Moon rises overMoon Valley

on summer evening.

Bent"a" Beat, the Ileatat moon Valley

18th green In front ofnewly renovatedclubhouse.

12 sports TURF

In1956, L.S. "Dick" Wilson had just finish-ed redesigning the Inverness Club inToledo, OH. He was thrilled to be able

to add to the beauty and challengeimparted to Inverness by his famouspredecessors, Donald Ross and Albert Til-linghast.

The Pennsylvania native had cut hisdesign teeth in the East and Midwest withthe golf course construction firm of Toomeyand Flynn in the mid-'20s. One of hisfavorite projects was the redesign of historicShinnecock Hills Golf Course on LongIsland in 1931.

When the Depression put a halt on golfcourse construction, Wilson was able touse his contacts to gain the superinten-dent's position at Delray Beach CountryClub in Florida. Wilson brought to the Southhis exceptional knowledge of bentgrass, afar superior putting surface to the ber-mudagrasses available at the time.

Until World War II, Wilson tinkered withbentgrass, trying to help it survive the hot,humid summers of the South. He took a fewdesign and construction jobs on the side tokeep his creative skills sharp.

The postwar boom in the popularity ofgolf encouraged Wilson to reenter thedesign business full-time. He started offwith a bang, designing West Palm BeachCountry Club. It wasn't long before word ofhis talent spread. He found himself back inthe East designing courses with his favorite,bentgrass.

He was aware that Dr. Burton Musser atPennsylvania State University had deve-loped an improved creeping bent that couldbe propagated by seed called Penncross. Ithad distinct advantages over colonial bents,vegetative varieties of creeping bents, andSeaside, the only seeded creeping bent ofconsequence on the market. Wilson wasanxious to put Penncross to use.

Inverness was nearly ideal for cultivationof bentgrasses. Canadian breezes crossingLake Erie swept over the course much ofthe year. However, when they stopped andthe temperature and humidity rose, dollarspot, brown patch and other diseaseswould take their toll. To combat thisproblem, Wilson specified Penncross forInverness and the results were quitedramatic.

When he stepped off the train in Phoenix,AZ, in 1956 to design a new private coursefor developer Bob Goldwater (Barry's

The desert is not kind to cool-seasongrasses. From June through October,

maintaining bentgrass greens is aconstant process of hand watering, careful

mowing, and judicious fertilization.

brother), Wilson was shocked by the starkmiles of desert and the rocky, arid canyons.He thought growing bentgrass there wouldbe like growing it on the moon.

He discovered that some private andresort courses did have bentgrass greensbut went through hell during the summer tokeep it alive. Since summer damage wascommon, superintendents favored Seasidebecause they could reseed in the fall.

Ironically, the name of the course hedesigned became Moon Valley CountryClub. Thanks to Wilson, it was one of thefirst courses in Arizona to have Penncrossgreens. Moon Valley's greens stood outbecause they were darker, denser, andrecovered faster. They also didn't segregateinto patches, something common for othercreeping bentgrasses.

Today as in Wilson's time, the desert isnot kind to exotic, cool-season grasses.When the summer temperature hits 115degrees, bentgrass demands intensivecare.

Calvin Cross, superintendent of MoonValley, has been babying bentgrass inPhoenix for more than 30 years. From Junethrough October, maintaining bentqrassgreens is a constant process of hand water-ing, careful mowing, and judicious fertiliza-tion. "Once it starts to wilt, it's too late,"advises Cross. "And if you don't have goodgreens, you don't have a golf course. Duringthe summer, you do everything you can toprotect the bent and keep your fingerscrossed:'

In 1985, the 18-hole private course wasstruggling to survive. Goldwater sold MoonValley to the membership after he com-pleted the residential development aroundit. Competition from newer courses was tak-ing its toll. The clubhouse no longer com-pared to other private courses. The quick-coupler irrigation system needed to beupdated at a cost of nearly $1 million. Themembers simply couldn't afford that kind ofinvestment without selling part or all of thecourse. Moon Valley was put on the market.

Karsten Solheim, who is most famous forhis Ping golf clubs, was a member of MoonValley and lived next to the course. He hadwatched the course and its bentgrass sufferfrom tight budgets and was concerned thatit might be sold to a developer.

Throughout his career, the inventiveengineer had overcome numerous road-blocks to technology. The square groove onPing irons, which increases the backspin

on chip shots, is just one example. The 78-year-old innovator had witnessed or takenpart in numerous technological break-throughs at Hughes and General Electricbefore he started his own company inPhoenix.

Solheim kept asking himself why MoonValley could not be restored to champion-ship condition. He was deeply committed togolf, especially junior golf. Any contributionhe could make to golf course maintenancewould benefit the sport. What were theroadblocks? And could he remove themthrough science and engineering? Heneeded a laboratory to explore new the-ories. Moon Valley could serve as thatlaboratory, so he bought the entire 160-acrefacility.

For the first time Solheim found himselfon the receiving end of members' com-plaints. An avid golfer himself, heappreciated their remarks. He knew the oldirrigation system was inadequate, and theclubhouse no longer compared to the com-petition. He made a promise to the mem-bers that he would do whatever necessaryto make Moon Valley rank among the topprivate courses in the Valley of the Sun.

During the Masters at Augusta Nationalthat year, Solheim met Alex Rohoza, amember of the famous course's greenscommittee. For 45 years, the Pennsylvaniasod grower had specialized in bentgrasssod for greens.

Rohoza was one of the first to grow Penn-cross sod for golf courses, and in theprocess has installed greens at prestigecourses across the country. As a result, heis widely sought after for his advice on bent-grass management. Before leavingAugusta, the two men struck a deal forRohoza to rebuild two greens at Moon Val-ley and install 18 more for a new executivecourse Solheim had decided to add to theclub.

Solheim made it clear to Cross that hewanted Moon Valley to benefit from all avail-able technology. Cross had never beensatisfied with the common bermuda fair-ways, tees and roughs during the summer."With a quick-coupler system, your courseis only as good as your night watermen," hestates. "You never have the kind of controlyou need to solve localized problems:'

A Toro VT3 system was installed the firstyear. More than 2,200 valve-in-head model650 sprinklers were linked to 42 satellite

continued on page 14

October, 1989 13

Bentgrass Beats the Heatcontinued from page 13

controllers. "Three-fourths of the heads arepart-circle," Cross reveals. "Three rows offairway heads follow the contours and don'toverlap into the roughs. There are one ortwo rows of heads in each rough. Theheads are grouped in stations of three, butwe can run one head at a time if we need to.Greens, banks around the greens, tees,fairways, and roughs can all beprogrammed separately:'

From June through October, Crossassigns two crew members to do nothingbut hose down greens. "I guess I'm oldfashioned when it comes to greens," headmits. "They are watered every night bythe irrigation system, and we can syringeduring the day. But I want a trained turf manout there when it's over 100 degrees totouch up dry spots.

"Our soil is tight, so it holds water longerthan the soil at some other courses. I checkthe ET (evapotranspiration rate) listed in thenewspaper each day. Our central does nothave master water budgeting, so we have togo to every satellite to make adjustments.But I like that. It forces us to look at eachhole before we make any changes:'

Everything was progressing fairly con-ventionally until 1986. The irrigation systemwas having a visible impact on the condi-tion of the fairways. Rohoza was due out torebuild the greens. Cross purchased newmowers for the fairways and greens. Thingswere shaping up.

Solheim shared his new challenge withhis three sons, Allen, John and Lou. Thegolf course became a regular topic of discu-sion among family members. They, in turn,solicited opinions from others in the com-pany. An informal "think tank" on turfstarted to develop. Each new idea was con-sidered without prejudice.

Bernie Atutis, a specialist in computer-aided design (CAD) technology for KarstenComputer Systems, began to adapt CAD togolf course management. He couldproduce an image of any part of a courseon a computer screen and print it out. Theidea was to give the superintendent quickaccess to important information, includingas-built plans for irrigation, utilities, coursefeatures, supply inventory, etc.

The deeper Atutis got into the project, the

14 sports TURF

Tissue testing,fertilization and animproved irrigationsystem have producedresults at Moon Valley.

more involved he became in turf manage-ment. He had been a dairy farmer and wasalso an avid grower of vegetables. It struckhim that much of the latest research into thenutrient content of forage grasses for dairyand beef cattle could be applied to golfcourse turf.

Farmers keep close track of protein andother nutrients in feed. Advances in analyz-ing the tissues of forage grasses enabledsuppliers to custom blend feed. By controll-ing the diet of their herds, farmers achievedgreater milk and beef production.

Allen Solheim encouraged Atutis to digdeeper. With a green light to explore, hehappened onto another development inagriculture: custom blending of foliar fer-tilizers. While this was not new to turfmanagement, a line of fertilizers made inPhoenix was. These "probiotic" nutrients,as Atutis calls them, are not only absorbedby plant tissue, they appear to enhance thenatural biological processes in the soil. Byimproving the environment in the soil forexchange of nutrients, air, and water, theplant's natural defenses against heat,drought, diseases, and insects might alsobe improved.

When Rohoza arrived in Phoenix torebuild two greens at Moon Valley, Atutisshowed him test plots where the probiotic

fertilizers had been sprayed. Improvementsin the density and color of both bentgrassand common bermudagrass were evident.Rohoza was impressed and took samplesof the fertilizer back to Pennsylvania fortesting.

Atutis reasoned that the diet of golf turf,like that of dairy cattle or vegetables, couldbe controlled to make up for any deficien-cies in nutrients revealed by tissue testing.But the nutrients had to be available, andthe superintendent had to have a fast andaccurate way to test the nutrient content ofturfgrass tissue.

Tissue testing had a reputation forproducing inconsistent results. Soil testingcan tell the turf manager what nutrients arepresent in the soil, but not always whetherthey are available to the plant. Rohozabelieved that peaks and valleys in nutrientavailability made bentgrass vulnerable to itsenemies. If there was a way to provide aconsistent level of nutrients to the turf, itcould rally its natural defenses with thegreatest effectiveness.

Dr. John Shenk, professor of agronomy atPennsylvania State University, had deve-loped a more accurate method of analyzingthe tissue of forage grasses called nuclearinfrared (NIR) spectroscopy. Instead ofchemically measuring nutrients, Shenktook samples of tissue, dried them, groundthem into a powder, and bombarded themwith infrared light. The light reflecting off thesample creates what's called a spectrum,which can be recorded by a computer. Arainbow is a simple type of spectrumreflected off moisture in the atmosphere fol-lowing rain.

The spectrum for plant tissue changesaccording to its nutrient content. By testingsamples of healthy and unhealthy turf, adesirable spectrum could be established.Rohoza and Atutis provided samples toShenk for analysis. It took hundreds ofthese samples to identify the spectrums forvarious deficiencies.

Moon Valley stretches7,400 yards among

mature trees, bunkersand water hazards.

Utilizing the results of Shenk's analysis,Rohoza adjusted the blend of the foliar fer-tilizers he sprayed on the bentgrass plots toovercome any deficiencies. He noticed animprovement in the establishment rate, den-sity, and overall condition of the Penncross.Meanwhile, Atutis sent common ber-mudagrass samples from Moon Valley toShenk for the same type of analysis., The test results from Rohoza in Pennsyl-vania and Moon Valley in Phoenix were verypositive. Rohoza found that by using theprogram he could produce two crops ofbentgrass sod each year, with very littleinterference from diseases and insects. Bykeeping a constant eye on the nutrients inthe tissue of the turf, he was conqueringmany of the problems commonlyassociated with bentgrass.

At Moon Valley, Cross was noticing a sig-nificant improvement in his fairways. "It'snot something you see overnight," he pointsout. "You don't get a flush of growth like youdo with ammonium sulfate. You only putdown a quart or so per 1,000 square feeteach time. First you apply it weekly until youget the turf to the condition you want, andthen cut back to once a month or so:'

Satisfied his team was onto something,Solheim created Karsten Turf Company in1987 and bought the marketing rights to thefertilizer for golf courses. He placed Allen incharge of the new company and movedAtutis over from the computer division. The

company's first product was a line of fer-tilizers they named Turf Anser.

As each green at Moon Valley wasrebuilt, Karsten refined its technology. Injec-tor pumps were added to the irrigation sys-tem to feed the turf without spraying. Basedupon the tissue tests, Cross could injectspecific amounts of four or more differentnutrients into the water. The valve-in-headsprinklers gave him the ability to control thediet of the turf at up to 2,200 different loca-tions on the course.

Atutis realized that keeping track of sucha wide range of information for an entiregolf course required the help of a computer.He wanted to make the superintendent'sjob easier, not harder. By assigning colorcodes to different nutrient levels, he wasable to produce on the computer screen orin a printout the nutrient status of any partof the course. Furthermore, the status ofeach test site could be tracked over time togauge improvement or make adjustmentsin diet. To Atutis this was much like keepinga record for each cow in a dairy herd. "Thedairy farmer today can track the productionof any cow and compare it to its diet, age,and weight," he states. "Instead of cows,we're dealing with individual greens, tees,fairways, roughs, or any particular sitewhere turf samples are taken. That type ofinformation has led to a tremendousincrease in productivity in the dairy indus-try and can produce the same type of

improvement in turf for the golf coursesuperintendent:'

The missing link in the system was a con-venient and reliable method of tissue test-ing, one which a superintendent could usewithout sending samples to a laboratory. Upto that point, the NIR spectroscope was asophisticated and expensive laboratoryinstrument. However, just as the computerindustry has miniaturized and simplified thepersonal computer, Karsten was able tosimplify the NIR process so a golf coursecould use it.

With the help of Dr. David York, Karsten'splant geneticist, Atutis developed thenecessary software and spectrum data toanalyze turfgrasses. Now, a golf coursesuperintendent can take turf samples fromthe course, dry them in a normal microwaveoven, grind them into a powder, put them ina tray, and insert the tray into a small NIRscanner in his office. The information fromthe scanner is fed directly into a 386-typepersonal computer. In less than ten minuteshe knovvswhat nutrients are deficient in thatturf sample. Then the superintendent caninject the missing nutrient(s) into the irriga-tion system for the heads where the samplewas taken.

"It easier than it sounds," Cross adds."I've been a superintendent for more than30 years, and I never thought I'd see any-thing like this. The system has a lot of

continued on page 16

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Bentgrass Beats the Heatcontinued from page 15

potential and really seems to be somethingthat can help superintendents:'

Moon Valley now had a tight grip on thefertility of the course. Solheim and Atutiswanted to extend that grasp to water use.There is a sizable difference in the ET ratebetween a summer day where the temper-ature breaks 100 degrees F. and a springday when the temperature never gets above70. By using the water budgeting feature onhis satellite controllers, Cross increases thecycle times to provide more or less water tofit the ET He knows that if he applies too lit-tle water to the turf in the spring it will enterthe summer with a poor root system. If heoverapplies water he risks problems withanaerobiosis and disease.

"This summer we tied the record of 118degrees on July 4!" Cross exclaimed."There were also more consecutive daysover 100 than ever before." With such highETs, golf courses in Phoenix were using uptheir water allotments faster than normal.Conservation was never so important.

Even slight changes in ET can save largeamounts of water. Superintendents in Phoe-nix were beginning to appreciate the valueof weather stations in measuring ET just fortheir courses.

Moon Valley installed a weather stationthis year. Data on wind speed, solar radia-tion, temperature, and rainfall is fed into thecomputer for tracking and analysis. Atutis isnow focusing his attention on expandingthe types of analysis the computer can per-form related to ET and water use.

The next item on the Karsten Turf agendais developing technology to increase themoisture reserve of golf course soils. "Theindustry has only begun to touch on someof the benefits of improving the soil environ-ment," adds Atutis.

Wilson would be pleased to see the con-dition of Moon Valley today. The 7,400-yardcourse with its healthy Penncross greensand emerald-green common ber-mudaqrass tees, fairways, and roughs isonce again looked upon with pride by themembership. This month Cross begins theprocess of overseeding with a blend ofPalmer and Prelude perennial ryegrass. InMarch, Moon Valley will once again host theLPGA Tournament.

Karsten Solheim has kept his. promise tothe members. In the process, he has alsoexpanded the technology of golf coursemaintenance. Moon Valley continues toserve as a laboratory for turf management.Solheim has also donated funds to help Ari-zona State University construct its own golfcourse for turf research.

The members of the Karsten Turf "thinktank" continue to search for new technol-ogy, as they did at IBM, General Electricand Hughes. They feel as strongly today asWilson did 34 years ago that bentgrass canbe grown in the desert, or on the moon forthat matter, as long as there is a desire anda curiosity that leads people to keepexpanding the boundaries of technology.