Turfnet Radio

In this episode of the TurfNet Renovation Report, host Anthony Pioppi chats with Scott Bordner, who recently moved from Chicago Golf Club to a rebuild project of the old Sand Barrens Golf Club in Swainton, New Jersey, near Atlantic City. Renamed Union League National Golf Club, the original Hurdzan/Fry design is being redone by Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design. Presented by Golf Preservations and The Andersons.  

Join Dave Wilber and Kevin Hicks as they talk about what the Corona Virus means to looking at our world going forward. Kevin Hicks is the Western Regional Agronomist for Earthworks. He's also been a golf course superintendent and understands very well what times of change mean in our business. Kevin recently tweeted a short video talking about his thoughts about preparing for change and difficult times. It was a from the heart masterpice. You can see it here. Dave asked Kevin to go more into depth about that video. What came from that was a sharing of wisdom and knowledge from two dedicated professionals who are old friends and have seen a thing or two. While this is indeed an unpresidented time in our history, much can be developed by looking at the past and seeing how to apply those lessons, while moving forward. Thank you for listening to one of the most important podcasts ever to be presented on TurfNet Radio. 

How are you  as turfgrass managers handling the trying time of the Coronavirus? Some ideas from Dave Wilber. There is no question that the coronavirus is affecting all of our lives. Dave shares some advice of his own and others about what golf course superintendents and other turf managers are and should be doing. White it is true that we have so many things to worry about concerning a worldwide health issue, the jobs that keep us employed are also of great importance. Some perspective on Leadership and Agronomy and Self-Care are a good thing. Follow Dave on Twitter @turfgrasszealot.

Jake Mendoza, superintendent at historic Detroit Golf Club discusses how working for a few legendary superintendents help shape his career and prepare him for his current position. He also discusses following another legend who logged more than 50 years on the job at Detroit, inheriting the PGA Tour's Rocket Mortgage Classic and how new challenges, such as labor issues, affect daily maintenance practices on 36 holes that were designed by Donald Ross and at a club where Ross's brother was president for three decades.

Dave Wilber interviews Peter Kessler, long time host and driving force of The Golf Channel. The Turfgrass Zealot project starts his year 2020 season with a bang! Peter Kessler, known as perhaps the greatest interviewer in Golf Media history joins Dave Wilber for a fun and unique conversation. Peter talks about his love of the game and those in the game. And provides some facinating stories. Wrestling with Arnie? Yes. It's here. Peter also talks about what Golf Course Superintendents and Greenkeeping mean to him.  Enjoy this conversation with two dedicated and unique, if not outright savants. Only on TurfNet.com!  

In this episode of the TurfNet Renovation Report, Anthony Pioppi chats with Rob Collins of King Collins Golf Course Design, one of the new generation of "movers and shapers" bringing fresh thought to golf course design and construction. King Collins is the firm behind Sweetens Cove, Signal Mountain and The Buck Club, and is currently reworking the old Rondout Country Club in Accord, NY, a renovated 12-hole public track in Jackson, MI, and the new Landmand project in Nebraska. Presented by Golf Course Preservations and The Andersons.

In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, the brilliance fairly gushes forth from the inhabitants of Rockbottum, with advice, observations and rants on everything from Skeletal Golf Theory to concussions, low budget superintendent relaxation techniques, fake waterfalls, what happened when the Mayor's wife picked a fight with Momma... and why playing your own golf course is not playing golf. It's something else. Finally, beware the red-circled tree for man-relief. Presented by DryJect.

In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, presented by DryJect, Randy reveals his proven method for upgrading your BS filter. Then, Fester N. Boyle, the former green chair at Stinkin' Pond CC drops by to offer Momma some suggestions on golf maintenance. Ludell sells golf insurance and extended golf swing warranties before getting in real trouble when he joins Buddy in a special yoga class at the gym, while Randy goes on about how to use Crowd Wisdom to see the future of golf. In Storytime, RW tells about how he and brother Mike became golf course rocket scientists and managed to lower the surrounding property values.

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Frank Rossi chats with Dr. Peter Dernoeden reflects on his academic, research and extension career in turfgrass pathology from Colorado and Rhode Island to Maryland, and his six degrees of separation from so many notable personalities in the turf industry. Presented by DryJect and Intelligro/Civitas.  

In this holiday episode of Rockbottum Radio, among zero-environmental impact mowers and white-lightning eggnog, it's the annual Christmas dinner for the crew and a twisted attempt at caroling ("In the fairway we can build a snowman..."). Aint Feemy runs over a slow-play golfer with her cart for calling her a Boomer. And, for Storytime, RW tells about his most memorable Christmas (1977, after two seasons as an assistant superintendent), when he also discovered Clarence the angel and Mr. Potter. As his gift to all of us, RW suggests that in this time of division, anger and irrational reactions, we should consider the influence we have over friends and family, and how much impact our behavior has on our crew. Ask yourself this: will my effect next year be positive or negative? RW and the Gang also welcome their new sponsor, DryJect.

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Dan Dinelli relates what he has learned from his recent conversion from Poa annua on native soil greens to bentgrass on sand-based greens at North Shore Country Club near Chicago. A fresh look at behavior and management of organic matter and biomass in sand-based systems, down to the single-particle level. A fascinating discussion! Frankly Speaking is presented by Civitas/Intelligro and DryJect.

Carlton Henry, assistant superintendent at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, talks in this episode of The Ladder about the compressed schedule of the restoration of this Donald Ross classic golf course to make it relevant for today's game. He also talks about the compressed schedule to restore one of Ross's personal favorites so that it was ready to host this year's U.S. Junior Amateur, as well as preparations for the 2021 Solheim Cup in Toledo. Finally, he talks about learning the business of being a golf course superintendent from John Zimmers, the role he and fellow assistant Ryan Kaczor play in budgeting and communicating with members on a day-to-day basis.

In this episode of Living Legends sponsored by Nufarm and Wiedenman, Jim Husting, recently retired from Woodbridge Golf and Country Club in California, talks about how the job of the golf course superintendent has changed since the 1980s, the challenges associated with finding and retaining labor in today's golf market, his role in government relations and how it helped the golf industry on the local level in California, why he enjoys teaching turf and horticulture at San Joaquin Delta Community College after retirement.

In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, broadcasting from deep in the TurfNet Zone, Momma cooks up Himalayan Possum Stew and has to call in an expert pathologist... Aint Feemy picks the range and doesn't feel a thing... and an important golf corporation exec gets trapped by the Robot Commode in Rockbottum's new high-tech restroom. Baffled with BS: During Willy's intellectual segment, Buddy rounds up a road trip posse to hunt down the TurfTruthers, a gang of dry-gulchin', bulltwit slingin' yayhoos just trying to fit in with the cool kids and avenge years of wedgies and toilet swirlies. Momma says it best: Never trust a twitter who won't give you his real name.

In this episode of The Ladder, Ryan Kaczor, assistant superintendent at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, discusses working for superintendents like John Zimmers, both at Inverness and Oakmont, and Steve Cook at Oakland Hills, and how those experiences are helping him prepare for his first crack at being a head superintendent. A graduate of Michigan State, Ryan also talks about the recent restoration at Inverness, one of Donald Ross’s favorite designs, and how contemporary architect Andrew Green brought the 1918 classic back to its roots. Ryan also talks about how the challenges involved with completing the restoration just ahead of this year’s U.S. Junior Amateur, and efforts under way to bring the 2021 Solheim Cup to northwestern Ohio.

In this episode of the TurfNet Renovation Report, host Anthony Pioppi chats with Jeff Johnson, golf course superintendent at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, about their 2018 strip-and-seed regrassing project that opened earlier this year. Presented by Golf Preservations and The Andersons.

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Frank Rossi chats with Dr John Sorochan of the University of Tennessee about the latest research in measurement and testing technology for management of sports turf surface performance and safety.

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Frank Rossi chats with Dr. Jim Brosnan of the University of Tennessee about the effect of weather trends in application decision making and weed species shiftefficacy (and herbicide resistance) of Poa annua control programsthe ongoing four-year, $5.7 million project among 15 universities to assess the national-scale herbicide-resistance epidemic in annual bluegrass in managed turfgrass systems the involvement and position of universities and extension on the recent glyphosate debacle. Presented by DryJect and Civitas Turf Defense.

In this episode of Rockbottum Radio, RW seeks to avoid offensive discourse by installing a special Podcast Offensive Warning Device (POWD), which emits a BS alert when anything potentially offensive is emitted. The screen-free gang at Rockbottum CC receives the worst-ever Social Credit Score, forcing Momma to retain a Social Engineering Expert -- Horton Pantslow -- to bring Rockbottum CC into the modern era. A mandatory staff meeting after lunch ensues. The first lesson of Horton's seminar focused on working smarter not harder, raising the bar and seeing the course with new eyes while taking the course to the next level and doing more with less. The Rockbottum SCS is pushed into negative territory as a result. The meeting winds up with a serious discussion about Growing the Game and Global Worming...

In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Frank Rossi chats with Dr. Karl Guillard of UConn about nitrogen behavior in the soil and current thinking on late season nitrogen application and water protection, mineralization rates, organic matter accumulation... and more. Presented by DryJect and Civitas Turf Defense.