Three Closed days for Fairway Aeration and Topdressing

Monday, July 16, 2012 Fertility, Projects, Putting Greens, Tree Work

Well the last month or so has been a whirlwind per our typical Richmond summer.  A typical summer to me means to expect anything and everything.  Between a drought, a heat wave and now frequent severe storms, we have been living a little on edge to say the least.  The sprigs have loved the heat and the rest of the golf course has handled the weather decently.  Not great, not bad.  Greens 3, 4, 10, and 13 were core aerated today to help speed the recovery of stressed, thin turf on the edges of these greens.  Very small tines (.25") were used.  Soil moisture and high heat combined to stress these areas but to date, no disease has been present.  We take these situations very seriously and are doing everything possible to protect the new putting surfaces.  The greens are recovering and the past week of good weather has helped tremendously.  Tomorrow and Wednesday look to be scorching hot again but at least the course is closed.  The weather forecast after Wednesday looks very favorable.  A few new cultural practices will be implemented this fall and next spring to help these areas drain better and dry out faster.  This will help prevent stress in the future.  We look forward to cooler temperatures when we can again provide better putting conditions.  In the short run, we will remain conservative.    

Kevin core aerated a few greens this morning that are showing signs of stress.   This process will help the greens dry out and speed recovery.

This large Willow Oak on #12 suffered a huge lightning strike last night.  Large segments of bark were as far as 60 feet from this tree.  Unfortunately, we will most likely lose this tree.  This will be the third tree in a vicinity of about 50 yards that has been lost to lightning during my tenure.

The damage from the strike spirals around the tree starting about 25 feet above the base.

The next few days, our team will focus on projects including sod between 12 and 14, sod to the left of #9, the edging of all irrigation components and bunkers, and fairway topdressing and solid tine aeration.  The tees, fairways, and green surrounds are being solid tined while the collars are being core aerated for the second time this year.  Topdressing is applied before the solid tine and after the core aeration.  These surfaces will all be fertilized following these cultural practices.  While these areas looked great, these practices will allow them to continue to thrive in the future.

550 tons of sand have been brought in to topdress fairways, tees, approaches, and collars. 

Harmon Turf Services performs the solid tine aeration of tees, fairways, and approaches.  Our team core aerates the collars and does all of the topdressing.

Have a great day,

Jordan Booth
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

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Bringing the Heat

Thursday, June 28, 2012 Projects, Putting Greens

The next 6 days look brutal.  The weather looks perfect for bowling or traveling north.  The current forecast is something like 102/71, 103/76, 102/76, 99/75, 97/74, and 98/73.  These numbers represent the high and low forecast from Friday June 29 - Wednesday July 4.  This is outrageous and extreme but we have been prepping for this summer all season and all week.  The putting greens were vented this week and sprayed with preventative fungicides per our normal schedule.  A protective product was applied that has a blue tint called Turf Screen.  We have used this product this year to combat high temperatures.  It is effectively a sunscreen for the turf made up of zinc and titanium oxide.  It can lower canopy temperatures by up to 8 degrees.  Because the greens were aerated and then vented, oxygen exchange and water infiltration have been excellent.  The greens have also been very soft and ball marks have been violent.  Thank you for fixing these but realize that we are protecting the plant and its roots first and foremost during this extreme weather pattern.

Sprigging finished up this week.  We have about 10,000 ft2 left to sod between 12 and 14 but this will be completed very soon.  The sprigs will take about 3 months to fully establish but our heavy rate of application will speed up the process.  Please play all of these areas including the sod around the sprigs as ground under repair.

Sprigs are spread by hand and then pegged in with the discs of an old sprigging machine.  This process is about 1/7 the price of sodding this area and will really improve these areas.

The fans on #1 and #15 will be operational today which I am very thankful for heading into this heat wave.  The temporary fan that has been on #1 will be utilized on other greens as needed and smaller fans like the one on the on deck putter will be used as well.  Our management team will be keeping a close eye on greens over the next week.  Please be patient and realize that we are working very hard to protect the greens.  We will be using the technique known as syringing to cool off the greens, not to water them.  The goal of syringing is to use water mist to reduce the ambient air temperature around the leaves of the turf and cool the plant.  When it is 100+ degrees, this is very important.  Thank you for your patience while we work hard to keep everything healthy.  

Have a great weekend and avoid the heat if at all possible,

Jordan Booth
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

This is my view from the Loader/Backhoe as Eric and I installed the fan on #15.

Kevin is seen here cutting the trench for the electrical components for the fan on #1.

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Rain Totals or Lack Thereof and Sprigging

Monday, June 25, 2012 Fertility, Projects, Putting Greens, Questions

It has been a dry spell for the golf course with variable temperatures.  If we don't get rain today, I don't see any promising rain chances until next Sunday.  The golf course is showing signs of this mini-drought.  Areas around trees, ridges or knobs in fairways, and the fescue is all showing signs of drought stress.  You will see our staff hand watering these specific areas on tees and fairways and around trees to prevent damage to the turf and trees.  If you see a staff member hand watering or syringing greens, please do not hit your shot in their direction.  We are not trying to delay play or ruin your experience, we are protecting the turf.  The quarry is in decent shape and we are being judicious with our water.  Greens followed by fairways and then tees are the top priorities and our watering practices will be based on this priority.  

The sprig preparation will be completed today.  Trees have all been mulched and the ground has been prepared for sprigs.  Pre-emergent herbicide, fertility and soil amendments will be applied this afternoon ahead of sprigging tomorrow.   Once sprigs are installed, this area will receive a lot of water and fertility to grow in.  Even in this drought situation, our best decision is to sprig as any thunderstorm could wash away all of our prep work.  We have more than enough water to grow these sprigs in and maintain the golf course.  

This large area between 11 and 12 has been tilled, cleaned, graded and is almost ready for sprigs. 

The mulch bed installations between 10 and 12 show you what this area will look like with grass.  Irrigation components and cart path edges were sodded.   Sprigging is about 1/7 of the cost of sod per acre.  These areas should fill in over the next 8-12 weeks.

The hill to the left of #10 green has been mulched and English Ivy will be planted to provide a ground cover.  Do not hit your ball left on 10 but if you do there will be a lot more turf there by summer's end.

If you have played the golf course, you may have noticed a few blemishes or bruised turf around the greens.  Our team and the Green Committee are all aware of these areas most notably on a few edges of greens.  These are a result of the core aeration and topdressing program that took place two weeks ago.  The edges get bruised because they receive the most traffic and mechanical wear during the aeration/topdressing process.  The greens and the edges are recovering well from aeration.  We see the bruising in the spring and fall but recovery is much faster.  During the cooler months, we are able to provide more nitrogen to the plants to hasten recovery.  We simply cannot do that right now.  This heat (predicted to be near 100 on Friday and Saturday) will cause nitrogen applications to have a negative affect and burn the turf.  I actually sprayed these bruised areas this morning to aid in recovery with small amounts of a variety of nutrients.  This process, known as spoon feeding, is very safe and provides small amounts of foliar absorbed nutrients to allow the plants to recover.  We will continue to nurse these edges back to health. 

We are getting to that time of year of angst and bad memories.   We have sent in multiple samples and I sent another sample on Thursday to test for root pythium.  So far, we have seen no disease and I will hear back about this test by tomorrow.  My true belief is that the greens need to continue to heal in from the aeration process (Today marks 14 days since the greens on the bottom 9 were aerated.)  Both to heal over the holes and to heal from the mechanical traffic.  The overall benefit of this aeration will far outweigh the blemishes we are currently witnessing.  

Speaking of negative side affects, we will be applying fertilizer and pre-emergent herbicides in the next few weeks.  We have seen tire tracking with these products in the past.  When a tractor or sprayer drives over the turf, it lays those grass blades over.  This exposes more of the plant's stomata, which are on the side of the leaf blade, and increases plant uptake.  Stoma, the singular form of stomata, is Greek for "mouth."  Stomata are small openings in the plant's skin.  Each stoma is bordered by two guard cells that control the size of the opening, based on factors like atmospheric conditions and light levels.  These openings control transpiration, gas exchange during photosynthesis and foliar nutrient or chemical uptake.  In the case of some products, this can burn the tip of the plant.  Recovery is quick but I want to communicate this point before we see it.  Our TifSport is very susceptible to this problem. 

I am very excited to get this large project finished between 10 tee and 14 tees.  The long term benefit of this project will be outstanding.  It might just be me, but I have noticed a lot more repaired ball marks and filled divots.  It is wonderful to see such pride being taken in course care.  As always, I look forward to seeing you on the course.

Have a great day,

Jordan Booth
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

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Two Productive Closed Days following Men's Member/Guest

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 Projects, Putting Greens, Tournaments

The weather over the past week and hopefully the next 6 days has been fantastic.  Our team pushed hard last week through Men's Member Guest and even harder over the past two days.  Member Guest went very well in my opinion.  The golf course held up well and looked great.  Our team worked a split schedule from 4:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m or 10:00 a.m. and then back at night to mow out the golf course again.  Thank you to our management team and staff for all of the long, hard hours last week.  Their work was evident on the golf course.

Rough and Fairways were mowed for the second time and Greens double cut again at night to improve the finished product.  These mowers are staged and ready to roll once play finished.

The weather has been ideal over the last two days for core aeration and topdressing.  We used .40" tines to core aerate the greens and backfilled the holes.  We also prepped for sprigging and core aerated the putting green surrounds.  Earlier this spring we aerated with 5/8" or .625" tines so these holes are a bit smaller.  We expect the grass to heal over in the next 7-10 days and this process will greatly benefit the turf heading into the summer.  The pictures below best describe the process.  A big thank you to Kevin and Ryan for coming in with me at 2:00 a.m. to aerate the greens ahead of the staff's arrival at 5:00 a.m.   Our team has been pushing hard and looks forward to a few weeks without any major projects.  This summer is off to a great start and this core aeration will allow water to drain and oxygen to get to the roots.  The topdressing will also firm the greens up which will help protect them against traffic. As I write this, it is raining which will greatly benefit all turf surfaces but will also push the sand down into the aeration holes.  You will see our team cleaning up from this process and readying the greens for play over the next few days.

I have a lot to write about regarding some great questions and have a time-lapse video of tournament prep in the works.  The electricians have been here the last two days to install the electrical hook up for the fans.  I will write more about this once we start installation.  I am just getting caught up as the last week has been hectic to say the least.  Over the past 8 days, our department has hosted the Course Care event and Stan Zontek, our USGA agronomist, prepped for the Men's Member Guest and aerated greens.  Thank you to our team for a job well done.

I look forward to seeing you on the course,

Jordan Booth
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

You may notice the head lamp Ryan is wearing.  Aerating the greens at night allows our team to start cleanup immediately. 

Our team pushes the cores to the side of the green and picks them up.  This thatch removal will allow the greens to function properly all summer. 

Following cleanup, the greens are topdressed and soil amendments are added to be worked into the open holes.

Ruben applying dolomitic lime; a good source of calcium and magnesium.

The finished product.

The TifSport Collars were core aerated as well to relieve compaction.  The healthier that the collars are this summer, the better they will handle traffic and the colder months.

The areas between 10 and 12 and 11 and 12 and 12 and 14 were tilled to begin preparation for Sprigs.  Depending on the weather, this will be completed over the next week or so. 

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Tournament Prep

Friday, June 01, 2012 Projects, Questions, Tournaments, USGA Green Section Updates

The golf course has been busy and so has our team.  We are in full preparation mode for next week's Men's Member Guest tournament.  On top of that, we are excited about our course care walk on Monday and our USGA Agronomist Visit on Tuesday.  If you haven't signed up for the event on Monday, it is not too late.  Just let me know by Sunday night. We will start on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Pro Shop.  The walk will be focused on the care and etiquette of the golf course from the teeing ground, a bunker, and a putting green.  Divots will be filled during the walk but will not be the main focus.  Overall course care will be the focus as well as fellowship and education.  The event will conclude with a tour of the golf course maintenance facility and dinner on the patio. I am excited to say that over 50 people have already signed up.  Details are located here. 

Stan Zontek, our USGA agronomist will be on sight Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.  We will be meeting with Stan to discuss agronomic practices, turf health, and the golf course as a whole.  His wealth of knowledge and over 40 years of experience are certainly a great help.  It will be great to have him here during tournament prep as he has set up for dozens of US. Opens and countless USGA events.

Those two large events coupled with five shotgun starts next week makes me question my planning but it will all be successful and fun.  The project behind and to the left of #11 green will be completed on Tuesday.  I know that this is a lot of work right around Member/Guest but we are really pushing to finish up the sod portion of the project.  The following Wednesday, June 13, our team will be sprigging the remaining areas between 10 and 12, 11 and 12, and 12 and 14.  Sprigging will create a great stand of turf and is very economical but will take 6-8 weeks to establish.  For this reason, we are trying to accomplish all of this as early as possible.  The longer that the sprigs and sod are on the ground during the growing season (May - September) the healthier stand of turf we will have. 

I received a great question concerning the decision to mow our greens in the winter months with a riding greens mower.  The decision was made to reduce damage to the bermudagrass collars during dormancy.  This is my response to the question.  Thank you for the question and I will continue to try and answer them as they come in.

1      (Q) In the below newsletter, you mention going to triplex mowers during the dormant season. I would think it would be more damaging to the collars since you have very limited space to turn around. Could you please elaborate. 

(A)  The triplex mowers are obviously on tires and these tires will impact far less of the collar than the roller and drive drum on the walk mowers.  We will have to walk mow the cleanups passes and be very careful with mowing directions due to limited space.  This was never an option in the past as the triplexes provided an inferior quality of cut.  The new machines have floating cutting units just like the walk mowers and will work very well.

I know that you know what the machines look like but the attached photos show the rear drive roller or drum of the walk mower vs. the triplex.  This drum and the drive unit and the turning of the walk mower is what causes the damage.  The cutting units of the triplex are obviously raised when the triplex is off of the green so the only thing that is impacting the collar is the tires.  These tires really provide very little damage.  We will have to approach a few greens with great caution (#9) because of design but it should be a great improvement.

*BIG REMINDER:  The golf course will be closed on June 11 and 12 for putting green core aeration.  This process will greatly help the greens survive the stresses of summer.  This will be a disruption to the playing surface but will pay huge dividends for turf health.  These two days will also be dedicated to the installation of fans on the golf course.  Dominion Power was here today to install a pole to the left of #3 for power.  Power will be installed and then an electrician will help us get power to the fans.  Fans will be installed on #1 and #15 on those two days.  These two closed days will be great for sprig prep and to wrap up a few large fertility and pre-emergent herbicide applications to fairways.

The golf course continues to improve.  I am excited that by the end of June, the areas between 10 and 12, 11 and 12, and 12, and 14 tees will be grassed and growing in.  Thank you for your patience while we are making these improvements.  The final large project of the year will be to grass the area to the left of the cart path on #9.  We will be delaying this project until July to give the budget a little break.  The weather has allowed us to complete a lot of great work but we need to be mindful of our fiscal responsibilities.  I will be excited to maintain the golf course for a while. 

Have a great weekend,

Jordan Booth
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

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Fans, Collars, and Golf Course Projects

Tuesday, May 15, 2012 Fertility, Projects

If you have played the golf course since Tuesday afternoon, you have noticed the large, gas powered fan mounted on a trailer behind #1 Green.  This fan will be used all over the golf course as necessary.  It is being used on #1 because that is perennially, our weakest green and receives poor air movement. It is currently in use while we wait on approval from the city inspector for electrical permitting.  Once this is approved, the permanent fans will be installed on holes 1, 4, and 15.  This large, portable fan will be used as needed.  This fan is louder than the electric fans but very similar in size.  There is a small, electric fan at the on deck putting green.  This fan is much smaller than the ones on the golf course but so is that green.

The collars have been sodded and we are aggressively growing them in.  The sod on holes 9-18 has been mowed and fertilized twice.  The sod on 1-8 was just installed last Monday and has been fertilized once.  The sod will knit in quickly and provide a better playing surface directly around greens. 

As always, we are busy with many course projects.  The area to the right of #14 was prepped for sod today as was the tree line to the left of #10 fairway.  Both of these areas will be sodded tomorrow.  The staff has started the install of the hardscaping around the water coolers and ballwashers.  This will take some time and will be accomplished between other large projects.  We dodged most of the rainstorms yesterday and the golf course is really quite dry.  If we continue to dodge the rain, the course will be very enjoyable this weekend.

The cooler stations will vary in size, depending on location but this one on 13 will be 6'x8'.  Sal and Victor are excavating down 8 inches to establish a base of gravel.  This will be tamped and leveled and the hardscaping will be installed on top.

Edgar, Ergidio, and Rene prepping for sod to the right of #14 fairway.  This is a much needed improvement.

Edgar and Ruben prepping for sod to the left of #10 fairway.  The majority of the sod along #10 will be completed tomorrow.  Please play the entire area between the cartpath on 12 and the fairway on 10 Ground Under Repair.

Have a great day,

Jordan
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

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Course Drying very Well

Friday, May 11, 2012 Drainage, Projects

The course is drying out very well following Wednesday afternoon's 1.5" of rain.  The golf course has drained extremely well and the new drainage on 4, 9, 12, and 13 is paying great dividends.  Last year's drainage projects on #1, 3, 7, 9, 12, 14, and 16 are still working very well.  It is safe to say that we would not have been dry enough to mow or drive carts off of the path without the renovation to the golf course and this additional drainage.  Today we are able to mow out the entire golf course and all of the fairways will be 90 degrees except for #3.  We still have a large drainage project scheduled on #4 this year and then we will shift the majority of our drainage focus to #3.  Natural springs and shade hamper drainage on this hole but we will continue to install drainage until we get it right.

I apologize for the appearance of the bunkers yesterday.  We had a few small washouts and took the opportunity while the sand was off of the lips to edge bunkers and push mow bunker surrounds.  That process is being finished today and bunkers are being mechanically raked and then hand raked to prepare them for play.

Have a great weekend,

Jordan
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

This labor intensive process is the best way to prepare our bunker edges and surrounds for play.

The rain washed the sand off of the lips which allowed us to get a great edge on the bunkers.  The rain also prevented mowing on Thursday so this was the perfect job for the staff.

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Irrigation Audit, More Sod Work and a Ton of Mowing

Wednesday, May 09, 2012 Projects, Putting Greens, Questions

Like every week, Monday and Tuesday have been very busy. Monday was our last closed day for maintenance until the day after Memorial day so we wanted to take advantage. The poor areas around greens 1-8 were sodded on Monday and greens were lightly topdressed. Greens also received soil amendments including Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, and Calcium based on soil tests. Yesterday greens were sprayed with a growth regulator which will help reduce top growth and encourage root growth.  This is a typical practice and will help with overall plant health.  Included with the growth regulator was a plant protectant that has a green/blue appearance.  This gives the greens a bit of an unusual 'blue' appearance but after this morning's mow, the greens are back to their normal green color.

This is a picture of sod prep on Monday.  The poor areas are stripped of the old turf.  The areas are then cut down, tilled and re-leveled with fresh topsoil.  Organic fertilizer is applied to the soil and the area is ready for sod.

On Monday, we also performed an irrigation audit of the greens.  Catch cups were placed in a grid across the green and measurements were taken between sprinkler heads to measure how much water was being applied in a given amount of time.  This irrigation audit will provide information and allow us to make any necessary adjustments.  Irrigation is mainly used to water in soil amendments on putting greens. 

The team from Smith Turf and Irrigation was on hand to perform the Irrigation Audit.

Greens irrigation is inherently inefficient due to head spacing and wind.  Sprinkler heads have to surround the green and cannot be properly spaced due to the unusual shape of putting greens.  This is the main reason that hand water greens.  We need to control the root zone moisture in site specific areas.  Hand watering is based on soil moisture content.  This is measured using soil moisture meters which give us volumetric water content % of a given area.  We then use this information to determine if the green needs to be hand watered and where.  This allows for the most control during morning hand watering.  Our goal is to apply enough water to the root zone for the plant to be able to survive the day while keeping the surface firm.  This is a delicate balance which requires a lot of detailed measurements and application of water. 

Soil moisture metes give us vital information used during hand watering.  You can always add but it is difficult to quickly reduce soil moisture.   Proper measurement and informed decisions allow us to apply the right amount of water.

Afternoon syringing allows us to cool the leaf surface of the plant and prevent wilt.  This process is one of the few management tools we have to cool the plant during heat stress.  The goal of syringing is not to apply water to the root zone but to cool the plant and prevent damage to the turf.  To opponents of hand watering and syringing:  Believe me, if we did not have to perform these duties, we would not.  It is very labor intensive and the disruption to play is not something that we enjoy.  If you see me or the staff syringing in the afternoon, please wait to hit shots into the greens.  We are not trying to ruin your round.  We are not applying water, we are cooling the surface to prevent turf damage from heat stress.

Warmer weather is here and with it, a lot of mowing.  Rough is being mowed as we speak and we have already mowed tees, approaches, and fairways twice this week.  The staff is mowing the back nine holes again today.  Fescue has been mowed once and we will start on that again tomorrow.  Processes like mowing, edging cart path, edging bunkers and edging sprinkler heads are good for the course but causes a labor drain on our department.  We are staffed for this but will be getting into maintenance mode earlier than normal this year.  Projects will be restricted to closed days and slower times of the year.  Our biggest project, renovating the tree line between 10 and 12, is still on schedule.  Irrigation and some sod have been installed and grading, drainage, and sod is on schedule for completion by the end of May.  Sprigging in this area will take place during the closed days of June 11 and 12.  We are in the midst of the warmest Spring on record and the golf course shows it.  We were able to do a lot of projects in April that normally would have to wait until May or June.  Rounds are up and we are about 3 weeks ahead of schedule with green up and growth on the course.  I look forward to seeing you on the course.  USA Today: 2012 is USA's warmest year on record, so far.

Have a great day,

Jordan
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

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Green Speeds, Tee Markers, Virginia Tech Research and #12 Drainage

Friday, May 04, 2012 Drainage, Projects, Putting Greens, Questions

Yesterday's blog post sparked some real concerns about greens.  For this, I apologize.  We are all concerned about greens for the same reason.  We care about the golf course and we know that we cannot suffer the same results as last year.  But this year, we should be proud of the greens.  They are in great shape.  Stan, our USGA agronomist has been by and says we should be very pleased.  Our roots are good.  Just yesterday, the turf pathologist from Virginia Tech was on site to prepare for research trials this summer.  He has looked at samples from all over the golf course and our greens.  He has seen zero disease and is impressed with the progress.  The message from Stan and Virginia Tech is the one that I was trying to convey yesterday.  We need to be conservative this year.  Turf health is the number one priority.  Green speed will come and firm, fast greens have been the trend this spring.  When we have heavy rainfall and heat, we will be conservative. 

Speaking of pride, we should be proud of the entire golf course right now.  Outside of the collars, which are bouncing back well, the turf looks great.  Greens are growing a little too well (slow) but tees, fairways and approaches are hands-down the best they have ever been in May, maybe ever.  The bunkers are good, maybe a little firm, but good.  This sand is designed to be firm.  This helps prevent fried egg lies.  The only real eyesore that I see out there right now are the tee markers.

Over the past few year, the tees have not weathered well and the colors are difficult to see from any distance.  This week, in an effort to improve the visibility of the tees and to prolong the life of the tee markers, the centers were painted.  This has proven to be an unpopular decision but will only be temporary.  The tees need to be replaced.  Painting them was a temporary solution to get us through the season.  We are exploring other options and you will see some old markers on the course in the time being. 

Dave McCall, the turf pathologist at Virginia Tech was here yesterday to scout out some areas for turf research.  With the issues last year, Dave has agreed to be on site more often to evaluate the greens.  While he is here, he will be doing some research on fans and their affects on putting green health.  Dave mapped the greens where fans will be installed this year with GPS.  He also drove over the greens to test color, photosynthesis rates, and turf quality.  He will see how fans affect this throughout the growing season.  This will be a great working relationship and we look forward to Dave being on site.  Fan installations are contingent on the city approving our electrical plans.
The most recent drainage project was finished today on #12.  This area has stayed wet and turf quality was compromised in years past.  The staff worked very hard and the quality and speed of this project was good. 

I wanted to address these issues before I left for the day.

Have a great weekend,

Jordan
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

Dave McCall, the turf pathologist at VT, mapping #4 green.

Another picture of Dave GPS mapping the green.  You can see geese flying in the background.  My black lab, Ginny was working that afternoon as well.

The sod is stripped and saved.  This same turf will go back when we are finished.

Irrigation is located and the trench is cut for pipe to be installed.  The pipe will carry water to the drop inlet and the existing drainage.  The trench will consist of gravel, pipe, more gravel and then sand.  These porous materials help water find its way into the pipe.  The trench is tamped and leveled and then the sod is replaced.

It is important to measure and shoot grade multiple times before we install the pipe.  If the water does not drain we will have to be back in this area.

Once the trench is tamped and leveled, the sod goes back for a good finished product.  This area will heal over quickly and help us provide firm, dry conditions.

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Busy, Busy Week of Projects and Maintenance

Thursday, May 03, 2012 Drainage, Projects, Questions

Spring is here and with it, a very busy schedule.  I have been consumed with work and scheduling and have not posted lately.  This post will provide a quick insight into the last week or so.
Last Saturday was the 'Meet me at The Rock' event.  I hope everyone who played received a new ball mark repair tool.  We appreciate the initiative the golf committee has taken in course care and member education.  I enjoyed reconnecting and meeting many of you on Saturday.  Monday was a Mid-Atlantic PGA tournament here at the club.  Some of the best club pros in the region played and competed and our very own Richard White and Patrick Hawkins won the event with a best ball 65.  Congratulations.  So between prepping for those two events and sodding collars 9-18, we have been busy.  The remaining poor areas in collars will be stripped and sodded on Monday, May 7.  We have also taken the opportunity to finish the fescue conversion on the inside of the cart path on #9.  There is also a large project going on on the driving range to construct a new entrance path to the parking areas behind the back range tee and a lot of drainage being installed on #10 and 12.
Two other things that I need to discuss.  First, I would like to apologize to the gentleman who was on the driving range green this morning when the sprinkler heads came on.  This was an error when a command was being keyed into the system.  I apologize and I tried to get up there but you were already gone.
The other is greens speed.  We are currently growing grass like crazy.  It is in an effort to be as healthy as possible.  The greens have received a huge amount of play and this is starting to show on a few practice putting greens.  These greens will be closed for one week at a time beginning on Monday.  This is a practice that the green committee has approved and has been in place in for two years now.  We have limited practice green space and we need to protect these areas.  The greens on the golf course are slower and softer than we have been used to this spring.  First off, we are being very conservative due to the issues last year.  We have a lot of young grass out there and need to be focused on turf health.  Second, we have been wet.  In the last two weeks, we have received over 3.5" of rain.  This causes us to spray fungicides which have to be watered in and the cycle continues.  Our number one concern right now is turf health and with higher temperatures right around the corner, we have to be conservative with mowing and rolling.  This leads to slower speeds.  I know this is not as fun but slow greens are better than poor turf.  Wet conditions have also slowed our mowing efforts but as of today all tees, fairways, and approaches have been mowed and the golf course is really starting to take shape.  Please be patient with green speeds and continue to enjoy the golf course. 

Thanks and have a great weekend,

Jordan Booth
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

Sod that was left over from the collars project has been utilized on #9.  This completes the fescue conversion down the cartpath.  We ran out of sod at the end but this will be completed on Monday.  Our next area of conversion is down the cartpath on #14.

5-3-0, an organic slow release fertilizer has been drop spread around the greens to provide a safe, slow release of Nitrogen to the collars.  The dark color also attracts heat and in turn helps with green up. 

This is the very beginning of a drainage project on #12.  The sod has to be removed before any work can begin.  This is part of the ongoing project between 10 and 12.  Sod continues to move down both sides of that tree line.

This project is renovating the cart parking area for the range tees.  Carts now have one entrance and exit point and this area will be more aesthetic.  Space is limited around the range so please park in this area to avoid traffic congestion or injury.  This project is far from finished but you can start to see the idea. 

Another picture of the range path project.  The fence has been removed and the mulch areas along the road have been grassed.  These areas will be partitioned off with ropes and stakes.

   

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Great rainfall followed by Sod Work and a Save the Date

Wednesday, April 25, 2012 Drainage, Fertility, Projects, Putting Greens

This Monday, we were scheduled to lay sod around the greens where the collars are weak.  Our plans were changed when the golf course and the sod farm received 2 inches of rain.  This rain was very beneficial and really helped the golf course but delayed the sod until Tuesday.  On Monday we cleaned up from the storm, core aerated collars, and prepped for sod around the clubhouse putting green and the driving range practice green.  Come to think of it, we also spiked greens, and applied 3 different soil amendments based on soil tests. Greens were sprayed on Tuesday due to the heavy rainfall on Sunday.  Samples were sent to Virginia Tech's plant pathology lab to check for the presence of any disease.  Our preventative fungicide program is strong but we will be double and triple checking everything.
The sod around the driving range practice green was not as bad as the shaping of the soil around the driving range green.  Removing all of the sod allowed us to re-shape this green tie-in.  After we sodded around the clubhouse putter and the driving range putter, our team started to lay sod between 10 and 12.  This will be an ongoing project with drainage and grading taking place but we anticipate having the sod laid for this project by the first week of June.  Any sprigging in this area will be completed on June 11-12 when the golf course is closed for maintenance. 

Another truck of sod arrived today (~10,000ft2) and our staff fixed the collars around 18, 9, 12, 10 and 11.  We also installed drainage behind #9 green, replaced fescue on #1 with TifSport and laid sod between 10 and 12.  The collars on 13-17 will be repaired tomorrow.  This seems to be a lot of sod in the collars but I assure you that the collars are in good shape compared to years past.  We have no other winter kill on the golf course and after next week, all sod installed on the golf course will be in new improvement areas.
This week we look forward to the Meet me at the Rock tournament.  The Green and Golf Committees will be represented and really addressing course care.  Please remember to fix ball marks, fill divots, rake bunkers and be aware of your cart traffic.  Please respect the etiquette of this great game and leave the course better than you found it.  Our staff will be mowing all surfaces in anticipation of the event.
The next big course care event that we are looking forward to will be on Monday, June 4 from 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.  The event will be a course care walk through and golf course maintenance open house.  We will be walking the top 9 holes of the golf course and filling divots, enjoying some camaraderie, touring our maintenance facility, and hopefully learning more about what our staff does day in and day out to ready the golf course.  Dinner, beer, soda, and water will be provided at no charge.  I will have much more information about this event in a future post but please mark your calendars.

Hopefully these pictures and video will paint how busy and successful of a week it has been so far.

Mowing and installing sod around the clubhouse putting green on Tuesday morning.

Prepping for sod by shaping green surround and adding topsoil. 

Spraying greens following heavy rainfall.  Samples were sent off to Virginia Tech to analyze our greens for any disease presence. 

Greens were spiked following rainfall to allow for surface to dry as well as gas and oxygen exchange.

Sod was installed around the Driving Range green on Tuesday morning.

Collars were core aerated on Monday to relieve compaction and encourage healthy growing conditions.

The course was wet and we had to push some water off of fairways on Monday.  2 inches of rain over 24 hours will do that.  It is a true testament to the renovation that we are able to be 90 degrees on 85% of the golf course today.

More fescue was removed and replaced with TifSport on #1.  This extended the entrance to this fairway.

Soil amendments were applied on Monday to adjust fertility levels in the greens.

Drainage was installed behind #9 green.  This area is shaded and poor soils do not allow for proper drainage.

The sod was lifted and the trenches were filled with rock, pipe and sand.  You can see that our team is also finishing sodding around the green.

Ruben is adding sand and organic fertilizer to this finished drainage project.  Sod was replaced following leveling of the trenches.

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