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. 

 

Course Update. Irrigation, Rough, Bunkers 10/1/2012

Irrigation System Update

Toro has identified a problem with the electrical component of our sprinkler heads and electric valves.  The decoder and solenoid assembly has design flaws which cause them to eventually fail resulting in a variety of different symptoms.  The week of October 22 -26, Tanto Irrigation Company along with Toro and there local distributor, Turf Equipment and Supply Company will be changing out this part on every sprinkler head and electric valve.  As we get closer to the date we will communicate more specifics on the change out. 

Eagle irrigation, the original installer of irrigation system will also be here this fall to lower some fairway irrigation laterals and address a few other small installation issues.  We are trying to coordinate this for the same week if possible.

Rough Grass

I’ve been getting a lot question about the decline of our rough grass.  Before I get into specifics of why we’ve lost turf in some areas, consider this.   Throughout this golf course the rough is composed of varying population levels of two warm season grasses, bermudagrass and zoysia, along with seven cool season grasses Kentucky bluegrass, Poa trivialis, Poa annua, perennial ryegrass, creeping bentgrass, turf-type tall fescue and fine fescue.  In case you lost count, that’s nine different grasses.   Now why isn’t the rough consistent?  Why does it vary so much from season to season?

The majority of the turf loss during the latter part of the summer can be attributed to a few reasons; disease, cart traffic and environmental stress such as shade, compaction and tree competition are the main ones.  Rye grass, poa annua, poa trivialis and Kentucky blue grass are all prone to decline from summer stresses and turf disease.  Turf disease can be controlled with plant protectants but the cost is significant.  The faded area around the tee boxes was perennial ryegrass, it was devastated by gray leaf spot in early August.  Perennial ryegrass was planted around the tee boxes this spring because of the extremely short establishment window it offers.  Letting these varieties naturally fade out and over-seeding with turf type tall fescue will slowly promote a more uniform and economically sustainable rough.  The newer turf type tall fescue varieties are currently the best cool season grass for our area.  They have a dark green color and are capable of producing deep extensive root zones that produce heat and drought tolerance.  They are also the most disease resistant of all the cool season varieties currently available.  The cost of over-seeding the rough is less than the cost of applying the protectants that would be necessary to support our current rough through the summer.  Ultimately the goal is to slowly promote turf type tall fescue by allowing the undesirable types to naturally fade out.

Bermuda grass and creeping bentgrass also represent a significant portion of our roughs in certain areas of the course.  These grasses both tend to do very well but are more suited to lower mowing heights.  At rough mowing heights they can be downright nasty.  Converting areas like this is a major project that we certainly want to do at some point, but is not a priority right now.

Please remember that carts are a major player in the decline of rough in high traffic areas.  An over whelming majority of the rounds played here are with a cart.  I’m not suggesting we get rid of carts, but it’s important that we recognize their potential impacts.  Keeping carts on the path around tees and returning directly back to the cart path at the black balls in the fairways will dramatically help these areas.  Remember, this your course.  Please take pride, and respect your fellow members. 

Bunkers

What about the bunkers?  We have 95 bunkers making up 3.75 acres which is more total acreage than our greens.  Typical high end courses normally average around 50 to 75 well placed bunkers, Augusta National has 44.  I bring this up because as we plan for the future it is important to understand the cost associated with each aspect of the course.  Most of the time quality is better than quantity.  Too often future cost of maintaining course features and improvements are overlooked.  An important factor with every aspect of the course should be sustainability.  What can we sustain at a high level?

The green side bunker renovation project that started last year on the back nine is still a priority for the club but has been postponed for a few years.  We have identified other more pressing areas of improvement that will help insure the success of future bunker renovations projects.  Many of the green complexes have sunlight, airflow and drainage issues that need to be addressed prior to future renovation.  However, we still have to have playable bunkers that can be maintained in the short term and while we want to keep inputs into our existing bunkers at a reasonable level, they cannot be ignored completely.  This winter we will be evaluating and prioritizing bunker drainage issues.

Fall / Winter Projects

As we move into the fall and start thinking about possible course improvements it becomes very apparent there are more opportunities than time or resources.  Listed below is a list of projects that we have identified as projects for this off season.  As always, the weather is major factor in winter months.  Last winters weather was exceptional for golf and projects.  We can only hope to be as fortunate this year.

·         Continue the first cut from the fairways around the greens.

·         Move and rebuilt two ladies tee.

·         Reseed and restore the driving range fairway.

·         Review and audit clubhouse area; irrigation, turf, landscape plantings, etc

·         Evaluate and prioritize bunker drainage issues and develop plan of attack.

·         Continue with stump removal and clean up from last winter’s tree removal

·         Tree work on 11 and 8, removals and pruning.

·         Removal of isolated trees around the course that are having a negative impact of premium playing surface that offer little architectural value.

·         Continue tree work along the marsh, starting at 3 tee working toward 6 tee.

"More Sand, Laddie" 9/1/12

“More sand, laddie”

“Sand, sand, more sand, laddie,” was the favorite line of Old Tom Morris the original greenkeeper of The Old Course at St. Andrews.  It should also be noted that Morris was an accomplished player who won The Open Championship four times, so his understanding of the game went far beyond the agronomic side of golf.   Although Old Tom probably never imagined that the science and art of putting green maintenance would ever become what it has today, his emphasis on sand still rings true.

Like it or not aerification is a necessary evil that is in the golfer’s best interest.  Think of it as preventative maintenance similar to routine maintenance for your car or house.  Your car is running fine but you routinely change the oil because it extends the life and performance of car.  Ignoring routine maintenance can lead to big problems and big bills.  USGA putting greens are no different; they require a routine maintenance or aerification schedule that matches the growth rate and environment.  Unfortunately, our aerification process has not been matching our growth rate which has left us with sluggish performing greens.  Right now our greens are like and old race car with new paint job.  They look good but if you look under hood there is all kinds of work that need be done.  So much, that it’s going to take several trips to the garage for some major work before this race car can perform on the track again.

With that being said, take piece of mind in knowing that we will be taking our first step in restoring the performance of our greens during the up and coming aerification scheduled to start Sunday evening Sept. 9^th.  We will be punching the greens with a 5/8” coring tine this fall on the tightest spacing our machine can achieve.  By simply increasing the from a 3/8” tine to a 5/8” tine we can impact almost 3 times as much surface area.  The holes will then be back filled with a coarser sand to improve the physical characteristics of the upper profile.  Once the holes are filled we are going to punch them again with a smaller 3/8” solid tine and incorporate even more sand into the root zone. 

As part of the greens aeration process we will also be over seeding them with “007” bentgrass seed.  007 is an advanced generation creeping bentgrass that offers exceptional heat tolerance, disease resistant, cold weather color retention, very fine leaf blade density and salt tolerance. 

The fairway aerification will be the same as this Springs which consist of coring the fairways with 5/8” tines and topdressing them with 12 tons of sand per acre.  The coring and cleanup is contracted out to Growing Solutions Inc. They are scheduled to start Monday evening or Tuesday morning depending on when they finish up at Cripple Creek Golf Club.  We will again be applying sand and working it in right behind the aerification.  The sand application is the longest process as it takes a while to put out the 350 tons.  

Surviving the Heat 8/1/2012

Surviving the heat

Once again July’s above average weather has brought a challenging summer.  All things considered the course is holding up fairly well.  We certainly have some isolated spots here and there but the staff has done a great job at nursing the grass through the heat.  August is also a potential stress month with a history of producing excessive heat.  To get through this stressful period we have relied on a defense strategy stressing plant health and increased water management procedures.

With leaf temperatures reaching as high as 130 F and soil temperatures as high as 98 F in recent weeks, we have employed the following techniques or procedures to help us get through the stress.  1) Raised the mowing height to increase plant photosynthetic and natural cooling ability. 2) Needle tine aerification of the greens every three weeks to allow increased gas exchange in the root zone. Increased air flow also helps keep soil temps cooler. 3) Light and frequent irrigation by hand and by the sprinkler to cool the turf.  Excessive amount of water can lead to rapid turf loss during hot weather, while are rainfall amounts are below average we have been fortunate that we haven’t got 3” down poor during the heat. 

Driving Range Tee

The driving range tee conversion to “Latitude 36” bermuda grass has been successful and is now open.  The old cool season turf struggled during warm summer months when we do the most rounds.  With limited teeing space the use exceeded the recovery rate resulting in less time on the turf and more time on the mats

Latitude 36 is the most recent improved variety of bermuda grass for area.  It offers earlier green up and longer color into the fall (early May – to the end of October).  It also offers a leaf texture very similar to our bentgrass fairways.  It combines transition zone adaptation and turf quality features that make it particularly useful.  It should produce high quality turf by virtue of its relatively fine texture, good sod density and dark green color. It is very aggressive and spreads via rhizomes(modified roots) and stolons(modified stems).  Accordingly, it recovers rapidly from physical injury such as divoting making it an ideal turf for teeing areas.

Proper use of the tee will help insure a faster recovery of the divoted areas.  Please take divots in straight line, starting in the front and working backwards.  Leaving a small row of grass between the divot lines will allow for quicker recovery and more efficient use your practice tee.

Incorrect Divoting pattern

Correct Divoting Pattern

                              

Physics of a Green 7/1/2012



Physics of a Green

Healthy white roots persist in an aerification hole from this springs aerification. Filling the hole all the way to the top with sand keeps the surface from being sealed off by organic matter and allows the plant to roots to occupy increased air poe space.

 

 Over the past few months we have been exploring the agronomic and physical properties of our greens. These test include standard fertility test, saturated soil test, physical analysis of the top four inches verses the bottom four and irrigation water quality.  It is important to be able to quantify the current conditions for a couple of reasons.  First, this information helps us to develop specific programs and procedures to maximize our results and seasonal performance.  Second, it gives us the ability to measure and quantify our results moving forward.

            The physical analysis test revealed the original material (4-8 inch sample) used to construct the greens as tested is a good quality sand.  It falls out of USGA specifications slightly, on the fine end of the spectrum. It appears that the sand was blended with an organic component, most likely peat moss.  The water infiltration rate is still at 8.1 inches per hour, which exceeds the 6 inch minimum suggested by the USGA. The cap and air pore space sits at 42.8% with 24.2% being air filled pore space and 18.5% capillary space. Moisture retention at 30 cm. is 12.2%.   Overall, it is a reasonable greens mix from a physical standpoint that is still exhibiting good qualities for a USGA putting green.

 

           The impacted or modified region of the greens mix (0-4 inch sample) shows the results of the historic greens maintenance programs over time.  The upper sand profile is 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 rootzone to support the plant.  The 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 more 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 reduce nitrogen inputs into the 1.5-2.5 pound per thousand square feet region on the greens. 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.