Championship run

One thing superintendent Jeff VerCautren knew he wouldn’t be able to do when Rich Harvest Farms, a private club outside of Chicago, hosted the 2017 NCAA’s Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Championships last May, was make any chemical applications during the two-week event.
 
This is one reason Jeff sought out a different plant growth regulator to use before the tournament, one that might give him longer control than Primo, the PGR he’d been using for years.

He’s very happy that he found Cutless 50W. “I’ve found that it just gives us a longer window than Primo,” he said. “We don’t get that bounce back with Cutless that we sometimes got with Primo.”

The two-week ‘no spray’ window during the NCAA Championships wouldn’t be a problem, as long as Jeff and his crew applied Cutless 50W right before the tournament began. He generally gets two to three weeks control in most conditions during the season (although a tournament such as this surely does not qualify as most conditions).

“The practice round for the women was on a Wednesday,” Jeff told me, indicating the official kickoff to the two weeks of festivities last May. “We applied the Cutless (at a rate of .18 ounces per thousand) the day before, on that Tuesday. It took us all the way the through the two weeks. No problem.”

With the many details Jeff no doubt had to worry about that came with hosting such an event as this, I’m sure he appreciated not to having to worry too much about green speed and that dreaded ‘bounce back’.

About the Author
Ron Furlong is a golf writer and frequent Golf Course Industry contributor.