SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/147380
material and fill in the holes with sand to maintain a porous soil profile. "But that costs money, too, and school districts may not have the money, equipment or manpower to do this sort of thing. We've encouraged quite a few to share [aerification] equipment. Park districts, too. It's also pretty common for us to help school and park district clients with ongoing fertilization programs. Without huge resources, you've got to get creative sometimes." Kershasky is an unabashed proponent of using golf contractors in sports field construction. LSF rebuilt the new soccer field in Madison and Nebraska-based Landscapes Unlimited, another course builder that has expanded into sports fields, rebuilt Wisconsin's new softball field. Kershasky is confident his staff of turf managers can manage "finished" turf just fine going forward. But contractors? He wants someone with golf expertise involved, and the earlier the better. "Having a Lohmann or Landscapes there merely to help write the specs is a big advantage from the get-go. They know and understand what they're bidding on," Kershasky says. "You can run into all sorts of problems if you're dealing with a landscape company that hasn't properly built a field before. That's what happened on our football practice field. "Basically, people who've been trained in golf course management, if they've gone to Penn State or an ag school, for example, they understand all those basics, even if they're working in construction. Contractors like Lohmann push all those things. They understand it. They understand all sands and soils are not created equals. They understand if you just spec 'sand,' for example, you can really screw the thing up." Kershasky returned to the sand issue: What if you can't get the right sand locally? "Well, it changes the price. As a state system, we have many hoops to jump through in the bidding process. It just emphasizes why you have to do it properly." This sort of attitude surely stirs resentment in those contractors who don't bring golf cred to the table. "Some of them are resentful," Kershasky says. "But if you can prove a www.stma.org method is better, that what you say is true, they come around. If you go and take a core and you see the roots are all in the top quarter inch, and you squeeze it and the water is just dripping out rather than passing through the profile, then they get it. But yeah, initially, they say 'What the heck! They're just talking big'." Fouty agrees with Kershasky that the biggest gap persists in the area of construction: Your typical golf contractors continue to bring more to the table when compared to your typical sports field contractors, many of whom have landscape backgrounds. However, she thinks the difference between sports field managers and golf course superintendents is overplayed and is fading away due to an uptick in sports turf education. "Time management, organization and communication skills—those are the big things that I brought with me from golf to this job. A better working knowledge of chemicals, types of fertilizer… you just deal with more products in golf," she says. "But today, sports turf management kids are far better educated at the college level. You used to be considered a sort of outdoor janitor at a stadium. Of course, a long time ago, you just mowed the grass and you were considered a superintendent. Things evolve." Dr. Goatley said that collegiate golfturf programs were, for a very long time, far more popular and prevalent. So it's no surprise there has been a migration of personnel from golf to sports turf. "But student interest has changed over my career as an educator, with golf still attracting the larger number of students, but with an increasing interest in sports turf management training," he said. "And for those who are moving from golf turf into sports turf, getting involved in their local STMA chapters and getting to know their fellow sports turf managers will benefit everyone. Both groups have expertise that will benefit their peers. But one group needs to reach out and another needs to be receptive." n SportsTurf 19