Newspaper Article about Irene/Golf Courses

Here is an article from the Star Ledger this morning about how some of the courses in our area were impacted by Irene.

http://www.nj.com/golf/index.ssf/2011/09/golf_courses_across_jersey_nur.html

USGA Update

By Jim Skorulski, Dave Oatis, Adam Moeller, agronomists, Northeast Region
August 31, 2011

A trail of debris is not all that is left as saltwater begins to recede from a coastal Connecticut golf course. The likelihood of damage from the saltwater makes it necessary to plan a leaching and renovation strategy for the flooded areas.

It is hard to believe that recently Hurricane Irene was driving up the Atlantic seaboard and bringing with it hurricane and tropical storm force winds and flooding rains. Add Irene to the list of 2011 maladies that include winter damage, tornadoes, giant hail, and an earthquake tremor. Enough is enough already. I guess most of us should be thankful that Irene lost some of her strength before making landfall and spared us from even worse wind and storm surge damage. However, the large and powerful storm will be remembered most for the catastrophic flooding and damage it has caused throughout the region.
Maintenance staffs have been busy cleaning up downed trees, branches and debris left from the wind and massive flooding, along with washed out bunkers and cart paths, severe erosion and flooded turf areas. Saltwater flooding and, to a lesser extent, salt spray are the major concern for lower lying coastal golf courses. Saltwater flooding is never good, but poses an even greater risk in the summer when the turf is actively growing. The extent of damage is hard to predict and will depend on the weather, turf species and cultivar, duration of the flooding and ability to remove the accumulated salts. Toxic levels of sodium and chloride ions will damage most cool season grasses and especially annual bluegrass. Consider the following points as you plan a clean-up and recovery strategy following the storm’s aftermath.

• Record rainfall totals generated from this storm have caused more extensive flooding and erosion on inland golf courses. The duration of the flooding and temperature will impact the turf survival. Turf under water for several days will probably be ok if the temperatures do not climb too high. Removing silt and other debris left from the flood will be the challenge. Use snow shovels or power broom the silt and debris from greens and use hoses to wash-off as much of remaining soil as possible. Plan on extra cultivation in the flooded areas this fall to remove layers of silt and other fines from the surface.  
• Golf courses that experienced saltwater flooding must anticipate the worst in regards to turf damage. Any rain that occurred after the saltwater receded will be helpful. Begin irrigating the areas as soon as possible. Check the salinity of any irrigation pond that may have been breached. Water with an ECw of 2-3 dS/m (1280ppm-1920ppm total dissolved salt), although not ideal, can still be used to flush salt-affected sites. Water with higher salt concentrations should not be used.
• How much water will it take to remove salts from the upper root zone?   Mike Huck, Irrigation and Turfgrass Services in Dana Point, CA relayed to me that 4 inches of infiltrated water will remove 90 percent if the salt from 4 inches of soil, regardless of the soil texture.  Gypsum can be applied at 10 lbs per 1,000 sq ft while leaching the salt-affected areas. Reapply gypsum at 10 lbs per 1,000 sq ft when the areas can be cultivated.
• Use a salinity meter (see links below) or have a saturated soil test completed to determine if the salinity has been lowered sufficiently for seeding. ECe (electrical conductivity of soil) should be < 4dS/m and preferably < 2 dS/m and an SAR < 6 and preferably < 3 for successful seeding.  Bentgrass cultivars such as Seaside II, Cobra, SR 1020 and Mariner have higher salt tolerances and may be a consideration for flood prone greens and other areas. The perennial ryegrass cultivars Brightstar SLT, Citation II, Citation Fore and Paragon offer higher salt tolerance, Alkaligrass grass can tolerate higher levels of salt and may also be a suitable choice for areas that are more prone to saltwater flooding.   
• The warm blast of tropical air generated from this storm may also carry with it the threat of gray leaf spot disease. I have not yet heard reports of the pathogen in the Northeast, but stay alert for reports of disease activity and for symptoms on perennial ryegrass.

This hurricane will not be remembered so much for its wind, as it will for the widespread flood damage. The clean-up, repair work and regrassing efforts at many Northeast golf courses will be significant. More details regarding the damage and clean-up efforts will be forthcoming as we better understand the extent of damage. Do not hesitate to contact us if we can answer any questions or be of help during the recovery efforts. 

Tree

We lost the left side of the tree in the center of 9 fairway during the storm. We received 6 plus inches of rain as my rain gage only goes to 6 and it was full. I will have another update tommorrow after we begin cleaning up.
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Course Closing

To all the members

Golf course will be closed from 3pm Saturday until 730 Tuesday morning.
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Irene

We will be preparing for Irene today and Saturday on the golf course. We have already had both of our fuel tanks filled and have filled all the equipment with fuel. The chainsaws are ready and the blowers have been checked. I will pressure down the irrigation system and turn off the pumps over the weekend. The reason for this is in the event a tree falls it could damage an irrigation pipe in the process thus causing large amounts of water to leak onto the golf course. The flagsticks will be brought in on Saturday night to prevent them from flying away if we do receive high winds. Hopefully this is all for not but we will be prepared and will begin the clean-up as soon as Irene leaves the area.

The 8th green will partially be reopened on Saturday. The sod that is roped off should not be walked on for any reason. There will be two drop areas, one in the front and one in the rear of the green, that you are to use to avoid the sod. It will be a few weeks until we can play on the new sod so please be patient and respect the ropes so we can have a great putting surface for the fall season..

Course Update

The rain has stopped for the next few days and ushered in cool nights and mild days which is a great benefit to the course helping recovery on our problem greens and with the vandalism from Saturday night. The Fredco Group is soding the 8th green today repairing the damage from the vandalism. The 8th green will closed entirely on Tuesday with a temporary green in play for Wednesday thru Friday. We will re-evaluate the green for the weekend. Fredco will also be finishing the new nursery today so we should have some germination in the next two weeks. I have been continuing to aerate and seed the problem areas on the greens and collars trying to establish as much bentgrass as possible with the favorable weather. As we look for better practices to preserve our small collars we began using plastic lattice when we mow the greens. The lattice gives us an area to turn the mowers on without injuring the collars. The greens were topdressed yesterday to help fill in voids as well as routinely dilute our thatch layer in the greens.

Lattice being used to protect the collars

Damage

Last night we had vandals do damage to two greens, #3 and #8. #8 will be closed while repairs can be made.
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