Welcome back everyone - it has been a long winter and while the calendar has officially entered springtime - Im not so sure that we are actually there yet. Snowfall March 24th and lows in the teens March 25th meant that old man winter has not let go of us just yet as far as temperatures go. As far the winter itself went it has been far from quiet from what I observed. Education talks were very well attended whether it was at Mauh-Nah-Tee-See in Rockford or Nashville GC in Nashville IL to Medinah CC at the annual CDGA club leadership conference led by the venerable Mr S. Solow - guys are suffering from some severe forms of cabin fever.
From my perspective it has been intriguing picking up on methods and thoughts behind how to deal with the winter. I do feel however that there are extremes that we have dealt with this year that it may have not made one iota of difference. Instances of ice build up were reported in late December and unfortunately some courses never shook the ice cover until early March. That time period 80-84 days will have certainly wiped out a lot of Poa annua - pictures are below. The courses with bentgrass of course avoided the worry of this but at the same time the recovery to growth may take a little longer than many of us would like.
From the personnel standpoint, we have hired Ron Townsend as our Director of Turfgrass Research. Ron a fellow Buckeye (I know I'm infesting the place) worked with the pathology program at OSU and most recently was up in Exmoor with the esteemed Mr. K. Galisdorfer. Ron was a Toro/Nicklaus scholarship award winner at OSU as well as a winner of the Trans-Miss scholarship. Ron will allow us to return to a much more normal research service while also aiding with data and website handling. Ron will contribute to the scouting report regularly and he may also be seen at meetings acting as my translator.....
Click here to view the April 4, 2014 Scouting Report
As always if you have a question or query please do not hesitate to ask and you can call or email.
Ed Nangle PhD
Director of Turfgrass Programs
Chicago District Golf Association
www.cdgaturf.org
Follow us on Twitter @TurfResearch
