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!