Turf Line News

December 2011/ January 2012

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r. Rob Golembiewski is one of the busiest turfgrass professors anywhere. He is the only full-time Oregon State University Professor to oversee a research technician, two graduate assistants and an 8-acre research site that includes a 50,000-square-foot putting green and he's on the schedule to teach six classes this academic year. Rob has been at his current post for three years and was previously a turf faculty member at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. Rob received both his B.S. in Crop & Soil Science and M.S. in Botany & Plant Pathology from Michigan State University, and his Ph.D. in Agronomy from The Ohio State University. Upon completion of his Ph.D., Rob spent two years as an Assistant Horticulture Professor at Montana State University and then worked one and a half arry has consulted with hundreds of golf courses on agronomic, playability, management, environmental and every other conceivable issue faced by golf course superintendents, boards and owners. Larry has been associated with the game of golf since 1959 as a player, caddie and golf course maintenance worker and has been 'piling it on' for the USGA Green Section for the past 15 years as Director of the Western and Northwest Regions including Western Canada. ohn was employed for 17 years as a B.C. Conservation Officer, then 17 years as a regular faculty member in the Resource Management Officer Technology at V.I.U. He conducted research on grizzly years as the eastern U.S. turf & ornamental field development biologist for Dow AgroSciences. He then served as president and co-owner of Paramount Landscape located in Phoenix, Arizona for a period of six years. Dr. Golembiewski will be delivering two presentations at the conference in Victoria. The first of these presentations will be on "Green Speed Management" (Tuesday 9:30) where he will be discussing the research being conducted at Oregon State University over the last 3 years on mowing and rolling strategies for Poa annua putting greens. Attendees will learn that putting green health and playability do not need to be exclusive from one another. The research being done by Dr. Golembiewski is the first of its kind on Poa annua putting greens and is very applicable to golf course superintendents in Western Canada. The second presentation is Managing Soil Based Athletic Fields (Tuesday 10:30). This presentation will review basic agronomic practices and their impact on turf health, and more importantly, which practices and frequency of each should be conducted His half hour presentations on Monday starting at 12:30pm are titled respectively, "Do's and Don'ts for Green Committee Members and How to Understand and Measure Your Turf Manager". These talks are directed at those who may not be educated in golf course maintenance but place a high value on course conditions such as golf course owners, golf pros and/or greens committee members. Larry will also be involved in a panel discussion on the State of the Industry on Tuesday at 12:30pm. Attendees should pay attention to the many successful methods viewed over the past 30 years that will be presented to help and not hinder the bear attacks during his Master's Degree at S.F.U. Those studies, combined with his field experience as a conservation officer helped John to develop a course in wildlife/human conflict which he teaches in second year R.M.O.T. John also teaches a fall section of the course for all students at V.I.U. A former educational advisor to the B.C. Bear Aware program, he remains active in PUTTING GREEN HEALTH AND PLAYABILITY DO NOT NEED TO BE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE for all levels of athletic fields. Cultural practices and frequency are broken down for all levels of soil based athletic fields from the little league field in every community to collegiate/professional level fields. This presentation is definitely intended for those managing soil based athletic fields in Western Canada. Participants for both of Dr. Golembiewski's presentations are encouraged to ask questions about the research that has been completed as well plans for the future. maintenance staff. Specific examples observed at golf courses all over the western US and British Columbia will be used to demonstrate maintenance standards (a primary focus of this talk). Larry hopes to assist golf course superintendents at every type of golf course in making their jobs easier through education of those who may not fully understand all that goes into maintaining a golf course. It will be conducted with good humor (especially the bad examples) in mind while driving home the point that these individuals are as professional as every other person in the golf industry. promoting wildlife conservation through public education. MERRIMAN BELIEVES PEOPLE CAN CO-EXIST MORE PEACEFULLY WITH WILDLIFE John's talk (Tuesday 10:30 am) will be a one-hour slide show (power point) about Wildlife/Human conflicts, primarily in B.C. John will discuss black and grizzly bear behavior, close encounters with B.C. residents, the nature of those encounters, including serious attacks causing injury or death to people. He will also discuss cougar and wolf encounters with people. Attendees will be better informed as to where, when, and by LARRY GILHULY USGA AGRONOMIST which type of animal, the most serious risk exists to their safety. They will also learn how to avoid conflict with large carnivores, and how to respond to a sudden close encounter to avoid injury. Urban deer issues on east coast Vancouver Island will be discussed. John enjoys sharing his field and research knowledge with people from all walks of life, so they may be better informed about potential risks associated with large carnivores in B.C. Some myths about bears, cougars and wolves are dispelled in his presentations. John believes people can co-exist more peacefully with wildlife by being better informed.

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