It's a zero-based program
This conversation keeps happening more and more, about which products are really required to produce the desired surfaces.
There’s an interesting discussion on this topic between Frank Rossi and Chris Tritabaugh in this TurfNet Frankly Speaking episode.
The entire conversation is interesting but to jump right to products, go to the 9 minute mark, or if you are really impatient, skip to 11:30.
You will hear statements like these:
“How little can we use?”
“Minimize the amount that we do have to use”
“Fully take advantage of what your climate offers you”
“It’s a zero-based program”
“What does my climate and my season, and this season versus that season, require me to put into this golf course to get it the way that I want it.”
It is interesting to consider this zero-based and inherently site-specific approach. I’ve written about my ideas on this in Three distinct ways I’ve thought about turfgrass management.