4/24/2024 - By Mike Hess

In the quest for perfection on the greens, one name stands out: Terrance Diloreto, the visionary Golf Course Superintendent at Crag Burn Golf Club. With a career dedicated to pushing the boundaries of turf health, Terrance embarked on a journey to overcome the challenges of root health, nematode infestations, water management, and the relentless standards demanded by Crag Burn’s distinguished members.

A healthy course starts from the root up, and having the right product and maintenance program can and will make or break your overall turf health. Knowing this, Terrance has stayed at the forefront of product innovations to ensure that the turf at Crag Burn is always getting the best products that will improve root health.

Enter Harrell's Bio-MAX® Mycorrhizae Pro, the soil additive ally Terrance needed. Leveraging his own experience and the insights of Harrell's dedicated team, including Harrell's Rep Chris Makowski, Terrance discovered the key to unlocking unparalleled root growth and nutrient uptake.

By integrating this breakthrough solution into Crag Burn's meticulous maintenance program, a new era of turf health came to light. And the results? They were nothing short of miraculous: robust roots that delved deeper than ever before, a true testament to the power of partnership and innovation.

About Crag Burn Golf Club

Crag Burn Golf Club began in 1929 by Frank H. Goodyear Jr. And his wife Dorothy Knox, with a 60-room house on 113 acres of land. Across the road, the club also possessed 19- acres with other services including polo fields, stables, a few services buildings, and bridle paths, but it wasn’t until 1969 when prominent American golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. was hired to design the golf course.

Today, Crag Burn is host to many championships and tournaments, such as the Little Three Golf Championship, and the annual Canisius Blue & Gold Golf Classic. The practice facility is considered by many to be one of the best in the country. Golfers from all over come to hone their skills and admire the facilities. Crag Burn has also been and is currently ranked among the top 40 best golf courses in New York.

Known for its focus only on golf (no tennis and limited clubhouse hours), Crag Burn is a players’ club that caters to a variety of big names who frequent the course and its golf-centric facilities. The membership includes the largest group of players with a +2 handicap and under, which emphasizes the need for the course to be impeccably maintained. The requirement for excellence at Crag Burn has been in place since the golf course was founded.

Terrance Diloreto's Commitment to Innovation

Crag Burn Golf Course Superintendent, Terrance Diloreto, has been working at Crag Burn for four years. Before that, he spent 15 years at Canterberry Golf Club in Cleveland, Ohio. Terrance is always looking to improve products and processes and is committed to testing out promising new formulations to ensure the highest standard of play at Crag Burn. “I don’t want to play ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ I want to be the ‘Jones’ that everyone is keeping up with,” Terrance said about trying new products.

The first Harrell’s product Terrance brought to Crag Burn was POLYON® controlled-release fertilizer. After being introduced to POLYON by Harrell’s Sales Reps, Matt Kilpeck and Jeff Helvie during his time in Ohio. Now, supported by Chris Makowski from Harrell’s, Terrance implements a variety of products on the course (some from Harrell’s and some from other partners) with a heavy focus on Harrell’s foliar products.

Like many in the industry, Terrance touts his relationships as a key driver of his success. Developing a strong and reliable support system that includes Chris, Matt, Jeff, and other partners, Terrance can tap into a wealth of information about leading-edge solutions, product recommendations, and overall industry knowledge.

Golf Course Aerification, Hand-Watering, and Root Health at Crag Burn

In working to continually enhance conditions at Crag Burn, Terrance made some changes to cultural practices. He began aerifying the course significantly more often, bringing in 180 tons of sand to spread over the greens during the spring of the first year alone.

Additionally, he and his team water everything by hand with a hose. By hand-watering the golf course, they’re able to measure more precisely and ensure that each area is receiving the water it needs to flourish. “This is key,” Terrance said.

Thirdly, Terrance and his team discovered an extensive nematode infestation and worked to remediate the issue by spraying a mix of Indemnify® and a few other products once per month.

Finally, they implemented the right product mix to encourage root growth beyond what they’d ever seen.

This is where Mycorrhizae Pro comes in.

Mycorrhizae Pro and Harrell’s Root Health Program

Crag Burn uses a mix of 60% Poa annua and 40% bentgrass (with some areas at 75% Poa annua and 25% bent). Notably, the team has recently seen a massive increase in root length after adding Harrell's Mycorrhizae Pro.

Terrance said, “We started using the Mycorrhizae Pro last year, and that’s when I sent Chris that picture of the roots. The only thing we changed was adding Mycorrhizae Pro, and after two or three months I had never seen mass like this. The roots are white, they’re healthy, they’re thick, like super thick almost like tubes, which is why I sent them to Chris.”

Terrance said, “This stuff obviously works. Before we started using the product we had roots, they were healthy and working, but every time we took a plug it was more like a hockey puck with relatively shallow roots. But now, every cup cutter we pull out of every green has roots deeper than the cutter, and I know it’s not normal to see Poa annua roots like that, so we are very satisfied.”

Mycorrhizae and Root Health Program Product Information

Harrell's Bio-MAX® Mycorrhizae Pro checks all the turfgrass manager’s agronomic goal boxes. The product has been shown to increase chlorophyll and leaf color, improve photochemical efficiency, and increase overall root length, surface area, volume, and viability. This makes Mycorrhizae Pro the perfect addition to a turf manager's existing program. Part of the Bio-MAX line, Mycorrhizae Pro is a concentrated liquid Mycorrhizae formula of the Rhizophagus irregularis species.

Alongside Mycorrhizae Pro, Harrell’s boasts a portfolio of root health products in our Bio-MAX® product line including:

Harrell's Bio-MAX® EarthMAX® Organic

Harrell's Bio-MAX® Root Enhancer

Harrell's Bio-MAX® Seaweed Extract

Harrell's Bio-MAX® Fleet® 100

Speaking to the abilities of Mycorrhizae Pro and the root health product line, Chris Makowski said, “The great thing about Mycorrhizae Pro is that it’s not a product that you have to stop or alter your current root health program to introduce. Instead, this product can make what you’re already doing even more effective without the need to alter anything.”

For more information on Harrell’s root health program or the products mentioned, contact your Harrell's Rep.

The Future of Mycorrhizae and Root Health for Crag Burn

Over his time at Crag Burn, Terrance has proven himself as a visionary, innovator, and avid leader in the field. He has worked hard to bring a level of quality to the course and property that had only been a dream before, now made possible through his ambition and the mutual relationships cultivated with partners like Chris Makowski.

Like so many other Harrell’s reps across the country, Chris offers support, data backed by university trials, leading-edge product information and recommendations, and a friend and sounding board for Terrance. Terrance and the team at Crag Burn are always striving to do more, better, and Chris is honored to provide support. When someone like Terrance propels the industry forward, we all learn and win together.

This story is not just a call to action for golf course superintendents to embrace the potential of Harrell’s Mycorrhizae Pro. It's a testament to avoiding the status quo and achieving a level of excellence that sets a new industry standard. As Crag Burn continues to flourish, it will serve as a beacon for those striving for the pinnacle of turf health and golf course prestige.

For more information on any of the products mentioned or if you’d like to start your root health journey with Harrell’s products, reach out to your local Harrell's Representative.