Around The Golf Course: July Edition

 Hey folks!

Lots going on around the golf course these days.  Our staff has been hard at work in what could only be described as "difficult weather conditions".  It's as if there are only two options for weather this year, stinking hot or pouring rain. The heat and moisture have created "super mega growing conditions" for the turf, weeds and vegetation that inhabit the golf course. And while we welcome the growth, the poorly timed rain can limit our ability to deal with it.  We find our selves mowing in wet situations just to stay ahead of the growth, and then following the mowers with blowers to keep the clippings and mess to a minimum.  The weather tends to mess with our scheduling and there's been a lot of early morning alterations.  Complicating our organization of the day is the unpredictability of the thunderstorms, its hard to schedule applications to better the golf course.  Pesticides, fertilizer, growth regulators and wetting agents can be drastically affect by a pop up thunderstorm that drops a surprise 15 mm of rain. Lots of rain can be a pain but the grass loves it so that's not the worst problem to have.

The amount of rain is making our bunker adjustment program difficult to get going.  So far we have edged all of the sand traps on the golf course, moved the sand from collections points to the areas where it is thin and as of this week have begun adding sand to the thin areas. 

Here are AJ and Dennis checking the depths of the sand in the traps and adding sand.  

Each Toro Workman load is roughly a ton of sand.  The delivery truck has about 32 tons or 32 workman  loads to distribute. As of today we are on our second truck load.

 If not for the thunderstorms we would have been ahead of this by now.  Each storm resets the repairs and frustrates our daily efforts.  One of the big complaints from the 2022 survey was the compaction of the sand.  To help with this we've purchased a belly aerifier for our sand trap rake but the supply chain issues have let us down and it yet to arrive.  In the mean time we send out the staff with iron garden rakes to loosen up the sand after each rain storm, a very grueling job but the guys do a great job. There are days where mowing will take priority as the sand is static and the grass won't stop growing.

Here's Ryan, Tyson and Caleb hand raking the last trap on 18

We have also begun the renovation of the trap on number 7 fairway.  I'm sure folks have noticed that it looked abandoned but the project was low on the priority list considering our other difficulties in the spring.  On Monday we dug the liner out and began reshaping the sub surface.  The initial problem had developed from the rocky subsoil.  As the frost pushed the rocks up in the spring, they carried the liner and it would catch the rake as it went through the trap.  The rocks created an unsafe playing surface and until we could get to it we just left it as ground under repair.   

This is the base under the trap on 7 Fairway.

Our plan is correct the sub surface but also alter the traps configuration.  With the loss of the tree on seven it seemed like a good time to make some changes.

Hers an arial photo of the bunker in its current state.

And here are the changes we are going to make. Pardon the graphics, I'm banging this out in Markup.

We are going to split the one bunker into two and fill in the area in between with fairway. On the left side we will be extending the bunker toward the tee, hoping to catch more errant balls headed for the hazard.  Hopefully there aren't too many surprises underground and all goes well, but if so we will adjust and keep you informed.   I cant give a date for competition as its supposed to rain all next week, but we will work on it when we can.

The greens recovery is about the 99 % mark.  Out of the 150000 square feet of greens on the course we might a 1 or 2 thousand feet left that needs some attention.  Some of the members have been asking about our plan to correct the remaining issues.  A bit of history first.  Around the 15th of June we began our Primo applications on the greens. Primo is a growth regulator primarily used to improve green speed and slow growth.  It does this by reducing vertical growth of the plant and increasing horizontal growth.  It slows growth to the point that afternoon golf should be around the same speed as the morning games. One draw back is that if you have damage it slows the growth of seedlings as well, and is recommended by the manufacturer to only use when there is an 80 coverage of plant material on the green. 

So basically after the Primo applications begin, seeding is not very effective.  Its from this point that we turn to mechanical removal.  The guys have been hard at work, plugging the stubborn bad spots of our two worst greens, number 9 and 2.  

These are the spots giving us trouble.  I pick a location and have the guys start pulling plugs with the hole changers.

The bad plugs are moved to the edge of the green on a slope where a ball would rest.  

This is slow and painful process, however the results are guarantied.  So far the boys have changed about a 100 plugs on 9 and about 75 on 2.  We do continue to seed these areas, as even with the reduced efficacy, but it will help.

You may have noticed that we have also been adding top soil  and seed to the edges of the cart paths around the golf course. Please do not step or drive in these areas, the topsoil is soft and will be ruined by traffic.  Please respect the barriers.

Dont do this.

Or this.

Or move those barriers...

Or move these barriers.

In addition to not moving the barriers please keep all four cart tires on the cart path around the green and tees.  Do not pull off the path to allow space for the crew or beverage cart.  The wear on the turf from our vehicles and the beverage cart is very little as compared to 150 carts per day.

On Monday July 24th we will be venting, topdressing and rolling the greens.  There will be a small impact on the playing surfaces and after a few days it will be unnoticeable.

The process has a few steps.  The first step is to top-dress the green at a light rate.  This is done first so that the top-dresser rides on firm ground rather than after the aerator, where it would leave ruts in the softened surface.  

The tines we will be using on Monday.  These are 1/4 inch "Pencil" tines.

After the the aerator has gone through, we then roll the surface, drag the sand in and then finally mow the green. 

This process allow for water, nutrients, and gas exchange from the surface.  It will dry the green surface out faster and aid in evaporation of the surface water, something that is mission critical this summer. 

The whole process should take about 30 minutes per green and as a result we will be holding off tee times until 10 o'clock am. We will continue the process until caught by the golfers and then finish the rest of the green for Tuesday morning. 

Thanks to everyone and their patience!  Stay tuned for more info later!

Last of the Temps

 Hey folks!

Great news! As of June 7th, all of the temporary greens will be back into play! It's been a long difficult spring and most of the members have shown great patience and kindness in waiting for the recovery. I'll remind everyone that the greens just recently opened 3, 7,11,12,13,17,18 will be playing slower than the greens open since the beginning of the season.  

There will be quite a few areas like this where the the plants have germinated and the recovery is moving nicely in the right direction.  There are still some gaps in canopy as the plants grow together, but with some heat and attention they will improve quickly. 

 As part of the process, the closed greens were maintained at a higher height of cut, and over the next little bit we will be working them down to our regular summer height.  

Here's a look at our progress over the last few weeks.

Number 13:

April 14th.  The two portions of the green with the green rectangles are where our black matts were over the winter.  We intend to expand this process but that's a different blog post.

April 14th

April 20th

Mid May.

June 6th.

Number 7:

Not all of the areas are at 100 percent so you'll probably see the pins in the same locations for a little while as the weak areas continue to improve, but with a little bit of heat things will get better quickly. 

 A few members have asked about the rain in the last few days and if that will have a positive effect. 

 With Bent grass, very little growth occurs below the 12 to 15 degree range, especially when overcast and windy.  At these temps fertilizers don't work and, growth is ground to a halt. These temps don't hurt the plant directly however, the combination of constant moisture, weakened cell walls from earlier excessive fertilizer (from growing in) and lack of sunshine can lead to the onset of disease. 

Here's a photo of "Leaf spot", taking from Number 9 yesterday.  We plan on treating for this disease as soon as it stops raining (if ever). 

Healthy adult plants would obviously be able to better withstand disease but the seedlings can suffer from the pressure that the current environmental parameters present.

The fairways continue to also improve, and the constant rain over the last few day will help the seed to germinate.  Kentucky Bluegrass, the main species we use on the fairways, does better in lower temps than Bent grass, but like the Bent the progress is slowed. Generally speaking, the best benefit this weather provides is the lack of traffic on the course, which is of course ironic, because we need the traffic to sustain the golf course.

The carts will remain on the cart paths at least until Friday and when it stops raining (if ever) we look forward to finally lifting all restrictions. Stay tuned for more!

Greens update, June 1 2023

 Hi Folks!

Finally the weather has turned around!! The weather during the past week has really pushed the turf and things are moving quickly.  All of the time and effort from the staff is finally paying off and our seeding program is at last reaching fruition.  As of Friday June 2 we will be opening 12, 16, 17, 18 greens. Here's a look at where we started and where were at today.

Number 17:

April 26th

May 5th

June 1 

Number16:

Number 12:

While the greens are not perfect, with the better growing conditions they will improve quickly.  The remaining greens 7, 11 and 13 require just a bit more time and will be back into play soon.

As far as the fairways are concerned, there has been great improvement over the last few weeks and we intend on opening them up next week as well.  Here's a link  to a video fly over comparing from mid April to June 1. 

Click Here---->   Fly Over of Fairway Damage 2023

I appreciate everyone's patience and understanding.   If you have any questions about the golf course don't hesitate to call or send me and email.

Adam.

May 11 Update

Hey Folks,

Tomorrow is opening day!!  I'm sure everyone is excited to get out on the golf course and see how their swings have kept over the winter.  We've been busy prepping the golf course for play and working on the recovery from the winter.  

The past weekend saw some temps that were well above the seasonal norms, which is great, how ever the rest of the week was dreadful.  The highs barely broke 10 degrees and the night time temps were below freezing.  Fortunately it doesn't look like we've lost too many seedlings due to the freezing temps, but the growth rate was negligible for most of the week. 

This is from 18 green, you can see the seedlings are fine but not much movement from last week.  The important part is that we haven't gone backwards.

Please feel free to walk up to the greens and see how we are making out.  The greens look good from a distance but with closer inspection its easy to see how sparce they are. We understand the temps are frustrating, but the pain experienced now will pay off later. 

This is three green on April 14th

Three green today.  Its still thin but improving quickly.

The weather for today, Friday and the weekend looks good and hopefully by late next week we should see some of the greens back in play. Number 3 and 18 are not far from opening, we just need some more growth to spur them on.  Some of the others are farther behind and will require more time to move forward, but things are still going forward despite the poor weather.  On Monday we will add another layer of seed and continue to encourage growth with fertilizer and water.  

I should address some rumours though. The damaged greens are not in great shape, but will be back into play as humanly (or rather as vegetatively) possible.  We have all the resources needed to return  the greens to the condition that our customers expect, however we do not have the weather. Despite the poor weather we are using all the tips and tricks I know to speed things up, and as the weather improves so will the conditions of the greens. Historically the weather will begin to improve now and growing conditions will as well.  I'm not sure who is saying the greens will take until July to recovery but please stop, that's ridiculous. 

If you have a question please contact me, by email, by phone or in person.  We are very transparent about our conditions, and will gladly have a discussion about any aspect of the golf course.

As we continue our war of attrition with the greens recovery we are also working on other parts of the golf course.  All of the golf course has been mowed at least once, and the routines are starting for regular growth expectations.

The staff has been pulling dead wood out of the areas along 6 and 16 during the recent frost delays we have had.  We will get to chipping this early next week.

The large tree on number seven fairway broke off during the winter.  We have removed the tree, but were still deciding what to do with the area.  

The staff are also working on the traps. We began the process on Monday with the return of the University staff.  In between taking tarps off and putting them back on we have been cleaning the debris and repairing the liners from the winter damage.  We usually begin with the greenside traps and then move on to the fairway traps. If you end up in a trap that is still in disrepair take a lift and play from the rough. 

We've also been hard at work installing drainage on 15 fairway, 5 tee and lining cart paths with topsoil to better the transition from turf to asphalt.  

During the first week of play the carts will remain on the cart paths, this is not due to wetness but rather to aid in reinstating the fairways damaged from the winter.  Much like the greens we have some fairways that suffered ice damage and will be cart path or rough only for a while.  

Good luck tomorrow and enjoy your day!!!!  Stay tuned for further progress!!

May 5th Update and Opening date

 Hello Folks,

Just a quick update to talk a bit about the opening and whats going on around the course.  Despite the cold and wet weather of the past week we continue to move forward with repairing the greens from the winter damage.  Shout out to my staff to have worked hard in rather uncomfortable weather over the last week. 

On Monday of this week we took the germination tarps off the greens and I was pleasantly surprised to see that our mid -April seeding had germinated.  In anticipation of the poor weather forecasted for Wednesday/Thursday, we put the tarps back on for Tuesday night but not before mowing the healthy parts of the greens.  One of the big concerns with seeding this early in the year is loss of seed to freezing.  Fortunately, the tarps prolong the warmth of the day and shelter the seedings from the frost.  This morning, we pulled the tarps off again to mow, fertilize and water the greens.   It looks like Mother nature is going to help us out next week with some high teen and low twenties temps and some greatly needed sunshine. Its probably going to be too hot this weekend (hard to believe I'm saying that) to keep the tarps on, with that amount of fertilizer and and water we could cook the seedlings.

The seeding growth on 18 green as of May 5th.

Our plan as of today is to open the course on the 12th of May.  This is much earlier than expected but it comes with a caveat, there will unfortunately be eight temporary greens.   We know the damaged greens are not ready for play but the rest of the course is in pretty good shape, and as it wont hurt anything, you should be able to take advantage of that.  

Here are the current photos of the greens (less 3green) that will be temped for the opening.

Number 11 green

Number 18 green

 

Number 7 green

Number 16 green

Number 13 green

Number 12 green

As you can see from the pictures the common problem with these greens is the damage has occurred where the pins would be set. Some are more severe than others so the recovery rates will be different for each location.  Ill keep updating this blog with our progress.

Over the last few weeks our efforts have not gone unrewarded.  Here are a few photos of the 17th green and its progression.

Number 17 green April 26

Number 17 green April 30th

Number 17 green May 5

The tarps will remain off for the weekend so feel free to come out for a walk and see the course and current conditions (watch out for the sprinklers).  These are not the types of blog posts that are pleasant to write, but rest assured, we will continue to grind until things are back to normal.  As always, feel free to drop an email, ask a question, or stop by the shop for a chat.  See you soon!

Pre-Season Update

 Hey folks,

For those returning, welcome back to the golf course. For those who have just joined welcome to West Hills!! 

This post will be about the current conditions on the golf course and some the changes that have occurred on the golf course over the winter.   The 2022/2023 winter has been tough one on the golf course.  The early ice development followed by record breaking rain and low temperature periods have created situations that are problematic.  When the ice sits on the surface of the turf for prolonged periods it can cause the turf suffocate and result in poor spring conditions.  This is that type of winter.  Of our 20 greens (including the two practice greens) all but two have suffered some form of scarring from the winter. While its still early in the spring, the trees have yet to bud, we can tell that there will need to be some repairs before the greens can be opened fully.   

Number 11, 12, 13, 17,7 and 3 really took it on the chin this winter, with a loss of about 60 percent of the turf on the green surfaces.  Each of the these greens had a significant amount ice on the green when I took the snow off in the end of February.   Here's a photo of the ice. 

Roughly 2 to 3 inches of solid black ice on each green. This photo is from 16 on February 20.

A common factor with these greens is that they all have a north facing slopes. Because the sun is so low in the winter sky, and north slopes basically face away from it, the sun can't fully melt the ice or snow on the surface.  This results in re-freezing at night and thickening the of ice layers.  Add rain to the situation and ice layers continue to thicken.  To help remove the ice from the surfaces we removed the snow in late February and spread organic deicers to break up the ice.  Right afterwards, we break through the ice and pull core samples from the greens. Those are placed in water in the shop and warmed up to see what's going on. Most of the samples were weak and thin.

During the second week of April, right after the Masters (which by the way is awful timing) most of the two feet of snow that was on the course melted.  The unseasonably warm temps that week went a long way to waking up the turf and breaking the winter dormancy period. This really gave us an idea of what was going on and what we had to deal with.  

Number 12 April 17.  Pretty clear the low spots held water, also you can see the damage from an ATV that traveled the course late fall.

Number 13, not quite out of dormancy but the damage is evident already.

Number 7, low areas showing signs of damage.

So on these greens there is a significant amount of winter damage.  Once we are able to see the extentwe put a plan in place to begin the repair process.    The rest of the golf course faired better but was still touched by the long winter.  2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 1, 15,10, and 14 greens have very small areas of damage and will recover quickly.  16 and 18 are a little more severe and as a result are we are following out recover steps to return the condition to normal. 

 The obvious question is how long will the recovery process take.  That depends on a few factors, the weather being the most important.  We have seeded, fertilized and topdressed the weak greens and have placed breathable tarps over those areas to increase temperatures.  Aside from our efforts we also need a helping hand from mother nature.  Seed begins to germinate at around ten degree, but doesn't really effectively take off until the upper teens.  The up and down temperatures we've been experiencing aren't  helpful, but doesn't cause issues with the efficacy of the seed. However it will slow its gemination rate. Warmer consistent temps are what we are after, and we haven't seen this yet. 

Once the temperatures do get to where we want, things will move quickly and in short order the course will return to normal conditions.  

Here are some photos of the slightly damaged greens:

Number 15 April 28th

Number 1, April 28th

Number 8, April 27

Number 9, April 28

Number 18, Tarped and waiting better weather.

On the subject of opening day, we haven't been able to solidify a date as of yet.  Please stay tuned to see how the course develops over the next few weeks.