Staff spent the day beating on the fairways with a number of tools. Allow me a few moments to explain:
First we used our core pulling aerator to pull 1/2” plugs from fairways 1-5, 7-8, 10-13, and 15. Normally we would get a plug averaging 2-3”. With the drier soil, we were barely able to pull a little over an inch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8syQtsNWGA
Second, we used our leaf vacuum which has vertical blades that cut down into the soil and create a vertical mowing pattern into our zoysia fairways assisting in removing thatch. This process also broke up the plugs, removed some of the excess blades and soil.
Third we used a couple of drag mats to break up the remaining cores and disperse the excess material accumulated.
Dragging fairways with metal drag mats
We then took our blower and blew the excess material into the rough.
We aerated, vertical mowed fwys 1-8. We had to stop on 8 with an equipment breakdown. We continued aerating and dragging through hole 15. We have mowed fwys 1-7 and will mow the remaining fairways when they dry in the morning. Not sure when our vertical mowing will continue with the breakdown but will pick up where we left off.
We also applied some organic fertilizer to the fairways through #8 and then watered it in. Science has shown with the use of organic fertilizer and removing excess thatch through verticutting reduces the amount of fairy ring and large patch in zoysia fairways. We also plan to use our slicing blades with our pull behind aerator over the next month or two to improve water and gas penetration.
Well, we've survived winter or have we. I bet if you asked our crew who spent 11 hours out on the course today that winter is still in full force but the promise of better weather is ahead. Oh it was a cold aerating the PG and greens 1-13 today. We anticipate completing greens 14-18 on Tuesday.
Most modern greens consist of 12” of sand, 4” of pea gravel and drain lines cut into the soil subsurface with 4” slitted drain pipes that help to evacuate excess water from the root zone. 18 of the 19 greens at Glen Echo are sand capped which means there is a 4-6” layer of sand on top of the soil layer with no drain tile to move excess water from the root zones.
The water that penetrates our greens evacuates in 2 ways. The first is moving down through the sand cap and meeting the soil layer. It will then flow with gravity out away into the green surround area. The second way our greens drain is through the holes we have placed in our greens over the last 20 years or more that penetrate into the soil layer. We then back fill the channel with sand which allows for additional water to move through the root profile and drain into the soil layer. We have placed thousands of holes into this soil layer to assist in removing excess water.
Below is a description of today's process with a couple videos and photos to show your our process.
The tines we use are 1/2” in diameter and penetrate to about 8” in depth.
Before we do the aeration work, we place a layer of sand on the green
surface. This is done ahead of time to reduce the potential heaving of
the green surface. If you aerated and then pulled a machine across the
surface with a load of sand it would put some waves in the green
surface.
We put approximately 1500-2000 pounds of sand per green depending upon the size.
We apply a micro nutrient granular product to our greens and then move sand into the holes with a pull behind blower and backpack blowers.
We then drag the greens with a brush, roll them and fertilize with an organic chicken based fertilizer. The greens are then rolled and water is applied to begin to dissolve the fertilizer and settle the sand.
We have a second aeration planned for next week which is contracted out. I will explain this process next week but it’s used in place of the common proactive that is called core aeration.
Our aeration process does the following for our greens:
Stimulates top and root growth
Sand assists in smoothing the surfaces and provides a fresh channel of sand for drainage and root growth.
Penetrates into the soil layer assisting in drainage for our greens.
Encourage microbial activity as the weather warms which assists in reducing thatch. The sand also assists in diluting thatch.
Over the past few weeks, a great deal of activity has been occurring on the grounds at Glen Echo CC. Its been quite a while since I've made a post so here we go. We've had a combination of Long Range Committee tree work taking place as well and our normal removal of dying trees that our staff handles with assistance from our contractor or we do completely on our own depending upon the size of the tree. Below are some examples of the before and after shots that has been taking place.
Trees short right were removed, a dying ash and large sweetgum about 200 yards on right and 3 white pines mixed in with the pines about 150 yards on the left.
Updated view after removals. Goals were to remove trees at start of fairway to allow balls struck to the right beyond the trees to see where they end after they come to rest. Also removal of trees that keep the ball from advancing forward. Normally a high handicapped
We contracted removals with Gamma Tree Experts for the Long Range Committees work on hole 7/8. There were 20 total trees removed from this area with 16 of them between the 7th/8th fairway and 7th green and 8th tee. This still left 10 very large specimen trees in this area. The photos are outstanding seeing the differences before and after.
7 off of tee with 5 trees removed out of right side at start of fairway about to about 275 yards to 7 green. Notice left by red tee Maples are still there but were removed earlier today.
3 trees on the left removed. You can now see down the left side of the hole.
Approach on #7 before 3 of 4 pines were removed. Large middle was left in place but 3 removed.
What were are left with is stunning, even when dormant. Shapes and curves along right side of green are visible back 200 yards or more. Also will allow the bunker to come more into play since balls won't be blocked by the line of trees.
It was an interesting month of July we've just recently experienced. All-time record high rainfalls at the airport, a little above normal temperatures with 15 days over 90 degrees and have had 7 days this summer over 100 which is the 18th ranked summer of all-time.
Asphalt Overlay
We were blessed when our asphalt contractor called and asked to come on property a week early. We were initially scheduled for last week which gave us 10" of rain so we are counting our blessings of the early start which helped us complete our work before we were forced to build Noah's Ark!. Over 12,000 linear feet were laid in 4 days. Overall, the work turned out well with just a slight bit of rutting at a couple of spots.
We did have difficulty with a couple areas on 11 and 12 where the existing paving gave way and rutting occurred. It was dug out and once the paving machine and roller went over it the ground was to unstable creating an uneven surface. We are working with the contractor to get this repaired but this work might be put off until the final work is completed on holes 15-18 next season.
As a part of the clean up, we have started picking up the excess asphalt laying on the sides of the paths. Staff went through holes 4-8. We also have major work along the edges of the new paths in a number of areas. We will begin to back fill these areas as weather and time allows. We will be looking at greens and tees first and then move to fairway areas. This work will not be completed until probably the winter and or spring of 2023.
As mentioned in another social media post, the staff and I are so appreciative and grateful for the funds being made available to improve our infrastructure to go along with the excellent turf conditions our staff strives to produce. It makes the grass look even better.
#5 New Cart Path
Green Roots
On July 4th, I took a picture of our roots and commented not bad for this date. Well, within a couple of weeks of very high temperatures and heavy rainfall a root disease broke out and helped to shorten our roots. The disease is called Pythium Root Rot. It is always in the soil but is usually in control from a number of different ways. Average temperatures with proper moisture levels in our greens. A spray schedule in the spring with monthly applications to help reduce any outbreaks and humans making sure proper air(needle tining/venting greens) and proper moisture. As these factors potentially get out of balance, the Pythium infects the roots and reduces the grass plants ability to pull in moisture and feed itself. In the end, the greens begin to thin and patches just kind of melt away.
6 inches of roots July 4th. I was happy.
We sent samples off to our Turf grass Pathologist who moved from Mizzou to Purdue and received confirmation of the disease. We drenched in some chemistry and begin to needle them to help get the product down to the root and also help to dry them out. It appears with last weeks heavy rainfall, raising of mowing heights, using walk mowers and cloudy cooler days has helped us tremendously. It appears the weather is going to moderate again this week which will hopefully allow us to get some much needed sand on the greens and brushing. As greens continue to improve we will lower our heights down and begin the work of increasing ball roll out.
The arrows are pointing toward what appears to be dry spots on our greens but to the left is a larger mass forming. The areas look like they are potential dry areas but they are actual moist and wet. We have a moisture meter that gives us a water moisture capacity reading. These reading are then used to determine if we need more water in an area or not.
After needle tine and rolling.
New Concrete Walk Paths For Driving Ranges
I apologize for the delay in getting the new walk paths installed but the approximate 2000 tons of asphalt needed a home first. We intend to lay the concrete for the paths at the long range this next week and then the path at the short range the following week. This will improve the look of our practice area and reduce the need for mulching and repairing the washed away mulch.
The long range walk path as we anticipated heavy rain overnight. Took off our lower side framing to allow the water to rage into the creek and did not bring the gravel all of the way down so it would stay in place. No gravel needed toward the parking area since there is 20' of asphalt in the foreground that we can pour the concrete upon.
Hopefully things will dry out the next few days and we will see you on the golf course.
Had a pretty good day today but a couple issues cropped up. Laid overlay from 15 lake crossing through 13 tee and onto 12 but then it happened. 2” waterline gave way pouring a torrent of water down into the already wet area below the red tee on 12. We were able to get our 3 trucks asphalt out and laid, rerouted the trucks and moved over to 7 and pulled down to red tee on 7. Approximately 3,000 more feet with a little over 5,000 to go. Along with the work comes some additional damage due to the overall condition of the paths in some spots.
We've been pretty much buried in work the past couple of days and have not had the opportunity to do much roping and staking in areas where the overlay does much up well with the soil around it. Please remember to use caution upon entering and exiting the new cart paths. We appreciate your understanding during this work.
Blowout above 12 red tee. Luckily the shutoff was nearby and we were able to isolate fairly quickly but not before hundreds of gallons ran down the hill.
Pulling out from the lake crossing at 15 tee.
Inevitably some damage going down the hill on 11. Brittle old asphalt ultimately won't hold up. Guys are pulling this out as I type and an extra layer of asphalt will be put in place.
Working toward 7 red tee.
Another area we were concerned about coming down hill in front of red tee on 12. Had about 20 trucks trips over this and it gave out. Luckily we routed trucks out a different way from the beginning of the day to reduce wear and tear which would have been much worse.
We had a good start to our first day of asphalt overlay at Glen Echo. I hope those of you that played were not too inconvenienced as you played your round. Laid about 3000 linear feet of pavement today which included the 5th hole from the main road, all of the 6th hole and off the tee on 7 to the main road. 8 from the main road to the green and all of 9. We did the short right path on 10 from the lake to the tee.
Our plan is to start at 15 tee tomorrow and work back through holes 14 and 13 which is about 1700 feet. I would anticipate getting 12 finished and possibly 11 but we will see. We have a lot of travel and staging of trucks with over a half of mile of travel back to our work area.
Contractor puts a seal coating down on existing asphalt to insure adhesion with the overlaid asphalt.
It's been quite a while since I've blogged. three months, a couple Marathons and about 15 pounds less and pff its July.
Mother Nature was not overly kind to us in the month of June but we survived. High temperatures and a big water bill toward the last 1/2 of June and into July will make for an interesting Financial Statement for the Grounds Department for July.
We also had a little damage to a couple greens at the beginning of last week but things seem to be turning around and a majority of the spots are healing. We have others greens at various stages of funk and lacking beauty but generally speaking we are in pretty decent shape as we begin another hot stretch of weather over the next 7 to 10 days.
We've been doing a great deal of hand watering in the mornings and afternoons and at time it appears we are taking a step forward and 2 steps backwards. Many times you think you see some disease, you pull the sample and you send it to your turf pathologist to tell you what you've contracted and what you need to spray. On many occasions there is not a great deal of disease in the sample but Abiotic Stresses are usually the #1 contributing factor in the sample. So Joe, what are abiotic stresses? Common examples of abiotic stresses are created by severe and or adverse changes in one or more of the following conditions:
Temperature
Humidity
Rain
Wind
Latitude
Soil Composition
Radiation(Sun)
So basically summer in the heartland of Missouri.
Your mind begins to wander as a grass grower during some of these stretches of severe conditions. "Am I seeing real issues or are we just seeing the effects of summer on living and breathing grass"?
Your first thoughts are "I have to do something but experience has told me if you've done everything possible, the best thing to do is do nothing and allow the abiotic conditions to change to a improving plant health environment."
Now don't get me wrong, you can't just give up just yet and say its abiotic stress and there is nothing we can do. One has to control water, continue to spray for plant health and be diligent in monitoring but patience is very important.
CART PATH OVERLAY
Well, its that time again for some overlay on the golf course cart paths. Section 2 with the third coming next season. We will be laying roughly 12,800 feet of asphalt to over the next 5-7 days. Holes included in this run will be the completion of 4 from the Field Bar to the main road and 5-9. Also included will be holes 10 through 15 tee at the lake spillway.
Our plans are to begin on Tuesday, July 19th on holes 5-6, 7 tee to main road and 8 approach fairway back around to #9 green and the main road.
We will then pull out from the right cart path along 10 lake back to the main road. From the bridge on 10 approach back to the main road, 8 bridge tee back to main road.
15 tee from the lake bridge back through 13 tee/12 green.
12 green to the Field Bar, From Bridges at Field bar back to Cart path behind 7. Connect 4 and 7 back to the main road and we are complete.
I will make daily updates on Social Media and this blog.
Myself and staff members will be in the area helping to direct trucks and members/guests as we are working through the project.
Of course after the asphalt has ben completed, our staff will then begin the process of making smooth transitions between the new height of the path and the old grade along the side of the paths. This work will be ongoing through the rest of the summer and into the fall and winter as time allows. Of course cooler temperatures of fall and winter are more conducive to new turf survival but we will do what we can on the most severe drop offs to reduce the potential of accidents and or damage to carts or members in their carts.
Just a reminder when operating the carts in the new asphalt areas, drive your cart at an angle so the cart wheels enter and exist with all tires hitting separately. This can reduce wear and tear on the new carts and protect our members and guests from injury. It would be wise to reduce your speed at entering and exiting the paths until we have opportunities to get these areas leveled. We will uses stakes and roping and or caution tape to alert you of any excessive differences in the height of the pavement and the exiting grade along the paths.
Contractor was out today grinding the areas that will have new overlay so they will butt up against them properly. This allows for a smooth transition between the new and existing asphalt.
HOLEY MOLY
We started fairway aeration a couple of weeks ago and has since been sidelined due to the aerator lift cylinder needing replacement. It has since been repaired so we will try to finish the remaining holes on the front 9, 1-3 and #7 over the next week or so as weather and work responsibilities allow for its completion.
Below is a video of our aerator a couple of weeks ago. Many holes in those fairways and soil plugs pulled out onto the surface of the fairways. The rain on the weekend of July 9-10 helped clear up the soil on the back 9 and the Sunday rain assisted to dissolve the existing soil back through the turf of the completed holes on the front 9.
This morning was a Turf grass Pathologists dream morning. High humidity, a layer of fog and warm. As I drove out the paths at Glen Echo this morning there were large patches of disease areas becoming active on the ends of the grass and down at the soil level of the turf. There were many plants with white mycelium which is where fungal disease is usually active. Its usually at the tips of blades due to guttation water coming out of the plants pores which is laden with nutrients that the fungus feed upon Our superintendent text chain was lit up with photos of various levels of activity early this morning.
One of the activities that assists in reducing this disease is the actual mowing of the grass and or rolling. These practices help to reduce the wetting time of the leaf which assists in reducing or stopping the additional formation of mycelium. Of course fungicides reduce this impact as well but we cannot afford or have the time to spray all of the rough to reduce this disease activity. We attempt to keep our greens, collars, smaller green and tee surround areas from infection which can look rather unsightly or weaken the plants.
Dollar spot on cool season grass. Phot credit LSU Ag.
TEE RENOVATION
The tee renovations of the blue and red tee on hole 9 and the special event tee for 17 made near the patio I believe turned out looking really good and were ready for play within about 18-20 days after completion. It appears they are holding up well and provide great playing surfaces for the future. We plan on expanding the drop zone tee at 9. Enlarging it slightly and leveling it in the next week or two. Our first effort was a bit rushed and was not the quality of work that we attempt to create when we renovated it last season.
Well, we aren't talking about NSYNC but we are talking bye, bye, bye to the continuous mulching of the walk paths to the practice areas with new brushed concrete coming soon. Moles, washouts from rain were just some of the problems experienced on these paths over the years.
We intended to complete part of the paths this week but the asphalt contractor was available to come a week earlier so that project will get priority and we are on hold. We also have high heat coming in again this week so we have to make sure we have enough staff available to keep an eye on our greens, maintain the course and assist with the asphalt project We hope to start this work next week.
The paths will be 5’ wide and brushed to assist in reducing slipping.
Top photo is short path at long range. Bottom left is long path at long range and bottom right photo is short range.
Thanks for your time. Come out and see us when you get a chance!
