November, 1980
ourâe
OF

Superin
NEW

ten den ti

E N G L A N D

iiociation
I N C

Sponsors a n d administrators of the L a w r e n c e S.
Dickinson Scholarship Fund — A w a r d e d y e a r l y
to deserving Turf M a n a g e m e n t Students.

Summer Went on the Wagon
If you are a golf course superintendent and irrigation
systems are among those items your club labels "things to install tomorrow," your summer has been a test of your ingenuity, patience...and luck.
This was not the dryest golfing season on record in the
Northeast. But it ranks right up there with the meanest.
Across the New England area, there were stretches of rainless
days that turned many a lush and lovely fairway into a slab of
overcooked bacon.
For example, the month of August produced a 15-day span
in which a total of. 15 inches of rain fell. From the 16th day of
the month to the 30th. only traces of precipitation were
recorded. And that .15 inches came in one swoop, on August
31.
Superintendents, under the disadvantage of having to
groom their courses without what has turned into the luxury
of an irrigation system, found themselves cursing the skies
and taking emergency measures to save greens and tees.
"1 was out day and night with tanks, hoses and everything
at my command to keep my greens cooled down," one super
reported. "And I'm not talking about producing moisture just
for the sake of looks. I was in a desperate position, faced with
the possibility of losing everything with grass on it."
The critical burn-out months of July and August were indeed just that. July did total 2.70 inches of rainfall. However,
that figure is deceiving in the fact that more than half of it
came during a thunderstorm on July 29 that produced 1.38
inches. Therefore, the remaining 30 days of the month
brought only a little more than one inch of rain.
Weather forecasters were especially concerned with the
continuation of the drought in September. Normally, the
autumn kickoff is accompanied by cool nights and humidityshort days.
"That's when I thought our course would snap back." informed another super who has to depend on Mother Nature
for his main source of water. "But, instead of getting better,
conditions got worse. This is the last day of the month
(September) and I have never seen my fairways as brown. It's
worse than that. They're parched."
According to records of local weather bureaus. September
falls into a list of "the top 20" as far as instigating drought
conditions. This means that the month has to go down as one
of the dryest since records were initiated more than 80 years
ago.
In addition to being on the wagon for most of the golfing
season, the summer proved to be more of a headache because
of the complementing conditions it wrought. The humidity
was beastly and consistent. Then, too. another danger surfaced.
"Just too many stages when the winds came out of the
northwest," our plagued supers complained. "They took
what moisture there was in the ground and dried it up. So, I
was fighting the weather from all sides...no rain, lots of

humidity and those damn northwest winds."
Ironically, the dry summer might have been welcomed by
those superintendents with irrigation systems and bountiful
water supplies for employing them at their command.
"Personally, I think I can do a better job of keeping my
course in good shape when we have prolonged dry conditions," one push-button rainmaker observed. "What happens in this case is that I can control the amount of moisture
going to the plants."
"I fear those quick thunderstorms that drop buckets of
rain, forming still water and inviting disease from the
humidity. When that happens. I'm helpless. So. even though
I feel sorry for those superintendents and courses that don't
have irrigation systems, I do better when it doesn't rain."
The occasion of the drought through the summer months
followed a pattern established last winter when the
Northeast-especially New England-suffered through
snowless months. That posed a danger of top soil blowing off
and lengthened the turf recovery period of spring.
" W e were hammered all year long as far as I'm concerned,"
the super praying for rain concluded. "For those of us, who
couldn't control the moisture and feeding process, it was
sheer hell. It has to tell my club something. Irrigation is the
only way to go."
So, the superintendent had his problem this golf season.
Spring was a late comer and summer lingered into fall
without loosening its grip on choking conditions. As the
farmer once sighed while clearing the dust from his throat,
"it was so dry I had to sit on a sack of fertilizer to raise an umbrella."
GERRY FINN

Next Meeting
Monoosnock C.C.
Nov. 3, 1980
Directors Meeting 9:30 a.m.
Regular Meeting
10:00 a.m.
Lunch
11:30 a.m.
12:30
p.m.
Golf
Directions: From 128 or 495 take route 2
west to route 13. Turn right on route 13.
Club is 7/10 mile on right.
Reservations for lunch: Call Leroy Allen
at 342-7722 home or 537-1812 club.

Course

Superintendents

^Association

Subtle audi Successful
The transformation has been subtle...and it's working its
way to a very successful finish.
The project is the return to the golfing challenges of
yesteryear, influenced by a creative undertaking of the golf
course superintendent. Slowly but surely, the summer
playground of millions of low handicappers and hackers is
losing its shooting gallery look and taking on the appearance
of a truly sporting venture.
The Newsletter has been in the midst of a subtle undertaking of its own-polling golfers on their views of allowing the
•fringe'"grasses-torerrrairr at ^haften-gmg-ehippmg-heigfrts-and
closing in the fairways by extending the limits of roughs
distinguishing their natural route to the green.
Most courses have turned to the sculpture technique of
mowing fairways and roughs. Obviously, from an aesthetic
viewpoint, the change has brought a remarkable improvement to the overall view of the golf course.
"Now. the game of golf is back to what it was intended to
be," one player admitted after taking two shots to get his ball
back where it belonged-in the middle of the fairway. "It's
returned to a test of accuracy and skill. Bull-whipping the golf
ball belongs on the driving range."
Golfers have been forced to concentrate on distance for the
past 20 years because of the influx of so-called "championship" courses. These were designed strictly for those sultans
of swat who could drive the ball 250 yards or more consistently. With their coming came a wave of complaints from
those who were "wearing out their woods" trying to reach
the green.
Therefore, golf became a sport of the bicep-equipped set
and plunged the short hitters into frustrated rounds in the
astronomical scoring range. However, a combination of
economics and common sense is promoting some equity in
scoremaking.
The revolution has even brought on signs of response from
the golfing architectural wing. The trend in building courses
now is to stress accuracy by offering shorter holes, smaller
greens and just enough hazards to penalize the whole rather
than part of it.
"I've had the most problems with that tall stuff around the
greens," another golfer told. " A t first. I was convinced the
superintendent at our course was just being lazy and
overlooking cutting the fringes down to pool table height. I
was ready to blast him for it. But, after playing at other
courses. I can see what it's all about. I've had to adjust but
I'm beginning' to enjoy this new challenge."
Actually, the new form of grooming the course down to
tight proportions originated out of necessity. The superintendent had to cut back on conditioning costs and the easiest
method was to alter mowing procedures. From that start,
there has developed a new concept of course appreciation
and playing.
"It's just common sense," one veteran golfer opined. " I had
to go along with the exaggerated distances required when
they built those monster courses, because I had no choice.

PRESIDENT
Ronald K i r k m a n
25 Green St.
Needham. Mass. 02192
H o m e Phone 444-8412
O f f i c e Phone 444-5548
Club Affiliation
N e e d h a m Golf C l u b

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
Brian Cowan CGCS
R o b i n s Way
Harwich. Mass. 02645
H o m e Phone 432-9041
O f f i c e Phone 945-9230
Club Affiliation
Eastward Ho.

S E C O N D VICE PRESIDENT
Donald Hearn CGCS
4 T o p e k a Rd.
C h e l m s f o r d , Mass. 01824
H o m e Phone 256-8709
O f f i c e Phone 894-5906
Club Affiliation
W e s t o n Golf Club

SECRETAHV
David Barber CGCS
145 Dedham St
Canton, Mass. 02021
H o m e Phone 828-7266
O f f i c e Phone 828-6540
Club Affiliation
Blue Hills C.C.

Now, there's more logic in the game. I feel I have a chance
against a longer hitter because I'm more accurate. Therefore,
at least the change has brought some competitive balance into the sport."
Of course, there are some dissenters. " I don't think you
should be penalized for rolling two or three feet over the
green or coming up short by having to chip out of elephant
grass," one golfer groused. " A n d chipping's the worst part of
my game. I guess I'll just have to take a lesson...or take up
tennis."
-—
the most part, golfers are coming around to accepting the
change. Certainly, the superintendent has to approve of it
since the time saved in less mowing allows him freedom to
pursue other problems.
At any rate, the transformation eventually will produce the
complete golfer and distribute the challenge of the game
more judiciously. That's the way it should be, anyway.
GERRY FINN

"GOTTA CLUB THAT SWINGS WITHOUT A SLICE?"

Nominating Committee For 1981

TREASURER
Pete Coste - CGCS
121 Granite St.
Medfleld, Mass. 02052
H o m e Phone 359-7247
O f f i c e Phone 566-0240
Club Affiliation
The C o u n t r y C l u b

Don Hearn, Chmn.
Dave Barber
Joe Rybka

TRUSTEE
Bert Frederick
45 Stoney Brook Rd
Nabnaset. Mass. 01861
H o m e Phone 692-6445
O f f i c e Phone 453-1231
Club A f f i l i a t i o n
Vesper C.C.

Bob Connolly
Norm Mucciarone

TRUSTEE
Meindert S c h u l t s
737 Princeton Blvd
Lowell. Mass. 01851
H o m e Phone 458-7605
O f f i c e Phone 452-8228
Club A f f i l i a t i o n
Mt. Pleasant G.C.

TRUSTEE
Melvin O'Kelly
345 Piain St
Marshfield. Mass. 02050
H o m e phone 834-4229
O f f i c e Phone 837-3321
Club A f f i l i a t i o n
Marshfield C.C.

FINANCECHAIRMAN
Robert J o h n s t o n CGCS
128 W l l b r a h a m Rd
Hampden. Mass. 01036
H o m e Phone 566-3075
O f f i c e Phone 566-3096
Club Affiliation
H a m p d e n C.C.

OF

NEW

ENGLAND,

INC.

Evaluating Your
Operation
With the passing of summer, golf course superintendents
in many parts of the country have an opportunity to set back,
take a deep breath and evaluate their operations. On many
courses, heavy player traffic has slowed, seasonal employees
have gone and budget time is approaching. It's time to take
inventory.
Besides the problems of getting the course and equipment
ready for winter and inventorying leftover supplies, it's also
time to look back over the summer and take a mental inventory of your operation's strengths and weaknesses,
weaknesses.
For example, what went wrong during the season? Was
your course damaged by insects or disease? If so. what can be
done to prevent a recurrence? Now is the time to figure out
what should be done and when.
Were your crew members aerifying the course on the day of
a club tournament? The slow seasons are the time to work
out lines of communication to prevent such misunderstandings from happening next year.
What can be done to improve the course? Take an objective
look at your irrigation system, your equipment and the
design and condition of your course. Maybe this is the time to
plan improvements.
While you are evaluating your performance over the last
season, don't overlook the things that went especially well,
either. Did you pick up any additional responsibilities this
year, responsibilities you might like to continue? Did you try
a new scheduling program that was effective? How can it be
changed to work even better?
Which of your employees really came through for you? Did
an assistant take over some of your responsibilities and run
with them? Which employees are willing to put out a little extra effort? Which ones seem to have good ideas? Did one of
your seasonal employees prove to be especially hard-working
and reliable? If so, you will want to make arrangements to
have him back next year.
Now take a look at those projects that were put off all summer. Now is the time to dust them off and get to work on
them.
Here is where a good filing system comes in handy. By taking clear notes on problems and opportunities as they occur,
and by adding to those notes when you evaluate your operation at the end of the season, you can develop a handy
reference tool for use in the future.
Whatever your evaluation of the summer proves, it's important to reap whatever benefits you can. If everything went
relatively well, it's just as vital to know why as it is to uncover
the causes if there were problems. By building on the past
years' achievements and avoiding its mistakes, we can face
anything the future has to offer.
Credit: FOREFRONT

GOLF
CHAIRMAN
Ken Mooradian
134 Green St.
Hopedale. Mass. 01747
H o m e Phone 473-2352
O f f i c e Phone 473-3508
Club Affiliation
Hopedale C.C.

EDUCATIONAL
CHAIRMAN
Paul Miller
173 Salem St.
S w a m p s c o t t . Mass. 01907
H o m e Phone 581 -2808
O f f i c e Phone 595-3107
Club A f f i l i a t i o n
T e d e s c o C.C.

NEWSLETTER
CHAIRMAN
Tom S c h o f i e l d CGCS
290 North Rd.
Sudbury. Mass. 01776
H o m e Phone 443-3712
O f f i c e Phone 235-7333
Club Affiliation
Wellesley C.C.

PAST PRESIDENT
Dean R o b e r t s o n
24 Riverview Drive
Newbury, Mass. 01950
H o m e Phone 462-4540
O f f i c e Phone 745-7289
Club Affiliation
K e r n w o o d C.C.

$30,000!"

Bye Your Hydraialie Oil
Over the years spillage of oil on greens from triplex mowers
has been a headache to superintendents. W e ' v e read all the
different methods of clean up of such spills from alcohol to
detergents. It was interesting to read in the June issue of Golf
Business, how one superintendent tackled this problem.
Gary Morgan. Superintendent at Sherwood Country Club
in Titusville, Florida, with the help of his assistant Bill Sheffer, did some digging and came up with a dye that could successfully be mixed with hydraulic oil. A crimson red fat stain
named S U D A N IV, S667 was the answer. Gary's test showed
that 25 gms. of the material was a suitableamount to mix in
the hydraulic system of a Toro Greensmaster III. The advantages of the stain are:
1. Operator can immediately observe spillage.
2. Stain shows up at loose fittings.
In the U.S.. the S U D A N IV dye is manufactured by Fisher
Scientific Company, Fairhaven, New Jersey 07410. In the
Toronto area the material can be purchased from B.D.H.
Chemicals. Evans Avenue, Toronto. Cost of 25 oz. of SUDAN
IV, S667 is roughly $18.
Note: The stain does not have the approval of Toro or
Jacobsen yet for their warranty machines, but after 1-1/2
years of use. Gary Morgan has found it to be successful
without any affect to the operation of the mower.

I n f o r m a t i o n c o n t a i n e d i n t h i s p u b l i c a t i o n m a y b e used
f r e e l y , in w h o l e or In p a r t , w i t h o u t special p e r m i s s i o n as l o n g
as t h e t r u e c o n t e x t is m a i n t a i n e d . W e w o u l d a p p r e c i a t e a
c r e d i t line.

7>(e*d* fxit>iOHi$e FRIENDS OF THE ASSOCIATION
B a k e r T r a c t o r Corp., F o r d T r a c t o r s
H a r l e y D a v i d s o n Golf C a r s
Swansea, Mass.
Y a m a h a G o l f Cars
Bordens Spreader S e r v i c e
M a y n a r d , Mass.
Tel. 617-897,2571
Sales Rep. J a c k B o r d e n
Bulk L i m e s t o n e D e a l e r
The C h a r l e s C. H a r t Seed Co.
W e t h e r s f i e l d , Conn
Bob K e n n e d y , Rep
Roy Sibley, Rep
203 529 2537
Chester Drake & Sons Inc.
222 Walnut St.
Framingham. Mass. 01701
Golf Course C o n s t r u c t i o n
617-875-7929

Box 9 M i l f o r d , Conn. 06460
203-878-0658
* T o m I r w i n , Inc.
I I B A St.
B u r l i n g t o n , Mass.

* The Magovern Co. Inc.

D L Maher
Box 127, C o n c o r d St
N. Reading, M a s s 01864

N.E. Chapter Land I m p r o v e m e n t
C o n t r a c t o r s of A m e r i c a
Professional C o n s e r v a t i o n of
Soil and Water
C o n t r a c t o r in your area,
call Peter W h i t i n g , Pres.
617-877-5323

G e o f f r e y S. C o r n i s h & W i l l i a m G Robinson
Golf Course A r c h i t e c t s
F i d d l e r s Green, A m h e r s t . M a s s 01002.

Rep. Ed Wlacek 1-401-253-4284
Rep. Kevin Lyons 1-617-366-4825
Gold Star Sod F a r m s , Inc.
Sod 8. Pine B a r k M u l c h
C a n t e r b u r y . N.H. 603 783 4717
Weston, Mass. 617 894 5474
! & E Supply, Inc.
66 E r n a Ave.

*

Old F o x C h e m i c a l Inc.
F e r t i l i z e r s Seeds T u r f C h e m i c a l s
66 V a l l e y St
E P r o v i d e n c e , R.I 02914
P r o L a w n Prod., Ine
F r e d A n t h o n y , Sales Rep.
391 T r e m o n t St.
N. D l g h t o n , M a s s . 02764
617 823 1348
Richey & C l a p p e r , Inc.
28 R u t l e d g e Rd.
N a t l c k , Mass. 01760

Return to:
TOM SCHOF IELD
290 North Road
Sudbury, MA 01776

FIRST CLASS
TOMSCHOFIELDCGCS
Newsletter Committee Chairman
290 North Road
Sudbury, Mass. 01776
Home Phone 443-3712
Office Phone 235-7333
Club Affiliation
Wellesley Country Club
PETE COSTE'
Business Manager
LEON ST. PIERRE
Co-ordlnator
GERRY FINN
Contributing Editor

T u c o P r o d u c t s Corp
D i v . of the U p j o h n Co.
Kalamazoo, Mich.
D a v i d Sylvester
203 828 3790

R. F. M o r s e 8,Son, Inc.
W W a L e h a m , Mass 02576
T e l : 617 295 1553
J. W i l l e n Roell. Rep
Larry Bunn, Rep.
New E n g l a n d S e a l c o a t i n g Co Ine
T e n n i s C o u r t Const and M a i n t e n a n c e
Sealcoating H i n g h a m Ind Center
H i n g h a m , M a s s 749 6800

Country Club Enterprises
Club Car Golf Cars
Tennis & Leisure Equipment
P.O. Box 400, W. Falmouth, Ma. 02574
617-563-2284

Scotts P r o T u r f D l v .

T u c k a h o e T u r f F a r m s , Inc.
S l o c u m , ß . I . , L i t c h f i e l d , N.H
1 800 556-6985
Alan Anderson
Sam M i t c h e l l

27 Lawnacre Road
W i n d s o r Locks, Conn. 06096
Tel. # 1-800-243-7718 or 1-203-623-2508
Louis C. Rogers, Vice Pres.

*

S a w t e l l e Bros.
565 H u m p h r e y St.
S w a m p s c o t t , Mass.
617-599-4856
Scott Associates, Inc.
60 W a t e r Street, C l i n t o n , Mass.
617 365 6341
P u m p s Sales, s e r v i c e
Installation- Vertical
Turbine pump specialists

L a r c h m o n t E n g i n e e r i n g and I r r i g . Co.
L a r c h m o n t Lane, L e x i n g t o n , M a s s .
617 862 2550

The C l a p p e r Co. ^
1121 W a s h i n g t o n St.
Newton, Mass
617 244 7900

C S. C u r r a n
T R C P r o d u c t s , Oils and Greases
7 L i n d e n St., F r a m i n g h a m , Mass.

*

" T u r t P r o d u c t s Corp
1496 J o h n F i t c h B l v d
S. W i n d s o r , Conn 06074
1 203 289 3471
J o h n P e r r y , Sales Rep
*

Turf Specialty, Inc.
84 Merrimac St.
Hooksett, N.H. 03106
Turf & Ornamental Supplies
Ken Turner 617-263-7526
V a l l e y F a r m s N u r s e r y & Supply, Inc.
133 Hopemeadow St., Rt 10
S i m s h u r y , Ct. 06070
P u t t i n g Green Sod for the Professional
Joe B i d w e l l Pres.
Bus. 203-651 8555 Res. 203 658 6886
White Turf Engineering
5 S u m m e r D r i v e , W i n c h e n d o n , Mass. 01475
61.7 297 0941
Phillip Wogan
Golf Course A r c h i t e c t
21 B u d l e l g h Ave.. B e v e r l y . M a s s

* Contributors
Scholarship

to the Lawrence

S.

Dickinson

Fund

F i r s t Class
U . S . Postage

PAID
Maynard, MA
Permit # 1 7