Course Update

Beginning Sunday afternoon and ending Monday evening we aerified and topdressed all 18 of our greens.  The greens were aerified using 3/8" hollow coring tines on 1 inch centers.  After the plugs were cleared off the greens, sand was applied and worked into the open holes. Today fertilizer will be applied to get the grass growing. We will roll the greens daily to smooth and firm the surface and in a few days after the sand has settled into the canopy we will start mowing the greens.  Because the growth of the grass tends to be a little slower in the spring, we like to use the smaller 3/8" tines to shorten the recovery time.  The greens should be completely healed in about 2 weeks.  Although aerification is despised by golfers and maintenance staff alike aerification remains an important cultural practice.  Aerification removes unwanted thatch and allows good air exchange to the root system helping the turf to survive the stresses of summer.

The fifth green continues to recover nicely although it never seems to happen as fast as we would like.  The cover definitely helped speed up the recovery process and allowed us to get the bentgrass seed to germinate.  As temperatures continue to rise and the green recovers, the green will be available for limited play and eventually be open all the time.  Looking at the green every day, it is sometimes hard to see the progress we have made.  Here are some before and after photos that show how far the green has come in one month.

#5 Green on April 16, 2014

#5 Green on May 10, 2014

#5 Green on April 7, 2014

#5 Green on May 10, 2014

Bentgrass creeping over damaged areas

New Bentgrass seedlings

Road to recovery

The road to recovery has begun.  On Friday April 25th we over-seeded the 5th green with creeping bentgrass.  The following is a description of  the process we used.

The first step is to prepare the green for seeding by using a special tool called a Job Saver tine. These tines make small shallow holes in the green that hold the bentgrass seed.

Aerifying #5 Green with Job Saver tines

Holes made by Job Saver tines

 Next we seeded creeping bentgrass into the open holes.

Seeding with bentgrass

 Once the seed is down, we apply a layer of sand to the green and then work the sand into the holes with a drag brush.

Topdressing with sand

Brushing in the sand

After the sand is brushed into the holes we roll the green, irrigate and cover with a tarp.  The tarp will act like a greenhouse to help heat up the soil.  For bentgrass seed to germinate we need soil temperatures in the 60 degree range.  With the right environmental conditions bentgrass usually germinates in 5 to 7 days.  We still have a ways to go but these are the first steps in getting the greens to recover.

Holes filled with sand and seed

Tarp covering green

Winter of 2014

After experiencing one of the longest coldest winters in recent memory, we have anxiously awaited to see what effect it would have on the turf. While most of the turf came through the winter fine, it is now apparent that we did suffer winterkill on a few of our greens.  The damage is most noticeable to the Poa annua on greens #4, #5 and #6.

Winterkill on #5 Green

WinterKill

Poa annua or annual bluegrass is a grass species that is particularly susceptible to winterkill primarily through a process known as crown hydration.  Crown hydration generally occurs in mid to late winter when a day or two of warm daytime temperatures causes snow to melt and collect in low areas.  The combination of warm temperatures and available water enables the grass plants to start absorbing water or hydrating.  If the warm weather is then followed by freezing temperatures, ice crystals form in the plant, rupturing cells and ultimately causing death.  Annual bluegrass tends to break dormancy quickly when subjected to above-freezing temperatures and free moisture and therefore is very susceptible to this kind of damage.  Creeping bentgrass on the other hand is late breaking dormancy and is virtually immune to crown hydration.  This is why when you see the greens that were affected you will notice that the annual bluegrass is severely damaged while the creeping bentgrass is very healthy.

Damaged Poa annua and healthy bentgrass

Recovery

In the short term we will look to reestablish the damaged areas of the greens as quickly as we can.  However this process can be agonizingly slow and challenging in the spring because of the cool, cloudy conditions that often persist.  The first step in promoting recovery is getting seed into the ground.  Once the weather warms and soil temperatures increase, we will begin the process of inter-seed creeping bentgrass into the damaged areas.  Although inter-seeding has given mixed results, success can be improved by using new improved bentgrass varieties and by utilizing tools such as the Job-Saver aerator attachment.  This tool produces numerous small, shallow holes for the seed to germinate in.  After seeding it may be necessary to apply a turf cover over the green to maintain adequate soil temperatures for germination to take place.  

Turf Cover on #5 Green

The second step to successful recovery is keeping traffic off the greens. Traffic sets tender, weak turf up for more injury.  Also newly emerging bentgrass seedlings are susceptible to wear injury.  Opening greens too early usually doubles the recovery time, and it reduces the amount of bentgrass established.  While no one hopes for winter injury, it does provide an opportunity for the existing bentgrasses to increase and to establish new and improved species of bentgrass. By increasing our bentgrass populations we would be less likely to encounter this type of damage in the future.  Other strategies employed in recovery will include reducing stress by mowing and rolling these greens less frequently, raising mowing heights, using solid front rollers on the greens mowers and providing light frequent fertilizer applications to stimulate new growth.  How long the recovery will take is difficult to say.  A lot will depend on the weather but I suspect it will take several weeks to completely heal. 

Winter Update

As winter continues to linger there is a growing concern among many superintendents in the northeast as to what effect this winter will have on the turf. 

Snow cover is good for the golf course.  Snow acts as an insulating blanket that protects the grass from the extreme low temperatures and harsh winter winds.  Ice on the other hand is not good.  Ice covering the turf prevents CO₂ gas from escaping into the atmosphere.  Prolonged exposure to high levels of CO₂ can lead to turf loss.  As a rule of thumb bentgrasses can tolerate up to 120 days under ice cover while Poa annua can only survive about 45 days.  Because our greens at Huntsville are a mixture of bentgrass/ Poa annua and we are approaching 45 days under snow and ice coverage, my assistant Casey Sheehan and I went for a walk around the course to inspect the greens for possible injury.

Our first stop was the 8^th green.  This green was covered with about 3 inches of snow and a 1/2” thick layer of ice.  We removed the ice and looked at the turf underneath.  Everything looked good.  Most importantly, when we uncovered the turf, we were not meet with “the smell of death”.  “The smell of death” is a term superintendents like to use to describe the odor that dead turf gives off under ice.

Next we proceeded down to the 4^th and 5^th greens.  These greens had about 5 inches of snow covering a 2 inch thick layer of ice.  The thick ice and melting snow made it a little harder to see the turf but from what we observed the grass still looks good.

We also took a small sample of the green and brought it back the maintenance building for observation.  If the grass greens up and starts to grow, we will know that the turf is still healthy.

There is much debate about the best way to deal with ice on a green.  Some superintendents choose to remove the ice.  However there are two problems with removing the ice.  First, the process of removing the ice itself can cause significant damage to the green.  Secondly, if you remove the ice and expose the turf to warm temperatures and then get a period of low temperatures you can lose turf through what is known as crown hydration.

Based on what we have observed so far, we have decided to leave the snow and ice in place and continue to monitor the health of the greens.  If it is determined that the ice is causing problems then at that point we will take the necessary steps to prevent further turf loss.

Some parts of the golf course have already lost its snow cover.  All of these exposed areas look good.  We have not seen any ice damage and there is no sign of snow mold.  Snow mold is a fungus that can attack the turf in the winter.  We treat for this disease preventativly in the fall and I am happy to say that those applications seem to have been effective.

With warmer temperatures in the forecast, we hope to loose a lot of the remaining snow cover and prevent any ice damage from occurring.

Hydraulic leak



One of a superintendent’s worst fears is a hydraulic leak, especial one that occurs on a green.  As luck would have it on Sunday July 7 this is exactly what happened at Huntsville.  



#13 Green immediately after leak



The leak was caused by a failing oil seal on one of our greens rollers.  The leaking oil resulted in small spots and thin lines of damaged turf.  Unfortunately the operator did not notice the leak until several greens had been damaged.  The greens affected were #3, #5, #7, #10, #12, #13 and #17.

Many people have asked why the operator did not stop sooner.  Hydraulic leaks however can be very difficult to detect initially, particularly when the leak is small like the one we experienced.  Hydraulic oil is a clear liquid and it has no odor. Noticing hydraulic oil on wet grass in the early morning light can be almost impossible.  It is not until sometime later that the damage becomes very apparent.



Fortunately for us the leak was light resulting in mostly superficial damage.  The damaged turf should recover in a week or two.



#13 Green five days after leak



We are now carefully inspecting all of our rollers and replacing oil seals and hydraulic motors as needed to prevent this from happening again.

Sun screen for your turf?

Yes that right, there is a new product on the market called Turf Screen that is being marketed to protect your turf from harmful UV radiation. 





Turf Screen

  Turf Screen was the brain child of Scott May who was the golf course superintendent of Manufactures Golf and Country Club near Philadelphia, PA.  After applying the product to his golf course and seeing how beneficial it was, he quit his job as superintendent and started up a  company to sell Turf Screen to golf courses full time.  The active ingredients in Turf Screen is zinc oxide, the same white stuff that you see on the noses of life guards at the beach.  The theory goes that all plants are susceptible to sunburn and solar stress from UV radiation and that Turf Screen will protect your plants from that damage.  Superintendents who have used the product report decreased water use, decreased canopy temperature, decreased turf stress and wilt, and improved plant health.  With so many positive testimonials I had to try it.  We applied Turf Screen to the greens on Wednesday.  The product contains a green pigment which made the greens a nice green color.  We will continue to experiment with this product and keep you updated on the results we are seeing.



Green color response from Turf Screen applied to the left. Untreated turf to the right.


We have also been doing some bunker work.  Over time grass along the edge of the bunkers creeps into the sand.  Periodically we need to identify where the original edge of the bunker was and cut the grass back.  In some places the grass has grown in a foot or more.  The shape of the bunker edges are an integral part of a golf course architects design. By cutting the bunkers back to their original lines we are maintaining the integrity of the Rees Jones design.



Removing grass that had grown into the bunker sand.





The chipping green bunker is also getting some much needed attention.  This particular bunker is very prone to wind sweeping the sand out of the bunker and depositing it outside the bunker.  Over time a layer of sand over 12 inches deep had accumulated at the far end just outside the bunker.  To repair this we stripped the sod, removed the built up sand back down to the original soil level and then replaced the sod.  We have this same problem on several bunkers on the course and hope to preform this same procedure to those bunkers later this summer.



Removing wind blown sand from outside the chipping green bunker.



Hand Watering

As we progress into summer making sound water management decisions becomes increasingly important.  Finding the right balance between golfer’s expectations of firm fast conditions and sustaining healthy turf becomes increasingly difficult.

 

Weather Station


Although the irrigation system at Huntsville Golf Club is over 20 years old, it is still a very good system.  We have over 1,200 individual irrigation heads that are all controlled by a centralized computer.  We also have an on-site weather station which records evapotranspiration and can help to calculate how much to water to apply.  Despite these tools and technology, determining how much to irrigate is as much of an art as it is a science.  Applying too much water will lead to soft playing conditions, increased disease pressure and shortened root systems.  Apply too little and the grass will suffer from drought stress which could lead to turf loss.



 

"Hand watering gives you the ability to deliver water where it is needed.."


Hand watering a green

Modern irrigation heads are designed to apply water uniformly to the turf, unfortunately, the turf does not always dry out uniformly.  This is most evident on greens which are grown on sand for drainage purposes and can dry out very quickly.  As the green dries down certain ridges and high points tend to dry out first.  Although the simplest solution would be to run the irrigation heads, this would lead over watering areas of the green that are not dry.  It is at these times that hand watering becomes a vital maintenance procedure.  Hand watering gives you the ability to deliver water where it is needed while avoiding over irrigating other areas. 


Although no one likes to see maintenance workers hand watering the greens during the day.  Please be patient and understand that the greens staff is out there trying to produce healthy greens that are firm and fast.