ATC Office Hours

Autumn #OM246 review: 7 year timeline with Chris Tritabaugh

Asian Turfgrass Center — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 21:46:15 +0700

Chris Tritabaugh and I share and comment on the latest #OM246 test results from what is now a time series stretching over the past seven growing seasons. We discuss what has changed, what hasn't, how surfaces perform, and how total organic material (TOM, or #OM246) data can be used to nudge surface conditions in the desired direction.

Turf Without Borders show page: https://turfwb.asianturfgrass.com/
ATC soil tests: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
PACE Turf tour: https://www.paceturf.org/tour
ATC newsletters: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/

Pesticide-free turf management with Thomas Pihl, Mads Andersen, and Martin Nilsson

Asian Turfgrass Center — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 18:18:54 +0700

Thomas Pihl, Mads Andersen, and Martin Nilsson joined ATC Office Hours to discuss the challenges, techniques, successes, and failures involved with pesticide-free turfgrass management in Denmark.

Fungicide use intensity, the soil microbiome, and disease severity with Dr. Ming-Yi Chou

Asian Turfgrass Center — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 21:55:05 +0700

Dr. Ming-Yi Chou joined me for a short discussion about this topic at the ITRC. Now we discuss this on ATC Office Hours and answer a few questions.

For more, see:
- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/fungicides-and-disease-intensity/
- https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01771-24
- Tour de Fungus 2022 https://youtube.com/shorts/x36-KkZ_VFo?si=GNLNsCtRFvUqTQl9

2024 #OM246 review with Chris Tritabaugh

Asian Turfgrass Center — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 23:23:34 +0700

Join me, along with Chris Tritabaugh from Hazeltine National GC, as we review autumn soil test results. We especially look at the #OM246 total organic material results, and discuss those in the context of maintenance work done, changes in the test results from past years, and most importantly, the relation of the tests to putting green performance.

This video shows how to measure sand amounts: https://youtu.be/6LurONpyg5M?si=Von0kewt3gzi4wme
This OM246 calculator finds the OM accumulation rate: https://asianturfgrass.shinyapps.io/om246/
Find the climate appraisal form and more about GP at https://www.paceturf.org/
Sign up for ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
About textbook N rates https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/i-was-surprised-to-read-this-about-nitrogen-coring-and-sand/
Summer cultivation and summer bentgrass decline https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/hollow-tine-solid-tine-both-fail-alleviate-summer-bentgrass-decline/

ATC Office Hours: growth ratio, measurement units, & turf math with Jason Haines & Bjarni Hannesson

Asian Turfgrass Center — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 20:45:22 +0700

Jason and Bjarni joined me to talk about some useful turfgrass math, especially the turfgrass growth ratio, which you can read more about at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/tag/growth-ratio/

Find more infomation at PACE Turf: https://www.paceturf.org/
And at the ATC website: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/

Autumn #OM246 review with "the guy who doesn't do maintenance Mondays"

Asian Turfgrass Center — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 06:28:50 +0700

For the third consecutive autumn, Chris Tritabaugh joined me to review the OM246 (total organic material by depth) test results from the greens at Hazeltine National Golf Club. We discussed playing conditions, maintenance work, and testing.

Here are some links.

Chris's Substack: https://ctunderscoreturf.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web&r=dakt8
ATC website: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
ATC's OM246 page (with link to sampling recommendations): https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/om246/
PACE Turf: https://www.paceturf.org/
Tim VanLoo's article on "Organic matter accumulation in sand-based [sports field] rootzones:" https://sportsfieldmanagementonline.com/2010/08/02/organic-matter-accumulation-in-sand-based-rootzones/4463/
Tim VanLoo's thesis about OM and OM testing on sand-based sports fields: https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/39253/OBJ/view
My report about composite soil sampling for turfgrass: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/publication/woods-2020-sampling/

Firm bentgrass greens and OM management with Richard Forsyth

Asian Turfgrass Center — Wed, 10 May 2023 10:21:08 +0700

Richard Forsyth is the director of courses at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. We discussed playing conditions, maintenance work, and grass types in relation to production of firm putting surfaces.

Chris Tritabaugh and Doug Soldat also spoke about putting green firmness in this podcast: https://open.substack.com/pub/ctunderscoreturf/p/doug-soldat

A note about soil surfactants: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/what-do-wetting-agents-really-do/

Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
See ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter
Find turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
See the PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
See the ATC newsletters at https://subscribepage.com/atc_newsletters
Listen to the ATC Doublecut with Micah Woods podcast at https://atc-doublecut.transistor.fm/
Listen to the ATC Office Hours podcast at https://atc-office-hours.transistor.fm/

Championship conditions discussion with Eric Johnson and MLSN, ClipVol, & OM246

Asian Turfgrass Center — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 22:39:11 +0700

Eric Johnson joined from his office at Chambers Bay to discuss everyday golfing conditions, championship playing surfaces, and workflow using techniques such as clipping volume (#ClipVol), total organic material testing by depth (#OM246), and nutrient supply using #MLSN.

You can find Eric on Twitter at https://twitter.com/altshot2

Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Find turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
See the PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
See the ATC newsletters at https://subscribepage.com/atc_newsletters
Listen to the ATC Doublecut with Micah Woods podcast at https://atc-doublecut.transistor.fm/
Listen to the ATC Office Hours podcast at https://atc-office-hours.transistor.fm/

Why are we cultivating so much? Soil organic matter with Dr. Roch Gaussoin

Asian Turfgrass Center — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 08:10:31 +0700

Dr. Roch Gaussoin and I discussed soil organic matter, soil organic material, and a lot of things related that that topic.

Autumn 2022 OM246 review with Chris Tritabaugh

Asian Turfgrass Center — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:46:42 +0700

Find out more about #OM246 testing at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/tag/om246/
Read Chris's blog with more about this topic at https://ct-turf.medium.com/

Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Find turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
See the PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
See the ATC newsletters at https://subscribepage.com/atc_newsletters
Listen to the ATC Doublecut with Micah Woods podcast at https://atc-doublecut.transistor.fm/
Listen to the ATC Office Hours podcast at https://atc-office-hours.transistor.fm/

MLSN and soil test interpretation on bentgrass and Poa annua with Jackie Guevara

Asian Turfgrass Center — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 08:55:36 +0700

Jackie's thesis at Michigan State University was titled "Effects of Different Soil Testing Philosophies on Creeping Bentgrass and Annual Bluegrass Putting Greens." She looked at how much P and K were applied by different interpretation philosophies, how the grass stood up to traffic, and what happened to the elements that were applied.

All about #MLSN: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/mlsn/

Three blog posts with links to Jackie Guevara's research:

Follow Jackie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jackofallturf
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
See the ATC newsletters at https://subscribepage.com/atc_newsletters
Listen to the ATC Doublecut with Micah Woods podcast at https://atc-doublecut.transistor.fm/

Golf turf playability with Carl Schimenti: green speed, firmness, smoothness and trueness of roll

Asian Turfgrass Center — Wed, 25 May 2022 00:22:07 +0700

Ball bounce clip from Dan Dinelli: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxbIlZVkgZyANVSbtpaKnYkPk4xEeDGCyi
Playability-tagged posts on the ATC website: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/tag/playability/
Chris Tritabaugh's blog: https://ct-turf.medium.com/the-data-says-cc7defa451f0
Office Hours with Andrew McDaniel sharing no change in OM despite only 1 sand topdressing event in a year: https://youtu.be/QxNAOcxzsYM
8 minute video showing tournament conditions with only one sand topdressing in a year, plus an absurd amount of rain leading into the tournament: https://youtu.be/bbcJhA1zqNo
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
See the ATC newsletters at https://subscribepage.com/atc_newsletters
Listen to the ATC Doublecut with Micah Woods podcast at https://atc-doublecut.transistor.fm/

No change in soil OM after sand topdressing just once in a year, with Andrew McDaniel

Asian Turfgrass Center — Fri, 20 May 2022 07:35:08 +0700

We discussed the ball reaction video from the 2021 KBC Augusta tournament: https://youtu.be/bbcJhA1zqNo
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QxNAOcxzsYM
Follow Andrew McDaniel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drumcturf
OM246 project page: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/om246/
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
See the ATC newsletters at https://subscribepage.com/atc_newsletters
Listen to the ATC Doublecut with Micah Woods podcast at https://atc-doublecut.transistor.fm/

Leaf nutrient analyses (tissue tests) with Doug Soldat

Asian Turfgrass Center — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 23:05:44 +0700

Doug Soldat joined me to discuss tissue tests for turfgrass, and how we might make use of them (or not) to make decisions about fertilizer.

Frankly Speaking episode with some discussion of tissue testing: https://www.turfnet.com/podcasts/rossi/organic_matters_soldat/
ATC website posts tagged "tissue test": https://www.asianturfgrass.com/tag/tissue-test/
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/91uKNFJxGDY
Doug's pinned tweet about soil and tissue tests: https://twitter.com/djsoldat/status/1067427174204854277

Chris Tritabaugh's blog, disruption, and playability

Asian Turfgrass Center — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 23:07:45 +0700

Read Chris's blog at https://ct-turf.medium.com/

The posts we discussed were titled

See more about the bobble test at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/tag/bobbletest/

Watch this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/nOnfqjdXc7w

Turfgrass growth potential (GP) with Larry Stowell from PACE Turf

Asian Turfgrass Center — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 08:07:51 +0700

Get climate appraisal forms from PACE Turf at https://www.paceturf.org/index.php/journal/climate

Read about growth potential on the ATC website at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/tag/growth-potential/

Watch this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/oZgXv3ZaHkQ

Nutrient requirements of Poa annua and MLSN with Ben Brace

Asian Turfgrass Center — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 22:41:42 +0700

Ben Brace and I discussed how we expect MLSN to work for Poa annua, and if there might be some differences compared with creeping bentgrass. We discussed biostimulants, soil sampling, potassium and stress, phosphorus and bentgrass vs. Poa competition, and much more.

Watch this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/8653TLD7SfA

Tom Cook on lawn ecology, bentgrass, and climax species in the Pacific Northwest

Asian Turfgrass Center — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 08:23:47 +0700

Watch the video of this conversation: https://youtu.be/Xga9_uA8MBg

OM246 report review with Chris Tritabaugh

Asian Turfgrass Center — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 18:59:11 +0700

Chris Tritabaugh, the golf course superintendent at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota, discusses an OM246 report for samples collected in October 2021. This is total organic material by depth, and knowing the results of this test provide valuable information to optimize golf course playability while ensuring one is applying just the right amount of sand.

For more about this, see the OM246 project page on the ATC website.