The team that gets it done

With the pace of the world today, too often we do not take the time to give thanks for all of the good that surrounds us.  Many times, it's only in hindsight that we appreciate those that have made our lives better.

A photo from years ago reminds us of how fortunate we have been to work with such a fine group of individuals.

This picture could be from any time during the past 30 years.  The faces might be different, but the goal of providing outstanding playing conditions remains unchanged.

Onward

While the pace of maintenance activities slows a bit this time of year, the team is still busy preparing for 2020.  On the greens, Snow Mold protection has been applied, along with a plant growth regulator to reduce the Poa seeds next spring.

Most areas of the golf course are receiving their Crabgrass pre-emergent herbicide application.  Taking care of this now, will allow us to focus on other tasks during the busy upcoming spring.

One of the other jobs we tackle when it's cold is sodding the damaged cart path ends.  While there will be little foliar growth during the winter, the sod is able to root without any stress.

As always, we have to work with what Mother Nature gives us.  But regardless of the weather or season, there is plenty of work to be done.

Back to the "low maintenance" areas...

As we have the past few years, we are renovating some high profile Fescue areas.  This fall, we are addressing the right side of #8, as well as the walk-up area to #15 green.

If you're thinking that this isn't the first time we have worked on the Fescue on #8, you are correct.  A few years ago, we amended the heavy topsoil in this area with sand, in order to provide a growing medium which would help produce the thin, wispy stand of grass we were looking for.  We followed this up with seeding the area at a very low rate.

The results might best be described as, "be careful what you wish for" since the limited number of Fescue seedlings had trouble competing with the weed population.  Because of this, we have switched to using sod when renovating these areas.  As we've seen on #7, 13 and 16 the last couple of years, the sod's thatch layer helps to act as something of a barrier for weeds to establish.

The seeding versus sodding of Fescue, points to the challenging balancing act of trying to find that Goldilocks zone of not too thin and not too thick a stand of turf.  There is an old saying that a dense, healthy stand of grass is the best protection from weed encroachment.  Of course, too thick in the native areas results in lost balls, slow pace of play, and often some sore wrists from trying to hack out of the tall grass.

When it comes to a project like this, even many hands doesn't exactly make "light work" but the team did a great job getting these areas prepped for sod this week!

Information on Frost Delays

Since you may rarely see it in your own backyard, golfers often underestimate the damage that can occur by walking or driving on frost covered turf.   In this brief video, the USGA explains the "how" and "why" of frost damage:  Frost Delay--It's Worth The Wait

Despite our best efforts to keep carts corralled during periods of frost, as you can see below, occasionally somebody doesn't get the message.

If you're unsure if there will be a frost delay or not, please check the "Course Conditions" section of the Club's app.  We update this each morning to provide you with timely information.

A fantastic fall for golf and greenkeeping

If you are a golfer in search of the often elusive (and competing) goals of firm, fast, and green playing conditions, then you have been in luck this fall.  While November temperatures have been below average, so too has the precipitation.  Prior to this weekend, we received only 0.55" of rain in November, leading to some slick surfaces.

As we mentioned last week, the cold temperatures have allowed us to focus on some projects.  This has included aerifying and topdressing the approaches.

Aerifying fairways this time of year isn't always a good idea.  Holes may not have a chance to fill in, and if conditions become wet with cart traffic, it can be muddy throughout the winter.  However, in the case of the approaches, there should be little to no traffic issues to worry about.

Check out the picture below.  After aerifying, removing the plugs, filling the holes with sand, and brooming, the finished product on #1 approach looks pretty good.

Stay tuned!  If this weather pattern persists, we will continue to take advantage of it--our work towards a great 2020 season is already well underway.

Switching gears...

The unseasonably cold weather quickly slowed grass growth over the past week.  While this leads to much less mowing, it does not mean that we are sitting around like the Maytag repairman.  No, it's just a shift to other projects we seldom have time to address during the season.

For example, solid tining fairways provides benefits most any time of the year.  While the surface disruption is minimal, this process helps to fracture the soil, relieve compaction, allow gas exchange, and improve water infiltration.

The crew is also working to improve drainage in several of our old bunkers, which have yet to be renovated with the Matrix  liner.

While it's nice to take on some new tasks, and a little shoveling in bunkers is not an issue for the guys, there is one activity that we hope won't be taking place anytime soon...

The tide has turned...

When it comes to the weather, there is certainly an ebb and flow.  After a very dry September, the floodgates were opened once again in October, where we received 5.55" of rain during the month.  This is close to 60% above average.

Despite all of that rain, we almost made it through the month without any "No Cart" days.  Unfortunately, by the time Halloween arrived, we had to raise the white flag and suspend cart use on Thursday and Friday.  With grass growth slowing, there will be limited opportunity for the turf to recover from any cart damage.  That is, if we make ruts now, we may be looking at them until next May.

Another sign of saturated soil can be increased earthworm activity.  While these little creatures are often beneficial to the turf, what they deposit on the surface can turn into a muddy mess.

As we have said in the past, when we close the books on 2019, it very well may end up being just an "average year," but it's certainly been a wild weather ride of ups and downs to get there.

Fighting Fountain Grass

One of the prettier ornamental grasses on the golf course is Fountain Grass.  These plants look beautiful when in seed, with the dew glistening off them in the early morning.

However, in many areas, they have become more of a weed, than a desirable plant, and have taken over areas.  We made another loop through the naturalized areas this fall with two selective herbicides to control Fountain Grass.

There's a saying that the best tool for weed control is a mower.  Most every plant has a limit as to how low it can be mowed and survive.  One of the challenges with Fountain Grass is that it can handle a wide variety of heights.  You can see in the picture below that Fountain Grass can persist even when cut as low as our primary rough, with a couple of plants next to a sprinkler.

The vast majority of the herbicide use on the golf course is in the naturalized areas.  These include selective herbicides for broad leaf weeds, sedges, undesirable grasses, etc.  While we only mow these areas a couple of times each year, referring to them as "low maintenance" is just not right. 

The deer are everywhere!

While we see deer year round on the golf course, fall is definitely the time when they are most active, and show little fear of humans.  Few would argue that the 237 acres of golf course space can make a pretty great home for deer.

However, there are a couple of potential issues with these guys and girls roaming the region.  Their hooves can do some pretty good damage to the fine turf, which can be challenging to repair.  We cut the greens at 1/10", and any imperfection in the putting surface has the potential to throw the ball off-line.

Looks like somebody needs a manicure--or would it be a pedicure?

Thankfully, this group followed the 90 degree rule, avoiding the green.

Another big concern with deer activity, is when they decide to share the road with us.  The abundance of preserved open space in Moorestown often has the deer roaming across the streets to get from one area to another.  Over the past few years, several Club employees have had "run-ins" with deer while on their way to work.

The wildlife manager (and Shepherd) is unhappy that he's not permitted to herd the herd he heard.

So, as we enter the deer's mating season, it's particularly important to keep your eyes and ears open.  Remember, safety is no accident!

Summer goes down swinging!

While it finally looks like we can turn the page on summer, September was way warm and dry.  For the entire month we were four degrees above average each day.  To put this into perspective, for any day that was actually at the average temperature, there was an offsetting day that was eight degrees above average.

While the temperatures were well above normal, rainfall was 50% below average in September.  The last significant rain was on September 12--a quick shower which ran off.  This left us relying on irrigation, which is never as uniform as what falls from the sky, and can lead to inconsistent conditions on the course.

So wet, then so dry...

The impact of this weather pattern has been significant to golf course operations.  Instead of focusing on some fall projects, we've been hand watering, addressing irrigation issues, and mowing grass like it's the middle of May.  The warmer weather has also kept us on our toes as far as turf pest management.  Even as September ended, we were seeing Annual Bluegrass Weevil injury on collars, and were forced to apply a plant protectant.

While the Bent is unscathed, weevils continue to pit the Poa in collars

We think of meteorological summer as being June-August, however in 2019 the end of summer seemed to be much more in alignment with the astronomical summer season.  Fall often provides some of the best playing conditions of the year, and nobody will be complaining if this pattern continued and we get into late December before winter weather is upon us.

Fill those divots!

One of the nice features on the Club's new fleet of golf carts, is the large storage compartment for divot mix.  This holds several times what a bottle of mix can.

However, if you're one of those folks whose divots are measured in acres, even this new larger container on the cart may not hold enough for 18 holes.

If that's the case, you now have the opportunity to reload mid-round.  We have added some bulk storage bins to the two bottle stations on the golf course.

As always, we appreciate all of the help in filling divots throughout the season.  To date, our members have used over six tons of divot mix this year!

It doesn't happen by accident

The golf course was seeded, beginning on Labor Day of 1989.  30 years later, there is less than 1% Poa Annua in the fairways, and that didn't happen by chance.  For many years, we have successfully used a combination of maintenance practices, along with a post-emergent herbicide to control Poa, and prevent it from invading the fairways.

However, it now appears that we may be seeing some resistance to this herbicide developing.  (Resistance can also occur with insecticides, fungicides, and human medications--such as antibiotics.)  We are therefore looking at alternative ways to prevent Poa from gaining a foothold.

This year, we have added a late summer pre-emergent herbicide application to the fairways in an effort to prevent Poa.  This is one of  the products we typically use in the spring to prevent Crabgrass.

While there is no perfect grass for this region, Bentgrass is definitely a much, much better choice for fairways than Poa, and we will continue to fight to keep the fairways Poa-free!

Slamming Sedge and Crushing Kyllinga

September is always a challenging month, with lots of activity on the golf course, and a slightly decreased staff size, as some summer help returns to school.  We have been trying to play catch-up on weed control and are now focusing on two weeds which have become a real nuisance over the past several years:  Yellow Nutsedge and Green Kyllinga.

In home lawns, Nutsedge growth will easily outpace the grass, and creates an uneven appearance in the lawn just days after a mowing.  Even in the Fescue, Nutsedge rises above the long grass.

Yellow Nutsedge in the Fescue.

Green Kyllinga has a somewhat different growth habit.  In contrast to Nutsedge, Kyllinga forms a dense mat, and can easily persist at a range of mowing heights, down to collar height or lower.

Green Kyllinga is green no more, after treatment.

In the past, we would often spot spray these weeds.  However, the results were not great, as any areas we missed would quickly become evident.  This led to the old "chasing your tail" feeling, as we had to make repeated applications.

Because of this, we are now taking more of a "blanket" or "wall to wall" approach in treating for these weeds.  While the time spent, and cost of this may initially be higher, the results will be much better, and we will be able to focus on other tasks.

Those Evil Weevils

Over the past decade, the Annual Bluegrass Weevil has become the most troublesome, and difficult to manage insect on the golf course.  With a high percentage of Poa in the greens, we must remain vigilant in protecting this preferred turf (for weevils) from damage.

Being smaller than a grain of rice, you might not think the larvae could cause much damage.  However, when turf is either stressed from other factors, or there are high numbers of weevils, these little guys can really thin out the grass.  Due to the height at which they are maintained, collars are actually more prone to weevil damage than the putting surfaces.

While we initially see adult weevils emerging in the spring, by the time we're into summer, there are no clearly defined generations, and every life stage can be found at the same time.  With most insecticides targeting a specific stage in the weevil's life cycle, this makes control extremely challenging.

In sampling this past week, within the same location (#9 green collar), we found larvae, pupae, and young adults.  With less weather-induced turf stress this time of year, initially, weevil activity may not be noticeable, but it's definitely not time to let our guard down.

In previous years, early fall is actually the only time we've seen weevils cause damage to our Bentgrass tees and fairways, so we continue to monitor weevil activity and treat based on population density.  Is this game of cat and mouse challenging?  Absolutely.  Is it boring?  Absolutely not!     

The value of experience and commitment in golf course maintenance

It seems that everyone who chooses to work on the golf course, does so for a different reason.  Some are students just passing through, others love the game and being outside, and many are retirees who enjoy getting out of the house.

One unique member of our team is Jacques St. Elien.  Jacques emigrated from Haiti in 1991, following his brothers and mother.  Three of Jacques' brothers were working for the general contractor during the construction of Laurel Creek, and they all stayed on as part of the maintenance team once the course was completed. 

After a few years, Jacques went to work at Philmont Country Club, but returned to Laurel Creek as a part time employee three years ago.  Jacques is one of the most polite, soft-spoken individuals you will ever meet, and his experience makes him a true asset to our operation.

If you ever see Jacques on the course mowing greens, cutting fairways, or raking bunkers, feel free to introduce yourself to this dedicated individual!

The Hole Story

We always have our fingers crossed, hoping for good weather for fairway aerification.  The "Goldilocks" zone for us is good soil moisture, but not saturated conditions. If too dry, the turf will be stressed and quickly wilt; and if too wet, the plugs can't be proceesed, and cleanup is a mess.

For some reason, it just didn't come as a great shock that the weather was not amenable to our wishes, and the golf course became the bulls-eye for pop-up storm activity throughout the week, with several days of rain.

Sunday afternoon we had two localized storms hit us, putting down an inch of rain.  Due to how wet many of the holes would be, this limited the fairways we could aerify on Monday.  As the day progressed, we actually found ourselves making good progress by Monday afternoon, but in the midst of aerifying #1 we had another blast of rain, with a tsunami-like storm.  This was the first time we had a fairway completely open with plugs covering it when rain hit--what a mess!

Tuesday came and we aerified  a handful of small fairways, but due to the excessive moisture from the prior two days' rain, we could not grind the aerification plugs, instead having to remove them whole.  This is not ideal for several reasons.

Wednesday was finally a good weather day, and we took advantage of that.  However, we had to once again stop earlier than we'd like in the afternoon, as another round of rain was on the way--and we didn't want to risk a repeat of #1 fairway.  1.20" of rain came down Wednesday evening, and we were forced to raise the white flag for the week.

To summarize, we had precipitation on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  The rainfall totaled 3.20" for the week.When you take a step back and look at things from this perspective, we accomplished quite a bit.  We have four holes yet to be aerified, and they will be tackled as time (and weather) permits.

August 15!

What is so important about August 15?  Well, for grass-growers in the Mid-Atlantic Region, this traditionally was the "over the hump" date.  If your turf survived until this time, the odds were good that you were going to be okay.

However, over the past few years, August 15 has become something of an inside joke among golf course superintendents in the region, as it no longer is a solid indicator of stress relief for grass.  Last year, there was plenty of grass that made it until mid-August, but not mid-September.  According to NOAA, July, 2019 was (globally) the hottest month on record.  As we noted previously, locally, 27 out of 31 days were at, or above the average temperature last month.

For tired turf, relief is certainly not coming in the short-term:

Heat wave number five is here, and we will be aerifying fairways this week under some very challenging conditions.  August 15 may soon become a forgotten, meaningless date.  Perhaps the only good news is that the Laurel Creek Grounds staff never shies away from a good challenge!

Damp Sand? Not a problem...

For the past several years, each spring we have used the Dryject sand injection process on the greens.  As we've previously discussed, this unique piece of equipment allows us to place a large volume of sand at a deeper level in the soil profile than is possible with a conventional core aerifier.

To date, one of the constraints with Dryject was the need for the sand to be very dry to flow through the machine.  However, the company has now engineered a new sand hopper design which will allow moist sand to be used, and we were among the first to see it in action.

If you aren't in the business of managing fine turf, this may not seem like a big deal, but there are parts of the country where purchasing kiln dried sand is difficult, if not impossible.  Additionally, for those of us who purchase dry sand, keeping it completely dry is often a challenge.  (It's been known to rain on us during aerification...)

We always enjoy providing our nursery as a testing ground for John Paddock and the Dryject team.  The ability to use damp sand has the potential to be a game-changer, and dramatically increase the number of golf courses who can take advantage of this extremely beneficial process.

Conditions Due to Conditions

With July being the hottest month of the year, turf stress is common.  However, this past month was particularly memorable--and not in a good way.  For the month of July, 27 out of 31 days were at, or above the average temperature, with only four days being below the average high.  Rainfall was also excessive, totaling 8.10", which is 67% above average.

There are countless reasons why turf can struggle, but this formula is pretty straightforward:

High Soil Temps + Saturated Soil = Root Loss

Ideally, there is an equal amount of air and water in the soil pore spaces.  Any soil that is full of water--especially hot water--does not bode well for plant health.  As you can see below, from the sensors buried in the greens, during mid-July, we had soil temperatures as high as 96 degrees.

Water transfers heat much more effectively than air (which is why 65 degree air feels alright to us, but 65 degree water feels really cold).  When heavy rains hit this baking soil last month, root loss was significant.

Another factor is that Laurel Creek's greens are predominantly Poa Annua.  Due to its inherently short root system, this grass is already at a disadvantage when compared to Bentgrass in the summer.  The picture below shows the vast difference in roots between our Bentgrass greens nursery on the left, and a plug of Poa from a collar on the right.

Bentgrass versus Poa roots

To insure that there aren't other factors at play here, soil samples were taken from greens, tees and fairways, and examined by both Steve McDonald of Turfgrass Disease Solutions, and Rich Buckley of Rutgers Plant Diagnostic Laboratory.  They are in agreement that the primary cause of any turf decline is due to abiotic (non-living) stress.

Even just foot traffic from golfers can lead to thinning on weakened turf.

While Bentgrass tends to be more tolerant of summer heat than Poa, the tees and fairways are also showing signs of fatigue from the weather.

The left side of #15 fairway contends with a tremendous amount of runoff from the golf course and beyond.

At this point, it may seem somewhat ironic that while excess water has been a large contributor to the current situation, it is now necessary to water more often.  That is, with very little roots to draw moisture from the soil, allowing things to firm up will lead to turf loss.  Small amounts of water must be applied frequently to prevent the plants from wilting.

We have taken several steps to minimize turf damage.  In all of the fine turf areas, the application schedules for plant protectants have been tightened.  On the greens, we have made some other changes to further reduce plant stress, and protect the long-term health of the putting surfaces.  This includes backing off on double-mowing and rolling.

Additionally, we have installed less aggressive solid front rollers on the mowers.  While the mowers are set at the same height of cut, these rollers will have a higher effective height, leading to a smooth, but slower putting surface.

Hand mower with a smooth roller on the left, and grooved roller on the right.

We always try to plan for the worst and hope for the best.  However, it appears that the bar may have been raised on what the worst weather can be.  At times like this, there are many lessons to be learned, and changes to be made in the future.  Aerification is right around the corner, and Labor Day soon thereafter.  While that may not be a date that everyone looks forward to, it typically means better grass-growing weather, and improved conditions on the course--something we can all appreciate.

Thank you, Mike!

It is with mixed emotions that we inform you of the departure of Assistant Superintendent, Mike Crane.  Mike has been with Laurel Creek for the past 13 years, and has been a key member of our team during that time.

Whether it was tackling weeds in the native areas with a 300 gallon sprayer and hose, or taking a more personal approach to removing undesirable plants one at a time with a dabber, Mike never shied away from the tough tasks.

We will definitely miss Mike's contribution to Laurel Creek, but wish him the best as he assumes the position of Assistant Superintendent at a private Club in Philadelphia.  Undoubtedly, he will be an asset to their operation!

Tough Weather for Turf

This past week's weather has been brutal, and is taking its toll on the turf.  So why do we often see turf loss during these dog days of summer?  Roots are often at the root of the matter.

As you can see in the illustration below, we are riding the annual roller coaster of root growth and loss, and are nearing the top.  Unfortunately, in this case, the top is when the roots are at their shortest.

Under these conditions, the ability of the plant to replenish lost moisture is limited, and there is little margin for error.  Too little water won't get the job done, however with extremely hot soil conditions, too much water can be equally disastrous.

August is around the corner, and while it hasn't been the best month in recent years, we will be happy to turn the page on July and look forward to some better grass-growing conditions in the coming months.  For now, we will tiptoe through the next few weeks.

Monarch Habitat

While the golf course may have a use for humans, it is also the place that many animals call home.  With this in mind, Laurel Creek joined the Monarchs in the Rough in 2018.   This program helps courses establish and maintain habitat for the Monarch butterfly, whose numbers have declined dramatically in recent years.

With the Monarch caterpillar relying on Milkweed, out of play areas on the golf course can serve as a great location for this food source for them.

So, while we spend a great deal of time and effort working to keep the course's native areas weed-free, don't be surprised to see some spots being left purposefully weedy, as we share the land with these beautiful butterflies.

Move along...there's nothing to see here.

Independence Day is now behind us, and if things have been a bit quiet on the blog front, let's take that as a positive (aka, no news is good news).  There's little doubt that no two years are alike, and while 2019's rainfall has given us some flashbacks to 2018, we'd like to think that we learned from last year's weather extremes, and are better prepared to handle them.

As previously mentioned, we are continually tweaking the operational plans on the golf course.  With most changes we make, if done correctly, you will never see them.  Here are some examples of this:

Crabgrass Control--After having breakthrough on collars the past couple of years, we made a carefully timed pre-emergent herbicide application to them this spring.  So what do you see?  Nothing that should't be there--the picture below is from 2018, with the collars having no Crab this year.

Take-All Patch--This disease took up a lot of blog space over the past several years, but not so much in 2019.  It appears that the fungicide treatments we made last October, prevented disease development and symptoms this spring.  Again, the picture below is from 2018.

Practice Tee--The cool season grass is entering the time of year when the seedlings struggle, and are constantly threatened by disease.  We installed Bermudagrass on the back of the upper tee in June, and it is now ready for use.  As it thrives in the heat, this turf will provide a great hitting surface for the next few months.

July has been awfully hot and humid thus far, and we've got a lot of summer left to contend with.  It will be great if  we can continue to report on "nothing" for the next several weeks.

Doing right by divots

We are often asked if divots should be replaced, or filled with the bottle mix on the cart.

The USGA provides an excellent answer to this question in a brief video:
Divots 101—Know When To Repair Or Replace

Deja Vu

It's been a while since we whined about the weather, but after this past week's incessant rain, we started having flashbacks to last year.  Thus far, it feels as if June is perfect weather for only a few folks to spend much time on the golf course:

A mallard is enjoying one of the few greenside bunkers that has yet to be renovated.

Similar to last year, April showers weren't really an issue this spring.  In both 2018 and 2019, we were within 4% of the historical precipitation average for the month.  However, once we hit May and June, the skies opened up.  This year, we recorded over seven inches of rain in May, and with 10 days remaining in June, we had already surpassed the monthly average by 57%!

What July and August will bring us is still unknown.  At this time, perhaps the old adage, "Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best..." is the only advice we can follow.