January-February. 1995 Official Publication of the West Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association President’s Message to happen. Now that the holidays are over and we are into 1995, many things are starting The first W.M.G.C.S.A. meeting was held at The Highlands. Gary Peters was our host. The lunch, as always, was outstanding (what a spread, I do not know how they do that at that price). Jon Maddern, MTF President, and Gordie LaFontaine, MTF Executive Secretary, spoke to us about the MTF and thanked everyone for the donations for the turfgrass research. There was some misunderstandings about the financial condition of the MTF. The MTF Board of Directors have been very careful about planning for the future. If anyone has any questions concerning this matter, please call me and I will explain in detail, the workings. Please get the right information before making a judgement. The annual turfgrass conference in Lansing set another attendance record. If you missed this one, you missed the best one yet. This issue contains the W.M.G.C.S.A. meeting dates that have been set and others will be finalized in the near future. Please try to attend. You will be glad you did. We had a great attendance in 1994. If you have any questions concerning your organization or the MTF, please call any board member. They are here for you. Have a great 1995!! 1995 W.M.G.C.S.A. Meeting Schedule March 8 ....... Round Table Egypt Valley April 17....... Meeting & Golf Railside Golf Club May 16........ Meeting & Golf Grand Haven Golf Club June * ...........Joint Meeting W.M.G.C.S.A. & M.B.C.G.S.A. July * ............Joint Meeting W.M.G.C.S.A. & M.B.C.G.S.A. August * ...... Round Tables Kalamazoo Country Club North Kent Golf Club Sept. * ..........Golf Day Kent Country Club Oct. 3 ...........Annual Meeting Harry Schuemann President Scholarship Awarded The Western Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association annually awards a student at Michigan State with a scholarship. Cascade Hills Country Club Nov. 3 ..........Fall Party Blythfield Country Club * Dates to be announced Editor's Note: Please write me if you have S E A i A k S if you are interested in doing an article for us at: WesterntyOhJ- ® 3 Grand R a p id ^^^> 5 4 6 uM ^ rsity This year's scholarship was awarded to Kevin Timmer. Kevin was selected because of his scholastic ability as well as his well rounded manner. Kevin is a student in the two year turfgrass management program at Michigan State. Kevin grew up in the Grand Rapids area and has gained valuable experience working at a few area courses. This past summer Kevin completed his internship with Jeff Holmes at Egypt Valley Country Club. Congratulations to Kevin and thank you to Doug Boyle and the selection committee for a fine choice ! ! Doug Boyle, Education Director for WMGCSA congratulates Kevin Timmer, scholarship winner. Michigan Turfgrass Conference -------------------------------------------------- The 65th Annual Michigan Ttirfgrass Conference was held January 17 - 19 at the Holiday Inn in Lansing recently, and judging by the capacity of crowds attending the educational seminars, it was a rousing success. The conference began on Tuesday with a variety of basic schools and ended on Thursday with more basic schools. Subjects covered in the basic schools were everything from the T.G.I.F. and how to use it, too plant nutrition in regards to stress tolerances. Guest speakers included many notables in turf grass, such as James Beard, John Roberts and Peter Lanschoot. The annual awards luncheon was held on Wednesday, and as always was well attended. Dr. Beard was the guest speaker. The general sessions were also interesting with the updates on recent research by the M.S.U. faculty. Many other subjects were covered by people in the turfgrass industry. Kathy Anatya from the Meadows at Grand Valley State University gave a nice presentation on environmental testing and ecosystem damage prevention during the golf course construction process. Kathy is a new director on the board of the W.M.G.C.S.A. and represented herself and her organization with an excellent presentation. Other subjects covered in general sessions were a golf green construction forum, managing greens under stress and many other informative talks. If you have not attended the State Turfgrass conference, I encourage you to do so in the future. It is a great opportunity to visit with fellow superintendents and gain valuable updates on research that is being done to improve our industry. Annual Highlands Meeting A Success New Parts Facility a presentation to help promote the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation. After a great lunch of prime rib, many people took advantage of the free bowling opportunities at The Highlands, or just took the option to visit with fellow superintendents. Thanks to Gary Peters and The Highlands for a great time once again! The winter meeting was held at The Highlands again this year, and as in recent years was an enjoyable meeting. There were 64 people in attendance. During the business portion of the meeting, Paul Schippers, the voting delegate and Vice President for the W estern, review ed the slate of candidates for the national organization. Steve Tedhams, Director, reviewed the 1995 meeting schedule and discussed the concept of a chapter tournament and how members can qualify to play in the tournament. Jon Maddem and Gordon LaFontaine were in attendance and gave Jacobsen has ju st com pleted moving its parts distribution center into a new "State of the art facility". This new facility incorporates the latest in parts distribution technology, including: bar coding, automated picking and infrared scanning. This technology allows Jacobsen to increase and better control its inventory and better process parts orders. This technology also allow s dealers access to inventory levels and parts order status through the D.S.N. computer (Dealer Service Network), thus creating a direct link betw een the dealer and Jacobsen's parts inventory. Editor's Note: This article was received from Valley Turf and helps to explain why parts delivery may have been slow for the last few months. It took a month or so to get the new system up and running. Mechanic's Corner Aerator Maintenance Tips Ransoms America Corp. advises that as a part of a good preventative maintenance program for aerators, tines should be cleaned and inspected for wear after the day's work has been completed. Cores left in tines for extended period of time can cause pitting on the inside of the tines. These pits may keep a tine from ejecting the core properly. As a result, the tine must be replaced. Pitting also cuts down on the service life of tines. Here are a couple of tine maintenance tips: 1) If a core becomes stuck in a tine, use an electric drill with a half inch bit to bore it out. 2) To polish the inside surface of a tine, try using a shotgun bore brush in the electric drill. 3) When inspecting for wear, it is helpful to know that different types of tines have different wear patterns. A tube-typetine generally wears in an erratic fashion, often making the tine appear to have a serrated tip. The tine should be replaced when 3/8" of the tip is worn away. 4) Tines that are "folded" in the manufacturing process have a split or seam. Again, replace then when 3/8" of the tip is worn off. 5) Tines on roll-type aerators have a different wear pattern. The leading edge of these tines is angled so it will cut through the thatch and soil surface first, opening the way for the tine to enter. This cutting edge will show signs of wear first. 6) When the cutting edge is worn so the end of the tine is nearly even on all sides, the tine should be replaced. 7) Measuring tines prior to first use is a good idea. This eliminates guess work and allows tine replacement at just the right time to maintain maximum aeration performance. Thrf Management Classifieds For Sale: Call Al at Cascade Hills County Club (616) 949-1420. 3 Toro Proturf 84's. 2 running and 1 for parts. $800. 1 Walk behind Rotary Mower, 22" Meijer. $600. 1 Fertilizer and/or Material Conveyor, gas & electric powered. $250. 1 Roseman Hydragang and Powerpack. $600. 2 Pallets Plastic Grids for turf stabilization. $50/ pack, new cost would be $175. For Sale: Call Tom at Silver Lake Country Club (616) 874-5558. 1 Spartan, 7 Gang Single Point, fair condition. $2500. For Sale: Call Paul at The Moors C.G. (616) 323-2753. Ron Lee Sand Blade Model 340 for Toro Sand Pro. Complete. $450. Please patronize our advertisers as they have made this newsletter possible. Advertisers AgrEvo............................................... (614) 726-2857 A m turf................................................ (616) 792-2241 Benham Chemical.............................(313) 474-7474 Boylan Sales......................................(616) 685-6828 Century Rain A id............................... 1-800-347-4272 Chipco/Specialty Products...............(313) 782-0323 CIBA-Geigy........................................(910) 547-1160 CCP Industries Inc..............................1-800-321-2840 Custom Aerification........................... 1-800-269-6181 D&CDistributors................................ 1-800-888-7779 D&G Irrigations................................. 1-800-334-7011 E-Z-Go Textron................................. 1-800-336-1016 Ellis S ales......................................... 1-800-962-4128 Fitzgerald Henne Inc......................... (517) 482-8810 Green & Grow................................... (616) 964-9989 Kleins Fertilizer................................. 1-800-642-3172 Kubota of Grand Rapids.................. (616) 364-7031 Kurtz Bros. Inc................................... 1-800-223-7645 Lebanon Fertilizers...........................(313) 673-7146 Lesco................................................. (616) 784-4929 Michigan Sand Co............................. (517) 773-2030 Michigan Turf Equipment................. (616) 554-3310 J. Mollema & Sons............................(616) 940-1441 O.M. Scott......................................... (616) 361-2106 Osburn Industries.............................(313) 292-4140 Parmeter & Andre.............................(616) 458-1546 Peerless-Midwest.............................(616) 527-0050 R.A. Manley Irrigation Consultants.. (810) 651-5729 River City Specialty...........................(616) 249-9440 Spartan Distributors......................... (616) 887-7301 Standard Sand..................................(616) 842-5180 Superior Uniform Sales.................... 1-800-536-0718 T.C.I.................................................... (517)725-7145 Terra International Inc....................... 1-800-321-9347 Tire Wholesalers Company, Inc.......(616) 775-6666 TriTurf.................................................(616) 943-8343 Turf Drain Inc..................................... (810) 471-6750 Turfgrass, Inc.....................................(616) 866-9389 Turf Services..................................... (616) 842-4975 United Horticultural Supply..............(810) 852-2838 Valley Turf......................................... (616) 532-2885 Van Manen O il..................................(616) 453-6344 Water Tronics.................................... 1-800-356-6686 W.F. Miller Co.................................... (313) 349-4100 Wilbur-Ellis........................................ 1-800-873-5599 Replacing versus Partially Rebuilding A Green ------------------------------ In the fall of 1993 I was told to change the contours of the green for the first hole. The green was originally designed to be reached from an elevated tee 160 yards away. Due to our condominium construction project, the hole was now a 400 yard par 4 with a large water hazard crossing the fairway. The new landing area was now considerably lower than the green and about 180 yards away. The new approach angle left the green sloping away from the landing area, meaning most of the green was hidden from view and did not hold long approach shots well. My original instruction was to simply lower the front of the green, flattening it. As most of you know, lowering any portion of the green by 18 inches is no simple task. My idea was, if we had to go through all the hassles anyway, why not raise the back of the green several feet instead? This would make the entire green visible from the landing area and improve shot retention. The problem was that this was considerably more difficult and expensive that the original instructions. I was given approval for my idea, along with a warning that it better be good and not cost too much. Thus, I started this project with restrictions that really shouldn't exist for something as important as green reconstruction. There was another, more expensive option that didn't get proper consideration: building an entirely new green. In this case, there was sufficient area around the first green to do this without disrupting play. The advantages to starting from scratch would be: • Ability to design not only the green, but the entire surrounding area. The traps, green banks, and approach are all critical to the way a hole plays and must all work together. Unless you are starting from scratch, there is likely to be significant compromising on this aspect. • More flexibility in timing during the construction phase. When doing reconstruction, from the time sod is stripped to the time it is replaced, time is of the essence. Any construction delays due to weather, contractors, etc., could become disasters. Sod placed on plastic will last a long time, especially during cool fall weather, but if you wait till late fall to take the green out of play, you could be threatened by some early winter weather. When starting from scratch, you can start construction in mid-summer. • More settling time for the green. One of the key steps to prevent settling that could ruin an otherwise perfect job is to allow plenty of time between grading stages and sodding. • If using sod from the old green, you only move it once: directly from the old surface to its new home. I had relatively good luck with my sod, but every move tears and stretches it some and makes it more difficult to lay it out perfectly smooth. • Consistency of the green. It is a common problem for the old section of the green to remain distinctly different from a reconstructed portion. The big disadvantage to starting from scratch is expense. The amount of soil needed will probably be significantly greater. New traps, irrigation, and drainage will need to be installed. My cost of reconstructing the green was about $5,000. I would estimate the cost of starting from scratch to be $15,000 to $30,000. Spreading that cost over 20 years or so, I suspect it would have been worth it. P.S. Thanks to Charles Scott for his suggestion of using a vibrating packer on the newly laid sod to help smooth it out. Tom McGuinness BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID GRAND RAPIDS, Ml PERMIT NO. 582 3725 Cascade Rd., S.E. • Grand Rapids, Ml 49546 Pete Cookinghai HSU Main Library w - 212 East Lansing HI 48824