NEWS FROM MY GOLF GREEN The World's Greatest Greenskeeper.
2003 News PageNovember/December Update Not much to report here. The green is closed for the season .. and with snow in the forecast ... I've treated my green with Consyst fungicide for snow mold prevention. I also reseeded some areas that needed work around the collar and tidied up some of the edges. I also cut the collar nice and tight to prepare it for next season. September/October Update September was a month of recovery for my green which suffered from the torrential rain during two weeks in August. The white rot caused by water sitting on the green for days, left a hard white crust when it dried out that really made the green look bad. My method of correction was to carefully rake, spike and sand the areas affected. I'm confident that things will return to normal. Also during September, we had our annual backyard golf tournament which crowned a champion at (-1). I designed several devilish pin placements that really challenged the golfers including myself (a lousy +5). After the regular tourney ... an all day affair, we started playing "Skins" for money with as many as ten players participating. Heres how it works ... someone chooses a shot. All ten players put in $1 and the outright winner of the hole gets the pot. With no winner the next hole carries over and is worth $2 a man. This gets pretty fun with a lot of players ... when the pot gets up there. We've finally entered the 21st century and have started accepting credit cards for orders of our products. Well not exactly. We now accept credit cards thru PAYPAL, the popular and safe internet service. If you haven't used PAYPAl, all you have to do is set up an account at PAYPAL.COM and register one or more of your credit cards with the service. You can then purchase goods and products using your credit card ... including EBAY auction items on the internet. We get your orders faster and can get you your golf green supplies back faster. We pay a percentage to PAYPAL for this servicem so we charge a little extra for shipping and handling. If you prefer to pay by check or money order, you can still use that method of payment. Go to the ORDER page to check it out.
For all you McClane Mower owners .. check out this interesting modification done by Robert Pointz which adds power and
additional height adjustment functionality to the McClane Mower. 
August Update Start building the ARC and have the animals line up by twos! But seriously, we have had 14 straight days of rain here in New England ... a rareity in August. Some of these rainstorms have been torrential, and my poor green has been under water for days at a time. My green was never built with a drainage layer .. something that I do not advise others to do. In these photos you can see the damage done ... white oxidation of the turf. Bentgrass cannot stand to go without oxygen for very long and will quickly whiteen. Also, the water buildup creates a total mess with the mower and will cause scalping of the bloated stems. I'm often asked if builders can skip the expensive drainage layer stage of constructing a green. Sometimes you can get away with it, especially if you have natural sloped drainage away from the green. But if you don't you will experience the suffocation problems seen here. My green will come back but it will look and play poorly for a while. 
 July Update Finally got out to play some golf this month. .. a big three day member-guest tournament. The golf green in the backyard really came in handy, as I have had no time to practice. I spent one straight week working on the short game .. short putts, long putts, bunker shots, chip shots, fringe chips and 50 yard approach shots. It really worked well for me, as I played very well around the greens. I had two bunker shots in the tournament and got up and down both times .. something that my regular golfing partner can not do. My greenside chipping was also automatic. The one area where I faltered was chipping from a tight fairway lie. I'm thinking about creating a long apron in the front of my green to simulate the short tight lie fairway chips that we frequently get when coming up short on the green. Anyway ... backyard practice pays! I had three rounds in the low 80's ... and hadn't played another round of golf the whole year (been busy with work).
June Update Here's an ad that is up on the classified mowers section: Huge Turf Equipment Auction - Thursday, June 19, 1pm, Lakeland, FL Jacobson, Toro, Ransomes, ClubCar, and much more. This equipment was in a fire at Heritage Pines Course in Florida. Most is 1999 or newer and in good operating condition. Some smoke and heat damage. We are selling it without reserve for the insurance company. For pictures and details: http://kincaid.com/golf/golf.html, leasing available, 10% buyers premium, FL lic#ab551/au905. Contact Randy 800-970-1977 kincaid@kincaid.com The subject of greenmowers is a favorite of mine. I'm often asked what to get for a backyard green. The simple fact is that rotary mowers will not work .. and neither will your granny's old SEARS rotary mower that you found in the back of her garage. The cutting technique on these is correct, but these do not cut low enough or have rollers and barrels suitable for greens maintenance. If you can shell out $5G .. then you can get a new Toro, John Deere or Jacobsen, or you can purchase a new Hudson Star Mower .. right here from us. You may also be able to find McClane Mowers ... with a push unit that has been found for under $500. Another option that I highly recommend is that you try and find a good used greensmower. I have added lots of used mowers for sale on the Classified Section of the GEAR Page. If you are looking for a used mower ... look for one in your area on that section. I also highly recommend that you speak with local golf course superintendants. Stop by in the morning and ask to speak with the head greenskeeper or the maintenance foreman of the golf course. Most courses keep old spare mowers around, and are always turning over and buying new equipment. There may also be resellers of golf course gear in your area. These companies may take in old gear in trade from upscale courses, refurbish the equipment and resell it to smaller golf courses. Also, greensmower haven't really changed in their basic design in 20 years and you can find many old workhorse models still in operation. Many of these have been overhauled many times, have had new reels, bedknifes and even engines replaced to keep them running. As long as these are properly maintained and sharpened .. they represent a good option for the backyard greenskeeper and with some negotian ... can be had for under $1,000 .. the cost of a good rotary mower. For a few more bucks you may be able to get a later model with newer features. Also, keep in mind that there is a thriving industry that sells aftermarket products and parts for these mowers. One such example is Precision ... they can be reached at 800 345-1960. Call em and ask for a catalogue. Happy hunting.
May Update The weather has finally turned here in Newburyport, and I've been out tinkering in the backyard. Took the old Jacobsen into the shop to be tuned up and professionally sharpened and set up. The difference is amazing. The cut is razor sharp (your blade should cut paper easily) and the the finished cut on the green is very tight with no tearing of the leafs. I highly recommend that you get your mowers sharpened by a pro at least yearly. Make a friend at a golf course. They have specialized equipment and are experienced with this work. It'll cost you a few bucks but it is worth the effort. J Wily is offering a 20% discount on any bookd bought in May. You must use the W4452 promotion code upon checking out, but they have the coolest books on turfgrass management on the planet. Here is a link:
For those of you with lots of experience maintaining your own greensmowers, here is a link to a new prodoct to help you maintain your bedknifes at the proper cutting angle: The "Bedknife Buddy" is a new user friendly tool for refaceing greens mower's bedknives. It has a file insert that is set at the proper angle and has two guide pegs that rotate the reel out of the way as you hone the front face of the bedknife. Please visit their web site www.bedknifebuddy.com for more information. For those of you who have young greens, planted this Spring or last fall, you will have to be very patient with the growth of the green. Bentgrass spreads and "creeps" to fill a nice dense mat for you to putt on, but this takes time. Typically you will have a green that looks like the picture below .. very sparce and not filled in. Obviously, this green needs lots of sunny days, water, fertilizer and top dressing before it will look anything like a golf green. But they all start out this way. The worst thing that you can do is try to push mother nature along by over-fertilizing, cutting the green extra short or playing golf on young tender seedlings. You must be patient in the first year., and you will be rewarded with a healthy tough turfgrass at the end of one full growing season.
 April Update Just got another 5" of snow and it is April! Baseball and LaCrosse seasons are supposed to have started this week in New England ... but most are still digging out from the storm. It'll be a while til I have any cool golf green info to pass along from here, but from the number of emails I have rcvd this week, many of you are underway with your projects. Please feel free to email me with any questions that you have. My advice is free, but remember I'm no professional. Another good source of help is the discussion forum. If you have questions, just jump on there and ask and one of the "regulars" will have a good answer for you. happy putting! March Update J Wiley has just acquired all the publishing rights to the great golf course management publications previously distributed by Ann Arbor Press. I highly recommend that the advanced students and backyard golf green experts check out these books on golf course management and operations including titles on turfgrass Management, creeping bentgrass management, pest control, and disease control. This is advanced stuff .. but everything that you hard-core putting green nuts have been looking for. Look under the Turf Management Heading 
For some avery interesting general golf titles .. you can check out the great books at ClockTower Press: www.clocktowerpress.com February Update Leo Melanson
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