Turfnet Radio

Chad Allen, finishing up his first year as golf course superintendent at the Club at Chatham Hills near Indianapolis, IN, has a unique background and training as a substance abuse and addiction counselor prior to shifting to turf management. A recent attendee of both Green Start and the Syngenta Business Institute, Chad employs a "bottom up" management style that centers on listening to and engaging his staff in the processes of managing the golf course.

Dr. John Dempsey speaks with Frank in this episode of Frankly Speaking focusing on how plant defenses can be activated using certain products and what that defense activation means. Enjoy some lively Irish banter from Dr. Dempsey about his career and our usual deep-dive segment where we endeavor to understand how plants defend themselves against stress and pest. As a special treat we highlight the BTME Trade Show and Continue to Learn Conference in Harrogate, UK (the northwest of England) with special guest Sami Strutt and Deb Burnett.  All of us would love to see you there!

Frank chats with regular guest Brian Whitlark, Senior Consulting Agronomist for the USGA’s West Region about getting ready for Desert Golf Season. How did the overseeding go and with more folks staying around in the summer months, how is transition been the last few years? Of course, no conversation would be complete with discussion of water use in the West. Specifically, how a recent collection of seminars is bringing golf industry and water purveyors together to develop a sustainable plan moving forward.

Jared Viarengo of Applebrook Golf Club in Malvern, Pennsylvania, bucked a trend early in his career by also becoming general manager at the club in eastern Pennsylvania. Since then, Viarengo's role has expanded as the club's director of grounds and director of club operations.  In this broadcast, Viarengo discusses how his career started in the field of psychology and how he eventually returned his roots on the golf course, where he had worked during summers since high school. He also talks about those who helped him forge his career and his role mentoring others. Finally, Viarengo talks about how the industry has changed in recent years and how newfound issues are affecting the turf business.

Frank catches up with longtime colleague Professor Jim Baird of UC-Riverside. Frank and Jim discuss a career path that led from a youthful interest in golf and course care to his current role as the lone turfgrass scientist in the UC system. Jim speaks frankly about water, overseeding, product evaluations and the Bermudagrass breeding program that is beginning to show promise in reducing water use and maintaining winter color. You don’t want to miss some of the details Jim shares on what it takes to “Defend Turfgrass in the Desert Southwest”!

Frank sat down recently with the Montgomery County Revenue Authorities Director of Agronomy, Jon Lobenstine to discuss his career development, experiences overseeing 9 golf courses, creating an inclusive culture, as well as robots, GPS sprayers, organic matter and even vineyard management! In typical, “Frankly Speaking-style”, these two cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time!

In this episode of Renovation Report, Bradley S. Klein, Ph.D., talks with superintendent-turned-consultant Josh Lewis of Gradoville-Hertzing Management Group about the state of the industry in California. Lewis, who worked as a superintendent in Washington and California, also discusses the scope and escalating cost of restoration projects in California and other hot-button issues there, including the cost of and access to adequate water resources in California.

In this episode of the TurfNet Renovation Report, former USGA Green Section agronomist and now independent consultant Dave Oatis chats with Anthony Pioppi about things clubs should consider prior to embarking on a restoration or major renovation project.

Our latest Rising Star of Turf is J. Richard Brown, newly minted golf course superintendent at Florence (SC) Country Club. Richard got the nod for the Florence job after ten years "apprenticeship" in the South Carolina golf market, starting with five years at various courses in Myrtle Beach before becoming the senior assistant at Orangeburg Country Club, where he remained for the ensuing five years. Richard participated in one of our Assistant Situation roundtable conversations earlier this year, indicating that he was ready for a head superintendent job but just waiting for the right opportunity to open up. In the meantime, he felt he was being compensated fairly, had a good work/life balance for himself, wife and young son, and didn't want to hopscotch around taking other assistant positions for the sake of a small increment in pay. In this conversation with Peter McCormick, Richard recounts the recent process of procuring the unadvertised opening at Florence Country Club and what the experience has been

Signals of a changing climate are everywhere, from more intense storms to more frequent droughts. The basis of this change lies in carbon emissions and the solution potentially lies in sequestering the carbon into our soils. Grasses are perfect vehicles for this process. In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Frank Rossi speaks with Drs. Claire Phillips of the USDA-ARS and Alec Kowaleski of Oregon State University about their review paper on Carbon Sequestration in Turf and the role turfgrass management plays in emitting carbon.

Some career superintendents make their marks by hosting major tournaments or pushing the agronomic envelope, while others quietly go about their business of growing great grass while also navigating the potholes and pitfalls that invariably spring up over time. John Carlone, CGCS, has done that over 37 years as a golf course superintendent at two clubs in one of the toughest markets in the industry: Long Island, NY. Fresh out of the University of Rhode Island (where he had a notable roommate, Frank Rossi), Carlone went to work for Scott Niven at the Stanwich Club in 1983 before taking over the reins at Middle Bay Country Club in 1985. He stayed there until 1996 when he left for Meadow Brook Club on the north shore of Long Island, where he has been ever since. In this conversation with Peter McCormick, Carlone offers hard-earned lessons about family, dedication, staff, club politics, humility, swallowing one's pride when needed and "not mailing it in". A fascinating chat with a good friend of TurfNet for man

Rockbottum Radio presents our annual Halloween broadcast, with not one, but three spooky golf stories.  These stories are full of scary messages and at least one real good golf course management tip, so send out the crew, close the office door and settle in for some golf trauma as only Rockbottum CC can share.

Frank has another in-depth conversation with a turfgrass breeder, this time Dr. Melodee Fraser, Director of Research Eastern Division for Pure Seed Testing. During the conversation In the TZ, grasses are challenged by heat, drought, excess rainfall and by default lots of foliar and root pathogens. Dr. Fraser outlines the process and lets all us inside the strategy that leading scientists are using to develop the next generation of grasses. A “dramatic” episode.

In this episode of the TurfNet Renovation Report, Anthony Pioppi chats with Michael Osley, CGCS, about his relocation from a 20-year stint in Colorado to take over the resurrection of St. Joseph Bay Golf Club in the crook of the Florida Panhandle. Challenges abounded, including significant course damage and losing his family's home to Hurricane Michael within months of relocating.

Sean Tully of the Meadow Club in Fairfax, California, has made a name for himself as a fan and ultimately an expert on classic-era golf course architecture, particularly Alister MacKenzie designs. The Meadow Club, where Tully is director of grounds maintenance, is in fact the first course in North America designed by MacKenzie and one of several in Northern California. Tully's expertise in the field has resulted in many opportunities to speak at other golf courses in the region, often to educate members about the history of their own respective clubs. In this broadcast, he discusses his affinity for classic-era architecture and how it started. He also discusses more current issues, such as the challenges brought on by recurrent drought conditions that have plagued the West for the past generation and the omni-present labor-shortage situation.

In this episode of Me Maintenance, Peter McCormick chats with Zach Bauer, golf course superintendent at the Valley Country Club in Centennial, Colorado, just southeast of Denver. Zach had gone into this year on the heels of myriad construction/renovation projects (both golf course and clubhouse) with depleted groundwater, very dry soils and dessicated turf. Coupled with the short staffing and increased play prevalent within the industry, he started waving the white flag of desperation on Twitter as early as May 4. With the encouragement of his wife, Karen, Zach made a point of taking time for himself and spending one day a week fly fishing on nearby streams. Zach tells us about his agronomic and emotional struggles this year and how taking time for himself and his family has helped right the ship. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

Frank is joined again in this episode with golf business expert Jim Koppenhaver from Pellucid Inc., leaders in golf business data science and analytics to discuss the “covid-dend", i.e., the persistent gains golf has made since the pandemic. Frank and Jim also discuss how golf can manage the coming recession and what data from previous recessions tell us about how we might handle this one.

In this episode of Renovation Report, Brad Klein talks with Canadian golf writer Lorne Rubenstein about the positive attributes of links golf and why links golf is, in Rubenstein's view, the best golf. They also diiscuss their mutual affection for Royal Dornochourse and how European golf's acceptance of brown conditions is much more conducive to long-term sustainability and even can result in improved playing conditions. They also discuss how the golf course in Europe often has a central role in the town and can be a resource for families who do not necessarily play golf, but still use it for recreational purposes.

In this episode of Me Maintenance, Peter McCormick chats with Stuart Butler, host of HWOM the Podcast and newly minted Head Greenkeeper at Westgate and Birchington Golf Club on the southeast coast of England. Leaving a 20-odd year stint as a senior greenkeeper at Royal St. Georges Golf Club and with it the type of work/life balance that many in the industry crave, Stu took over a job that until recently he thought he'd never want. Just six weeks in, Stu says it’s the best decision he has ever made in his professional career. "I will certainly have less time with my family and more pressure but I’m loving work again. It’s a test but in a good way."

One could argue golf fairway grassing has the largest impact on resource consumption due to the amount of intensely managed land. Large applications of fertilizer, pesticides and water are consumed in our finest operations across the country on fairways. Frank speaks with Professor Eric Watkins of the University of Minnesota on how grass type impacts management and ultimate performance.