Here - Hudson Valley Golf Course Superintendents Association

VOL. 47, NO. 2
PUBLICATION OF THE HVGCSA
March/April 2010
HVGCSA & NEGCSA APRIL MEETING
Date: Monday, April 26, 2010
Columbia Golf & Country Club
295 Route 217, Claverack, NY 12513
Tom Niebling, Superintendent
Schedule:
Format:
Cost:
9:00
10:00
Registration
Shotgun Start
Hotdogs, hamburgers and drinks on the turn
2:30
After Golf pizza, wings and prizes
Two person scramble
$70 Member or Guest per person • $20 After Golf
Spikeless shoes required. No on-site registration!
Please register via email to
[email protected]
by Wednesday, April 21.
Directions:
New York State Thruway (Route I-87)
Exit 21 off the Thruway. Proceed through toll booths; make a left onto Old Route 23. Follow signs to the
Rip Van Winkle Bridge/Hudson. After crossing the Bridge veer to the left-you will be on Route 23 East.
Proceed for approximately 3/4 mile and make a left hand turn onto Route 9G/23B - (There will be a
Stewart’s Shoppe on your left). Follow this route for approx. 3 miles into the City of Hudson. The 3rd traffic
light will bring you to the Warren Street intersection. (Hudson Business District). Continue on Warren and
turn left onto Prospect Ave, then right onto Columbia Tpke (23B), continue on 23B for 2.4 miles. Continue
on State Route 23 for approx. 9 miles. Then bear left on Route 217 for approx. 1 mile.
Taconic State Parkway:
Exit Hudson/Ancram Route 82. At end of ramp take a right onto Route 82 North proceeding approx. 5 miles
until converging with Route 23/9. Continue straight through the traffic light and follow this route for approx.
another 3 1/2 miles until you reach your next traffic light. (At this point Route 23 and Route 9 split). Make a
right at this light onto Route 9 North into the City of Hudson. Make a left at the first blinking traffic light
onto Warren Street (Hudson Business District). Continue on Warren and turn left onto Prospect Ave, then
right onto Columbia Tpke (23B). Continue on 23B for 2.4 miles. Continue on State Rt 23 for approx. .9
miles. Then bear left on Route 217 for approx. 1 mile.
THE HUDSON VALLEY
FOREGROUND
Published six times a year by the Hudson Valley
Golf Course Superintendents Association.
Founded 1963
Editor
Ineke Pierpoint
914-347-4653
[email protected]
Editors Corner
Now that Spring is here, we
are keeping busier than ever with
spring clean up. We had a couple of
rough months, with the snow, then
the rain, but finally we have some
beautiful weather.
We have a great season
planned and we hope that you will be able to
participate in all of our functions. We will be
starting the season with a join meeting with the
Northeast GCSA. Join us at the Columbia Golf &
Country Club on April 26th.
See you there!
Ineke Pierpoint
Executive Secretary & Editor
Honorary Editor—Bill Smart
Executive Committee
President
Christopher Strehl
Links at Unionvale
Vice President Steve Whipple
West Point GC
Secretary
Dan Wilber
Millbrook G&T Club
Treasurer
Matt Topazio
New York CC
Directors
Guy Gurney
Orange County GC
Paul Pritchard, CGCS
Wiltwyck GC
Jason Werbalowsky
Otterkill G&CC
Assoc Rep.
Ernie Steinhofer CGCS
Metro Turf Specialists
Past President Sean Taggart
Osiris CC
Exec. Secretary Ineke Pierpoint
——————————————Association Motto
To promote interest and good will in the association, encourage good relations between members
and the clubs they represent…. And to keep up with
the current developments in turf and related
work…..
Bill Smart
An Effort to Go Green!
The HVGCSA is going to strive toward making
the planet a little greener. As we have all seen or read
somewhere recently there is an effort to save wherever
and whenever possible. Well one way we think we can
do our part is to cut down on paper use. We would like
to start converting most of our mailings and such to
emailed files. In doing so, we could be saving time,
money, paper, postage, and other varied office
expenses. A good part of our dues go toward such
expenses. We think we could put our monies to better
use if given this chance.
So please, if you have not already filled out your
dues renewal notice, on the bottom, where it asks if you
would like to start receiving HVGCSA information via
email, please indicate it so we can begin our goal of
going paperless. Update any new email addresses as
well.
Thank you from the HVGCSA Board of
Governors.
Page 2
President’s Message
Hello HVGCSA Members:
Here we are again at the beginning of another golfing season.
After the winter we had this spring is certainly welcome. The weather
has turned from cold to very warm rather quickly and I for one was
caught off guard with trying to get employees started, finish ordering
and getting the course open. Every year is different yet the same, my
head gets spinning trying to get all of the projects finished before opening. Hopefully the
dust settles soon from the early spring we are having and we can settle down into more
routine maintenance and have an uneventful season.
This year we have some good meeting sites planned starting with Columbia CC on April
26, which is a joint meeting with the Northeast GCSA. Hopefully we can show some support
for them as they did for us last year.
If you haven’t been to the HVGCSA website do try to visit the site. It has the meeting
sites for this year and scholarship applications can be printed from the site. Guy Gurney and
Chris Young posted pictures of their courses flooding; and if anybody has any pictures they
would like to share send them to Guy and he will get them on the site.
Hope everyone has a great season and I’ll see you at Columbia CC.
Christopher W Strehl, Links at Union Vale
Tri-State Research Needs Your Support
I would like to talk about Tri-State research and the benefits gained by donating two hundred
dollars to the foundation. I have been one of the representatives for three years now along with
Paul Prichard and Tim Garceau for the Hudson Valley Golf Course Superintendents Association.
Paul currently serves as past president and Tim is secretary. Since being founded in 1991,
TriState has funded many successful research projects that make a difference in our daily
maintenance procedures. Your donation would greatly benefit the continuation of great turf
research. The annual newsletter will be out soon with a donation form. Please if you haven’t
already, help out a great cause to make your daily practices easier on the golf course. Continue the
TriState mission “to provide turfgrass research for better golf and a safer environment.”
Thank You, Matt Topazio
Page 3
Visit the HVGCSA’s website today!
www.hvgcsa.org
Check out our new website! Guy Gurney has done a wonderful job
putting it together.
HVGCSA membership & scholarship applications,
upcoming events, monthly meetings and past newsletters are all on the
website. If you have any pictures that you would like
everyone to see, like the flood or snow storm damage at
your course, please call Guy and he will be able to put
them on the website.
This is a great tool, we hope that you will all visit it.
2010 HVGCSA Advertising
Welcome back to all of our loyal patrons. We know it is hard in these economic times to
continually give, so to you we thank you for all of your continued support. For all of you
jumping on board this year we hope it is worth every dollar you put into it. There are three
different ways to get your name out there: a patron listing in our Foreground that goes out
six to eight times per year, an ad in the annual membership directory, and/or a single page
insert (great for running a special or seasonal deal) in our Foreground. Further details can
be provided by contacting Ineke Pierpoint at (914) 347-4653 or Dan Wilber at (845) 677-8061.
All 2010 advertising information packets have been sent out via postage mail. If you have not
received your packet yet and would like one, please contact Ineke or Dan. Please support Our
Patrons, as they support us! If there is not * by your company, it means we have not received
your ad. Please give us a call ASAP, since the next issue will only be those that have
contributed.
Dan Wilber
Page 4
Meeting Sites For 2009-2010
April 26th
Columbia Golf & Country Club, Host Tom Niebling
(joint meeting with the Northeast GCSA)
May 25th
Beekman Country Club, Host Steve Spontak
June 30th
Hudson Valley Cup
Otterkill Golf & Country Club, Host Jason Werbalowsky
July
Social Event, TBD
August
Sullivan County Challenge
September 22nd
Stone Dock Golf Club, Host John North
October 5th
Worthington Cup at Rockland Country Club, Host Matthew Ceplo
December
Holiday Party
If you have any news at all about one of our members, please give Ineke a call and
we can place it in this newsletter.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Steve Luty. His email is: [email protected] he would
love to get email from you!
Our sincere condolences to the family of Elizabeth spinelli, who passed away on March 24,
2010 from cancer.
Page 5
Columbia Golf & CC to Host April’s HVGCSA/NEGCSA Joint Meeting
The first golf meeting of the 2010 season is joint meeting with the NEGCSA at Columbia Golf & CC
in Claverack, NY on April 26th. Out host superintendent is the irrepressible Tom Niebling.
All about Tom
Tom began his career looking for a position in broadcasting, receiving his degree in the mideighties. He soon realized that he preferred to work outside and got a job at Columbia on the
grounds crew, working under then Superintendent Bobby Nichol. In July of 1990, Bobby left and at
the young age of 23, Tom became superintendent.
During his tenure at Columbia, Tom has dramatically improved playing conditions and aesthetics at
the course. Under Tom’s leadership, the club attained their Audubon certification in 2002. In
order to be certified, the club had to meet the Audubon Society’s strict standards for environmental
planning, water quality, water conservation, wildlife and habitat management plus IPM outreach
and education. As part of the program, Tom has maintained bluebird nest boxes and natural areas
along the wood lines on the perimeter of the course. The Audubon certification is not a given.
Columbia needs to be re-certified every two years, the last re-certification being granted in 2009. In
this same spirit, Tom has introduced more organic inputs into his programs and rarely sprays his
roughs or greens surrounds.
In addition to his agronomic abilities, out of necessity, Tom also developed a skill in herding cows.
At one point, Columbia was surrounded on all sides by dairy farms. Although Tom had done his
utmost to block possible entry ways to prevent his bovine neighbors from grazing on his course,
incursions would occur. Tom remembers one day receiving a frantic call from a member of the crew
alerting Tom to the latest invasion. Upon arriving at the course, Tom witnessed some thirty cows
making themselves at home adjacent to the clubhouse. Tom jumped in his Cushman and proceeded
to herd the cows off the property and back to the farm. Tom reported that the damage was minimal.
However, Tom did discover that the one thing you don’t want to do is get a cow nervous or flustered
because excited cows will let loose with a high pressure cascade of excrement that would make even
the most experienced cowpoke blush. These happy cows left their mark in the sand traps, on the
greens, on the sidewalks around the clubhouse, in the parking lot, and of course on every branch
and bush on their forced journey home. The crew had to have Tom and the Cushman pressure
washed and detailed after the roundup.
It is amazing how time flies. Tom is in his 20th year as the superintendent at Columbia and has also
been married to his lovely wife Jennifer for 22 years. Their two sons have made the family very
proud. Larry, who is now 17, has become a tremendous athlete and is on both his high school’s
varsity basketball and baseball teams. Danny, now 13, is an aspiring musician and has recruited
Tom to play bass in his band.
The Course
If you expect to score well at Columbia, you better bring your “A” game. The first nine opened in
1920. Hal Purdy designed the second nine in the early sixties and the full 18 hole layout opened for
play in 1965.
The course is characterized by its tight tree-lined fairways and small well-bunkered greens. The
number one handicap hole is #11, a par five, 539- yard gem. The tee shot is to an elevated fairway.
Out of bounds lurks on the left with trouble right (if your tee shot travels too far right, trees will
block your second shot). The elevated fairway makes the hole play much longer than the yardage.
Page 6
It is next to impossible to get on in two.
The #2 handicap hole is a 426-yard straight away par four. There’s not a lot of trouble on this hole
but it plays long, especially in the spring. The green is no bargain, being severely contoured, and a
par is an excellent score.
Tom’s two favorite holes on the course are #13 and #5. Number 5 is a par four of 374 yards. The
tee shot is elevated down to a narrow landing area bordered by two hidden ponds left and right.
The approach shot is to an elevated green, which can make club selection tricky. The green is small
and sloped from back to front.
Number 13 is a long, 205-yard par 3. From an elevated tee, the golfer must carry a pond (not really
in play unless you chunk your tee shot) to a large green that severely slopes from back to front.
Tom says the best bailout on this hole is being short and below the hole. If your tee shot ends up
above the hole you’ll face an impossible downhill putt.
Needless to say, Columbia is a great tract, is fun to play, and is always in superb shape thanks to
Tom, his able assistant Travis Brodkowski, and his crew.
In order to bring closure to some of the top news stories from last season’s “Hudson Valley News of
Interest………………………..
Hudson Valley News of Interest
Dr. Won B. Long, Dan Madar’s disgraced orthopedic surgeon, was recently deported to China and
subsequently executed by Chinese authorities.
Garrison’s Jeff Newell has reportedly met his dream girl on match.com’s website. His new
girlfriend, Stella, although 25 years Jeff’s senior has, according to Jeff, “a remarkably modern
outlook on life.”
Wilfred MacDonald’s Bill Luthin was recently elected President of the National Chapter of “The
Hair Club for Men.” Congratulations Billy!!
Blue Hill’s Stu Sharples has been suspended indefinitely by the Rockland County Bowling
Association for allegedly pouring gun powder into the thumb hole of his bowling ball during a
recent match. League officials commented. “This guy got a 7-10 split and he didn’t even hit the
pins.
Sadly, Metro’s Ernie Steinhofer’s clothing company, “Ernie’s Upscale Golf Fashions LLC,” has gone
into Chapter 11 due to the sluggish economy. In addition to that
unsettling news, Ernie’s lawsuit against NYCC’s Matt “The Big Sexy”
Topazio (Ernie was hit in the face with an errant approach shot hit
by Matt at last year’s Stony Ford meeting) was thrown out of court
when both Tuxedo Club Superintendent Tim Garceau and former
MGA official Gene Westmoreland, both witnesses to the alleged
event, refused to testify at trial.
Kevin Collins
Page 7
THE FOREGROUND – PATRON DIRECTORY
A.G. Enterprises
Staff Uniformes
www.agenterprisesonline.com
Rick Gordon [email protected]
201-488-1276; Fax: 201-489-5830
Dupont Professional Products
Acelepryn & Provaunt Insecticides
www.proproducts.dupont.com
Karen Hartman 410-202-6848
Agrium Advanced Technologies
Duration polymer fertilizer
Rick Nack
518-325-3445; Cell: 518-821-7781
Grass Roots, Inc.
www.GrassRootsTurfOnline.com
Ofc: 973-252-6634; Fax: 973-252-6630
Ryan Burbridge 973-418-7038
Keith Kubik 973-418-7034
Al Preston’s
Shelton, CT 06484
Massey Ferguson Tractors –
Takeuchi: Excavators & Loaders
203-924-1747; Fax: 203-924-4594
Grassland Equip. & Irrigation Corp.
892-898 Troy-Schenectady Road
Latham, NY 12110
Bruce Haworth
518-857-9871
Aquatrols Corp. of America
37 Oneonta Road
Carmel, NY 10512
Kevin P. Collins, Mid Atlantic/NE TM
609-841-2077
Harrell’s – Polyon Fertilizers
Foliar Fertilizers; Title Phyte; Seed
All Brand Name Pesticides
Fran Berdine 201-424-7900
[email protected]
Atlantic Irrigation Specialties Inc.
111 Lafayette Avenue
N. White Plains, NY 10603
Ray Beaudry
914-906-8375
Ira Wickes / Arborists
11 McNamara Road
Spring Valley, NY 10977
John Wickes
914-906-3264
BASF
47 Falmouth Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
John Bresnahan 413-565-5340
James Carriere & Sons, Inc.
7 Cottage Street
Port Chester, NY 10573
Bill Carriere
914-937-2136
Bayer Environmental Science
311 Carriage Drive
Kensington, CT 06037
Dave Sylvester
860-841-3173
Blue Ridge Peat Farms
133 Peat Moss Road
White Haven, PA 18661
Gene Evans or Chuck Evans
570-443-9596
Chemsearch
7 Sterling Forest Lane
Suffern, NY 10901
Patrick Casper
845-369-6468; Cell: 845-729-7376
DeBuck’s Sod Farm of NY
120 DeBucks Drive
Pine Island, NY 10969
www.debucksodfarmny.com
Greg - cell: 845-258-4131
DryJect NE/Turf Pounders
37 Oneonta Road
Carmel, NY 10512
Kevin Collins, 914-525-3681
Steve Jordan, 914-602-2857
John Deere Golf
174 Mine Road
Highland Falls, NY 10928
Brian Kishpaugh
914-755-4798
Matrix Turf Solutions, LLC
6551 Pottery Road
Warners, NY 13164
Gregory R. Moran
845-849-8640
Metro Turf Specialists
“Customers, Our Top Priority”
Ernie Steinhofer, CGCS
Robert Steinman, CGCS
Customer Service 230-748-GOLF (4653)
Plant Food Company, Inc.
“The Liquid Fertilizer Experts”
Dick Neufeld – 973-945-6318
Tom Weinert - 914-262-0111
www.plantfoodco.com 800-562-1291
Reel Sharp
351 Upper Road
Otisville, NY 10963
Brian Grebeldinger
845-597-7738
Saratoga Sod
374 Route 4
Stillwater, NY 12170
Laurie Griffen
518-664-5038
Satch Sales, Inc.
Club Car Golf Cars & Utility Vehicles
63 Broadway, Menands, NY 12204
Bernie Jorgensen
Cell: 518-281-4371
Soil Solutions, Inc.
Aerification Professionals
7 Whittmore Pl., Rye Brook, NY 10573
Anthony & John DeCicco
914-393-0659
Fax: 914-939-5010
Storr Tractor Company
3191 Highway 22
Branchburg, NJ 08876
Steve Bradley, 908-413-5640
Rick Krok, 908-413-3403
SURFSIDE WETTING AGENTS
Liquid ~ Granular ~ Pellets
ZAP! Defoamer
MONTCO PRODUCTS - Bob Oechsle
1-800-401-0411; Fax: 215-836-2418
Syngenta
PO Box 18300
Greensboro, NC 27419
Dennis DeSanctis
732-580-5514
W & B Golf Carts, Inc.
3391 Route 9
Hudson, NY 12534
Jason Hommel
518-851-2266
Westchester Turf Supply, Inc.
“Serving the HVGCSA for 34 Years”
Dave Lippman, 914-447-5192
Bob Lippman, 914-447-6257
[email protected]
Wilfred MacDonald Inc.
19 Central Boulevard
S. Hackensack, NJ 07606
Bill Luthin Cell: 201-214-5901
Office: 888-831-0891
[email protected]