During this most difficult time, your grounds staff is preparing the course for what we hope will be some normalcy in the future. Our seasonal/summer staff will not be added until our club is back in full operation. We are lucky that our staff on hand including managers has over 175 years experience in working courses with a majority of that being at Glen Echo.
As weather improves, we will be finishing the project that was started last fall which includes zoysia around the back of 5 green and grassing the 6th green complex with zoysia. This funding is provided through the foundation and has already been allocated for this project from 2019. We hope to have the tee open sometime around May 1st if the weather cooperates. I would expect to have the sod completed around the greens by May as well.
We had initially planned to renovate the 4th and 12th tee complex but under the current situation it was determined to postpone this project. We have not determined a new date but it will be no earlier than October 1st since member guest is at the end of September.
This past Monday, the staff was involved with our contracting company @DryjectofTennessee to aerate our greens. Our spring process involves the Dry-ject system which shoots a stream of water and sand at 3,000 psi into our greens staring from the surface and ending about 5" into the existing sand profile
Out staff’s involvement was to load 5 gallon buckets of dry sand into the aeration machine hopper. We used about 30 tons of sand. That is too many buckets of sand to count over the 10 hour period the operation took to complete. We also brushed the greens once they dried and they were rolled the next day since we ran out of time.
Hopper area where kiln dried sand is dumped. Sand is released through the holes and is then injected down into the green.
Chad Gamble, owner operator. Been a tough season for his business with cancellations beginning to fill his phone from our existing health crisis.
We hope to do a deep tine aeration of our greens early next week. This will consist of the green being covered in sand and then a half inch tine will push through the green surface to about 8” of depth.Our greens do not have modern drainage and must drain through our 4-6" sand profile and through the holes that are filled with sand. Deep tine aeration has been a life savor for our greens assisting in water removal from surfaces. Modern green architecture consists of an elaborate drainage system consisting of 10-12" of sand, gravel and drain tile. Our 9th green is the only one on property with this type of system.
The staff have been replacing damaged heads around our greens. The new system has been in the ground now for 13 seasons. Mowers and equipment going over top of them break the outer top casing which can effect the way the head operates. Our mower can also catch the corner of the head and damage it further.
You can see this head is missing almost 1/2 of the top part of the casing which rests on the soil/sod surface.
Russ working on a head at the corner of 4 green. Jason was involved in this production as well. Hopefully will be finished today.
We've been able to mow more and more turf over the last week but conditions are very wet in various areas. It appears there will be a change in the pattern beginning over the weekend. We can't wait!!!!!!!
Randy and Rollo push mowing the area between 7 tee and 8 approach fairway which is too saturated for a big mower. You can still see the smaller tracking from the 22" mowers.
Bermuda eradication work on the course is ongoing. We attempt to suppress the bermuda in the late summer and early spring. You can see some of the areas that have worked pretty well in the intermediates on various holes. Our goal is the reduce the competitive advantage of the bermuda through early summer. We then do everything we can to repair the damaged bermuda areas and allow the zoysia to take over other areas by mid-June as we prepare for the rest of summer play and of course 'The Invitational' in July. We've made great strides with this work over the years but must continue with maintenance applications to keep the bermuda in reasonable check. Notice I said check and not eliminated. I posted a video below which is a bit longer than normal but goes through the thinking of our program and what we are attempting to accomplish.
Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but conditions remain frozen and or thawing here at Glen Echo. Just beginning to thaw today and I only give it a 1/10 of 1% chance of playing on Valentine's Day so I guess some would say there's a chance. Looks like snow and some colder temperatures over the next few days so golf looks like a no go for a bit longer.
We were out spraying some fairways, tees and approaches with our dormant herbicide spray. The turf must be dormant because we are spraying a non-selective product that injures and or kills green weeds and or grass. We are trying to kill any poa annua that has germinated on these surfaces and it also will kill any knot weed that has germinated. It appears the knot weed is still sleeping from the cold weather. If allowed to grow in the fairways during the spring, poa annua seeds profusely adding the more plants and can get rather clumpy before the fairway units beginning mowing. It also can invade more shaded areas and slow the health and progress of the zoysia Poa becomes active pretty quickly during warmer, sunny weather in the winter to early spring. A few days in a row over 45-50 and it becomes active. The plants will absorb the spray from the warmer weather as it becomes more active. Even if the temperatures turn cold, the chemistry is designed to stick on the leave of the plant and when it becomes active a few days later it will begin to kill the plant. The spray will show up over the next 2-3 weeks by yellowing the plants and will turn orange, brown and then die. Poa annua has a long growing period and reproduces millions of seeds. It loves moisture and shaded areas for the most part but will live in full sun is well so it is very adaptive.
We put a second product in the tank that helps to prevent crab grass and goose grass which germinate into the spring and summer. The product we utilize binds itself to the soil which allows it to be sprayed now and is on the soil surface when needed during April, throughout the summer. Microbial activity begins to break down the product by the end of the summer but the zoysia is rather tight and keeps the soil surface shaded. Thinner areas of zoysia can develop some weed infestations because the soil is exposed to light and more moisture which can germinate weeds. We try to place enough product on the surfaces that will prevent weeds from germinating through August into September.
We were able to spray holes 1-7 today and the tees associated with those holes.
Below is a video with discussion regarding this spray application.
Over the next few months, we will be renovating the 2nd tee at Glen Echo. There are a number of issues with this tee that need to be addressed.
It's alignment is pointed down the right side of the hole which makes it extremely difficult because as you know the hole slopes significantly from left to right.
Red arrow shows existing line of the tee. Green arrows shows the approximate direction the tee will be pointed.
The tee surface is cool season grass which creates more inputs of resources; water, fertilizer and fungicides.
It is at grade which allows water from above it to over run it causing less than ideal softness during rainy periods.
It is much larger than necessary for our amount of play the course receives. This also takes more time in maintaining.
The plan is to turn the one long tee into 2 tees similar to what we did on #5 last spring. There will be a swale between the 2 tees to allow water to go around the tees and the tees will be pointed in the proper alignment.
The staff will be removing the front part of the tee which is currently covered in zoysia. Approximately 10-15 yards. This tee height zoysia will be cut off and used to replace the false bent grass front on #7, #10, and #13 until it is gone. The bent grass sod will be used to replace sections of collars that are damaged.
We will strip off the top 6-8 inches of soil and save it to cap the new tee services raising the level of the tees-6-8" so that it will be above the cart path next to the tee helping to move the water around the tee. We will of course strip off the remaining sod on the tee service and dispose of it. Once we've stripped off the zoysia and removed the growing layer of soil, we will then remove the remaining soil.
We intend to expand the blue tee back about 10 yards or so and will have to expand out the right side of the two new tees which will help us align the tees properly and also make them slightly wider. We will make the egress to the tees simple for our players and easy to access. The surrounds of the tee will be laid in fescue which will give great contrast to the new tee.
The pics below are a general idea of our plans. Ultimately we will have two tees approximately 17-20 yards in length and about 8 yards wide. We will be removing some of the scrub trees or pruning along the metro side to assist with afternoon sunshine for the zoysia grass. I mentioned to the green committee that the first Pin Oak on the left side of the tee has become compromised and appears it will expire in the next year. The 2nd tree appears to be in good shape and should not create any issues for the tee. It's limbs have been raised high enough to allow early day sun.
The tee should be completed by early April and will be open for play we hope by early May. There is a winter tee that is above the 2 large pin oaks about 40' from the existing tee that will be used once the renovation begins.
Okay, better quit for now. Gotta go get some bread, milk and eggs for the upcoming snow apocalypse!
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.
The staff slammed out the work earlier in the week regarding the renovation of #3 white/blue tee. It was laser-leveled by Schaefer-Meyer company on Monday and the staff laid the sod on Tuesday. We narrowed the front of the tee and pointed it properly toward the fairway instead of down the right woods and fence line. I would think it will be ready for play within 3 to 4 weeks.
We also repaired the damage in front of 1 approach and 2 approach on Wednesday before the rain hit that evening. We still have some weakness in a couple of other spots that might take some replacement. We have some extra sod in the parking lot waiting to be laid as necessary when things dry out.
Area in front of 2 green. Same thing was done in front of 1. 3 is a little weak but a majority of that material is growing back.
Tee was leveled to drain f ront to back and off to the right. We softened the walk off area a little and also will be able to extend the tee ground back a couple of yards.
Mike McNeil painting shape of the tee.
Staff tightening up the sod after it was laid.
This pick is looking front to back. We made the tee more regular rectangular in shape and lost teeing ground on the front so tee would be pointing the proper alignment for players.
Watering the sod. Got a little toasty but will be good after all of the rain we are receiving.
The arrow from a video regarding the old tee. You can see how it aligned down the fence line instead of the fairway. In the pictures above you can see how the tee has been turned to the left to align itself down the center fairway line from the center of the tee.
We've greened up nicely is many areas of our fairways but we do have some noticeable weakness in heavier trafficked areas such as approaches, shaded areas, north facing areas etc. There are a number of things that could be attributed to causing these issues. We talk mostly about the good and the work that takes place, every once in a while I have to talk about some bad.
I made the fall application like we normally do with our Bermuda reduction material. We were pretty dry in the fall which the Zoysia was under a bit more stress than normal. Of course going dormant, is a bit stressful as well. We normally come out of winter a bit more delayed than normal because of this spary material. The zoysia is tolerant to it but it can tinge it a little.
With the milder than normal temperatures this winter, our warm season turf staying in dormancy for our RoundUp application in February was a bit of concern. We do spray at the near lightest rate which is effective at killing the poa annua and not damaging the zoysia. The areas most effected, high traffic areas like approaches are a little thinner in dormant turf cover and more chemical material could have gotten down into the canopy and affected live tissue. We have pulled a couple of plugs and placed them in the greenhouse to see if they will green up in the next 10-14 days. If they do, we will be fine. If not, we might have to replace the approach area on a couple of holes.
The issue we are facing could have also been the 15-17 degree low temperature we had a few weeks ago when the plants were just greening up and were very susceptible to freeze damage.
Or it could have been a perfect combination of the 3 things happening all at the same time, weaker zoysia from the fall, just a bit more green up than normal in February and the cold temperatures after the early breakout of temperatures.
We will have a better feel about what is happening over the next couple of weeks. I think a majority of the spots will be fine. One thing I'm probably sure of is the Bermuda got its butt kicked as well.
Greens aeration was completed in 2 days by the guys. Looks good overall. Last major aeration work of the season besides monthly needle tining and maybe a hydrojet application in mid-summer.
# 1 green approach. This is about the width that I sprayed last fall with the Bermuda control product. Its also the width of the area sprayed in February. This also coincides with the turning area of the mowers and rollers which creates excessive wear in this area.
#2 looking across from left to right into front of the green. Same as #1.
This is an area along #15 we always have issues with. Narrow band of area that is emersed in deep shade for many hours of the day plus heavy cart traffic due to balls ending up on the down slope of the fairway. I did not spray this area last fall because of the weakness of the turf. Still having issues. Recommendation has been to remove at least 1/2 the trees in this area to allow more sunlight. It is also facing to the east southeast which is not a good situation for warm season turf growth.
Plugs pulled from the approach. Looks pretty weak. There appears to be life down in the stolen area but we will see for sure in 10-14 days.
This season we will be doing the DryJect Aeration process from our contractor. Scheduled initially for this Sunday PM and next Sunday PM, the dates were moved due to weather concerns.
We will be completing this process on Wednesday March 15 and Thursday March 16. I don't like to do this work during the work but we had no choice or wait until the end of April which I do not want. It is a pretty non-evasive process but we will have to have you go around the holes that we are working. We will have 2 units working. Takes about 45 minutes per green or so.
Below is the link to last years work. We usually just brush the greens and roll them if they are dry enough and they are ready for play.
http://geccgcm.blogspot.com/search/label/DryJect
Later in the month we will be performing our deep-tined areation which will help us drain water deeper through our profile as needed, especially through the earthen layer that rest 6" below ground.
I will make another post in the next few days catching you up on other work the staff have been performing.
I know, does'nt have a darn thing to do with Bermuda grass. Lady at Invitational 2013 or 2014
Yes, I am going again President Reagan! Time for the 2nd app to the fairways of our Bermuda eradication program. Sprayed 10 acres today through Hole 10. I will spray the remaining fairways on Monday. I did not apply in some weaker areas and intermediates where the Bermuda is too heavy. As you've seen in other posts and other forms of social media, the staff have been laying a great deal of sod in many places to improve our zoysia coverage. We have a little more to do but for the most part that will end but we will continue to add some sod where we have some especially thin turf areas from our nursery over the next few weeks.
Some might question why spray again? Our fairways are a little weaker than other places in the district. We have spent a great deal of time, sweat and money in sodding and treating our fairways with chemicals to reduce this weed's competitive edge. It's important to continue the program or the gains we've made will have been wasted.
I would expect the turf to begin to show its effects from the chemical early in the week and the Bermuda will begin to be effected more severely within the next 10-14 days. In about 2 weeks, the Zoysia should begin to change from a lighter green to its normal
green color. We will also be fertilizing our fairways early next week which will encourage the Bermuda to take in the chemical and help the Zoysia return to normal.
We will discontinue spraying because of our busy July schedule and will commence again after the first week of August and the Metropolitan Amateur Championship.
10th Fairway with indicator foam to mark the passes to insure overlap does not occur.
Our fall greens aeration is our most concentrated project each season which requires using every staff member to complete this task. It is our most important project because it helps to improve the health of our greens more than anything else we do to them besides watering.
As mentioned in the past, deep-tine aeration provides the following benefits:
Drainage through and improves water's ability to penetrate into the profile both to get through it and into the areas where water is needed by the root system.
Gas exchange, oxygen into the soil and the release of harmful carbon dioxide which can build up in the soil.
Space for roots to grow, expand and improve.
Allows us to modify the sand profile with a coarse sand that provides improvement in all the areas listed above.
Improves the biological health, good microbes in the soil.
Thatch reduction by mixing sand with the thatch helping to dilute or break down the thatch.
Our process included:
Placing the sand on the greens. Approximately 1-2 tons per green based on their size.
Aerating punching about 110,000 holes 8" deep, 5/8" channel in each green.
Applying a soil amendment product to the green. Earthworks Renovate Plus
Blowing the sand in the holes
Brushing the sand in the holes and helping to spread the sand uniformly across the surface. .
Rolling to close over the holes and smooth the surface as best we can.
Changing the holes since they were damaged during the process.
We will need to brush the greens again to help work excess sand into the profile. We will roll regularly to help smooth the surfaces until we mow again which will be in a few days once the sand has settled.
Over the next few days, we will be increasing the
watering of our greens to push moisture through the profile. I sprayed a couple of wetting agent/penetrate products that will assist with getting the water through the layers on our greens. This material will also suppress dew helping the surfaces dry quicker during aeration allowing us to get started quicker in the mornings. We are trying to
get moisture to the soil layer which was the original surface of our greens
when they were built many eons ago. If this layer is too dry, the tines stick and heaves the turf forcing us to shorten the depth of our aeration which we don't want to happen. The deeper we go with aeration, the greater the benefit for our turf.
The original depth of our greens is 5-6" below the surface where you are currently putting on. Modern greens keepers have used sand to help smooth the surfaces and improve drainage. We have 18 of these greens at Glen Echo. With no rain and watering lightly to keep ball roll out long and smooth in the last 30 days, we have gotten drier down in this soil layer than we should be. We also fertilized our greens last week and have not applied the regulator we used over the last month that assisted us as well. All these things in combination will allow us to get our work completed in a timely and efficient manner and should assist us with healing. I would expect the greens to be in good condition in the next 10-14 days after we have aerated.
The soil depth is about 2-2.5" deep at the bottom of the hole with the sand between 5-6" in depth . Right at the point of the arrow you can see an old aeration hole going down into the soil layer. Our goal with the aeration is to create channels down into the soil layer allowing moisture to move through the bottom of the green. This also creates channels for rooting and gas exchange with the good Oxygen entering the root zone and the bad when too much has built up Carbon Dioxide can escape from the soil.
The lines on the greens are from vertical mowing(verticutting) we performed on the greens on Monday. The mower has approximately 32 blades on each unit with 3 units on the mower. These blades cut into the surface of the green at a setting that we chose. We set the mowers about 1/4" below the surface which is not real deep but will do its job.
Bentgrass from its name and nature grows upward and then sideways as much as we allow it. The bent over growth habit makes it difficult for our mowers to get a clean cut. Vertical mowing helps to improve our overall cut by cutting off longer blades and standing the turf upright. The reduction of longer blades ultimately reduces drag or friction on golf balls improving ball roll out. We topdressed and brushed the greens as well which also helps our mowers make a better cut. The brushing stands the blades up even more and gets the sand down into the surface of the green. The sand protects the crowns which are the place where roots and stems originate. The sand goes down into the channel, mixes with the thatch helping to dilute the total amount of thatch that is accumulated from leaves and roots dying. The verticutting also thins the turf slightly which encourages the plants to generate new leaves.
The excess blades piling up after the mower goes over it.
Longer blades being cut or stood up in preparation for brushing and mowing. As with all cultural practices performed on greens, speed might slow slightly for a couple of days but should improve as we mow and roll.
Anyone who played over the last few days probably noticed open holes on greens. Some of the holes opened up because wet sand had closed the hole during core dragging and did not allow the dry sand to penetrate. The rain from last week then opened up the hole. Also, in our haste to get all greens cored before the rains hit last week, we were a little light on our sand application and the time we took to blow sand in the holes. Today we added additional sand to the Pg, 1-4 and got almost every hole topped off. The staff will hopefully get the rest completed tomorrow or by Wednesday at the latest. A few of the greens were in good shape with a majority of the holes filled.
The cool season tees on 2,3,5,10,14,17 were core aerated and material hauled away. We brushed the tees and blew the remaining material off the tee. Sand will be used on the tees to help with drainage, root development, and compaction. A little fertilizer will be applied over the next couple of days as well.
After the cold temperatures from over the weekend, the staff placed the water cooler and ice machine at the pro shop for your use.
Our winter pre-emergent/winter weed application is taking place this week. You will notice a little dye on fairways marking these areas. We will be spraying the warm season tees next week and doing some touch up around greens.
Normally the app is done in February but no snowfall and moderating temperatures pushed our decision a little early. You never know when a big snowfall might come and push the application late into winter. We are using a generic glyphosate product called Prosecutor Pro. The glyphosate kills poa annua that has emerged since last fall. Poa has become active when temperatures for a few days in a row go into the upper 40's-50's. The effects on the poa will become more visible in about 2-3 weeks if temperatures stay moderate. The plant begins to yellow and then bronze and dies.
The pre-emergent is called Ronstar(Oxidiazon) which is the best product to use on warm season fairways. It protects our turf from crabgrass/goose grass outbreaks. It is pricier than other products that we use on our rough but it does the least harm to rooting and is the best goose grass control product. Our fairways are probably the next most important area of the course besides greens so the extra expense.
We have sprayed and used granular product in our rough from year to year depending upon our work schedule. Prodiamine is the chemical name of the product that we use and probably most of the lawns are treated with in St. Louis. We use this around our tees, greens, a lap or two around the rough and in our club lawn/highly visible areas of the club. There are areas that are more out of play that we do not treat because they are out of sight/mind and not necessary to be completely clean. Wall to wall applications are not environmentally nor are they fiscally responsible to be applied.
Our total acreage sprayed is a little over 25 acres plus a couple of acres of tees and warm season surround areas.
In an effort to not disrupt ball roll out in the late summer/early fall, I delay greens aeration until the end of October. Well, that day has arrived. We will begin our greens aeration late Sunday afternoon 5 p.m. and throughout the day on Monday. This process will involve the use of a heavy topdressing of our greens with sand, our Verti-drain deep tine aerator will then poke 9" deep 1/2" holes in our greens, a green profile builder with micronutrient package will be applied, blowing and brushing the sand in the holes and a final roll. We will probably delay mowing greens for a few days to allow the sand to settle and the greens to growth through the sand layer. I would expect to begin dry mowing late next week. Within 10-14 days with the good weather predicted they should be back to normal.
We usually are not able to complete all of the greens in one day but will make every effort to complete as many as possible. If we receive rain on Tuesday, we will leave the remaining greens until it is dry enough to complete. Hopefully, this would only be maybe 16-18. I will keep you updated on the blog and twitter on our progress so check out the twitter feed on the side of the blog main page.
This will also be the last weekend for practice off of the zoysia short range tee. The zoysia has quit growing and any damage/divots made now will not heal. In an effort to protect it from winter injury and delayed green up next season, we will be placing all stands on the mats beginning next Tuesday. Your cooperation in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
The staff have been busy with leaf clean up this week from our Ash, Maple, Cottonwood and other early leaf dropping trees. Two blowers, two rough mowers, 3-4 backpacks have been out regularly cleaning up playing areas. Some days by the end of the day it appears that we have not done anything but that is our life in dealing with excess trees. The real work will begin in a couple weeks when the Oaks begin to drop.
This is the last week for two of our seasonal employees Deron and Sam who have done a great job their first year out on the course. Randy will be here the first week of November and will be laid off for the season as well. Nick and Becky will be leaving at the end of November. Great work as well.
Becky is busy with installing new plants in our beds for next spring with Pansies, Tulips and installation of new material in the two beds off of the patio area of the clubhouse.
Cool season tees, 2,3,10,11,14 were solid tine aerated as were the collars and cool season approaches of our greens. Holes provide new areas for root growth, oxygen exchanged and compaction relief. Also provides water to penetrate and water to evaporate as nececcary for that particular area.
Last weekend and finishing this morning, our fairway fertilizer was spread on our 25 acres of zoysia/bermuda. We still need to walk apply fertilizer to the close approaches, warm season green surrounds and tees early this coming week. We applied 5,900 pounds of material which gives us an effective rate of 3/4# of nitrogen per one thousand square feet. This should be sufficient fertilizer for the season unless I make a 1/4" spray-able application in August of urea.
The warm nights and high rain fall early in the week have kicked in the warm season fairways. This fertilizer should also give it a needed boost and help to fill in a majority of the voids. We will continue to remove spots as needed but will be using our sod nursery near the lakes and hole 16 The staff laid 350 yards of zoysia this week which also meant they picked up 350 yards of soil/sod mix and hauled it away. A tough job which required well over 100 hours of labor to complete.
We do not make an attempt to kill every weed on property. Our efforts are to concentrate on the main areas of the course, greens, tees, fairways and first cut of rough. Over the last couple of days, I've sprayed a couple of tanks of product to reduce some of the weed populations on our fairways and tees.
I spot sprayed a 7 acre tank mix of broadleaf weed killer on our fairways, some tees and rough. I spot sprayed mostly knotweed but did include white clover that is popping up in various areas as well. I also sprayed some of the rough as well. Seeds from these weeds can be spread to other areas of the course so it is important to knock down areas that have higher populations of weeds so that we don't seed clean areas of turf.
If you played yesterday or over the next couple of days, you will notice some block patterns of dye on the course covering some sections of fairways and in some cases a complete tee. We are spraying for a weed called Green Kyllinga. Click on the link for more details. We have a number of tees which are covered with this weed. I spot sprayed about 25,000 sq ft of fairways and tees with a product that should knock down the weed but will also require a follow up application.
Blue tee #1. Red tee and white tee are covered with this weed.
18 fairway and a spot covered with Kyllinga. It can take over an area if not treated and grows about twice as fast as the turf.
Area on 18 fairway that literally looks like we planted the weed.
This morning the greens were hydrojected. Please check out the video below which describes the work that was completed. Very minimal disruption to ball roll and will continue our work toward having healthy greens all season long.
With rain coming in later today, I came into work this morning and sprayed our collars and edges of greens that are contaminated with Bermuda grass. The plants just emerged this week and protocol for Tupersan, the product we used says to spray at first emergence and then follow up every 4-6 weeks. It also needs to be watered in within 3 days to activate it in the soil.
I had sprayed a preventative application earlier in the week of a product that protects the greens from some summer diseases and needed a few days between applications so the bentgrass/poa annua would not be injured. The Bermuda product inhibits the photosynthesis of the Bermuda grass and it will slowly begin to die. Of course as you know, Bermuda is a horrific weed. Its root system is fairly deep into the ground and braches out in many directions this the need for follow up applications. One of the unique benefits of Tupersan is that seeding can take place right behind an application. It is the only pre-emeregent product that is on the market that allows seeding.
You can see the Bermuda in this picture off the back of 5 green collar with the long stolons that attach themselves to the soil surface. We are trying to injure it at emergence since it is weaker and more vulnerable and the chemical can create significant injury. Follow up treatments will insure that plants trying to creep into the area are kept out of the collars and greens.
Sprayed a little over 7 acres of first cut of rough this morning in an effort to suppress some of the bermuda that has popped out in the last few days. This spray consisted of 1/2 of the product that I use on the fairways at a slightly higher rate. I sprayed Fusilade II around holes 1-3 and 13, 15-18. In most cases, it was about 30 feet but I did go a little further out in a couple of areas. The rough will turn slightly off its emerald green color for 7-14 days and will green back up. The bermuda should turn off color and then red but will come back in 4-5 weeks. If the bermuda would have grown out sooner, I possibly could have gotten a second spray before the heat of summer sets in. The product is not supposed to be sprayed on the cool season turf during summer. The second spray could also conflict with Member/Guest in mid-June. I will keep you informed if we decide to do another application. It can be sprayed again in the fall which we will do this year.
After the rain stops this week, we will spray holes 4-5, 7-8, 10-12. This spray should give us some relief from the bermuda since we mow our rough between 2.5" to 3". I'll take a couple before and after pictures and post them later next week so you can see the difference in the color of the rough.
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