How Parts of a Green Spent This Winter May Influence Spring Growth

Golf course superintendents often discourage golfers from making comparisons between courses for a number of reasons.  Although two golf courses could be only a few miles apart, they may deal with many different factors including the number of rounds, variety of grasses they're managing, and growing conditions, such as the amount of sunlight, air movement, soil types, etc.

To take this a step further, even within an individual golf course, conditions can vary greatly.  People use the term "micro-climate" to describe a particular area which may differ from the rest of the course.  At Laurel Creek, #8 and #15 greens are a great example of this.  Although they are only 500' apart, the growing conditions are vastly different, with #15 receiving full sunlight and great air movement, while #8 sits down in a hole, and is consistently much hotter in the summer.

You might think that this is the level where varying growing conditions end.  However, as we come out of this winter, we're actually seeing a good deal of differences even within individual greens. 

So, why would the growing environment change from one part of a green to another?  Well, in the winter, a higher, mounded part of a green may lose its snow cover, and be subjected to more wind and desiccation.  A low swale in a green, might have been protected from these winds and be in better shape having spent much of the winter under a nice blanket of snow. 

However, in another scenario, over the winter some of these low areas of greens may have had the snow cover melt while the ground beneath was frozen.  If this melting water couldn't run off the surface before the next blast of cold weather, it often refroze, creating an ice layer on the surface--and ice is not a good thing for the health of greens in the winter.  In this situation, the low swale may be struggling come springtime.

What does this all mean for Laurel Creek's greens this spring?  While we haven't seen any signs of severe winter damage to the greens, the differing conditions that the putting surfaces had to deal with throughout the long, cold winter probably means we're going to have a brief period where some areas green-up before others.  Once we start seeing some consistent warmer weather, we expect that the turf growth will be more uniform.

Lastly, some have asked when we can expect to see green grass again.  The answer is in the two pictures below:

The top picture shows plugs taken from greens on March 11.  They were placed on a windowsill and wrapped in a moist paper towel.  The bottom picture is the same plugs six days later, on March 17.  So, what do we need for the course to green-up?  It looks like some consistent temperatures in the 60s will do the trick.  However, when we'll actually see those temperatures is the real question at this point.

What a Mess!

As the snow finally disappears, we're left with a big mess, thanks to the thousands of geese who decided to spend some time on the course this winter.  Unlike the handful of resident geese we see, who try to call this home year around, we were bombarded by a multitude of migratory birds. 

They will scare easily and take flight, but often circle around and land on another part of the course if they can't find someplace more inviting to spend the night.  We saw thousands of these geese this winter, and it seemed that as soon as one flock departed, another group must have seen a "Vacancy" sign, and come in the next day.

The good news is that, unlike in past winters, we've found little evidence of turf damage from the geese munching on the golf course grass.  The bad news is that these thousands of geese apparently were dining elsewhere then using the course as their private restroom.

We've started the cleanup process by focusing on the tees and greens, and are working out from there.  When the material is dry, it can be blown and picked up pretty easily.  Unfortunately, with the snow and rain, the droppings are far from dry, and are not at all easy to clean up.  Depending on what was for dinner, they may break apart, or simply smear like grease.

Goose droppings dot the surface of #13 green.

Waiting for Winter to Wane

The crew is close to completing the annual pruning of the wetlands crossings on the course.  The permit we have for this work mandates the use of hand tools only.  With four acres to trim, the hedge and lopping shears (and the guys' arms) get a good workout.

Finishing the pruning on #14.

Hopefully the completion of this project coincides with the last snow of the season.  We have a good deal of work to complete on the course this spring, and the prolonged period of  frozen, snow covered ground has us longing to see some green grass growing.

The 2015 Golf Industry Show

The Golf Industry Show took place this week in San Antonio, Texas. In addition to some great educational sessions, one of the other highlights of this event is the trade show.  This year, over 500 exhibitors showcased the latest and greatest in equipment and products for turf care on 180,000 square feet of the convention center's floor.

The show also provides a unique opportunity to connect with other superintendents from around the world.  This allows us to exchange ideas which we may then implement into our course management program.

One common theme in talking to people at the show this year is the growing frustration with the cold weather throughout many regions of the country.  With several projects to work on, we're all hoping that things will thaw out quickly!

There's always a lot to take in at the annual Golf Industry Show.

Off-Season?

While the cold, winter weather may signal the time that many golfers put their clubs away, the change of seasons is actually a sign for a number of golf course activities to move into high gear. With little mowing to be done, we can focus on critical course improvements, such as drainage, bridge repair, bunker renovation, and pruning.  In fact, the key factor to a successful 2015 is what we are able to accomplish in what might erroneously be called the “off-season.”

Now, as during the rest of the year, we have to try and work with Mother Nature, not fight her.  For example, the perennial mowing of the Fescue is best done when conditions are relatively dry, but not frozen.  Similar conditions are needed for our ongoing bunker renovation—too wet is not good, but neither is ground that is too hard. 

If the ground isn’t frozen, the winter months are a great time to install sod, and punch aerification holes.  While the cold temperatures may prevent foliar growth, sod is still able to root, and has a much better chance of survival than when placed in the spring, with stressful hot weather on the way. We can also continue solid tine aerification on the fairways, and use hollow tines on rough and green surrounds to increase pore space and improve rooting in the spring.

The time when we do need frozen ground is when tackling a drainage project.  As these areas are often soft and wet, a firm surface makes it possible to run equipment over the area we’re working on, and cut a clean trench.

Application of our 2015 crabgrass pre-emergent herbicide is more efficient to schedule now than waiting until the spring, when it would traditionally take place.  The newer control products allow us to make this application in late fall or winter, preventing Crabgrass and Goosegrass throughout next year's entire growing season, instead of waiting until the spring when there will be hundreds of other activities that will need to get accomplished.

The winter also gives us the opportunity to service or rebuild our equipment.  This ranges from mowing equipment to irrigation controllers and golf course accessories.  Resurfacing hazard and out-of-bounds stakes, pressure washing the bridges, preparing our ballwashers and water cooler sheds give us a great head start on the upcoming golf season.

So, without the immediate concerns of drought, insect, or disease damage to the turf, you might think things are rather quiet.  However, in terms of managing our turf, the 2015 season is already here.

Frozen soil often provides the perfect conditions for drainage work.

 

Back to Bunkers

Despite some challenging conditions this week, the guys persevered and were able to get one of the bunkers at #2 green prepped for the asphalt liner, which will be installed this spring.  In order to prevent the bunker base from freezing at night, we placed a turf blanket inside the bunker to help keep the ground a bit warmer.  However, given the frigid weather forecast, we'll be looking at frozen ground for some time, and it's unlikely we'll be able to do any bunker work next week.


Old drain lines are cleaned and new ones added.

Let's Make It a Priority

During television coverage of golf, cameras are quickly cutting from one shot to another, and often times we don't see players walking up to the green.  However, at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship last month, we got to see both Rory McIlroy and Miguel Angel Jimenez stroll to the short grass at a time when they both must have been very excited, having just hit a hole-in-one.  For Rory, it was his first ace as a professional, so you know he was feeling pumped up. 

What was noteworthy about seeing these professional golfers walk onto the putting surface?  Well, at a time when most people might dash to the flagstick to peer down in confirmation of their feat, instead, both of these players walked onto the green and headed directly to their ballmark and repaired it, before heading over to the cup.

The often animated Miguel Angel Jimenez carefully repairs his ballmark.

It's pretty clear that these guys understand the importance of properly repairing their ballmark every time.  A properly repaired ball mark leaves a smooth surface, and heals in much less time than one left unrepaired.  We are now well into 2015, but perhaps it's not too late to make a new year's resolution:  Let's make ballmark repair a priority in 2015! 

Rory McIlroy's hole-in-one in Abu Dhabi

Miguel Angel Jimenez's hole-in-one in Abu Dhabi