Large patch in zoysia

In the spring, I posted pictures of some large patch in some of our zoysia. We do a preventative treatment for the disease in the early fall on all of our zoysia areas including tees, fairways and green surrounds which totals over 30 acres of fungicide to be applied. The preventative treatment in the fall is then followed up with a spot curative treatment in the spring where we only treat actively visible disease. Spring activity is usually more severe because the turfgrass is weak coming out of winter and the soil has a tendency to be wetter in the spring which keeps the disease more active for a longer period of time.



Early last week, I noticed some pretty serious discoloration on the lake side of the 15th tee box. I investigated it later in the week and thought it could be damage from the Hunting Billbug larvae/grub which we have had some issues in the past. As I got closer to it I could see that it was actually large patch in zoysia. If memory serves me right, I don't think I have ever seen this disease work in August. The cool soil temperatures made conditions right for this disease to become active. We will probably have to do a spot treatment in this area and will probably begin to apply our preventative treatment in the next 7-10 days or so.



What a strange season it has been!


This spot is actually on the tee surface of #15 main tee and is on the left side of the tee and goes down in front of the tee. The outer edge of the circle is orange in color and shows that the fungus is actually growing and active.

The right front corner of 15 tee bank. My first thoughts were of insect damage but it turns out it is large patch on zoysia actively chewing away on this tee bank. This tee does face to the west but is under some pretty serious shade issues from 2 large oak trees behind the 14th green. We also have some moisture issues on this tee since the back of the tee is at ground level and excess runoff from the 10th fairway keeps this tee above average in moisture content.

Lady does work some every once in a while

Greeting all who will pet her, riding on golf carts, sniffing out squirrels and bunnies and laying in the pro shop air conditioning when its hot are some of her favorite things in life. Begging for food I think is probably her favorite as some of you can attest.

I had my camera with me the other day and we were around our lakes trying to move a few geese around. Lady has never been a huge fan of swimming after geese but she will do some chasing to the waters edge. I can probably count on my hands and toes the number of times she's actually swam out and sent them on their way.

Well, last week, they were honking and a fussing after she chased them into the middle lake next to the fairway nursery. She's gets pretty agitated when they won't shut up so she swam out to greet them. I had my camera with me but missed the first picture of her efforts. They flew into the main irrigation lake on 15 where she went after them again as you can see from the picture but I called her back to shore since they were on the opposite side of the lake.

Lady returning to shore.

Bermuda runners in greens/collars

Any golf course that has bermuda as one of its turfgrass components, deals with bermuda grass contamination in areas where it is not wanted. Fairways, tees, rough and greens/collars. Most of us have been tempted to grab a runner or a chunk of bermuda and pull it out of the ground.
Pulling a chunk of turf or runner out of the turf can create some damage that is not easy to heal or repair. The pictures below illustrate this issue.

We began chemical treatments last fall that discourages the bermuda from tacking down. The ability to form new roots at other parts of a runner helps to strengthen the turf and allows it to spread further. The inability to root in additional places reduces its overall strength and ability to survive, especially over the winter. Around our greens, the bermuda was slow to fill in this spring so we refrained from applying this material. This allowed the bermuda to grow back in place and we are now facing the same issue again this fall. We are preparing to apply our second application in the late summer to reduce the influence of the bermuda grass on our collars, approaches and greens. As you can see, we are increasing the use of fescue around our greens which will allow us to continue to spray some sections of our collar surrounds. We are also building a collar height nursery in which we plan to use in the fall next season to replace poa and bermuda infested collars with bentgrass but that will be next season late in the year.

I appreciate the efforts being made to physically remove the bermuda but I am asking that members resist the temptation to remove this material so that we do not create a visually displeasing spot on the collar of a green or an unplayable lie on a collar.

Hornets

It is the time of year where Hornets build their nests. They are built in trees, normally at the end or near the end of a branch. They can be 6' off the ground or 20' off of the ground.


Below are a couple of pictures of a Hornet nest which we saw last week. This is in a maple tree that is between #1 tee and 18 green just below the pro shop. We went out early one morning before sunrise and killed the nest because of the danger from stings for our members and employees who might be nearby. The insecticide we use has a propellant that can go approximately 10 feet. If you would happen to see a nest that is in a tree, please alert the pro shop or one of our staff members so we can determine if we will attempt to eliminate the hive. If a nest is 15-20 feet in the air, there should be no issue and it would be very difficult if not impossible to do anything to the nest with the equipment we have on site.

Cart Traffic

Motorized equipment create wear and tear on the golf course. We have been lucky to have a mild summer and some nice rain over the past 3 months. As summer comes to an end and fall begins, our turfgrass is transitioning as well. It has been mowed and been driven upon thousands of times by our maintenance equipment and golf carts. We attempt to reduce this wear and tear with the various cultural practices we perform on the turf. We also attempt to reduce mechanical wear and tear by changing our routes, not mowing during wet conditions and utilizing a lighter weight piece of equipment.

On the course, we use different items to help us control cart traffic.

• We keep carts on paths during wet conditions
• We restrict carts to fairways to help reduce damage to the rough.
• We have the green and yellow stripped exit posts in which we ask our members and guests to not drive their cart past these stakes toward our green approaches and proceed to the cart path.
• We use directional signs, ropes and stakes to reduce wear patterns and keep carts out of wet or damaged turf areas.

The picture below illustrates some wear from golf carts coming straight down the hill on #3 and using the walk path to drive onto the fairway. Sometimes a ball might be at the bottom of the hill just at the beginning of the fairway. It would be best if all carts entered from along side of the fairway and not from the tee side of the fairway. The area is much longer along the side and can distribute the traffic patterns in more appropriate way. It is also more visually pleasing to see the hole without cart traffic driving straight through the rough and directly into the fairway. Bring the cart more perpendicular into the side of play improves the overall playability and look of the hole. Walk paths should be avoided by carts because they are cut at 1 1/3 inches which is half the cutting height of the normal rough height which makes it more susceptible to damage from cart traffic.















Also, another thing to keep in mind when you are operating carts is to attempt to drive from the fairway to the cart path in a nice area of rough instead of following the path of other carts. We attempt to move our stakes, ropes and signs on a regular basis but on a busy day, 50-60 carts could be potentially driving over the same area. Driving 15-20 feet in a different direction would be much appreicated by our tired old grass.

No doubt there will be some wear patterns developing in some areas. With our traffic control efforts and our members knowledge of how to reduce cart traffic damage, our turf should be able to withstand the pressure that motorized equipment can create.

Thanks

Posting problems

I've been trying to post a number of videos over the past week but for some reason the videos will not upload. Needle-tine venting, Mad-Tiller disease and maintenance of the range tee are and were a few of the subjects to be discussed. I'm attempting to contact blogger support for an answer. In the meantime, we will go back to still photos in posting information.

Thanks for you patience.

Expanding the edge of the woodlands garden

The woodland garden which is around the dam side of #9 is irrigated and has heads that are right at the mulch/grass line. As our mowers go around the edge of the bed, they have hit a head or two along the way. Assistant Skip who was repairing a head one day, suggested we expand the edge of the bed out one sod strip which will place the heads two feet into the bed and will eliminate our issue. Good suggestion by Skip. Last week the guys stripped the sod out, formed a nice edge for holding the mulch in place, weed eating and then hauled in some of the chipped oak mulch we made from the brush that is removed from the golf course grounds.

We do need to improve some plant material on the tee side of the woodland bed but our goal this season was to get the weeds removed and get the bed under control. We've also attempted to improve the overall look of the bank and reduce erosion of the bank with some cocoa mat fiber which has appeared to work well so far.

Jose after the sod was removed forming the edge.















Russell was doing the same a little further around the curve after operating the sod cutter.