JT Thompson, superintendent of York Golf Club in Columbus, OH, began using Foliar-Pak when he decided to focus on his putting surfaces. He had fifteen poa greens, which were still the original 1924 push-up greens, and three newer, California-style bentgrass greens. All his greens looked acceptable and rolled adequately, but Thompson wanted more than acceptable and adequate with his newly formed commitment to them.
So, Thompson reached out to two people who had helped him navigate through the golf industry as a youngster and who he trusted to help him without a doubt, his Foliar-Pak distributor rep Steve Honeycutt and his Foliar-Pak rep Curt Geron. They recommended a Foliar-Pak lineup of CSi L, Minors, 11-0-11, Armament K, Armament P, and Foundation Forty.
Thompson said the change on the greens after using the products was significant and quick.
“We received quick, phenomenal results on our putting surfaces,” Thompson said. “The difference before and after was like night and day. What a surface those products provided.”
After resolving his greens’ nutrition difficulties, Thompson focused on another obstacle troubling his greens: the course’s irrigation water. The irrigation water was severely high in bicarbonates and having a hard time getting down into the soil profile.
“We would have to water every night just to keep the soil conditioned enough to receive water evenly throughout the green,” Thompson said, “But, with our poor water quality, we were making the problem worse by watering them every night.”
He continued, “We would get to a point in the season where if we continued to irrigate, you could not move the irrigation through the profile at all. It would go down maybe an inch, inch and a half. That was it.”
To fix this problem, Thompson decided a flushing agent would be his best bet. Luckily, his helpful partners at Foliar-Pak had a product called BioWet that could tackle this challenge. BioWet is a multi-functional, biodegradable wetting agent that improves the moisture balance in the root zone through a combination of biodegradable penetration and hydration agents.
Thompson started using BioWet in late April/early May at two ounces every couple of weeks. According to him, BioWet worked and solved his irrigation water issue.
“BioWet solved our irrigation problem,” Thompson said. “We found that we could let the greens dry down just a little bit and still have total confidence that a small amount of irrigation after would totally rewet the soil and get down into the profile with ease.”
With all his hurdles overcome on his greens, Thompson can now be more efficient with his labor and how he manages the course.
“When we started applying Foliar-Pak products,” Thompson said, “We stopped having to worry as much about our greens’ performance. They performed perfectly.”
He continued, “This freed my staff and me to fine-tune other details on the course. The benefits of applying a few Foliar-Pak products and then not having to worry about my greens is immeasurable. Foliar-Pak is a wonderful product line.”
