Golf Course Maintenance

Golf Course Maintenance
In the winter of 2023, we were replacing our 25 year old pump station at Cedarbrook Country Club. When the old motors were pulled out of the wet well, I was shocked to see the amount of scale on the rods that sat in the wet well.  2”-3” of black/orange scale covered them and very reassuring when the company who was installing the new station said, “yeah that’s the worst we have seen old motors”. 
We battled 8.5-9 PH, high calcium, high sulfur, high bicarbonate, sodium slightly.  In 2022 we installed a water treatment system with urea sulfuric acid to drop the PH and lower salt and bicarbonates and it helped us with the overall health of the golf course but I was not happy with the amount of nitrogen and added sulfates being injected into the water but also felt it was necessary to use with the PH and bicarbs so high. 
I was introduced to Todd Myers with Agrimaxx through a colleague, Frank Zamazal, with Enhanced Organics.  After many calls and texts with Todd to try to fully understand Agrimaxxs’ technology, we were able to purchase a unit in the spring of 2023 knowing there was the 1-year money back guarantee.  Our irrigation pond gravity feeds the wet well in the pump house, so our entire pond is charged.  After a week of the unit being in, I tested the PH of the water with a PH strip and was astonished to see it at 7.
Spring water testing from 2023 before installing to spring 2024 has seen major improvements.  Ph went from an 8 to 7, calcium 88 ppm to 52 ppm, magnesium 13 ppm to 7 ppm, nitrates increased from 1.5 to 2.2, sulfates reduced from 179 ppm to 84 ppm, Bicarbonates reduced from 154 ppm to 115 ppm. Sodium ppm reduced from 21 to 14. We have gone from using 1000 to 1500 gallons of urea sulfuric acid to no even 300 gallons this year.  I can take the ph at 7 then inject to bring down to 6.5 where before I was trying to drop it 2-3 full points. 
We have had one of the driest and hottest summers in history in the Philadelphia area and the golf course was the healthiest it’s been since I arrived in 2019.  After watering fairways overnight, there usually would be a little squish driving through them but that is no more.  We are able to push our wetting agent application which usually start in April, to June being the first app. Responses from foliar fertility applications are better.  Next year I will begin to try to cut back fertility more although we are only around 1 pound of Nitrogen per thousand square feet and less than that with all other elements except bulk lime app on tees and fairways in early spring (1 ton per acre).  
The algae frequency has been a game changer for our irrigation pond which is usually covered in algae by early summer.  We had one algae bloom in the summer of 2023 and after one herbicide application, it was gone and did not come back.  We went from 4-5 herbicide apps per year to one in 2023 and none in 2024.  We have aerators and are also on a biological program.  Our small pond in the 13th hole can be filled with our irrigation water which we went from 4-5 herbicide applications to 1 in 2023.  2024 has been extremely dry and that pond has been a little more challenging than last year. Our pond on the 18th hole which I have no frequencies getting into, remains a large challenge and have to make 4-5 applications per year and it is still not clean. 
I was also a test site for a geese frequency as we have a lot of geese on property in fall and winter.  I have seen a major reduction of geese but not elimination yet. 
I would recommend anyone with water issues to reach out to Agrimaxx and try it out.  Its not cheap but with 1 year money back guarantee, its worth a shot. ​

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Tim Kelley

Golf Course Superintendent

Cedarbrook Country Club

Rostraver Township, PA