Golf, tractors and mussels, oh my!

Over the past three years, TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, has been breeding mussels in the club’s irrigation lake, where it has now made a significant impact on the regional waterways. Before the project began, Alex Stuedemann —the longtime TPC Deere Run superintendent and now international and TPC agronomy director for the PGA Tour — and the team began reaching out, looking to get involved in the community.

The agronomy team participated on a local conservation board, where “We would get together with other vested entities, whether that be energy providers or landowners, farmers, municipalities, to discuss things that were working well in our operations,” says Stuedemann, who moved into his current position in 2022 after leading TPC Deere Run’s golf maintenance team for nine seasons. “Best management practices as well as looking at future opportunities where we can get better.”

The agronomy team presented “what we do for our irrigation practices and water conservation,” Stuedemann says. They met a local wildlife and fisheries team from one of the local energy providers where they discussed what they did in managing the watershed. The idea of breeding beneficial mussels was conceived.

Mussels have an important ecological role. They keep waters clean by filtering out harmful algae and bacteria. Not only that, but “Mussels improve the clarity of water by removing total dissolved solids and other sediments that can cloud waters, whether that be around swimming areas or in their case, areas that may benefit their plants,” Stuedemann says.

Mussels are also an indicator of water pollution. While mussels filter out pollution, they can only handle so much. If waters are too polluted, the mussels will die as they cannot escape polluted waters. Alongside helping the water, they provide a food source for various animals.

Having little knowledge of mussels at the time, Exelon Energy, now called Constellation, sent their biologist Jeremiah Haas to TPC Deere Run. “We walked our lake, getting to learn that there are so many different species that reside in our area and how they all can be beneficial,” Stuedemann says. “And just trying to determine those species that would best grow and exist in our lake here at the golf course.”

With testing of the water quality already being done on a routine basis at TPC Deere Run, the team reported things like pH levels, the total number of dissolved solids in the water, and the combination of well and river water in the lake. The biologists then determined what species best fit into the water.

The biologists then installed the breeding canisters using a wooden pallet and plastic totes from the hardware store. Solar-powered aerators were also installed in the irrigation lake. “And then they're all assembled, and the young mussels are placed in there to grow in our ponds, and they're monitored typically on a monthly basis,” Stuedemann says.

Apart from losing some of the stock after a couple pallets were flipped over due to strong winds from a derecho storm event, the breeding has been a success. Constellation even transported 1,800 new mussels from the lake in a single summer to two areas along the Mississippi River watershed.

Stuedemann and the team continue to look at how they can do the best in the environment.

“We’re not doing this for notoriety,” Stuedemann says. “We’re not doing this to say ‘Yay! Here, look what we’re doing!’ We’re doing it because we’re caretakers of land. And especially at this property, we’re caretakers of land that belong to the family of John Deere. We are a community fixture, we are a part of the fabric that makes up the Quad Cities and the only way to enjoy what this earth has given us is to take care of it and do it in the right ways.”

Stuedemann encourages golf course managers/superintendents to do something to help out the environment.

“No thing is too small to undertake,” he says. “Every little thing that we can do as golf course managers, environmental stewards, will add up over time.”

Jacob Hansen is a Kent State University senior participating in Golf Course Industry’s summer internship program.

Great VIII

Your opportunity to write any story you want for a national audience returns as we prepare to produce our annual Turfheads Take Over issue.

Our media and publishing realm changes faster than the golf industry.

Content programs begin. They linger for a year or two. Creators then shift their attention to another concept.

If a content program reaches Year 2, it’s considered a small victory. If a program reaches Year 3, it’s a major triumph. Anything that reaches Year 4, especially in the modern media landscape, surprises even the most optimistic idea generators.

This brings us to Turfheads Take Over. Launched in 2016 as a way for industry professionals to share ideas with a mass audience, the annual issue filled with reader-submitted content celebrates its eighth installment in December.

You can participate in the occasion by emulating dozens of your peers over the past seven years and contributing an article. The topic is up to you. You can hold any position in the industry to contribute. Our editors are available every step of the writing journey to help you tell the best story possible.

We know … it sounds too laid back to be entirely true.

Now onto the guidelines. We promise they are straightforward!

Word count must meet or exceed 600 words. Why 600 words? Because that’s what fills a magazine page. Once you start writing, we’re confident you’ll easily reach the 600-word mark. Don’t fret surpassing 1,000, 1,500, or even 2,000 words. We’ll find space for great stories.

Our 2022 Turfheads Take Over issue featured an ode to a remarkable co-worker, an inside look at the value in using clever communication to explain winter damage to a membership, thoughts from a bibliophile, a case study in adaptation, and more.

We also must set a deadline. Send articles and high-resolution images to editor-in-chief Guy Cipriano (gcipriano@gie.net) and manager editor Matt LaWell (mlawell@gie.net) by Friday, November 3.

Enough with the rules. Let’s shift to another way you can contribute to the December issue.

We’re still collecting recipes for the third annual Turfheads Guide to Grilling, a printed insert sponsored by AQUA-AID Solutions. The guide is packed with tasty recipes submitted by Golf Course Industry readers and social media followers. Recipes and photos can be submitted using the QR code inside this story or by emailing Cipriano and LaWell. Those who submit recipes published in the printed guide receive a #TurfheadsGrilling gift box and are eligible for a drawing to have us cook for their team in 2024. Deadline for that is also Friday, November 3.

Tartan Talks 86

John Fought won the 1977 U.S. Amateur Championship. He then earned PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors in 1979.

Huge achievements? Sure.

Are they his most enduring accomplishments? Unlikely.

Fought joined the Tartan Talks podcast to discuss his nearly four-decade career as a golf course architect, which launched when a spine injury slowed his ascent as a player. Following a stint learning the profession under Bob Cupp, Fought started his own design firm in 1995 and has relished providing products for everyday golfers.

“I was able to channel all that love for golf in a different direction,” he says. “This sounds kind of weird and I realize I had some success playing as a young person, but I really feel like I’m a better designer (than player). I think my mind was better suited for it. I love going to a site and figuring out how to use the different elements. I love the people I meet. For me, it’s just the greatest.”

From collaborating with superintendents and builders to his work on the epic site that eventually became Sand Hollow Resort in Hurricane, Utah, Fought riffs on a variety of design subjects on the podcast, which can be downloaded on popular distribution platforms.

“Golf design and construction is a passion,” he says. “You have really talented people who work on golf courses, and it takes a team of people to do it.”

Course news

TPC Wisconsin officially became the 30th property in the PGA Tour's TPC Network. Formerly Cherokee Country Club, the Madison course was redesigned by Steve Stricker and PGA Tour Design Services. The project involved re-grading the course to accent advancements by repositioning features and rebuilding all the infrastructure including greens, tees and bunkers, while implementing a new cart path system. A new irrigation system and new turf species were also installed. … Ocean Forest Golf Club is nearing completion of a significant enhancement project handled by Landscapes Unlimited in collaboration with Beau Welling Design. Located in Sea Island, on Georgia’s southeastern coast, the private club is re-constructing all 18 tee and green complexes with more than 37 acres of new grass surfaces, as well as reimagining fairway bunkers. The course will reopen this fall. … Troon has been selected to manage Tobacco Road Golf Club, a Mike Stranz design 25 miles north of Pinehurst, North Carolina. … Resorts World Catskills reopened its Monster Golf Club following a major redesign guided by Rees Jones.

Industry buzz

PBI-Gordon announced that Arkon Herbicide Liquid received EPA approval. Arkon is labeled for use on cool- and warm-season turf and can be used on greens, fairways and rough. Arkon features the proprietary active ingredient Pyrimisulfan and provides post-emergent control of numerous weeds, including sedges and kylligna. It will be available for sale nationwide in 2024. … Audubon International added nearly 20 new members to its Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary for Golf Certification and Green Lodging Certification tracks. From April 28 to July 28, 11 golf clubs across the United States, as well as one club in Bogota, Colombia, enrolled in the ACSP for Golf Certification program. In the U.S., there are six new members from California and one each from Alabama, Colorado, Hawaii, Missouri, and South Carolina. … Syngenta launched Tuque exoGEM, a fungicide created to help golf course superintendents with snow mold control. The formulation includes SOLATENOL technology, an advanced SDHI in FRAC group 7, and fludioxonil, a contact fungicide in FRAC group 12 with translaminar activity. … Precision Laboratories introduced Cascade Tre soil surfactant in the golf course and sports field industries. … Envu announced the root health solution Resilia is available for purchase in registered states. … Moghu Research Center and Moghu USA announced that PoaCure has been granted registration for use on golf courses in California.