Well, the worm has turned on the weather here in early November. Our aeration holes are trying to close up but have been a little slower than normal because of the cool weather. I'm not too worried, still plenty of opportunity for some growth over the next few weeks.
In the meantime, we are selling firewood again this year for anyone interested. Its $ 100 delivered inside the 270 beltway. If you prefer self-service, its $ 75.00 a pick up truck load. If you have a smaller vehicle like an SUV, we will normally just charge you $ 25 to $ 30.
Delivery is available Monday-Friday between 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. We can deliver without you being home as long as you let us know where we can stack it for you. Self service pick ups can be done 7 days a week. Please contact me by email jwachter@gecc.org if you have any questions. If you use the self service route, once you've picked up your wood drop we a line so we can charge your account at Glen Echo accordingly. Below is the wood that we have ready at this time.
This is looking from our maintenance building below the first tee toward the long range parking area on the other side of the wooden fence. The wood on the right is seasoned and has been sitting there all season. The wood on the left is seasoned but newly split and needs a month or two to improve its burning ability for those you who will do self service this season.
When you manage playing surfaces at a golf course, you attempt to manage for the masses, the average player which is the majority of players both male and female. We have Club Champions every year who rise to the top in their particular category who play of course better than the average.
But for many clubs, there is a time and a place where players develop into outstanding golfers for the entire region that we encompass. A couple of years ago, Darren Stoffel won the District, Drew Pranger won the Metropolitan Amateur hosted at Glen Echo and Darren and Nathan Calcari won the 2 man at District. We have a number of players who have played well in local amateur events.
This season was an outstanding one for Drew Pranger. He won the Old Warson Cup in the spring, the Metropolitan Amateur in the summer, qualified for the US Mid-Amateur Championship and the Sectional of the US Open. And by the way tied the course record at Glen Echo(Editors note actually tied in a year or more ago) at 63 and then beat it a few days later with a 62.(Editors note: Forgot he did the 62, and then 61) IN FUEGO!!!!!!!!!!!
Before we get to Drew's award, we should recognize Darren Stoffel who won the East Side Amateur this past summer.
Last night, we had the pleasure of being at Old Warson CC to watch Drew receive his award. His family and Glen Echo friends were there as well. I took a short video of the ceremony and a few pics. We have a very competitive group of players right now who can beat the ball around a bit here at Glen Echo. It is fun to watch and I'm glad to be a part of it. I would be remiss if I did not post pics of Men's Senior Amateur Buddy Allen and Ladies Player of the Year Ellen Port.
Had the pleasure of getting to know Ms. Ellen Port when I started at Sunset in 1990. What a great player she was becoming and has since. She is one of my favorites of all-time and our most decorated amateur golfer!
Buddy Allen who had a great year. He's played a number of rounds at Glen Echo and can really strike his golf ball!
This past Monday and half of Tuesday, the staff did our every Fall deep-tine aeration with our
Verti-Drain machine. This process involved about 170 hours of labor, 42 tons of sand, 900 pounds of a soil amendment product, and approximately 1.6 million 1/2" solid tine holes put in our greens, collars and cool season approaches at an average depth of 7.5 to 8.0".
Our process included the following:
Mow the greens
Placed a layer of sand ahead of the aeration
Aerated the greens
Applied a 50# bag of the soil amendment material to each green.
Blew, brushed and pushed the sand into the holes and did a final smoothing of the sandy surface with a drag brush.
Rolled the green surfaces to smooth the surfaces
Changed the holes
Mowed green surfaces with an old set of reels to cut off the tufts of bent grass or longer leaves of plants that were lifted up during the process.
Watered greens a couple of minutes
Aeration of our greens are one of the most important cultural practices that take place on our golf course for the year. We complete this process for a number of reasons:
Improves drainage through our green profiles and assists in drying out wetter sections of greens.
Exchanges good gas(oxygen) with an overabundance of bad gas(carbon dioxide).
Improves drainage and oxygen which is great for developing new roots and improving existing root systems.
Additional sand on the surfaces assists in smoothing the surface after the holes close back together and protects the crowns of the plant which is where roots and leaves start their lives.
It also helps to dilute thatch or improve the mat layer which reduces the effects of ball marks and speeds up the process of healing as long as the mark is repaired by the golfer.
Topdressing machine puts a layer of sand on the greens at about a depth of 1/4" more or less. This is the same machine that we place a very light topdressing layer on our greens during the season. Approximately 3 hoppers of sand for the total golf course. It takes almost 2 loads of sand per the average sized green during aeration. A green such as 1 green we go across it 3 times for very light topdressing. During aeration, its about 10 passes which could increase tire tracking on the greens which we attempt to prevent.
The sand is kiln dried and reaches a temperature of well over 1000 degrees which dries it and kills the weeds and the bad actors in the sand. We brought our 45 tons of sand in on Thursday before the Monday activity so it would have a chance to begin to cool before placing it on the greens. Sand too hot being put on at the heavier rate could literally cook the bent grass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYLffGwfH8c
We started the process before first light on Monday morning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkX8SxCReTs
A daylight view of the aeration. As you can see, 4 tines per holder with 6 arms placing 24 holes in our greens every 3" at a depth on average of nearly 8".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rezk8nRBTM
Tom spreading soil amendment product which includes: Dry kelp meal, greensand, compost, rock phosphate, sulfate of potash magnesia, calcium carbonate, humic acid, zeolite, and compost.
Pull behind blower and staff using back packs during sand into the hole.
Dark thirty the 2nd day.
Hole filled vs no fill.
Completed, holes to the top!!
1.Below are pics of the end results.You can see the channels down into this 7" section of the practice green. The topdressing/sand layer has been applied to the greens for the last 30 to 40 years. At the last 2 inches is the soil layer which is being incorporated with aerating/topdressing sand over the years to allow moisture to drain out of the system.
2. Our overall roots grow in the top 3-4" of our profile but we have longer roots growing through aeration holes deeper in the profile up to 7" or more as you can see below.
3. A large aeration hole from our Dry-Ject process that takes place each late winter/early spring up to 4" to 5" deep.
4. After the rains overnight and into this morning, water at the bottom of the 7" deep hole where I pulled a hole. This moisture works through the 5-6" deep sand layer of the green and then enters through the 2" soil layer more quickly because of the deep-tine aeration holes. It will move directly through the soil and a much slower pace because of the tight soil particles.
5. Below is a standard drainage system in most modern greens. We have one green that has drainage set up this way, green 9 renovated in the late 80's. This system is designed so water will drain through the 12" sand layer represented by the dark section on top. The water will slowly build up in the bottom 3rd but will slow at the next layer which is gravel which creates a perched water table. The construction of this type of system in golf greens is to allow roots the opportunity to take up moisture into the bent grass plant as the water passes through the sand. Once the water pressure increases enough at the bottom of the interface between the sand layer and gravel, it then releases into the gravel layer. Too much moisture for too long of a period of time in the root zone will deprive the plant of oxygen which is needed for the plant to survive.
This is once of the issues we have with our greens at Glen Echo which do not have standard drainage systems. A higher than normal period of moisture can lead to negative results both on the putting surface and below surface in our root systems.
Once the water begins to drain through the gravel system it will then enter the small holes in the drain pipe and will exit from the green area.
