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.

The real story on Oakmont's trees and their removal

If you didn't see this on golf channel, it was a great story on how Oakmont changed it's course back to it's original intent, and why they changed in the first place a long time ago.

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/story-how-oakmont-turned-back-clock/

Chipping Green Trial

Next week we will begin some trial work at the east end (16 tee side) of the chipping green area.  As we move nearer to the renovation, we continue to explore methods we will use to remove the existing grass and the contamination of unwanted species (bermuda, poa annua).   Our plan is to spray the approach area with a combination of herbicides to kill the grass, wait two weeks, spray again, assess the damage then repeat applications until all unwanted turf is fully dead.

Once this rate and timing of applications has achieved the desired effect, we will strip the unwanted grass, till up and smooth the subsurface and re-sod the approach with bentgrass.  This process will mimic the methods we plan to use when we start the renovation project.  This will allow members to see the process and witness the effort required to eliminate years of contamination from undesirable grasses.  It also allows us to evaluate rates and products to better gage when we need to start this process before we begin work on new course.  It is imperative we have total eradication of all turfgrass to ensure the best success after the work is completed.

The chipping area will be open for use during this process except for the days we apply the products, to ensure no tracking of these products onto other playable surfaces.  We anticipate the total process to take 6-8 weeks.  The area will be back open for play once we determine the new sod has taken root and can withstand play.

I will be posting updates and more pictures as we progress with this project.

More Poa tales

Recently you may have noticed large splotches of brown in the fairways and some of the rough.  This grass is Poa Trivialis or roughstalk Bluegrass.  This weak low lying turfgrass is found in our weakest areas and invades usually in the cool fall period and over the winter.

When we had the unusually wet May and we were trying to mow grass whenever possible we used a plant growth regulator (PGR) to trim back the growth of fairways and rough.  The use in fairways is normal, but this year we tried using the PGR in the roughs.

Rough and fairway grass on 6

Fairway on 18

This grass is best suited to low wet and high traffic areas.  Normally we see this grass start to stress out when the weather gets hot.  In this case we used a generic substitute with the same active ingredient and strength, but the inerts were different.  What happened, we are not sure, but it did affect the poa trivialis universally across the course.  Interesting that both bent grass and poa annua were not affected.  We know in some cases the generics have adverse effects, but in trying to shave costs when using a product across more acerage than normal we seemed to have caused a problem that we don't know how to correct.  

Our hope is that it is discolored and will bounce back but as with most things in nature we are waiting to see what effects remain.

Trials and Tribulations

If you have used the chipping green in the last 6 months you may have noticed several odd patches of turf.  Some look like they were burned, others off color.  We have been conducting trials with Virginia Tech looking at various combination products for the elimination of poa annua and poa trivial is on putting greens and fairways.

The trial on the chipping green was looking at 7 different products or combinations of products, replicated 3 times.  These trials at golf courses under real world conditions help the university as well as the industry understand how these products work from year to year and area to area.  We hope to be able to continue research work with VT to gain valuable insight into product development and programs that may benefit us in the future.

The fairway trial on 13 was looking at Poa Trivialis eradication and elimination.  The goal to to find the best method to slowly eliminate this weed, and/or provide a method to keep populations low so that normal practices can prevent it's spread.  One of the results has been how different varieties of the species react, since not all the Poa is identical.  Seems odd, but some are affected more in the fall than the spring, while others did not see any effect from the applications.

The picture above is not a test plot, but a plea.  We placed these signs at the top of 8 fairway to attempt to get your attention to the slope ahead and to protect the turf on the slope.  We ask that you avoid the steep section of the fairway in your cart and use the rough until you get to the flatter areas at the bottom.   Too  many times we have repaired this area due to carts going directly over the top and then applying brakes to stop at their ball but skidding and damaging turf.  Like all areas on the course, we ask that you try to be mindful of other members using the course and prevent potential damage when possible.

We often see carts cross this boundary and simply drive around the stakes.  We do not wish to rope off the entire hill as that is not only unattractive, but time consuming for staff to setup and remove.  Please ask those in your group to observe the stakes and preserve this fairway for all to enjoy.

New Right green at Hole 5

If you played this weekend then you know we have opened the right green on hole 5.  We closed and replaced the grass on this green last fall using a new variety of creeping bent grass called Luminary.   Why try something new?  Well in the search for what works best at our course, we have very few options.  Until last fall we did not have a nursery anywhere large enough to test new varieties of bent grass for our new greens.

Grasses are continually being developed and breed for better characteristics.  Lower water inputs, less thatch, reduced disease while providing better putting quality.  A lot of grasses are introduced into the National Bentgrass Trials that are conducted all over the United States.  As most things, newer varieties bring advances that the older grasses did not have.  In order to test these grasses in real world situations on our course only two methods work,  seed or sod.

So why pick 5 green and why Luminary?  Well the only place we have two greens is 5, and Luminary has been at the top of the ratings for the past 4 years.  Is this the grass we are going to use on the course?  Maybe.....  this is why we want to put something into play and see how it reacts.  We need to evaluate how it takes various maintenance operations while determining if it can withstand traffic and play.

Remember we must give the sod farm our choice of seeds to plant next spring for harvesting the following summer, so that leaves us little time to determine what is best for our course.  How good of a test this will be is difficult to determine.  The sod was grown at a farm we are not familiar with, then we placed it on a green that is one of the most problematic on the course.  Built with bunker sand, modified multiple times and very small with shade issues.  If this grass plays well here, then everywhere else should be easy.

What you will notice is the green will look different, possibly coarser texture, and the ball may not roll out as well.  This is all to be expected in the beginning as we work out grain and thatch from the sod farm.  In addition we will be putting the turf under different chemical controls to see how it reacts.   Again, remember we have a very limited time to make our decisions and evaluate our options.  Number 8 green is 007, 5 left green is A4, 5 right Luminary, and there are other varieties such as V8, Pure distinction, Barracuda and others that all have favorable ratings but there issues as well.  In fact we looked at over 20 sod farms and could only find Luminary at one, the other varieties at none.    This is a difficult process and one we take very seriously, we will be putting this green under various stresses but it is our one chance to see how it holds up to our conditions.

I will be updating our evaluations as we progress through the year.  If you have any questions please wave me down and I will be happy to discuss our thoughts.

Springtime Conditions

Well it must be spring at WGCC if the current talk is of inconsistent growing conditions.  This is nothing new here at our club, as far back as I have records for greens committee ( a long time), this topic has been broached and addressed.  So here I will attempt to explain why the grass seems unruly and what we can do about it (or not).

A club with as long of a history as us, has tried many approaches to grassing the course.  We have had no less than 4 grasses put into fairways, almost 7 types of rough grass and yet we still have issues of keeping it alive and playable.  Why?  As many heard me speak about the needs for renovation, golf courses are highly maintained playing surfaces, with a lot of conditions not seen at other arenas.  It's not a lawn, where you have one maybe two types of grass on a small patch  with little to no traffic.  In fact many home lawns don't grow at the same rates from the front to back yard, just due to the slight environment change around the house.  The sunny front starts first while the shady back yard is slow to green up.  I doubt most have the same plants in their flowers beds all around the house, some for shade others for sun.

A golf course has a multiple of growing zones, and within those a multiple of grasses.  I'm not that good at statistics, but pair those two multiples up and throw in temperature swings and the possibilities are staggering.  Coupled with this are a few aggressive weedy types (poa annua and trivialis) and then a few warm season grasses, like 4 different varieties of Bermuda, and you can see until nature has decided to stop the roller coaster ride known as spring, everyone wakes up like your kids....  at different times.

The above picture is the collar at the 14th green.  It contains 4 different grasses,  Creeping bent; Poa annua; Poa trivialis; and Perennial ryegrass.  There are variety differences within those 4 grasses.  All mowed the same but growing at different rates.  We begin to use a growth regulator to even this out, but only once we know the growing process has started for all the grasses.  Setting back a species this early in the season can lead to longer term issues in the summer.

This picture of the 15th hole indicates why we are advocates of renovation.  This shows all our warts in one simple picture.  All the grass types we have are in this one photo. Notice the only grass I have been responsible for planting is the strip on the left, outside the fairway.  That is turf type tall fescue in a uniform stand.  Playable, attractive and uniform.  The area to the right is everything you could put into a blender.   This has been decades in the making.  All attempts at trying to find a grass that best fits our climate, course, topography and play.  It's not easy, farmers get to rotate out their crops every few years.  Plant all new seed varieties and try again. Not the same when your planting, nurturing and maintaining a playing surface and come to find out a few years later it might have been wrong, or a newer type is better.  You can't simply dig it up and start over like a soccer or football field, we just try to make it more playable even though it isn't adapting to the local conditions.

Do we have all the answers for the new course?  We are using all the tools available to minimize any missteps, research has come a long ways, but you don't get to try out everything everywhere on your course.  There is no Amazon Prime return policy.  We make the best educated decisions possible, consult with everyone imaginable and look at all the options.  We consider those factors that affect the members and the playing conditions, and those that advantage the maintenance to keep these new conditions great as long as possible.

We wish there was a simple book to consult and make it happen, but this is nature and that book is constantly being rewritten.

Spring! It's here... I think

It's time again to bring everyone back up to speed on happenings around the course.  After all the long winter months of various work we begin again the maintenance of the course and grounds.  So many projects that it all blurs a little bit at this time of year.

Of course we are busy diligently working on the new renovation,  lots of planning to do and there will be updates along the way (aside from the greens chairmans) on things we are doing to make sure this process is a success.

Speaking of spring,  I had the chance to visit Augusta and the Masters again.  I try to make this trip every few years, just to see the spectacle of that special place.  Sometimes I can pick up a trick they are using and usually runs into some other superintendents there as we all take in a little of turf heaven.

The pure delight in being able to have access to this marvelous course always makes you appreciate the game and the effort to preserve history and tradition.  Something that ties into WGCC with it's own long story to tell.   Even though this course undergoes more changes that anyplace else on earth, it still retains it distinct feel and look.  As perfect as everything is, and certainly nothing seems out of place....  There are still problems if you look hard enough.

The spots you see here are Poa annua that has invaded the turf.   Notice they are where foot traffic is the greatest.  Even the most cared for course known to man is still susceptible to issues we all face.  In this case no one seems to notice, their eyes diverted to the rest of the grounds, but I assure you those on the staff are as aware as we are of it's presence and issues.  Luckily for them they are open only another month before they close down and work to eliminate their problems.