Mike Coker and son Troy work on golf courses ... - Backed By Bayer

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STEWARDSHIP Burning of the native grasses at Colbert Hills is done every March. The job is completed in two weekends. bluestem. They fill many areas between holes <strong>and</strong> are less intrusive. You can see over short grass <strong>and</strong> hit a ball out of it. Krings’s savings? “You mow it once a year <strong>and</strong>, depending on the soils, you may have to put a little fertilizer on it.” At Colbert Hills, Gourlay oversees 1,100 acres, including 315 acres of golf course <strong>and</strong> 500 acres of native Konza prairie, whose preservation was instrumental in golf course architect Jeffrey Brauer’s design. Gourlay’s savings? The annual cost of the entire course is “embarrassingly low,” Gourlay says, far less than the $700,000 to $1 million most superintendents guess. A mere $325,000 a year is spent on maintenance, minus water costs, to care for 27 holes of golf, a 20-acre practice facility <strong>and</strong> half-acre practice putting green. Colbert Hills’ Konza prairie, along with bluestem, native sunflowers <strong>and</strong> fescues that Gourlay has seeded, needs only to be burned every March, which is completed in two weekends. At Rich Harvest Farms, Funderburg maintains 235 acres of golf course <strong>and</strong> 50 acres of native grasses, mostly tall <strong>and</strong> chewings fescues. Funderburg’s savings? “It’s a goodly amount,” he says. “All we do is either burn it down or mow it down once a year in the fall, or spring, weather depending.” According to research compiled by Pizzo & Associates, Ltd., an ecological restoration firm located in Lel<strong>and</strong>, Ill., the cost compari<strong>son</strong> between maintained turfgrass <strong>and</strong> native l<strong>and</strong>scape is huge, <strong>and</strong> grows larger after the first four years of establishment. Pizzo & Associates reports that the per-acre maintenance cost of turf with a sprinkler system, from seed, is $14,190 the first year, $4,890 the second year, $4,110 the third year <strong>and</strong> $5,160 the fourth year.After that, the annual per-acre cost grows to $6,129 by the 10 th year <strong>and</strong> $8,043 by the 20 th year. By compari<strong>son</strong>, the annual cost for maintaining native l<strong>and</strong>scape, from seed — be it prairie, savanna or wetl<strong>and</strong> — is $5,330 the first year, $2,198 the second year, $3,860 the third year <strong>and</strong> $2,884 the fourth year. But thereafter, the costs merely rise from $546 the fifth year to $633 the 10 th <strong>and</strong> $851 the 20 th . The comparative costs are similar in the case of existing turfgrass <strong>and</strong> overseeding an area to native l<strong>and</strong>scape, the Pizzo report says. Over the course of 20 years, the per-acre maintenance cost of the existing turf is $98,600 compared to the cost of native l<strong>and</strong>scape which is $25,107. With savings like that, it’s no wonder more superintendents are investigating the native grass option. “Definitely there is an increase in the amount [of turning maintained turf over to native areas],” says Audubon International’s Zeh. “As more golf courses go through our certification process, we have witnessed that. We are seeing an increase of 22 acres per property being changed to native habitat.” To some, the savings is peripheral to the environmental benefits. To others, the environmental benefits are peripheral to the savings. But to everyone, one of the results is obvious: the beauty of native grass st<strong>and</strong>s. As golf course architect Brauer says of Colbert Hills: “Many holes play from elevated tees that allow an impressive view of the Konza prairie for several miles. It’s certainly as beautiful as any forest.” 22 Golf Advantage Winter 2006
MANAGEMENT HUMAN RESOURCES Gather Revealing References A thorough background check upfront can save employer nightmares down the road By Peter Blais Hiring employees is a critical job for superintendents, particularly in a business where the skills <strong>and</strong> dedication of the <strong>work</strong>force is so important to the quality of the final product. Checking references is a major part of that hiring process. As Janice Norton, human resources director for CourseCo, a multi-course operator in Northern California, puts it: “You do not want to hire someone who is going to kill all your grass. Basically, we are checking for qualifications when we contact references.” Many courses have some type of background- <strong>and</strong> reference-checking policy. This includes verifying information provided by job applicants, such as obtaining employment history; verifying items like driving records <strong>and</strong> Social Security numbers (certain laws, particularly the Illegal Immigration Reform <strong>and</strong> Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, make organizations liable for costly fines if they hire <strong>work</strong>ers who are ineligible for employment in the United States); <strong>and</strong> communicating with former supervisors <strong>and</strong> co-<strong>work</strong>ers to obtain verbal or written references on job applicants. Requiring the truth Notifying job-seekers on application forms that providing false information is potentially grounds for dismissal, <strong>and</strong> requiring them to sign <strong>and</strong> date those forms, is a fairly easy way to encourage potential employees to provide accurate information, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Staffing Research Report. However, verifying that information <strong>and</strong> obtaining additional insight regarding employees through www.bayergolfadvantage.com Golf Advantage 23
Page 1 and 2: Bayer WINTER 2006 YOUR TOTAL RESOUR
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Page 5 and 6: FAR & WIDE INDUSTRY NEWS Irrigation
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Page 9 and 10: TALK BACK QUESTION OF THE MONTH We
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Page 33 and 34: SOLUTIONS PEST MANAGEMENT Pests We
Page 35 and 36: ON THE ROAD BAYER NEWS Sales Rep Fo

Mike Coker and son Troy work on golf courses ... - Backed By Bayer

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