Arkansas turf conference

I spent a couple of days in Hot Springs (see photo), Arkansas, this week as a guest speaker at the Arkansas Turf Conference. I'd like to thank the Arkansas group for inviting me down. It was fun to meet the turf managers. 2010 was a rough year for turf in Arkansas where they faced many of the same decline issues we all did. Several guys pulled me aside and said that they follow this blog and that it helped them communicate issues to their golfers, etc. I think we are all still traumatized by 2010!

I talked about moss in one of my sessions and shared the survey results from Kansas moss surveys:

http://www.ksuturf.org/blog/2010/04/golf-course-moss-survey-what-are-your-peers-saying-about-moss/

I handed out the same survey there, and the Arkansas crowd had a similar mix of responses. One guy said he used to have a few greens that were about 80% moss!

On this disease side, large patch in zoysia definitely sounds like a major problem in that part of the world, especially since spring and fall are prime seasons for play. One guy said that the majority of his golfers come down from places like Wisconsin. I guess they can't quite wait for spring in Wisconsin, so they head down to AR in April/May which is when large patch is most active. Then, by the time the disease goes away it is too hot for the Cheeseheads who go back north to golf up there.


Finally, it was also good to get to know my U of Arkansas colleagues a little better and I would like to thank Doug Karcher and Mike Richardson for their hospitality. And, Joey Young, great to see you again too!

Flying back in to Manhattan yesterday I got a nice view of a snowy Stagg Hill Golf Course next to the icy Kansas River as we were landing:


Flint Hills from the sky:




Go Pack, Go!