Cool Wet Spring! Aerification

Cool wet spring!

Last March spoiled us with unseasonably warm and dry weather, which was great for golf and maintenance work. This March has been the polar opposite, last year the average high and low temps were (70 F / 36 F) and this year it’s (53 F/ 35 F). That’s a 17 degree difference. February was also warmer in 2012 than this year. The rate of turfgrass growth is dependent on many factors including temperature, moisture, nutrition, and to some extent, day length. Optimum temperatures for leaf growth among the cool-season turfgrasses range from 60° to 75°F. Leaf growth increases with increasing day length as long as temperatures are within the optimum range and moisture is adequate. Application of nitrogen fertilizer can greatly increase leaf growth if moisture and temperature are not limiting. There’s an up-side and a down-side to this.

The up-side is that it shortens the growing season reducing the number inputs required to maintain it. This includes such things as labor for mowing, fertilizers, irrigation, pesticides, crabgrass pre-emergent and equipment cost. It allows us to focus on finishing winter projects and course clean up. Last year we were mowing grass when we would typically be finishing up off season project.

Some of the down-sides other than the less ideal golfing conditions are that the turf is the not actively growing yet and will remain sluggish until soil temperatures rise. Due to this, the healing process from aerification this year is going to be hampered by the cool conditions. Course conditions as a whole are expected to lag behind last year until Mother Nature decides otherwise. Even though the course is still in a bit of a slumber state it is still important to fix ball marks and use the sand and seed mix for your divots.

Aerification Scheduled for April 1,2&3

 

The Golf Course will be closed April 1 -3 for aerification if the weather permits.

Greens: For the greens this spring we have contracted Mid-Atlantic DryJect to use its patented sand injection technology. DryJecting uses high pressure water injection to suck sand directly into soil profile. After this process we will be doing a tradition coring and topdressing process.

 Fairways will again be aerified with solid tines and top-dressed with 12 tons of sand per acre. Once again, this is an aggressive aerification schedule and process. 

The aggressive nature of this aerification stems from the results of physical analysis testing done last summer; these test revealed the need for a corrective aerification process rather than a maintenance process. This summer we will retest, evaluate and make the proper adjustments.

The impacted or modified region of the greens mix (0-4 inch sample) taken last summer shows the results of the historic greens maintenance programs over time. The upper sand profile is not within USGA specifications. The organic matter content has increased significantly with corresponding reductions in water infiltration and air filled pore space. Air porosity represents the larger non-capillary porosity of the sample. This figure will greatly affect the percolation rate. It is this pore space that the plant occupies, and is therefore one of the major factors that dictate the success of a root-zone to support the plant. Our capillary space has increased dramatically as a result of the organic matter. Moisture retention at 30cm is 23.1%. The elevated organic matter in the upper profile is retaining too much water which is having a negative impact on on root development and moisture management. This also shifts the playing field in favor of poa annua.

This data has revealed several opportunities for improvement. The organic matter development in the upper profile has exceeded the cultural practices on the putting greens. The need to increase the aerification, needle tining, venting, and topdressing is evident. Spring and fall aerification with ½-5/8” tines is warranted. Venting should occur every three weeks throughout the growing season. We also need to find topdressing sand that is several degrees coarser than the material we are currently using. These efforts are intended to increase the air pore space and reduce the organic matter content in the upper profile of the greens. It will take a full 2 seasons to bend the organic matter curve that we are currently on.

Off Season Review 2012-13 Feb. 26

With the exception of some of our die hard year round golfers, much of our golfing membership never sees the golf course during the off season. Sometimes off season projects are obvious, but often times golfers who only golf during the heart of season don’t even notice the changes and hard work our grounds staff puts in over the off season. It’s always good when completed projects seamlessly fit in to the natural features of the landscape and don’t jump out to the golfers. Many winter projects also address problems with infrastructural items, such as subsurface drainage that is also not immediately noticeable. So to answer one of the most popular questions I get during the off season “What do you guys do during winter?” I put together this power point slide show. Hope you enjoy it.

Hole # 8 is still heavily shaded at 10:30 am in mid-May

Hole # 8 is finally in full sun late in the afternoon during Sept.  Unfortunately at this time a day the temperatures often exceed the optimal temperatures for the turf to convert the light to stored energy through photosynthesis

Lingering snow on the green and down right side of hole # 8 illustrate how heavily this hole is shaded.

One of the projects we have been working on this winter is the 8^th hole.  First, we reclaimed lost putting surfaces on the front right of the green and back of the green.  Currently, we are working on thinning trees down left and right side.  The trees down the left side have encroached to the point where they force golfers to the right side an already undersized tee box.  The trees on the right side severely shade the green and most of the hole.

The most obvious impact of shade is a reduction in the amount of light available to the turf. Grasses, like all green plants, convert light energy into carbohydrates via photosynthesis. These carbohydrates serve as the building blocks and energy source for plant growth and development. Thus, if a plant does not receive enough sunlight to manufacture sufficient "food" (carbohydrates), its vigor and growth will be reduced. In addition to reducing the total amount of light available, tree shade also severely limits the amount of useful light reaching the turf. All wavelengths of light are not equally effective in photosynthesis. Green plants absorb (and use for carbohydrate production) primarily orange, red and blue light, while they reflect mainly green and yellow (which are not very effective in photosynthesis). Therefore, the majority of light reaching shaded turf is likely to be light which has filtered through the tree canopy and is low in the wavelengths most valuable in photosynthesis and carbohydrate production.

Aside from altering the light reaching the turf, some trees produce surface roots which compete with the grass for nutrients and water. This competition further inhibits the ability of the grass to grow, and it becomes very difficult to maintain a turf of desirable quality. Increased relative humidity and decreased air circulation in wooded areas favor development of turfgrass diseases such as powdery mildew, as well as encouraging moss and algae problems.

Once we get the trees down and cleaned up, we are planning to add a proper approach and make a few grade tweaks to highlight some of the already existing features of this hole.  We have high expectation for this hole in the upcoming season and look forward to finishing the upgrades.

Golf Course Update 1/1/2013

New forward tee boxes on hole #2

 

The new forward tee boxes on two are shaping up nicely, this past week we sodded the rough grass around the new tee and removed the old one.  Originally, we were only going to build the back one but due to the length of this par 5 we added the forward tee.  This will give us more options for setting this hole up.  There will now be separation between the 1 and 2 teeing position with ability to occasionally move the 3 tees up.  The tee surface will be sodded later this winter or early spring to allow for any settling that might take place.  Waiting to sod it will also allow us to evaluate whether any additional drainage needs to be added prior to sodding.  Either way it should be open before the 2013 golf season.

Work on reclaiming lost greens surfaces has also continued.  Greens number 5 thru 8 have been completed.  Currently the crew is working on green number 4, this will be our last green this season.  Reclaiming these areas continues to reveal many new exciting hole locations.  Typically it’s the more challenging hole placement that have been lost.  It’s going to take some work to get these new areas into puttable condition this coming spring, but once we do, it will be fun to able to challenge the golfers with these placements.

Reclaiming Putting Surfaces 12/1/2012

Reclaiming lost Putting Green Surfaces

 

A couple of our winter projects, reclaiming lost putting areas and relocating the forward tee on 2, were understandably a little slow to get started thanks to huricane Sandy and a nor’easter the following week. Fortunately the course fared very well. The storm took out several trees, but all of them were in out of the way areas and needed to come down anyway. There were small branches, leaves and debris everywhere. All things considered we got really lucky here.

We have reclaimed lost putting areas on the 8^th green with sod from old 9 green. Since old 9 green is one of the original greens, it’s rootzone sand material matches up to all our greens except for 11, witch was add in 2005 to make the driving range possible. Once the sod is rooted down it will need to be aerified, rolled and topdressed agressively with sand. Reclaiming these areas brings the bunkers back into play and creates many new hole locations. The increased hole locations along with the increased overall size of the green will spread out the traffic stress and should help improve the overall health of the putting green. Next we will reclaim areas on the back of 7 green and a small area on the right of 6. Next spring we will reseed old 9 green and then use it again next fall after the reverse the course tournament to reclaim more lost putting areas.

To find the original green we use soil probes to locate the edge of greens mix. The greens were originaly built with a 12 inch USGA spec sand followed by a geotech fabric and then a coarse gravel drainage field. The frabic keeps the finer sand from contaminating the coarse drainage stone. The use of fabric in our greens construction is unusual and not recomendend by the USGA. Typically a smaller gravel is used to avoid sand migration into the drainge stone. 

The original 17 green (now 8) plan from 1988. D. Palombo Associates

Reclaimed putting surface on the front right of 8 green

Reclaimed putting surface on the back left of 8 green

 

 

Course Update 11/1/12

November Golf Course Update

As the traditional golf season winds down and the leaves start to fly.  Work certainly doesn’t slow down for the grounds department.  While much of November will be dominated by leaf clean up, this is also a good month for applying soil amendments, fertilizers and sodding.  We also have some small renovation projects planned.  The ladies tee on two is going to be moved closer to the cart path and expanded so that it can properly accommodate the I and II teeing positions.  We also have plans to reclaim to some lost putting surfaces on a couple of greens.

Despite cooler air temperatures in late fall that limits turfgrass leaf growth, soil temperatures remain warm enough to promote root growth and promote beneficial soil microbial.  Late-season fertilization lengthens the fall/winter green period and enhances the rate of spring green-up without stimulating excessive shoot growth, thus allowing the turf plant to maintain higher levels of carbohydrates than when spring/summer fertilization is used. This provides both aesthetic and physiological benefits to the turfgrass.  Nitrogen applied during early spring increases shoot growth rates and decreases the levels of available carbohydrates in the plant, resulting in depressed root growth rates. Late-season nitrogen applications have no similar negative effects on root growth and, in fact, increase root growth during mid-winter to early spring. Better carbohydrate storage and root growth ultimately result in a more stress tolerant turfgrass plant during stress periods.

As golf courses age it is common for features of the course to slowly change.  It is always interesting to see how golf courses evolve over time.  Putting greens often shrink and become more circular, fairways and teeing grounds fall out of alignment, and bunkers become contaminated, lose their original shape, and develop higher mounds from sand being blasted onto the slopes. Kings Creek is no exception to this, many our greens have shrunk and lost significant putting area.  This fall we are going to reclaim a couple of our greens.  We are going to start with the 8^th green, it has lost 3 to 4 feet along the front right and back of the green.  The increased square footage will help spread out traffic and create several new hole locations.  While the green will be larger and easier to hit it will also bring the green side bunkers back into play.

Turkey Shoot (Superintendent Revenge Tournament)

November 16

 

HEY GOLFERS! IT’S PAYBACK TIME…
For all of those ball marks, divots and folks who don’t obey the daily golf cart rules…this is a chance for: for me and the grounds crew to seek REVENGE.  This year’s Turkey Shoot tournament is going to also be the Superintendents Revenge tournament.  The Superintendents Revenge tournament is intended to be a really fun event where we set the course up in a really fun and challenging way.  Crazy hole locations and obnoxious course set ups are the norm for this event.   We have lots of great ideas and are looking forward to setting up for this event.