New Views

Well as you have heard there has been some work going on around the old barn.  As most want to know... is there firewood,  and if not why not?  Well it is coming, but we have been quite busy the past month trying to get ready for the construction in 2018.  One of those items is to clear the views for new and old holes, which means tree work.

Some like the silver maple that was behind the 9th green, is needed to make way for the new tee shot on the now 10th hole.

That's a lot of holes...

We have just finished seeding all the fairways.  Hole 4 will undergo another round, but to date we have poked over 65 million 1/2" sized holes in the ground and spread about 300 lbs of bent grass seed.   Now all we need is some rain and a little better weather than 10 degrees above normal.  It's sure to come, just when is the problem.

We will slowly relax the carts in the rough to again transiting the fairways.  We ask that you use the fairway when you need to, but try to use the rough or path as much as possible.  New seedlings are prone to damage from us mowing, as well as other traffic.  The strong will survive but we hope to have as many be part of the recovery as possible.

We will begin aeration and seeding of the roughs next.  The heavy traffic around the fairways has started to decline that turf in the past few weeks of hot weather.  With cool weather the fertilizer will come out of hiding in the barn and we can begin the long slow climb back to normal.  Thank you again for your patience.


Well if the weather turns colder then we start to see the foxes at their worst.  We always have several dens on the property that move occasionally, but when its cooler they get frisky.  The picture below shows the latest damage from one that continues to dig in the 12th fairway.  It's hard to deter them when we never know where they will strike next.

The picture below is just another example of what to look forward to as our rough grass in the future.  This area right of 13 fairway is something we sodded three years ago to tall fescue when we were doing a winter drainage project.  Notice the distinctive line of new grass.  Both the color and density are terrific and so far even after this miserable year, little to no disease in the stand!

The Ugliest Grass, and some light at the end of the tunnel.

You may have seen us recently put a larger push to eliminating the uglies of weeds on the planet ( in my opinion) ;Goosegrass.

This weed is invasive throughout the property.  The seeds stay active in the soil for 30-50 years, so we have been accumulating these for quite some time.  It is a summer annual, similar to crabgrass, but unlike that weed, the herbicides we use to prevent its germination are very weak on goosegrass.  In fact there is no good pre-emergent control for this weed on cool season grass.  Normally we apply preventatives to control crabgrass in the spring and then use post emergent herbicides during the summer to minimize, but never completely eradicate goosegrass during the summer.  At first frost it all dies and we begin the cycle again.

It mainly shows up during the late June time frame when the summer heat comes on, and readily establishes itself when there is an opening in the turf canopy or around very compacted areas like cart path edges and drive on and drive offs.  The product we use to minimize its spread is very harmful to bentgrass at rates that are needed for control.  With all the stress the fairways have been under we eliminated its use to reduce further damage to already tender turf.  Our recent attempts to overseed have created more spots for it to germinate.  With all the time spent trying to manage the rest of the course, the heat has increased the speed of goosegrass development and its appearance is just plain ugly.  

It needs to be noted that we are trying to reduce the amount of all herbicides, not only pre-emergents due to their persistence in the soil.  We are looking at a large scale sod project when the renovation starts and any herbicides with activity in the soil may hinder development of the new grass.  I had this same situation occur when I was at Congressional, so we need to be careful on what products are applied in the next 12-18 months.  We may have some weed break thru now and then, but better that than a slow establishment when we need it most.

We are making a large effort now that we have gotten a little more favorable weather, to manually cut out all the goosegrass from the fairways.  We hope to have them cleaned up by the end of next week so as the recovery begins we have a more appealing look to the fairways.

 Speaking of that, we are starting to see some germination of bent grass in some of the aeration holes on 16 fairway and some testing we did on 4 fairway.  

Those little plants in front of the black knife handle are new tender bent grass shoots!

We will begin more large scale seeding of fairways immediately in the worst areas.  Others will receive topdressing to fill in weaker spots.  I want to point out that we are a creeping bent grass fairway golf course.  Most of all the recovery is from creeping, not the seeding.  Many areas will fill naturally over the winter and next spring.  If you look at how young and small the seedlings are it is a stretch to think they will all withstand mowers, carts traffic and winter.  They will begin to help fill in more open areas, but casualty is high when traffic is applied, no matter the type.  When new fairways are seeded it is often 12-20 weeks before they see any traffic.

In our case we need to work hard and fast to get this project done, not only do we need to get established seedlings before winter, but soon the sun will barely rise over the trees meaning little to no growth for new seedlings and then the leaves start to fall which means we will be blowing on a daily basis.  The bent grass seeds are extremely small ( approx 6-7 million seeds per pound! ) so a tractor blowing leaves could spread those everywhere into the wind, maybe even the neighbors yards.  We hope to see a return to more normal fairways in a short time and I look forward to sharing more information about all the developments on the new design.

Time

It is now the last weekend of August, a month that never seemed to end.  As we turn the corner (hopefully) I want to thank all the members for their patience during this last 6 weeks of stressful summer.  It hasn't been easy on you and your guests, and for that matter on the staff here as well.

Speaking of them, I would like to thank all my staff for their time.  I know it is their job, but they put in tough hours in even tougher conditions and miracously show up day after day.  Twelve days on and two days off all year long gets very tiring, especially with the heat of the past two months.  Yet again they show up, smile and get after it, day in and day out.  Along the way we have had some hard times, our mechanic of 25 years, Rick Bushey has had to deal with his son being in ICU and other larger issues.  Our hard times are nothing compared to those who face family tragedies.

As we turn the corner, many things are on the horizon.  We are spending a lot of time evaluating products and practices for the new renovation.  Many which we will start to put into place over the next few months and well into next year.

We are researching construction methods, evaluating grass types and networking with all the area superintendents on methods and practices for what works best.  In the end, it is our course and we need to work with what our property has and can provide.  The conditions here are like nothing anywhere else.  We can fit our entire property onto the front nine at RTJ!

The team at Renaissance Golf will provide a great design, but it is up to us to provide the best growing environment to make that design be outstanding.  Conditions always start with good agronomics.  The best grass in the world will not grow well in poor conditions.  Sunlight , air movement and drainage are the keys in any situation to make great conditions.  We must provide that in our space to ensure this renovation is the best it can be.

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about soil.  I want to emphasize there is nothing wrong with the soil on our property.  We have used precision farming methods to map the soil of the entire property and we have a great starting point to begin the renovation process.  Many think compaction means poor soil, but any soil is prone to compaction when subjected to a lot of concentrated traffic.  This comes in many forms and our equipment is just as responsible as carts and foot traffic.   Some of the design will attempt to reduce pinch points, egress on and off fairways, and even foot traffic on and off greens.  It must be noted that there is only so much room on our property to accomplish all these wish list items, so making sure there is ample sun, air and drainage are even more important when the land constraint is added to the equation.

I will outline some of the many issues we will be working on in future articles, but again let me say thank you for being patient while we work through the issues we face on the course today.  Time will allow healing to begin and nature will turn the corner and reset the clock to better growing conditions.

Thoughts in August

I thought I would just update a few things from around the course.  For a few days you could feel the shift in the air, a night below 70 degrees, but alas it was short lived.  Just that little respite from the heat overnight made the grass spring to life a little bit.  Made us feel better about a lot of the fairway grass.

We aerified holes 1-3-4 this week, slit seeded bent grass, and started watering.  Along with the extensive sod project last week on 3, we will keep carts on the path on 3 and 4 for now.  We need to see how long it takes the new seedling to emerge from the hot soil before we determine if it can withstand traffic.  We decided to not push any further until we can see how the fairways react to the rising temperatures this week and weekend.  If they handle the stress, we will continue the operation next week and beyond.

It's always a challenge to understand exactly why things happen.  In this case we are trying to aerate to improve conditions, but cause a strange ripple in the turf.  This is the challenge in using these tools,  are the soils too dry,  or wet,  is the machine timed properly or the tines too worn?   Many times we need several tries to get all the particulars sorted out, another reason why we need time on Mondays to work out issues that arise.  In this case we needed to roll the surface with the mowers then the seeder rolled out the turf as it sliced seed into the soil.

Speaking of turf, the sod project at 3 went well.  We used the same method that will be in place for the renovation.  26 big rolls of 007 bentgrass was installed on 3 fairway.  All the new sod is considered ground under repair, as is the sod on 18.  Please take relief from this area, as you know the rules require you to take complete relief, not stand on the sod and hit from the rough, or worse yet, ignore the rule and take a divot from the new sod.

Speaking of the renovation, next time you play 1, take a look at the sod on the left side walk up to the green.  After this summer, it still looks great.  This turf type tall fescue has held up well, and this will be the rough grass used everywhere on the rebuild.  Nice, dense and consistent.

Grass at hole 1 walk on

Also speaking about renovation, we have started the stripping and preparation of the chipping green area.  After 1 month of treatments, we finally eliminated most of the bermuda and other grass from the area.  We will be installing new sod next week, again in big rolls.  We had planned to start this week, but again weather has caused us to hit pause.

A lone bermuda plant was all that was left behind after treatments

If you've played recently, you may have noticed the mounds around the 13th green.  For you long term members, you'll recognize the mounds of annual cicada killers.  This mean looking insect, seems like an oversized killer bee, but in fact is relatively harmless.  They burrow into the bunker slopes at 13 and fly into the tree to snag a cicada, fly it into the hole and use it for food for the larvae.

We don't try to control them as it is an annual event in nature, and they don't harm people.  In fact many times, disturbing this process can lead them to find other areas to populate, like greens and tees, where they cause havoc.  It's much better to deal with the small disruption for a few weeks and know the limits of the damage.

Well to end, I will just show the photo below.  I understand golf can be frustrating, and maybe the conditions are keeping you from having your best game, but I find this particular type of damage unacceptable.

Update from the Course

Well the summer has hit with a vengeance.  An extended 15 days of 95 degrees and no rain, set back the already weak poa trivial is and stressed bentgrass.  We decided to restrict carts on several occasions and even then we missed a day last week that we should have been on path.  The pressure to allow carts access when we are aware of the stresses present is difficult to call.  We understand the desire to scatter, but late day temperatures and a full golf course restricts our ability to preserve conditions.  It does not take long from when the clouds part and the searing heat and sun appear during the late day to turn conditions from difficult to extreme.  The picture below is an example of what effect cart traffic has on hot turf during Wednesdays member guest.

This is not just dry fairways, it is a hot surface, coupled with traffic stress.  When canopy temperatures reach upper 90's and soil temps match, the plant is under a lot of stress.  Syringing can be performed, but that only is a temporary solution and not effective unless there is a breeze to allow the plant to breathe.  Otherwise the water collects heat and further raises the temperature around the canopy.

This video is an  Infared of syringing a hot surface.  What should be noticed is how the surface returns to elevated temperature after the water is applied.   If problems viewing it can be seen at

WGCC green syringe.

The scorched fairways will be punched with solid tines in the next few weeks as weather allows and fertilized to begin the recovery.  At the same time we will begin the overseeding of bent grass into the failing poa spots.  In addition will be installing large roll sod of the variety 007 onto the 3rd hole from about 150 yards to the approach.  We will be closing the 3rd hole to play on Monday August 1 until 3 pm to help speed up the removal process then opening again for the rest of the week.  The sod is planned to be installed on Wednesday August 3rd.

Chipping Green Approach:

The chipping green  approach is nearly dead after 3 applications of herbicides.  Amazingly there is still some live bermuda and we will be assessing its viability later this week to determine the next steps.  As you can see from the pictures below a few shoots are still visible, and the rhizomes below ground are mostly dead, but a few live ones persist.  This process is necessary to achieve the eradication of undesirable species.  If you remember when the fairways were "converted" in 2000, an application was made only to a few fairways before a heavy rain ended the process.  Afterwards only a single topical application was made, so the conversion was only temporary, before the residual problems and grasses reappeared.

Bermuda "runner" below grade

Live bermuda after 3 applications

Other Trials:

We are beginning to evaluate many other items for the renovation.  Bunder sands, liner materials and the greens mix used for the new greens.   The USGA recommends a type of mix (sand) for the green, but there is no "one" sand that is used.  Several suppliers have a multiple of mixes to choose from, as well as what amendments do you put into the mix.  Basically you are trying to find a recipe that works for you and your location.  How well does it drain, can you match topdressing down the road, is it firm, does it hold enough moisture?  In addition sand is very sterile and can rapidly leach nutrients that we need.  So we are experimenting with a multiple of mixes here, growing grass in test tubes so to speak.  We will then send these off to laboratories to have them analyzed for their physical and chemical properties.

When we find the best two or three combinations we will then section off the new nursery left of 10 and plant each of the mixes and install new sod to see how they perform in a real maintenance  situation.  As you can see we have a lot of work going on to ensure we make the best decisions on every aspect of the new design.

Chipping Green Update

Here is the chipping green one week after the herbicide spray.  Still playable and some grass still kicking.  We will apply the same mixture again next week.  Today we fertilized the area to encourage regrowth so we can knock that down with the next spray.  Bermuda is one tough grass, I will continue to post updated pics every week until we see everything controlled.

This shows the bermuda is still alive and kicking.  One reason we need so many applications.