Course Update

The unofficial end of the summer is here already with the start of the Labor Day weekend. I can say its been a very tough summer for the golf course, myself, and the maintenance staff but the fall always brings a rejuvenation with changing colors on the trees, healthy turf, and crisp morning air. We have been busy this week on the golf course and were very lucky to miss the heavy rain on Wednesday. We have added bunker sand to the left and right greenside bunkers on the first hole. The sand will take a couple of weeks to firm up but should be in great shape for the club championship. We have also been demoing a new mower for the greens that will allow us the ability to vertical mow the greens in the future, provide us a back-up greens mower in case of an emergency, and give us the ability to double-cut the greens. Vertical mowing lifts the turf from a laying down position to an upright position allowing for a denser, healthier turf system. Vertical mowing also provides small channels for our sand topdressing to work into the turf canopy better. The end result of vertical mowing is more turf plants per square inch which increases density thus creating much better ball roll. We will be demoing two other manufactures equipment before making a decision with the Board of Governors on a suitable purchase. I would like to remind everyone that we will be aerating the greens with our aggressive fall aeration process similar to 2012 on Monday September 16th followed with approaches and tees the rest of that week. The contracted fairway aeration will be Monday September 30th. Two other reminders of importance are that the golf course is closed to all members on Mondays for golf course maintenance with the exception of holidays and please do not use the provided divot mix in the rough. Divot mix is for fairway and tee use only. Thanks and enjoy the weekend.

Seed Growing on struggling areas of Greens

USGA Northeast Update

“Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!”

By David A. Oatis, director, Northeast Region
August 21, 2013

In mid-July, soil temperatures at a 3-inch depth were regularly found to be 90°F to 95°F (left) while turfgrass canopy temperatures ranged from 90°F to 105°F (right). Significant root dieback occurred and cool-season turfgrasses simply cannot withstand temperatures this high for an extended period of time.

Every year has its challenges, and the weather presents many of them. Much of the stress turfgrass faced this year occurred early in the season. Heavy rains were experienced in June and early July, and oppressive and near record-setting heat made the rest of July even tougher. No golf course escaped those extremes unscathed. The damage was obvious at many golf facilities as turf was lost. However, even those that didn’t lose turf were affected. Turfgrass root systems shrank dramatically, and it was difficult to find annual bluegrass root systems that were more than an inch deep.

Fortunately, the weather has been mild since July and turf health has rebounded. Root systems still are extremely short, but thinned areas have begun to fill in, and turf that was teetering on the brink of collapse is recovering. To say that we “dodged a bullet” is an understatement. A more typical stretch of stressful weather in August would likely have triggered massive turf loss throughout the region because turf at many golf facilities was very close to the edge.

With the stress of July in our rearview mirror, many have already aerated, and many more will do so in the next week or two. Assuming the weather is not too stressful, and thus far August has been a perfect month for aerating, turf that is aerated now should recover quickly because of warm, but not excessively hot, temperatures and longer days. Recovery is much slower later in the fall. To be sure, August aeration can be risky. Stressful weather combined with weak turf and aggressive cultivation practices can cause damage. However, if the turf is healthy enough to withstand it and the weather cooperates, August aeration can produce better turf conditions and an undisturbed schedule for fall golf. It also can provide a great opportunity to get new and improved bentgrasses established in old greens.

There are a few things to watch for right now as we are still not completely out of the woods yet regarding stressful weather conditions:

• Continue to manage water carefully and use your best employees for this crucial job. Remember, if the root systems are an inch deep, soil moisture at the 2-inch depth is inaccessible to the plant. Turf with shortened root systems will need more frequent and lighter applications of water, but the goal should be to keep soil moisture levels lower overall by not overwatering.
• Remember that moisture loss can be quite low when dew points and humidity levels are high, so extra irrigation and syringing is not necessarily needed just because “it’s hot.”
• Watch out for high sky, low humidity days. With weak turf and weaker root systems, this is a weather pattern that can wreak havoc. Normal syringing techniques may not be sufficient if we experience this type of weather, so be prepared with more frequent hand-watering should this occur.
• Plugging bentgrass into weakened areas makes the most sense right now, and 3-inch diameter turf pluggers work very well for this purpose. Smaller plugs are less obvious and less objectionable than traditional 4.25-inch diameter plugs. Plus, smaller turf plugs can be placed much faster and are easier to level than large plugs.

There are distinct patterns of stress and turf damage at many golf facilities and, as usual, it is the pocketed greens at most courses that are the weakest. This clearly illustrates the impact poor growing environments, namely inadequate airflow and sunlight exposure, can have on turf performance. Not surprisingly, this is another season where the value of fans to generate air movement is being demonstrated in numerous locations. Fans cool the turf canopy and allow it to dry which goes a long way toward reducing fungal disease activity. Using an infrared thermometer during Turf Advisory Service visits, turf canopies are regularly 6°F to 8°F cooler (or more) than adjacent turf without the airflow of a fan. As you plan for next year, and if you have greens that performed poorly this year from inadequate airflow, strongly consider adding more fans to your equipment inventory.

Northeast agronomists have been extremely busy, but we are never too busy to hear from you. Please give us a call if we can help and best of luck for a successful season. 

Signal Light

The new signal light on the 9th hole is now operational. The light is located in the same location on the tee with new buttons mounted on wooden posts near the old locations. We still have to remove the metal posts from the old light system but we are back up and running. The new system has a few upgraded features including turning itself off at night to save electricity and resetting back to green after 12 minutes which eliminates the issue of waiting in the event players forget to push the button in the fairway. I want to thank the membership for their patience while we dealt with the light system.

I was able to borrow an aerator for the rough from Forest Hill Field Club allowing us to renovate some of the struggling rough areas. I will be out aerating rough over the next week and seeding with turf-type tall fescue matching the varieties from the sod on the moundings from this spring. New seedlings have emerged on the greens especially on 5 and 6 greens which is very comforting to me as we have put a lot of effort into renovating these areas. It will be a slow process but these areas will fill in with new varieties of bentgrass. Next weeks schedule includes venting and topdressing the greens on Monday followed by more hand-spiking and seeding. We will also be venting and seeding the struggling areas of the fairways again taking advantage of the good weather.

Late next week the weather looks to return back to summer conditions so we will be changing from renovation mode back to maintenance mode. The hoses will be coming back out and irrigation syringe cycles will be running during the day keeping all the new seed healthy. Thank you and enjoy the weekend.

USGA - August Northeast Update

Skinned Knees And Bruised Elbows

By Jim Skorulski, senior agronomist, Northeast Region
August 7, 2013

Rough areas composed of thatchy, shallow-rooted bentgrass and Poa annua were no match for the 20-plus inches of rain, stifling heat and extreme humidity that blanketed most of the Northeast region in June and July.

“Skinned knees and bruised elbows, but no broken bones” was the clever response provided by Michael Luccini, golf course superintendent at Franklin Country Club in Franklin, Mass., when asked about the condition of the golf course following the brutal stretch of weather experienced in the Northeast region in June and July. Most golf facilities in the region experienced some bumps and bruises and others broken bones during the stretch of hot and humid weather that followed heavy rains – a perfect recipe for cool-season turf failure.

Many parts of the region experienced soil and canopy temperatures well above 90°F during the day without much relief at night. Damage from high temperatures has been common to turf in the Northeast, including scald, wet wilt, Pythium and brown patch disease, foliar anthracnose, dollar spot and summer patch diseases. The inability to topdress during the hot months of June and July resulted in puffy turf conditions on putting greens. As bentgrass turf became more succulent and putting surfaces softer, the turf became more susceptible to mower scalping and traffic damage. Greens located in stagnant environments suffered the most as did poorly drained areas and anywhere flooding occurred. Golf facilities with heavy cart traffic and busy outing schedules in June and July also experienced considerable turf damage. Fairways and roughs with excessive thatch or rough areas composed of creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass (Poa annua) did not hold up well through this subtropical weather pattern. 

What are some things we should learn from the summer of 2013?

• Deferred maintenance is not a formula for long-term success. Just think how much better things might be right now had the drainage project been completed, the trees removed, the fairway and rough aerification programs maintained, poor quality roughs regrassed, and the problematic greens rebuilt? Sometimes it takes the perfect storm of events like those of the summer of 2013 before this message hits home.
• More is not always better. This was especially true with nitrogen applications. High rates of controlled-released granular fertilizers did what they were intended to do in wet soils at a high temperature: they released nitrogen. This was sometimes to the detriment of the turf.  
• Fans really work well where they are needed. Obtaining fans in July was like trying to find an air conditioner. Good luck. Seriously though, the new generations of fans are powerful, quiet, effective and a must for areas where natural air circulation is limited.
• Mowing over wet, saturated soils in mid-summer is never good. Sometimes it has to be done, but if a mowing can be skipped it may just allow you to live and fight another day. That can be said for cart traffic as well.
• Large tournaments or outings are best scheduled outside of July if at all possible. Prepping for a big event during extremely stressful weather is asking for problems. It is also much harder for the staff to syringe and take other protective measures during such events or when the golf course is at full play.
• Crabgrass really does well in the heat and preemergence herbicides just do not hold up as long with hot, wet soil conditions.
• Mother Nature remains the boss. We have more tools than ever to manage golf courses and we do it better than ever, most of the time. When the weather becomes truly difficult, the best we might do is to just ride it out. Defense wins championships as the saying goes, and good offense takes the pressure off the defense. It is a balancing act to be sure.          

Fortunately, as quickly as the tropical-like rains and heat arrived, they have been displaced with cooler and drier air. The break in the weather has even produced some good overseeding results that did not seem likely several weeks ago. We are certainly not out of the woods yet, especially given the weakened condition of the turf and the possibility that weather patterns could change back to summer heat just as quickly. Nonetheless, we will take this break and hope it continues into mid-August when we all anticipate better growing conditions, shorter days and cooler nights. 

So, if you are one of the fortunate ones to only experience some skinned knees and bruises this summer, I would say you are doing a lot of things right. If not, it is time to reevaluate the practices in place and reconsider the investments that will allow the turf to better survive extreme weather conditions without completely sacrificing playing conditions. 

Course Update

The course received 1.4 inches of rain since yesterday afternoon with 1 inch of that falling in just under 20 min. While a nice steady rain would have been great for all the new seed on the putting greens following the dry-ject instead most of the seed has washed into piles on the low sides of the greens. We will be cleaning up these piles as best as possible and will have to re-seed the greens. The greens were only rolled today due to the wet conditions with a possible mowing this afternoon depending on the weather. The crew is fixing all the bunker washouts and will be mowing tees and approaches.

A new signal light that is wireless has been order for the 9th hole and will be installed immediately upon its arrival. I appreciate the understanding and inconvenience of the membership while we tried to fix the electrical gremlins but at the end of the day we couldn't locate the short. The wireless system is the most cost effective and least intrusive fix to the problem.

Flooding Rain not good for New Seed

Dry-Ject Update

The greens and collars were first vented this morning using our Toro 648 aerator followed by the Dry-Ject process. The Dry-Ject injected 10 tons of sand into the greens with very little waste. The greens were then brushed and rolled followed by a heavy seeding of 007 and Crystal Blue Links bentgrass seed. The Dry-Ject has left some mud on the green surface in a few areas which will be mowed off over the next few days. The green areas that have been struggling were additionally spiked by hand and seeded extra heavy to gain some germination with the good weather. The greens will be rolled daily the rest of the week to smooth out the Dry-Ject holes and we should be in good shape by the weekend. Two ropes will placed out on the 5th and 6th greens to divert golfer traffic entering and exiting the green. These areas are continuing to decline due to constant foot traffic so please obey the ropes.

Soil Based Greens leaving some Mud

Dry-Ject after before brushing

Dry-Ject After Brushing and Rolling