EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second installment in a diary series in partnership with BASF describing the people, maintenance practices and agronomic programs at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
Shinnecock is a great property. It’s like working on a piece of art in a museum. It’s a wonderful golf course and the unique challenges around here are the weather, especially in the springtime. We’re really slow to warm up. We warm up as the water in the ocean warms. It takes until June to get some really good growing weather. Golf is seven days a week once we’re open. There’s no maintenance days, so scheduling around play can be challenging as far as maintenance practices and agronomy programs. It can be extremely windy out here. That makes it challenging to schedule agronomic and plant protectant applications.
We are always trying to prepare the golf course for championship conditions. With this being our Championship year, the planning starts backward from the tournament to the beginning of the spring, then forward through the end of this season. I have been working on the core program ever since I began working here with (superintendent) Jon (Jennings) and (senior assistant superintendent) Mike (Ford) going through what has been applied and what hasn’t been applied, what works best, and tweaking it to find the best program for Shinnecock.
It’s a solid, preventative-based program. There’s no room for error out here. One spot of dollar spot is one too many, so we keep everything at bay and we use products that I trust, Jon trusts and all of us trust here.
Beginning in late September and all throughout October, I start planning for the following year along with the snow mold apps in that winter. I sit down with the previous years’ notes, review them all on what happened, what did we really like, what didn’t we like, how can we make it better, what do we have to do to make it more effective, and I spend any time that I get in the office reviewing those plans. By the end of October, I lay a program out for Jon and review it with him and then order the products. Even after the products are ordered as winter arrives and spring starts to make its way, we really dial in the program and when it’s going to start and at what rates to make it the most beneficial on the golf course.
Our biggest disease concern is dollar spot. With the ocean nearby, we can have marine layer fog all day and we may have rain events that last three to four days where you don’t get time to go out and spray a plant protectant. It’s just a prime area for dollar spot. And then it’s fairy ring and anthracnose more in the summer months as they become prevalent and then in the winter it’s snow mold and winter desiccation.
As the agronomic program has evolved, we have been working with great BASF products as the core and their Intrinsic family to give us a solid base line against dollar spot, fairy ring and anthracnose, and to keep us clean with those core products while substituting and incorporating other products around the BASF products.
BASF has been amazing with support. The two sales reps I have worked with since I have been here, Pete Jacobson and Paul Ramina, are fantastic. They answer any questions that I have, they review the agronomic plan, and they are great for talking to and getting ideas from. Their partnership for the tournament has been second-to-none. They have been outstanding in everything they have helped us with.
Trust and confidence is everything, especially with the world watching Shinnecock and the trust that I have with BASF products is why we are using them. I have come to grow that trust more and more each time that I use them, and it’s very important to me that I have faith in every product so that I don’t stay up at night worrying about dollar spot. I don’t when we’re using great products like Honor out on the golf course.
The next few weeks we will be making a number of applications and timing them along with getting everybody to learn their place on our team. The ideal tournament is everyone here enjoying the week. I want them to be in awe of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club because I am every day. It’s an amazing place. It’s one of the greatest golf courses in the world and it’s going to be played by the greatest players in the world. Due to the support we have from BASF combined with the equipment partnership with the Toro Company, I don’t worry about the health of the turf or the quality of the playing conditions. It’s going to be a great week. I just want everyone to enjoy it as much as I will!
We are always trying to prepare the golf course for championship conditions. With this being our Championship year, the planning starts backward from the tournament to the beginning of the spring, then forward through the end of this season. I have been working on the core program ever since I began working here with (superintendent) Jon (Jennings) and (senior assistant superintendent) Mike (Ford) going through what has been applied and what hasn’t been applied, what works best, and tweaking it to find the best program for Shinnecock.
It’s a solid, preventative-based program. There’s no room for error out here. One spot of dollar spot is one too many, so we keep everything at bay and we use products that I trust, Jon trusts and all of us trust here.
Beginning in late September and all throughout October, I start planning for the following year along with the snow mold apps in that winter. I sit down with the previous years’ notes, review them all on what happened, what did we really like, what didn’t we like, how can we make it better, what do we have to do to make it more effective, and I spend any time that I get in the office reviewing those plans. By the end of October, I lay a program out for Jon and review it with him and then order the products. Even after the products are ordered as winter arrives and spring starts to make its way, we really dial in the program and when it’s going to start and at what rates to make it the most beneficial on the golf course.
Our biggest disease concern is dollar spot. With the ocean nearby, we can have marine layer fog all day and we may have rain events that last three to four days where you don’t get time to go out and spray a plant protectant. It’s just a prime area for dollar spot. And then it’s fairy ring and anthracnose more in the summer months as they become prevalent and then in the winter it’s snow mold and winter desiccation.
As the agronomic program has evolved, we have been working with great BASF products as the core and their Intrinsic family to give us a solid base line against dollar spot, fairy ring and anthracnose, and to keep us clean with those core products while substituting and incorporating other products around the BASF products.
BASF has been amazing with support. The two sales reps I have worked with since I have been here, Pete Jacobson and Paul Ramina, are fantastic. They answer any questions that I have, they review the agronomic plan, and they are great for talking to and getting ideas from. Their partnership for the tournament has been second-to-none. They have been outstanding in everything they have helped us with.
Trust and confidence is everything, especially with the world watching Shinnecock and the trust that I have with BASF products is why we are using them. I have come to grow that trust more and more each time that I use them, and it’s very important to me that I have faith in every product so that I don’t stay up at night worrying about dollar spot. I don’t when we’re using great products like Honor out on the golf course.
The next few weeks we will be making a number of applications and timing them along with getting everybody to learn their place on our team. The ideal tournament is everyone here enjoying the week. I want them to be in awe of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club because I am every day. It’s an amazing place. It’s one of the greatest golf courses in the world and it’s going to be played by the greatest players in the world. Due to the support we have from BASF combined with the equipment partnership with the Toro Company, I don’t worry about the health of the turf or the quality of the playing conditions. It’s going to be a great week. I just want everyone to enjoy it as much as I will!
