On the money

Evening treks around Scioto Country Club, a prime plot of Columbus, Ohio real estate filled with golf history, are part of Bob Becker’s routine.

Curious members with a similar question often stop Becker during the solo treks. “They will be like, ‘What are you looking for?’” says Becker, the club’s head superintendent since 2007. “I’ll tell them, ‘I’ll let you know if I find anything. If I don’t find anything, that’s good.’ You have to watch it. You can’t turn your back on anything.”

The risks of complacency are high. Not only is Jack Nicklaus linked to Scioto – the 18-time major champion learned the game on the course – the club holds a place in golfing lore as one of just a handful of venues to host a U.S. Open, PGA Championship, Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Senior Open. If that’s not enough, there’s another major tournament looming, the 2016 U.S. Senior Open, which coincides with Scioto’s 100th anniversary.

Falling behind on a project or treatment isn’t an option. Scioto’s internal and external expectations are that high. Becker and his crew, which includes veteran assistant superintendent Jason Spencer, maintain a golf course that receives 22,000 rounds per year, a high number for an exclusive Midwest private club. They are also maintaining a course in a region considered a haven for dollar spot activity.

“I would rate the Ohio area as one of the hardest hit regions in the country,” says BASF senior technical specialist Kyle Miller, who covers the Northern section of the United States. “The Northeast also gets hit pretty hard up into New England. One thing I noticed in the Ohio area is that you have this deep, pitting type of dollar spot that can cause pretty extensive damage.”

Because of the stakes, Becker displays extreme caution when trying new products to control dollar spot or any other turf disease. “I kind of let the market test some stuff,” Becker says. “I will test everything, but I kind of sometimes hold off a little bit and let a product run its course before going full-scale with it. I will start it on the range, move it to tees, move it to fairways and then move it to greens.”

With soil and air temperatures escalating, Becker is preparing for widespread usage of a product that flourished last summer at Scioto. BASF senior sales specialist Jerry Husemann, who covers Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky, introduced Xzemplar, a fungicide with long-lasting preventative and curative action, to Becker in 2014. Becker eased Xzemplar into Scioto’s agronomic program, using the fungicide on portions of the range tee midway through last summer. During one of the trials, Becker says an area of turf covered with plywood was “riddled” with dollar spot while an exposed area “held up beautifully.”

“Mid-summer, we always struggle miserably with having good products to use with broad spectrum control that works well,” Becker adds. “That’s where Xzemplar is going to fit into our summer program very well.”

A major renovation led by Columbus-based architect Michael Hurdzan and Nicklaus resulted in the 2007 debut of greens that met USGA specifications and altered other key parts of course designed by Donald Ross and enhanced by Dick Wilson. Becker now manages a course with multiple bentgrass cultivars: A-1/A-4 and Alpha greens, L-93 fairways and Alpha tees. Becker’s management philosophies also changed following the renovation. Scioto uses less water in the summer and members have accepted that slightly brown turf doesn’t negatively affect playability.

Xzemplar’s ability to provide extended control fits into where Becker wants to take the course this summer. Xzemplar has multiple usage rates on its label, and Miller says options exist to provide 14, 21 or 28 days of control. Brown patch, summer patch and fairy ring are among the other diseases that Xzemplar controls, according to Miller.

“We are going to use it right in the heat of summer,” Becker says. “That’s when we are going to use these products – when we know we need them to work.”

Staying ahead of dollar spot, the importance of which Becker learned while studying under Dr. Mike Boehm at nearby Ohio State University, has helped Scioto control it better than some surrounding courses. The period from late June to early August is Becker’s most worrisome stretch for the disease.

No two growing seasons are the same, but in his four-state territory, Husemann says turf begins becoming susceptible to dollar spot following the third fairway mowing and when temperatures two inches below the surface exceed 50 degrees. “It’s like clockwork,” Husemann says. “It’s the simplest message I can give people.” Becker has “learned the hard way” that falling behind on dollar spot creates issues. “You remove all of that inoculate out of there early on and then you just don’t let it get a foothold,” Becker says.

Having a reliable product for broad-spectrum control allow Scioto’s crew to direct its attention to honing some recent projects. The recent pace has been furious, with the crew adding practice greens and tees, dredging ponds, installing massive amounts of sod and rebuilding the photogenic eighth hole. The crew is also preparing to move into a new maintenance building that includes eight dormitory rooms for interns. Multiple projects were accelerated because Becker wants to shift the focus to performing the detailed tasks needed to further prepare Scioto for its return to the national spotlight. The club hasn’t hosted a major tournament since the 1986 U.S. Senior Open.

A digital clock inside the clubhouse reminds members – and the staff – of what awaits. “As one of the architects told me, nobody wants to put the lipstick on the Mona Lisa,” Becker says. “Everything we do comes with very high expectations and a long-term vision. We don’t build short-term projects. If it’s going to be done, it’s going to be done right.”