NEWS FROM MY GOLF GREEN The World's Greatest Greenskeeper.
October/November Update The season is drawing to a close, and it is time to winterize the green. All bentgrass greens in the northern states should now be treated with snow mold fungicide, which is applied to prevent pink snow mold from appearing in the spring. This nasty fungus will destroy large circles of turf on your green unless you apply this preventative now and again should you experience an early thaw followed by some more snow storms. These circles are basically dead and have to be replaced, so preventative fall treatment is highly recommended. Here is a link to a good article on the disease and which fungicides to apply. Be careful with these dangerous chemicals and follow directions to the letter. September Update Wiley Press has some great new titles on golf course management. "Golf Greens .. History, Design and Construction" by Dr. Michael Hurdzan looks like a must have item. "Putting Green Speed" by Thomas Nikolai covers the art of making greens fast in his new book, and "Golf Greens and Green-Keeping" by Horace Hutchinson look like great reads. Save 20% by mentioning promo # t7e5a. The USGA has an organization dedicated to golf course construction and maintenance .. called the "Greens Section" Check out their website at USGA.org. August Update Check out www.reelrollers.com. They sell roller attachments for McClane, Cal Trimmer and True Cut Mowers that make them better. Here is some info from their website: "Our Roller Kits offer many benefits. They add a little weight to the front of the mower for rougher yards. It will also give a "stripe" to your yard, because it lays the grain of the grass in the same direction the mower is traveling. It being a full - length roller, it rides to the highest contour of the yard preventing the casters from dipping into low places. All Roller Kits we offer will bolt up with the same hardware that is already on the mower. Height adjustment and level of height is the same as the original caster wheels. We offer Roller Kits for 20-25-27 inch Tru Cut reel mowers, 20 - 25 inch Trimmer reel mowers. and 20-25 inch Mclane reel mowers." July Update Great weather for growing bentgrass here in the Northeast. The days have been in the low 80's and the evenings have been cool .. in the 50's and 60's (unseasonably cool even for New England). These conditions are ideal for the growth of bentgrass. I get many questions from different parts of the country from potential green builders who are worried about their particular climates, especially the cool ones. Well, Washington, Oregon state, etc. the cool northeast climates are ideal, in fact most bentgrass comes from that part of the country. Parts of Canada are also ideal, but the growing season is shorter. The central part of the country is generally good for bentgrass, but Bermuda is used in parts of the Southwest, Midwest and especially in the hot south where water consumption, disease and heat stress on bentgrass make it cost prohibitive. Most golf courses in those areas will build with Bermuda, but bentgrass can be grown just about anywhere you can keep it moist and protected from fungus. Also, bentgrass needs plenty of sunlight and air circulation to grow, so be careful about wooded areas or between houses. I've been fighting ants all year. I got frustrated and poured some spectracide ant killer on the green. The next day I was sick to my stomach when I saw large burn marks from the chemicals ... and the damn ants were still making anthills. $^%#$^%@&! The struggle between man and nature continues. June Update And now for another "mowers" update. As many of you know ... keeping a green in your backyard requires a lot of patience, technique, proactive management and above all .. a good condition pro quality greensmower. I have scoured the earth in search of an affordable entry-level unit for us backyard golf nuts, a product that can do a professional job, last forever and be maintained and sharpened by the user. I started with this hobby using an English made Qualcast push mower which I still have. I graduated to a Honda powered McClane, and now use a Jacobsen PGM, the venerable grandfather of all putting green walk-behind mowers, which can be purchased used from golf courses or equipment resellers. for a while, we sold Hudson/Star mower here on this website (before they want out of business). Now there are two new products on the market that fit the price range and features requirements of the backyard greenskeeper ... Locke Mowers and California Trimmer. We are now offering these mowers (McClanes are available in certain states) to our customers at excellent prices. Please contact us if you are interested in getting yourself one of these mowers.
May Update Another new mower company has surfaced ... Locke Mowers has been around since 1928 and the sell the Golf and Turf Series Reel Mowers ... a professional strength mower that might fit into the budget of the serious backyard golfer. I am still investigating the product .. but thought that you might want to check out their stuff at their website: www.locketurf.com Another product that I have discovered ... The Hound Dog a hand core aerator that I picked up at Home Depot. This is a "must have" product for the home greenskeeper. You can use it to core aerate small patches that may be suffering from compaction. A telltale sign of compaction is when water does not permeate the turfgrass and runs off. This causes the roots to dry out and the turf to burn. Thats one reason why golf courses core aerate annually. With this tool you can creat two perfect cores simply by stepping on it. Check it out at their website: www.hound-dog.com. Watch out y'all .. this is the year the Red Sox will win it all. April Update Finally ... some news to report! Things are starting to warm up here in Boston, and the green is starting to dry up and turn green. But the big news .. is that I finally achieved one of my golf dreams ... I went to see the greens at Augusta National in Georgia. I've been on the waiting list for practice round tickets for 7 years and was rewarded this year with Monday practice round tickets to the Masters, so the wife and I and another couple made the trip to Atlanta followed by the 2 hour drive up to Augusta. The place was as beautiful and special as I had imagined. Everywhere you looked was immaculate bentgrass. The greens at Augusta all have been "equipped" with an underground systems that heat the greens in winter, cool them in summer, blow air into the roots to aerate, and suck water out when there has been a downpour. How is that for a high-tech green? (Don't try this at home folks). Truely an inspiration.  On the gear front, I am always investigating new mower options for backyard golfers/greenskeepers and have just rcvd some information on California Trimmer mowers. These powered mowers feature a reel and bedknife cut and a variety of width and engine options. The company dates back to the 50's but continues to make their product in Fresno California. These are apparantly suitable for greens mowing although I have not seen or used one. Any comments out there? I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has used one. Priced just under $1,000 they could be the entry level product that we've all been waiting for. More later.
 January/February/March Update Sorry .. not much to report from the cold northeast. Golf is several months off, and our greens still have ice and snow on them. I got to see half of my green this weekend and was pleased to find only a small amount of damage from the winter .... mostly small amounts of pink snow mold. The preventative measures that I took in the fall really paid off compared to the big patches of kill I had last season. For those of you in warmer climates ... I urge you to visit the discussion forum and chat with other warm weather experts ... for the latest advice. This year .. I hope to add a few more products to our product line .. some regulation flags, ball washers, signage, etc. and we're really working on trying to get an affordable greensmower for you. Keep sending in those photos of your greens. We'd love to see construction phases as well. We may have a best backyard green photo contest with some prizes. If you have any ideas on how to make the site more useful, please email us ... we're open to all suggestions. Have a great backyard golfing 2004! Oh yeah ... we finally got practice round tickets to go to the Masters this year (after 6 years in the lottery) and will be visiting the hallowed grounds in April. Can't wait! Leo Melanson
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