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.

 

Rough!

What’s going on with the rough?  Love it or hate it, there are a few simple explanations.   With the new irrigation system we now have the ability to better support these areas through the summer months.  So, starting last Fall and into this Spring we over-seeded thousands of pounds grass seed into the rough and green surrounds.  To take advantage of the warmer spring and to support the new seedlings we fertilized the rough at the end of March and again in May.  Low fertility and low mowing heights increases pressure form weeds like crabgrass, dandelions, plantains, knotweed and many others.

While the fertilizer applications would seem like the most obvious culprit for our frustrations, it’s not entirely to blame.   In the first three weeks of May 85% of days have been cloudy or mostly cloudy with above average rainfall and humidity.  Extended periods of reduced sun light causes elevated levels of gibberellic acids with in the turf.  This elevated level of gibberellins leads to a phenomenon called etiolation.   Etiolation is a mechanism resulting in rapid elongation of cells that increases the probability of a plant reaching light.  The end result is a thinner less ridge leaf that does not support a golf ball as well.  This in combination with extended periods of leaf wetness allows the ball to slide further down into the canopy than normal giving the appearance of a deeper rough.  Our rough mowers heights have stayed the same at 2.5” and are running full time right now.  The lack of dry weather has also resulted in a lot of clumping.  Once the weather breaks, rough grass condition will improve.

Our greens, fairways and tees are regularly treated with a plant growth regulator which is a gibberellic acid inhibitor to help produce a consistent tight plant.

Tee Box Update

The cool wet weather has helped promote rooting of the new sod on the par 3 tee boxes.  This week we should be able to start mowing it so we can train it back down to proper tee height.  Once we start mowing them they are going to look really tempting.  Please still refrain from any activity on the new tee boxes.

The over seeding of tee boxes on 2, 3, 7, 9 and 15 has been very successful, these tee boxes were mowed for the first time Wednesday.  As we increase mowing frequency and lower the height it will promote lateral growth.  These seedling are still very tender, so again we are asking that golfers limit their activity to the immediate teeing area.  As you drive up to these tees it very apparent the traffic in the teeing areas has negative impact on the tender turf.

There are a few tee boxes that are struggling.  The middle tee on 6, parts of 12 and sections of 14 tee show little signs of growth. The seed germinates and then quickly fade away.  This is most likely from residual pre-emergent herbicide applications made last summer.  For this reason we will be stripping these areas and resodding them.  The only other option would have been to treat the areas with activated charcoal to negate the effects of the pre-emergent herbicide.