Two ways to save

Chris Ellsmore is in his second year as Mohegan Sun Golf Club’s, Baltic, Conn., superintendent after spending six years as senior assistant superintendent at Shelter Harbor GC, Charlestown, R.I. This summer he hosted around 50 outings on the course, most of them shotgun starts, but things are finally starting to cool down for the first-time superintendent.

The course was so busy that they finally had enough time to aerify during the first two weeks of September. Despite all the action on the course this summer Ellsmore says the turf held up to the test thanks to the aid of BASF’s Elite Rejuvenation program. His first application on the fairways was Emerald fungicide in April and then followed that with Xzemplar in late May.

“Some other courses in my area did have problems with summer patch this year. We didn’t have any issues with disease and saw great control on the fairways,” says Ellsmore. “There were a couple of spots out there but that was more from drought.”

Following the schedule created for the program they sprayed Honor just after Independence Day. Ellsmore thinks that made a big difference and really made the turf “perk up.”

“We really saw the value of each spray, especially down the end stretch of the summer,” says Ellsmore. “Being able to stretch a spray to 21 days was a real advantage.”

This benefit was because typically Ellsmore makes chemical applications every 14 days. Even though BASF’s products cost more up front he can save money over the course of the year by stretching each spray to 21 days, he says. Another way Ellsmore was able to save is on labor.

“With all of the events we host our time spent doing maintenance on the course is at a premium,” says Ellsmore. “That extra week frees up my guy to work somewhere else on the course.”

With the end of this summer comes the end of the Elite Rejuvenation program as well and Mohegan Sun GC only has one application of Xzemplar and Lexicon left for their fairways and tees, respectively. When Ellsmore sits down to figure out his Early Order Program it will consist of products he used in the program.

“Right now I figure I will stick pretty close to what we did this summer,” says Ellsmore. “My mentality is ‘you get what you pay for.’”