The EarthWorks Podcast

Rick Krok is the Director of Project Coordination & Estimation at LaBar Golf Irrigation. He is recognized as a leading expert in golf course irrigation installation, and he also happens to be one of the first people to ever spread an EarthWorks granular product on a golf course. Rick has been a good friend of EarthWorks for almost our entire 36 years of business. We look back and laugh at the...

This podcast is a follow up to our earlier conversations (make this a link) with Bill McKibben. Bill is the author of The Art of Balancing Soils , and when it comes to this particular art, he is undeniably a true master. He talked about the importance of soil chemistry and how it can affect soil physics. This week we invited the EarthWorks Chemist, Lawrence Mayhew, to the conversation to discuss t...

Kevin is joined by agronomist and author, Bill McKibben to take a deeper dive into soil testing. When Kevin reviews soil tests with clients, there are questions that pop up that make him say, “I need to ask Bill about that.” After compiling some questions he invited Bill back on the podcast to share the answers. The value of Saturated Paste Tests in sand based systems was only one of many topics d...

Jack Higgins and Joel Simmons take some time out from a busy travel schedule to share their thoughts as we hit the midsummer point of 2024. They talked about some of the great golf tournaments we have had a chance to participate in this year, about some horrible weather conditions that we are seeing, and some ideas to fight your way through these conditions. As with any mid-season review, and espe...

Jim Nagle, Golf Course Architect, spent over 25 years working with his mentor and friend Ron Forse, of Forse Design Inc, and has become quite the expert on Architect William Flynn golf course designs. I met Jim for the first time during the Women’s Open on the 12 green at Lancaster Country Club, a course that he has been working on for years. We talked about a lot of William Flynn designed golf co...

We caught up with Nick Wolfe, superintendent at Gunby Ranch Golf Club in Debolt, Alberta, Canada. Nick has a unique role at a unique property. As part of the DeBolt & District Agricultural Society, he not only manages a 9-hole golf course, but also several ball fields, a curling center, and community center. With a team of just 4 (1 full time and 3 seasonal) people, they keep quite busy winter...

What a privilege to record live from the 2024 US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster Pennsylvania. Josh Saunders, our host, and the Director of Golf Course Operations at the club, allowed us to set up an outdoor studio and we took advantage of the opportunity. In this podcast we were joined by Pat Jones to talk turf and trends at the Open. Most people in the golf course industry kn...

A great episode for anyone that wants to learn more about how to coordinate a large group. We speak with Amanda Kambic, the Maintenance Department Manager at LCC, about all of the details for vendor sponsorship and hosting an 80 person maintenance crew during the Open. We also host the Horticulture Crew at LCC, Tammy and Olivia, in this jam packed episode. They do a phenomenal job and their signat...

Our friend and very first podcast guest, Josh Saunders, Director of Golf at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania is hosting this year’s US Women’s Open.  It has been years in preparation, hundreds of hours of planning, including course renovations, team building and turf management. All that work has culminated in a course that is ready for a major tournament. Jack Higgins and Joel Si...

Coming to you directly from the 2024 US Women’s Open at the Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster Pennsylvania! What a great opportunity, and pleasure, to speak with Josh Saunders, the hosting superintendent, and his former mentor, Pete Wendt, from Congressional Country Club to talk about what it takes to get ready for a major championship tournament. We sat down a couple of hours after Josh was abl...

We talked with Mike about the student pipeline, leaving a legacy in the industry, and research projects that have practical value in the turf business. Mike has been involved with the GCSAA doing a Turf Tech class for years, so we naturally wanted his take on technology that’s currently being utilized in the industry, as well as what he sees in the future. Mike’s contribution to the Turfgrass Indu...

When building a new golf course or spots field you have one shot at getting it right and that is when you have open soil and can amend that soil to the fullest. Since 1988, EarthWorks has been building amendment packages for new construction projects and have worked with thousands of golf course superintendents and sports turf managers. In fact, if you scroll through the archives of the EarthWorks...

The industry is getting more technologically advanced and many superintendents are learning how to embrace these changes. Matt Sumpter, Golf Course Superintendent at Columbia Country Club outside of Washington DC, knows a little about embracing new technologies. Formerly the Blue Course Superintendent at Congressional Country Club, he led a team through the new construction project. Matt talks abo...

Steve Dickinson was an innovator in the turf distribution business throughout his entire career. He was the founder of a very successful distribution company, Supreme Turf, in St. Louis Missouri that focused on the agronomic success of their clients. Steve earned the title of "Soils Doctor" from many of his client friends and helped many superintendents understand the value of balancing soil chemi...

Tom knew the right setting for this conversation, a one hundred year old speakeasy lounge in the basement of the clubhouse at Jumping Brook. The golf course celebrates its centennial next year and Tom discusses the major transformation the golf course has seen in the last two years in preparation for next year and beyond. Enjoy this deep dive into Jumping Brook, a classic Tillinghast test of golf...

Thrilled to bring back our friend and chemist, Lawrence Mayhew. As always, we run through a gamut of topics including humic substances, biological activity in the soil, the humification process and the life of soil microbes.  Lawrence is always informative and entertaining and has become one of our most anticipated guests. In this conversation we talked about a new procedure for testing soil nitro...

On this week’s podcast, we catch up with Benton Hodges, owner of Mountain West Turf Technologies. Benton was formerly the assistant superintendent at 3 Creek Ranch GC, but recently broke out on his own after seeing the opportunity to represent the many technology advancements in the turf industry. We talked about everything from the current state of robotic mowing, GPS sprayers, and even Artificia...

Jack Higgins has been the Northeast Agronomist with EarthWorks since 2009. In 2020, when Covid first hit, we were concerned about staying in touch with clients and it was Jack who suggested the idea of starting the EarthWorks Podcast. Today, the podcast team of Jack, Kevin Hicks and Joel Simmons has recorded over 200 podcasts and reached thousands of turf managers and friends. In this podcast we h...

We are very excited to announce that the EarthWorks Podcast has reached its 200th Episode! This project was started in 2020, at the beginning of COVID, when we weren’t sure how we were going to be able to stay in touch with clients and friends. Jack Higgins, one of our hosts on the EW Podcast, came up with the idea and we never looked back. As we celebrate our 200th episode, we have close to 1000...

We welcome back Josh Saunders from Lancaster Country Club to talk about everything US Women’s Open 2024. The LCC crew is 70 days from the tournament and we discuss his agronomic plan for between now and the Open. We have a lot of fun in this podcast. There’s a lot of anticipation here. We also discussed plans for setting up a studio to record EW podcasts with a variety of guests from LCC and volun...

Edward Olsen, is the Parks and Forestry Supervisor for the Town of Needham, Massachusetts. We have known Ed for over 20 years and followed him through his golf course career as a superintendent, to his current position in the Town of Needham. The contrast in the two careers is very interesting and he loves his role in public service. It is not uncommon for golf course superintendents to take jobs...

Dr. Claire Phillips is a Research Soil Scientist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. As part of the Northwest Sustainable Agroecosystems Research Unit she discusses her work on carbon sequestration on golf courses and turf management. I first heard Dr. Phillips at a superintendent association meeting and knew it would be of interest to a wider audience to hear about her very positive find...

Since 2015 Clint Steele has managed the sports fields at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, UMBC, mostly by himself! When he arrived at this Division 1 school there was an assistant on his staff but that didn’t last long and ever since he has been on his own to manage nine fields, eight of which are natural grass. Years before he worked at George Mason University where he was introduced...

Please join us in welcoming Marshall Evans to our team of Agronomists. He lives in Florida and will be working throughout the state helping superintendents discover the value of Biological Soil Management. Marshall comes to us from Precision Laboratories where he spent his time talking to clients about water management - something that fits in nicely with the soils work he will be doing with his E...

“If we’re not talking about drainage, then we’re not having the right conversation.” This has been the mantra for our guest, Pat Quinlan, as he’s developed the long range plan with the members at Fairmount Country Club. Fairmount borders the Great Swamp National Refuge in northern New Jersey, and as you can imagine, managing soil moisture is the key to success at this golf course. Pat is a great c...