Ian Murphy, Superintendent of The Rookery at Marco Golf Club Speaks About His Partnership with Geoponics and How Utilizing Earth Chemistries™ Has Positively Impacted His Already Immaculate Turf Conditions Under Strict Environmental Restrictions
This interview was conducted in early December with Ian Murphy, Superintendent of Golf Grounds at The Rookery at Marco. The golf course was rebuilt in 2002 and features TifEagle greens with TifSport bermudagrass on the fairways, tees & rough.
Good afternoon Ian. Here we are in beautiful, sunny Naples Florida. Thank you for speaking with us today. So, how did you learn about Geoponics and our line of Earth friendly products?
We received a phone call from their offices in North Carolina, and then I got a visit from a consultant a couple of days later down here in Naples. I had met with him once before, and he talked to me again about what they were doing as a company and what they were working with in their product line.
I’m always open to doing new things; trying things out, working with it a little bit more. You kind of have to change and roll with the punches with the way everything is working in this area, what with changes in the environment and the organics, and with environmentally sensitive things. Out here, basically in the middle of the Everglades, environmentalism is one of those things you really have to focus on, to be up-to-date on, so I was willing to give it a shot and try a few things out.
This year in southwest Florida you are facing issues with the abundance of water; it isn’t a commodity any more. Having used the product Penterra as a surfactant and penetrant on your greens and localized dry spots, could you let us know about how you’ve seen it work as far as increasing the infiltration of water into the soil profile?
What we’ve seen on the greens has been great. We can go quite a while without really having to water them, a little hand watering here and there. Where we’ve seen the biggest effect is on our tee boxes and in our severe dry spots on fairways, especially on our signature holes, which we’d like to keep green as long as we can before the water restrictions get worse.
The tee boxes turned around in a matter of 3 or 4 days. The spots in the fairways took 5 or 6 days because we didn’t quite put as much water on them initially as we did with the tee boxes. Out here on the property the greens, tees and fairways are the most important parts of the golf course, and we’ve done everything we can with Penterra to get it out there. And it has definitely made a huge difference. The color and everything we’ve seen shows we’re able to get down into the profile and wet the roots. Basically we’re doing as much as we can before it gets really difficult.
Can you give an example of a specific place on your golf course where you’ve used Penterra and seen a turn around?
17 fairway and 18 fairway. Those two are obviously the last two holes on the property and we want to make a good impression. Right now we’ve got enough water where we can use it on fairways a little bit, and with that little bit we can put on them it’s done a great job to keep the color the way we need to keep it. Tee boxes have just come around, all of them. Just fantastic.
I understand you’re using the Grizzly Pro-Turf Program. What have you’ve seen since you began using that customized greens fertility program?
Well, we’ve been on it for a few weeks now, and there’s definitely been an improvement in overall color, in consistency of color. One of the big things for us is the Agriox. The growth has gone off-the-wall; it’s fantastic. The greens have definitely gotten a lot smoother, a lot more consistent.
What aspects of Geoponics and their “green” product line make you continue to partner with them in your turfgrass management?
Honestly the big thing has been the service. We’ve gotten great service, and everything I’ve seen so far has been positive; I haven’t seen any backlash. We took soil samples right before we started using the program, and here in another month and a half or so we’re going to take some more to really see if there has been a change with the things we’ve done.
I already know the consistency with the greens has been unbelievable. Everybody loves it. We had our annual Children’s Miracle Network charity event here this past weekend. It’s a huge tournament, and the compliments I got about how great the greens were, about how wonderfully they were rolling, were some of the best in the four and a half years I’ve been here.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard that. We’ve always had great greens here, but every single person came up to us and told us how great these greens look and how these are probably the healthiest and best greens they’ve seen here since they’ve been members.
That’s great to hear! Congratulations. You mentioned customer service being important to you. Since beginning to work with some of the Geoponics products, what has been your opinion of the technical service you’ve received?
It’s excellent; the service has been fantastic. We’ve had a couple of occasions where the tech has come out and helped us mix stuff and showed us how to use the product. He’s done everything that was necessary to really make us feel better and really confident about what we’re putting on our greens.
For a superintendent, when you are doing something new, when you are trying something different, you really want someone to be there to walk you through it the first time. Because the last thing you want is to do it wrong and have an issue where the next thing you know you’ve got greens that didn’t react the way they should’ve.
So having the consultant come out and help us mix – always having him calling to see how the project is working, wanting to help us out with some other trouble areas if they come around – is great. The technical service we’ve received so far has been fantastic.
Since beginning with the Grizzly Pro-Turf Program what have you seen when you spray out the Grizzly Terrain? Can you give other superintendents an idea what they can expect to see on similar turf?
Usually we spray the Grizzly Terrain™ Foliar out first thing in the morning, going out right behind the mowers and get it out before all the golfers.
Usually by about 3 or 4 o’clock there is a noticeable difference in the green, it’s a lot brighter and just looks a lot better. The color is pretty fantastic by about 4 o’clock. And then throughout the week, the next three or four days it just gets a lot better. So it’s held up very consistently. The assist with the color has been 100 percent.
As a superintendent that knows the trends, how do you foresee the future of the turf industry progressing with respect to the environment and in its practices?
It’s already a very important issue, especially down here in southwest Florida, and I know nationally it is becoming bigger everyday. With our resort and hotel this year everything is going green. It’s the biggest push right now that we have as a company. It’s just a matter of time before it trickles out and everybody becomes part of the effort.
The most important thing we have is the environment. And though it might not always be true, golf courses are often seen as a major hindrance to the environment even though we’re all willing and able to do everything we can, in earnest, to change things and move ahead making sure we are much more friendly to the environment. It’s just a matter of time before the hammer gets dropped and we’ll have to meet all sorts of specifications and regulations.
Add comment December 13th, 2007