Greens Mower Check

We double checked the greens mower today by mowing #18, everything looks great so the plan is to mow the greens Saturday morning before the course opens for the season. The chipping green is very saturated so we will skip that green, we will also not be cutting the putting green due to its rather poor condition in spots. There shouldn't be much if any snow left after the beautiful weather today. There were some bunkers that had a lot of snow when the crew made there way around today so they skipped them. Those bunkers will be addressed soon but should still be playable if you happen to find yourself in one.

It was kind of rushed to get the course ready for the opener on Saturday. Since we only had 2 days to prep I know we ran out of time and missed a few things here and there. The water coolers will be out early next week if we do not get them out over the weekend. The hazard stakes still have ice in the ground sleeves so they should be able to go out after some warm temps this weekend when that melts. Seed/soil boxes and mix will be out starting Monday if it does not get done on the weekend. And there is quite a bit of debris cleanup that will occupy a lot of our time over the next week or two, especially around greens and tees.

Course is Opening April 27, 2013

This is what the course looked like yesterday morning, full of a lot of snow, but today it is 90% all gone. Course opens Saturday morning but it will be a little wet and there are some rough spots here and there. The annual bluegrass did not enjoy the long winter and much of it is definitely not green. For the most part the only turf loss appears to be in the bowls and pockets in some of the fairways. The front of #16 green is also in pretty tough shape, there are some fairly large areas that do not look like they survived the winter. We will be evaluating it over the next few days as things warm up and take quick action to get it back in shape as soon as possible. With only a couple days of being able to prep the golf course for the opener I just want all the members to know that certain things might not get done. We will do our best to get through as many bunkers as we can, I predict there will be snow still in some of them along with some leaf/stick debris. Our plan is to mow greens Saturday morning if they are firm enough for equipment traffic, some of them at this point are not. They will be clean and playable regardless. Do to remaining snow and wet conditions throughout the course, including our cart crossings in fairways, there will be no golf carts until conditions permit. I'm predicting carts will be allowed on paths only Monday or Tuesday of next week.

So here we go...

Good Rooting

Last week I was changing cup locations on the greens and was extremely pleased to see rooting to the bottom of the cup cutter and deeper.  The cup cutter we use pulls the plug out in one 7" piece and to see roots popping out the bottom is a wonderful site.  We even have rooting that deep in the poorer soils below some of our greens as evidenced in the picture of the black turf plug.  By accomplishing this in the spring the turf plants are set up to better cope with the stresses of summer when roots die back instead of continuing to grow.  It won't surprise me to see root depths as shallow as 1/2"-1" by the end of the summer if things really get stressful.  And then the plant will do it all over again next season...  Obviously the trick is to help the plant maintain as much root mass as possible during the summer.  Syringing, deep/infrequent irrigation, and raising the height of cut are a few things that aid that in happening.

A Little of This and That

Governor's golf open is done.  First member tourny of the season is past, the second one is right around the corner.  The heat is here and with the bit of rain we had the grass is growing and the mowers are busy.  Greens mowing height was brought down a notch to 0.135" a couple of weeks ago, we plan to be at summer height of 0.120" by Memorial Day.  During the season at times we do raise the height up a bit to lessen the impact of stressful conditions.  Bunkers have all been edged and sand is being added to a few as I write this.  Sunflower seeds have not been as problematic as they were, it appears the notice over Foretees was noticed.  So here we go... Not that we have not been going for 2 months already or anything.  But with the heat and night time temps up things have really taken shape.

The Greens Committee has approved the concept plans for the front entry make-over.  The design is currently being detailed and bids will be taken for the various parts of the project. The committee is hoping to have a detailed presentation to the IVGC Board of Directors at the June meeting, if not the July meeting at the latest.  Construction/Renovation will most likely occur in September and October.  When things are approved I will post the drawings and plans on the blog.

I was also hoping to show everyone some before and after pictures of the well re-development that was done over the winter.  I currently have the video footage of the before, but am having problems with the footage taken after completion.  I'll get them up as soon as I can, the screen looks brand new at the bottom of the well after the blasting and jetting that was done.  If I can finagle some pictures of the process I will get those up too, I was not allowed to photograph the blasting portion for safety concerns.

A New Insect? Not Likely.

Well this ain't a beetle, but it is a pest all the same.  I'm a sunflower seed guy myself, I carry a bag around in my cart and often have a mouthful while I am out and about.  I do not spit seeds on fine turf areas out of respect for other golfers.  While fairways and tees might not be as big a issue, spitting sunflower seeds on greens is.  There is no reason a person should have to pick up another person's sunflower seed shells so they can putt.  Not only is it a bit disrespectful, it is a tad bit gross too.  Let's keep the shells in the rough and respect our fellow golfers a bit more.

And on a lighter note...  Stump holes are being sodded, most landscape beds have a fresh layer of mulch, and a lot of little things are getting done.  We will soon start addressing cart path edges around greens and tees.  I think it's gonna warm up soon, I did wear shorts today but apparently that might have been a wee bit optimistic.  I started the day with rain pants and a decent jacket on because it was cold...

Some First Cuts of the Season

Just a quick shot of the first fairway mowing of the season.  Yesterday we got out the mowers and put first cuts on the tees, approaches, and fairways.  The greens also were cut, for the fourth time this season already!  Couple of cool days here but things sure are greening up.  There is talk of hitting 80 degrees this weekend! Wow.

Aerifying Schedule

Last week we aerified greens, and it went about as smooth as it ever has. The weather was absolutely perfect and at a week out the greens are healing nicely. My previous post gives a pictorial of the process from start to finish, for those of you who might be interested in what it takes to go from really nice putting surfaces to something akin to putting over large holed pegboard. By this coming weekend they should be in pretty good shape.

This week we will be aerifying tees, which we started today by getting half of the driving range tee done. Wednesday and Thursday we plan to do the front 9 and back 9 respectively. And then on Friday we plan to finish the driving range tee. The process is a bit different then greens. We pull cores, pulverize them, and then drag the sand/soil into the turf canopy. The par 3 tees and some of the par 4 tees will get some seed and topdressing as part of the process also. Like the greens, we will be mowing the tees a little less frequently over the next week or so, and also waiting a little longer in the day so they have time to dry a bit and we don't track around any mud.

Fairways will follow next week and it usually takes a couple of weeks to get them all done. We use large solid tines and the disruption to play is minimal. They will also get some seed and topdressing dragged in where we feel it is needed, though they have recovered very nicely from the summer issues we had a couple of months ago.

10 Steps or so...

Pulling Cores

Harvesting Cores

Spreading Sand

Dragging Sand In

Brushing Sand In

Hand Broom And Fill Remaining Holes

Backpack Blower Cleanup

Mowing

Fertilizing

Much Needed Irrigation By Step 10

Hole #16, What's Going On.

05-10-2011

05-10-2011

05-11-2011

05-16-2011

05-17-2011

Here are shots to summarize the work so far of the bunker renovation taking place on hole 16. It is expected to be completed by the end of the day today and sod should go down tomorrow sometime. In about 2 weeks we should be able to open up the new bunkers and surrounding rough providing the weather cooperated and the new turf roots down good. 

And on another note, #16 green will be open for play starting Monday the 23rd. We have kept the height of cut a little longer compared to the other greens to encourage better growth, especially once it starts getting traffic, and overall it is in great shape. There are still some thin spots but the bulk of the damage down the center of the green has recovered very nicely. Once the younger plants have matured a bit more we will start a topdressing program, same goes for #7 green, which should help with the thinner and uneven spots...

If this weather can start to stay more typical for this time of year we should have the turf back in no time.

Progress on #16 Green

( 2011_04_05 - #16 Green )

( 2011_04_22 - #16 Green )

Here are before and to-date snapshots of #16 green, we seeded and covered on the 13th of April. While we do not see a lot of seed germination taking place, the weather even with a cover has made it difficult, the good turf under the cover has become much more vigorous then anything left open. We'll keep you up to date...

Most good, but a little bad.

( 2011_04_05 - #15 Green )

While most of the greens, and the rest of the turf for that matter, look like this... Which is pretty good considering the snow mold pressure we had this winter and the ice layers that covered most fine turf areas for the better part of the winter. There are a couple of issues you will see when you make your way around this opening weekend...

( 2011_04_05 - #16 Green)

Here is a good overall shot of the entire 16th green and the extent of the turf damage it has. This is the worst of the three greens that got damaged this winter, 4 & 7 being the other two. You can also see in the picture the amount of snow mold that the rough areas have, it is drying out nice and the rough should not have much of an issue growing out of it. The greens on the other hand will need some extra care. We have a few options, and over the next week or so when we get a much better idea of how large the dead areas will be, we will determine the best way to go about getting the greens back into shape. In a lot of the less damaged areas on these greens there appears to be a decent amount of green tissue which should aid in recovery once things get growing.

( 2011_04_05 - Snow mold and Vole damage #6 )

Here is a picture of a nice double wammy. Not only did the mound behind #6 green get over run by snow mold, but the voles decided it was a great spot to hang out over the winter also. Rough areas like this will just take a bit longer to recover then areas that did not get hit.

Over all we are in pretty good shape and with the breezy weather the past couple of days, not to mention the sun, the course had dried out very quickly. The range is open today and the course opens this Saturday. Our plan is to start getting the first mowings done next week if the weather continues to be good. The long range weather forcast looks like it should be pretty nice, maybe a few sprinkles here and there but it does not sound like any soaking rains... It appears it should be a nice weekend to get outside, let's hope so.

Yesterday

( 2011_03_22 - #12 Green )

Yesterday Brandon and I went for a walk to see how the water was moving and the ice was melting. There were quite a few greens where we could see a lot of turf and the above picture of #12 green is a good example of what we were seeing. However there were a couple that showed some signs of poa annua death in a very sporadic pattern, greens #16 and #7.

( 2011_03_22 - #16 Green ) 

( 2011_03_22 - #7 Green )

Some of the turf loss is obviously caused by where the water was sitting in the low pockets, the back and center of #16 and the back and front of #7. Weak Annual Bluegrass, freeze/thaw of water, perhaps smothering under ice cover for the entire winter; These are all possibilities of why we lost turf in these areas. I will say it is a bit early to declare the spots completely lost though. When things start to dry and warm we will be able to better determine if there are any living plants in these spots and take the actions we need to take to get the turf back.

It is amazing what changes in 12 hours though. Today we are looking at a blanket of 3-5" of heavy wet snow covering the entire golf course. So when it starts melting off we will be back out making sure the ice is getting broken up and water is moving off the green surfaces. And other then the few spots of potential turf loss, the turf looks pretty good coming out of winter. It appears the snow mold chemicals we used for protection over the winter have worked, and the vole damage is much less then anticipated. Let's hope this is the last blast and spring is right around the corner.

Spring Melting

( 2011_03_17 - Ice layer on #10 green roughly 3/4" thick )

Here comes spring! Well it has to be right around the corner anyway the way the snow is melting and the water is running. It's nice to see some grass for a change, the white stuff has been around since before Thanksgiving last year. Currently we are looking pretty good on the golf course. There is about a foot of snow on the greens and beneath that is about 0.5-1.0" of ice. After chopping through some of the ice today we found the turf beneath in good shape still. Once sign of problems would be the smell of death when you expose the turf under the ice cover, and so far everything smells good. I know for many they don't want to hear this, but what would really help us out is a quick thaw. The sooner the snow and ice can go at this point the better off the turf underneath should be if weather continues to warm up. Over the next week or two we will be monitoring the condition and taking any action we need to in order for the snow, ice, and water to leave quickly. Let's hope for some continuing warm weather.

( 2011_03_17 - Snowmobile tracks on #3 green )

I know it should not surprise me, with everything we see on the news and in the paper these days, but it still does. We have the golf course snow fenced around most of the perimeter, bright orange and very visible all winter long. It should be obvious we are trying to keep people off the course during the winter months and do not want traffic (save for the occasional skier & snowshoer). So what happens when a short section of fence falls and we don't get it up right away? Disrespectful law breaking idiots is what happens. Thankfully there was plenty of snow this winter that this should not cause any major problems. And the ice layer under the snow should only further aid in preventing injury. 

A Little Damage, A Little Disease

( 2010_07_29 - #17 Green Showing Damage/Disease )

The heat and humidity have began to take its toll in a few places. Our main issues have been with the fairways, though they have been minor and have even started to show signs of healing. Our teeing surfaces are not so much disease ridden as they are divot ridden. We struggle with some of them because of the size, that being too small for many of them, the par 3 tees on #4 and #16 being the worst. We do topdress and seed throughout the season to try and keep as much turf on them as we can, and not just by filling divots but using the topdresser and broadcasting seed. For the most part the other tees are in good shape and are not much of a issue.

The greens on the course have been in super shape for most of the season. Until recently we have had little to no issues with the turf, and that includes the notorious spots on #8 and #16. But a couple weeks ago we started to see some disease pop up on a few of them. Anthracnose being the main problem, and this is nothing new since it has occurred almost every year that I have been at IVGC. We are on a preventative chemical program for our greens, which means we are spraying fungicides on about a 14 day interval for most of the summer. Even with that schedule we can still get disease, it just shows you how tenacious some of the turf pathogens can be. There are also other factors that make the turf more susceptible, other then temps and humidity: low mowing, lean fertilizer program, and irrigation/drainage problems are a few. And on top of the disease issues we also had some mechanical damage caused by our riding greens mower and turf groomers. The height of cut was too low for the tri-plex to provide a good quality cut and the turf groomers were down, this tufted up some of the softer/spongy areas on our greens and scalped them out a little.

So what are we doing about it? We continue to stay on a regular topdressing program, a light layer of sand every 14 days on our greens. I have bumped up the fertilizer rate a small amount to give the turf a little extra growing power. We have raised the height of cut back to our normal 0.125" and added a extra rolling or two during the week. And we are looking into a verticutting program along with the topdressings which should aid in firming up those softer spots more so then just the topdressing.

Are You Ready?

(Snow cover middle of #18 green)

Greetings everyone! Long winter? Well, I would guess it will be around for a bit longer based on the amount of snow cover we currently have. This time last year I was out taking sample plugs from a couple greens because there was some worrisome ice cover in areas. This year we appear to be avoiding the ice issues to date, currently there is little to no ice build-up that we have seen. What we do have is about 2 feet of snow cover on greens and most areas. It is a bit deceiving when you look out and see turf around the bases of many trees, but if your not standing under a tree it can be up over your knees in spots. The freeze/thaw periods are still to come, and I am sure we will be out moving some water as the snow really gets to melting. There is very little frost in the ground from what we can tell, so that means as things really start melting the water may move into the soil profile rather then have to run-off via surface drainage. So to sum up the current situation, I would say promising and I am optimistic things should be in good shape as the snow continues to melt away.

On another note: Dave Thalberg, IVGC's Assistant GC Supt. has taken a Assistant job at Prestwick GC in Woodbury and he started the first of the month. I recently completed the search and hired a new Assistant GC Superintendent, his name is Brandon Young. He is a Iowa State grad with a degree in Turf Management, did internships at Shoreacres in Lake Bluff, IL & The Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, MT, and has been the Spray Technician at Spring Hill Golf Club for the past 4 years. I know Brandon is very excited, and looking forward to the new experience and challenges he will have here at Island View. As is Dave in his new postition at Prestwick.

So here we go! Everyone hurry up and wait, the season is almost upon us...

Aerifying

The greens have healed in great after aerifying. Today would be 2 weeks since we pulled cores and filled holes, and the weather has cooperated perfectly. We continue on our plug pulling rampage with tee boxes now. The front nine tees were completed on Tuesday and the back nine will be done tomorrow. Ones in worse shape recieve a little extra tlc with topdressing and seed, the others just get the plugs dragged around and cleaned off.

The fairways as many of you know are solid tine aerified, this creates a hole without pulling out a plug. By not disrupting the fairway surface we leave the poa annua seed in the ground and hopefully deter it from germinating more readily and compete against the desired bluegrass. Solid tines also allow us to get the job complete with less labor involved because there is no need for busting up cores, dragging them in, and cleaning the fairway off with a blower. All we have to do is aerify, perhaps roll some of the areas that pull up, and then mow. Our fairway soils are good and there is very little issue with excessive organic matter, so solid tines fit the bill nicely for our fairways. We will continue on them next week and should be finished up by the end of the week.

Heat, Water, & Seed

The renovation on number thirteen was completed on Wednesday. Now with a some help from the weather things will be in good shape going into winter. We used erosion control blankets around the four catch basins and the approach area to prevent as much erosion as we can if we should get a heavy rain. The bunker surrounds were sodded also for this reason, especially concerning the steeper faces and mounding. We used a 80% premium bluegrass/20% ryegrass mix of seed, so we should see some seed germination in under a week. All in all the project went very smooth and the weather helped out a lot, save for the lack of rain at the end but once we got the irrigation up and running it didn't matter.

From what I have seen over the last couple of days, people are obeying the signs and staying out of the roped area if their ball should find its way onto the dirt. This is critical, one being the muddy mess that would be created and two the disruption in the seed bed would create "dirt" footprints as germination starts to take place. So thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

On another note. Greens aerification went great and after a week and a half the greens are looking very good. The greens should be back in tip-top shape shortly. We are about half way through aerifying the fairways and the tees will be done next Tuesday and Thursday.

Watering Dirt

What a busy ten days since my last update. All the greens have been aerified, and about half the fairways are complete. Tees are on the agenda for this coming week, along with finishing up fairways. And number thirteen is shaping up very well. All the irrigation is in and everything is working. The soil was so dry and hard that we needed to get the water turned on before any bunker work or seeding could take place. I have been watering the dirt heavily for the past couple of days trying to get the subsurface moist and start to melt down some of the harder clumps that would not break up. Monday is the big for finishing up the bunkers and getting one last grade on the fairway. Seed and sod will be finished up Monday and Tuesday, and it looks as though the weather will cooperate...

Just a reminder about aerifying... We mow greens every other day for about a week or so following plugging. We want as little stress on the turf as possible so we can get a speedy recovery. Tees are similar, and because of the soil content we need them to be dry before we can mow them after aerifying so the mowers are out in the afternoon. We try and disrupt play as little as possible during these critical cultural practices and we appreciate everyones understanding. In a couple weeks the greens should be back to normal and weather permitting there will be a bunch of days left for some golf.