Breaking news...Huntingdon Valley closes...test results "inconclusive"

[Rory Connaughton]

Adam

  in response to your question regarding the weather, the last 6 days have been much better on the whole than the previous few weeks though there were some days with reasonably high humidity, temps are down 7-8 degrees or more and by and large humidity is way down. We have seen real improvement in turf health in the last week.

[TEPaul]

"So, are you saying that Scott Anderson knows what happened but HVCC isnt telling the media? Id have to think that there is no reason to hide the truth."

No, I'm not saying anything like that and I don't believe I did. Knowing Scott Anderson, I'd say when he finally gets to the bottom of all that occured this month he would be more than willing to tell anyone interested about it. It could be that the time to do that is not quite yet.

I would reiterate what Sean Remington said in the last sentence of Post #71.

[Don_Mahaffey]

The worst part about this isn't the course closure. It's flat out scary that there is something going on that can close a course down and nobody has clue what it is.

C'mon Ian, Scott's one of the really good guys and I think he has a very good idea of what is happening at his course. Why in the world would he want to go public about something going on at a private course? Communicating within the industry and his network of friends and colleagues, sure. But in the media, what's the point? IMO, its best to just leave it in general terms and move on. Who cares what specific organism or condition killed the grass? This is not some sort of plague that's going to spread across the country and shut down every golf course. It’s as simple as his course got hit by the worst possible weather conditions at the worst possible time and some turf checked out. It happens. In another couple of months and most likely for the next decade or so it'll be business as usual at HVCC.

[Anthony_Nysse]

The worst part about this isn't the course closure. It's flat out scary that there is something going on that can close a course down and nobody has clue what it is.

C'mon Ian, Scott's one of the really good guys and I think he has a very good idea of what is happening at his course. Why in the world would he want to go public about something going on at a private course? Communicating within the industry and his network of friends and colleagues, sure. But in the media, what's the point? IMO, its best to just leave it in general terms and move on. Who cares what specific organism or condition killed the grass? This is not some sort of plague that's going to spread across the country and shut down every golf course. It’s as simple as his course got hit by the worst possible weather conditions at the worst possible time and some turf checked out. It happens. In another couple of months and most likely for the next decade or so it'll be business as usual at HVCC.

Don,
  If that's the case, then why did HVCC allow for an interview to be written if they want to keep things private? They subjected themselves to it.

[JESII]

The truth is Anthony, Joe Logan went out first before he ever spoke to anyone involved with the greens department at Huntingdon Valley and he labeled it a turf disease...re-read the article linked on the first post.

[JESII]

It's disappointing that Joe wouldn't have spoken to Scott or the Greens Chairman prior to writing that up.

Jim,
  What gives you the impression that Joe didnt speak with Scott or the Greens Chairman?

From the article:  Huntingdon Valley superintendent Scott Anderson, one of the most respected turf men in the region and a proponent of using a minimum of chemicals on the course, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

I was confusing Jac, the Golf pro, with Joe, the writer. TIn most cases, a golf pro in more availalbe and approachable.

Anthony,

Circling back from a couple weeks ago...would you want the pro at your course speaking for you within a day or two of something like this happening? When you are likely still exploring the cause...

[Chip Gaskins]

Huntingdon Valley is an awesome place, I hope this issue gets fixed and understood ASAP.  It sounds like with folks like Scott working on it will be resolved as fast as it possible.  Good luck to HV!

[Anthony_Nysse]

Gentleman,
  Scott Anderson, as a person, and his practices, are very respected in my industry. I've read about the conditions that Scott and his staff present for years and it's especially unique because it's done using a very "natural" mind set.
  But whether or not the results are really "inconclusive" or not, is not helpful.  In general, I believe the golf pro should have either stated "no comment" or directly told the media to contact the superintendent.

[Ian Larson]

Guys, I know Scott is one of the best in the business. I guess one thing I don't like in the business is this whole "let's talk about it but we can't say anything" business. If it's known what caused the problem why hide it? This summer has brought very extraordinary circumstances to superintendents. Even to the point where the GCSAA stepped in, pleasantly surprised BTW. If it's wet wilt just say it's wet wilt. If it's pythium just say it's pythium. If it's something completely new that nobody knows what it is just say it. I'm a straight forward guy and I'd rather know, talk about it, and come up with a solution rather than start a thread to talk about it but not be allowed to talk about it on the thread. If it is such a sensitive subject and shouldn't be discussed then the thread should be deleted and HVCC should not release any info for the media. But like TEPaul said maybe it's just not time. However if it's just not time then why come out with "inconclusive" to only come out later with a conclusion. Like I said, Scotts one of the best, it's these challenging times that should be used as a learning experience through communication. Not sweeping it under the rug and forget about it or start a thread for discussion but not allow anyone to discuss it. I mean what do you expect to happen on a site with the entire spectrum of golf guys on it with a thread about a club and a super we respect? HVCC will get through it just fine, especially with Scott at the helm. But it's not taboo to discuss it on a thread meant for disussion. If so we should all stop posting on it.

[JESII]

Ian,

None of us know anything...that's the point.

In addition, I'm not saying not to talk about it, just to keep speculation out of it because, as you can see, wet wilt and pythium are already the presumed causes based on the speculation in here.

My suggestion to you, if you're really looking to forward this conversation and help provide solutions would be to call Scott, as a colleague, and discuss it with him and see what you or he want batted around in here on GCA...

I'm surprised you, as a superintendent, don't see the harm in a discussion about your golf courses problems without your participation...even as to what the problem is...

[Ian Larson]

Jim

I'm not a super and all of us not knowing anything is to be obviously assumed. I wasn't the first on the thread to throw out a guess on what might have happened. I merely threw pythium out there because everyone else was only talking wet wilt. And if it were a set of greens at my club and I was dealing with extreme conditions out of my control I wouldn't hesitate to talk about it. In fact I would be probably be the first on GCA to start a thread on what I wad dealing with. So no, I don't see the harm in educated guys kicking around what the possible cause was. If it is harmful then we need to stop posting or delete the thread.

[JESII]

Ian,

Wouldn't you agree that educated guys with zero knowledge of any specifics at HVCC are not exactly educated on this topic?

Sorry for thinking you were a superintendent, I've seen numerous posts from you that indicated a high knowledge of the issues and practices, so I made an assumption...just the same, whatever your profession is, would I be out of line speculating about the causes of your problems without your contribution?

[Ian Larson]

Jim

I would have zero problems with guys on GCA kicking around possible issues on the greens at my club if I were a super. The reason being I would have complete transparancy and exceptional communication with my membership so that I'm in control of the situation instead of a golf blog. To me it's simple with what's going on in the northeast. It's hot and wet. Discussing possible diseases in extraordinary conditions is not a negative thing. I think the guys on this thread that are suggesting the negative connotations of discussing this are making this much more worse than the guys kicking around possible diseases.

[Adam Clayman]

I threw out wet wilt, because it happened at a course in Chicago at least a week before this thread started. The other reason was that the very experienced super in Chicago had never seen it before. I found that very interesting and hoped that it could help spread the word that this was happening elserwhere. As I understand it, its not a disease but rather a completely saturated turf.  Btw that course in Chicago now has it all, pythium, ring etc.