Golfdom, April 2016

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND Continued from page 18 Offering another take on fairway rolling equipment towed rollers is Wayne Pa based Smithco which also exhibited in San Diego The companys new five gang Ultra 15 roller rolls a 15 foot swath and at 10 miles per hour will roll 18 acres per hour which Smithco President Don Smith says is three times faster than mowing The companys year old three gang unit the Ultra 10 has a 10 foot swath and completes 12 acres at a 10 mile per hour pace The company was drawn into the market two years ago after seeing a couple of models at the GIS After some preliminary research on the concept of rolling fairways Smith says we decided to pursue a simple cost effective machine to accomplish the task Not very many clubs have an extra 45000 to 50000 for this nor that many extra fairway mowers that could be converted not to mention the downside of using older machines that might be prone to hydraulic leaks Our Fairway 10 Ultra came out of these discussions as a simple affordable alternative to the market Smiths faith in that market is solid and he notes that he has seen three or four other models at recent shows Fairway rolling now is where greens rolling was in 1992 he says I can remember superintendents walking into the booth in New Orleans looking at our greens roller and chuckling A typical comment was Yeah Ill roll greens Never Look where we are in 2016 What the research says An important aspect of golf course maintenance missing from fairway rolling in the days of yore is coming to the foreground in the new century research Among the first turfgrass scientists looking into the practice are Geunhwa Jung Ph D along with research assistant Jay Popko at the University of Massachusetts Amhersts Stockbridge School of Agriculture Preliminary results of their field studies are promising for superintendents currently rolling fairways and for those thinking about it Jung says the practice has the potential of becoming a game changer in the turfgrass industry because of potential physical changes in plants thatches and soils and the microbial composition associated with them These changes he notes may justify reevaluation of currently used cultural practices and chemicals Our tests included rolling plots three times a week four times a week six times a week and leaving some unrolled We saw reduced clipping yield that positively correlated with increased rolling frequency Jung says We also tested different fungicide spray schedules and initial results indicate rolling can reduce the need for fungicide applications if superintendents use threshold based spray programs If we can confirm this with our second year tests this could save courses some money Jung and Popko also observed differences in the soil profile and rolled treatments did not have a distinct thatch layer like the non rolled treatment We observed that the thatch layer has been pushed into the soil says Popko 20 Golfdom April 2016 Golfdom com PHOTO COURTESY SMITHCO FAIRWAY ROLLING NOW IS WHERE GREENS ROLLING WAS IN 1992 I CAN REMEMBER SUPERINTENDENTS WALKING INTO THE BOOTH IN NEW ORLEANS LOOKING AT OUR GREENS ROLLER AND CHUCKLING A TYPICAL COMMENT WAS YEAH ILL ROLL GREENS NEVER LOOK WHERE WE ARE IN 2016 Don Smith President Smithco Tow behind fairway rollers feature water tanks that allow superintendents to adjust the psi applied to turf