How turf care decisions are made (or why are carts on the path?)

The green department is responsible for the care and conditioning of the golf course and grounds.  We understand all the factors in play for every decision we make.  From daily mowing and other cultural care, to how will the course play for members each and every day.  We are on the property walking, riding, conferring about the turf 7 days a week, nearly every day of the year.

When a storm or other weather related event occurs, we know the conditions on the ground before, during and after a storm.  We evaluate these conditions multiple times a day, and discuss the impacts.  We base our evaluations on safety to the members and staff, damage to the course, time of the growing season, and effects on play.  We also understand the time and effort it takes to recover from unnecessary damage, the effect on playability, and on the budget.

We know better than most, the members desire to enjoy their rounds of golf using carts.  We do not apply rules to punish those members, or to demonstrate our control of the process.  The one thing we do not factor in is the tee sheet.  These decisions are based on sound management practices.

Over the course of a year, there are approximately 6-8 days that require us to make a judgement call on restricting cart traffic.   My team is constantly conferring about what we see around the course.  We use all available information to determine if conditions will continue to improve or deteriorate.  Our combined 16 years of experience on this course help us base our decisions in the best interest of the club.  In many cases, we feel that one more day of drying conditions will make the course better and safer for all the members in the future.

We know these decisions are not always well understood and certainly not popular, but it is our responsibility to make these decisions in the best interests of all the members.  

The 5th Green

Once again here we go with tearing up and working on a green that seems fine.  In a nutshell your right, there was nothing wrong, except for the grass and the mix and maybe the size, but it worked right?  Well yes it did, but in our search for the best putting green grass for our course we continue to experiment with different surfaces.

Similar to the nursery project we continue to evaluate and search of the best combination of grass and putting surfaces for our course.  We have the luxury of having two greens on this hole to let us experiment.  In this case we again sodded the green to a new species of grass.  Two years ago we sodded the left green to a variety used in this area by many clubs, A1/A4, this combination has proved to be a good putting surface.  As with most things research and genetics work to improve turfgrass for putting greens.

The 5th right green has now been sodded to Luminary.  This grass is one of the new breeds that has shown great performance in the USGA and university trials across the US and especially in our region.   We are the first in our area to have a green with this grass.  The 007 variety on the 8th green was first released in 2007, and has been becoming a dominant player in course upgrades.  We wanted a chance to see how Luminary compared to 007 since it has been receiving higher marks across the board in trials.  Only by using it in real world playing conditions can we see how the performance stacks up to the other grasses.

In addition the sod was delivered in small strips, similar to what we normally see, so we had a chance to observe the process of using small strips versus the large rolls in establishment.  It is too early to tell anything about performance but we are excited to get your feedback once the green opens for play in the late spring.


Below is a little video discussing trees on the course, provided by the USGA:

USGA on Managing Trees

Lots to catch up on

Its been awhile since I've posted and I'm sorry about the delay but many things are occurring as we enter fall.  First and foremost is the upcoming vote on the golf course renovation project.  As you all know this important vote has many ramifications to the club and the use of the facilities, and if it passes how will the new course will look and play.  

As all those things get sorted out, we turn our focus to the details and decisions that may need to be made.  Selection of grass types to be used for greens, tees, fairways and roughs.  What type of bunker sands and how will they look and play.  Should we install liners to help longevity of the bunker sand from heavy rains, do the costs support the use.  Which sod farms can handle our needs and specifications.  These and a 1000 small details start to emerge.  

So where do we start?  The first step we have made is to build a new turf grass nursery to the left side of the 10th fairway.   Over the years we have struggled to find space to grow sod which can be used when a problem arises, and/or to test new grass strains or treatments within our environs. Depending on the time of year and also the amount that is required, we can have a difficult time getting what we need and can also be forced to pay exorbitant prices for small amounts. This nursery will mitigate, and in most cases prevent these issues.

In the past we have located turf nurseries in a variety of places: to the left and in front of the 6^th tee, left of the 7^th fairway, and in the back left of the driving range. All these options were less then optimal due to either visually impairing the golf course, too low with bad drainage, and/or too much shade. The area to the left of the 10^th fairway should overcome all the aforementioned issues. 

Next we start to visit other clubs in the Mid Atlantic and the Research Universities to see what varieties of turf are working best and try to equate those to our growing environments.   Many members are interested in a greens variety  called 007; many local clubs are using this grass; Burning Tree, River Bend, Chevy Chase Club, Baltimore CC and soon Bethesda CC.  Another variety called Pure Distinction is being used in the renovation underway at Caves Valley.  Many clubs in the area including Congressional use A1/A4.   Another variety that we plan to use in the new nursery is Luminary which has seen outstanding results in all the trials.  We will make visits through all the seasons of the next year to see performance under all conditions.

 This combined with testing fairway/tee grasses would be enough, but that still leaves sands, liners, topdressing, construction methods etc... you get the drift.  A lot has yet to be determined.  The budget now seems like the simple process.  We have started a dialog with our USGA agronomist concerning all issues construction related.  If you have a chance you should read our latest site visit report, located on the clubs website, under the greens tab, which will help shed light on the many decisions facing us as we go forward.  A strong discussion about trees will need to happen, I will be updating several articles in my next post to help frame these decisions.

A quick look at the developing nursery under construction.  We hope to have about 1500 sf of greens grass and ~1200sf of fairway grass to test.  With luck we will wrap this up in the next two weeks.  A big shout out to both Trevor and Kevin, they are the two guys working hard to make this happen.  

Some of the debris pulled out of this area

Grading to ensure proper drainage and surface smoothness for greens mowing

Now we are still focused on the course; and you will see us getting a handle on the vine problems right of the 15th green.  Over the last 2 ½ years our staff have been preparing the hillside between the 15^th and 17^th greens to transition to a natural grass habitat. The area had become overgrown with vines that had been attacking the trees as well as being infested with poison ivy. It has taken several years of treatments to rid the area to a point that we are now able to lay sod. The sod provides the necessary base we require and in the coming years we will slowly transition to a mix of longer native grasses. Think along the lines of wispy grasses with a green base underneath.  Next time you play the 15^th I suggest that you walk to the right of the green and take in the views from the top of the hill.  It is truly one of the prettiest places on our course with views of 7 of our holes….a very unique place.

Similar to what you see take place at 15/17 we will begin a similar effort to the left of the 13th green.   The issue of invasive vines is a problem all around the area.  You can see these plants taking over parts of the washington parkway.  Once established they are difficult to eradicate without intense and expensive effort.  Fortunately on our staff now we have a master naturalist, Leigh Pickering, who has taken this as her personal project.  Using practices we used successfully on the 15/17 hill we will begin the long process of creating lifesaver rings around several of the trees to reduce the invasive vines creep on the trees.  This effort will take several years, but the long term results worth the effort.

As for the rest, aeration went well, with all greens, fairways and approaches completed.  Two applications of fall fertilizer have been applied to the entire course and the rough has been over seeded once if not twice in specific areas.  A few drainage projects are still planned for later in the fall, but we have been fortunate to accomplish a lot this fall to date.  I will post more pictures of the completed projects, the new nursery and some site visits as they occur over the next few months.  Enjoy the warm fall weather!

Answers to your rough questions

Last week I was asked the following question by a member: “Why are all the lawns in Country Club Hills green and healthy, but the grass on our course is not?”  Answering this seemly basic and innocent question has multiple benefits to the membership; 1) it is a fair question and no doubt on the memberships’ mind; and 2) it brings to light one of the long term issues we have with the course. I hope the following provides both an answer to the question, as well as what we are doing to address it.  

There are a couple of major differences between the course and a private lawn:

1)  The majority of the private lawns do not have the multiple strains of grass that our course has as well as the height tolerances we cut them. Though there are no doubt multiple grass types in private lawns, it is not to the extent and variety that has been introduced to our course over the decades. In addition, our grasses are exposed to a lot more treatments and growth regulators than are "domestic" lawns, thus the plants are under a higher level of stress.

2)  Compaction: Soil compaction is by far our largest enemy in the fairways and rough throughout the course. Our course has very little topsoil which lies on top of a clay foundation. During the summer we get heavy rains followed by severe heat, since the roots of our plants are very shallow due to soil depth, they are basically “boiled” and put under a great deal of stress. This leads to a plant that dies, or is very weak and susceptible to disease. 

       a)  As you can surmise, as the topsoil layer is compacted into the clay level we are left with a very shallow growing area for the roots of our plants. Lawns do not deal with the constant compaction of the soil and thus the restriction/depth of the root base. Believe it or not, golf carts cause more soil compaction then the mowers. The mowers have very large tires that spread out the weight, much like a snow shoe. Further the mowers do not run over the same areas over and over again as they are scheduled to cut multiple patterns.

b)  Another part of the compaction issue is the small footprint of our property. The carts are all funneled to the same areas and as you can see the stress on the course is very prevalent on hillsides that are near cart paths. The vectors of the golf carts and gravity put a lot of stress on the grass (e.g. #3). Further, areas where people drive constantly have compacted the soil to such an extent that grass is unable to grow (e.g. exiting 6 fairway to the 7^th tee area next to the cart path). 

c)  Due to the topography of our course, balls funnel to the same areas (e.g. #3, #4, etc.); therefore cart and walker traffic funnels to the same areas focusing compaction as well.

There is some good news in dealing with the above issues:

1)  The previous sprinkler system’s piping was in many cases only 4 to 8 inches below the surface; therefore we were limited to but a few inches to aerify the fairways and rough in order not to hit the irrigation piping. The value of aerification is two fold: a) it brings much needed air down to the roots which promotes growth; and 2) we are able to introduce sand deeper into the ground which assists in expanding a better growing environment for the roots. This coupled with topdressing builds up and expands the area where the roots of our plants can grow, thus producing a stronger plant.

2)  When we installed the new irrigation system the piping was set at 18 inches below the surface. In addition, last year we purchased a deep tine aerifier that could go down as far as 10 inches. That is the good news. The bad news is that we simply can't start pounding the ground downing to 10 inches to reduce the compaction, increase the root growth area and the air circulation, thus promoting deep root growth in one season...we have 30 to 50 years of serious compaction. Therefore, we go a little deeper every season and introduce more and more sand in order to build up the base, it is a slow and arduous process.   

3)  A very important part of the Master Plan is to strip the sod, loosen up the soil, reduce the compaction that will enable the root growth to push deeper and reduce the issue of heavy rains followed by severe heat boiling our shallow roots. The ability to loosen up the surface soil and in the coming years focus on deep tine aerification will help a great deal in the expansion of growing areas for our plants. We will always have the challenge of our clay based soil, but by loosen the soil, top dressing, using the deep tine aerifier, and focusing on one type of grass for the fairways and one type of grass for the rough we will form a stronger agronomic basis for the foreseeable future.

This is not a sprint, it is not even a marathon; it is a constant battle. One of the largest benefits of the Master Plan is freeing up the compaction that is the supporting structure of the entire course. A tree may have the ability to grow in Brooklyn...but you can't grow grass on concrete: compacted soil produces shallow roots...shallow roots produce weak plants....weak plants are very susceptible to disease and severe weather changes.  Just like our greens, the foundation of the course is tired. There is no doubt excitement about Tom Doak and the possibility of new "greens," but one of the greatest benefits of the Master Plan is refreshing the base and the compaction reduction of the course throughout....it isn’t exciting....but neither is the foundation of your house.

If we choose not to go forward with the Master Plan we will continue the process of deep tine aerification, top dressing, and attempting to alternate cart traffic throughout the course to reduce focused compaction. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.

And Here We Go!

Well July was some month and August is starting off with more of the same.  The only good thing is the night time temperatures usually start to relax mid month and we can start to get aggressive with programs to kick start some of the problem areas.

To recap the last 30 days I refer to the stress index compiled by PACE turf laboratories for our location.  The left colored column is a composite of the stress on cool season grasses from air and soil temperatures.  As you can see only red days with a few scattered yellows in the last month.  Conversely those same days were excellent growing weather for Bermuda (warm season grass)

As we try to survive the last of the summer heat, I want to stress the impact carts have on the turf.  We try to avoid being both too wet and too dry which is difficult on this greatly sloping and multi environment course.  But sometimes we are trying to overcome the damage carts impart to the turfgrass.  The first example is just taking a very tight turn.  We often see this in an attempt to identify a ball or sometimes just get closer.  Please pull up to the correct side to play and take the time to get out and look at the identification.  This type of damage now requires us to overwater to avoid this area becoming what we see in the following picture.

Below is the 4th fairway landing area.  A section that can be too wet on occasion, but when left to dry down, excessive cart traffic scars the turf and creates a situation where we will again have to overwater to ensure the turf survives the heat of the late day.

Well enough of the woes of summer heat.  I want to touch on divots and the healing process.  Many always ask what to do when taking a divot and why there is not seed in the mixture.  Simply put bent grass seed in a fairway divot works best in the cool spring on our course.  

At that time of year the seeds stays moist enough to germinate without excessive water, and with no leaves to blow, stays in place until it matures.  In the summer unless the divot is sufficiently large and deep it is best to fill with sand and level off with your foot.

This makes the surface smooth and won't dull the mowers that pass over the sand.  The example below show someone who replaced the divot properly, but due to us trying to dry down fairways the divot died due to low moisture.  This is a difficult balancing act.

A sand filled divot below shows how the bent grass will creep over the scar and fill smoothly on its own if properly filled.  This will not create a depression and will become a smooth playable surface again.  Again using seed in the summer usually only creates another expense, rarely germinates to become viable turf.  Better results happen on tees, which are level and receive more water to continually germinate seeds, and the wetter conditions do not affect play.

In the fall we still rarely use seed since blowers trying to clear leaves, blow the seed in to the rough which creates another type of rough grass to deal with.  Bent grass makes a terrible playing surface when mowed at anything over 3/4" inch, and even worse when mowed at normal rough height of 2 1/4".  

We will begin seeding into rough in the next week or two to re establish the grass that disease and heat took out in the month of June and July.  In most areas the only grass left (hole3) is tall Fescue and Bermuda.  We will be using improved Tall Fescue varieties in this process.  But that discussion of grass types for rough is for next time.

A shout out to my friend Scott Furlong at Robert Trent Jones, who did a magnificent job combating all the early rain to present a tournament course in great shape during a very stressful summer period.  Congratulations to him and his staff for a job well done.  Not sure anyone saw a 61 coming at RTJ especially those who have played the course.  They make it seem like a different game.

July Blues

Well after a long extended period of wetness, now the heat and humidity of normal July are about to return.  We are battling a few issues, mostly related to the elements.  One I've mentioned before is disease  in the rough (every where actually).  Due to the mixed bag of grasses in the rough, at any time multiple diseases are attacking multiple grasses.  I mention this as the picture below shows the difference between a pure stand of tall fescue and the heinz 57 we have.

Above on the left is pure tall fescue, no disease;  same as below left which is new tall fescue sod around the fairway on 15

Whenever I talk about summer and poa annua it always comes down to roots.  High temperatures and saturated conditions mean this shallow rooted plant struggles to compete.  The wet conditions created a situation where the plant had no reason to drive roots deep, so they are even shallower than normal.  The exception seen below is where we have an aeration hole and sand.  That drier condition allowed the plant to put down a few more roots.  It can even be seen that they are very white and healthy.

 This past year we purchased a deep tine aerator that we use in the fairways.  This great picture of some fairway turf shows the effect of an aeration hole and rooting.  Although we have only been able to perform minimal aeration, the results are amazing when air can get into the ground.

Uuuuugh.

Well since my last post there has been another 2+ inches of rain, every day of July so far.  This will not be another pity us blog, but I do want to point out a few things that concern us, but also alert members to some issues that we have no control over.

First, the many issues of being too wet I mentioned in the past post, but here is an example of uncontrollable disease.  The picture below show how affected the rough is to this type of weather.  We do very limited spraying of the rough, but because of our heinz 57 mix, almost any grass can be attacked by any disease in this type of weather pattern.

We would have to spray on a 5-7 day schedule to stop this

 This large limb shown below is from the large Oak at the 7th tee.  This was not storm related, it just dropped one day.  I point this out to be careful when your out there.  The tree and the limb seemed healthy with no obvious signs of distress.  Many of our trees are aging and most were planted at the same time, so as we see some decline around the course, we anticipate others will follow.  Especially trees that see this much traffic around them are more susceptible.  Again this is just to warn you to where you park, or stand.

I mentioned in the last post about the puffy tees.  We performed a heavy verticutt last week to remove excess thatch and apply a sand topdressing.  You can see from this picture how much material we pulled out of the tees.  Again this is not a great time to do this, but the scallping was becoming an issue.  We hope to see these heal in the next few weeks.

Lastly a little information about our lower area below the range parking lot.  It has been mentioned several times that we should reduce the size of the lower area to make the spot more attractive when leaving the 4th tee.  This is a picture of the trucks that deliver sand and compost.  They not only need space to access the area, but also turn around and leave.  A real challenge given our small entrance and tight quarters.  I struggle to find another location that is accessible for these size trucks, which has become the standard for the companies suppling our materials.  We will continue to look for solutions, but you can see we need to plan for these essential supplies.