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.