New approach to an old problem

Sometimes a golf course superintendent will realize a new approach to an old problem is called for. Those instances when past methods aren’t quite as effective as they once were, or something simply isn’t working the way they need it to.

Such was the case for Mark Thomas, superintendent at Kelly Greens Golf & Country Club, a private club in Fort Meyers, Fla. For Mark, the problem he needed ‘a new approach to’ was trying to combat some pretty intensive disease on his 4 acres of tifeagle bermudagrass greens.

“We were struggling with disease pressure week in and week out,” he told me.

Mark, a native of England, has been at Kelly Greens, which is located in southwest Florida between Sanibel Island and the white beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, for eleven years, and come this November will have been superintendent of the Gordon Lewis design for the last ten. 

After a good year of watching his greens struggle, Mark knew he had to make some kind of change.

“I was using a program from a well-known company,” Mark said. “A company with a good reputation for providing fast greens. And, at first, the program was working for us. But then we started to have a green speed problem.”

The problem was too fast of speeds. Mark said they began to consistently stimp at 13, and with almost 300 rounds a day, pace of play was becoming a serious issue. Along with the fast greens leaf spot and bermudagrass decline were hitting Kelly Greens. They began to thin out.

Mark approached David Ackely, a Territory Manager for Harrell’s, a company that has been helping superintendents and turf professionals for over 75 years. A company Mark knew and trusted, and wanted to work with again.

“I told David, you guys need to get a program together to help situations like this,” Mark said. “I’ve always loved Harrell’s. I wanted to work with them.”

Mark and David brought Kelly Greens’ problem to Harrell’s Director of Agronomy, Dr. Raymond Snyder. Snyder listened, and brought in others to come up with a solution, including Jason Frank (Harrell’s Regional Director in Florida). That is how Harrell’s conceived the idea for what would ultimately become, Harrell’s Balanced Approach Program.

The program went through some very successful trials at the University of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, primarily testing and comparing the Balanced Approach versus traditional, standard industry programs.

Harrell’s Balanced Approach Program is centered around having a tailored agronomic annual program for each user, utilizing inputs from five main resources: Granular Fertilizer, Wetting Agents, Liquid Nutritionals and Soil Amendments, Adjuvants and Colorants, and finally Harrell’s Plant Protectants, which include applications for disease, insects and nematodes.

Early this year Mark pulled the plug on his old program and started in the Balanced Approach Program. Although it’s early on in the game, so far he’s very happy. 

“We have great rooting so far,” he said. “And great color.”

Mark sent me a copy of the March 2018 program to take a look at. The first week of the month he applied three foliar Harrell’s products; Harrell’s Bio-MAX 4-0-0, Harrell’s IronMn MG, and Harrell’s 18-3-6 with UMAXX. This app included Primo Maxx. The second app that first week was a granular spreading of 18-2-18 POLYON Controlled-Release Fertilizer.

Week two, another triple foliar mixture (the same as week one with the exception of Harrell’s Title Phyte replacing the Bio-MAX 4-0-0) along with another dose of Primo Maxx. The follow up granular application changed to a 0-0-30 Poly Micro.

Week three was a repeat of week one. Week four a repeat of week two.

Despite the absence of any fungicides in the program for the month, Mark said he had absolutely no disease pressure to speak of. Although he is early on using the Harrell’s program, he seems all in.

“Green speeds are not quite where we want them yet, but we are still tweaking the program. Nothing is set yet.”

This seems to be one of the benefits to this program, the ability to tweak it to fit your own situation.

“It is still the early stages, but I am very confident we will reach out desired goal.

I asked Mark about the financial aspect of the program. Will he spend more on this program than he has in the past?

“We will spend more on fertilization, certainly,” Mark said. “But I see spending significantly less on fungicides. Ultimately, this program might cost a bit more than others, but my most important issue is to be stress free. You can’t put a dollar figure on something like that.”

About the author
Ron Furlong is a golf industry writer and frequent GCI contributor.