Fall is Here

Monday, October 01, 2012 Putting Greens, Tree Work

Fall is here and with it the typical projects, weather, and surprises.  Yesterday morning at 8:00 a.m., half of the large willow oak between the clubhouse putting green and #1 tee fell down.  This tree is very old and had a significant amount of work performed over the years to allow it to stand as long as it did.  Thank goodness no one was underneath it.  Arborscapes was quick to survey the damage on Sunday and their crew was out this morning to help with cleanup.  Over half of the tree was gone and the remainder had to be removed.  Their team started the take down today and will finish next Monday.  This is a great loss and a lot of consideration will go into how to renovate this area.  Hopefully new trees will be planted to replace this great old willow oak.

We are all very lucky that no one was underneath the tree when it fell.  The falling tree shook the ground in the clubhouse and at neighboring houses.

You can tell that about half of the tree fell at once.  The remainder of the tree was no longer structurally sound and had to be removed.  All of the wait was leaning in one direction.

The fallen branches had grown together over time and created one huge mass of weight which combined with rot, took down this tree.

Arborscapes made this tree a priority and were on site first thing this morning.  Our staff will clean up and Arborscapes will be back next Monday to finish.

The front, side, and back range tees have been overseeded with ryegrass for winter color.  We are preserving the middle tee as much as possible so it is in good shape next spring.  Even with the ryegrass, divots are still taken from the bermudagrass base.  This does not recover in the winter and early spring.  The target greens have also been overseeded and should take shape soon.

The holes on the putting greens from drill and fill are slowly creeping over.  We are about 4 weeks out from the process and the greens have honestly been slow to recover.  This aggressive process takes time to heal.  It takes the greens about two weeks to recover from a 1/2" aeration so it makes since that it would take much longer with these much larger holes.  We are working to provide quality putting conditions in the interim and the long term benefits of the drill and fill will outweigh the short term inconvenience. 

The holes are filling over and some of them have already healed completely.  Some holes still have a ways to go.

Fall is upon us and with it leaf removal, drainage projects, and underbrush removal.  Tree work will be limited this season and our team will focus on other areas of the course.  Enjoy the weather while it lasts. 

Have a great weekend,

Jordan
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

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Great Staff/Great Effort after Rainfall and High Temperature Forecast

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 Putting Greens, Tree Work

This summer has already been an adventure.  Afternoon and nightly thunderstorms seem to be the norm with very erratic temperatures.  Today is supposed to be in the high 80s with Thursday and Friday near 100.  What does this mean when we received a storm last night?  It means that our managers are here this morning venting and spiking greens and then applying a root pythium fungicide.  I have to thank our assistant superintendents for putting in the work to protect the golf course.  Ryan was here this morning before 3:00 a.m. to vent the greens and low spots on greens that hold moisture.  I have lost count of how many times we have vented greens this year.  Kevin was here before 4:00 a.m. to ready his sprayer for this morning's spray.  Soil moisture and high heat can lead to nothing but problems so venting and spiking to dry things out and applying preventative fungicides is everything we can do to ward off issues.  I am very lucky to arrive to work before 5:00 a.m. and know that our three assistant superintendents and our equipment manager have already been hard at work prepping for the day and working on the golf course.  Thank you, gentlemen.

The large Willow Oak tree between the Fitness Center and the main parking lot has suffered some real damage from these storms.  We lost a large limb earlier this month and when the arborists inspected the tree, they found some large cracks.  The cracked limbs were removed this Monday.  This tree, like all of our trees, will stand until a certified arborist declares it to be too great of a risk.  While this tree looks different, it is still standing.  Two new Willow Oak trees will be planted on either side of this tree to provide shade and great aesthetic value for future generations.

Arborscapes removed the damaged limbs on Monday.  Thank goodness, no one has been under this tree.  You can see the large scar on the left from the fallen limb.

One real issue that we are facing right now is the rate of growth on the tees, fairways, and approaches.  They grow so quickly that it is difficult to provide a good quality of cut.  The sand from last weeks topdressing has worked in well but it quickly dulls reels and bedknives.  John Anderson, our equipment manager, has already sharpened 39 reels and bedknives and will have many more to go to work through the sand.  Yesterday, we were able to double cut fairways and we are in the process of spraying a growth regulator to slow down the growth.  Continuing to get dry, afternoon cuts will greatly help the situation so thank you for your patience out there.

A second dry cut (without dew) really cleans up the fairways

The summer has been trying and overall the course still looks great.  We have seen thinning on some greens and a few edges of greens have suffered from heat, humidity and high soil moisture following thunderstorms.  This has been documented but I have been very pleased with the greens over the last week.  The recovery has been very refreshing and while they are not perfect, they are disease free and continuing to improve.  Once we get through the next two hot days, the forecast is very favorable for good bentgrass recovery.

Have a great day,

Jordan Booth
jbooth@willowoakscc.org

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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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Closing out a warm, busy week

Friday, March 16, 2012 Projects, Putting Greens, Questions, Tree Work

TWO QUICK REMINDERS:  

1. The Golf Course is closed for putting green core aeration Monday, March 19 - Wednesday March 21, 2012.  The golf course will re-open Thursday, March 22 at 8:00 a.m.  The range will be open on Tuesday and Wednesday as normal.

2. The Ladies' 18 and 9 hole groups are hosting a divot filling 'party' on Monday March 19th. The ladies will begin to meet at the pro shop at 10:15 a.m. and plan on taking about an hour or two to walk the golf course and fill divots.  Please come out and support these groups and the golf course if you are available.  Monday looks warm with scattered showers and maybe a thunderstorm.

 This is a great video on the benefits of core aeration.

This week has been great for playing golf, growing grass, and finishing some projects.  The golf course has been packed and greens should be rolling well.  It is nice to have so many golfers back on the course.  One issue this time of year is cart traffic on the golf course.  This week has been reasonably dry and we have been able to allow handicapped flag access to most fairways.  The reason that we do not allow 90 degree cart traffic this time of year is to limit stress on the dormant TifSport bermudagrass.  Even though we are starting to break dormancy, the turf is not aggressively growing and cannot recover from the stress of cart traffic.  The golf course is also more saturated this time of year due to a lack of heat, sunlight and plant uptake.  We usually begin allowing carts off of the path towards the end of April, once we start mowing fairways.  If this weather trend holds up, it could be much sooner than that.

The weather has obviously raised air and soil temperatures and in turn, the TifSport bermudagrass tees and fairways have begun to break dormancy.  The older varieties of bermudagrass on the driving range are even further along than on the golf course.  Sun exposure, soil moisture, soil compaction, turf variety, and air temperature all affect where and when the bermudagrass breaks dormancy and begins to grow.  We hope to continue this warm weather trend and see green bermudagrass wall to wall. 

Our staff officially finished all tree work and has a few stumps to finish removing next week while we are closed. You may have noticed a large amount of sand on the front driving range tees this week.  We have aggressively topdressed that tee to help level out the tee and fill in all of the divots from this winter's play.  The tee was then grassed with a seeded variety of bermudagrass.  This seeded variety will be useful when we fill divots and will aid in recovery of this tee.  TifSport can only be propagated from sod, where as T-10 can be propagated from sprigs or sod and this new variety, Riviera can be propagated from seed, sprigs or sod.  It will give us great options in out of play areas and the range.  Speaking of out of play areas, the large are between 12 tees and 14 tees has been tilled, graded and topdressed to prepare a seed bed.  This area will be seeded with Riviera bermudagrass and will allow us to renovate the area for much less cost than sod or sprigs.  A large area to the left of #14 green is also being seeded with Riviera.  These areas have been roped off and marked ground under repair.

This area between 12 and 14 looks rough right now but is ready for seed and a new look this summer.  The slops and cart path edges will be sodded this summer. 

 The blog has now been live for about 12.5 months.  In that time we have received about 16,500 page views and have hopefully increased our level of communication.  Please contact me with any questions about the blog or golf course.  I will be posting a lot of information next week regarding aeration and hope to see you on the course soon. 

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Tree Removal: Finding a Healthy Balance

Friday, March 09, 2012 Projects, Tree Work

"As beautiful as trees are, and as fond as you and I are of them, we still must not lose sight of the fact that there is a limited place for them in golf. We must not allow our sentiments to crowd out the real intent of a golf course, that of providing fair playing conditions. If it in any way interferes with a properly played stroke, I think the tree is an unfair hazard and should not be allowed to stand."
- Donald Ross, from Golf Has Never Failed Me 

Donald Ross was speaking to the impact that trees have on the playability of the golf course and how trees impact a properly played stroke.  Not only is the physical tree a hazard to the player but its root system, impact on air circulation, shade, leaf litter, and competitive nature are a hazard to turf quality and in turn golf course playability.

It is true that Willow Oaks Country Club not only takes its name from the great Willow Oaks on the property but also uses those specimen trees to highlight and define its golf course.  Less than five miles from the Virginia State Capitol, the parkland style course with tree lined fairways allows for seclusion and a feel of being one with nature along the Jame River.  The trees need to define the golf course without detriment to the turf.  Tree removal on the golf course is a balancing act.  Don't remove enough trees and you will have an unsafe environment and poor turf conditions.  Remove too many trees and you upset the balance of the golf course as well as the membership. This is the delicate balance that we try to achieve during tree removal.    

 A lot of factors go into a decision about a tree. 

• The desirability of the tree based on its species
• Golfer safety
• The general health of the tree, including its form and structure
• Life expectancy
• The impact on playability
• The impact on the agronomics of growing turfgrass
• The impact on traffic flow
• The impact on aesthetics and surrounding trees

Simply stated regarding removal; there are trees that have to be removed due to safety and trees that the Green Committee has decided to remove based on one of these eight factors.

An example of a tree that has to be removed due to safety is the large co-dominant oak to the right of number 14 fairway.  This large oak died and is now infested with ambrosia beetle.  Ambrosia beetle is a secondary pest that enters the tree once it is dead and bores tunnels through the wood.  This can create worse conditions than the dead tree alone.

The left side of this co-dominant tree is completely dead and is a huge safety hazard.

You can see the piles of saw dust where the ambrosia beetle has entered this tree.  These pests weaken the wood of the already dead tree and cause a bigger safety concern.

An example of trees that have been removed based on a green committee decision are the trees between 10 and 12.  These trees have been removed based on turf quality, playability, and tree health.  The removal of these trees will allow for the other trees in this area to flourish and allow for the planned turf renovation of this area in the 2012 growing season.  Here is a link to the 2012 planned projects.  

The before picture of #10.  The large leaning pine in this picture was struck by lightning this year.

The missing pine dominates this picture but many trees were removed to improve growing conditions for the turf that will be planted during the renovation of this area.

Trees are scheduled to be planted this year to replace removed trees in certain areas of the golf course.  This allows us to properly choose the species and spacing of these trees.  Look for these plantings in 2012 and how they will impact our environment and the golf course.

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Birdhouses, Root Depths, and the Start of Spring

Saturday, March 03, 2012 Environmental Efforts, Putting Greens, River, Tree Work

I am coming back from a few days at our national conference and trade show.  16 Hours of Education and 8 hours of trade show make a guy long for home but I am grateful for the experience and education.  After touring the course today, it is obvious that the staff has been busy taking down the remaining trees involved in our 2012 course improvement projects.  This work will be completed on Monday.

I took some root zone depths on the greens and am pleased with the results.  Our current root depth is between 3 and 4 inches.  This is great all things considered and will no doubt improve over the next few months.  The greens are accepting balls well and putting conditions should improve over the next few weeks.  A golf ball is about 1.7 inches in diameter so the roots in this picture are almost 3.5 inches in depth.

You can see the roots coming out of the bottom of this profile.

We are always weary of flooding especially when channel 12 is advertising flood warnings.  The river has crested at 13.17 feet and is falling.  The golf course is in not current danger but pray for limited rainfall over the next week.

Click the graph for updated river information from NOAA.

You should notice some new and improved bluebird houses on the golf course.  These houses have been placed to not affect golf.  However, if you find yourself behind one, just like an irrigation satellite, please take relief.  The houses have been moved from trees to prevent predatory attacks on the bird nests.  You will notice the extra efforts taken to prevent predators from gaining access.  Some houses are still on trees to promote a variety of habitats.  Bat houses and Purple Martin houses are also in place to help with mosquitoes.  You should not notice the bat houses as they are well beyond the boundaries of the golf course.  Duck boxes will also be installed to promote a habitat for the Mallard ducks on the property.  Remember, ducks are great, geese are terrible.  Our assistant superintendent, Kevin Mark has done a great job, reformatting and championing our environmental effort of encouraging wildlife on the golf course.  Please contact Kevin at kmark@willowoakscc.org if you are interested in participating in a bird house monitoring program.

The ground underneath the Purple Martin boxes has been cleared of structure to encourage the birds to find the houses.  Purple Martin scouts should be out to find habitat.  These birds help with our mosquito population.

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Tree Work and Herbicide Applications

Thursday, February 16, 2012 Projects, Tree Work

The past couple of days and tomorrow will be dedicated to our Spring pre-emergent herbicide application.  This application will help protect against crabgrass, goosegrass, and poa annua germination.  Our management team has sprayed around the greens and bunkers with some green dye that you may see out there.  That is a tracker dye to indicate where we have sprayed.  Our team is also applying a post emergent herbicide to remove any remaining poa annua plants directly around greens.  This is a time consuming process but most of the poa has been set back by earlier applications.   Our goal of being weed free from tee to green will be in reach with these applications.

Jorge is using a spring loaded sponge applicator to kill any remaining poa annua plants around greens.  This tool is very similar to a bingo blotter and you may see green dots around the greens.  You can already see the poa annua yellowing out in most areas around greens.

Ryan, our new Assistant in Training, is tying in bunker faces and tight areas that we cannot spray with the spray hawk or large sprayers.  Once again, you can see that the weeds are yellowing out and dying that have already been sprayed.

You have probably noticed a lot of tree work between 10 and 12 and to the left of 9.  Our team is removing dead trees as well as opening up avenues of sunlight to sustain turf.  The stumps are being ground and back filled and our tree work should be wrapped up by the end of February.  After February, we move into fan installations, drainage work, greens core aeration, and prepping the golf course for normal spring time play.  An important note:  The golf course will be closed for putting green aeration on Tuesday, March 20 and Wednesday March 21.  I will have more info about fan installation and our maintenance calendar very soon.

Check out these couple of videos from the USGA Green Section on greens aeration and tree work.  Have a great day.

 

 Core aeration is disruptive to play but very important for turf health.

This video is very indicative of the root/shade competition on the clubhouse putting green.  Trees easily out compete turf for water, nutrients, and sunlight. 

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Very Busy, Very Productive Monday

Monday, January 30, 2012 Irrigation, Projects, Tree Work

We packed as much into today as possible.  Arborscapes began "crown cleaning" all of the trees in the parking lot and behind the clubhouse.  Crown cleaning is the process of removing weak or dead wood from the canopy of the tree to promote a healthier, safer tree.  Arborscapes also manages the fertility and pest population for our trees and treats accordingly.  Chuck, Greg, Gerson, and Ruben removed 5 difficult trees and cleaned up the limbs that Arborscapes removed.  Edgar, Ergidio and I installed close to 250 feet of irrigation including 3 heads.  That project will be buttoned up tomorrow.  Bobby, Kevin, Ryan, Reynol, Jorge and I applied a post emergent herbicide around all of the green complexes and about half of the fairways and tees.  The rest of that application will finish up tomorrow as well.  You should notice some green tracker dye around the greens that we use to mark our spray pattern.  If you haven't seen a weather forecast lately, Tuesday and Wednesday look great for golf.  Get out and play or at least practice.  We will be mowing and rolling in anticipation of a busy tee sheet.   Handicapped flags should be OK on most holes.

Arborscapes' team of certified arborists removed dead and decaying wood from the canopies of the trees in the parking lot.  Our staff cleans up the wood to save time and money.

Chuck removing large dead pine tree from behind #7 Green

Laying pipe between #12 and #13.  Do you notice the large piles of rock to the left of the trench?

Edgar working hard to trench in the rest of the irrigation between 12 and 13.  This Mini-Excavator was rented due to all of the rock in this area.

Jorge and Reynol hold this board and walk around the green to prevent any chemical from being applied to the putting green surface.  Bobby and Ryan then sprayed a post emergent herbicide with these special back pack applicators while Kevin and I tied in the rest of the green complexes, tees and fairways with the big sprayers.

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Tree 10 CC

Thursday, January 19, 2012 Tree Work

This is a video of one of the trees coming down between 10 and 12. One of the planned projects for 2012 is the renovation of this tree line. We are removing damaged, declining, and nuisance trees in order to promote a good growing environment for the desired trees and new turfgrass. Mulch beds will be installed around the remaining trees. Tree roots and shade often out compete surrounding trees and turfgrass and lead to a decline in turf and tree quality. The smaller amount of trees will encourage the remaining trees and new turf to thrive. Additional irrigation will be installed to achieve head to head coverage and to promote great turf conditions. (Read more about our irrigation system here.) The golf course has a great irrigation system but irrigation was not installed in tree lines in order to minimize damage to tree roots. We will trench very carefully outside of tree drip lines to minimize root damage. I took this video on my cell phone and have learned that I need to shoot video from a horizontal orientation and script these videos; "and that's how we drop trees when they are dead" was not a captivating ending. Our team has accomplished a lot this week and are right on track to accomplish all of our winter goals.

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New Willow Oak tree installed at Tennis Patio

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 Tree Work

We have all noticed the void at the tennis patio where a magnificent White Oak once stood.  The White Oak suffered damage during Hurricane Irene and had to be removed.  An old blog post, 'Tree Work at Tennis', details the removal of that great tree.  The choice to replace this tree with a Willow Oak is obvious but the slow growing variety will take a long time to establish itself and provide the same amount of shade as its predecessor.  The pictures below document this morning's installation.

Our team positioned plywood to protect the patio during installation.

The team from Watkins' wrestled the new Willow Oak into place.  The installation includes a one year warranty on the tree.  Our Horticulturalist, Chuck Cassick, oversaw every aspect of the installation and will manage the grow in of the new tree.

The Watkins' team leveled, staked, watered and mulched the new 4" caliper Willow Oak.

Finished product.  This is a gift to the next generation of Willow Oaks' Members.

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Pictures from this morning's tree work

Wednesday, January 04, 2012 Tree Work

This morning we were able to remove 5 dead trees from 3, 4 and 8.  We are very careful in the felling of trees and in our personal safety.  Where the trees fall is very important as to not damage tees, greens, irrigation, cart path or drainage.  Cold mornings like today work best because the ground is frozen.  We wear hard hats, safety glasses, ear protection, steel toe boots, and chainsaw chaps or protective pants.  These pictures illustrate the dropping of the dead sycamore to the left of the cartpath on #3. 

The dead tree is leaning towards the cart path so logs are put down to protect the cart path.

Logs are positioned to cushion the fall of the tree.

The front of the tree is notched in the direction we want the tree to fall.

Then a flat back cut is made and wedges are driven into the cut to help push the tree in the desired direction.

When we do our job right, the tree falls right where we plan.

The logs worked perfectly and protected the cart path from any damage.

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