Rick Hynson has been the golf course superintendent at Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta Missouri for almost 30 years. He arrived 28 years ago as a construction superintendent for Dye Designs and never left. Rick oversaw the earth moving and shaping of the golf course and knows every hole.
Boone Valley uses creeping bentgrass, a cool-season grass, on its greens, tees and fairways, which requires careful upkeep in the transition zone. Other courses in the St. Louis area typically use zoysia grass in the fairways for less intensive summer maintenance practices.
“Keeping cool-season grass alive during this season is very challenging when you have 4½ acres of putting greens, plus another 25 acres of fairways and tee surfaces,” said Rick. “It takes a very site-specific management adjustment with water and other cultural practices to get it all to match up so we have a consistent playing surface.”
He recalls, “I have been using Soil Technologies products for almost 20 years. I became aware of their product line-up through another superintendent who shared the same interest as me, in a more biological approach to maintaining turfgrass. He suggested that I contact the Soil Tech technical rep for my area, Barbara Agee.”
“My history with Soil Technologies started with one product, Thatch Relief,” Rick says. “I needed some help reducing the amount of thatch accumulation on my bentgrass tees between aerifications. So, skeptically I applied Thatch Relief and to my surprise, it worked. Actually, it worked really well. I can count on a thatch reduction of up to ½” per application of Thatch Relief.” And he adds, “It has made a real difference in the quality and playability of my tees.”
Continuing, he states, “Barbara Agee’s knowledge of her product lineup has helped me integrate Soil Tech products into my yearly maintenance program. That has improved soil conditions, which has improved turfgrass health and most importantly, playing conditions. Over time I have added other Soil Tech products that have helped solve various maintenance issues. To date, I have added TurfTech Bio-Min, Bio-Mega, KCS 2-0-14, Soil Success, Micro-Gro Plus, as well as Pond Kleen.”
“Their newest product, Bio-Mega may be the best of the bunch. The effect that it has on the overall health of my bentgrass has allowed me to extend some of my chemical controls and eliminate up to two applications per year. Healthier turfgrass for less money, that’s a win/win!” Rick states with authority.
And for emphasis, Rick ends by saying, “Every one of these products work exactly as the product label states, which unfortunately, is not the case with some of the other products out there in the market. It is nice to have a product lineup that you can trust to work as expected every time you apply them. It’s also why Soil Technologies has been around since 1983. They aren’t selling Snake Oil. The products they sell work.”
And concluding, Rick states, “I can truly say that the Soil Tech product lineup and the sound professional advice provided by Barbara Agee has made my life easier and my golf course better.”