Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2011 - 8

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What is MGA
membership
)
?
It's your invitation to play some
of the fi nest golf courses around,
through participation in MGA
Associate Members' Days or the
MGA 3ENIOR 4OUR s )TS YOUR 53'!
Handicap Index, now updated twice
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port of programs and services that make
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Divot Repair 101
There is a right way, a wrong way and the
53'! WAY TO REPAIR THE SCARS UPON OUR
fair fairways. Many golf courses attach
divot mix (sand or a mixture of sand) in
pourable plastic bottles to golf carts or
place it in boxes located on the tees of
PARS 4HE 53'! 'REEN 3ECTION 3TAFF
reminds us that the proper amount of
divot mix fi ll is minimal and should only
be the amount needed to replace the
soil that was removed. Filling the divot
level higher than the turfgrass canopy
wastes mix, slows turfgrass recovery and
may lead to a second problem: damaged
mower blades. Of course, you can always
replace the divot with its own piece of
sod. Just don't do it when your ball is in
motion-right, Camilo?
(courtesy of the USGA Green Section Record,
April 15, 2011).
Winter Killed
The proper amount of
divot mix fi ll is minimal
and should only be
the amount needed to
replace the soil.
As if winter's damaging impact on the golfer psyche wasn't enough, its frequent
freeze-and-thaw cycles can also be deadly to our fairways and greens. Winter kill is a
term that many golfers bandy about knowingly, yet few outside of turf professionals
really understand it.
" Winter kill is a non-specifi c, generic term meaning 'death of grass,' " says Brian
(ORGAN A TURFGRASS EXTENSION SPECIALIST AND 0H$ AT THE 5NIVERSITY OF -INNESOTA
There are four causes of winter kill, Horgan explains: desiccation, low-temperature
kill, crown hydration and anoxia. Desiccation is brought on by exposure to winter
winds. Low-temperature kill occurs when plants are exposed to a lethal drop in temperature.
With crown hydration, the plant virtually explodes after a snow or ice thaw
and sudden refreeze. Anoxia is the toxic build up and trapping of poisonous gases
under an impermeable layer, like ice, that kills the plant.
Sunshine and warmer soils (aided by warmer nights) help turfgrass rebound from winter
kill damage. Come to think of it, that's a good cure for the desiccated golfer psyche, too.
6
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2011
www.mngolf.org
You Don't Know Darrell
( Featured Member
If you're a public golfer and
you don't know Darrell Retka,
you probably should. The 58year-old,
single-digit
golfer
from Apple Valley wears many
hats in the public golf world.
He's on the USGA Public
Links committee, where he is
responsible for running Minnesota's
two Amateur Public
Links sectional qualifi ers. He's
also a past director of the Fairway
Foundation and a former
president of the Minnesota
Public Golf Association, where
he was instrumental in the creation of the
State Junior Publinx championship.
Retka divides his summer days between
Valleywood Golf Course and trips to a variety
of MGA member golf clubs as a member
of the MGA Course Rating team. When he's
not working as an MGA tournament volunteer,
he fi nds time to test his game playing the
MGA Senior Tour circuit. And should you
fi nd yourself wandering into Valleywood's
pro shop, you might see Retka behind the
counter, where he is an assistant.
Retka joined Valleywood in the early
1980s and soon became involved with the
club's active men's league. He came to the
1 Darrell Retka
attention of Bob Ulsaker, a former USGA
APL committeeman, back in the days
when MPGA clubs sent qualifi ers to the
APL sectionals. Retka's journey as a public
golf offi cial led to his term as MPGA president
(1992-93) and to becoming an elected
director and member of MGA's management
and executive committees.
Net golfers everywhere will be glad to
know that Retka considers his largely behind-the-scenes
work as chair of MGA's
Handicapping and Course Rating committee
as fun. " It's my way to stay involved...
kind of like my supporting my club or joining
the PTA-it's
my PTA, " he says.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE USGA

http://www.mngolf.org

Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2011

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