Course Update 9/27/18

Another 2" of rain fell since the last post one week ago, bringing our total rainfall to 11.02" for the month.  It seems like we can't catch a break, with more storms moving up from the south that will likely add to our total this evening.  Maybe we'll get lucky and the storms will miss us!

Either way, the golf courses are the wettest I've seen them in my 3 years here, and frankly I don't think they could get much worse.  Just walking off the cart path results in muddy shoes and splashing water.  You also need to be cautious while walking on uneven ground.  We've received a couple slip and fall reports due to the wet conditions, but thankfully no serious injuries.  Should you decide to take the cart off the path there's a very good chance you'll get stuck, and probably end up damaging the turf and leaving ruts that will be evident the rest of this year.  Managing a golf course given our present conditions is very challenging, and managing expectations is by far the most difficult job.  Greens are soft and nowhere close to the condition they should be in, and the same can be said for fairways, tees, and rough.  Greens were mowed Monday, and again today, although a couple had to be walk-mowed because we didn't want to damage the turf by using the normal riding mowers.  Our smaller, more maneuverable rough mowers have been out trying to find areas they can mow without causing long-term damage.  Fairways and tees also haven't been mowed since Monday, and we may not be able to mow them this week with additional rainfall.  Deciding whether to mow or not are made with the best interest of the membership in mind, and what will have the least impact on the courses long-term.

Since the greens are softer than normal, ball marks are much more evident.  It's been a while since we discussed it, so click the link below to watch a short video on how to properly repair a ball mark.  The group playing behind you and the maintenance staff thanks you!

How To Repair a Ball Mark


In last week's post I spoke about Gray Leaf Spot and its effects on the rough.  The recent cooler weather has stopped the spread of the disease, and we will begin overseeding once the rough dries out and won't be damaged by the overseeder.  Unfortunately, another disease has emerged due to the cloudy, damp conditions, and is affecting a few greens.  The disease is called Anthracnose, and is an opportunistic pathogen that specifically targets Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua).  I refer to the disease as opportunistic because it is always present in a golf course environment, but will only infect turf during stress-related periods such as weather events like we've experienced over the past 3 weeks.  Our weekly spray applications to the greens uses low rates of fungicides designed to stop the Anthracnose infection, but the recent environmental conditions necessitate higher rates that will stop the spread of the disease.  Our next fungicide application is scheduled for tomorrow, and hopefully the weather will allow us to get the sprayers out.  Once applied, we will see reduced disease activity the next day and the turf will start producing new leaves shortly after.

The gold colored leaves are Poa plants infected with Anthracnose

Course Update 9/20/18

Another 1.19" of rain fell Monday into Tuesday from the remnants of hurricane Florence, bringing our total rainfall so far this month to 8.99".  That's almost triple our average rainfall for the entire month and we still have 10 days to go.  The excessive rainfall, combined with warm temps and high humidity, has created ideal conditions for a fungal pathogen named Gray Leaf Spot.  It's a devastating disease that we don't see very often in this area, and it's preferred host is Perennial Ryegrass and some older varieties of Tall Fescue.  Chemical control of the disease after seeing the infection is marginal at best, but we've sprayed most of the rough where infections have occurred.  Ideally, our roughs would consist of Kentucky Bluegrass and Turf-type Tall Fescue, since both are naturally resistant to the disease.  A few areas around greens will need to be sodded this fall, and the rest of the damaged areas will be overseeded with Turf-type Tall Fescue.  We've also stopped mowing the first-cut of rough around the fairways and greens to let the turf recover faster.

Click here to learn more about Gray Leaf Spot and its effects on golf courses.

Perennial Ryegrass rough infected with Gray Leaf Spot

Turf-type Tall Fescue sod on Orchard 6 installed this spring that is unaffected by Gray Leaf Spot

Another view of Orchard 6 illustrating the specific host requirements of the disease.  The Bentgrass fairway and darker green Turf-type Tall Fescue sod are unaffected while the adjacent rough is showing signs of infection

Course Update 9/13/18

The courses have dried out over the past two days, but there are still fairway and rough areas that remain too wet for mower and cart traffic.  The overcast and humid conditions, combined with very little wind haven't allowed the excess moisture to evaporate as quickly as we'd hoped.  However, as course conditions continue to improve I anticipate several holes being ready for cart traffic this weekend, as long as the isolated storms miss us.

I tip my hat to the staff once again and thank them for their efforts getting the courses, and especially the bunkers, put back together.  There's still a little more cleanup along the edges of some holes, but overall the place looks good.  I originally estimated a week to repair the bunkers, but this dedicated team had them done by Wednesday afternoon!  That allowed us to get the mowers out today and we made pretty good progress.  Fairways, approaches, tees and rough haven't been cut since Friday and there was a significant amount of growth.  Don't be surprised to see clippings when you play the next few days.  We have blowers out, but it's going to take several mowing cycles to get the turf back down to its regular height.  We also plan to have the mowers out both days this weekend, ideally ahead of play.

Please remember that fairway aerification is scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week.  Similar to this spring, a contractor will core aerify and cleanup the plugs on one nine each day, leaving 18 holes open for play.  We're waiting to see if/when the remnants of hurricane Florence will impact us, and will decide if the process needs to be rescheduled.

Course Update 9/11/18

As of this morning we've received 7.80" of rain since the first thunderstorm hit Thursday afternoon.  Most of the rainfall came on Sunday, all 5.50" of it.  The courses handled it well and there wasn't any major damage.  Mostly washed out bunkers and debris that floated out of the woods, along with creeks and ponds that were well over their banks.  It could have been a lot worse and the situation was helped by how dry the soil was last week leading up to the storm.

Unfortunately, the property still has a lot of water that needs to drain off and our regular maintenance activities can not resume until that happens.  This morning we were able to mow greens, change cups, and start repairing bunkers.  It will most likely take all week to get the bunkers back in playable condition due to the amount of sand that washed, and some bunkers still have standing water in them that needs to be pumped out.  All other mowing is on hold until later in the week when there is less chance to damage the turf from saturated conditions.  The good news is that the courses will be open for regular play tomorrow, and the maintenance staff is doing everything we can to resume normal operations.

Thank you for your patience!

Looking down on Orchard 2 from Treesdale Drive on Sunday afternoon.  The cart path is somewhere under all that water

Grove 6 green on Monday morning.  All the greens had varying amounts of standing water that drained quickly once the rain stopped

Runoff from the woods across Orchard 1 fairway

New drain line on Orchard 8 upper fairway was overwhelmed by the amount of water coming down.  We were able to straighten the pipe and lay it back in the trench after cleaning up the sand and gravel that washed out

Several drain lines lost pea gravel due to the excessive volume of water flowing down them.  The good news is that we have the drain lines in the right spots to catch runoff that used to keep the fairways so wet

Typical condition of the bunkers after a storm of this size

Pretty easy to see where the water came into the bunker

Good example of a finished bunker after repairing the washouts and giving it a final rake

We opened the auxiliary drain on Orchard 2 pond to further lower the water level so surrounding areas could drain quicker

Course Update 9/6/18

Venting Greens: We took advantage of being closed on Tuesday and vented the greens using a spiker attachment.  The spiker blades penetrate 1" through the thatch and achieve a 2.5" by 2.5" spacing, with minimal disruption to the surface and putting quality.  While it doesn't go as deep as a traditional solid aerification tine, it still opens the surface for improved gas exchange and water infiltration, and at a much faster pace than our greens aerifier can go.  We were able to spike all 29 greens and collars in less than 8 hours.  We try to vent greens 2-3 times during the summer, based upon weather events and the amount of traffic the greens have received.

Recently spiked green prior to mowing

The tips of the spiker blades where the paint has worn off is approximately 1" deep

Grub Damage: It's that time of year when we begin to see patches of rough torn up by skunks and racoons that are foraging for white grubs.  The grubs are a juvenile stage of Japanese Beetles and Northern Masked Chafers that eat as much as they can now to survive in the soil over winter.  Then they emerge in the spring as adults, mate, lay eggs mid-summer, and repeat the process every year.  We proactively treat the entire property with a systemic insecticide in the spring, but inevitably there are areas that still become infested.  It could be from a skip during the application, or from extreme weather events that have been shown to reduce chemical activity.  Heavy rains in the spring and early summer have the potential to move the product from its intended location, while extremely dry, cracked soil can create voids in the chemical barrier.  Over the next few weeks we'll be treating the damaged areas with a different insecticide to kill any remaining grubs, then we'll clean up the damaged turf and spread soil/seed for quick germination.

Area in the rough damaged by grubs feeding on roots

Turf infested with grubs will peel back with little resistance from not having a strong root system.  Here you can see two grubs in the center of the photo

Turf damaged by nighttime feeders such as skunks and racoons looking for an easy meal

Course Update 8/30/18

It was another week of wild weather, from thunderstorms Sunday morning that flooded the course, to heat indexes in the mid-90's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and back to thunderstorms last night that dropped over 1" of rain.  We're up to 4.74" of rainfall this month, when our average is 3.23".  6 staff members worked 9 hours today repairing washouts and raking bunkers to get them playable, while another 6 staff cleaned up sand and gravel that washed from the drain lines in fairways.  With all the moisture expect greens to be softer and rolling a tad slower than normal.  We also need to protect the fairways so don't be surprised if several holes are Cart Path Only throughout the weekend.

Course Update 8/23/18

It was another week of wet weather, and unfortunately the drainage contractor wasn't able to work due to the soggy conditions.  Our average rainfall during August is 3.23", and as of today we've received 3.29".   Even with 8 more days remaining this month, I am optimistic that we'll see more dry days versus rain days.  We're used to dealing with stretches of wet weather, but it seems to negatively affect the turf more in late summer and throughout the fall due to shorter days and the lower angle of the sun.  This also happens to be the time of year we look at heavily shaded areas to determine what trees need to be removed and formulate our plans for the winter.  The pictures below were taken recently and illustrate the need for tree removal in order to provide more sunlight and airflow for better playing conditions.

Lakes 8 blue tee.  The turf on the right side of the tee is in much better condition since removing most of the trees on that side 2 years ago.  The thin turf and soft conditions on the left side of the tee clearly indicates a problem caused by the dense trees left of the cart path.  This is one of the areas we'll be working on this winter.

Grove 3 green/approach looking down from the cart path.  This picture was taken around 10am and leaves no doubt about why there is weak turf on the front of the green and most of the approach.

Another angle of Grove 3 green/approach

Course Update 8/16/18

The drainage contractor was unable to work this week due to multiple rain events and wet conditions.  Next week's forecast looks drier and we anticipate being able to resume work on Lakes 1 and 3, and Orchard 8.  Unfortunately, two of the rain events were very intense and washed some sand and gravel out of the drain lines that the staff has been cleaning up.  We reused as much of the material as we could, and the contractor will top-off the drain lines with the sand/soil blend upon his return.

Speaking of wet conditions, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh is reporting that as of 8/15, total precipitation so far this year is 9" above normal for the region.  Keep in mind that their readings are taken at the Pittsburgh airport, so there's probably some variance in the amount of precipitation we've received.  Being that far above the yearly average makes me think we'll have a dry fall.

Drainage Project 8/9/18

The contractor was able to work on Monday and Tuesday of this week before getting rained out the past two days.  Drain lines were installed in Lakes 9 fairway, just short of the green, along with Orchard 8 lower fairway, also near the green.  If you recall from last year, both of these areas were re-sodded as a result of significant turf loss because the excess water had nowhere to drain to.  We received almost .75" of rain the past two days and these areas traditionally would have had standing water.  Thanks to the new drain lines these same areas were mostly dry!

The next areas scheduled for new drainage are the right side of Lakes 1 fairway and rough, along with the beginning of Orchard 8 lower fairway.  As of Tuesday evening, 2,400 feet of drain line has been trenched and installed thus far.

Trenching on Lakes 9 fairway short of the green

Trenches on Lakes 9 fairway ready for pipe and gravel

Needed a short drain line in the depression on the right of Lakes 9 fairway

Backfilling the trench on Orchard 8 lower fairway in front of the green

Course Update 8/2/18

The past several weeks have been very busy leading up to the Men's Invitational, and I want to thank my staff for their hard work and dedication.  The course is in phenomenal shape and we are in a much better place compared to last year!

It was a short week due to the Invitational, but the contractor was able to install drainage on Lakes 4 and 8 fairways, while the maintenance staff continued sodding fairway spots on Orchard 4 and 5 fairways.  Sodding the fairway spots is a tedious process and requires someone with a meticulous eye to get it right.  It's not just throw some sod down and call it good.  First, the area is surveyed and we determine if drainage needs to be installed, or can we raise the depression but not cause an adjacent area to become water-logged.  If we determine that installing drainage isn't necessary, the outer edges of the depression are cut and pulled back, then a sand/soil mix is added and compacted so the new sod is equal to, or slightly higher than the surrounding turf.  The final step is to install the new fairway sod, roll smooth, then topdress with sand to fill any imperfections.  The goal is to make sure water will not lay in those areas for an extended time which originally led to the turf loss.  While out playing, please be aware of areas with the short, green and white stakes.  They identify recently laid sod that needs time to root before it's subjected to golf and cart traffic.  These areas should be treated as mandatory ground under repair.

One of the low areas on Orchard 4 fairway that did not require drainage

Same area on Orchard 4 fairway after raising the grade and sodding

New drain line at the end of Lakes 4 fairway that always stays wet

New lateral drain line on the left side of Lakes 8 fairway before the fairway bunkers

New drain line on Lakes 8 fairway in the swale before the dogleg that was holding water

Found the old drain line on Lakes 8 fairway while trenching the new line.  Notice the compacted soil on top of the pea gravel that kept water from draining off the surface and into the pipe