You can view tournament photos at the PGA Tour Web site and read more about the winner, Vijay Singh. For news coverage by World Golf, click here. For blog coverage, visit the Ridgewood CC blog.

August weather is nice change for mid-Atlantic golf course supers compared to last year
The weather has been very nice for all of August. Last week had some overnight lows in the upper 50s and day time highs in the low 80s. This is more like up-state NY than the mid-Atlantic. Golf course superintendents are calling this one of the easiest seasons in remembrance, especially compared to last year.

Customers see success with Insignia and Trinity fungicides
I’ve received positive feedback from many of my customers. One golf course superintendent called to say that he used his first ever Insignia fungicide fairway spray on the Fourth of July weekend and loves it! A distributor called to say Insignia plus a phite performed outstandingly. He has been working Insignia + phites and has gained the seal of “quality disease control”? approval from many happy customers. Another golf course superintendent said he tried Trinity fungicide at 1oz and, “LOVES Trinity”.

In general, BASF is receiving very positive feedback from distributors who are selling our pest control products for Take-all patch, Summer patch and Anthracnose turf diseases.

The very hot weather from two weeks ago fired up take-all patch disease. I recommend using Insignia fungicide as a preventative for take-all that invades the plant like summer patch, when soil temps are 55-65 degrees. Now I am recommending Trinity fungicide at 1oz. /m in combination with Manganese Sulfate. I have had good results with this combo at two courses with active take-all patch.

I have received two calls this week about the Drive XLR8 herbicide formula. It seems interest is growing and I am excited to introduce customers to the benefits of the liquid formula.

Now reachable by Blackberry
I entered the Blackberry community this week. I have not figured how to get e-mail yet, but I should have time to figure it out soon. I was able to up the font size so it is better than my old phone—It gave up the ghost.

Until next time on Turf Talk…

Application skippers don’t count your chickens just yet. These supers may become frantic in the very near future as 90 degree temperatures head our way in the coming weeks, combined with high soil moisture and very high humidity. I sure do wish I had air conditioning.

Preparation for summer stress offers members better playing turf
Golf course superintendents that prepare for summer stress are generally able to offer their golf club members more consistent playing conditions. And from what I can tell, those that operate preventative programs are sticking to their schedule. The current weather calls for hot temperatures starting this week end and continuing through the middle of next week.

Supers are looking for recommendations for prep for the up coming heat, several of which wanted to talk about Trinity fungicide.

Tips for turf maintenance
A customer called about pressure on their greens at a new course with no poa on greens. We went with a tank mix of Trinity at 1.5 and regular Primo rate. If it hurts the poa that’s good. Trinity does not broaden the bentgrass leaf as some Sls do.

Two other customers have poa greens and wanted to know about growth regulator effects. I discussed my strategy of letting Primo application run to the back end of it’s regulator effect and then apply Trinity fungicide at one ounce. Then observe the growth regulation effect from Trinity. Customers can then decide what amount of Primo needs to be applied in their next growth regulator application.

For Trinity fairway rates and disease control, especially for dollar spot, I would increase rates on all fairway sprays to 1.5oz/M. There will be a lot of dollar spot pressure this coming week.

See ya next week either in the field or here on Turf Talk.

My guests all really enjoyed the race and valued the information they received during their stay at FarmLinks.

I attended the opening of a John Deere distribution store in Round Hill, Va. They will be stocking chemicals and fertilizer to service the golf and LCOs in the very up-and-coming area in Northern Virginia.

Trinity and Insignia are being used for take-all patch and preventative applications of summer patch. The timing is right for both those diseases. The Insignia will be following a Banner application for take-all patch. The Trinity was for fairways—the 1oz. rate is favorably priced.

Many superintendents from Connecticut and New York attended the Rutgers Golf Research Classic Golf Tourney. The event is helpful for superintendents who use Rutgers’ data to help them decide what fungicides to include in their spray lineup. The event was a big success.

All the guys wanted to try and one up Randall. Steve McCormick from Columbia CC came pretty close yesterday with this nice catch.

My colleague Bob Beyer really helped me out while I was gone. He conducted three Insignia pre-aerification demonstrations in the central Pennsylvania/Philly area. The trials focused on examining the outcomes of early preventative applications that take place during aerification when the soil temperature is between 55 and 65 F. This key temperature range marks the beginning of seasonal disease activity at the soil level. Some customers may aerify early while the turf is still dormant in an effort to apply the treatments closer to key temperatures to get their money’s worth.

Key diseases that become active then are summer patch, take-all patch, anthracnose and pythium root dysfunction.

From my point of view, this disease/turf relationship is a classic example of a predator-prey relationship. When applied at the proper time and with proper watering, these diseases can be significantly reduced during summer stress by cutting them off at the pass. Actual inoculation occurs early and symptoms are seen later when stresses occur.

I’ve set up similar demos with Dean Graves from Chevy Chase CC in the D.C.
area and Chris Boyle from Mendahm Golf and Tennis in northern NJ. Chris Boyle’s turf was diagnosed with pythium root dysfunction, so we’ll take a look at that. Dean has already aerified, so we will look at temperature timing after renovation.

On Thursday afternoon I went fishing with a group of superintendents and sales representatives. No one caught any fish because it became very rough and rainy-but we had a great time. Everyone in the group agreed that Trinity is the best triticonazole, Insignia is the best-value strobilurin and Emerald is the top performer in its class of fungicides! There will be more fishing in the coming week-I’d like to get another giant striper, like this one pictured from a 2006 outing. The anticipation is as great as the reality.

This week at FarmLinks seemed to fly by. My colleague Bob Beyer really helped me out while I was gone. He conducted three Insignia pre-aerification demonstrations in the central Pennsylvania/Philly area. The trials focused on examining the outcomes of early preventative applications that take place during aerification when the soil temperature is between 55 and 65 F. This key temperature range marks the beginning of seasonal disease activity at the soil level. Some customers may aerify early while the turf is still dormant in an effort to apply the treatments closer to key temperatures to get their money’s worth. Key diseases that become active then are summer patch, take-all patch, anthracnose and pythium root dysfunction.

From my point of view, this disease/turf relationship is a classic example of a predator-prey relationship. When applied at the proper time and with proper watering, these diseases can be significantly reduced during summer stress by cutting them off at the pass. Actual inoculation occurs early and symptoms are seen later when stresses occur.

I’ve set up similar demos with Dean Graves from Chevy Chase CC in the D.C.

area and Chris Boyle from Mendahm Golf and Tennis in northern NJ. Chris Boyle’s turf was diagnosed with pythium root dysfunction, so we’ll take a look at that. Dean has already aerified, so we will look at temperature timing after renovation.

On Thursday afternoon I went fishing with a group of superintendents and sales representatives. No one caught any fish because it became very rough and rainy-but we had a great time. Everyone in the group agreed that Trinity is the best triticonazole, Insignia is the best-value strobilurin and Emerald is the top performer in its class of fungicides! There will be more fishing in the coming week-I’d like to get another giant striper, like this one pictured from a 2006 outing. The anticipation is as great as the reality.

I attended the USGA Greens Section Training course on Wednesday. There were no surprises here and the talk about disease last year was that superintendents skipped applications by manipulating their water usage. The dry, cool season saved substantial budget money earmarked for fungicides.
Next week will be busy with the Mid Atlantic GCSAA spring session at the University of Maryland.

Spring’s a critical time to take control. Pythium root dysfunction consumes new bentgrass roots at this time. Preventative anthracnose applications need to go down at this time. Summer patch takes this same temperature zone as an inoculation opportunity. An Insignia application just before aerification will control these diseases.

Spring renovations have never been so beneficial!

Grass Roots and BASF will be sponsoring wearables for The Barclay’s Golf Tournament at Ridgewood CC. Ken Kubic always puts on a memorable display for the GCSA volunteers who spend three days manicuring the course to tournament conditions. All supers that can participate in this work/social event do. The bigger the club the more likely they will have time to volunteer.

A fun highlight of next week will be seeing Villanova basketball.