History abounds at Chartiers Country Club. Famous golf professionals, such as Bobby Cruickshank, have called it home, and legendary players like Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, and Arnold Palmer have walked its fairways and putt on its greens. With such a remarkable legacy to uphold, just thinking about making changes to the course is more than a little frightening. That’s why, in 2017, when COO/Director of Golf Course Operations Bob Davis decided the best decision for his course was to develop a new agronomic program, he did so with two weapons: Foliar-Pak and his Foliar-Pak distributor rep, Travis Livingston.
Davis decided to change his agronomic program after getting heavily involved with tissue testing. While reviewing his course’s tissue test results, Davis realized that he could significantly reduce their inputs. He just needed to figure out what to do next.
Enter, Livingston.
Livingston sold a brand of products, Foliar-Pak, that touted, among other things, to be able to reduce inputs and still give excellent results. Davis was wary of trying a new product line at first, but Livingston earned his trust.
“Travis was always there if I needed him,” Davis said. “He answered all the product questions I had and even set up meetings with reps from Foliar-Pak to get firsthand knowledge. He was instrumental in our decision to go ahead with the program change.”
The product line Livingston suggested also helped make Davis less wary. Davis liked the results he was receiving with Foliar-Pak. His fairways maintained good turf health and visual color throughout the growing season without the peaks and valleys he saw with other products.
“We didn’t have the falloff at the end of our spray intervals that we have seen in the past with other products,” Davis said. “We had uniform color and turf health consistently throughout the growing season.”
He added that he believed Foliar-Pak Foundation 40 was the main reason he received the consistent results.
“For the near 11 years I have been working at Chartiers Country Club, our Achilles heel has been our fairways,” Davis said. “The area we are located in is regarded as having some of the worst native soils in western Pennsylvania, and when we do have an issue on our fairways, a lot of our trouble comes when we are hot and wet. I believe Foundation 40 has helped us get through those stretches of extreme heat stress during wet periods.”
Besides the consistent turf health and color, Davis also likes the Foliar-Pak line’s compatibility and low usage rates.
“I’m quick to recommend the Foliar-Pak product line to other superintendents,” Davis said. “The usage rates are low, and the compatibility is great. We have not had an issue yet with compatibility to other fungicides or other growth regulators or anything. So, I speak very highly of the products.”
Overall, Davis is pleased with his choice to listen to Livingston’s advice and change his agronomic program over to Foliar-Pak.
“When you spend years and years developing an agronomic program,” Davis said, “It’s hard to start over with new products.”
He continued, “But, Travis and Foliar-Pak earned the business. The results we received from Foliar-Pak and the hard work and informative guidance from Travis put our minds at ease when making such a significant change.”
