Georgia GCSA (Through The Green Magazine)

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Sod Scarcity Slows GA Courses’

Recovery from Tough Winter

Hartwell, GA - Spring may have sprung but many Georgia golf courses are struggling to shake the after affects of a severe winter. Sustained periods of bitter cold caused varied degrees of turf loss at the vast majority of the state’s nearly 400 courses.

Golf course superintendents would normally replace the dead grass with healthy sod but sod is in critically short supply, thanks in no small part to the recession. As a result, golfers are emerging from hibernation to find straw-colored blotches littering their fairways and green surrounds.

“It really has been a perfect storm,” says Ken Mangum, certified golf course superintendent at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, which hosts the U.S. Amateur Championship in August.

A significant number of sod farms in the Southeast closed during the recession and most others reduced their acreage. For those survivors, golf is generally a sideline behind demand from the commercial and residential sectors. As the economy recovered and construction resumed, golf’s supply was already being squeezed.

“But we also had cool, cloudy and wet conditions last summer that extended into the fall,” Mangum adds. “So a lot of farms weren’t able to establish new sod after their harvest last year. Now we have all these golf courses that suffered badly because of the winter. And even if you do find some sod, good luck trying to secure a truck to deliver it.”

Mangum, who has prepared the golf course for two PGA Championships and a U.S. Women’s Open at Atlanta Athletic Club, will be inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in January. He says the past winter was the worst he could recall since 1977 when “we stayed frozen for six weeks straight and it killed a lot of grass everywhere.”

The most susceptible areas on a course are north facing slopes, persistently shaded areas and areas with poor drainage.

The good news is that the greens at most facilities came through mostly unscathed. Bentgrass is relatively cold tolerant and most courses with warm-season bermudagrass greens now use covers when temperatures plummet. But on fairways, around the greens and in rough areas which are grassed almost exclusively with warm-season turf in Georgia, superintendents can do little but cross their fingers.

Officials from the Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Association have asked for patience from golfers while their courses recover, which will happen, eventually. But without sod at the ready, recovery will require consistently warm temperatures and clear skies with plenty of sunlight. Sub 50-degree nighttime temperatures, like those experienced this week, do not help.

“Still, the situation is getting better every day,” Mangum says, wryly. “It’s just that the days go by too slow.”

Contact: Tenia Workman, Executive Director, Georgia GCSA  (706) 376-3585.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

SEE BELOW!!! THIS WILL AFFECT EVERY DROP OF WATER IN OUR COUNTRY!!!
TAKE ACTION!!! NOW!!!
EPA's and the Army Corps of Engineer's proposed rule would expand Clean Water Act jurisdiction to almost all waters in the United States, impacting how communities and landowners manage their public and private property using pesticide and fertilizer products.  Landowners will be subject to CWA provisions for permitting and will be vulnerable to citizen lawsuits challenging their ability to manage their own property.  Professionals making pesticide and fertilizer applications to turf and ornamental plants, golf courses, and to manage invasive and noxious terrestrial and aquatic weeds will also be impacted as will those making public health applications to control ticks and mosquitoes.

The rule was published in the Federal Register April 21, and there is a 90-day comment period until July 21, 2014.  Your voice is important in this process, and we are asking you to support our request for a 90-day comment period extension.

Sample Extension Request:

Please carefully review the sample extension request below and personalize your submission. Review the submission instructions below the sample request to deliver your customized message.

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INSERT DATE

Submitted electronically via regulations.gov

Ms. Donna Downing
Jurisdiction Team Leader, Wetlands Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460

Ms. Stacey Jensen
Regulatory Community of Practice
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
441 G Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20314

Attention: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-2011-0880

Re: Request for Extension of Comment Period on EPA and Corps Proposed Rule Defining "Waters of the United States" Under the Clean Water Act,

Dear Ms. Downing and Ms. Jensen:

I am a [insert personal description, i.e.: PCO, landscape contractor, parent...] and clean water is very important to me.  Your proposed rule is a significant expansion of the Clean Water Act that will affect every American, and have significant impact on my business and community due to the proposed increased jurisdiction over all waters.  Due to the proposed rule's complexity, additional time is needed for me to review and respond to the rule and all its implications for my business, community and state.

I am respectfully requesting an extension of the public comment period, for an additional 90 days, on the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Proposed Rule Defining "Waters of the United States" Under the Clean Water Act.  76 Fed. Reg. 22,188 (Apr. 21, 2014).


Sincerely,

[insert name]

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How to Submit Your Extension Request:

Write your letter and submit your request for Extension by commenting in the Federal Register at: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0880-0001.

Or you can email ow-docket@epa.gov, including EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0880 in the subject line of the message.


Regards,

Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Association
PO Box 310
Hartwell, GA  30643
Phone: (706) 376-3585
http://www.ggcsa.com

April 2014 Stats

Average High	AVERAGE LOW	TOTAL PRECIPITATION		AVERAGE AM SOIL TEMP	AVERAGE PM SOIL TEMP	AVERAGE SPEED
73	48	5.4		50	78	11.5