July August 2015

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2015 President’s Cup Tournament Plumas Pines Golf Resort Hosted by Mark Callahan

Sierra Nevada GCSA An Affiliate Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America

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P R E S I D E N T S M E S S AG E Hello everyone. With some cooler nights recently, it feels like we are trying to move past the hottest part of the Rob Williams summer. The shade lines from the trees on my course are certainly moving to different parts of the fairway and rough. Bring on the cooler weather I say.

Valley Hi Country Club was the venue for the Scholarship and Research Tournament this year, and Superintendent Sean McPhedran had the course in great shape, and there were plenty of smiling faces to be seen coming back in after the round of golf.

A big thank you to all those who attended the event, and also to the many donors who were generous in the items and product they donated. The silent auction had a lot of good items to bid on and the live

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ROB WILLIAMS

auction is always fun to be a part of to save a few extra budget dollars for our facilities. Great job again Bill Hamilton with the running of the live auction.

A special thanks again must go out to Dave Bermudez, Kurtis Wolford, Kimberly Milne and Irene Cline for there tireless effort in making the auction & event the success it is every year. Thanks, also, to the rest of the SNGCSA board for chasing up more donations.

The Tri Chapter event at Coyote Creek Golf Club in Morgan Hill was held on August 10th . We had some interesting education to be a part of, featuring insight into the bunker work performed at the club.

The Better Billy Bunker was the hot topic of the day and we were also able to get an up close look at the final product. Some of us, like me, saw a lot more of the Better Billy Bunkers than I had planned on at the start of the day. Thanks to Chuck for hosting the Tri Chapter and presenting a well maintained golf course.

The WOTUS ruling has

been handed down and could potentially cause some large headaches for our industry moving forward.

The information is worrying on the face value, but we are hoping to have the information made a lot clearer sooner rather than later.

Keep reading the information streams and if you want to call the SNGCSA, we will work with you to find the best help for your situation.

We have our President’s Cup Tournament coming up on the 21st of September at Plumes Pines Golf Resort, so be sure to get your reservations in for this event. November we will have our Annual Election Meeting and we will be announcing the date to save shortly.

Drought conditions are affecting a lot of our members and causing some stressful times. Reach out to your neighboring courses and see how they are doing. A friendly phone call to superintendent friends may return to you in a time of need.

Dance your best rain dances.!

2015 BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Rob Williams Stockton Golf & C.C. 209-462-6734

DIRECTORS Dave Bermudez Del Rio Golf & Country Club 209-341-2413

VICE PRESIDENT Kurtis Wolford Cherry Island Golf Course 916-991-7659

William Hamilton Lake Wildwood Association 530-432-2187

SECRETARY/TREASURER Mike Scully Valley Crest/Modesto 209-578-9678 PAST PRESIDENT Jesse Seguin

Scott Dickson Micke Grove Golf Links 209-369-7037 Hulises Avila, Greenhorn Creek Resort 209-736-8164 Affiliate Representatives Jim Barbuto Ewing Irrigation 916-502-3287

Joe Kurung West Coast Sand & Gravel 916-386-8177

FORE YOUR INFORMATION Published by the Sierra Nevada Golf Course Superintendents Association

EDITOR Bill Hamilton, CGCS OFFICE SNGCSA 5322 N. Leonard, Clovis, CA 93619 559-298-6262 Fax# 559-298-6957 sngcsaa@aol.com

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M E E T I N G DA T E S

September 21, 2015

November 2015

Annual President’s Cup Tournament Plumas Pines Golf Course Hosted by Mark Callahan

Annual Association Meeting & Election Location to be confirmed

October 12—13, 2015 Northern California Golf Association’s annual Assistant Superintendent Boot Camp Hyatt Hotel in Monterey

October 2015 Regional Seminar Yolo Flyers Club Hosted by Mike Azevedo Date to be confirmed

December 2015 Annual Holiday Event To be Confirmed

January 26 & 27, 2016 The Ridge Golf Course Mechanic Seminar January 26th Irrigation Seminar January 27th Hosted by Scott McCullough More Information to follow

2016 California Room USS MIDWAY February 10, 2016

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S A LT S , S O I L S , A N D T U R F A M I S U N D E R S T O O D RELATIONSHIP Salt is not the evil turf killer that must-be-avoided-at-all-cost villain many turf managers have come to fear.

It is in fact a necessary component of many fertilizers. That also doesn’t mean that you should go out and sprinkle salt all over you turf like Morton’s little girl in the rain coat. To better understand the function of salts in turfgrass management, you must first understand the basic process of nutrient absorption by turf. Turfgrass requires three nutrients in relatively large amounts from soil. They include: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Turfgrass also requires at least eleven other nutrients in relatively smaller amounts: calcium, magnesium, sulfur, boron, chlorine, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, zinc and nickel.

Nutrients must be in a soluble form before turfgrass can use them. For instance nitrogen is readily available in the atmosphere, but is unavailable in this form to turf. Nitrogen must be in the form of ammoniacal or nitrate for turfgrass to utilize it. One of the factors controlling nutrient availability is soil pH levels. Many soil nutrients are hampered or restricted by high or low soil pH. In order to have a healthier turf throughout the season, turfgrass managers must maintain a healthy reliable nutrient-rich soil. Turf managers are generally concerned with four soil salts: sodium, copper, chloride and boron.

To understand salts, one must understand what a salt is. Salts are the products, other than water, of the reaction of an acid with a base. That’s quite a mouth-full, but it’s actually very simple. The classical concept of acids and bases is the neutralization process of combining a hydrogen ion and a hydroxyl ion to form water. H+ + OH- = H2O. When the fertilizer salt K2SO4

BY DAVE BARLOW

TECHNICAL SALES SPECIALIST BEST

(potassium sulfate) is applied to the soil, the compound divides into K+ and SO4-. The potassium ion can then be used by plant materials or it attaches to the clay colloids while the sulfate ion stays in the soil solution and moves with water to the roots, to be used by plants, or can be leached below the root zone or away from the plant materials. All fertilizer salts react the same way, whether they are potassium chloride (KCl), ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3), or ferrous oxide (FeO). The negative ions (anions), such as NO3-, SO4-, and Cl-, all stay in the soil solution and don’t attach to the soil colloids. The positive charged ions (cations), such as KÈ, NH4È, CaÈÈ, etc. attach to the negative sites on the clay particles in the soil. All soils are negatively charged and only the positive cations can attach to it.

Of course, just as in life, too much of any one thing is not good. Moderation is the key. As salt levels in the soil increase, the soil will hold more tightly to water. As the soil increases its hold on water, plants will eventually fail to extract water and drought symptoms can occur. If the turf managers water source has high amounts of salts, then the management of the irrigation is a much more important task. We need large amounts of water to move excess amounts of salts through the soil.

This brings to light the chloride ion (Cl-), which needs some discussion.

Some turf managers feel

that the chloride ion might add to a “salt” buildup in the soil. This is a false assumption. Since the chloride ion doesn’t attach to the soil, just as the sulfate ion also reacts, it can leach from the soil. Sulfate of potash can add just as much “salt” to the soil as muriate of potash (potassium chloride) does. You need to apply more sulfate of potash (SOP) to add the same amount of “K” that you would get potash (MOP), because SOP is around a 50% K2O, while MOP is around a 60% K2O material.

About 95% of all potash used is from muriate of potash. All potash fertilizer salts (KCl, KSO4, and KNO3) are soluble in water and are considered readily available. In general, it can be said that there is very little difference in their effects on crop production ex-

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SALTS, SOILS, AND TURF A MISUNDERSTOOD RELATIONSHIP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 cept in tobacco where sulfate of potash produces a superior burning quality leaf.2 Chlorides are readily leached from soils. Even though little is known about chlorine as a plant nutrient, it has been demonstrated that plants grown on soils that contained only 3 to 5 meq. Cl/100 g. showed severe chlorine deficiency. The symptoms of chlorine deficiency are not easily identified. Plants so affected are said to wilt, to become chlorotic and necrotic in some area, and to exhibit leaf bronzing.3 Potassium chloride has also shown fungicidal properties in turf, wheat, and other crops. The chloride in muriate of potash prevents black heart in celery for example.

Some turf managers are also concerned about the “salt index” of muriate of potash. The salt index is an index to compare the solubility of chemical compounds. Most nitrogen and potassium compounds have higher salt indexes while phosphorus compounds tend to have a lower salt index. Salt indexes are the measurement of burn potential, and are based on sodium nitrate (an index of 100).

Below are some common indexes of some standard fertilizer products:  Ammonium sulfate 69.0  Potassium sulfate 46.1  Potassium chloride 116.3  Ammonium nitrate 104.7  Urea 75.4  Turf Supreme 65.6  6-24-24 XB 45.0  Calcium nitrate 52.5 All of the above fertilizers have a burn potential, but none of them will burn turf if they are applied at the right amount and irri-

gated in. None of the above fertilizers add any harmful “salts” to the soil. All of the above fertilizers add good salts that the turf will use to facilitate proper growth. If you have heavy soils that don’t drain well, you will want to watch your levels of those nutritive salts that can be toxic in high quantities. These are chlorine, copper, and boron.

Even though fertilizer salts can add the necessary nutrients to the soil, that doesn’t mean that the elements will be available to the plant materials. Iron is a good example.

Iron is taken up by plants as ferrous ions (Fe++). Most of the soil iron is unavailable to plants. Deficiencies are common in high pH soils. Turfgrasses are especially susceptible to iron deficiency. Iron deficiency can be caused by an imbalance of metallic ions, such as copper and manganese, excessive amounts of phosphorus, a combination of high pH, high lime, high soil moisture, and cool temperatures, and high levels of HCO3- (bicarbonate) in the rooting medium. As you can see there are many factors that influence the availability of iron. In general, soil applications of ionizable ferrous salts, such as ferrous sulfate, have proven as ineffective as other forms because of their rather rapid oxidation to ferric iron. Fritted iron (sucrate) can be used on acid soils, but is not suitable for use on alkaline or calcareous soils (with calcium carbonate).5 Iron oxide and ferrous sulfate will show some response on turf under alkaline conditions while iron sucrate generally won’t be available.

The best availability of iron on turf will be through foliar applied materials, whether ferrous sulfate or chelated iron. It’s interesting that a side benefit to iron oxide is that it’s been proven that iron oxide is second in

importance behind microbial gum in soil aggregation (soil texture). Iron oxide is more important than organic carbon (organic matter), and clay.

Turf managers wishing to control soil salt concentrations and salt types must test the soil. Soil tests can indicate the levels of soil pH, sodium, all of the necessary nutrients and the total salts in the soil.

You should test for salts at the same time of the year to compare one test to another. The proper analysis of soils will allow turf managers to adjust the fertility levels and provide a reliable nutrient-rich soil for healthy turf.

There’s a lot to understand about fertilizer salts, but the more you understand, the better you will be able to choose fertilizers for optimum turf performance.  



 

Fundamentals of Soil Science, Fifth edition, Foth and Turk Soil Fertility and Fertilizers, Second edition, Tisdale and Nelson Western Fertilizer Handbook, Second edition, California Fertilizer Association Soil Fertility and Fertilizers, Second edition, Tisdale and Nelson Fundamentals of Soil Science, Fifth edition, Foth and Turf

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F ROM T HE F IELD

I hope you are all having a great summer and Jeff Jensen have had the opportunity to spend some well-deserved time with family and friends.

Like most of you who reside in California, I spend too much of my life in a car. To pass the long journeys and traffic jams (special shout out to Los Angeles and the Bay Area for wasting many hours), I listen to a lot of SiriusXM radio. In particular, SiriusXM PGA TOUR radio (Sirius 208, XM 93) which helps keep me informed of what is going on in the golf world.

BY

JEFF JENSEN GCSAA FIELD STAFF

In January, GCSAA joined forces with PGA TOUR radio to feature superintendent and GCSAArelated topics every Wednesday at 3 p.m. (PST) on the popular “Katrek and Maginnes On Tap� segment. In addition to promoting the superintendent profession and maintenance industry, the segment features a live interview with a GCSAA member.

In 2015, California has been represented on the program by Paul Cushing at Torrey Pines, Chris Dalhamer at Pebble Beach, Ryan Bentley at North Ranch and Jim Ferrin at Sun City Roseville (Sacramento). All four did a terrific job discussing the profes-

sion and more importantly, the challenges that the golf industry in California is facing.

Next time you have a long commute on Wednesday afternoon, make sure you tune in and find out what is going on with your peers from around the country. Many of our members from California will be appearing throughout the remainder of 2015.

In other news, GCSAA recently rolled out its Member-Get-AMember Referral Program. Current GCSAA members receive a $50 gift certificate for each new member they recruit (someone who has not been a member for more than two years; excludes equipment managers). Certificates can be used for Golf Industry Show registration, educational oppor(Continued on page 7)

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FROM THE FIELD tunities, GCSAA merchandise and donations to the Environmental Institute for Golf.

Additionally, for each new member you recruit, you will also receive one entry into the grand-prize drawing for an all-expenses-paid (air, hotel and registration) trip to the 2016 Golf Industry Show in San Diego.

Secondary grand prizes include four Full Pack registrations to the 2016 Golf Industry Show.

For more information and Member-Get-A-Member applications,

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F R O M PAG E

visit http://www.gcsaa.org/memberget-a-member. If you have any questions concerning the program, contact our member help desk at mbrhelp@gcsaa.org.

GCSAA appreciates your continued support of our organization and affiliated chapters. If I can be of any assistance, please contact me at jjensen@gcsaa.org and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @GCSAA_SW. I look forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming Sierra Nevada events.

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Welcome New Members Todd Gerrow Affiliate Member AG Sod Ron Barts Class A Rancho Murrieta C.C

“Going Global” October 12-13, 2015 Sponsorship Opportunity The Theme

The Northern California Golf Association’s annual Assistant Superintendent Boot Camp will be held on October 12 and 13 in Monterey. This year our theme is ―Going Global‖. No matter where you are in the world you are never too far from a golf course. This year we are gathering speakers from all over the world of golf to lend their experience and knowledge to the next generation of Superintendent.

We’ve been privileged for over a decade provide the attendees at Boot Camp with a variety of speakers covering many key elements to assist their course with the latest in maintenance practices. Attendees have been challenged to be strategic related to their careers with presentations designed to facilitate educational development, improve job interviewing and resume writing skills.

Why Support Boot Camp?

It’s a unique training opportunity for 50 Assistant Superintendents. Our attendees are challenged, informed, mentored, connected and taught the value of education. Your sponsorship helps to offset the cost of Boot Camp to make the event affordable to Assistant Superintendents. We can’t put this on without the generous help of our sponsors.

Sponsorship - $800.00 Would you contribute $800 to support Assistant Superintendent Boot Camp? Your company logo will appear on all promotional materials, with biographical information on your company’s representative included in conference handouts and thumb drives. We will provide an opportunity during the Boot Camp for your company’s representative to address the attendees.

The Venue

Accommodations and all events on Monday October 12 will be held at the Hyatt Hotel in Monterey. Tuesday will have events at the NCGA Headquarters in Pebble Beach, CA. Golf will be held at Poppy Hills GC.

Response and Questions

Please respond or refer questions to: Matt Muhlenbruch, Poppy Hills GC Superintendent: mmuhlenbruch@ncga.org or 831-625-3813 If you need an invoice, please contact Malinda Oliver moliver@ncga.org.

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2015 PRESIDENT’S CUP HOSTED

Mark Callahan

This will be Mark’s first opportunity to hold an event at Plumas Pine Golf Resort and our members first chance to visit him. Mark is completing his 20th year as the Golf Course Superintendent at Plumas Pines Golf Resort. He has been an active member of the Sierra Nevada GCSA since 1995.

Mark and his wife Michelle (Shelley) moved to Graeagle from the Chicago area in 1995 after receiving his B.S. Degree in Agriculture Science with a specialty in Turf Grass Management from Western Illinois University and working for 8 years at The Golf Club of Illinois. He and Michelle instantly fell in love with this beautiful mountain retreat and wanted to call this home. Michelle teaches math and science at Portola Junior/Senior high school. . Mark and Michelle have one son, Cody, who just turned 14 and is in 8th grade. Cody had mom as his teacher for 3 classes last year and will have her for one math class this year. Mark loves being involved with Cody and helping out with all of his sports including soccer, basketball, and Cody’s favorite, baseball. Mark also had the opportunity to coach the Little League Juniors team with Superintendent Craig Pearson last season as both of their sons were on the team.

Mark loves the

BY

MARK CALLAHAN

challenge of growing turf grass under high elevation conditions. He isn’t without challenges though, as he faces as we all do, the water limitation in the Sierra Nevadas. Another major challenge is monitoring and removing ice buildup on the greens which forms under snow cover in a “normal” winter. The elevation of the course leads to constant freeze/thaw cycles which in turn most winters leads to a substantial buildup of ice on the turf surface under the snow. Once the ice has been in place for 30-45 days, Mark and his small winter crew begin removing snow from the top of the ice and apply crumb rubber to the ice surface which absorbs heat from the sun and begins melting through the ice. Once turf is visible, fungicides are re-applied and winter monitoring continues.

The 18-hole course features 6,504 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 72 . The course rating is 71.3 and it has a slope rating of 132 on Blue grass. Designed by Homer Flynt, the Plumas Pines golf course opened in 1980. Celtic Golf Management manages this facility, with Brandon Bowling as the Golf Professional. The current owners bought the property approximately 15 years ago. They were anxious to make some changes and with Mark’s expertise they tackled several project that updated the property. They added tee boxes to extend the playability of the

course. Extending some of the shorter holes and increasing the yardage of the course. They also completed wall to wall cart paths, they are looking long term at replacing some of the asphalt paths with cement ones. The signature hole is the #13 which is a short par 5 that is reachable in 2 by “big hitters”. The course is tight with narrow fairways and tree lined roughs and will require shot placement over distance to prevail as the Presidents Cup champion. The back drop of the #13th hole is Mills Peak, which frames the view and makes for an exceptional sight. Major renovations were also made to the restaurant “Longboards Bar and Grill”. This has become an award winning facility in the area.

Mark enjoys all that the area offers. The family kayaks the local lakes and rivers, hikes the many trails in the area and enjoys camping and being outdoors. Mountain biking is a favorite with Mark and with all the interesting trails in the area he is never without an adventure. Normal snowy winters will find the family snowmobiling and snowshoeing the Lakes Basin area.

Please don’t forget to get your reservations in for the 2015 President’s Cup. It is definitely one you won’t want to miss.

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AROUND THE GREEN We have just received word that there are big changes at Turf Star, Inc. The company is currently held by Gene Warne and Len Gregory. Effective Sept 1, 2015 Gene will sell his share of the business to Joe Guerra and retire.

Gene Warne founded West Star Distributing, Inc in 1978. In November 2000 West Star, Inc and California Turf merged to form Turf Star, Inc. servicing all of California, Northwest Nevada, and Baja California.

Thinking about the future, Gene has been searching for three years to find the right person to replace him as CEO of Turf Star. He believes Joe Guerra is that person.

Joe has over 25 yrs. executive experience in the golf club and hospitality industry. He founded Sequoia Golf Holding in 2003 and sold it to ClubCorp in October 2014. At the

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IRENE CLINE

time of the sale he employed over 4500 people. Gene feels that Joe has the intellect and entrepreneurial spirit to build on the legacy that is Turf Star.

Moving forward, Joe and Len will look for opportunities to grow the business.

They assured us that customers can expect the same level of service and support they currently expect of Toro and Turf Star.

In other news, I’m sure most of you have heard that Rocklin Golf Course, formerly Sunset Whitney, closed this month. Sign of the times, unfortunately. On a brighter note Mike Kavaney has just accepted the position as superintendent at Turkey Creek G.C., Steve Beck resigned to pursue other interests and we know that Steve will be successful in his new venture.

The SNGCSA board of directors is working with superintendent

Scott McCullough at the Ridge G.C. to put on another Mechanics Seminar in early 2016. This event made national GCSAA news with its success and we are hoping to improve again this year.

In addition, we are looking at the feasibility of holding an Irrigation Seminar that would provide education to our members and their staff. These events add additional value to your membership.

We hope you enjoy these articles and would like to ask your help in keeping the membership up to date on all the changes around our association.

Let us know of changes in your staff, changes on your course, or any other information you would like to share.

See you “Around the Green”

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2015 SCHOLARSHIP TOURNAMENT HIGHLIGHTS Tournament Winners

Ram Sena, host Sean McPhedran, and Kyle Dykstra

1st Place Team, Mike Stieler, Jim Ferrin Tim Texeira, and Joel Diaz

Good to see our long time friends at right is Rich Scholes

1st Place Tim Texeira, Jim Ferrin, Mike Stieler, Joel Diaz 2nd Place Andy Raugust, John Jorgensen, Pete Bowman, Corey Eastwood 3rd Place Paul Watt, Arturo Herrera, Tim Hanaran, Lary Babica Closest to the Pine #4 Mike Jones #7 Steve Abella #14 Ralph Torres #16 Bob Miller

Jim Ferrin and Chuck Talley share a laugh

Sierra Pacific Turf provided a fun Casino Hole for the event. Lots of winners! Above Kevin Breen, CGCS, the newest GCSAA Director and past SN president addresses the group

Above at Jim Duhig and Steve Abella

Above is Turf Student and 2015 Scholarship Recipient Greg Kelly. Thank you for our friends at Turf Star, Jacobsen, and Commercial Pump for setting up displays for the day.

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2015 TRI CHAPTER MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

Above Jim Alwine, California GCSA and Marc Connerly, NorCal Executive Director

Coyote Creek hosted the 2015 Tri Chapter Meeting. It was well attended by all chapters as well as the Board of the California GCSA. At right at a few board members, Dave Bermudez, SNGCSA, Kevin Breen, CGCS, GCSAA, Jim Alwine, and Vince Zellefrow California GCSA and Glenn Matthews Central California GCSA At left is Phil Brown and Chuck Talley.

At right Kevin Eppich.

Above Craig Zellers & Glenn Matthews, CGCS

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