Course Update 7/31/21

 Greens were lightly topdressed again this week as part of our Men's Invitational prep to help firm up and smooth the putting surfaces.  We also pulled out our old spiker to create slits in the putting surface to break up any remaining black algae and help incorporate the sand into the thatch.  The spiker is a ground-driven attachment mounted on an old bunker rake that's been re-purposed specifically for this task.

Greens were topdressed first then spiked to create slits for the sand to work into the thatch.

Here's a closeup of one of the spiker blades.  There are 10 spikes per blade that penetrate up to 1" deep.  The blades are ground-driven which means they only rotate when in contact with the ground and the attachment has two sets of lead weights on top of it to get maximum penetration.

Here's a putting surface after topdressing and spiking.

After spiking the greens are dragged with a special coco fiber mat to get the sand off the surface and into the thatch where it's most beneficial.  The right half of the picture shows where the green has been dragged compared to the left half that has not been dragged yet.

We also addressed a couple areas on Lakes 5 fairway that needed to be sodded before the Men's Invitational.  This spot was caused by a sprayer malfunction that kept the booms going after the sprayer had stopped moving.

Here's the same area with sod harvested from our small nursery below Grove 1 tees.

Course Update 7/23/21

5.28" of rain has fallen so far this month and the first three weeks saw very humid, mostly overcast conditions.  Increased disease pressure and activity was discussed in the last post and this time it's about Silvery-Thread Moss and Black Algae.  Both are opportunistic organisms that thrive under warm, moist conditions, and can lead to turf loss if not managed correctly.  Fortunately, our weather pattern has changed to sunny, drier conditions that favor turf growth.  Cultural practices such as aerifying (solid & core), spiking, topdressing, and verticutting all discourage both organisms by creating a drier, less favorable growing environment.

Here's a spot of Silvery-Thread Moss growing on a putting green.  In addition to the cultural practices mentioned above, we apply a special herbicide weekly to suppress it's growth and stop it from spreading.

Here's some Black Algae growing on the soil surface of a putting green below the turf canopy.  It's commonly found where the turf is thin from prolonged shade or excess foot traffic in walk-on areas.  Similar to the moss, we utilize all the cultural practices mentioned above and a special fungicide applied weekly to break up the algal mat and promote turf growth.

Course Update 7/15/21

We've received 3.82" of rain from 9 weather events over the first 15 days this month.  Our historical average total precipitation for July is 3.90" so we're hoping for some dry weather the second half of the month.  The amount of rain has presented some challenges, but all the drainage projects, regular aerification, and sand topdressing are keeping the courses in good condition.  It's the high humidity and nighttime temperatures in the upper 60's/low 70's over the past two weeks that are really affecting the turf.  

Similar to how our skin feels sticky when it's humid, turf is affected the same way and grows best in drier conditions.  Humid weather prevents excess moisture from evaporating off the leaf blades and out of the soil, creating lush, soft conditions that frustrate golfers and turf managers.  When combined with warmer temperatures, the excess moisture creates a perfect environment for turf diseases which must be treated with fungicides.  Our most common summer disease is Dollar Spot and is easily identified by the light tan, circular spots that start out about the size of a silver dollar.  As the disease progresses, the spots will bleed into each other and form larger, irregular patches that can be several feet in diameter.  Dollar Spot is one of the easiest diseases to control and does not result in widespread turf loss if treated early.  During the summer, we spray fungicides preventively for Dollar Spot every 14 days on greens, 14-21 days on tees, and 21-28 days on fairways depending on weather conditions.  This week we had to spray fairways to control Dollar Spot after only 17 days since the last application due to the increased disease pressure caused by the wet weather.  Two different chemistries were applied for a quick knockdown of the disease combined with longer residual control provided by a systemic fungicide that is absorbed by the plant.  Several fertility products were also included in the spray to help the infected turf recover and produce new leaf tissue.  In case you're wondering, we maintain 40 acres of fairways and this one application cost $12,000.

Lakes #9 fairway.  Dollar Spot is easily identified by the tan colored spots and irregular shaped patches.

Grove #6 rough.  If your home lawn looks like this you may have active Dollar Spot.  We typically spray the rough several times per season to control Dollar Spot and Gray Leaf Spot.

June Precipitation

 We received 4.77" of rain in June from 10 rain events, but only had 5 days of Cart Path Only restrictions.  3.77" of rain fell from 6/7-6/15, and only .76" fell over the last 15 days of the month.  Our historical average rainfall for June is 4.15" and we are currently .75"above our year-to-date average precipitation since January 1st.

Course Update 6/12/21

 Since Monday afternoon we've had 4 weather events resulting in 2.64" of rain.  Thursday evening we received 1.11" of very heavy rain in about 30 minutes that washed out all 157 bunkers and left a significant amount of debris to cleanup.  Fortunately, our sand based greens drain very well and that allowed us to mow greens and change cups Friday morning, along with mowing rough in drier areas of the property.  The rest of the staff spent all day repairing the bunkers, cleaning up debris, and uncovering drain caps that were grown over.  A little breeze and a lot of sun would really help dry out the courses and we just may get that next week according to the forecast.

Greens have been very lush this week from all the rain, which translates to slow and soft putting surfaces.  They will naturally firm up and become faster as they dry out.

There was so much water moving thru the property from Thursday's rain it carried a 15 foot log and wedged it in the 30 inch drain pipe that goes under Lakes #5 approach. We have to use an excavator to remove the log and other debris from the inlet of the pipe.

This is typical for our bunkers during very heavy rain.

Lakes #9 fairway bunker with a 6-8 inch deep sand swell that washed down on Thursday.

Earlier in the week we re-sodded some rough areas with Kentucky Bluegrass from a local sod farm.

May Precipitation

 We received 4.97" of rain this month from 10 rain events, but only had 8 days of Cart Path Only restrictions.  2.99" of rain fell in the first 10 days of the month with an additional 1.98" coming in the last 6 days.  There was a 15 day stretch of hot, dry weather in the middle of the month that was rare for us this time of year.

Our historical average rainfall for May is 4.43" and we are currently .13" above our year-to-date average precipitation since January 1st.

Course Update 5/26/21

 All 29 greens were verticut, mowed, and topdressed today prior to the heavy rain forecasted for tonight.  Verticutting is a common practice in the spring to remove excess leaf tissue and Poa seedheads.  It also helps stand the grass blades up for a cleaner cut, which results in faster and smoother ball roll.  After the greens are verticut and the debris is blown off, the putting surfaces are mowed to cleanup the longer grass blades, then a light sand topdressing is applied.  Now that we're in season and mowing greens daily, only a small amount of sand is applied weekly.  We refer to this as a "Sugar Coating" and it has minimal effect on the mowers.  If a heavier amount of sand is applied it would dull the mowers after the first green and take longer to be incorporated into the turf canopy.  We normally apply heavy amounts of sand in the spring and fall in conjunction with aerification.  Frequently topdressing greens in season has become more common as the benefits of light applications of sand are better understood.  Firmer, smoother, and drier putting surfaces can be expected by golfers, while Superintendents are seeing healthier turf that requires less water and can withstand increased foot traffic and extreme weather events.

One of our older, riding greens mowers is fitted with special verticutting heads so any of our equipment operators can perform this important task. Most of the leaf tissue and seedheads removed during the process are collected by the grass baskets mounted in front of the verticut heads, but some debris is left on the putting surface and needs to be blown off before topdressing occurs.

Here's the putting surface immediately after verticutting where the individual rows created by the verticut blades are visible.

Lakes #8 green after lightly topdressing.

Here's a closeup of a topdressed green with a golf ball in the center of a small area brushed in by hand to give a better idea of the "Sugar Coating" reference.

Frost Delays 5/15/21

Frosted turf around Lakes 1 tees

 We've had frost delays the past 4 mornings due to nighttime temperatures in the low to mid 30's.  Frost delays are still common this time of year and can even occur when the air temperature is above freezing, as was the case the past 4 nights.  Frost will usually be evident at sunrise, as the air at ground level is warmed it becomes lighter and rises.  Colder, denser air will take the place of the warm air and can be 5-10 degrees cooler, thus creating frozen turf.  Frost usually "burns off" quickly in direct sunlight, but certain areas of the course are heavily shaded and take longer to thaw, such as Orchard 1, Lakes 2, and Grove 2 & 3.  Our winter tree removal program has focused on these specific holes to allow for increased sunlight penetration, but we still have more work to do.  The maintenance staff monitors these specific holes on cold mornings to determine whether frost is present, and the decision to allow play is based on when those areas will be frost-free and the courses can be prepared for play.  The maintenance staff requires a 45-60 minute head start to stay ahead of play depending on the activities that day.  Looking at weather records from last year, our last frost delay occurred on 6/1.

Click Here To Watch A Short Video From The USGA On Frost

Frost delays are a great time to mow outer rough that's not affected by the frost

Trimming back overgrown brush and low hanging trees along cart paths are a regular frost delay task

Mulching landscape beds around the clubhouse on frosty mornings greatly improves aesthetics

Course Update 4/30/21

 We've received 1.45" of rain since Wednesday evening and 1.30" of that fell yesterday.  We could only mow greens and tees today.  Fairways and approaches were too wet.  We also had our usual tasks of clearing plugged drain lids, repairing bunkers, and cleaning up other debris.  These are normal tasks anytime we get rainfall in excess of .75" from a single event.

So far this month we've received 2.91" of rain from 11 different storms, but only had 4 days of Cart Path Only restrictions.  Our historical average rainfall for April is 3.01" and we are currently .47" below our year-to-date average precipitation since January 1st.

This is typical of the bunkers after a large rain event.

Every time the rain causes wash outs it brings up soil and rocks that contaminate the sand.

Our bunker maintenance equipment have hydraulically operated blades specifically made for pushing sand.

Here's a bunker after fixing the washouts and raking.

Debris cleanup is another task we're always doing after large rain events. This is the creek on Orchard #2 that typically backs up before it goes under the cart path. You can tell how high the water got by where the debris is deposited.

The pond on Orchard #2 is the last body of water on property and collects all the runoff/drainage from the surrounding areas all the way back to Grove #8 tees, up to Orchard #8 tees, including the neighborhoods. It's not unusual for the low-lying areas around the pond to flood given the volume of water flowing into it, and we are able to open a flood valve built into the concrete dam to release more water and help the surrounding areas drain quicker.

On a positive note, the rain washed any remaining aerification debris off the fairways and watered in the granular fertilizer we applied to the greens on Wednesday.

Course Update 4/26/21

 Fairway aerification was completed last week and besides a delay due to snow two mornings, the weather was perfect.  We used the same contractor as in previous years and the process went very smoothly since they're familiar with the property.  Because we only closed 9 holes per day the contractor didn't need their entire equipment fleet, but still used three tractors, two large aerifiers, and one recycling machine with a total value of $180,000.  They charge us $290 per acre to core aerify and recycle the plugs which comes out to $11,000 for our 40 acres of fairway.  The aerifiers were setup with 48 hollow tines that removed a 3/4" diameter core 4" deep, which created 24 holes per square foot.  That equates to 41,817,600 holes across all 40 acres of fairways.  That may seem like a lot of holes, but it only affected 5% of the total surface area.  The holes should be healed over in 10-14 days given our current weather conditions.

Aerification is an important and necessary practice in providing great playing conditions.  CLICK HERE to learn more about the process and why we do it.

The contractor uses two large aerifiers that each have a 98" working width for maximum productivity.

Here's a closer look at the fairway surface after the aerifier went thru.

Once the plugs (cores) dry out enough they are broken up with two heavy steel drag mats that go over every fairway several times. The goal is to separate the soil from the organic matter (thatch) so the soil can be worked back into the holes.

Once the fairways are dragged the contractor uses a recycling machine to pulverize the soil and thatch into finer pieces.

Here's the remaining debris after the recycling process.  Thatch is found in every turfgrass area and some thatch is needed to insulate and protect the plant.  Too much thatch is a problem and causes playing surfaces to be soft and spongy.  It also holds onto excess water which leads to more disease.

The final step in the process is for the maintenance staff to blow the thatch and any remaining debris off the fairways and then clean off irrigation heads, yardage markers and drains.  Here the blowers are working together on Lakes #4 fairway.

Here is the end result after aerifying, dragging, pulverizing, and blowing.

Several inches of snow Wednesday morning and again on Thursday morning delayed the process.

Not what we were expecting in late April, but we made the best of it.

Our deep-tine aerifier found this piece of metal about 5" below the surface on Lakes #3 approach. It's been there since the course was built in the late 90's and the aerifier tines grabbed it just right to pull it up.

It wasn't even a small piece of metal. You never know what you'll find in the ground!