2012 GIS & Takehome Tidbits

NOTE: With the new blog format be sure to click on the post so you get the whole entry. Even the most current posting, though a larger format, does not show completely...

A few weeks ago I was looking at this landscape; It was the Golf Industry Show in Las Vegas, NV.  For one week a year the GIS brings people from all areas of golf course operations together to learn, network, and relax a bit.  While over the years the conference/trade show numbers have decreased a bit, there was a super turnout for the 2012 GIS.  With a attendance of almost 15,000 people and 540 exhibitors, the trade show floor was constantly buzzing.

I had two really good seminars, one on management strategies to decrease the amount of Poa annua on the golf course and the other on stress management strategies for cool-season turf.  I came home with some great information as well as some things we are going to implement in our maintenance practices this coming season.

With the last of the greens covers being disposed of (worn out and deteriorated beyond usefulness) we are going to be striving for a greater percentage of bentgrass on our greens and less annual bluegrass.  Not that we have not all ready been doing things to achieve this over the years, we constantly modify and improve our cultural practices to encourage the bentgrass over the bluegrass.  This season we are going to ease into some of the chemical strategies for modifying our populations of turf on greens.  It is something that will take a long time to appreciate because we wish to achieve this with little to no effect on playability.  This is just one of the many things we are working on this season, stay tuned for further details on everything we are looking at this season.

Panorama from the clubhouse roof 03-20-2012.

Not Too Much Cleanup Thankfully

One casualty from the storm last night. We got about .4" of rain and I'm not sure, but I think the wind gusts were in the 50 mph range.

Off And Running

We mowed greens on Friday, nice clean-up height. We opened the course at noon on Saturday. And now, on Monday afternoon March 19 mind you, we are firing up the irrigation system! Here we go. IVGC is looking forward to potentially a nice long season. Here's hoping the weather is good to us that whole time.

Posting from my phone in the pump house. Not sure how this is gonna look or the quality of the picture until I get back to the computer. Bare with me...

When Lightning and Tree Meet

I was looking through some pictures we have taken over the last couple of months and ran across this one I though I would share. It is of a large Ash tree behind #1 green that was hit by lightning on August 22nd. The tree was hit much higher then the top of the picture but this shows all the things that happen when the moisture inside the tree expands in a instant. The bark has been blown off in streaks going up and down the trunk. The sod has been blown off around the base of the tree and along some of the shallower roots. We will be keeping an eye on the tree to see if it is going to make it, but from what we have seen in the past it should probably survive the strike, thought the quality of the tree itself is usually degraded.

Big Split

Here is a before shot of the fourteenth green before the tree between the pond and bunker was taken out last week. The tree canopy blends well with the background so in the after it is perhaps hard to notice the difference.

To the right is the current look of fourteen green from the other side of the pond. From an elevated position such as the fairway it is very noticeable and the area looks kind of bare now. The greens committee will evaluate the space and determine of trees are needed in the area.

The reason the tree came down is apparent in the picture to the left. The split went all the way to the ground and was a very hazardous situation. While it was evident the tree had been cracked for sometime, the separation was unnoticeable until early last week when I spotted it while painting the hazard line around the pond. This is the same thing that happened to the Ash tree on the right of the approach that we took down a couple of months ago.

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