Tech Notes Issue 14

With Spring Arriving: The Topics are the Good, and the Bad (also Ugly)

First the good, a recent study out of Sweden found that playing golf can increase life expectancy¹. The study was based on 300,000 golfers and showed that the death rate amongst golfers is 40 per cent lower than the rest of the population. This would approximate an increased life expectancy of five years.

The researchers found that golfers had a lower death rate regardless of sex, age and social group. The effect was greater for golfers from blue-collar professions than for those from white-collar professions. The lowest rates are found in the group of players with the lowest handicap.

Professor Ahlbom who was one of the authors was quoted in ScienceDaily saying, "Maintaining a low handicap involves playing a lot, so this supports the idea that it is largely the game itself that is good for the health."

In the July (2008) issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst reported that in the worst case scenario the estimated exposures to golfers following full rate and full course applications of carbaryl and chlorpyrifos were 19 to 68 times below current U.S. EPA values designed to protect human health.

In a press release from the University, Dr. John Clark a professor of veterinary and animal sciences who specializes in toxicology was quoted as saying, "This study, which also included measuring insecticide residue transfer from treated turfgrass and airborne insecticide residue, provides a novel and complete database on golfer exposure."

It looks like the more you play golf walking the healthier and longer that you will live. Umm, maybe pesticides are not as detrimental to golfers health as we are often led to believe.

And Now for the Bad & the Ugly…

From late winter to early spring, mole crickets become active primarily on couchgrass. Mole crickets overwinter as adults and nymphs. The nymphs however become adults in spring just in time for mating season. During this time the males will begin to tunnel causing turf damage. Both males and females fly on warm, humid nights, sometimes in huge numbers. Normally, eggs take 14 to 28 days to hatch. From a control perspective, the nymphs that hatch are small and most susceptible to control measures.

Reference
1. B. Farahmand, G. Broman, U. de Faire, D. Vågerö, A. Ahlbom. Golf: a game of life and death - reduced mortality in Swedish golf players. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, Published article online: 28-May-2008.