Course Update - April 17th

We had a good week weather-wise with spring like temperatures and the course has greened-up especially the short turf. We have been mowing on a more regular basis and I am happy to report that we had more grass then sand in the buckets when we mowed this morning. The crew will begin working weekends this week so the greens will be prepped, bunkers raked, and the course set-up both Saturday and Sunday. The divot buckets are out on the tees and bottles are available for fairway divots so please fill your divots. DO NOT USE DIVOT MIX IN THE ROUGH Our rough is a mix of Poa,Ryegrass, and Tall Fescue while the divot mix contains bentgrass seed and we do not want bentgrass in the rough. We have also placed broken tee caddys on the 1st, 3rd, and 8th tees for your broken tees.

We sodded some areas between greens and bunkers this week as these areas build-up with splashed out sand and the turf burns out when the weather turns hot. These areas are roped off and signage is in place marking them Ground Under Repair so please keep off these areas.

Replacing Rough around Greens

Course Update

Aeration week started with great weather on Monday but the rest of the week was cool and wet making aeration more challenging. We have completed aeration of all the playing surfaces along with topdressing of greens, approaches, and tees. The sand is more difficult to work in and mowing has to wait as long as the sand is wet but this afternoon we are hoping to roll the greens for a third time since aeration and mow for the first time. The healing time for the greens depends on the weather more specific the temperature of the soil. The soil needs to be 50 degrees for root growth and 55 degrees for shoot growth that being said the good news is next week looks to be a more typical spring week with temperatures in the 60's.

We completed some sod work on the practice green approach replacing dead turf from ice damage with new sod from our nursery. Please keep off the sod until the signs and ropes are removed. We will be growing-in a new nursery this spring to continuing to have 3,000 sq ft of greens height sod in-case we should need it. A new irrigation head was added on the 2nd tee to help provide better covered especially along the cart path. Greenwood Tree was on property doing a safety pruning to the Silver Maple at the 1st tee. Unfortunately this maple is declining and large pieces of deadwood were removed this week. The tree was lightened up and all the sucker growth was removed.

If your around the club this weekend pay some attention to the Star Magnolia bush located in the rear of the clubhouse near the push carts as it will be in bloom. The Star Magnolia is the first spring flowering shrub we have at MGC.

Green Aeration

Irrigation @ 2 tee

Silver Maple Safety Pruning

The Masters

The Masters begins this week and if watching it doesn't get you excited for golf I am not sure anything will. I saw this article written by an intern working on the maintenance staff at Augusta National:

Inside the Ropes: The Life of an Augusta greenkeeper

Headingly greenkeeper Andy Stanger told his careers advisor that he loved cutting grass. Twelve years later he earned himself a six-month

internship at the most famous corner in golf in the run-up to the 2009 Masters.

“I got the internship after a three- hour phone interview with three different people. There were 14 of us interviewing for one job. I began in late October 2008 and was appointed to work on holes 8 and 9. Then Amen Corner came up so I spent 15 hours a day working on 11 and 12. It was a dream spot, where else would you want to be as a greenkeeper?

“They have 45 full-time staff on turf, 35 on horticulture and eight to 10 interns on hole care. There are also four full-time mechanics. The greenkeepers’ prefab is immaculate. They will sand down all the paint on all the walls and paint it all again brand new every year.

“The site is huge. To get from Amen Corner from the maintenance facility would take about eight minutes to drive to. The trees go on for quite a way before you get to the edge of the site, it’s like a fortress.

“I have always fancied caddying there. The caddies say the 11th is the hardest hole, if you go left from the tee you’re dead, and it’s the most difficult to putt on. In the morning, with the dew on it, you can see really subtle breaks and the nap goes down towards the pond. Pros will drop 50 balls to find a way to run one down to the pin.

“The 12th can be deceptive, there is a hole in the trees where the creek runs and that can act like a funnel for the wind. The green is tiny. If you go long there is no up and down from the bunkers.

“They have a bunker technician there every single day; depth checking, cleaning, topping up, edging. I can guarantee and the depth of sand will be exactly the same in every bunker. When the course shuts they get a black liner and peg it all in so any bunker can’t be contaminated or get blown away. Then they clean them out and freshen them up.

“The course opens again in October and they have all new grass every year. The Bermuda grass in the summer basically holds the soil together and looks terrible and that’s why it’s shut. In October they scalp all the Bermuda grass down to the soil and plant new Ryegrass everywhere. And then the clock starts ticking and the countdown goes up on the wall. There is no ‘we’ve got til April’, the intensity is then ramped up from that point.

“You will get weak spots, bits that are in the shade we will be working on. We were throwing seeds two weeks before the tournament – anything that can be picked up on a camera will be painted green.

They get the green speeds to around 14. No club golfer will ever understand that. And that is on firm and undulating greens

“Members aren’t expected to be out there playing every day. A busy day might be four rounds; most days there would be nobody. Two to three weeks before the tournament the players start arriving. Two weeks before that is the members’ tournament – The Jamboree – and that is the big deal and where you can get your name on the boards.

“Jack Nicklaus said if you put a 10-handicapper in the middle of every green he still wouldn’t break 90 and he is spot on, they are like putting on my desk. It is the sheer firmness. How they stop their balls on 15 is beyond me.

"They have chalk points on the greens that are 10 feet apart and they roll between them. They get the speeds to around 14. No club golfer will ever understand that. And that is on firm and undulating greens.

“Three weeks before you start mowing morning and night. They will say to cut the 10th three times, the 14th four times and the 12th just once and that will keep changing. Every green will be exactly the same speed.

"It is different to the US Open where the greens are purple by the Sunday, it is 80 ̊ in April and they haven’t been trampled all year and are not stressing it as a plant plus everything is monitored.

“On tournament days we would meet in the shop at 3.30am for a briefing. The chairman would come down at 4.30 to gee everybody up and you would be given a number of a mower with instructions.

“I had 12 which I would only cut once. There was no grass coming off, just dust, so I would help on 13. There is as much food and drinks as you want and then you are free to watch golf or get some sleep.

“A lot of us sat in the shop and watched it on the big screens. It is the best networking time and where you would get your next job. By 2.30pm I was in a buggy by the 5th in case anything went wrong.

"Then after the golfers have come through you start mowing the course again.”

• Andy is now the head greenkeeper at another Alister MacKenzie-designed course – Headingley, near Leeds 

Golf Course Opens on Saturday

The grounds staff members arrived this week and have been busy with course clean-up so we are happy to open the golf course on Saturday for walkers only. Electric carts are still on hold until the course dries out some more. The 7th and 8th greens will remain covered until next week as the temperatures are still very low at night. A sample from the center of the 6th green where the ice formed over the winter has been brought indoors to incubate for closer examination of the damage. The damage is localized to a small area and hopefully is only the tips of the plant and not the crown. Once we see how the sample responds we can form our plan including aeration, seeding, and traffic restrictions. The greens have not been mowed yet as the temperatures are just too low but the forecast looks like the first mowing will take place sometime next week.

The NJ Audubon society recommended that we clean out our bird houses early in the spring. We have completed the cleanings learning in the process that 5 of our 6 houses were occupied last year. I expect to see some new activity around the houses in the next few weeks as temperatures continue to warm.

A reminder that the golf course is closed for all play on April 6,7, and 8 for aeration of all playing surfaces.

The winter that will not end

Its always amazing to me how fast a little warm air and bright sun can melt snow, a week ago the only turf visible was under the White Pines and now the course is 95% clear of snow , at least until tomorrow. We welcomed back two employees this week to begin refinishing the course accessories and course clean-up. We shoveled the snow off a few greens on Monday to help with the melting process and we are removing any free water off the green surfaces to prevent refreezing. We also spent a great deal of time removing ice from the 6th green that was over 4 inches thick. The ice forms in the middle swale of 6 green due to its poor design which doesn't allow for surface draining only internal draining that is not possible with frozen soil. The forecast is calling for 1-3 inches of snow Friday so the course will remain closed for the weekend.

The Board of Governors had approved new hitting mats for the nets in the fall and I am happy to report that they have been installed. These mats were thoroughly researched by one of our members and are of extremely high quality but they require the use of wooden tees so remember to bring some tees with you to warm-up. I hope to set the golf course up for the first time next week at which time the new tees that were constructed on the 2nd and 6th holes will be open with gold tee markers. The club has modified the rule currently on the scorecard for gold markers to include the requirement that any player with a handicap of 25 or higher play from the gold markers.

Ice on 6 Green Center Swale

Golf Industry Show

The current condition of the golf course remains the same as it has for the past 5 weeks, covered in snow. Yesterday I dug through the snow on the greens and I am happy to report a very minimal slushy ice layer on some greens and zero ice layer on other greens. This weeks weather is going to complicate things with warm weather and rain switching back to cold and snow all in 48 hours. I will continue to monitor the snow pack for ice at the greens surface.

I had the opportunity to attend the Golf Industry Show last week in San Antonio, Texas. The show consists of two parts, educational seminars and the largest turf related trade show in the world. This years conference was attended by close to 13,000 individuals and exhibitors. I focused my seminars for this years conference on bunkers, turf fertility, and technology. My seminar on bunkers was very important considering many of our capital improvements are related to bunker renovations. I was able to learn about many different construction and liner methods along with maintenance practices. Turf fertility is a focus of mine for 2015 to reduce spending while increasing the health of the turf and provide great surfaces. As a result of this seminar we will be sending samples of our clippings from greens on a bi-weekly basis to a lab for analysis. I will only provide nutrients based on what is lacking in the turf plant itself, very exciting technology. Continuing on the technology front I took a seminar focusing on using Google drive and tablets in the field to help compile data ranging from stimpmeter readings, fuel consumption, and labor tracking. The trade show was over 120,000 sq ft filled with every item revolving around the turf industry. I meet with vendors and manufactures to discuss and view upcoming capital equipment purchases as well as new trends in the industry especially with irrigation.

Here is a clip from morning drive on the golf channel about the golf industry show http://www.golfchannel.com/media/sights-and-sounds-golf-industry-show/

Winter Update - February 2015

14 days, that's how long the turf has been covered by snow so far this season which is a far cry from the over 35 days of snow cover we had at this time last year. The snow is good in that it protects the turf plants from larger temperature swings especially the nights that have been in the single digits. We have three greens with sensors located in the soil monitoring temperature, moisture, and salinity. These sensors are relied upon much more during the growing season but its interesting to check them during the winter months, over the past 10 days the soil temperature has only fluctuated 2 degrees between day and night. The downside of snow cover, as many courses in our area experienced last year, is damage from ice. At the 40 day mark of snow cover I will begin to clear low areas of greens and take a sample of the turf to monitor its health. If we have snow melt earlier it will be important to move any thawed water off the greens before they can re-freeze. Please read this USGA update for more info: http://www.usga.org/course_care/New_regional_updates/northeast/Déjà-vu-All-Over-Again----January-2015/

Every two years Golf Course Industry magazine surveys all the golf courses in the country and compiles a very good breakdown of concerns in the industry. The following link is an electronic copy of that issue: http://www.golfcourseindustry.com/digital/201501/index.html  I urge you to read the State of Industry report that details how clubs in our region and other region are dealing with membership, projects, budgets, etc