In the middle of our 7th green at Whitemarsh Valley CC you may have noticed a circular dead spot. Upon further inspection with a macroscope we were unable to identify the cause of this blighting. Our next step was to send out tissue samples, soil samples and plugs to top plant pathologist's around the globe to hopefully ID this issue.
When all the results were in they all pointed to the same pathogen.....or turf disease. "Ispilla Mibeer" The plant pathologist's told me that this is a very mobile disease and it occurs mostly during hot weather with large golf events. The root cause is a sudden liquid drench from an aluminum vessel, possible kicked over by a golfer dancing after making a 6 foot putt for bogie.
"Ispilla Mibeer" is a preventable disease with only minimal effort by all involved........"Don't Place Your Drink on The Putting Surface", if it get's knocked over it will kill the grass.