October 7, 2011 -- Volume 49, Number 40 

Soldiers at the Gordon Lakes Golf Club, Fort Gordon, Georgia in 1942

• Fertilizing Program Requires Careful Consideration
• Reducing Fairway Maintenance Costs
• Don't Neglect The Rough
• Sand Traps
• By-pass The Water Hazard
• Conserve Fungicides
• Vigilance For Turf Pests Necessary
• Cutting Greens
• Can Watering Be Reduced?
• Reduce The Size Of Greens
• Avoid Alterations
• Mowing Height

Take a minute or two to peruse the article (you will need to scroll down a page to find the article). You are guaranteed to get a laugh or two and you might even find a few good ideas to help you as you look for ways to trim your budget for 2012.

Read the article 

Trees suffer in a drought also. Be sure to attend this free webcast on how to help your trees.

The recent drought has had a devastating impact on trees on many golf courses in the South, but eventually all golf courses have to deal with drought-stress to plants at some time or another.  Several cost-effective strategies can be utilized to limit tree losses.  This webcast will provide information about how to reduce drought stress to trees and how to help stressed trees recover.

Dr. W. Todd Watson, PhD has been an international plant health care consultant for over 25 years and provides consulting services to numerous companies and properties throughout the United States and other countries.  He is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Texas A&M University where he was named a Montague Teaching Scholar in 2005.   In addition, he is a member of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and is the President of the ISA Texas Chapter.  He is an ISA Board-Certified Master Arborist (TX-0974b) and was voted Texas Arborist of the Year in 2003.   He was authored several articles in research journals and professional publications, and he has provided numerous tree and landscape presentations throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico.

To attend this webcast you will have to have the following:

1. A Windows-based PC with Internet Explorer as your web browser.
2. Speakers hooked up to your computer.
3. Microsoft Live Meeting CLIENT (not the web console) installed on your computer. Here is a link to check your system  which will help you install the Live Meeting CLIENT on your computer. Please do this well before the webcast since it will be impossible to provide technical support the morning of the presentation.
4. (For more information on attending USGA Green Section webcasts please follow this link.)  

Here is the link to join meeting on October 14, 2011 at 10:00 CDT  

Join the webcast on The Impact of Drought on Trees  

A Change In The Weather 

You can always tell it is fall by the long shadows of the lower sun angle. The atmosphere is cooling, the leaves are starting to drop, and there is a chill in the air that is welcomed by all.

Weather has a huge impact on all that we do out on the golf course, whether it involves growing grass or playing the game. There are always those days that you feel you know that a change is in the air.

This type of weather change occurred in the middle of August this year, when record-breaking summer heat finally broke.  Temperatures moderated, and in most parts of the country it began to rain and cool down.  As a side note, it kept raining and raining, and it still is raining in some areas.  

The fall weather arrived this past weekend, and one forecaster even said, "There may be a few flakes of wet snow up in the mountains."  The fall golf season has arrived.  Pack those short-sleeved golf shirts and unpack your sweaters and windbreakers. It is a change for the better.  

Golf course superintendents will also feel the change in weather. For one thing, the leaves will begin to fall, creating one of the great challenges of the fall -- leaf removal, leaf mulching, and leaf disposing. You might even begin to hear about implementing the "leaf rule." 

Thanks for your help!

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