ position in readiness for the Cup. In the weeks leading up to the Spring Carnival it had been warm and dry and in the week before Derby Day O’Keeffe had chucked out 34mm of irrigation across the Course Proper, a lot for that time of year. The Bureau of Meteorology had forecast rain for the Monday and Tuesday (Cup day) so after Derby Day had concluded O’Keeffe gave the course a light drink to keep it ticking along. Come Monday, the forecast for rain had been pushed back, so O’Keeffe put out 5mm that night to ensure the track was at the optimum Good 4 rating come inspection at 5am on Cup day. Four hours later the rain set in and it didn’t abate. In total the Flemington track would cop 51mm in four hours up until Race 4, with the track quickly going from a Good 4 down to a Heavy 8. With surface water on the track and visibility an issue, it was a stressful time for everyone - stewards, jockeys, owners, trainers as well as O’Keeffe and his track staff. “The forecast was for only 5mm-10mm, so to get 51mm in four hours was a big surprise,” reflects O’Keeffe. “It’s the biggest fall I’ve experienced during a race meet since I have been at Flemington. We have had rain like that before but not on a race day. “Originally there was rain forecast from 11 pm on Monday which meant we could have held off putting water out. But when I spoke to the Bureau at 2.30pm on Monday they had pushed that forecast back to 8am on Tuesday which was too late. We have to have the track ready to go at 5am on the day to meet Racing Victoria guidelines, so we had to put out 5mm of irrigation on Monday night. “The track was rated at a Good 4 when we did our inspection, but then the rain started. We got 4.2mm in about 20 minutes around 7.30am before there was a break in the weather. I thought, ‘This is going to work out absolutely perfectly’, but then at 9am the heavy rain set in. “The track needed just half an hour for the surface water to get through the thatch and into the sand profile. Once it did that we knew the track would be okay. Unfortunately we couldn’t just stop racing because the Melbourne Cup has to be run at 3pm to meet commercial broadcasting rights. “If it was a normal race meet we probably would have just stopped for 90 minutes and then started again, but we didn’t have that luxury. They delayed the start of the earlier races by 10 minutes which was as much as they could. They had to keep pushing through and hope that the weather cleared which luckily it did after Race 4. “The track performed unbelievably well and once it had a chance to absorb all the rain it went back up to a Soft 6 at the end of the day which was a great result. I guess it was a blessing in disguise that we had such a dry lead up to the Carnival, because the subsoil would have been bone dry and it really would have sucked up that first inch of rain which held us in good stead for the next inch that came along.” UNSUNG HERO In the days following the Cup there were the usual post mortems surrounding the Cup, in particular the tragedy involving Cliffsofmoher which had to be euthanised. Among all the comments, many race pundits were quick to laud the Flemington track and O’Keeffe and his team. Under the headline ‘O’Keeffe the unsung hero of Cup week’, Racing.com correspondent James Tzaferis wrote: “When more than 50mm of rain fell in the lead-up to the Melbourne Cup, there were plenty of grim looks and plenty of nervous chatter around Flemington... It would have been an impossible task for most tracks and many curators. But not for Liam O’Keeffe and his track staff at Flemington. “In his first Melbourne Cup Carnival in charge of the hallowed turf, O’Keeffe was the unsung hero and prepared a track that was the subject of high praise from jockeys, trainers and, importantly, punters all week. On the biggest stage, when the world was watching, O’Keeffe and his team delivered a world class track.” “It was great to get that feedback,” reflects O’Keeffe. “Feedback can be pretty mixed in our job so to get some nice comments was great and good recognition for the staff, not just on the day but for all the work they did leading up to the Spring Carnival to make sure we had a really even track. “It was a big week and I definitely learned a few lessons, but I wouldn’t change much for next year. It was just one of those weeks where you had to roll with what the weather dealt us and trust in the structures and procedures we had in place to set us in good stead, which they did.” The Flemington track copped 51mm of rain on the morning of the Melbourne Cup, holding up remarkably well to finish the day rated a Soft 6 Following Spring Carnival week the Flemington track was renovated, with the track mown down to 50mm, lightly scarified and cored NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 23 Manuka set for ultimate Test This summer, Canberra’s Manuka Oval is hosting the biggest season of cricket in its proud history. This includes the final International Test match of the 2018/19 season from table profile; ARENAS It is set to be one of the biggest summers of cricket in Canberra with Manuka Oval gearing up to host its first ever international Test match. Curator Brad van Dam looks at preparations for this auspicious event. Above: Over the past eight years the ACT Government has funded significant upgrades to Manuka Oval to fulfil the requirements to host international cricket matches 24 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 1 -5 February when Australia takes on Sri Lanka. This will be the first ever Test match hosted in Canberra at the historic oval and one of the biggest sporting events the Territory has showcased. Each year Manuka Oval hosts many local and national AFL matches, as well as local and international cricket. So far this cricket season the oval has already hosted the Southern Stars, the PM’s XI, a Sheffield Shield match, as well as Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) and Big Bash League (BBL) fixtures. Still to come is the international Test and another BBL match. In the past, Manuka Oval has been chosen for major international games and five-day matches including three pool matches as part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup in 2015, various One Day International matches and the Sheffield Shield final in the summer of 2013/14. The negotiations and preparations for Manuka Oval to host an international Test match started many years ago between the ACT Government, Cricket Australia, the ICC and Cricket ACT. The ACT Government made some significant upgrades to the oval to meet international standards and prepare for hosting international matches. New sports lighting was installed in 2012/13 to enable One Day International games and AFL night matches to be played at the oval. In 2013/14, the turf surface was redeveloped and the following infrastructure upgrades made; • USGA spec sand upon a gravel perched water • Grand Prix couch surface; • New seven-wicket block; • Underground infrastructure; and • Player dugouts and increased spectator seating. The most recent upgrade, which will be completed in time for the Test match, is a new broadcast and media facility which meets the ICC’s requirements to enable all forms of media to broadcast international matches to the world. The facility will also provide corporate hospitality on match days and be available as an event space on non-match days. Although the negotiations for Canberra to host a Test began many years ago, the plans came to fruition a couple of summers ago. This is when the preparations really kicked off for me and I started by drawing up a yearly works programme to ensure the surface and wicket square was at the highest standard. The plan wasn’t extravagant but there were a few things that needed to be addressed. We started by focussing on maintaining the levels of the wicket square. To that end, for the past three years after each AFL season we have laser levelled the square. We have also continued to maintain our soil and plant nutrient testing and amendment programme to provide optimum turf growth in winter (ryegrass) and summer (couch). The outfield was resurfaced in 2017 to remove the thatch layer that had built up and optimise the surface’s drainage capabilities. We also changed the couch type to Santa Ana, for consistency across other venues around Canberra. We usually resurface every five to seven years, however, we brought the The resurfacing of Manuka Oval in November 2017 saw the ground converted to Santa Ana couchgrass schedule forward so it would not coincide with the 2019 Test match or the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2020. I am proud to say we now have arguably one of the best turf playing surfaces in Australia. RENOVATIONS Throughout this past AFL season we continually cross rolled the wicket table to repair any damage and maintain levels as best as possible. As the AFL season drew to a close, we slowly started to reduce the height of cut on the outfield from 25mm down to 13mm in increments of 3mm over a four week period. Immediately following the last home and away AFL match on 9 September, we started our outfield renovations which included: • Coring using 19mm hollow tines, 50mm deep at 100mm spacings; • The cores were broken up when we scarified during our first direction, then rubbed in and surface swept clean; • Surface scarified a second time in a different direction and swept clean; • Lowering the height of cut to 6mm to remove • Surface double cut at 10mm; • Light dusting with a USGA spec sand (approx. 32 tonnes); and ryegrass and open it up; • Scarifying the square in two directions, removing all debris and cleaning it with a blower; • Fertiliser and soil amendments added as per soil • Laser levelling the wicket square using approx, test results. We renovated the wicket square at the same time as the outfield which included; • Spraying the ryegrass out one week prior to the local AFL grand final; four cubic meters of Oberon wicket soil; • Fertiliser applied as per soil test results; and • Growth cloth placed over the wicket square to encourage couch growth as we were still getting frosts in Canberra at the time. STADIUM GOLF TEES OFF AT ADELAIDE OVAL Adelaide Oval may have just hosted the first Test in the current International Series between Australia and India, but in the lead-up to the match it entertained an altogether very different event. From 29 October to 4 November, the famed arena was transformed into a nine-hole golf course as part of a week-long golfing spectacle organised by Australian Golf Digest and Adelaide Oval. In what was the first ‘Stadium Golf’ event to be held in Australia, golfers teed off from various locations around the stadium to nine greens situated on the hallowed Adelaide Oval playing surface. Holes ranged from 50-90 metres in length, with tee locations including Level Five of the southern Riverbank Stand, the northern mound at the base of the famous Moreton Bay fig trees and a purpose- built platform in front of the oval’s heritage scoreboard. The Adelaide Oval grounds team, headed by curator Damian Hough, played a key role in bringing the event to fruition, including the design and set-up of the golf course as well as executing the event during the week itself. Adelaide Oval hosted the first Stadium Golf event in Australia ahead of its first international cricket fixture of the season, an 0DI between Australia and South Africa Across the seven days, the grounds team were responsible for setting up the holes each day including the markings around the greens. “We have a few keen golfers on the grounds team who were really happy to be involved with the course design for this event,” says Hough. “There was a lot of planning involved in the months leading up to the event. We worked around the Sheffield Shield match which finished the night before and also had to consider the One Day International match between Australia and South Africa (9 November) coming up. “We had the wicket area covered to make sure we didn’t get any ball indents there and we were also preparing the ODI pitch throughout the week. It was an impressive event and to be the first venue in Australia to host Stadium Golf is a credit to Adelaide Oval.” A total of six hole-in-ones were hit over the week with former Richmond and Sturt footballer Bruce Lennon nabbing the first on the 1st hole. Overall winner was Tom Bond with a score of 53 (par 56) on a countback. Adelaide Oval general manager Darren Chandler says that discussions are already underway for the event to return in 2019: “We’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the event so we’re definitely going to bring it back next year,” says Chandler. “Participants loved the opportunity to tee off from different locations around the Oval, combining golf with a unique stadium experience. It’s something different - it’s not your normal golf event. It’s quite unique but quite challenging.” NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 25 ARENAS To ensure that the Manuka Oval wicket block is of the highest standard, for the past three years after each AFL season the wicket square has been laser levelled All areas of the ground are regularly monitored for any weeds, pests and diseases and we will preventative spray for couch mite, couch fly/maggot as well as scarab beetle which we do annually. The wicket table sometimes gets the odd outbreak of helminthosporium that will be monitored closely. During the week prior to the start of the Test, various onfield infrastructure will be positioned including sight screens, LED advertising screens, boundary rope advertising, Spidercam, stump cameras and microphones. The actual preparation of the Test match pitch will start between 7-9 days prior to day one. We allocate a window period to allow for changing weather conditions. We will also be preparing a second pitch which will be used for our second BBL match four days after the final day of the Test. The 2018/19 cricket season has been an exciting time for the team here at Manuka Oval. This, along with hosting an international Test for the first time, which is the pinnacle of cricket, is a huge milestone for me as head curator. We followed the same spring renovation process this year as every other year. The only difference was the timing of when we chemically removed the ryegrass from the outfield. This timing is always determined by the match schedule and the level of cricket to be played as these can change each year. In early October 2018, the Australian women’s team played a televised T20 match at Manuka Oval along with the Prime Minister’s (PM’s) XI match in late-October. If the ryegrass was removed in late- September we would have run the risk of producing an unsatisfactory surface, both playability wise and visually. We chemically removed the ryegrass about five days before the PM’s XI match, which meant there was no issue with the outfield during this match. TEST FOCUS Leading up to the Test match we will alternate between a solid and hollow tine each month, varying the depth on the outfield and also apply some organic liquid fertilisers. To aid in the transition back to couchgrass, we will hollow core and scarify the outfield again and add a light dusting of sand and fertilise mid-December as per recommendations. During this period, we will topdress the wicket to maintain levels and encourage lateral growth. These works will be completed in the lead up to the WBBL and BBL matches on 21 December 2018 and the last BBL match on 9 February 2019. We will start the final preparation of the ground in mid-January, when we will look at thatch levels and maintain accordingly. The absolute minimum we will be doing would be a hollow core to ensure optimum drainage rates are maintained. We will apply a growth regulator to the couch on the outfield, mainly for presentation and to reduce seed head production and a nitro-iron at the same time for enhanced colour. The wicket square will be spot topdressed where needed and we will add light rates of an organic fertiliser as well to keep things ticking along. The day one pitch at Manuka Oval for the opening 2018/19 Sheffield Shield match, with the new media centre in the background 26 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT ASPARTACUS Australasian bred for local conditions Exceptional melting out and improved overall disease resistance Bred with Mediterranean genetics for excellent vigour and fast establishment Excellent year round colour u oasis turf L NG TURF" SCIENTIFIC TURF MANAGEMENT 1800DURATURF info@pggwrigh tson turf, com.au pggwrightsonturf.com.au f| facebook.com/pggwrightsonturf PGG Wrightson Tt/rf^ EX-PATS championship course Subcontinent The 27-hole DLF Golf & Country Club is one of the newest courses to be constructed in India, opening in 2015. Pictured is the 16th and 17th holes of the Gary Player sojourn Over the past 20 years, the turf management profession has taken Shaun Satterly far from his home state of Tasmania. Since 2014 he has been superintendent at the Gary Player-designed DLF Golf & Country Club in northern India, which recently hosted the European Tour’s Hero Women’s Indian Open. olf course management can provide some wonderful opportunities for greenkeepers and superintendents looking to take themselves out their comfort zone. Starting my trade at the small nine-hole Wynyard Golf Club on the north coast of Tasmania, this profession has subsequently taken me to Queensland, the US on The Ohio Program, back to Australia and then over to the Caribbean for eight very different years. The most recent phase of my journey has seen me go from the laidback lifestyle of Barbados to one of the most densely populated countries in the world - India. To say that it has been a change of pace and something that took a while to get used to would be an understatement, but it has been yet another rewarding experience. Home for coming up to four years now has been the Gary Player-designed 27-hole DLF Golf & Country Club in the city of Gurgaon, south west of New Delhi in northern India. I arrived at the tail end of course construction in 2014 with four holes, the short game and driving range facilities left to be constructed. Some holes on the back nine had been grassed when I arrived and I was responsible for finishing the remainder of the grassing and preparing for opening. India has a population of over 1.3 billion people and golf is growing in popularity thanks to the support of strong financial backing and top class players emerging on international Tours such as Anirban Lahiri and Gaganjeet Bhullar (who both represented India at the recent ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf), Adity Ashok, SSP Chawrasia and Shubhankar Sharma. There are 270 golf courses in India which equates to about five million people per course! EX-PATS ◄ Now that’s a team! The entire DLF Golf & Country Club clubhouse and course team (and equipment) photographed on the 8th hole. Australian ex-pat superintendent Shaun Satterly manages a maintenance team that numbers 110 Needle-tining the 5th green in the weeks leading up to the 2018 Hero Women’s Indian Open. The greens are Mini Verde bermudagrass The 12th is one of two holes at DLF to feature two separate greens. Players nominate which green they want to play to from the tee Golfers number less than 150,000 - contrast that with the more than 500 million who play cricket! Around 60 per cent of the courses are managed by the Indian Army and are inaccessible to the public. DLF Golf & Country Club is a very different set-up and was the vision of Mr K.P Singh who recognised the value golf played in the business world and the benefits it can bring to the community. He went on to develop an international business hub with the golf courses playing a significant role in the development. The DLF golf courses provide a breath of fresh air for the city of Gurgaon which is one of the fastest growing business areas of India. Gurgaon has the third-highest per-capita income in India with many Fortune 500 companies choosing it as their Indian headquarters. UNIQUE LANDSCAPE DLF comprises 27 holes with the Gary Player- designed Black Knight Signature 18-hole championship course and nine-hole Arnold Palmer course. The Palmer course is fully floodlit and hosts regular night golf events. The entire land envelope reaches close to 250 acres with four lakes spread over 23 acres containing about 250ML. Irrigation water is retreated water which is collected from the surrounding residential 30 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 communities. This is channelled to an on site water treatment plant (which has a capacity of 14 million litres per day) before being pumped to the holding lakes on the golf course. No ground/fresh water is used for irrigation, which in turn enables the club to maintain the courses with a commitment to environmental sustainability. The development of the facility has allowed a wide range of flora and fauna to flourish, with over 40 bird species (10 of which are migratory species), reptiles, aquatic life as well as trees, shrubs and ornamental grasses. Approximately 1000 large mature trees were transplanted throughout the property during construction. The Gary Player course opened in 2015 and hosted its first Women’s Indian Open event the same year. Since then both the event and the course have matured gracefully to be a regular part of the Ladies European Tour calendar. The course plays 7684 yards from the tips which tests the most avid of players. As a testament to that, the 14th hole is rated the most difficult on the European Tour. The back nine is predominantly man-made with the land originally being quite flat, rocky and arid. The 17th & 18th holes have been constructed to achieve the elevation changes and over the years have achieved a very natural look. The rocks in the 17th quarry were individually imported to the site and placed in position with cranes. The playing surfaces are quite undulating and maintaining turf on many of the slopes can be quite challenging throughout the different seasons, often requiring considerable amounts of micro-management. The greens are Mini Verde bermudagrass and the fairways are Celebration bermudagrass which are oversown with ryegrass during the cooler months (December-April). Several of the landscapes - such as the island green on the 5th - can also be challenging to access to provide the necessary maintenance. In addition to some of the interesting landscape elements, the courses also boast a couple of unique design features. The 2nd and 12th holes have two separate greens, offering the player an option when playing the hole. The player must select the green they are playing to before teeing off. With multiple tee complexes and pin positions available, it allows the hole to be set up differently on a regular basis. The other, quite striking, feature is the rivetted bunkers and the height of the bunker faces - some of them up to 17 feet high! The bunkering is certainly unique and can be seen on some select Gary Player designs around the world and was used, like the double greens, to create a unique experience from a visual perspective as well as present a significant challenge for the players’ course management skills and shot-making abilities. The rivetted look is achieved using a geotextile material which is wrapped around plastic tubes filled with sand. Achieving this appearance is quite difficult and involves each individual line to be filled with sand and placed one on top of the other until the desired height and shape is achieved. It does require some repair from time to time due to impact damage from golf balls and we paint the faces every six months to maintain a fresh look as irrigation and the weather can fade the appearance. UNIQUE CHALLENGES With a total team of around 110 employees at DLF - which includes the turf, landscape and workshop teams - communication is one of the biggest challenges I face. Hindi is the predominant language spoken and we have key guys in supervisory roles that manage the communication channels and ensure the right directives are delivered. Producing quality playing surfaces in India’s climate is by far the most challenging of all the places I have worked at previously. The weather here is extreme to say the least. Summer temperatures that can reach 48°C while in winter it can get as low as -2°C. The most challenging period is Monsoon season which generally lasts from July to September. In addition to heavy rainfall, the Monsoon season can see weeks upon weeks of consistent cloud cover and low light levels accompanied by high humidity, high temperatures and poor air movement. During this time it is a matter of trying to get the turf through in as best condition as possible until the weather improves. Preparation for this challenging weather begins well in advance to ensure the surfaces are in the best possible condition going into the Monsoon season. Any kind of turf stress or injury during can lead to significant loss of turf and you need to be on your toes as playing conditions can decline rapidly. It’s the peak time for disease pressure, especially August and September, and not surprisingly the preventative fungicide programme application intervals become quite close with chemistries rotated regularly. The spring and autumn are more temperate and managing the playing surfaces a bit less stressful. Moisture management is a skill I have had to become more proficient in as many greens are very contoured and ensuring the turf receives adequate levels of moisture. Many of the lower areas are also the pinable areas and receive a lot of foot traffic and therefore have the potential to become quite firm. A striking feature at DLF is the rivetted bunkers and height of the faces - some of them up to 17 feet high. The rivetted look is achieved using a geotextile material which is wrapped around plastic tubes filled with sand F %GR0WTHJ F afeRODOCTS] 8-0-9 For Greens, Fairways & Sports Turf * I < • Organic Biostimulant & Soil Conditioner • Contains a Natural Rhizosphere Bacteria • Revitalizes Soil • Promotes Faster & Stronger Rooting • Improves Poor Soil Conditions Sonia $treet' Carrum Downs, 3201 OaSIS CUl I (03) 9708 2911 • www.oasisturf.com.au NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 31 EX-PATS_________________ ◄ The DFL site is close to 250 acres with four lakes holding about 250ML for irrigation. Irrigation is via retreated water collected from the surrounding residential communities. Pictured is the 5th island green The back nine is predominantly man­ made with the land originally quite flat, rocky and arid In the extreme climate of northern India, water and moisture management comprise an integral component of Satterly’s cultural practices The use of different wetting agents has been helpful to manage moisture along with a frequent needle tine programme. I try and maintain the air/ soil/water ratio as best as possible. Each green has a Sub Air unit that helps to pull moisture through the profile and move air into the rootzone, while on some greens we use fans to increase air circulation. TOURNAMENT READY Right on the heels of this year’s Monsoon season, DLF played host to the Ladies European Tour’s (LET) Hero Women’s Indian Open from 18-21 October. It is the fifth time the course has hosted the event, but this year was the first time this event was broadcast live to 105 countries. With the Monsoon season ending mid­ September this year, we had a 4-5 week window where we could ramp up our maintenance practices for the tournament. We had our IPM programme dialled in quite well and came through the most challenging part of the year with full turf cover on all playing surfaces. With a good base to start from it wasn’t too much of a stretch to take it up a notch and be ready for the LET when they arrived. During the Monsoon season we used plant growth regulators as part of the maintenance programme based on a Growing Degree Day model. As the weather changed we slowly came off the growth regulator and reduced the speeds to the desired level. The greens were needle-tined weekly up until two weeks before the tournament and were also on a seven-day liquid fertiliser and dusting 32 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 programme. Brushing and grooming the greens were also a significant part of preparations. The tournament itself went very smoothly and some good weather helped with our preparations. Morning preparations were for a two-tee start at 7am which included the practice facility, mowing out all the short grass (single mow on greens), checking greens moisture and hand watering as required, bunker set up, hole changing and clean up. Evening preps included a single mow and roll on greens (depending on speed). We were losing about 4-6 inches during the day so the evening mow and roll was primarily to smooth them out after the day’s play and manage their speed. The evenings also saw the team do a sweep of bunkers and checking on sand depth and firmness, fairway and tee divotting and general course clean up. The Tour requested green speeds between 10-10.5” as the greens here are quite undulating and can become quite challenging at higher speeds. While preparing for the LET event, we were also planning for one of the biggest cultural activities we undertake here at DLF - the annual oversow. Every year we overseed the course with ryegrass in preparation for winter which is the peak golfing season in northern India. The weather at this time of year is perfect for golf and many people return to India from abroad to be with friends and family and hence we see a significant increase in rounds. The week after the Open had finished we began preparing the playing surfaces for the overseeding as well as keeping the course open and maintaining decent playing conditions. We treat each playing surface a little differently, but generally we are trying to open the canopy up enough to receive the seed and create some seed-soil contact. It can be challenging at times as you cannot be too aggressive with the preparation. What you go into the winter with is what you will come out with and being too aggressive when preparing for the oversow will mean significant transition issues come spring/summer. Going in too hard during the winter preparation can mean a lot of sodding during the summer and it then becomes difficult to catch up on and complete any planned summer projects. The ryegrass will generally last until May where day and night temperatures start to increase significantly. During this time, we will start transitioning out the ryegrass and returning the course to full bermudagrass for the summer months. During my time in India and at DLF Golf & Country Club I have been exposed to a lot of interesting experiences from both a cultural and turf management perspective. India is truly a country of great cultural diversity with 22 languages spoken throughout the nation. The food is simply delicious and each part of the country is famous for different styles of cuisine. From a turf management perspective it has challenged me in ways that I haven’t been challenged before and there is never a dull moment - just the way I like it! Bring the power of Hydrawise™ to Commercial Projects HCC: Wi-Fi Control for Up to 54 Stations THE NEW HCC OFFERS: Two Simultaneous Stations + P/MV Proven Hydrawise Internet Control Platform Flow Reporting and Online Flow Alerts Automatic Weather-Based Adjustments Compatibility with ROAM and ROAM XL Remotes From the office to the project site, HCC helps maximize time and labor savings with a suite of powerful tools. Try it today! National Free Call: 1 800 HUNTER Toll-Free Fax: 1 800 651680 www.hrproducts.com.au hrsales@hrproducts.com.au NELSONTel: 1300 856 368 AUSTRALIA ^x: 1300 856 369 Btwwm www.nelsomrrigation.com.au info@nelsonirrigation.com.au residential & commercial irrigation Built on Innovation® Learn more. Visit hunterindustries.com/hcc Suite 7,202 Ferntree Gully Road, Notting Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, 3168, Australia Tel: 61395629918 Fax: 61 3 9558 6983 Hunter Killara Golf Club is undergoing a major course transformation not only in terms of its greens, tees and bunkers but also with its turf varieties writes superintendent Ryan Fury. Sir Grange zoysia 34 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 Other trial works included looking into different construction sands with not many available in Sydney. The search net was cast far and wide and we settled on a special ‘Killara blend’ from Eulonga Quarries, near Coolac in rural NSW, which drains well and maintains good firmness. The final piece of the trial puzzle has seen the club step out of its comfort zone a little, with zoysia grass chosen for the surrounds and tee tops. Zoysia isn’t used much in Australia at present but will boom soon. For the past three years we have been trialling Sir Grange zoysia (or Zeon as it is known overseas) in some of our worst growing environments, including those that receive full shade over the winter period and which normally turn to dirt. For two straight winters the zoysia powered through even under overuse conditions. It didn’t wear out and maintained great cover all winter, and coming into the warmer months thrived better than anything I have seen before. John Neylan has also been following our trials and had no hesitation to recommend this grass to the board which they ultimately approved. Killara Golf Club, located on Sydney’s north shore, is a multi-sport venue that includes an 18-hole golf course, two bowling greens, tennis and squash courts. The club will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2024 and the vision for this celebration is the upgrading of facilities to meet modern demands. Part of this upgrade includes the redesign and reconstruction of all greens, bunkers and more than three quarters of the teeing areas under the auspices of course architect Harley Kruse. PLANNING AND TRIALLING Reconstruction works kicked off in the first week of May 2018 after several years of careful planning and trialling of different methods, materials and turf varieties for both greens, surrounds and tees. Over five years ago, a bentgrass trial began involving several varieties and blends, including Tyee, A1/A4, Mackenzie and Dominant Extreme and Pure Distinction. As a result of this trial work, together with input from the club’s consulting agronomist John Neylan, it was recommended that Pure Distinction be used on the greens, which was ultimately accepted by the committee. N O S N B O R I T T E R B : S O T O H P Above: After an extensive search for a suitable greens construction sand, a special ‘Killara blend’ has been sourced from Eulonga Quarries near Coolac in rural NSW Left: Pure Distinction was chosen for the new greens after a trial of various bentgrass varieties on site over a five year period Below: All greens, surrounds and bunkers are being rebuilt together with most of the tees Left: Killara is using Sir Grange zoysia on tee tops and greens surrounds Giving the new greens a roll NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 35 Left: Killara superintendent Ryan Fury (right) with assistant Dean Hardman GROUND BREAKING All greens, surrounds and bunkers are being rebuilt together with most of the tees. The spare hole - 14A - comes into play while the old par three 11 th is removed, while two holes have been reversed - the old 5th and 6th. Fairway bunkers have been filled in and some landing areas have also been tweaked. The best way to describe how we are completing the works is as an owner builder. We have a mixture of in-house staff, former staff returning for the project and some excellent contractors completing the job including Miles Raicevich (Links Construction), Lindsay Richter and Luke Sanders (both Atlas Golf) and shaper Peter Waddell. In addition to the zoysia, another first is the use of EcoBunker synthetic revetting for the bunkers, while Capillary Concrete is being used in the bases to assist with drainage. The Sir Grange zoysia on tee tops and green surrounds has been supplied by Jimboomba Turf and along with the Pure Distinction greens is growing in nicely. The project is due for completion mid-2019. Editor’s Note: A full look at the Killara redevelopment will feature in ATM once the project is completed. INTERNS Right atHome The Home of Golf, St Andrews, is a mecca for any greenkeeper or turf manager and for three Australian assistant superintendents they fulfilled a career-long dream recently by getting Three Australian assistant superintendents got the opportunity of a lifetime after being chosen to be part of Toro Australia’s inaugural Assistant Superintendent St Andrews Internship in July. TORO. k____ J 36 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT the opportunity to work on the most hallowed turf in the game. In July, Stuart Campbell (Maroochy River Golf Club, Old), David Hurst (Cromer Golf Club, NSW) and Liam Scott (Keysborough Golf Club, Vic) journeyed to Scotland after being selected as participants in AGCSA Platinum Partner Toro’s inaugural Assistant Superintendent St Andrews Internship. The trio travelled to St Andrews Links at the start of July and had the opportunity to work at both the Junior and Senior Open. They also took in The Open Championship held at Carnoustie Golf Links, got a chance to shadow the course managers and spent time with the learning and development officer. They were part of the grounds crew for the Junior Open which was held on the Harry S. Colt-designed Eden Course, one of seven courses maintained by St Andrews Links. The Junior Open is aimed at junior players (ages 16 and under) and held over 54 holes. In the week leading up to the 2018 event, the course was the driest it had been in many years due to above average summer temperatures. This led to reduced cutting regimes and allowed the crew to focus on the finer details of course presentation. The Senior British Open was held on the Old Course for the first time in the championship’s history. “Our time on the Old Course was spent during the preparation for the lead up to the tournament,” says Campbell. “Tasks included hand-mowing greens, changing holes for the practice rounds, levelling bunkers and some last-minute touch-ups. The Old Course is always in a condition that is so close to perfect that it only takes the smallest of tweaks to have it prepared for any major championship.” The rest of the interns’ time was spread out over the other courses that make up the Links which include; • The New Course (the second course built at the Home of Golf, designed by Old Tom Morris in 1895); • The Jubilee Course (the Links’ third championship course, opened in 1897); • The Strathtyrum Course (opened in 1993); • The Castle Course (opened in 2008, the newest addition to the Links stable); and • The Balgove Course (nine-hole course opened in 1987). All three assistants agree that working at St Andrews was amazing. The courses are well staffed with personnel being able to give certain tasks their undivided attention. “The tournament organisation there is fantastic,” says Hurst. “The pre-planning that goes into major events is meticulous, covering all jobs and maintenance tasks for the day’s play. Changing weather conditions were the only reason for changes Opposite page: From left David Hurst, Stuart Campbell and Liam Scott on the famed Swilcan Bridge at St Andrews. The trio spent time at the Home of Golf working the Junior and Senior Opens as part of Toro’s inaugural Assistant Superintendent St Andrews Internship Left: The trio got to experience tournament preparations as well as gain an insight into the unique management practices employed to the daily work schedule. Both tournaments ran very smoothly and there was only one disruption due to a fog delay.” All three consider themselves lucky to have been working with great crew members and in well equipped maintenance facilities. Many friendships and professional relationships have been formed, not only with the other interns but also with some of the St Andrews and seasonal staff. As Scott puts it, “I loved every moment of my trip - good bunch of blokes at all courses.” Something that caught the assistant superintendents’ attention immediately upon arrival is that the St Andrews courses are kept very natural looking and dry. Campbell admitted that when they first arrived at St Andrews, initial thoughts were to “put some water on the place” as it was so dry. However, as time went by they really developed an appreciation for the dry look and the surface it actually produced. “This is not something that we can replicate in Australia as climate conditions here would mean we would have dead turf and cracks in the fairways,” Campbell says. “But I think we sometimes tend to overthink things and have higher inputs into growing grass compared to Scotland. A lot can be said for the KISS method (keep it simple stupid) and this is something that I am trying to think more about now when problem-solving at work.” The difference in climate and growing conditions was also one the biggest things Hurst and Scott took away from their time at St Andrews Links. “I really enjoyed seeing how far they are willing to push the turf in regards to moisture percentages,” says Hurst. Adds Scott: “The climate and conditions of Scotland make turf management different from what we have in Australia. There is (normally) little heat and disease pressure and stress with the purity of the turf playing surfaces. The links theory of basically cutting and maintaining whatever grows on the site definitely comes into play at St Andrews.” The highlight of the trip for all three assistants was, not surprisingly, being able to actually work at St Andrews. As Hurst comments: “It’s ‘The Home of Golf’ and you can feel that when you are there. The ► F EQUIPMENT SOLUTIONS) Leading Turf Equipment brands from around the world MB /— —____ FIRST PRODUCTS VC60 SCARIFIER AGRIMETAL BLOWERS CRADEN GROUNDSMAN Full range of spare parts available. Ask us about on site servicing of your Equipment Solutions products. AMAZONE Call us on 02 98271311, or Stan Wells 0428 263 516. Jordan Tishler 0419 493164, Brian Taylor 0439 808 840 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 37 i INTERNS In addition to working the Junior and Senior Opens, the Australian trio also visited Carnoustie which hosted The 147th Open Championship Old Course is so unique and has a history like no other. You know that you are in a very special place when you walk the fairways.” Scott agrees and says that getting to see and work on the most famous golf property in the world and seeing, feeling, learning and understanding the history of golf was nothing short of amazing. All three assistants expressed their gratitude to Toro Australia and St Andrews Links for making the internship possible, with special mention to all St Andrews staff headed by the soon-to-retire Gordon Moir, whose organisation, advice and acceptance was invaluable. “To be actively involved in the Senior and Junior Opens was nothing short of sensational and gave great insight into the expectations and challenges which we will all face in our jobs in the future,” says Campbell. “I can’t thank Toro enough,” adds Hurst. “This experience has given me a passion to take back to my club to become a great team leader and above all a future superintendent.” And the final word from Scott? “I’d definitely recommend to all assistants to put an application in for the next trip! It goes to show that hard work and dedication pays off and can take you to great places.” ST ANDREWS INTERNSHIP - CLASS OF 2018 STUART CAMPBELL Maroochy River Golf Club, Qld Campbell has been an integral part of the establishment team of Maroochy River Golf Club (formerly Horton Park Golf Course), managing the herbicide programme and all permanent and casual staff involved with the grow-in at the new location. Golf Club in Melbourne for the Riversdale Cup, Australia’s premier stroke play event. Campbell started at Horton Park Golf Course in February 2010. He currently organises the staff on a day-to-day basis and sets work programmes for the week, allowing superintendent Pat Pauli to concentrate on other issues. Campbell was employed because of his experience at top Melbourne clubs and also his involvement with golf course construction. He is a very committed greenkeeper and among his many strengths are his attention to detail, which is important when looking for course presentation, and his rapport with staff. He received the 2015 GCSAQ Assistant Superintendent Recognition Award and in 2017 successfully completed his Certificate IV in Leadership and Management. For the past three years, he has also filled the volunteer position of GCSAQ treasurer. DAVID HURST Cromer Golf Club, NSW David Hurst has been assistant superintendent at Cromer Golf Club in Sydney for the past five years. Superintendent Leon Hennessy, who nominated Hurst for this opportunity, says that he is a passionate turf manager with an eye for detail and perfection. For Hurst, the golf industry is a way of life. His love of golf began as a junior, representing Woodlands Golf Club in Melbourne in pennant golf, while many of his holidays include visiting and playing golf throughout Australia and overseas. During his career, he has worked at Los Angeles Country Club as part of The Ohio Program and on five occasions he had the opportunity to prepare Riversdale 38 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT While at Cromer Golf Club, Hurst has progressed from second assistant to assistant superintendent. An enthusiastic and dedicated professional, his roles include; • The management of all golf course operations; • Input into short-term projects and long-term course development and management; 9 Proactively mentoring junior staff; and • Liaising with club members and board members. LIAM SCOTT Keysborough Golf Club, Vic Liam Scott, assistant superintendent at Keysborough Golf Club in Melbourne, started in March 2010 and stood out from the very first day according to superintendent Chris Allan. Scott’s main strength is his passion towards the industry. He has a strong ability to listen and absorb information and he is very comfortable in communicating with a diverse group, ranging from the greens committee, management and membership. Scott finished his apprenticeship at Keysborough in 2013 and went on to do The Ohio Program, where he was placed at Muirfield Village in Columbus, Ohio, home of The Memorial Tournament and host of the 2013 Presidents Cup. Upon returning to Australia, he got offered the foreman position at Keysborough and has since progressed to assistant. Scott continues to develop his skills where he can by enrolling into further study, as well as volunteering at tournaments - including the 2016 World Cup of Golf (Kingston Heath) and the 2013 World Cup of Golf, 2013 Australian Masters and the 2012 Australian Women’s Open all held at Royal Melbourne. ■ W. w PRIMO MAXX slows vertical growth and diverts energy to the roots, promoting dense, stronger and healthier turf which requires less mowing. See the benefits from tee to green: Resilience against wear and tear Up to 50% less clippings Smoother, truer putting surface Consistent speed and quality all day on the green Maintenance cost savings 0 Primo Maxx Turf growth regulator syngenta. ■F For more information ask your Syngenta Agent or go to www.greencast.com.au Syngenta Australia Pty Ltd, Level 1,2-4 Lyonpark Road, Macquarie Park NSW 2113. ABN 33 002 933 717. ®Registered trademark of Syngenta Group Company. ™Trademark of a Syngenta Group Company. All products written in uppercase are registered trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. © 2018 Syngenta. AD 18-298. PETER McMAUGH Australia’s turf doyen Peter McMaugh highlights the important differences between a turfgrass ‘variety’ and a ‘trademark’ to help turf managers sort fact from fiction about the grasses they choose. What’s in ao name? In my previous column I mentioned the need for everyone involved in turf to fully understand the difference between a plant variety name and a trademark. It is obvious from the feedback that I have received that this is poorly understood by far too many people working with turfgrasses. In order to understand it fully you need to go back some basic steps. Grasses, like all other plants, are classified (given names) in what is called the Linnaean classification system. This assigns a series of names from a broad start down to an individual plant. It goes from distinguishing it from all the dicotyledons (two seed leaves) to a monocotyledon (one seed leaf), then goes into a grass family hierarchy of taxa (groups) as follows; Warm-season grasses Family Poaceae Sub Family Eragrostoideae (1 of 5) Tribe Chlorideae (10/7) Genus Cynodon Species dactylon Cool-season grasses Family Sub Family Tribe Genus Species Poaceae Pooideae Agrosteae Agrostis stolon ifera These two examples show how we come down to identifying a species grass type. This is done through various characteristics of the morphology (structural elements) of the grass, but is generally centred around the characteristics of the seed head (flower). When we get down to the species, it is defined by its ability to sexually reproduce and produce viable offspring which can in turn reproduce sexually. Most grasses are obligate cross breeders. That is, while they have both male and female organs on the same plant, these do not usually cooperate with one another but only with the gametes (pollen or ovule) of another plant. This gives wide genetic diversity which is then expressed in the appearance of the offspring (phenotype). When plant breeders are trying to improve crops, especially seed crops, they will select their parent lines for very explicit characteristics and try to create ‘super’ lines expressing these characteristics. They may create say up to six selected genetically. These in genetic speak are called F1 ’s (no, we are not talking aeroplanes). By crossing these F1’s they create F2’s from which they will select further progeny for crossing. These lines will then, maybe, be back-crossed onto the F1 parent to increase the strength of the character selected for, but sometimes this inbreeding process will weaken the plant overall. If a breeder wants to overcome this bottleneck, they will take a similar but genetically different genetic line and cross it with their original line. This often produces an explosion in vigour and is called intraspecific hybridisation (i.e.: within species hybrids with hybrid vigour). 40 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 is not the variety name but the commercial identity for marketing. This trademark is not limited to DT-1. Other grasses could be released using it or a variant of it. These are the facts which are established by the way the owners use the patent system. While it is important to realise that in the USA vegetatively reproduced plants are not covered by PBR (Plant Breeder’s Rights), as they are here and in Europe, the USA has a separate plant patent system (PP) for these. The end result commercially is the same. All plant patents, whether PBR or PR have a life of 20 years. That is, after 20 years the owner/breeder of a variety ceases to be able to call the tune on who/where/how it is grown and sold. This is where the commercial importance of the trademark system comes into play. TRADEMARKS Trademarks are an intellectual property system involving brands. It is a system which is independent of PBR and is administered in this country along with PBR by IP Australia. Commercially it is the way of extending the sales life of a plant variety at the end of its patent life. A very good example of this is ‘Sir Walter’ buffalo. When it was put through the PBR system, There is no system in Australia which offers objective varietal performance data the way that NTEP does in the USA. This is a worry When plant breeders are trying to improve crops, especially seed crops, they will select their parent lines for very explicit characteristics and try to create ‘super’ lines expressing these characteristics This must not be confused with the crossing of differing species. This can occur naturally within some genera, as is the case with a cross such as Tifway which is a naturally occurring hybrid between Cynodon dactylon and Cynodon transvaalensis. This is an interspecific hybrid and the progeny is described as C. dactylon x transvaalensis. This is an outside the species cross and is normally sterile. This sterility is caused by the fact that the two species involved have different chromosome numbers. C. transvaalensis is a diploid (i.e.: it has a x2 set of the basic chromosome number of nine for the genera). This numbering is called the haploid or basic number. C. dactylon has a x4 set of nine. This gives the cross a x3 set which when cell division tries to line them upon the mitotic spindle strands, they don’t fit and so there is no gamete produced that is viable. I have deliberately gone through this rather tedious exercise to illustrate a few things; • I have often heard turfies calling Wintergreen and Windsorgreen ‘hybrid’ couchgrasses. They are not in any way a hybrid any more than Grand Prix or any other straight Cynodon dactylon. • Not every grass with the ‘Tif ’ prefix is a hybrid. The most familiar ones - Tifgreen, Tifway, TifEagle and Tiftuf - are true interspecific hybrids. That is, they are C. dactylon x transvaalensis, with a x3 chromosome set of 27 (i.e.: one of 18 and one of nine from their respective parents). • When a grass is released by its breeders it is in the current climate more usually than not patented in some way or other. In this process the plant variety name by which it is officially recognised is established. Here’s an example. Some years ago the Tifton research station patented a new triploid variety as DT-1. The initials were an important guide to their claims in the patent. DT stood for ‘drought tolerant’. So the only correct variety name for this grass is DT-1. Also registered as a trademark, quite separate from the grass itself, is the brand name ‘Tiftuf’, under which DT-1 is sold commercially. This NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 41 PETER McMAUGH Not every grass with the ‘Tif’ prefix is a hybrid. The most familiar ones - Tifgreen, Tifway, TifEagle (pictured) and Tiftuf - are true interspecific hybrids I have often heard turtles calling Wintergreen and Windsorgreen ‘hybrid’ couchgrasses. They are not in any way a hybrid any more than Grand Prix or any other straight Cynodon dactylon. - Peter McMaugh ‘Sir Walter’ was given as the variety name. It has no other synonym. Now ‘Sir Walter’ has been marketed superbly to achieve dominance in the domestic buffalo market. Its owners could not achieve a trademark under that name because the PBR Act specifically states that a plant variety name cannot be used as a trademark and vice versa. Because of this, to try to capitalise on their already successful market identity, they resorted to obtaining a trademark as ‘Sir Walter DNA Certified’, which they can now use for marketing their version of ‘Sir Walter’. Does this mean that other people growing and selling ‘Sir Walter’ are growing an inferior or different product? No, they are identical. Does the trademark carry any guarantee about DNA testing? No. Does the trademark offer a ‘certified’ grass? No. The trademark office in allowing the trademark makes explicit that the words of the trademark are registered as a ‘whole’ (i.e.; they are just another name). Thus the thrust of the marketing campaign by the owners becomes one of trust - trust our product more than any other. The obvious impression which is trying to be conveyed is that we have something that the others don’t. And that is right. They have a different name, not a different product. The essence of the product, the grass, remains the same no matter what you call it or brand it. Thus differentiation becomes a marketing matter not a scientific one. Another example of this, which has had many years of exposure in the industry, is the so-called couchgrass ‘variety’ Legend. Legend is not a variety name. It is a trademark. The correct variety name is that given to it by the breeder, in this case ‘C1 ’. This grass, C1, is a public domain variety, never having been put through the PBR system, even though it 42 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT could have been. Its owners decided not to pursue that option. The practical legal impact of this is that anyone who wishes can grow and sell C1 provided they don’t call it ‘Legend’. Another practical difficulty today is that if you wanted to go down that path you would be flat out finding pure strain nursery stock. Another practical implication is that all those tender documents which over many years have specified the couch grass variety ‘Legend’ are wrong in fact, and leave some rather large open questions for the lawyers to argue over. Yet another important practical implication is that you can have ‘Legend’ supplied legally validly as pure strain Legend or contaminated Legend. Both fit the legal obligations of the Trademarks Act as far as I can see. Maybe the lawyers beg to differ, but they haven’t as yet won a dispute in this area. The problem with the law is there are many facets to arguments of this kind and the obviously simple ones to you and me don’t always win. Where lawyers are concerned steer clear of them unless you have money to burn. The marketing of ‘Legend’, like Sir Walter, has been a very successful exercise and I have no doubt that most of you will continue to call it Legend and not C1. SORTING FACT FROM FICTION I hope that this wade through history has made it a lot clearer as to the differences between a ‘trademark’ and a ‘variety’ and help you to sort fact from fiction about the grasses you purchase. As a final word or two, no matter how fancy your market names or trademarks are, nor how distinctive your new variety is, these have absolutely no impact whatsoever on performance or suitability of purpose on their own. These are only useful in an identity crisis. Where they are important is in sorting out whether you are getting a pure strain grass or a contaminated one. Ninety percent of the time this is an aesthetic argument about the visual look of the product. However, there is a very important side of choosing the right variety as fit for purpose and this is the defining description of what quality implies. True quality performance has nothing to do with varietal name or trademark other than that if historically this variety sold under that trademark is ordered by you as a matter of trust in their historical performance, then you want a guarantee that that is the quality you are getting. That is where ‘certification’ comes in. In general, while the scientist wants certainty about the genetic package he is talking about in his research paper, and that is given by the correct variety name, the practitioner wants quite a different certainty from that variety and that is fitness for purpose. This is where getting the facts about varietal performance is so important. There is no system in Australia which offers this objective data the way that NTEP does in the USA. This is a worry. r HF r Ml Mr -r- ■ - .7. 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OFFICIAL GOLF COURSE EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER JOHN NEYLAN With drought affecting large parts of the country at present, ATM expert agronomist John Neylan looks at the importance of reviewing water management plans and also passes judgement on the recent ABC Four Corners report on glyphosate usage. Above: As we head into the summer months, undertake an internal audit/check of the operation of the irrigation system to make sure there are minimal losses through leaks and poorly operating sprinklers 44 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT it is important to ensure that the management programmes can cope with whatever the weather throws at it. The R&A is promoting a sustainable approach to course management to provide the best chance of stability in unpredictable times. Irrespective of the immediate situation, it is still important to look at the longer term outlook for water availability and the possible implications. In referencing the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BOM) Monthly Weather Review for Australia September 2018 (www.bom.gov.au/climate/mwr/aus/mwr- aus-201809.pdf) the numbers were quite compelling; • Australia’s driest September on record; • Overall, mean temperatures were above average; • Warmer than average daytime temperatures; • Individual states were also very dry with Victoria experiencing its second-driest September, and both Western Australia and South Australia reporting their third-driest September on record. • There were small pockets throughout Western Australia, Northern Territory and northeast New South Wales that received above average rainfall. • September maintained a consecutive run of 23 months of warmer than average days for Australia as a whole. In the BOM’s November 2018 drought report there was some interesting follow up information that is worth considering when it comes to longer term water management planning. October rainfall again reinforced the sporadic nature of our rainfall As I sit down to write my regular column for this edition of ATM, I do question the need to be talking about water management again. Following a very dry winter, the summer was looking grim in terms of water availability and the potential for ongoing drought conditions and the implications for turf management. Just as you think it is all very straightforward, we appear to have had plenty of rain on the eastern seaboard and as I write this parts of Sydney have copped more than a month’s worth of rain in a single day with the biggest November fall in three decades. I think what we are seeing is the fickle nature of our weather systems. Localised storm events and a shift in the driest and high stress periods appear to be occurring further into the summer months and late autumn. These conditions I believe are confirmation of a changing climate. In my paper on ‘Turf Management in a Changing Climate’, presented at the Australasian Turf Conference earlier this year in Wellington, I cited The R&A’s ‘Planning for changing climate’ document which has been produced to alert the golfing industry to be aware of the challenges of extreme weather and to plan for change. The paper highlights that the planet’s climate is shifting and more extreme conditions and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns can be expected in the future. This is undoubtedly the case in Australia. With more extreme weather it is expected that this will have a major impact on the way golf courses must be managed and events with below average for southeast Australia but above average on the east coast and in southern Western Australia. Importantly, the BOM stated that that lower- level soil moisture was below average for October across much of eastern Australia and scattered areas of the coastal north and far southwest Western Australia. The most compelling statement being that meteorological drought is rarely broken in a single event or month; typically regular rainfall over a period of several months is required to remove rainfall deficiencies of the magnitude of those currently in place. In the BOM’s Special Climate Statement 66 - 1 November 2018 (www.bom.gov.au/climate/ current/statements/scs66.pdf) - they stated that the recent dry conditions in eastern Australia have few precedents for their combination of extent and duration. As well as being a very dry year, 2018 has been very warm, soil moisture has been low and evaporation has been high. This is the double whammy of low rainfall and greater water loss through evapotranspiration. TAKING STOCK Thinking of the longer term strategies for water management, even if there has been recent rainfall, it is still a good time to review your water management plan. A few of the key questions to answer are; • How much water do you have available to you? As well as being a very dry year, 2018 has been very warm, soil moisture has been low and evaporation has been high • How much water do you need? It is important to understand the water requirements to produce a particular turf quality. • What is the source of water? • How sustainable is the water supply? What do you know about the source of the water and what is the impact of extended dry periods on the security of supply? • What is the water quality? • What is the total cost of the water? This needs to include the costs of pumping the water and treating it. NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 45 JOHN NEYLAN In the case of sportsfields, a loss of pressure is often a reason for poor water distribution and inefficient use of water • Do you have a strategy in place based around the available water supply and how will it be allocated as the water supply diminishes? • How efficient is the irrigation system? • Are there other sources of water available? • Do you have security of supply and an agreement with the relevant water supply authority where applicable? As we head into the summer months the following water management actions need to be considered; • Review the irrigation scheduling in terms of the amount applied and frequency of application. • Create some ‘trigger’ points around the available water volume at which point the application of water is prioritised to particular turf areas and/ or reduced. The process of reducing water is better undertaken as a gradual process rather than stopping the application of water when the available water supply is at a critical level and placing the turf into sudden drought shock. This gradual reduction allows the turf to adjust or adapt to the reduced amount of available water. • Check the water quality throughout the year, particularly as the summer progresses when there will be invariably an increase in salinity, sodium, chloride and bicarbonate. Undertake a complete water analysis immediately with follow up tests every month. • Undertake an internal audit/check of the operation of the irrigation system to make sure there are minimal losses through leaks and poorly operating sprinklers. In the case of sportsfields, a loss of pressure is often a reason for poor water distribution and inefficiencies. Trust the robust nature of couch and other warm-season grasses and exploit their excellent drought tolerance. Couch has the ability to survive a dry summer with only a few deep irrigations and still provides a good surface when dry 46 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 • Trust the robust nature of couch and other warm-season grasses and exploit their excellent drought tolerance. Couch has the ability to survive a dry summer with only a few deep irrigations. The important part of this strategy is deep watering. In my experience very few warm­ season grass sports turf areas are irrigated to the depth of the rootzone. • Manage expectations. Good communication is absolutely critical in making sure that user groups are fully aware of the water use strategy and the short- and long-term implications of managing turf during extended dry periods. • When rainfall is predicted, look to undertake surface aeration and put out a wetting agent to optimise water penetration. Climate change will continue to impact on water resources into the future and it is likely that there will be less water available for recreational turf. With the increasing demands for the available water supplies and the increasing focus on turf management and its environmental stewardship, it is essential that every turf area has a water management plan. Water management planning identifies works and practices that will improve irrigation and drainage management and water use efficiency for the golf course. FOUR CORNERS REPORT ON GLYPHOSATE USAGE On 8 October 2018 the ABC ‘Four Corners’ programme featured the potential problems surrounding the use of glyphosate. The Four Corners episode questioned the safety of glyphosate products registered for use in Australia following a decision in the Californian Superior Court to award damages to a man who alleged that glyphosate-based weed-killers caused his cancer. As an agronomist and given the widespread use of glyphosate in the turf industry, I was very interested in what the programme had to say. Having recently watched the report for a second time, it is certainly a slick production albeit somewhat alarmist, occasionally confusing and a superficial discussion of the data. In fact there was minimal science discussed. There was a fair degree of Monsanto-bashing as well as questioning the independence of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA). In my opinion, by the end of the programme there was no satisfactory conclusion with a large number of statements left floating without resolution. In my mind, from a turf management perspective, a key matter left floating was the use (or lack of) of personal protective equipment (PPE). In interviewing one individual that claimed to have become ill from using glyphosate, it was mentioned that clothing and footwear were soaking wet after applying Roundup. The question that I would have liked to ask was what PPE was being worn and what precautions were taken? A constant theme through the programme was that Roundup was promoted as being safe. Did this create a false sense of safety and therefore PPE was not considered necessary? Was the label read and understood by the user? Assuming there was some truth in the discussion, the question is then who to trust for the detailed analysis. This undoubtedly has to be the APVMA. In a media release made after the Four Corners episode, the APVMA stated that they had considered the evidence presented in the Californian case and found no grounds to take regulatory action in Australia. The APVMA went on to explain that Australia has a risk-based, scientific approach to regulation to ensure that each agricultural chemical product is thoroughly and independently assessed by the APVMA prior to registration and supply. Anyone that has had a discussion with a chemical manufacturer would soon understand that getting chemicals registered in Australia is a long and arduous process. It is important to note that the registration system is supported by a range of post market surveillance, compliance, audit verification and review activities that ensure products available in Australia continue to be used safely and effectively. As we have seen in recent years, pesticides such as carbendazim and fenamiphos have been taken off the market following such reviews. The APVMA emphasised that regulatory decisions take account of extensive scientific information. It goes without saying, before any chemical is used, read the label, take heed of all the warnings and wear the appropriate PPE I think that the final word comes from the APVMA in their summation of the glyphosate issue. Glyphosate is registered for use in Australia and APVMA approved products containing glyphosate can continue to be used safely according to label directions. Australian law requires appropriate warnings on product labels, which include relevant poisons scheduling, first aid and safety directions detailing PPE when handling and using products containing glyphosate. The APVMA reminds users of the importance of following all label instructions. Olh^JT Golf Solutions www.dint.com.au Our NEW Premium Turf Marking Paint ONLY $59 PER BOX* ($4.92 per can) Special longer lasting formula exclusive to DINT Golf Solutions * Minimum 4 Boxes-12 Cans in a box- Prices excluding GST and Freight Week 7 Week 1 Suitable for use with Dy-Mark hand and wheel applicators Week 3 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 47 JOHN NEYLAN Following the 2011 Queensland floods, then AGCSA Board member Pat Pauli toured many flood- affected courses with AGCSATech. Pauli’s concern, compassion and understanding for his fellow greenkeepers during such a difficult time provided solace to those that were affected A TRUE GENTLEMAN OF OUR PROFESSION I recently had the pleasure, along with many other turfies, to celebrate Pat Pauli’s working life as a golf course greenkeeper and course superintendent. Pat, course superintendent at Maroochy River Golf Club (formerly Horton Park) on the Sunshine Coast, is a genuinely wonderful person in an industry full of great people. This event was yet another reinforcement of the comradeship that bonds people together in what is a very challenging profession. My very first meeting with Pat was when he was a finalist for the 1999 AGCSA Fellowship Award (now known as the Excellence in Golf Course Management Award) of which I was one of the judges. Pat had a great story to tell about managing his golf course (‘The Swamp’) and his involvement with the GCSAQ. Needless to say, Pat went on to win the award. I was fortunate to be working at the AGCSA when Pat was co-opted onto the Board in 2007. Pat never failed to provide a great insight around the issues of the day. He sat quietly at the Board table and when he had something to say it was usually somewhat outside of the box and created great food for thought. He always had the knack of getting to the nub of the issue with minimal bull. Pat was a great supporter of the AGCSA staff, with his caring attitude and interest in what everyone was doing. As with all of the Board members at that time, they were always ready to roll up the sleeves and help out with whatever task was requested of him. Pat wouldn’t hesitate to ring a member that had concerns regarding the AGCSA and to listen to their concerns - a very caring person. Following the 2011 Brisbane and Queensland floods, I was fortunate to have Pat by my side as we visited as many golf courses as we could that had been affected. We went as far as Dal by (a long way for a city slicker like me) and it was Pat’s concern and understanding for his fellow greenkeepers and their plight that provided some solace to those that were affected. What I learnt from that trip was Pat’s love of rural life and there were plenty of stories about weather, river systems and growing cotton. Undoubtedly, a slightly frustrated farmer lurked not far below the surface. I should have realised this passion for the rural life when Pat accompanied me to a meeting at the John Deere factory on the outskirts of Brisbane and seemed more interested in the monster cotton harvester than the latest greens mower! Pat was a great supporter of the ‘walk ‘n’ talk’ concept as a means of engaging with golf course superintendents that were maybe not members of the state or national associations and who weren’t regular attendees at formal field days and conferences. Again, it is that care towards others and gathering them into the turf community that was a great strength of Pat’s. Pat has been the superintendent at Horton Park (now Maroochy River) since 1982 and in his own words it was described as “the swamp”. A challenging time was ahead and Pat has worked through all of the difficulties including the general uncertainty around the move from the Maroochydore site to the new golf course on the Maroochy River. Having spoken to Pat on many occasions about the conflict that such a move invariably causes, it was his care and deep thought about the issues that had him at the forefront of making sure the right thing was done. In my time at the AGCSA, and particularly when I was in the GM role, it was always reassuring that Pat was there checking on the finances (the greatest Treasurer ever!), asking the pointed questions to make sure I was sure of what was being proposed and making sure that the staff were happy at work. Pat still thinks that in some way he and the Board was responsible for my heart attack! Rest assured Pat you weren’t! I want to quote from Pat’s invitation which I believe sums him up and I believe the world of golf course superintendents: “Pat and (wife) Deb would like to celebrate and say thank you to all the wonderful people they have met and who have played a part over the course of Pat’s working life. Our way of saying thank you.” On behalf of the turf world, let me thank you Pat for your work and to Deb for allowing you to be involved at an association level. You are one of the true gentlemen of our profession. - John Neylan PROTECT YOURSELF THIS SEASON /SKbiosciences 400 SC FUNGICIDE M. ““ - •$■ .■ > ‘ '*** ‘ Jfr, If • • J 1O g&£ ■ •>< - E ! r ■•*■?•■■ 2 ‘A NUTURF SPECIALISTS PROVIDING SOLUTIONS For more information contact your local Nuturf Territory Manager on 1800 631 008 or visit www.nuturf.com.au RESEARCH Gary Beehag and Peter McMaugh look at their recent research project investigating thatch-mat and root architecture beneath new bentgrass putting greens. Thatch-mat development on Superintendents’ comments and trial results has led to several authors stating the newer- generation, bentgrass cultivars have a propensity to produce much greater amounts of thatch accumulation particularly during the first 12-24 months after seeding. Other authors have further stated a time frame of a seeded bentgrass green to reach “maturity” ranges only from 2-3 years, largely based on a stabilised infiltration rate. Nonetheless, maturing bentgrass putting greens require adequate thatch-mat thickness and surface firmness to ‘hold’ a golf ball without undue plugging or bounce when an approach shot is played. This is why the management of thatch-mat architecture becomes critical. Hence, two key questions of superintendents after establishing a new bentgrass putting green arise; • When to start typical grow-in practices of topdressing, grooming, aeration etc...? and • When does the surface and root growth reach a level of ‘maturity’ to allow play? Currently, these two and related questions remain largely based on subjective assessments of firmness by feel rather than any quantitative measurements carried out by superintendents. Understanding of the dynamics of bentgrass thatch-mat architecture and root growth during the first few years of a new green is a fundamental aspect Accumulation of partly-decomposed organic matter beneath turfgrass is a normal phenomenon which progressively increases because of an imbalance between its rate of accumulation and decomposition. The biological causes, consequences and management of excessive organic matter accumulation beneath turfgrass swards is widely documented, particularly of aged golf greens. The most widely published definition that describes thatch is probably “an intermingled organic layer of dead and living shoots, stems and roots that develops between the zone of green vegetation and the soil surface”. The combined term ‘thatch-mat’ describes the total accumulation of organic material above the original level of construction sand (Figure 1, below). Thatch layer Organic layer(s) Original construction sand Right: Figure 1. Diagrammatic illustration of thatch-mat Above: An example of a highly- stratified sample taken from a putting green as part of.the thatch­ mat and root architecture project 50 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.6 of their management. Empowered superintendents are then able to make informed decisions about the scheduling of key cultural practices (e.g. topdressing) when bringing a new putting green into play and, to manage thatch-mat accumulation and putting green performance to acceptable levels. OBJECTIVES For the purpose of this research project, the authors have adopted the combination term ‘thatch-mat’. The primary objective was to investigate and measure thatch-mat architecture and thickness on relatively new putting greens. The seeding date, type of construction and topdressing sands and grow-in practices was sought from the superintendents and recorded as management variables. This study represents the first of its kind ever conducted in Australia. The authors are not aware of any similar published work conducted on new bentgrass greens in Australasia. Sampling was conducted on 30 bentgrass putting greens representing 14 golf courses around Sydney over an eight week period in June-July 2017. The courses represented private, semi-private and public courses each with 1-3 greens sampled. Three samples from each green were taken using a split profile sampler to the maximum depth of 200mm. ASSESSMENTS AND MEASUREMENTS The thatch-mat layer was defined as the vertical distance from immediately below the layer of green verdure to the original level of the construction sand. Thatch-mat thickness was measured using a digital readout Vernier calliper. Thatch-mat values for each sample (front, centre and rear) were recorded separately and later averaged for each green. The construction sand in the lower section was further assessed for colour and particle shape. Each sample was assessed visually for the depth of primary root growth, the degree of secondary root development and lateral branching. RESULTS THATCH-MAT ARCHITECTURE Clearly noticeable, structural and colour differences of the thatch-mat architecture were apparent between most samples. Microscopic examination revealed the majority of bentgrass stems were horizontally-orientated whilst primary and secondary roots were largely vertically-oriented. In all samples, irrespective of the cultivar, age of the green and thatch-mat thickness, bentgrass stems were totally absent in the underlying construction sand. Overall, the observed thatch-mat architecture between samples ranged from very distinct, stratification of partly-decomposed organic matter and topdressing sand (see photo opposite page) to several layers of organic matter and topdressing sand (see photo top right) all the way to a relatively homogenous (i.e.; without stratification) organic matter/sand thickness (see photo right). THATCH-MAT THICKNESS The results, based on the nominated methodology, not unexpectedly showed that thatch-mat thickness varied widely between greens sampled. Thatch-mat thickness varied only to a slight degree (up to 5mm) within most individual greens sampled but varied significantly between most greens sampled. In attempting to understand the environmental and management-induced dynamics at play contributing to the thatch-mat architecture and its thickness against the age of greens, the authors considered it appropriate to first consider thatch­ mat thickness against age of all greens sampled then, secondly, consider the greens sampled by grouping 2-3 of the greens which were established over similar periods during a 3-4 month time frame. The greens sampled within the one course were reported to have undergone identical or very similar key cultural programmes (i.e.; nutrition, irrigation, topdressing etc) from the time of their respective establishment and opening periods. Thus, trends of thatch-mat development should be similar. Overall, the general trend of greens sampled was increased thatch-mat thickness over time. The greatest thatch-mat thicknesses were 30-39mm and 23-27mm and the least was 7mm. For the purpose of this investigation, thatch-mat data was extrapolated against the time of establishment of greens sampled as a possible indication of thatch- Example of a moderately-stratified sample. Note sand-filled tine hole Example of an homogenous sample ► NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 51 RESEARCH TABLE 1. THATCH-MAT THICKNESS (AVERAGE) AND AGE Club L M J N F J G D G A J C B C K L K Green A C A A B B A A B C A C A A B A B B Established Sept 2012 Oct 2012 Dec 2012 Dec 2012 Aug 2015 Nov 2015 Dec 2015 Feb 2016 Feb 2016 Mar 2016 Apr 2016 Apr 2016 May 2016 Aug 2016 Oct 2016 Oct 2016 Nov 2016 Dec 2016 Days 1772 1706 1694 1329 505 634 540 561 478 464 431 482 435 337 289 254 231 181 Thatch-mat One year 31 32 16 25 14 11 18 18 15 18 15 12 11 15 10 23 7 22 6.4 6.8 3.5 6.9 10.1 6.3 12.2 11.7 11.5 14.0 15.2 8.3 9.2 16.2 12.6 33 11 44.4 5mm 286 316 530 266 180 288 150 156 159 129 120 219 193 112 145 55 165 41 mat thickness attained after one year and the length of time to attain a thickness of 5mm in each case indicating a range of time frames. Greens sampled have been grouped (Table 1) according to their month/year of establishment. Within each group, there are some similarities but also differences of the rate of thatch-mat development; thus the extrapolated thickness at one year and time to achieve 5mm. Whilst the figures for one year and thickness have been extrapolated, they can be useful to demonstrate that environmental factors (e.g. construction sand) and key cultural management practices (e.g. nutrition, irrigation and topdressing) for each green sampled would have partly contributed to the range of thatch­ mat thicknesses and associated stratification. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY ROOT GROWTH Primary root depth in the majority of samples was observed in the range 100-150mm. The shortest root growth was 50-100mm and maximum root length was 200-250mm (see photo bottom opposite page). There was no apparent correlation between measured root growth and age of greens sampled except to say that the greens sampled having greatest root and branching were between TABLE 2. PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF SELECTED Fraction Gravel VCS CS MS FS VFS S+C Size (mm) >2.00 1.00 0.50 0.25 0.15 0.053 < 0.053 CONSTRUCTION SANDS KA BA 0.1 0.1 0.7 2.4 12.0 13.3 67.7 49.3 15.6 20.0 11.1 2.6 1.5 3.7 GA 0.4 9.6 43.5 33.7 6.2 3.8 2.8 HA 0.0 0.1 1.2 75.1 20.7 1.5 1.4 IA 0.0 0.5 12.6 51.7 20.2 8.9 6.0 LB 0.3 4.4 16.6 47.5 18.7 9.4 2.9 MC 0.0 0.1 9.2 63.7 22.8 3.1 1.2 NA 0.0 0.1 2.2 93.1 4.2 0.3 0.3 Key: VCS - very coarse sand; CS - coarse sand; MS - medium sand; FS - fine sand; VFS - very fine sand; S+C - silt plus clay 52 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20 1- 1.5 years in age. The observation of the wide discrepancy of primary and secondary root growth prompted a physical analysis on selected samples of the underlying construction sand. CONSTRUCTION SAND PROPERTIES Visual observations conducted of the construction sand in all greens sampled indicated a range of textures. In total, eight construction sand types were analysed for particle size distribution (PSD) using the NATA-registered laboratory Ground Science. The PSD (Table 2) of greens sampled varied between narrow to wide distributions among most samples. In the majority of cases, the tested sands recorded a PSD in accordance with the current USGA (United States Golf Association) specifications for putting greens. Sand grain shape (roundness and sphericity) varied between sand types. Clearly, differences in sand colour and grain shape indicated the construction sands were sourced from numerous sand quarries. We hypothesise that the pore size geometry of sands is one factor to have influenced primary root growth and secondary root branching. KEY CULTURAL PRACTICE IMPACTS Responses to a superintendent questionnaire revealed different choices of bentgrass cultivars and key cultural practices adopted during the grow-in (i.e.; establishment to opening) and the maintenance (i.e.; opening time to sampling date) phases. The reported grow-in phase time of greens sampled ranged from as short as four weeks (one course) to 8-16 weeks (majority of courses) all the way through to 19-21 weeks. Most greens sampled were reported to have been tined (i.e.; hollow and/ or solid) during the grow-in phase from as few as 1-2 times (two courses) to 4-5 times but as numerous as 12 times (two courses) during this period. The number of reported sand topdressings varied from 2- 3 (five courses) up to 6-9 times (two courses). The maintenance phase time of greens sampled varied significantly, depending on time of opening and sampling dates. All greens sampled were reported to have been topdressed during the maintenance period. The number of topdressings varied from 1-21 times but mostly 5-7. Sand types used to topdress greens sampled were reported to range from relatively fine (dune sand) either as part of a frequent (2-3 weeks) topdressing programme or a medium-coarse (river sand) twice yearly. DISCUSSION The results and questionnaire responses from this investigation of thatch-mat architecture of relatively new bentgrass putting greens clearly indicated that the physical form and rate of bentgrass architectural development is a dynamically-complex phenomena and which occurs rapidly and is influenced by a multiplicity of environmental and management- induced factors specific to each green. The results of the principal focus of this investigation leads to the interpretation that the rate, amount and physical nature of organic accumulation to primarily be a management-driven response and interpreted largely as a reflection of the respective tining and especially of sand topdressing programmes between greens sampled. The homogenous thatch-mat architecture, as observed beneath the two intensively-managed sampled greens at one course, is a reflection of the very frequent sand topdressing (dusting) concept. This topdressing strategy reportedly resulted to adding 13.5mm of sand per year with an overall increase (i.e.; total thatch-mat) of about 20mm per year to a topdressed green. The impact of tines of different diameters and spacing on bentgrass greens reported by numerous authors obviously reduces the volume and density but not thickness. Generally speaking, the results of most investigations indicate a combination of tining (solid or hollow) and sand topdressing obtains the best results in managing thatch-mat accumulation. Tining provides an avenue to introduce topdressed sand albeit with varying effectiveness. Several authors have questioned whether the reported reduction of organic accumulation from sand topdressing on bentgrass greens is the result of organic biodegradation by microbial stimulation or simply a dilution effect from the applied sand. The results of one recent investigation into the probable effects of tining and scarifying on microbial activity led the authors to conclude that irrigation water management rather than cultivation had a greater impact on microbial activity. Soil-borne, microbial communities are known to occur in aging putting greens as attested by the recently reported phenomena ‘thatch collapse’ caused by a soil-borne basidiomycete fungi. Commercialisation of numerous products purported to increase organic matter degradation and continuing investigations of microbial inoculants may be effective under certain conditions provided the microbial population remains sufficiently high. Generally speaking, thatch-mat management programmes on bentgrass greens in Australia have largely been based on historical rather than scientifically-based, agronomic reasons. A multitude of mechanical cultivation technologies are available, albeit at varying capital and on-going costs. Overall, the results of this field investigation has demonstrated under a range of circumstances, the newer-generation bentgrass cultivars have the propensity to attain a thatch-mat thickness between 5-10mm at some time during the first two years after establishment. Thus, it could be interpreted that the rate of accumulation and thatch-mat thickness beneath bentgrass greens will be governed primarily by the intensity or otherwise of the superintendent’s cultural management objectives. Under actual putting green conditions, as opposed to experimentally-controlled conditions, the complex interaction of climatic, environmental and management-induced factors, let alone club committee, player expectations and resources, come into the equation of how best to manage bentgrass thatch-mat architecture. A question for each superintendent, based on the results of this real-life investigation, is what physical form and total thatch-mat thickness best serves the performance requirements, groundstaff and equipment resources for each golf course? An intensive, thatch-mat management programme is a huge commitment and one not to be taken lightly by superintendent or golf club. CONCLUSION The multiple variables of environmental and management-induced factors that have influenced the rate, production and architecture of bentgrass thatch-mat during this study leads to the conclusion they are interacting and far more complex than occurs under controlled studies, hence further work. Three broad-based, take-home messages become obvious from this investigation in an attempt to attain and manage a balance between the rates and physical architecture of organic accumulation against the rate of decomposition on ‘maturing’ bentgrass putting greens; • Progressive accumulation of thatch-mat, irrespective of its architecture and thickness, beneath relatively new, let alone aged bentgrass putting greens, is inevitable; • Developing thatch-mat architecture will progressively impact on various agronomic and playing surface properties, perhaps to the point of being detrimental, if improperly managed. • Recognising that thatch-mat architecture and its rate of accumulation varies between individual greens established at the same and other golf courses during the same short time period, implementation of an early monitoring and sampling programme is mandatory. Thus, each club committee and superintendent must co-operatively decide the required standard of playing surface presentation of their greens knowing the underlying architecture to be dynamic, but which can be managed given adequate resources from the club and commitment on the part of the superintendent and groundstaff. Editor’s Note: This research project was presented at the 2018 Australasian Turfgrass Conference. The full paper can be obtained from the AGCSA. | Understanding the dynamics of | bentgrass thatch-mat architecture j and root growth during the early about the scheduling of key cultural practices such as topdressing years of a new green is fundamental. Empowered superintendents are then ! able to make informed decisions Example of bentgrass root growth sample greater than 200mm NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 53 ENVIRONMENT Tournaments are great tor showcasing the art of preparing elite turf surfaces, but they can be hard on out of play areas writes ATM environmental expert Kate Torgersen. The past month has seen a number of Australia’s leading golf courses showcased to the world as they hosted major tournaments such as Emirates Australian Open and the ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf. The Metropolitan Golf Club (superintendent Dave Mason) on the Melbourne sandbelt hosted the latter and as I am sure everyone will agree it came up an absolute treat despite some pretty adverse weather conditions. Hosting a tournament of this scale can be a challenging time for a superintendent and their crew and also for those charged with overseeing and maintaining the landscape and plantation areas. Management of such areas is just one of the many facets that go into getting a course ready to host a major tournament. Spectator galleries, tournament infrastructure and set-up can cause significant damage to these areas, while post-event there is the inevitable restoration of areas needed. With the World Cup visiting Melbourne for the third time in six years this November, I was fortunate to have a look around Metropolitan the week before the tournament started and caught up with vegetation manager Ben Burke. It was an opportune time to walk around Metropolitan’s wonderful plantation areas and discuss with Ben the various projects he has been working on, some of them long before the club was announced as World Cup host, and to gain an insight into the challenges that such an event presents. In 2016, The Metropolitan Golf Club together with course architects Crafter and Mogford embarked on a significant Course Enhancement Plan. A key part of the plan was to look at the plantation areas and I was lucky enough to have some involvement with this process. Ben was appointed by the club in 2017 and the plantation areas are being well managed and are considered a major asset to the course. The initial areas targetted - the 2nd hole boundary and rear of the 7th green - have established well and are beginning to look like they are remnant parts of the course. A variety of native indigenous species were planted, with the help of many enthusiastic members who volunteered their time in what was an exciting project for the club. Adding to the excitement was the announcement in late 2017 that the club was to host the 2018 World Cup of Golf. While it was a tremendous fillip for the club, for Ben it raised questions as to what it would mean for the Course Enhancement Plan and his management of the plantation areas. Knowing that the amount of traffic was about to considerably increase, Ben decided that to reduce potential plant loss, any revegetation works from that point on would be with native grasses only. The main reasoning behind this was that native grasses establish quicker, can handle traffic better and, depending on the level of damage, most of the time will bounce back. Ben’s main focus also switched from project mode to visual maintenance, ensuring the plantation areas were at a high standard by the time the tournament was broadcast live around the world. One added bonus of hosting the tournament was the additional resources Ben had at his disposal which assisted with weed management, planting and general tidying up of the areas. Volunteers also played a significant role in getting these areas ready for the tournament with a number of working bees held in the months leading up. 54 AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT Leading up to the World Cup, some challenges Ben had to face included a spray ban three weeks out from the tournament. This ban was to ensure there were no visual effects from having dead/ dying weeds seen on TV. I must say, watching the last day’s play while on holiday in Bali, the plantation areas looked amazing, especially seeing the golden wispy native grasses contrasting the immaculate playing surfaces that Mason and his team presented. Speaking with Ben after the tournament he was surprised by the lack of damage to the vegetation areas caused by World Cup spectators: “You could hardly notice that we had thousands of people walking around the course over five days. Even where traffic was directed through vegetation, I noticed most spectators stayed to the sandy areas and left other areas untrampled. Vegetation was mainly affected by media/broadcast contractors running cables and erecting camera towers around the course and golfers and officials walking directly over vegetation in certain areas, including in some instances with buggies which was a bit hard to witness. But overall it was very minimal and will recover very quickly.” Having now experienced a tournament and the impact it has on the plantation areas, especially at a club where there has been a significant investment made, Ben has a few suggestions when it comes to protecting these areas. “It would be great to be able to walk the course with the tournament officials and staff who were setting up the ropes. There were some areas of the course which directed spectators straight through vegetation areas unnecessarily where tracks could easily have been used. “Also having a brief of possible walking areas a few months in advance would have allowed me to plant some heathland plants, including rarer ones, in areas which I knew spectators would be excluded from. I now have to wait until next year to plant some of these areas out.” Despite the challenges such an event presents, overall the World Cup was a huge success for Metropolitan and again showcased just how unique Melbourne’s sandbelt courses and their landscapes are. The way in which the plantation areas presented is a great testament to the hard work that Ben and the team at Metropolitan put in during the lead-up to the World Cup. During 2018 alone, he and a band of wonderful volunteers planted between 15,000 - 20,000 indigenous species. Further plantings are planned for 2019 with around 5000 expected to be placed at various locations according to the course improvement plan. Other focuses for Ben in the coming 12 months will be continued weeding of areas which already exist and hopefully introducing an ecological burn in one or more remnant patches to enhance the existing vegetation. Since 2016, The Metropolitan Golf Club has embarked on a Course Enhancement Plan with the plantation areas a key focus. The boundary of the 2nd hole was one of the first areas to be worked on Simplot PARTNERS mySURFACE Win an all-expenses paid trip to the 2019 Asian Turfgrass Conference. Visit our Facebook page to enter. W- : S MS,; W < :JT Golf Solutions Hunter Built on Innovation- Aicl Where needs take us david golf EST. 1956 ooasis turf L PGG WrightsonTurf Simplot PARTNERS Cutting-edge in more ways than one, Baroness takes precision to the next level. 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