By Pat Jones
Peter Barnaby is one of the lead assistants at Shinnecock Hills GC and his duties include overseeing the spray program. He’s watched first-hand as the team expanded their use of Revolution beyond putting surfaces to include fairways and all fine turf.
What was your previous experience with wetting agents?
We only sprayed wetting agents on greens. That was effective, but with the environment here we’d still see other areas of the course drying out faster than others. From a hand-watering standpoint, we spent nearly all of our time on greens so the dry spots on fairways didn’t get much attention. Hand-watering just wasn’t as effective as we would have liked, so Revolution helped us get there.
What have you noticed about how they responded and changed?
Since we started spraying Revolution wall-to-wall, our hand-watering practices on fairways have become much more effective. I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to eliminate hand-watering here, but the time we spend on fairways is much more impactful.
After an application, we see that fairways hold water a little bit better – not in a way that’s going to make them soft – but there’s more usable water for the plants. The moisture is more available for a longer period of time.
Tips for mixing?
I haven’t had a problem mixing Revolution with anything. We actually learned that the Revolution reduces our need for defoamer when we’re applying nutrients.
No issues with tank maxing?
Not that I’ve seen.
What’s your practice for watering in?
We’ll run some overhead irrigation as close as possible behind the application. Usually that’s overnight or first thing in the morning. We’ll repeat that irrigation process later in the day to make sure we don’t miss any spots.
Sum it up for us…
I have to say, it’s kind of been a game-changer for us. We were exclusively on greens before but since we went to all fine turf areas, we’ve seen that turf health has improved greatly because we see less stress from lack of moisture. Overall, I’d say the time you still have to spend hand-watering feels more worthwhile when you know the Revolution is doing its job.
