NORTHERN MICHI RF MANAGERS ASSOCIATION C. E. “ TUCK" TATE, PRESIDENT FRANK HEMINGER, Secretary-Treas. Proper'y of BEARD 1 ,47 SANTO COL LEO ION TRAVERSE CITY, Ml. 49684 JAMES B. BEARD . _ c . n . TUESDAY, AUGUST 19th, 1980 PHONE: 616-947-9274 Soil, Crop Sciences Ltept. INTERLOCHEN GOL5* & COUNTRY CLUB Texas Ä&M Univj INTERLOCHEN, MICHIGAN What you see above Is the story on this Association’s next meeting. Interlochen is located about two miles west of the town on M-31» the main artery from Traverse City to Beulah or south. It is very easy to find and it was here that our Association was founded nine years ago. Our Secretary-Treasurer Prank Heminger is the host Superintendent here and he and Tom Hishuck, one of the owners invites you to play their fine 18 hole golf course. Interlochen probably plays more rounds of golf per year than any other golf course in northern Michigan. It is a very interesting challenge of golf which you will enjoy. Starting times are desired, the phone number is area 616/275-7311. Lunch is available however arrange your schedule so as not to miss your starting time. Dinner will be served at 6:30 P.M. and our business meeting will start as soon as dinner is over. Our speaker for the evening will be Gerald H. Matthews, Michigan Golf Course Architect who will present the new slide presentation developed by The American Association of Golf Architects. This is very Interesting in that they will give you ideas which you can use in making changes, improvements, additions, to your course. As usual, we must Inform Interlochen of the number that will be there for dinner. Our usual postcard is enclosed and we would like you to please get it in the return mail immediately. Some of you have been very good about returning these cards whereas others of you should be ashamed for the lack of cooperation to your fellow host superintendent, that has the invited you. PLEASE Act NOW. ********#***#***#****#**#«-)(##*#***#«**##«*«>*#**#*#******#****# The Executive Committee of G.C.S.A.A. has named James E. McLoughlin as Executive Director of the Golf Course Superintendents Ass’n of America. McLoughlin is a graduate of Holy Cross College. He holds a law degree from Fordham University and a Master’s in physics from Syracuse University. He was a high school physics teacher and coach for six years before taking over as Executive Director for Metropolitan Golf Association in 1966. The Metropolitan Golf Ass’n is the nations largest and oldest and serves more than 225 private clubs within the tri-state metropolitan New York area. Mr. McLaughlin comes well recommended and qualified to lead this national organization to greater heights. We are very fortunate in the selection. DEALING EFFECTIVELY A Pat had been going to “Harry The WITH SALESMEN Barber” for years. Each time he went Salesmen are a necessary part of your business in, Harry would start name dropping: “My friend Harry Truman. My operation. They keep you informed of new products good friend Jimmy Carter. As 1 was and serve as a personal contact between you and your telling my friend, Bob Hope,” etc. One suppliers. When a product you need is in short day Harry said: supply, a good relationship with your salesman can “As I was telling my good friend, make the difference between getting your order and The Pope . . . .” at which point Pat in­ going without. terrupted: Unfortunately, many superintendent/salesman “Hold it! This time you’ve gone too contracts result in a lot of time and coffee being far, Harry. I’ve listened to your name consumed with very little to show for it. Here are some dropping for years, but when you tell me The Pope is a personal friend, ways you can organize your meetings with a salesmen that’s too much!” to save you both time and energy. “Real close friends,” said Harry. Prepare For Sales Calls by having some idea of what “O.K.,” said Pat. “I’ve been you will order. Study that firm’s promotional literature wanting to go to Rome for a long time. and trade magazine advertisements to develop a list of I’ll bet you ten thousand dollars you questions about products which interest you. don’t know The Pope. Go with me and prove it.” Make Your Salesmen Understand that your time is “Ten thousand? I’ll go,” said Harry. valuable and that you have no intention of wasting it. They arrived in Rome and joined the Your regular salesmen should understand that you will multitude awaiting The Pope’s ap­ have nothing to do with a salesman who wastes your pearance. time and his. After all, he is there for your convenience. “Excuse me,” said Harry The Bar­ ber. “I’m going on inside. When my Train Your Staff to seperate the unimportant and good friend The Pope and I appear on unneeded items which salesmen are seeking to sell the balcony, you’ll owe me $10,000.” you from those products which could be of some value. The two appeared. Never having Give someone on your staff the authority to turn down seen The Pope, Pat was skeptical. He those which obviously have little value. Keep a list of turned to a little Italian gentleman standing next to him and asked: “Do your needs handy so that your staff can refer to it when you live in Rome?” a salesman calls. “Lived here all my life,” was the rep­ Meet with Salesmen in an area of your building ly* where you are least likely to be interrupted. The few “Do you know who that is up there minutes each day you save by making your meetings on the balcony?” more efficient will add up to a sizable total by the end of The little fellow peered up, squinted his eyes, and replied: the year. “I don’t know who the guy in the Don’t Bother Your Salesmen with matters over which tunny hat is, but that’s my friend Har­ they have no control. If you have a problem which they ry The Barber standing there beside cannot solve, go directly to the company and use the him.” time saved for more pressing matters. ★★★ If doesn’t hurt to cement valuable relationships over an informal cup of coffee when you both have time to SIX STEPS TO BETTER A spare, but a hard look at the way you deal with salesmen can result in a considerable amount of time COMMUNICATION on everyone’s part. “Communications is the lubricant for the work of an —Credit GCSAA Fore Front organization and fuel for the manager’s positive relationships with an effective, satisfied crew,” Ronald C. Frame, an Oklahoma City management consultant, states in Managing Human Resources, a new GCSAA management manual written especially for golf course superintendents. Frame gives six suggestions: Dutch elm disease cure? A University of Chicago medical stu­ 1. Think through what you wish to accomplish before dent says he might have stumbled across a solution to the you start. This is tactical, it is preparation and it helps Dutch elm disease while attempting to discover a cure for eliminate surprises in the process. 2. Determine the ways you will communicate: This is cancer. a process of selection. What will work best with the William J. Elliott was studying ways of synthesizing other party? mavtansine, a potent anti-cancer drug, when he learned a 3. Appeal to the interests of the recipient: You want chemical analog of that drug attracts beetles that cause Dutch his attention, he wants to know how he will beaffected. elm disease in elm trees. An analog is ¿1 man-made equivalent 4. Give feedback on what others communicate to of a natural chemical. Elliott and his colleagues say they have you: That is, “Now let me make sure I’ve got it.” developed a method to produce the analog — multistriatin — Feedback is a checking, confirming process. 5. Get feedback on what you are communicating: and that the raw materials are cheaper to buy than gasoline. The burden is on you to make yourself understood. He said a vial of the chemical is placed at the base of a tree 6. Test the effectiveness of important communica­ and the beetles get entangled in fly paper when they venture tions before relying on them: Ineffective communica­ near the attractive chemical. Josef Fried, the professor tion is no communication at all and will tend to directing the research, says enough multistriatin has been generate problems of attitudes, sorry work, and more produced to attract all the elm tree beetles in North America. difficult communications later. Managing Human Resources is available to GCSAA members for $3.25 from GCSAA Headquarters, 1617 St. Andrews Drive, Lawrence, Kan. 66044. TURFGRASS CLIPPINGS—DUMP ’EM? termined by visual observation and at Connecticut by tracing the heavily isotopes of a form of nitrogen. OR LEAVE ’EM? If the clippings are very long, wet or heavy, they should be Dr. A. Martin Petrovic and Robert O’Knefski with Ann Reilly removed. An alternate to raking is to re-mow the area after the What are turfgrass clippings? Basically, they are leaf blades clippings are dry, or to use a mulching mower. A few things and are 75-85% water. What isn’s water is 3-6% nigrogen, 0.5- should be remembered when using a mulching mower:1) The 1% phosphorus and 1-3% potassium (a 4-1-3fertilizer) along turf must be relatively dry before mowing to help prevent with calcium and a few other nutrients. There is little or no machine cloggings and the formation of large clumps of clip­ lignin or cellulose in turfgrass clippings, and because of this pings; 2) You will need to mow more often in the spring and along with their being most water, they do not lead to thatch fall because of the faster growth rate. If more frequent mowing accumulation. Thatch is composed mainly of stems, crown is not possible during these periods, you may need to switch to tissue, leaf sheathes, roots and rhizomes, but not leaf blades. conventional mowers; 3)Mulching mowers produce up to 30% finer clippings than conventional rotary mowers which LEAVE ’EM? means faster clippings breakdown, deeper and faster penetra­ Putting greens and other specialty surfaces aside where clip­ tion of the clippings into the turfgrass canopy and clippings pings have to be removed, one solution to the “what to do that are less noticeable. with clippings” problem is to leave them there. Collecting MULCH ’EM? clippings is more than a waste of precious energy for you, it is also a waste of energy for the plant. As clippings break Turfgrass clippings can be used as a mulch around orna­ down, the “recycled” 4-1-3 fertilizer is returned to the turf. mentals, reducing weed competition, conserving soil mois­ You have eliminated the dumping cost, and have saved the ture, supplying nutrients as the break down and helping to time of emptying catchers of bags and hauling the clippings improve soil conditions especially in fine textured soils. Clip­ to the dump by returning clippings to the turf. pings can be used as a straight mulch, but are beter if they are allowed to air-dry firts. They can be composted with or Research at Michigan State University has shown that turf without leaves, but either way should be applied to at least 1 requires up to 2 extra pounds of nitrogen per 1000 sq. ft. thick and should be turnedunder in the fall to help supply where clippings are removed. These studies also indicated nutrients for the next year. As with any mulching material, that turf needs 20-30% more fertilizer if clippings are re­ when using clippings as mulch: Avoid clippings from areas moved to match the quality of turf plots where clippings are with stolons such as creeping bentgrass as clippings of this not removed. Thus, fertilizer costs can be cut by returning type can form into new plants and infest the oramental beds, clippings to the turf, and the need to supply additionional and do not use the first several batches of clippings after fertilizer which may end up in the ground water is eliminated. applying broad-leaf herbicides to the turf to prevent injury to Research at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station ornamental plants. showed comparable results. Turf specialists there found that FEED ’EM? 1.8 pounds of nitrogen per 1000 sq. ft. were removed when grass clippings were cleaned up. In some cases, researchers You must answer NO to this question before considering found that clippings could return over 50% of the nitrogen that turfgrass clippings as an animal feed: “Have any pesticides was added as fertilizer. The turf was greener and grwoth was been applied to the turf? If you answered YES, strongly con­ more vigorous where the clippings remained. Ten years ago, sider other alternatives for clipping utilization. Dried, pellat- similar studies at Cornell University and at Eisenhower Park in ized clippings have been shown to be an excellent poultry nassau County showed that turf was greener, more vigorous feed; however, large acreages are needed to produce en­ and more ddisease tolerant when clippings ere left (dollar spot ough clippings for this process. Sod farmers, with limited in particular was reduced). pesticide usage, have been abletodothistoa limited degree. When clippings are short, they fall down between the blades So., what are you going to do with your clippings? You leave and decompose quite quickly. Tests at Michigan State and ’em, dump ’em or use ’em. Remember, though, this point if Connecticut showed that the clippings are recycled and the you remember nothing else: clippings DO NOT create or add nutrient elements are utilized within 7 to 14 days. This was de­ to the thatch layer of the turf. L. I . G . C / \ A „ Reprint: NYSTA Bulletin Granddad bought a small, almost unnoticeable hearing aid and was so pleased he returned to the office to express his satisfaction. “I imagine your family are very Restaurant owner from the old country kept his accounts payable haPPy> said the salesman. in a cigar box, accounts due on a spindle and cash in his register. “Oh, they don’t know I have it,” “I don’t see how you can run your business this way,” chided chuckled the elderly man. “And am his son, an accountant. “How do you know what you profits are?” I having fun. In the past two weeks “Well, son,” the father replied, “when I got off the boat, I had I’ve changed my will three times.” nothing but the pants I was wearing. Today your brother is a • doctor. Your sister is an art teacher. You’re an accountant. The Holeproof Sports Sock Company “Your mother and I have a nice car, a city house and a country has thousands of letters on file from home. We have a good business and everything is paid for. satisfied customers. The one they’ve So you add all that together, subtract the pants, and there’s chosen as the best came from a cham­ your profit.” pion golfer who wrote, “Half an'hour after I donned your socks, I got a hole Hejaz Commentator in one.” • The weaker sex is the stronger sex because of the weakness of the stronger sex for the weaker sex. PURCHASING EQUIPMENT Many of you have been attending the various turf conferences and trade shows during this winter — some of you with the intention of seeing and maybe purchasing a new piece of equipment. Purchasing equipment is always a difficult and CREATE A FIRE demanding task. Yet, you, as a turf manager, have the PROTECTION PLAN responsibility of purchasing, maintaining, and pro­ tecting thousands of dollars worth of mowers, tractors, Do your employees know what to do if a fire breaks and other turf maintenance equipment. out in your shop or maintenance building? Are they Let’s assume you need a new piece of equipment. prepared to take immediate action to ensure safety and How do you go about obtaining it? The first and main to minimize property damage? thing you should remember is that you want a piece of equipment which best fits your situation. That means it The first step is to prevent loss of life. Employees should meet your job requirements and your financial should know the nearest exit from each enclosed work situation. area, plus one or two alternative routes. You should define the job you want done and The second step is to notify the fire department. determine the specific job requirements. Compare how Emergency telephone numbers, including fire, police long it takes to do this job with whatever method or and ambulance, should be posted next to every tele­ machine you are now using to how long it will take with the new piece of equipment. At the rate minimum phone, and the location of any alarm boxes should be wages are going up, it might be cheaper to buy a new well known to all employees. If practical, one or more and better piece of equipment. employees should be charged with the responsibility Now you need to figure out the approximate amount of seeing that the proper authorities are called in such you can spend on a new piece of equipment. cases. Remember, you can’t buy a Cadillac on a Volkswagon Fire extinguishers usually come in three basic budget. Although most new equipment carries a high classes: A, B and C. initial cost, the long-term savings and better looking turf area from timely maintenance will make the Class A extinguishers are generally air-pressured purchase worthwhile. water, soda acid, pump tanks or gas cartridge types. Expensive equipment does not mean it’s the best. They are only effective on wood, paper or textile fires, You can buy a $200 mower to trim the grass around a and should not be used on flammable liquid or electri­ sand trap, or you can buy a $75 mower to do the same cal fires. This type of extinguisher works by wetting job. No matter which mower you buy, the housing will down the fire’s fuel, lowering its temperature and be severely eaten by the sand. It may be wiser to buy the cheaper mower and replace it as it wears out than to extinguishing it. buy a more expensive mower which will require a larger Class B extinguishers usually are dry chemicals or initial cash outlay and still need the same maintenance carbon dioxide, and are most effective against flam­ as a cheaper mower. mable liquid fires, including oil, gasoline, paint or The time has now come for you to go looking for that grease. They may also be used to fight small Class A new piece of equipment. Trade shows are probably the fires. best place to go looking first. They will generally have a wide selection from different manufacturers. You will Class C extinguishers also are dry chemical or also find less pressure to make a sale than at your local carbon dioxide types, especially designed to be used equipment dealer. You should also make sure to read against electrical fires. They may also be used for small all the professional literature you can about the various Class A or B fires. Class B and C extinguishers work by pieces of equipment in which you are interested. Talk to replacing the oxygen the fire needs to burn with car­ others who may own the piece of equipment in which bon dioxide, smothering the flames. you are interested. What I’m telling you is to look around. Ask questions to learn about a machine’s The number and types of extinguishers you need drawbacks as well as its potentials. Always ask for a depends on the amount and kind of fire hazards in the demonstration; don’t just kick the tires. Keeping up various areas of your shop. Class A extinguishers, with the latest equipment is a must for the conscien­ where appropriate, should be no more than 75 feet of tious turf manager. travel distance apart, and Class B and C extinguishers If you now have made up your mind on the piece of should be no more than 50 feet apart. Extinguishers equipment you want to buy, the next step is to shop are also available that use an all-purpose chemical and around for the best deal. Be sure to find out what services will be performed by the seller and the details may be used on all classes of fires. of your guarantee. When you do finally make your Have extinguishers inspected regularly and re­ purchase, you should make sure you get a service charged promptly after use, and see that employees manual which lists all parts and has instructions on how are given periodic instruction on their use. Your local to make repairs. It is also a good idea to make up a fire department or extinguisher supplier may be able to 3-inch by 5-inch index card on which you can record help you set up a training program. the equipment’s identification number, date and location of purchase, cost, and maintenance to be Reprint: Forefront performed on the machine in later months. This card can be a valuable,, ready reference for the turf manager, especially as it applies to insurance, depre­ Few things help an individual ciation schedules, and maintenance schedules. more than to place responsibility Remember, shop around to determine what fits your upon him and to let him know need and your budget before buying that new piece of that you trust him. equipment. from Fore Front (May, 1977) Booker T. Washington U) et §■ et 3 n> o >-b et (D 0> 33 cp30 Cb H* □0 e~* 30 << In looking forward to 1981 and meeting places. We would appreciate invitations for meetings at your location if it is possible to have us, so please talk it over with your people and extend an invite giving us the best day of the week most convenient, the best month with a possible second choice, and/or the best week of the month to fit into your clubs plans. ####♦###################*###############**####*####*#####*##**## This is the third year of the three year pesticide license that most of our members have. I have asked the Department of Agriculture at Traverse City as to how renewals will be handled. The certification will end on the anniversary of your birth date. 90 days before this certification ends, the applicant will receive from Lansing study materials, application and also locations throughout the state Including times and dates as to when examinations will be given. The basic or core, recertification examination consists of 25 true or false, or multiple choice questions, and the category # 3 or Ornamental & Turf, examination has 20 questions. If you have any further question as to your personal status, we suggest that you contact either Bruce Wildie or Leonard J. Gardner, Dep*t of Agriculture, 1030 Hastings St., Traverse City, 49684 Take Your Path to Success The objective of any endeavor is to accomplish the desired results. Many folks say there is only one right way. That is no more true than to say there is only one wrong way. There are many right ways and many wrong ways. The process might be likened to traveling from one city to another. The objective is to get, say, from Los Angeles to New York. The meth­ ods of travel can be many: you could ride a bicycle, motorcycle, horse, car, train, airplane, or go by boat. Or you could use a combination of any or all of these methods. The routes of travel could be just as varied. Even a wrong road could be very rewarding. Columbus didn’t know for sure where he was going, nor did he know where he was when he got there. However, that he started with an objective in mind and kept going, opened up a whole new world for all of us. The important thing is to start. Select a short or long objective and, as you travel, work and learn. You can change courses, change work, change objectives or destinations. The important thing is to pick an ob­ jective and start. However, keep a steering control so that you can alter course to improved objectives. In today’s world with pyramiding tech­ nology and changing world conditions, it is important to keep steering control of your progress, but, at the same time, to remain flexible so that you can reach success in your way. Ralph A. Nichols ♦♦#*##*###*##*#####**######**#********************************** SEPTEMBER DATES TO REMEMBER, 8th will be our meeting at Missaukee Golf Club, Intersection M-55 & M-66, between Lake City and Me Bain. Sept. 9th, will be Field Day at Traverse City Golf <&• Country Club. Reminder that we must tell Interlochen Golf & Country Club of the number that will be there for dinner. A fine menu is planned and we want you to be present so get your card in and try and bring along a prospective member that should be with us. The postcard NOW.