Fairway/rough bermuda eradication

In the last couple of weeks, we have made our last application of the bermuda eradication chemicals for the 2009 season. We have made our 5th application over 2 seasons on fairways 4, 7, 8, and 13. We also included our first cut of regular rough around all fairways and made applications to various tees to reduce the bermuda encroachment as well.(4/12, 6, 9, 11 blue, 13, 16, 17 and 18)

The green committee has been in discussions regarding additional applications to other fairways. Our concerns as a group are that the longer we wait to spray more fairways, the more severe the encroachment of the bermuda into our zoysia. Early this week, we made applications in spots on fairways 1-3, 10, 12, 15-18. These spots are smaller than the spot applications you will see in the pictures below from hole #13. We sprayed those areas at a reduced speed so that we would impact less zoysia turf. I also picked these spots because of the amount of zoysia turf in the spots which will help us with recovery of these areas. The spots will probably become visible to you in the next 5-7 days. The affects this season will probably be like the turf is going into dormancy which it is getting This application will probably not take out the bermuda but will reduce its vitality for next spring so that our zoysia will begin to move into some of these areas. We will also sod as needed in more severely affected areas. Additional applications will be made next season.

The picture below is of hole #13 with the application made about 10 days ago. The application was not made in total in the fairway but was spot sprayed to reduce the effects of the chemical on the non-bermuda areas of zoysia. Zoysia is tolerant to the chemical which means it will not be killed by the products but will yellow and will not be as vigorous during the first couple of weeks of application. We also sprayed the rough on the left side all the way to the cart path and on the right side about 30'. You can see some slight discoloration in these areas. Most areas of our first cut of rough were sprayed from cart path to about 30-40' on the opposite side of the fairway.

The next picture is from September 2008. During this application, we sprayed the entire fairway and the rough was sprayed with one of the two chemicals we were using. This application was made a couple of weeks earlier than the 2009 application which is why the rough is slightly more off color in last year's picture. We have made 3 applications on the rough on #13 and I believe we are beginning to make some very significant impact to this area. This view below is looking down 13 fairway and demonstrates the the effects that the material has on the zoysia and the bermuda. The zoysia turns off color/yellow and the bermuda turns red. As we continue to reduce the size of our bermuda contamination, the squares will be significantly reduced and our zoysia will fill in the voids left by the bermuda turf. The darker green turf in the fairway is where we did not spray the chemical mixture.

The picture below is from the most recent spray in 2009 on #13. You can see that the bermuda is very thin and soil is becoming exposed in the right side of the picture. The next picture is from September 2008 and you can see how strong the bermuda turf is and that there is no soil visible in this picture. Our applications are working and we are making progress as we attempt to push the bermuda out of our main play areas.

The last picture is between the forward tee on #11 and the fairway. The ride side of the picture is where we sprayed our bermuda eradication materials and to the left is rough that was not sprayed. We made two passes with our spray rig which covered 40'. We are seeding into these areas about 20' off of the fairways. As we continue to reduce the bermuda population, we will

expand the area of seeding over the next few years.