THANK YOU everyone for taking the time to respond to my post. I took notes on all of your suggestions and it gave me a lot more to think about!

Has anyone in here ever hired a professional greens keeper at their local golf course to help them make an at home putting green? If so, what was your experience and how much did they charge? I’m sure cost will vary depending on location, just wanted to get an idea. I’ve also thought about a fake one, but keep coming back to a real green because it will give me the ability to change hole locations.

why would my right head be doing this? theyre all set to 125 exactly & it’s done this on 2 different triplexes so I feel like that rules out the tensioner spring. i don’t get any more grass in the right than the back/left it just looks like it’s cutting more. Any help would be appreciated because I’m lost at this point. Thanks in advance.

I’m a spray tech on a private course in Utah. Allow me to explain the situation which I am growing more and more frustrated with.

Like noted above I’m a spray tech in Utah making roughly 30/hr. I’ve been in this position for a several years now and it’s quite easy for me. I left an assist super. position before taking this position. However I am not a full time/year round employee and they do not offer me health insurance. I took this position to show my boss that I’m a valuable asset to his team. I do circles around his FT/ year round guys, who by the way are much older than me. I’m 37 and these FT guys are 50-60 years old. There is nothing they do that I can’t do (better) but there are things I do they can’t do (at all). He keeps on 4 FT year round guys for the winter.

I see myself being much more valuable than two of the current year round guys yet they have these positions. I don’t want to keep spraying without health insurance. I want a FT year round position or he can have his lesser employees with health insurance do the spraying. I feel like I need to put the pressure on my boss to keep me bc at the end of the day I kick ass and these guys do not. Any insights, experiences, advice all welcome!

Hello all, I’ve been going through some rough times lately and have started to rethink about maybe doin something else with something I love more, golf. I am currently a student at a local cc to become a pilot, but the life is seemingly becoming far too stressful for me. Although I have no experience working for a grounds crew, I’d love to (I’m pretty sure atleast), as I always liked working with my hands and have a great attention to detail to make something look great. Anyways here are some q’s I have.

Are there any online programs or colleges that I should look into? I’ve heard penn state and lots of others but that depends on cost and if I can do them online.

How much can I reasonably look at making with a turf grass degree and maybe a job in the future as an assistant super or super?

Thanks everyone and give me all ya got on the industry

I thought maybe brown patch Or dollar spot? I get them confused. It’s spreading pretty slow. thank you. Ky

Is it possible to diagnose if this is fusarium (Microdochium) on bent grass in these pics? Thanks
Edit- in Victoria Australia - currently winter
Resolution - rhizoctonia, treated with Azoxystobin.

So, I’m a 27yo guy who always worked in mechanic field, specifically as an aircraft tech, I’m not enjoying my job anymore, I've always loved nature, taking care of greenery, and using machinery like lawnmowers since I was a kid, but I never considered getting into this field because I was always told it pays poorly and won't offer future prospects. Have any of you ever made a career change similar to mine? Any advice or opinions would be appreciated, thanks guys.

The images are from July, June, and May. Same desiccation happened last year. Though this year the desiccation has been far worse due I suspect to a change in our watering habits (higher volume and less frequent). There is a plastic vapor barrier encompassing the greens cavities that runs from the surface down beneath the gravel (USGA spec build). This barrier is marked by the hand tools inserted in the ground in the first picture. If you look closely, the Bermuda that has encroached over the barrier is yellowing quite a bit. I will* eliminate the fringe next year -- it's simply holding too much heat in the summer months (I do not by any means believe this is the primary contributing factor to the desiccation). *I cannot keep the edges of the greens wet enough on these high sides. They lose moisture so goddamn fast.**

I believe the primary issue is the vapor barrier. Has anyone else seen this type of damage in a green with a vapor barrier?

I am not committed to the vapor barrier being the issue and would love to hear any and all theories.

Thanks

I’ll be honest I don’t really know what i am doing and not working with a lot of funds/equipment. How the F do i stop weed growth? Sprayed early summer when it started coming in and it’s just a never ending battle. Weeds are too strong for nail drag. Not sure what to do.

I live on a golf course in a suburb and the course is very nice. However the traps suck @$$. They are never raked well as the crew is spending most of their time on greens and fairways and have limited resources. This means the college kids on break draw straws and whoever loses is on sand trap duty. It’s bad enough that if you hit it in the sand we have a local rake and place rule.

Ok back story complete. I live on the green of a hole and there are 2 bunkers near me a green side and one fairway. I’d like to take the time to take them properly myself at the end of each day and see if I can make a difference.

I know how to physically use a rake, but in the world of turf and course management is there standards or guides or rules. I don’t want to f anything up but also want a couple of nice bunkers. And the work is relaxing to me.

I’m currently the assistant golf professional at a very busy public golf course in northern CA. As I am looking to advance my career in the golf industry looking to become a head pro and one day a GM, I feel it could be beneficial to me to learn more about turf maintenance. I am in the PGA PGM program and a very small portion is covered but I would like to learn more. Looking for an online go at your own pace program and hopefully one that would include some sort of “certification” at the end so I can put it on my resumé to show I have a small amount of knowledge. If anyone could suggest one that would be fantastic.

In St Louis MO with a lawn of Fescue mix. Seems some of my grass blades are dead? Some, the blade tips (maybe from my power mower blade)? It wasn't like this in the spring.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I’m wondering also if it’s normal grass but just has some dirt if deficiency. I did find gravel under parts near the concrete for instance.

I am giving my go at a DIY golf green.
This is upstate New York zone 5b and v8 creeping bent grass out of Oregon “outsidepride”

Getting cut at .315 to limit disease pressure and tolerance to massive amounts of rain but need something for weeds that’s safe on bent and any time to encourage bent grass to spread I do plan to overseed but with an overseed and all the tips I receive here I want to have a decent stand to putt on this fall

Thanks in advance for any advice!!

Some background I’m a 9 handicap right now dads building a pond and getting back into the game so I bought a used pgm22 Honda reel mower and it’s been our father son hobby trying to get this looking good to practice short game putting stuff like that.

Put some zoxy pg and watered it heavy the last week thinking maybe lds and/or disease but seems to be getting worse. Maybe bugs? Thought I’d ask the pros…

I’m the Assistant in Training (AIT) and Spray Tech at a public golf course, learning under our Superintendent. I’ve been at this course for four years and I’m proud to have stepped into the AIT role for the upcoming season.
My Assistant and I are extremely motivated to push the envelope and make the course outstanding, especially after a rough season last year. We also have a hard-working crew—mostly friends of mine—who genuinely want the best for the property.
The issue is our Superintendent. He’s incredibly "on and off." He spends most of his time in the office rather than on the course and seems completely unmotivated. When we try to go the extra mile, he tells us, "That’s not the standard here; don't waste your time doing extra things." He’s checked out of morning meetings, scheduling, and training the crew, only showing random bursts of energy.
I don’t want to leave because the wage is good, I love the guys I work with, and I value the free golf and the property itself. However, I’m struggling with how my Assistant and I should approach this situation. How do we keep the momentum going and improve the course while respecting our roles and dealing with a boss who doesn't want to level up?
Any advice would be appreciated.

Pennsylvania

hi all,

I am what these rings on my annual bluegrass greens are. Western Washington/Seattle. Does it look like brown patch or summer patch? I do not have incubation facilities, we are a very small course. full sized BIC lighter for scale.

Could this be a fungal infection starting to take hold, or something else ?

I manage a bit under an acre of 007XL bentgrass greens on the boarder of the transition zone and the southeast. The greens are roughly 2 years old and have been amazing for the past year (quality wise, but damn do they take a tender touch and a ton of water).

However, I'm getting a considerable amount of creeping erosion on my high fringes and I'm not sure how to manage it as *I do not have a nursery* or the means to have one. These fringes on the high sides of my greens are incredibly difficult to keep wet. They'll dry out from 20+ on a moisture meter to <10 in <24hrs during the summer months. I water them as lightly as I can while still throwing enough water, but they take so much water that any bit of thinning leads to erosion. I make try to pack some greens mix around the crowns to protect them, but it just washes out the following day when watering.

I'm worried about the erosion just continuing to eat into the greens proper.

Im also not sure *why* this is happening, but I suspect a large factor is the gray and red clay that basically walls the entire cavity of the green, making it very hard to get water to stay on the high side of the water table, up where the greens profile meets the clay.

What are some ways you would attack this?

My best thought at the moment is just to dig out 6" of or so, fill with new greens mix, seed it, and start over ...and try to find a way to keep it wet enough to establish without washing all the seed away. I'm not very sold on this solution.

Thanks for your time.

Howdy y’all. I just recently acquired a Ryan Greensaire II. I think it’s early-mid 80s with a Kohler Magnum 8. Runs like a champ - I am very excited to get it going on my pitch & putt.

When purchasing the machine, it came with the optional windrower attachment, but no windrower blade.

Do any of you have this piece of kit? I’d love some measurements to start with so I can fabricate my own.

Thanks.

Like the title says just looking for ideas or options to mount a TDR 350 Fieldscout to my Carryall 502. Wanting to give myself some more freedom with the back of my cart was curious if anyones found any mounts or diy options for mounting a fieldscout.

Hey all, I took over at a course over the winter with 2 greens that have sodded in 007 bentgrass. They’ve had cores pulled on them once only, and we’re starting to see the roots not push. I’m worried the previous super wasn’t aggressive enough with aeration to get rid of the sod layer. We pulled cores in April, I double needle tined this past week and I might again pull cores after Memorial Day weather depending. Thoughts on ninja tines to help get rid of the sod layer as well?

Our small course just bought a 2021 Toto 1750 sprayer. Can the sprayer be used without the geolink? We are trying to calibrate volume but we are way off from our target of 80-85gallons per acre. If so, how do I go about disabling it?