Review of a turf blog

Mr. Robbie Commens’ turf blog is from Australia and is part advice for home owners on turf and advertisement for the sod producing company, Coastal Turf.

Mr. Commens has a Bachelor degree in Applied Science and Agronomy from the University of Queensland in Australia.

Articles on the blog include subjects about

• Lawn grub control.

Offers a link to a product called “RICHGRO Lawn Beetle and Grub Killa”, that is a good product used to control of lawn beetles.

• How to lay turf.

This article offers tips on how to prepare the site that is to be sodded. Tips include measuring the site to order the correct amount of sod, how to handle and protect the topsoil, laying the sod and finally how to help the newly laid sod in its establishment period.

• How turf handles the summer heat



Mr. Commens gives his customers advice on how to get a successful turf, from site preparation and laying the turf to post installation. To further helps his customers decide on a turf, there is a table with environmental conditions associated with a matching turf, to help choose appropriate turf species for the home lawn.



Coastal Turf:

Coastal Turf was established in 1993 and is one of 152 sod farming companies in Queensland, only 2nd to the 155 sod farmers in New South Wales. It’s estimated that sod farming in Queensland takes up 2520 hectares. The size of Queensland itself is 1.85 million km2 or 457 million acres.

Coastal Turf produces a variety of sods with species such as

• Queensland Blue Couch (Digitaria didactyla)

• Bermuda (Cynodon dactylon) called “Wintergreen” in Australia

• Soft Leaf Buffalo Grass (Stenotaprum secundatum)

• Palmetto Buffalo (Stenotaprum secundatum spp)

• Sweet Smother Grass (Dactyloctenium australe)

• ‘Empire’ Zoysia Grass (Zoysia japonica spp)

All grasses produced are warm season grasses, as one would expect in Queensland. On the site under “Turf Varieties”, info is listed about each species, including its texture, its tolerance to sun and shade its origin and more.



Links to follow for more info on turf in Australia;

• Turf Australia

• Turf Queensland

• Research on turf, by HAL (Horticulture Australia Limited)



Pictures are courtesy of Mr. Robbie Commens

New England Regional Turfgrass Foundation

The New England Regional Turfgrass Foundation or NETRF was found in 1996 by several groups of turf and lawn related associations. The founding associations were seven Golf Course Superintendents Associations in the New England area, Massachusetts Association of Lawn Care Professionals and the New England Sports Turf Managers Association. The goal of NERTF is to support the Turf industries in the New England area and research.

Since its start in 1996, the NERTF has hosted the annual New England Regional Turfgrass Conference. In its short lifespan this Conference has grown to be one of the largest turf trade shows in the USA. It is held over four days at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, RI and has more than 2300 turfgrass professionals attending the four days of activities. In 2009, the first NETRF Turf Bowl was held during the conference and students from the University of Massachusetts, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Connecticut competed against each other. Winner of the 2009 NETRF Turf Bowl was team #2 from UMass.

In 2010 the New England Regional Turfgrass Conference will be held from March 1-4.

The NERTF are funding a wide variety of research in the turf industry. The main research funded has taken place at the universities in New England, such as University of Massachusetts, University of New Hampshire, University of Rhode Island and University of Connecticut. Among the many projects funded is research in to “Impact of Nozzle-Type Application Timing and Fungicide Resistance on Dollar Spot” by Dr. John Kaminski, “Evaluating Turf Tolerance In Poorly Drained Soil Covered By Ice” by Dr. John Roberts, and many more. For a list of research projects and reports funded please click on this link.

Guest speaker: Mr. Curtis Tyrrell.

Mr. Curtis Tyrrell, CGCS, made a guest appearance at the PSU turf club on the 26th of January. He talked about:

• His time at Penn State.
• His career after graduating.
• His current job as Director of Golf Course Operations at Medinah Country Club and how they are preparing for the 2012 Ryder Cup.
• Advice to students.

Penn State

Curtis Tyrrell is a graduate of the 2-year program in 1996. His former superintendent was also a graduate of Penn State and he advised him to complete the program. His trip to Penn State brought back a lot of memories about his time here. “There is a special feel about this place” he said.

After graduation.

Mr. Tyrrell´s first job after graduating was as a spray tech at PGA West in Palm Springs, CA.

His next step was Desert Mountain in Arizona, where he was the Assistant Superintendent for three years. During those three years he only had one weekend off, but it was only after leaving that he realized how much of a learning experience it had been. “If you want to learn about irrigation, go to the dessert and try and grow grass!”

After his three years at Desert Mountain he moved to Las Vegas to be the superintendent at Anthem Golf Club. Six month after starting, Troon Golf Management was brought in to oversee the management of the golf club. Mr. Tyrrell was apprehensive at first, but soon found it positive and learned a lot from Troon Golf Management about the business side of the golf industry.

An opportunity to move back east presented itself in Connecticut, where the Lake of Isles Golf Course was being built. The decision to take the job had to be made quickly, over night in fact.

Rees Jones was the architect in charge of the design of Lake of Isles. Rees Jones is also involved in bringing Medinah Country Club closer to the original design. The chance to work at a facility that is hosting the Ryder Cup in 2012, was a dream from the university days come true.

The process of getting a job like Director of Golf Course Operations involved 2 phone interviews and a written essay about philosophy on irrigation, before getting to the actual job interview.

Preparing for Ryder Cup.

Even though Medinah has the Ryder Cup coming in 2012, Mr. Tyrrell stressed that the changes being made to the course are primarily for the benefit of the members.

The goals, from Mr. Tyrrell’s point of view, are to put on the best Ryder Cup ever. If they make it through the tournament without anyone saying anything about the turf, that will be his ultimate criteria for success.

In preparation for the tournament in 2012, the maintenance team at Medinah will do a trial tournament exactly a year in advance, in 2011. During this week they will mow at the same height, start and stop at the same time of day and move about the course as if it were the Ryder Cup.

Advice to students

During Mr. Tyrrell’s speech, there was a lot of good advice being passed on.

• Goals! You have to set goals and be specific
• Be open for learning so you can adjust your goals.
•  Don’t approach the day thinking you have everything under control. That’s when you get sloppy and something unforeseen will surprise you.
• Manage up! Anticipate what is coming next. Understand what the people above you in the system are doing.
• Use your resources. Stay in touch with fellow students and the faculty

Hearing Mr. Tyrrell speak at PSU Turf Club was a great pleasure for me. It is always good to tap in to that kind of experience and soak up every bit of advice.