Turfgrass market dynamics – winter weather roller coaster
The winter weather thus far has truly been a roller coaster. This past week we had 6 inches snow with ice and below zero temps followed by warmer temps and 2 inches of rainfall which melted everything. Yesterday, daytime temps reached 60 degrees and down to below 20 degrees at night. Snowfall accumulation in the territory is below average with above average temps so far. These conditions can change very rapidly; there is a lot of winter weather conditions that probably will happen before we think too much about Spring.

Rainfall in December & January has been extreme; soil conditions are very saturated. Believe it or not, there are still sizeable acreages of corn that have not been harvested. The ground has not frozen enough to allow for heavy harvest equipment without causing serious damage to the soil structure.

All the golf courses are hoping for a better beginning to the 2012 spring season as compared to 2011. Some of the public golf courses have had some golf play in December & January due to the mild weather conditions and in between the rainfall patterns.

Mild winter sparks snow mold fungicide application questions
The mild winter conditions have caused some concerns for degradation of snow mold fungicides during a mild winter environment with and without snow cover. The concern is determining if additional applications of snow mold fungicides in February & March are necessary. I am including some info from Jim Kern, Ph.D., concerning this topic —  read the Jan. 18, Turf Diseases, “Degradation of Fungicides in a Winter Environment” blog here:  http://www.turfdiseases.org/midatlantic/degradation-of-fungicides-in-a-winter-environment/.

All turfgrass management product benefits are not created equal. They vary by active ingredient, formulation and performance. Superintendents know how to select the best solutions for their turf needs because they personally research product information on websites and in text books. They test label claims on course test plots. They seek solution recommendations from peers and industry consultants. So it only seems natural to want to cut through the clutter and get to the real data. And more importantly see how the product benefits add up to healthy turf and satisfied golfers.

Easy-to-find answers—in one GIS booth    

Disease control and plant health benefits are turfgrass industry hot topics. But does it warrant the buzz? Our stance is yes.

Many talk about it but few can explain it. Visit the BASF Professional Turf & Ornamentals Golf Industry Show booth #1860 to see what disease control and plant health looks like and get answers from the people who have the facts.  

Serious disease control and plant health research

At BASF, we focus on customers’ needs. From the get-go we published and shared the Intrinsic^™ Brand Fungicides Plant Health Research 2011 booklet (PDF) and FAQ (PDF) with superintendents. If you’re curious about or interested in disease control and plant health, view the BASF data, watch the videos and learn the real disease control and plant health facts at www.intrinsicplanthealth.com.

Want answers now? Post a comment or question below.  

For me, I am rolling right into college basketball where my Alma mater, Syracuse, is performing quite well and is looking to make a run into the tournament as a high seed. We shall see. Only seven more weeks until MARCH MADNESS!!

Hey Folks!!  Looking out the window trying to figure out what a “typical” winter day in New England is this year. Typical or average is certainly outside the norm lately. For instance, Friday last week was 8 degrees with snowstorms or otherwise, typical. Today is 50 degrees with light rain. Definitely not typical.

Some area golf courses had very strong play during the month of December and into the first couple of weeks of January, hopefully this can only help their bottom line. I will be curious to see how the turf responds to the freeze/thaw/snow/freeze typical weather we are experiencing.  

Looking forward to the Patriots vs. Giants Super Bowl match-up

Speaking of “typical”, the AFC Champion New England Patriots have advanced to another Super Bowl event. Once again, the much maligned New England Patriots have improved slowly each week and have advanced to the Championship event. The Patriots advance to the Pantheon of football greatness with a statistically inferior defense. This defensive unit gives up more yards than any other team in the league, but make the typical other-worldly plays to win the game. In the end, it’s all about pulling together to WIN. This version of the Patriots cherish the opportunity to match up against the Giants in a 2007 rematch. Should be a great game!!

Once again we’re rewarding golf course superintendents’ hard work with a little fun and a big chance to win cash-gift cards at GIS, in Las Vegas. Hurry to our BASF booth #1860 at the following times for your chance to participate:   

BASF Turf Booth #1860 “Superintendent Pyramid” Schedule

- 11:00 a.m. Wed., Feb. 29  

- 3:00 p.m. Wed., Feb. 29

- 11:00 a.m. Thurs., March 1 

“Superintendent Pyramid” Details

We’ll have two teams with one superintendent* and one BASF expert on each. Three categories will be revealed, and each team will choose one to play. BASF players must describe the chosen category to their superintendent teammates in six words or phrases. Players have 30-seconds to guess all six words or phrases being described. The player with the most correct guesses will advance to the next round, with the chance to earn up to $1,000 total in cash-gift cards!  

View the full 2012 GIS BASF booth #1860 schedule.

*BASF reserves the right to select superintendent players at its discretion.

OK, it has been like ground hog day in Northern California – 65 degrees, sunny, 35 degrees at night, day after day; what the heck? I have lived in NorCal for 25 years and this is the first time I have watered the turf in the winter. The snow-capped Sierra Mountains are bare, ski resorts are making snow at a feverish pace, and golf courses are doing more business in the last few months than all last year… all I can say is weird.

Brought home a win reminiscent of King Pin at our District 12 John Deere Landscapes meeting at The National Bowling Center

Something else that is weird is my trip with Steve Jackson to Reno, Nev., for the district 12 John Deere Landscapes meeting. The weather – 65 and sunny, in January was very pleasant. The story is not weird because of the company, DSR’s, JDL management, or other vendors; it was weird because of the events that transpired during the team building event with the entire group Thursday night.

The day in question started out as any great day would with my previous boss, Steve Jackson. It was like any trade show, but with someone helping that makes it much easier during the slow times. We meet with most of the JDL branch managers, OSR’s, management, and staff for a very productive trade show day, but what is to follow was above and beyond uneventful….

We were invited to participate in a team building, fun event with the entire division of the eight-state JDL contingent. The meeting place – The National Bowling Center located in downtown Reno. The place Mark Roth (hall of fame bowler) won several tournaments over his career, as a professional bowler in the ABA. The same legendary location filmed where Bill Murray (Ernie McCracken), Randy Quaid (Ishmael), Vanessa Angel (Claudia), and Woody Harrelson (Roy Munson) starred in a story of an  Amish bowler (Ishmael) hooking up with Roy Munson to make it to Reno in hopes of saving the farm. Roy and Ernie McCracken dueled in the famed match for a million dollars in the movie King Pin.

Steve and I were put on four-man teams to battle for fame and glory at this incredible venue. There were appositely 160 bowlers that night bowling three games, on 120 lanes. We were scheduled to bowl three games. After the 2^nd game, the VP announced that the top-four bowlers would vie for a spot to compete in the championship based on high scores. Well my second game was very good; bowling over 180… to my surprise I was seeded 2^nd, behind a tough competitor who happened to be a woman with JDL. As it turned out, I was the only vendor on the four-person championship bowl off – one game for glory. We opened the stands, and put on two lanes, the same two lanes as Munson and McCracken in King Pin.

As we approached the lanes, I bowled 2^nd…. I was doing well. The cheers for the others did not cloud my mind or judgment. I thought that I should let the others win, you know like playing golf with the boss. No, No, No, I am a competitor, and I wanted to WIN. I was winning, but kind of feeling bad I was beating a woman. She was about 25 pins behind going into the 10^th frame. I did not mark, and she had a chance to tie with three strikes. Well that never happened, and I was victorious! Just like Big Ern in King Pin I handled it much better, winning with grace and style. That’s how BASF represents at tradeshow events!

The first 60 golf supers to visit the BASF Professional Turf & Ornamentals GIS booth #1860 at 10 a.m. on Wed., Feb. 29 and Thurs., March 1, have a chance to meet industry-leading, turf research authors and receive free, autographed copies of:

-       “Turfgrass Water Conservation, Vol. 2” — Dr. David Kopec:  Learn current water use issues and new technologies being researched for turfgrass water conservation. Chapters cover drought, heat, and salinity stress tolerance, the role of water in modified root zone media and native soils, water technology considerations for construction and management of urban green spaces and golf courses, water depletion, pesticide and nutrient runoff.

-       “Best Golf Course Management Practices, 3rd Ed.” — Dr. Bert McCarty: Get up-to-date information on grasses available, their selection and use; soils and soil amendments; critical management decisions; pest management and IPM practices; environmental concerns and strategies to develop best management practices for golf courses; and personnel and financial considerations when developing and implementing annual budgets, leasing vs. buying equipment and managing inventory.

View the full BASF booth schedule. See you in Las Vegas!

*BASF reserves the right to select book recipients at their discretion.

We don’t want golf course superintendents and assistant superintendents to miss a thing at the BASF booth, especially the chance to discover the real research behind Intrinsic™ brand fungicides’ benefits, win turf books, earn cash and receive product samples! 

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

- 10:00 a.m. Book Signing — Meet Dr. Dave Kopek, professor of turfgrass management at the University of Arizona, and get a signed copy of his book, “Turfgrass Water Conservation, Vol. 2.” *Limited supplies are available only to superintendents.

- 11:00 a.m. Play Superintendent Pyramid — Superintendents can team up with their BASF rep to play for the chance to win up to $1,000.

- 1:30 p.m. Free to the First 25 — Be one of the first 25 superintendents at the booth at 1:30 to receive a free sample size of Pillar™ G fungicide – a new granular fungicide from BASF.

- 3:00 p.m. Play Superintendent Pyramid — Superintendents can team up with their BASF rep to play for the chance to win up to $1,000.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

- 10:00 a.m. Book Signing — Book signing: Meet Dr. Bert McCarty, professor of turfgrass management at Clemson University and get a signed copy of his book, “Best Golf Course Management Practices, 3rd Edition.” *Limited supplies are available only to superintendents.

- 11:00 a.m. Play Superintendent Pyramid — Superintendents can team up with their BASF rep to play for the chance to win up to $1,000.

- 1:30 p.m. Free to the First 25 — Free to the First 25: Be one of the first 25 superintendents at the booth at 1:30 to receive a free sample size of Pillar™ G fungicide – a new granular fungicide from BASF.

- 3:00 p.m. Special Media Edition of Superintendent Pyramid — Watch editors from your favorite industry publications like TurfNet, Golfdom, GCM, Golf Course Industry and Superintendent play for the chance to win funds for charitable organizations.

We’ll share all the booth action on our Turf Talk blog and @BASFTurf_us Twitter page.

Whether you’re attending the Golf Industry Show Feb. 27-March 2, in Las Vegas, or planning to follow the action from home—BASF Professional Turf & Ornamentals will keep you digitally dialed into booth offers, activities, and general show happenings.

How-to engage in Golf Industry Show buzz:

1. BASF Turf Talk Blog: Enter your email or click the RSS-feed option on our blog’s homepage to receive updates.
2. BASFTurf_us Twitter: Follow us and engage in discussions using the #GIS12 hashtag.
3. BASFTurfTalk YouTube: Stay-tuned for videos.

Are you a #GIS12 social media turf advocate? We’ll add you to the Twitter list!

We’re starting an easy-to-track Golf Industry Show 2012 Twitter list of golf course management professionals who want to learn and talk about the show. Leave a comment below or tweet @BASFTurf_us to be added to the list.

I know, you just can’t lose with a new computer.  It boots up fast, has the latest software package, and makes working remotely that much easier.  It was a great choice and if you think about it, making a choice on a product is usually based on features, benefits, cost, quality and reputation of the vendor. You get all that to line up and the product you choose generally rises to the top.

But the other key was the support provided by the vendor BASF chose to remove the old PCs and install the new ones. This was tricky given the scope and scale of the operation, plus everyone has the irrational fear of losing all their work on their current PCs. You had to clear time on your calendar for delivery of the new system and were not allowed to move from your appointed time.  Sounds somehow like a distantly painful upcoming visit to the dentist, right?

There were some minor glitches, nothing is ever perfect, but overall I was wowed.  These guys came into our offices and one-by-one delivered the new PCs and scooped up the old ones. They had a plan, worked the plan and it was a success.

I was delighted by my experience and am enjoying my new computer.  It’s one of the best on the market, but the formula for this success was simple. Take a top notch product; develop a plan and work to execute the plan flawlessly.

So if I think about the turf & ornamental business, the New Year reminds us that we are starting over; it’s a new beginning so before we begin, let’s double check the plan, or make it if we haven’t already done so.  Let’s make sure we’ve got the resources needed to execute the plan.  If the plan just sits on the shelf gathering dust or is under delivered, you can predict the results will be, at best, below average.  

At BASF we’ve got great products, like our Intrinsic™ brand fungicides, still the only fungicides in the turf market with Plant Health on the labels. These products are the best, they rise to the top. So great products separate us in one way from the other guys, but how else do we provide value? With market leading technical support, a strong network of distributors and agents, training, a full pipeline of innovations for our customers, and the wherewithal to stand behind our not only our products, but also our people.

Can others make those claims?  Maybe some of the claims but certainly not all of them.  And so if you buy from BASF, we expect to impress turf pros like yourself this year.

You too can take these axioms and apply them to your own business. Develop the best product you can, make your plan and work your plan. More often than not, you’ll exceed your expectations and be the best.

Brian Lish