NEWS FROM MY GOLF GREEN The World's Greatest Greenskeeper. 2001 News 2000 News 1999 News 1998 News Check these links to great articles and news from previous seasons 2002 News PageDecember Update November Update Time to close down the green for the season. The grass has stopped growing .. for several weeks now .. and has started to look dormant, indicated by a yellowing color. At this time of year, give your green one good final cut and then treat it with snow mold fungicide. Speaking of fungicide treatments ... Eric Mueller from UMass sent me this great spreadsheet file, that contains an index with the most common types of turfgtass diseases, the type of fungicide to use and some common brand names. This is a must have .. so download, print and file it for, the inevitable battles with fungus next season. My golf clubs are now in the basement ... grrrrr ... but the skis are now out of the basement !!!!! September Update Ouch ... is it already September? I haven't updated this webpage since June .... been so busy with kid's sports, summer stuff. I Haven't even played much golf or practiced in the back yard. Last time I played, my short game was horrible .. so I need to practice .. cause at the end of September is our annual Ryder Cup Match in the backyard vs. another neighborhood for bragging rights. This year, we will be playing the same day as the real Ryder Cup ..so should be fun. Be creative with your greens and organize some tournaments or skills competitions. They are a blast. Get some lights and you can play all night with your beer buddies. Par Aide, my supplier for practice green supplies, has authorized me to sell the entire product line, so if you are interested in specialty items .. such as Ball Washers, Rakes, Whipping Poles, Regulation Size Flags or Professional Cup Cutters, just drop me a line and I will see if I can get you what you need. I don't plan on stocking these (large and expensive) items as I do with the other products we represent .. but these can be special ordered from Par Aide, a company with great service and excellent products.
Speaking of great vendors .. Chuck Hudson, president of Hudson Star mowers payed me a visit last week .. to show me some products
and boy was I impressed. The Powermate 250 ($2150) is a phenomenal innovation .. using a rechargeable battery cell to power the
cutting reel of the mower. This lightweight unit is being sold to golf courses where "quiet" cutting is required. It is perfect
for the backyard greenskeeper who wants a professional product that is easy to take care of. He also showed me a prototype of
a new model that may be available soon ... a lower cost version of their popular Series II Push Mower ($1460). The company is
trying to re-engineer the Series II to get the cost under $1,000 for the backyard golf nut on a budget. Mower on this later.
If you are interested in Hudson Star Mowers .. give us a call or email and we'll help you sort throught the choices.  Hudson/Star Powemate 250 on my green (click for larger picture) My Penn G-2 seeded green addition, built last year has done very well this summer and is fully grown in. I recently read that Penn G-2 has been used at Muirfield Village, Shoal Creek and Pinehurs 1,2,8. It is disease resistent, traffic tolerant, loves short cuts, and does well in heat and humidity making it ideal for climate like the Carlinas, Georgia and the Gulf Coast. We carry Penn G-2 .. so let us know if you want some .. you can always overseed this variety into an existing green. Some random stuff. Check out the Edger (for your lawn) at www.edgit.com. National Mower Company has announced a mower that allows you to "stripe" your lawn to make it look like a golf course (using a heavy rear roller). For Synthetic Greens .. check out tourturf.com .. especially if you only have a small yard for your putting green. For you southern golfers looking for Bermuda ... go to Tifeagle.com . Finally .. for a free subscription to an excellent magazine that will give you tons of good information on greenskeeping ... superintendentmagazine.com June Update Here are some spring clips of my green, one year after the expansion of the green to include the upper tier. The upper tier has Penn G2, whereas the lower (original) tier used Providence bentgrass. Both are doing well as these pictures shot. 
Changed my hole locations this week .. and I just had to show you this awesome root development in my
Penn G2 turf. No wonder this grass can withstand such short mowing .. these roots are very healthy!
Strong roots are very important to putting greens and are observed on a regular basis by greenskeepers with
special measuring tools. 
May Update Finally .. some warm temps up here in New England .. and golf is in the air. My golf green is looking great. There are still a few grow-in spots from last years expansion. I've top dressed those with new seed and peat/sand mix. There are already signs of ants and bugs ... so I will be giving it a dose of diazinon. Mowers, mowers, mowers ... I'm constantly asked about mowers. To maintain a golf-course quality putting green .. you need to have a professional grade "greensmower". Grandma's push reel mower from the basement .. will not work. The mechanics are the same .. a reel and bedknife for cuts as opposed to a spinning blade on conventional mowers, but greensmower have more blades on the reel, cut lower and have a series of frontal and rear rollers that help to groom the turf before and after cutting. You have to bite the bullet on this one, because they are on the expensive side. The good news is ... that a good quality more should last you a lifetime of backyard cutting if you take care of it. Also ... it is a one time expense. Construction of the green should not be very expensive . since it is made mostly of cheap sand and peat ... but you have to invest in a mower. There are many manufacturers of mowers listed on the GEAR page. Check them out. Do some research. In general, I advise people to pick up the best mower that they can afford. A used-pro mower .. such as a Jacobson or a Toro ... from a golf course is ideal. You should contact several (large) country clubs in your area ... and ask them if they are planning on turning over any used mowers. They upgrade equipment all the time, and after-market support for older products is excellent. You will need some professional help in maintaining a sharp mower. There usually are re-sellers in each area that buy, refurbish and resell equipment. If you need to have new equipment ... Hudson Star makes an excellent product which we can get for you. Speaking of mowers ... the Classified section on the MOWERS page of the website has listings of people selling their mowers, which has been very successful. If you need to sell a mower .. list for FREE on putting-greens.com. Some sellers only want to sell locally ... so check with the seller. Finally, I have a product that I just purchased that is awesome and I wanted to tell you about it. It is a tool called "Edge-It" that snaps on to your string trimmer ... and lets amateurs cut perfect edges in your lawn. You can use it to cut perfectly straight edges around your bunkers for that "Augusta" look. April Update Hello everybody .. sorry for the delay in new content on the site. We are a youth hockey family here in New England and just finished up an exhausting 50 game season with my son's team that started back in August. I've been busy coaching the team, running the league website, planning tournaments, getting up at 4:30 am every weekend, etc. and loving every minute of it. Golf has been very far away from my mind. Also, we made some changes to the website server that required me to do a lot of recoding. Now that hockey is over, golf season is here and I am finally getting the bug to get out and play. The weather in New England has been strange! Last week (April vacation) we went skiing in Maine and were on the slopes in a 90 degree heat wave. Skiing in bathing suits is a lot of fun until you fall. This week, we are back to possible snow falls and very damp nasty weather. Most of the golf courses are up and running here in New England, and none of the courses experienced the sever ice damage we had last winter. In the spring of 2001 we had many courses lose substantial turfgrass to severe ice kill caused by several thaws followed by freezing temps. The ice kill threatened the US Open at Salem Country Club, but they recovered with lots of hard work in time for the tournament.
This year, my green emerged from the winter in fine shape with only a few tiny spots of snow mold. As I've mentioned over and over on this website,
this can be be easily avoided with proper application of snow mold preventative fungicide in the fall. There are also a few bare spots on my
green in the new addition area (Penn G2). These areas never completely filled in after planting last season. I plan on overseeding these areas
with fresh seed and top-dressing. I have already cut the green twice (at a higher height) just to get the dead grass, thatch and twigs off. No
putting practice for at least a few weeks. But the green has already been the focal point of all of our backyard baseball practice. I hit ground
balls to my kids across the green. There isn't a smoother, bad-bounce free surface than bentgrass. It is awesome for the kids to learn fielding
ground balls low to the ground. And, the green takes a substantial amount of punishment very well.
March Update Please note .. our email address has changed to leomelanson@verizon.net. Please pardon our appearance as we are working on a major revision to the website. We apologize to everyone that has sent in photos. As soon as the website is complete .. we will put all the pictures up on the Photos page. February Update
It is also a great time to acquire a greensmower. Check with your local golf courses for used units. This year on Putting-Greens.com we will continue to sell new Hudson Star Mowers, and we will also work hard to give you links to vendors/dealers of used reconditioned mowers like Jacobsons and Toros. Another common question we get .. can I use my granny's old reel mower from the shed? The answer is no. Although the cutting technique is the same, pro style greensmowers have lower height adjustments, rollers and other mechanical features suited to greens. You need to have a greenmower. Speaking of Hudson Star. Some customers had complained to me in December that they could not reach the company. I too, had some difficulty. It turns out that the building that their company was warehoused in .. was foreclosed and Hudson Star could not get into their office for several weeks. I spoke with Chuck Hudson and all is well now, and they are in new office quarters. The apologized for the inconvienience. If you have any questions .. you can contact them at : 1-877-547-3367 (toll free). Gotta go now .... and get me a Patriots Super Bowl World Champion Hat !!! January Update 
If you are new to this website .. make sure you check out the links above to previous news pages. There are tons of tips and information there that you can use in your backyard golf green project. 2001 News2000 News 1999 News1998 News My personal putting green goals for 2002 are to maintain a healthy ... good looking and good playing green with a minimal use of chemicals. I also plan on working this summer with the surrounding areas and gardens to improve the aesthetic beauty of the green and surrounding area. Happy backyard putting in 2002!! Leo Melanson
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