Some last notes on the Kirchner tree

Well it's been over a week and the majority of the tree is now down on the ground.  We have moved most of the wood to the bottom of the hill for post processing.  In doing so I took this picture of the largest section of the trunk.

The arborist and I started counting rings to see if we could determine it's age.  We both arrived at the 120-125 year age for this white oak.  More interesting is the cyclical growing nature of large trees when you see inside.  This particular specimen shows a robust growth for the first 45-50 years.  Then a dramatic 10 year slow down.  This can be due to climate, pests and disease, or sometimes surrounding shade from other trees.  After that period it again grew rapidly for another 25 years which it then again slowed for about 8 years.

The last years of it's existence the growth was robust and fairly impressive for a tree that size.  As I noted in an earlier post, we had commented on how good the tree looked at then end of this year, full growth with no tip die back.

Anyway, for you who have not seen the area, here are a few pictures of what it now looks like on 13.  In the coming weeks we will begin to dismantle the wall and after the stump is ground begin to reshape the area to prepare for some sod while we determine whats next for both the tree and the surrounding area.  A sad way to end 2013 indeed.

From 125 yards out

From 70 yards out

Kirchner Tree Update

As many members may have seen, the Kirchner Tree is now partially down and moved.  This process was slow and deliberate as we needed the skill of our arborists to climb and detach many limbs that presented issues before the bulk of the work could continue.  The rest of the tree will be brought down in the next few weeks.

Many have asked what's to become of this tree and the wood.  The short answer is we don't know.  Some has been cut into firewood.  Other sections are now at the bottom of the hill to see if we can get a portable saw mill in and at least cut it into some form of lumber.   Next that wood would have to be dried and stored to get the moisture content to a point it is workable

We are not woodworkers, but after contacting several tradesmen, the wood of white oaks is good for outdoor use.  Unfortunately most wood workers are not overly fond of this wood as it is very hard on tools and tends to shrink and expand at different rates making it a hard process for machining.  Right now our goal is to remove the tree.  Store pieces large enough to make it feasible for a portable mill to come to the site and reduce the logs to useable pieces.

Once this process is complete then we will leave it to the membership to determine if there are items that would be desirable to be made from this lumber.  We do not know the costs involved in making all the items I have heard mentioned (pens, putters, tables, benches, etc) , we only control the costs of getting the tree on the ground and out of harms way.  Stay tuned for the next step when we attempt to have the tree milled.

As for what will next occupy that spot, nothing can replace that majestic tree, most likely we will let a season pass and see what direction we should take.

Sad News

We lost a landmark today in the recent ice storm, the Kirchner tree, the large beautiful white oak behind the 13th green has fallen.  Luckily no one was injured as we had several staff riding around the course to inspect the damage from fallen limbs when all of a sudden a loud noise was heard across the course.  The tree split in half and fell towards the 14th green.   We do not believe the rest of the tree is salvageable but will evaluate once we can get better access.

Trevor showing some perspective on it's size

from the 14th tee side

View from 13th green

The damage around the course is significant and will take all our resources several days to open up just the paths, much less the course.  Safety will be our main concern in the coming days as tree limbs have come down around us as we assess the damage.

Walk bridge from 8 Green to 9th tee

The walking bridge that carries members from the 8th green to the 9th the will be closed until further notice.  The planks were scheduled for repair this fall, as many had become weak and loose.  We have been studying this bridge for some time as we have pilings that are starting to deteriorate to the point they not longer support the railing.  The walking planks are a special cut of lumber that is 2" dimensional thickness ( not standard 2x4) that we must special order, same for the bridges on 15.

We had started the replacement of the treads when it became apparent the supporting runners for the treads have rotted away.  So much so that we are unable to secure the new treads to the runners.  At this time we are looking at options and evaluating the best move forward.  Until we consult someone better suited for this task, we will have this bridge closed to traffic.

I will continue to update this site for information on resolutions and any progress towards re-opening.

A runner that supports the walking  treads

Irrigation Wrap up

Well it's been quite a year regarding all the work involved with the irrigation system.  As we approach the final stages, though it really never is final, we want to provide an update to the project.

We constructed two new pump houses, installed two new pump stations,  buried over 20 miles of pipe and wire and placed 1500 sprinklers to provide quality controlled coverage using new advanced software accessible by phone or tablet.  We have integrated the weather stations to adjust the system if we receive rainfall during the irrigation cycles.  We finished on time and better than budget, with no downtime to the play on the course.  The new system performed well as we learned all the nuances of it's operation.

Speaking of which, this process will be a continual education over several years as we start to dial in the system, reducing wet areas and changing watering cycle times to optimize the best conditions for turf and players.  That said there have been some issues that are being actively resolved.

Most notable is the work being done to the sprinkler heads on the course at this time.  The manufacturer, Rainbird, found a part defect and worked proactively to replace all the defective parts in a timely manner.  I covered this process in a previous post, but at this time all work has been completed at no cost to us.  There are a few more things for our staff to do over the winter but we plan a smooth transition in the spring with everything being done behind the scenes.

In addition, we are working with Arlington county water department who supplies the water to ensure we are receiving adequate flow into the system.  We based our designs on details provided by the county and as of this date have not reached those thresholds.  We continue to actively work this issue, but as you can imagine there are many interests on the county side to work with and around.  These issues do not have a direct effect on playability or disruption to play.  They do affect the green staffs ability to apply water in a more timely manner to allow the full flexibility of the system.  Some work has been done by the county to address the problem, but it continues to be a work in progress

Anytime you manage a project of this size and scope there are issues, but fortunately ours are relatively minor and the long term infrastructure benefits are well worth the investment.

8th Hole ( shown watering only the left side rough, no fairway water)

Jack of all trades....even when we don't want to

The last week was very trying for us here at the green department.  We had noticed the buildings water use was steadily increasing and never had any idea why.  One day last week we noticed water starting to show itself at the end of our driveway to the shop.

After several attempts to find the source of the water, we decided it was time to dig.  At the same time, the building toilets and sinks all started to clog up from sand and sediment.  All at once we had a full scale leak on our hands.

The only problem was we had no idea exactly where the problem was, only that it was coming from under the concrete surrounding the building.   Normally this is where you call in the plumbers and let them at it.  Unfortunately, their answer was, well, we will have to dig up everything and here is the charge; $2500/day to look for the leak.

Well, being the industrious types we are, and the understanding that we are as good as anyone exploring water systems, we undertook the job.  Boy was this an adventure.  We first had to start cutting 7" thick contrite slabs out to find the piping.  No as built drawings accurately labeled where the water was, in addition we knew the main power to the buildings was in the same location.  Maybe we should do some archeological digs when the time is right.

After locating the pipes, we then had to find the leak, which in this case turned out to be about 12 feet from our starting point and about 4 feet in the ground.  A small hole in a plastic fitting had worn itself into a nice sized hole.  Of course the fix was not as simple, since all the pipes did not line up, nor did they want to go back into the same location.

 After a lot of head banging, we came up with the solution to repair the issue and get things back together.  Needless to say, a large undertaking , with the staff being very patient with no water service for a week.  Because of the hard labor of Johnny Niccola and Trevor Garbow we were able to get this problem corrected with far less outlay than any service would have charged.  

Johnny cutting concrete, slab in background removed for inspection

Digging to locate piping

Finally locating the faulty connection

The hole that caused it all, notice the ladder and supports to keep the hole from caving in!

The tide has turned

As we rapidly approach the wintertime, we have been busy working on several fronts.  The leaf season is winding down, but the nature of our trees means that this process lingers on more than most.  The poplars fall first, then the maples, ashes, with the oaks last.  Any some, like the willow oaks never seem to finish.  Piles like those seen below are the norm for us here.

In addition we have been busy sodding areas that needed attention, like drive ons and off and some bunker surrounds.   Many wonder why we wait until now to do the work.  Normally this time of year the leaves and care of the day to day turf slows down enough for us to complete these type of projects.

Without a large turf nursery, we need to maximize the costs of trucking so we wait for weather and time to prepare several areas.  Sometimes cold freezing conditions at the turf farms prohibits timely  trucking as well as a backlog of other customers orders.  We must schedule deliveries well in advance then adjust for weather.  When it comes to fairways, only a few farms deal with bent grass turf and even those only grow small plots.  Thus they can easily be out of stock or not cutting due to tender conditions.  We do not like to have large areas open without sod on site to replace, so we wait for conditions that allow for rapid replacement.

Irrigation Work

In the past season we have been learning our new irrigation system.  The system is a marvel of new technology and advancements.  Gone are all the old control boxes littered throughout the course,  now control is done through a central computer that receives input from a weather station and feedback from both pump houses.  You may have seen us running the system through our iPhones and tablets.

This Rainbird IC decoder system allows a lot of flexibility and control not previously possible.  As we exercised the system through the season we started to notice some issues with the sprinkler heads themselves.  Most notably that the heads would not turn on or delayed when commanded,  isolated cases but issues none the less.  After the Rainbird technical engineers evaluated our problems they have instigated a complete changeout of a part in the sprinkler head.

The pictures below shows the assembly and part that needs replacement.  This process will affect all 1500 sprinkler heads on the course.  The company wants to make sure that all sprinklers have received the newest part available.  This process, labor and parts are completely covered under warranty and of no cost to the club.

A small crew will be doing minor digging around each head to expose the decoder, remove the part and replace the plunger,  test the repair and repack the soil and sod in the disturbed section.  Now just
repeat this process 1500 times!  Not something we are excited about, but better to take care of the issue now than wait until spring when play is ramping up.  Rainbird has been very aggressive in resolving the issue band is committed to solving any and all issues.

This work will not affect play and there are no plans to close any portion of the course during this work.

Sprinkler head with the decoder installed 

Decoder detached and plunger removed

Plunger that is to be replaced

Greens Aeration

We spent the last few days doing our twice annual greens aeration process.  We know this operation is never at the best time, but it is scheduled to allow for recovery before the winter sets in.  Timing this procedure a year before it happens is always dicey and you hope the weather gods look kindly on you.

This process has been talked about many times but a few items need to be reiterated just to make some sense of the process.

The coring Tines are .4 inches in diameter.
The spacing is 2.0 " by 1.33 inches.
This equates to 54 holes per square foot.
This correlates to only 4.72% of the surface disturbed.
At a 3" depth we removed 9.84 cubic feet/1000 sq ft of organic material.
We used nearly 40 tons of sand to work back into the holes

Interesting that at twice a year we affect only 9.5% of the surface.  Now it seems that those areas must all be where your ball putts along, but most standards suggest to affect 20% of the surface a year.  We try to add to this amount through some light verticutting in the spring, but in most cases we fall short of keeping up with the established recommendations due to the time and playability.

After we finish the process we allow the greens to rest for at least two days.  This allows the turf to recover from bruising due to the sand and to grow a bit.  As soon as a mower shears through sand, it is done as far a mowing is concerned and only adds to the damage by gnawing at the turf.

The link below is a you tube video of the entire process from start to finish.  This little movie was directed and edited by Trevor Garbow, the assistant in charge of nearly everything here at the green department.  A nice little production demonstrating the work that goes into just this one operation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzUIJWdRjUI

Now repeat this 20 more times and you've finished just the the greens!  Fertilizer and water are extra......

5 Green Renewal

Just a quick post of some pictures about the process of installing new sod at 5 left green.  I hope to have some video of the process showing the entire procedure in the future.  In the meantime these will illustrate a little of the process involved removing the old Poa and preparing it for the new bentgrass.

As a note, we used the old poa to create a new greens height nursery left of 7th fairway.

We cut the cut into small sections for removal

Placing it into carts for transport to the new nursery

Shows the years of aeration work to get sand into the profile

The rough surface after full removal

Trevor working the float to smooth out the surface after removal of the turf

Once we stripped the rough, all the bermuda grass runners still left in the ground

The Fifth Green What...Why...When

The green staff is preparing to do a change in grass types on the 5th left green starting in two weeks.   This work serves two purposes.  The first is to improve the putting surface by converting it from poa annua to bentgrass in one swift action.    The second is to document the speed as to which this change could occur and be playable.  This provides a benchmarked timetable, if in the future, the club chose to improve the putting surfaces using this method.

The problems of growing poa annua putting greens have been well documented, and we can see some of the issues this year on this green.  The opportunity to do a "switch" between the two grass types,  will help determine if this newer grass is well suited to our membership and its goals for better greens.  We are fortunate to have a hole that has two greens so this process can take place without disruption to play.  The process will not change or alter the playing surface in any way except for the grass itself.  

The operation will consist of our staff removing the current grass and a few passes around the edge of the green beginning on Monday September 9th.  The base soil will be raked and smoothed in preparation for the new sod which will be installed  Wednesday and Thursday.  By Friday the 13th,  the green and the surround would be completely sodded and finished in appearance.  The sod farm grows the bentgrass at putting green height so the transition is not as time consuming as seeding 

Our hope is that the green will be ready for full time play spring of next year.  During the fall, we will monitor the strength of the turf and most likely open it to play from time to time.  This will provide us insight as the health, maturity and recovery potential as it grows.   We view this as a great opportunity to try a new approach to renovation without creating any downtime to member play.

5 Tee: Changing the grass type

You will see us doing work on the tees at hole 5 this week.  We are stripping the current sod and changing these tees over to Bermuda grass.  Ever since we installed these tees we have struggled to maintain quality turf especially on the primary middle tee.  The issues are a combination of foot traffic and environment.

Although divoting does take place, the twisting motion of golf spikes is taking its toll on the surface.  The turf struggles as people swing a little harder to coax their ball up the hill.  This coupled with the extremly hot and airless location makes keeping grass  aggressive enough to maintain it's condition very difficult.  If you haven't noticed the grass in the rough has transitioned almost entirely to Bermuda grass. This indicates that the envoironment favors it's development over cool season grasses in this location.

The switch will occur with us removing and sodding about 2/3 of the teeing surfaces, which allows the tees to be kept in play.  In two weeks we will move play onto the Bermuda tees (the same varieties now on the 9th and 14th tees) and then replace the remaining sod.

The goal is to always find methods that allow us to have the best playing surfaces possible no matter the location.  Later this year we will complete the grassing of both 14 and 9 to Bermuda grass.  We hope you like the improvement.

Frustration and Renewal!

The roughs on some holes have really taken a beating the past month.  Seems like a long time since the lush wet days of the early summer.  This is a look into some of the issues and how we plan to address the problems.

 A lot of the rough areas are typical of this one on the 3rd hole, 5 to 6 types of grass in high traffic areas.  The wet weather set up the rough for issues, the first was shallow rooting due to excessive rain.  Next the hot weather that followed brought in 2-3 significant diseases that require treatments well outside our normal budget.  Add high traffic and the only grass surviving is bermuda.

We don't treat our rough grass for disease.  This would add another $40-50,000 dollars in chemicals, not including the labor and equipment.  Some of these diseases, like summer patch on bluegrass require treatment starting in April with monthly treatments until the end of the summer.  The best answer is for us to slowly convert to turf type tall fescue.  Seems simple enough, toss some seed and move forward.

Well this would be great if that's what happened.  The dead looking bluegrass will have some recovery, the poa annua has a 60 year seed bank and will come back out in the fall, and the bent grass and ryegrass, will most likely make a late fall-early spring return.  Most new construction in our area uses all tall fescue sod to overcome these issues.  Even then bluegrass is seeded into the sod when established and at times can become the dominant grass, which again is subject to all the pathogens a wet warm summer brings.

Our plan will be focused on improving the soil and conditions to make tall fescue more favorable.  First we will aerify and seed the worst areas starting next week.  The new irrigation system will allow us to spot water all the newly seeded areas to help in the establishment.  The earlier we can get a desirable grass established the better the odds against the other grasses when they try to re-establish themselves in the late fall.  Later this fall we will begin applying some herbicides that inhibit the other seeds from getting established.  Not 100% effective, but better than nothing.

This goal will be to work towards managing two types of grass in the rough, tall fescue and bermuda.  The fact is bermuda is the dominant grass in the the majority of the rough.  The good news is that it likes the summer, the bad is that in fall, winter and spring it makes a spotty and inconsistent rough grass.  There is no defense against bermuda without a wholesale change.  Transitioning bermuda grass out is an intense 2-4 year process with the majority of the time having very spotty rough.  New chemistries are making the process possible, but a lot of pain occurs before the results are seen.  As I noted in a previous article, we have seeded areas with tall fescue for over 8 years and still see only bermuda grass, it's that tough of an opponent.  Sodding is the only defense, and that still comes with a high price with monthly applications to suppress the bermuda in the soil.

We have witnessed areas that we completely renovated have bermuda runners 2 feet or more down in the soil.  Killing the top portion helps weaken the plant, but this is one tough grass to stop.  In some ways, we should encourage it's growth since it takes traffic, uses less water and requires no chemicals to keep it alive.  The big downside is the brown color and playability issues all winter and spring before it comes back to life for the summer.  There is a reason it was named rough, our goal is to make sure it's playable.

The USGA take on Intermediate Rough

A few have noticed the elimination of the intermediate rough around the fairways.  For us the decision was implemented when we were tasked with the job of mowing the primary rough more often to provide a better experience.  In doing so we lowered the height , mowed more often and got the results most members were looking for.

We put the increased labor into the primary rough, in doing so we needed to use that labor from the task of mowing the intermediate rough.  In addition, the short cut requires more maintenance, more chemicals and weed control to make it playable at the lower heights.

The USGA has also noticed this trend and put out an article looking at the issues with this short cut of rough.  I present it here to help understand some of the issues in maintaining this small strip of turf.

http://gsr.lib.msu.edu/article/oatis-waste-7-26-13.pdf

Why we like air in the soil

Roots.... it's what we live for as superintendents.  We are always chasing the dream of white, healthy roots, especially in the summer.  Air, glorious fresh air is what keeps roots alive and turf systems functioning even in the heat of summer.  Why is this so important, because we manage a playing surface that requires a lot of stress induced practices.  Mowing, rolling, topdressing, all require the plant to use those roots to regenerate growth.

So what about the air; well the soil on most of the greens has little pore space to make room for roots.  Those roots have to share that space with air and water, which tends to drain more slowly in soil, thus making less air available to the system.

In sand the pores are larger and varied, water drains freely.  As it drains it pulls air into the space which increases air for roots.

The photos below show the difference between rooting in soil and sand greens.  Shallow poa roots in soil, struggle when temperatures rise and too much water (natural or irrigation) is present.  The sand green with greater pore space and infilitration, generates longer roots.  This in turn creates a firmer putting surface using less water and chemicals since the natural process of air exchange for roots has been improved.

Poa roots in a soil green this week

bentgrass roots in sand this week

One more record......

Well what started out as a sleeper of a summer has moved in with the swiftness of a thunderstorm.  We as turf managers are always concerned with the whole process of weather.  The early and constant rains, left most of us unable to treat turf for disease and the understanding that the root systems would struggle to breathe under all that water.  The heat that has set in was more than our turf systems could tolerate.

As simple as it may sound, the urge to throw a water at the hot conditions was not the right approach.  The balance between turf that is wilting and the potential for cooking the roots with water that will not evaporate and only heat up as the day progresses is a fine line.  Both prospects are really asking which way do you prefer to have turf suffer.  We always try to advantage roots since they are required for recovery when the conditions relent.

As a side note we hit soil temperatures of 100 degrees at 2 inches deep on 3 consecutive days.  In soil physiology terms, roots die beyond 90, so as much as we try, there is no beating nature when she gets on a roll.

Whether you believe in global warming or some form of climate change there is no denying that the cycle we are in has greater swings compared to past years.  The article below helps put in perspective how the records have been piling up.  These swings are why we are starting to use Bermuda grass on tee surfaces and many in the area are even considering bermuda fairways.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/07/21/d-c-s-sets-record-for-longest-streak-above-80-degrees/

The Great White Experiment

By now you are wondering what is going on along the cart paths.  Long stretches of white turf and weeds, punctuated by areas of green grass.  Alien invasion, a new disease.... nope, just an experiment and an example of the challenges of our multiple types of turf.

 This is Bermuda grass sprayed once with a new compound that suppresses bermuda and several types of weeds.  If we decided to try to reduce or eliminate the bermuda what is the reaction to the turf under its normal summer conditions.  As you can see it has stripped the plant of chlorophyll and weakened the turf.  Multiple applications may eliminate this turf along with multiple weeds at the same time.

Is this something we want?  Our rough consists of 5 to 7 varieties of grass, all different textures and growth habits.  All of them are cool season except the Bermuda grass.  In the spring and late fall it leads to many inconsistencies in the rough.  Of great interest is if we spend money to sod areas with a more desirable species can we stop the bermuda invasion in the summer.

From this test I would say yes,  but at what cost on a large scale?  Do you want to see this look for years to come as we try to reduce the overall population or is it better to play what we have?  As can be seen there is a lot of Bermuda.  In fact when a specific species dies, or becomes diseased you notice how much of the property is covered by that turf.  In our case major areas have a large percentage of Bermuda, the right side of 8 rough below the hill is almost entirely Bermuda.  This grass can make finding a ball extremely tough in the summer months as it nestles to the bottom.

The picture below shows the effect on the 3rd fairway.  Here the test is a little less harsh, and the chance to reduce Bermuda from the Bentgrass fairway is more acceptable.  This is one we would like to pursue, although if we do not attack the rough, this will continue to be an issue, since it creeps in from the edges.

The discoloration of the bentgrass is a little less evident after a few days, but the bermuda is still discolored.  It will take multiple applications to reduce these populations to levels considered to be under control.  Once again, your never sure how much Bermuda you have until you spray the entire surface.  We will continue to evaluate this product over the next few months with repeat applications to some fairway areas and some recent sod to determine how well it accomplishes the task.

As a reference on the strength of this product, the entire 5 acres treated contained only 1.25 ounces of product in 300 gallons of water.  Extremely effective I would say, now I only need to calibrate an eyedropper to measure the dosage!

Trouble on the greens

By the start of next week, I'm sure many will be wondering what happened to the greens at 4 and 5.  Basically they failed under the heat of the July 4th weekend.  Why this happened has multiple causal agents.  Not all understood but this goes back not only to this season, but many years before when these greens were built.

The trouble this year is related to several factors, some direct, some unknown, but all play a part in the health of the plant.  This was the year that Poa annua seeded, no matter what the method to prevent it, it happened.  A long warm winter with rainfall, created a condition that was hard to judge when seedlings would arrive.

The products we use to inhibit seed heads on the greens all require timing to what is happening in the plant.  The timing is more art than science and different areas and greens types seed at different times than others.  Why is this important, well the plant uses a tremendous amount of energy to produce a seed.  This energy expends carbohydrates stored in the roots to push the seed out.  This energy stored is what we count on for the plant to use to promote rooting going into the summer.  Thus a lot of seed heads makes for  a weaker plant to start the year.  Coupled with the intensive amount of maintenance to smooth out the greens, the plant basically arrives at summer with short roots and no energy reserves.

Earlier this year we were beset by a disease called bacterial wilt.  This specific pathogen only affects poa annua on the greens.  There are no preventative or curative products for this pathogen.  The cure is to promote good health in the plant, which is usually counter to the ability to achieve greens speeds that membership requires.  The effect of this disease was to weaken plants and reduce rooting even further.  The worst outbreaks were on the 4th, 5th, 6th, 16th and 17th greens.

Practices were put into place to promote better health and things were turing around.  The 4th and 5th green were still struggling ( more on this latter).  The extended wet weather lead to shallow rooting.  If the plant does not have to reach for water and oxygen is depleted ( as in a water saturated soil),  roots move up in the profile.  Couple this shallow rooting with several very hot dry days and the  plant goes from drowning to wilting quickly.  Of course all of this also happened on the weekend of the Club Championship, when we are trying to get the best greens condition possible.

Pictured below was the start of the problem of bacterial wilt back in early June on the 4th green.

Below is what was observed this morning July 7th.

The course of action now will be to coax both these greens back to health, which is always tricky in the heat of summer.  Some plugging, some seeding , some fertilizing and a lot of gentle practices will be the  order of the day for the next few weeks.


Now how do these issues all relate?  Well the most problematic greens on the course are both the 4th and 5th greens.  The 4th green contains a lot of silt, which happened when the last rebuild occurred many years ago.  This causes the green to hold excessive moisture.  We have added a fan, as well as installing drain lines to help improve the surface, but this still only helps in certain cases.  The excess moisture in the green reduces rooting, and causes the soil to become anaerobic ( low oxygen) during much of the year.  Aeration and sanding along with all the other tactics only help so much.  We really require a dry year and some luck to get this green to perform well.

The 5th green has had many struggles over the years.  It too was rebuilt many years ago and I believe the poa annua grass in this green is a weaker species than the others.  The green was originally seeded to bent and was taken over by poa annua from the rough.  It's adaptation to greens poa annua has not been good and the struggle continues.

Both greens have been tested extensively for physical and chemical makeup with no major deficiencies noted.  Our next step will be to test for any long term herbicide residual that may be present just to determine if old treatments may be inhibiting rooting in these greens.  We will continue to solve the issues present, but many times, environment wins and we do our best to work around what nature throws our way.  The heart of this is the grass itself.  In no cases have we seen bentgrass affected, only poa annua, which for us is the majority of the grass on the greens with the exception of the 8th green.

A lot has happened

It's been a while since I last posted and I hope to provide some catch up to everyone reading this.  The first and foremost is the weather.  June turned out to be the fourth wettest on record.  This has made things very lush, but also set up up for some rather delicate issues for the summer.

First this is what the radar seems to look like day after day.

Once the rain has come and gone,  I then receive a posting of the diseases most like to be present during this period.  As you can see, almost every disease known to turfgrass is present.   The Poa annua on the greens is susceptible to almost all of these.

As soon as we plan a course of action again comes the rain making areas not only unplayable but unmanageable as well.  Not sure how to treat, mow or travel around in these conditions.

Once the sun comes out, this is usually what we find as we attempt to put things back together again.  The sand restoration process is about as miserable as it comes.  Shoveling wet heavy hand into washout areas and then removing the silt by hand, and reloading new sand back into the bunker.  If this happened once or twice it is a process that drains you physically for a day or two, but the repetitive nature of this years storms has made this a job no one wants to see their name attached to in the morning.

We hope to see a return to a normal pattern, But we know that the one thing we can count on is not knowing the pattern for the rest of the summer.

Aeration and weather... What a Mess!

It is that time of year that spring arrives and the process of aeration begins.  This vital practice is not a favorite of anyone, but the goal of setting up the plant for a season of good health is the driving force.  Most turfgrass plants actually have more rooting in the spring than anytime else.  The chance to improve air exchange, reduce organic matter and drive rooting are the primary reasons we implement this practice.

Our staff does not enjoy the process; long hours, lots of backbreaking work, days of blowing and sweeping, and machine breakdowns make our jobs harder.  Needless to say, we are not fans of aeration but we realize the important benefits.

This year the weather is the factor that has made this process even more difficult.  To get the best results we like a dry firm surface, take a clean medium sized core, then apply dry sand and work that into all the holes.  The most important part is dry workable sand.  When we remove cores, the surface of the green is very soft.  To properly firm that surface back up, applications of nearly 30 to 40 tons of sand are applied to the greens and worked into the holes by hand and machine.  This allows us to firm the greens back into playing shape in a relatively short time.  The holes close faster and the surface smooths out in about two weeks.  Not bad considering we induced nearly 250,000 holes per green.

With rain during the process, we have lost the ability to apply the required sand, and most importantly the ability to move it into the open holes.  Brushing wet sand is akin to using sandpaper for a wash mitt on your cars paint.  In addition, we have no method to prepare the surface for play, rolling only picks up debris and spreads it over the entire surface and the wet remains are nearly impossible to blow away.


 The picture below show some of the issues when working with wet sand.  The sand pile contains wet and dry sand which spreads differently.  Couple this with a machine, it's speed, hydraulic loads and then sand inconsistency and a wet surface, there are a lot of variables in play.  Trying to get uniformity across the surface is a lesson in frustration when conditions are not optimal.

Left side heavy and wet;  right side we hit a dry patch in the pile

 This year we reduced the size of the holes from 1/2"  to 3/8" knowing we could not move the wet sand into the openings.  Second we applied a lighter sand topdressing with the hopes of applying more later on to help smooth out the greens.  The effect on play will be bumpy greens with more debris on the ball in the morning dew.  Our usual practice of not mowing for two days to allow the grass to recover and grow through the sand may be changed due to the practicality of trying to make the greens playable.

So why not just perform the process when dry? The dates are set far in advance and no rain dates provided, so to ge the most benefit we must change the practice, but still continue on and work around the weather constraint.  I'm sure in time all things will even out with extra topdressing and some handwork, but right out of the gate conditions will less than what you may have come to expect.

Poa Greens and Springtime

Well it has been quite a spring so far.  The coldest recorded March since 1931, and an April that has seen 90 degrees along with a very late frost this morning.  It is certainly hard to determine what mode the grass is in, much less determine what practice to employ next.  It is always this time of year that our greens undergo a radical change; poa seeding time.

Poa annua is labeled a winter annual, although for our greens it becomes a perennial that seeds every year. Poa is one of the rare plants that can seed at the heights we mow greens.  Our attempts to control seedheads is based on several environmental factors.  We use models that use a method called degree days.  These have been developed by several universities and others that use minimum and maximum temperatures to determine the optimum seeding time, or as we refer to it the pre boot stage.  In conjunction we look at blooming of other species and our gut feel for the best timing to apply growth regulators that may inhibit the seeding.

As with most things in nature there is no absolute.  Fluctuations in winter weather, storms and rains can all change this equation.  Additionally the products we use are useful in this process, but offer no guarantee for  success.  In fact, many times we have had good success, only to see the seed heads slowly and sporadicly pop out all summer long.  As I like to point out,  Nature finds a way.

Obviously putting quality suffers when the surface get bumpy, and seed heads create an uneven surface.  Many question if we have changed our mowing heights or practices.  The short answer is no, heights are the same as usual, in fact we increase the amount of rolling in hope of smoothing the surface.  Due to the dissimilar growth rates of poa and bent grass, we see little grass when mowing and most of it is poa seed heads.  Usually after our aeration, temperatures begin to rise, seeding season subsides and the greens start to resemble the condition we see the rest of the year.

In the picture shown, the darker purple areas are bent grass, which as you can see comprise only a small  percentage of our greens surface.

We work hard to manage our poa greens to withstand the stress of the seasons, and this includes understanding the effects of all practices performed.  Poa seeding isn't fun for anyone, but trying to change the plants natural instincts can have adverse effects the rest of the season.  We continually research products, university trials as well as discussions with other superintendents to evaluate our process in the hopes to continually improve conditions for all seasons.

Update on 11 Hillside

As the golf season opens and your getting your first looks of the course, many of you have seen the work being performed on the hill above 11 green.  I have described earlier in this blog our efforts to improve this little slice of the course and have great hopes that we can make this a pleasing backdrop to the 11th hole.

It had fallen to the ever increasing reach of invasive weeds and vines, that are prone in areas of direct sun.  The trees and shrubs had taken a toll from the storms and snows that broke many of the plantings including the azaleas.  We rescued as many as we could that were in good condition and moved them to the area around the ninth green to showcase that area.

In order to fit all the work into our schedule we had to begin the clearing stages of the hill, to ensure there were no obstacles that required larger equipment (stumps, rock etc) and then schedule the time to begin the building of a rock wall and shaping of the slope.  The next phase will include those operations followed by the planting of several trees and some shrubs.  The entire area will be mulched and given a finished look until fall, when the rest of the planting will occur.

As I stated last time, due to the invasive nature of the weeds, we keep these areas clear for a period of time to give us room to spray the necessary chemicals to "clean up" the beds before we start serious plantings.  The last thing we want is to have to tear out the plants due to being immediately invaded.  Many of these weeds are very aggressive and required multiple applications of herbicides to eradicate.  Similar practices have proved effective in our efforts at the right of 3, where we are now starting to plant new redbuds and dogwoods, and left of 8 where we will agin start to plant flowering trees later this fall.

This landscape area is quite large, and there is much work yet to be performed on the rest of property.  At this time of year with all the emphasis on grooming and preparing a golf course for the playing season, if we get behind in trying to hand weed an area, then we have lost it for the year.  This is why we try to make sure these new cleared areas are easy to treat and allow us to keep a better eye on them before they become problems.  With all the work that is involved with the course, bringing a new irrigation system on line and the weather that spring brings we have not forgotten this hillside is in the eye of the members.

I can assure you we do plan to clean this up and have it looking good for the season and we hope it becomes a backdrop that makes you pause for a second before you start your backswing to the back pin location on 11 green.

It's not dead, it's Bermuda grass!

The mens tee at the 9th hole and the back two tees at the 14th tee are now Bermuda grass.  We used a new variety called Latitude 36 for its finer leaf texture and early and late color.  These teeing areas were a combination of cool season grasses, which always were beaten up by the time mid summer arrives.  The problem is a lot of play coupled with some of the smallest tees on the course.  Par 3 tees in general are always the toughest to keep in good playing condition.  Trying to accelerate the growth of cool season grasses in the heat of summer leads to many issues; diseases, overseeding, and heavy watering all in the hopes to survive

Bermuda grass is very aggresive in the heat of summer and is less prone to disease and insects.  We can continue to push these tees with fertilizer no matter the temperature, which we hope allows us to provide a better teeing surface all summer long.  The grass goes dormant after the first frosts of winter, thus the tan color.

In my opinion, we needed to try another approach since we always struggled with the surface that was there and then spent most of the fall trying to regrow the tees before winter sets.  If this fails we can always revert back to cool season grasses at the end of summer like we usually do, but I think this is a better approach to solving a problem that has no easy answers.

It's starting to rain!

Well the irrigation system is finally taking shape.  The system is fully installed, pump houses up and running and fine tuning starting to take place.  In the coming weeks you will see heads that weep, sprinklers popping up from time to time and many of our staff on our hands and knees adjusting and documenting the settings we have made.  This part of the process is very time consuming, but necessary to begin to take advantage of all the benefits of our new system.

Because we did not have access to water during the installation we have a lot of flushing of old debris that has been sitting in pipes for the past 6 months.  This all takes time to work itself out and develop a good seal on all the sprinklers.  If you see anything odd please find myself or notify anyone on my staff and we will look at it immediately.

This photo demonstrates some of our capability and the excitment we have when we see 10 sprinklers running at the same time and they are all only watering the rough!  We can't wait to tweak this system to match the golf course.  In the meantime please excuse us while we try to learn the system and I apologize if we surprise you with a random sprinkler turning on near you.

Sometimes a good day of rain helps in many ways.  This year is at least starting with some weather that might help in the long term, to slow down the drought conditions we have experienced the last several years.  Of course this does not change what happens week to week as we prepare the golf course, but knowing that we are not starting out dry keep our hopes that temperatures will be mild early and the course will respond well once we finish the irrigation project.

I took this chance with the rain to attend the annual USGA seminar at Woodholme Country Club.  This annual meeting is not only a great way to catch up with local superintendents and share some time, but to learn from those who have seen conditions from US Opens to local courses.

It's amazing with all the technology available, that there still is not enough time to pull all the resources together to be fully informed, but days like today and the National Conference every year, just emphasize how complex the maintenance of a golf course has become, and how important it is to stay involved and most importantly open minded.

A few thoughts to share from today:

Bradley Klein, who chairs the Top 100 rankings, discussed the importance to renew your sense of place at your course.  What are the roots of your course, the history and design and how best to showcase that and bring out the greatness of what was once an architects dream.  Some great examples from not only the best courses of the world, but those here and there that have lost there way and now returned to their roots.  Very interesting and I know it will shape the way I continue to look and view our course from all angles.

Matt Shaffer,  Superintendent from Merion on how he is preparing for the US Open and his thoughts on how golf should be played.  He has been very experimental in his approach to conditioning, many practices that have failed, but many lessons learned in the process.  I'm not sure many here would be fans of his approach to rough and bunkers, but thats why all the courses are different.  If you get the chance, a trip to this years Open is worth the time.

David Staebler,  USGA rules education director on why the rules are so complicated.  I wanted to share a link to the USGA web site concerning rules.  This is one of most confusing areas for so many, mostly because we all know a little, which in many cases is very dangerous.  The USGA has done a video series discussing common rules and their impact.  A great series to see before you start your season.

USGA: Rules

It's a great time to the year, new ideas, fresh starts and a sense of getting underway.  I once again appreciate the chance to work on our beautiful course and I look forward to any and all feedback on how we can improve.  This great game is played on a field that has only one absolute, the hole is 4.25 inches wide, other than that it is what tests us every time we step onto the first tee.  Go Golf!

One Step Closer

We are getting there one step at a time.  Today was the beginning of the installation of the new pump system into the new pump house.  A crane lifted the pump from one of our trucks on Military Road and placed it inside the shell, which now can be roofed and we are almost there!

Lets hope the snow holds off a little bit and we will be ready for some not so cold water to fire the system up.

A little fine tuning and we should be able to start the long process of punch list items to repair.  We are still looking at being complete before opening day.  Plenty of work will need to be done, touching up low spots and getting yardage plates on all the heads, which by the way will have 3 yardages now.

In all nearly 650 yardages will be around the course, so be patient, it takes time to sort those out to make sure we  get them on the correct location.  An example is shown below.

Watch your step!

Many times over the winter the attraction of golf balls in the creeks is a force that some can't resist.  As the foliage dies back and we on the staff clear the banks the temptation to chase old Titelists is too strong to ignore.  We want to warn the members of the perils that surround these areas,  they are very steep and have some gullies that look safe but are very deep.   Covered in vines to invite you to make the  perilous first step.  This picture shows the kind of dangers involved and the cautious tale to make sure you play in groups.  This could have ended in disaster, but with the help of fellow playing partners, thankfully no one was injured.  Winter golf can be enjoyable, please make it a safe round as well.

WGCC the beautiful

This picture was recently taken by one our long term staff members, Ronald Alvarez.  Not only does it highlight the beauty found around our course, but to me demonstrates how much our staff appreciate and enjoy the natural grandeur of our club.  This photo really exemplifies what we love about this property and the amazing beauty we get a chance to experience in the early hours of the day.

I'll let you guess where it was taken!

The irrigation project continues a slow march towards completion.  We still have around 24 working days left, but February typically has only around 10-13 good working days.  Holes 16-18 have yet to be completed along with some sporadic areas to finish, mostly outer rough we left for poor weather days.

We will start the ordering of sprinkler head yardages in the next few weeks.  The process of installing these is quite slow so expect that they all get installed before opening day.

Whats happening at 11?

The hillside above the 11th green has deteriorated over the years.  The trees have health issues and the azaleas are contaminated by weeds, vines and disease.  In addition, the slopes are very severe which coupled with the density of the growth, has become almost impossible to combat the problems.  We are taking this winter to remove the dead and dying shrubs and trees, relocate some of the healthy specimens, and start the long process of revitalizing the area.

The picture below shows what you may see next time you visit.

We have drawn up what we would like to create.  This process will take some time and be performed in stages.  The amount of invasive species will requires us to keep the area relatively bare this season while we eradicate the problems.  We hope to plant several new trees this spring, but wait on most of the shrubs and flowers until fall once a summer of clearing has helped prepare the area for planting.  This is a very challenging spot to not only keep nice, but even to grade and clear the area is proving to be difficult as well.  We have high hopes this areas can provide a nice backdrop to the hole once finished and allow some nice views of the large white oak (Kirchner Tree) at 14 tee as well.

As we search for the elusive methods to improve the playing conditions, we will always move forward with small improvements projects that enhance the playing experience.

Priceless

Our course has some of the best vistas anywhere, as the commercial goes...  Priceless, but all things have a cost so, I thought I would list a few of the items we use every year.

22,000,000   The number of gallons of water we use during the year

30,000          The square feet of sod we installed last year

600               The tons of sand we used on the course for topdressing and bunkers

10,000          Gallons of fuel consumed in maintaining the course

6,000            Pounds of seed put in to the ground

300              gallons of oil changed for fleet maintenance

45                number of flags lost due to vandalism

200              feet of chain for the chainsaws

300              the average number of steps a foursome takes on every green

365              the number of days spent worrying about the course!


Enjoy the new year and everyone have a great golf season......



In later posts I will begin a several part series on our greens;  the history, construction and challenges we face.   This primer may help some have a better understanding of the costliest and most critical aspect of the course.