Wilson's Weekly Words

 Wilson's Weekly Words

Grubs: The Root of all Evil?

White grubs, (sometimes called grubworms or simply grubs) are the most widespread and destructive insect pests of turfgrass in the cool season and transition zones. White grubs damage turfgrasses by chewing the roots near the soil surface. When this is accompanied by hot weather and drought, the loss of turf can be swift and severe. Quiet often, predators including birds, skunks, raccoons, foxes, wild pigs, and moles dig up the infested area to feed on these grubs and often cause more damage than the grubs themselves.

Grubs are difficult to control because soil insecticide must penetrate the turf canopy and thatch layer in order to reach the upper soil layer. Us as turf managers must rely on gravity and irrigation to leach the insecticide into the target zone. As I stated earlier white grubs damage turf by chewing the roots near the soil, early turf symptoms include gradual thinning, yellowing, wilting in spite of adequate soil moisture, and scattered, irregular dead patches.

Once you know you have grubs how do you find out what kind they are!? Well there’s a thing called a raster pattern on the grubs lower abdomen, like it’s raster, which is like it’s “finger print” every species is different. Japanese beetles, masked chafers, European chafers, oriental beetles, and green June beetles have annual life cycles, where they mate and lay their eggs midsummer, mainly from late June to mid August.

Most soil insecticides have fairly short residual toxicity and proper timing of application in therefore very important. So we must time our applications on the course just right or we could miss our window of opportunity. I know that was a bit dry but it is important to know what we’re dealing with on our end.

 

Etiquette

We all know the common rules for the golf course etiquette, but did you know that there’s golf etiquette from a turf grass standpoint? Well there most certainly is! I stumbled upon these while reading what we turf professional call our “Bible” the real name of the book is Turf Management For Golf Courses by Dr. James B. Beard. The rules are as follows:

Holes in Bunkers:

                Before leaving a bunker, a player should carefully fill up and smooth over all holes and footprints made by the player.

Replace Divots;Repair Ball Marks and Damage by Spikes:

                Through the green, any turf cut or displaced by him/her is replaced at once and pressed down and that any damage to the putting green made by a ball is carefully repaired. On completion of the hole by all players in the group, damage to putting green caused by shoe spikes should also be repaired.

Damage to Greens—Flagsticks, Bags, etc.

                Players should ensure that, when putting down bags or the flagstick, no damage is done to the putting green and that neither they nor their caddies damage the hole by standing close to it, in handling the flagstick or in removing the ball from the hole. The flagstick should be properly replaced in the hole before the players leave the putting green. Players should not damage the putting green by leaning on their putters, particularly when removing the ball from the hole.

Golf Carts:

                Local notices regulating the movement of golf carts should be strictly observed. All golfers should exercise good judgment while walking or riding by avoiding (a) worn, thin turf areas in order to allow recovery, (b) wet areas where traffic will increase rutting and soil compaction, (c) wilted turf areas under drought stress, and (d) roped off areas and similar sites where ground is under repair.

Damage through Practice Swings:

                In taking practice swings, players should avoid causing damage to the course, particularly the tees, by removing divots.

 

"Clue"                                                                                       

This week on Wilson’s Words I’m going to share a story of a gentlemen I worked with all summer and can now call a friend. His name is Llewellyn Matthews (Middle), and he has golf with some of the greats in this game, for example; Rory McIlroy, Danny Willet, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, and Webb Simpson. He now works at a ground breaking golf course construction company call EcoBunker, who install artificial sod stacked bunkers all over the world (Link below). That is where our paths crossed. This past summer I interned at Secession Golf Club, in Beaufort South Carolina. I met and worked with Llewellyn or “Clue” all summer and he shared stories of all the pros he had golfed either with or against in his amateur days and who was easy going and others who were not so much, (Luke Donald…Shhhh!). I would have never expected a guy with such a background to be actually doing such a hard and dirty job, when he could go be a club pro at any of the well-known clubs over in England. He was one of the nicest and hardest working people I’ve ever met who loves the game so much he wants a hand in constructing courses not just playing them. I will forever hold the subtle lesson he taught me last summer, never judge a book by its cover.

Wilson's Weekly Words

With the Masters this weekend I figured I'd start my weekly column with 5 facts about Augusta National that you may not know.

1. Ice, Ice, Baby:

         One of the iconic pieces of The Masters beauty as we all know, are the azaleas, well to get them to bloom at just the right time, they put ice around them and under them to trick the plant from blossoming. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 1,600 azaleas on the 13th hole alone. That's a lot of ice!

2. Part Time Beauty:

         Shockingly enough, Augusta National closes for all members from mid-April to early fall so the golf course can recover and so they can do other projects to the course.

3. Course of Bad Luck:

         As you may know, one of the main designers of Augusta National was Alister MacKenzie, the architect who designed such courses like Crystal Downs in MI and Cypress Point in CA. Augusta National was the last course Alister would ever design and he sadly died before he ever saw the course finished.

4. Mistreating a Legend:

         Jack Nicklaus, 6 time Masters winner didn't have a tailored green jacket of his own until 1998.

5. Average Joes:

         Only three professional players are actually members at Augusta National; Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and John Harris. The rest are all just regular players that love the game like all of us. Also,  it's been said that the average handicap at Augusta is a 13, but the caddies say its closer to 15.