Superintendent's Revenge?

Given the hole locations for this past Saturday's tournament, many players may have been uttering expletives directed at the Grounds team.  However, we can't take credit for these.  

No, the diabolical pin placements were not selected by the grass-growers, but chosen by the Pro Shop staff.  So the next time you see Bob and Brett, be sure to let them know how much you truly enjoyed their sense of humor!

Of course we did add a few obstacles and distractions ourselves:

When changing cups, it can often be challenging to find a small paint dot on a green, indicating the hole location.  However, in this case it was pretty easy--we just walked to the area of each green where we would never ever consider putting a pin, and that's where the dot was... 

Back in the dirt...

Several tees are being improved this fall, starting with #2.  The Champion/Palmer, and Medal tees are being combined into one large tee.  This will eliminate the loss of usable teeing ground that we previously had at the front of the rear tee and back of the forward tee, along with picking up the area that was rough in between the two old tees.

As you stand on the new tee, it appears to be significantly longer than the old tees.  However, the back of the tee and front of the tee are unchanged from the old tees.  The fact that the new tee appears to be so large just shows how much unusable area there was in the past.

This additional teeing space will allow for greater flexibility in daily setup, as well as tee marker rotation for turf recovery.

Never saw that before...

For several weeks there have been a couple of small black spots on some greens.  It wasn't until we actually started poking around, that we discovered the unusual cause.

While removing the turf covers last March, we apparently missed a few of the staples used to hold them in place over the winter.

Iron is often applied to the greens to give them a nice color (without stimulating growth), however it is well known that too much iron can temporarily turn the turf black.  It looks like the rusty staple was overdosing this small area--mystery solved.

Fortunately none of our greensmowers ever had a run-in with this piece of metal throughout the growing season.

They're back...

As we did last year, lightweight blowers have been placed on a handful of greens to help clear off any leaves that may have accumulated during the day.  While we try to make a couple of loops around the course to clear them off with our backpack blowers, there are days when an hour after we are finished, it looks like we were never there.

Just a quick refresher on how to operate these:  

1) Grab the blower

2) Pull the trigger (Can't get much easier than that!)

Here's a quick tip.  Be sure to mark your ball before using the blower--as slick as the greens are now, even a slight breeze might start your ball rolling! 

Gorgeous weather, but...

Many years it seems like we jump straight from summer to winter, so having what feels like a "real fall" with cool temperatures and blue skies is definitely appreciated.  Of course we could use just one good rain event.  While many parts of the country have been getting way too much precipitation, we certainly have not.

The brisk nights and shorter days help to reduce turf stress this time of year, but with clear skies, a nice breeze and low humidity, there is still a fair amount of moisture loss occurring.  

Again, regardless of how good an irrigation system is, there is no substitute for the uniformity that comes from Mother Nature.  A nice rain will evenly rehydrate the soil and go a long way towards allowing us to turn off the irrigation for the season.  

Until then, we will likely continue to deal with the Goldilocks conditions of too wet here and too dry there that come with "artificial rain."  While there are a number of fall projects we'd like to be working on, for now the team will continue to be dragging hoses.

Earthworms—Friend or Foe?

As you have likely heard on the news, September was extremely dry in our region, down 80% from the average rainfall for the month.  However, this dry spell has not prevented the appearance of worm castings on the tees and fairways.

Earthworms act as nature’s aerifiers, providing a service by creating pore space for air, water, and plant roots, as well as increasing the microbial population in the soil they process. How important are earthworms to healthy soil? To quote Charles Darwin: "...it may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organized creatures."

So why wouldn’t we be happy with the help in creating pore space in the soil?  Well, the work they do below ground is fine, but the downside to having earthworms on a golf course is that when they expel soil on the surface, it leaves little hills, like miniature volcanoes.  At best, these piles can be dragged or broomed off when thoroughly dry.  However, when we have moisture in the air, these piles stay wet.  Dragging them turns them to mud.  Left alone, the piles get squished by carts and mowers leaving mud spots about the size of a silver dollar.

Numerous strategies have been employed on golf courses where worms have created such a problem. This includes spraying mild soap solutions in hopes of irritating the worms and discouraging their surface activities, as well as aggressive topdressing programs of straight sand to create a surface that is abrasive and uncomfortable for the worms. Fortunately for us, the worm activity always seems to fade as quickly as it appears.  

A final thought about the earthworm population to contemplate: Some scientists calculate that in the soil of a dairy farm, per acre, the total weight of all of the earthworms that live underground exceeds the weight of the cattle grazing above ground—that's a whole lot of potential fish bait.

Practice Tee Turf

It isn't too often that we have a day with unimpeded access to the practice tee.  So when this does happen, we take full advantage of it.  Given this summer's heat, the Bermudagrass on the practice tee flourished, and has spread well beyond the original section of the tee that was sodded to Bermuda.  

Because of this, instead of overseeding a small percentage of the upper tee, we covered almost the whole thing.  This process requires several steps, including seeding, aerifying, dragging, blowing, brooming and fertilizing. 

The somewhat gloomy weather throughout the past week may not have been great for golf, but was perfect for getting the seed up quickly.  As a matter of fact, even some seeds that landed on the practice tee mats decided to pop:

Tournament Preparation

The lead-up to one of our final major events of the year, the fall Member-Member, meant a lot of time was devoted to working on the greens.  On Monday, we tickled the turf with our verticut units to remove any grass that was growing horizontally.

This process generated quite a bit of material.

Beginning on Tuesday, we double-mowed and rolled the greens every day.

The end result was some pretty slick surfaces, which everyone seemed to enjoy.

An Early Haircut

The summer of 2024 had some rollercoaster weather patterns, with plenty of heat, and all or nothing rainfall patterns.  One of the consequences of this was early turf dormancy, as well as a tremendous amount of weed growth in the Fescue areas.

While we tried to beat back the weed pressure, these areas have had some pretty inconsistent playing conditions throughout the season.  At this point, the best option is to cut them down a bit earlier than we have done in the past.  This will help to achieve the goals of having these areas be penal, while also allowing a player's ball to be found (more often than not), and be advanced.  The mowing definitely creates a more uniform surface.

With 40 acres of native areas to mow, this process is never quick.  However, this year, due to delays in getting a new trim mower for cutting tee and green surrounds, our Ventrac tractor is being asked to do double duty.  The machine is mowing the close cut turf a couple of days each week, then switching attachments for mowing the Fescue.  It will definitely take a while for us to get all of the native areas mown down.

What's that?

 At first glance, this might appear to be just a little dirt spot on the edge of one of the flags:

However, if you look very closely, you'll see that it is not dirt at all.  More than likely, this is a Fall Armyworm egg mass:

Fall Armyworms don't mess around--a few years ago they caused serious turf damage in the region:

So is this a serious concern for us now?  Probably not.  While Fall Armyworms are wreaking havoc in the south once again this year, they don't do well at low temperatures, and the cool nights we have been experiencing lately will dramatically lengthen their egg hatch period.

The Break We've Been Waiting For

It may sound unusual, but it was great to have an irrigation break, and repair this past week.  Why in the world would we want to have to deal with a break in August?  Well, for quite some time, we have seen the pump station's small pressure maintenance pump cycling about four times per hour.  This meant that the system was losing one gallon of water per minute somewhere...  

It should be noted that by most standards this really isn't a whole lot of water.  For perspective, municipal water systems, which provide our drinking water, often have leaks accounting for over 20% of the potable water supply they are pumping.

Pump cycling four times per hour.

While a gallon of pond water may not sound like much, we still wanted to know where it was going.  After all, small leaks can turn into big leaks.  The location of water loss was finally found in the back corner of the property behind #4 green.  With a large storm drain inlet just a few feet away, the water wasn't creating a puddle, or stream of any kind.

The repair was straightforward, simply requiring us to cut out a cracked 2" elbow and replace it.

You could say that the pump station is now "flat lining," which is great in this situation.  Below, you can see that the black line (indicating the current discharge pressure) is virtually unchanged for a full hour, and hovering right above the red line (the system set pressure).

 

Other than a lightning strike, this is the first break we have had in two years.  The total spent in irrigation parts to make these repairs was $30--not bad for a 35 year old system! 

A Welcomed Break

While we can typically find some reason to complain about the weather, even the most "glass half empty" grass grower would have a hard time coming up with any negative words about this past week's beautiful conditions. After a summer of some very tough weather, the reprieve was greatly appreciated by both greenkeeper and grass.  

This year, we performed our tee and fairway aerification earlier than ever.  Typically in this region, August 15 is considered to be a (relatively) safe time to pull the trigger on this practice.  For cool season turf, August means the shortest roots of the year--we rolled the dice and started August 5.  Fortunately, despite a whole lot of rain in August, the timing appears to have worked out well.

For the turf, it's not just about the lower daytime temperatures, but equally important are the cool nights.  Anytime we need a light jacket on an August morning, it is a good day.  As you can see below, even the afternoon high soil temperatures on #16 fairway this past week have been less than the daily low temperatures were back in early August.

Another bonus to this atypical cool weather has been an increase in green speed.  Again, we don't change our prep to the putting surfaces during the summer, but hot, sticky weather slows everything down.  While temperatures are warming back up this week, hopefully we are over the hump.

The Tines They are A-Changin'

We are always looking to improve any agronomic practice we perform on the golf course.  This year, in an effort to reduce the recovery time from fairway aerification, we made a fairly dramatic change to this process.  

We substituted our traditional large, heavy duty aerifier tine for a slightly smaller one which produces a cleaner hole, and will hopefully fill in more quickly.  In order to impact the same percentage of surface area, a smaller tine means we need to make more holes.  Therefore the aerifiers were setup with 50% more tines from side to side (36 versus 24).

 The downside to this, is that the tines we used on fairways, are better suited for the sand-based greens and tees.  We went through a lot of tines beating the fairway soil--somewhere around 700.  With three team members running the aerifiers, we added a fourth employee, the "pit crew" guy.  This individual was tasked with monitoring the machines, and was ready to change any tine as it broke.

A barrel of broken tines.

From what we've seen thus far, this aerification tweak looks like it was very effective.  Just three days post-punching, and #15 has some pretty happy turf. 

In reviewing a change such as this, we always have to ask if the juice is worth the squeeze.  Well, we definitely spent more money on parts and labor, however if the end result is less downtime for the fairways, we will likely stick with this method going forward.

Payback Time

Thanks to the change in timing for greens aerification, once again we have another August without this:

While we did run the aerifiers across the putting surfaces on Monday, we used an extremely small tine, and it's tough to see the holes just four days later.

Prior to this change in 2023, we had six weeks during handicap-posting season (three in May and three in August), when green speeds were dramatically impacted by aerification.

No longer losing a few weeks of good greens in both May and August should be something everyone can appreciate.

Goose on the Loose

This summer, we have seen a dramatic uptick in the amount of Goosegrass on the golf course, particularly in the primary rough.  The white appearance of Goosegrass treated with a post-emergent herbicide, may grab your attention more than an untreated plant.

There are a few possible explanations for the increase we're seeing with this weed:

• Early drought--If you think back to June, much of the turf was dormant due to high heat and lack of rainfall.  There is an old saying that a dense, healthy stand of turf is the best defense against weed encroachment.  With the turf being dormant, this may have allowed for more Goosegrass to germinate and become established.
• Lack of Uniform Coverage--We make our pre-emergent herbicide application in late fall, to prevent grassy weeds such as Crabgrass and Goosegrass.  The last two years, we have switched from using a granular product applied with a spreader, to a liquid product applied with a sprayer.  The active ingredient in both formulations is the same, however it can be more challenging to achieve complete uniform coverage in the contoured rough with a boom sprayer than it is with the tractor mounted spreader. 
• Herbicide Resistance--This may be the most probable cause of the issue, and it is also the most concerning. As this snippet from Rutgers points out, Goosegrass is known for this:

Going forward there are a few changes we will be making.  This will likely include returning to a spreadable product, as well as possibly changing the active ingredient used as a preventative herbicide.  Should these measures fail to prevent Goosegrass germination, we will be quick on the trigger to treat the weed with an effective post-emergent product.

X Marks the Spot

 As you play the course, you may notice several areas painted white, in the shape of an "x" or "t" (depending on your perspective).  What's the purpose of these marks?  The short answer is that they are "ground control points" recently used for an aerial mapping of the golf course.

Next question:  What is the purpose of this mapping?  Well, with the golf course irrigation system now 35 years old, it seems prudent to start planning for future replacement of the system.  As the chart below indicates, given its age, the Club has definitely gotten its money's worth out of the original system.  

We are now undertaking the first step in the replacement process, by having an Irrigation Impact Study performed.  A detailed mapping of the property is part of this initial phase--thus the need for the white paint markings.

Replacing an irrigation system is obviously a long-term investment into the golf course infrastructure, and the decision on when the right time is to undertake this project, can often be tricky.  Currently, many irrigation contractors are booked years in advance, so replacement needs to be well thought out.  

The results of this preliminary study will provide us with long range planning recommendations, the sprinkler layout for a new system, as well as a cost estimate for system replacement.

Tech for the Tech

These days, you likely get most of your information from a screen, not a paper book.  The same holds true for our Equipment Technician, Don Robel.

With a quick glance to one side of his shop, Don can easily see the team members' job assignments, and know what equipment everyone is using.

If Don is repairing a particular piece of equipment, he can view the parts breakdown from a different monitor.  Gone are the days of having manuals the size of a phone book (for those who can remember them).

Golf course Equipment Technicians spend their time behind the scenes, making sure the fleet of equipment is ready to go.  For all of the mowers used on closely mown turf, this means checking them up to seven days per week.  The importance of this role truly can't be overstated.

It's getting warmer...

Without trying to attribute a cause, it certainly appears that things are heating up.  In the short term we can point to June, which had an average high temperature of 87.7 degrees--this is hotter than the month of July typically is.

Abnormal temperatures for a single month or two might be considered an anomaly, however a look at the USDA plant hardiness map shows New Jersey having shifted from 1990 to 2015:

While we aren't ready to start farming bananas and pineapples quite yet, evidence of these changes can easily be seen on the golf course.  Two examples of this are "warm-season" grasses which now call Laurel Creek home, and are shown growing in approaches:  

Dallisgrass

Bermudagrass

Ten years ago, it was rare to find these on the course.  Today, they are widespread, and it's a battle to keep them from encroaching into the close cut turf.    

Where's the happy turf?

 If you spend some time staring at the greens, they may appear to be completely spotted.  So what's with the lack of uniformity?  

Those dark green dots are last November's aerification holes.  While no cool-season turf is enjoying this weather, the bright green dots certainly show some healthier grass.

In contrast, the turf in a small "skip" last November has a much less vibrant appearance.  Despite the current weather, we continue to mow the greens seven days a week at 0.100", and roll the greens five times per week.  At times like this, the importance of aerification can't be overstated.

So Long June!

From a turf management perspective, June was a real stinker.  While we finally received some much needed rain during the final few days of the month, through June 25, we had less than one inch of precipitation.  This was on the heels of a very dry May, where we only received 40% of normal rainfall.  

In the first half of June, there were a number of storms that appeared to be heading right for us as they crossed the Delaware River, but somehow fell apart.  A couple of examples of this are shown below--these two events provided a combined total 0.05" of rain:

In addition to the exceptionally dry conditions, June was just plain hot, with an average daytime temperature six degrees above normal for the month.  To look at this another way, if 15 days of June were at the average temperature, then the other 15 were 12 degrees above average.

When you combine the heat and lack of rainfall, it obviously creates major challenges on the golf course.  A quick look at the driving range floor (or most people's lawn) shows that any area which is unirrigated is the color of straw:

However, unlike your lawn, the fairways are maintained at a height of 0.375", have significant mounding, and dozens and dozens of carts on them each day, all of which adds to the challenge.  In order to address this, we reallocated our labor to hand watering, devoting an unprecedented number of hours to this task for the month.

As we enter July, the recent storms have helped to rehydrate the turf.. Hopefully the next two months will be a bit less extreme than the past two were. 

Some good news

It's challenging not to discuss the low hanging fruit this week--the weather--but we'll try to avoid that subject, and find something more positive to focus on.  

After spending many years on the golf course, it isn't often that we all see something, and just stop whatever we're doing.  One of the few exceptions to this is when we are visited by the majestic Bald Eagle, recently seen spending some time on #9 and 18:

For years, golf courses got a bad wrap as far as their environmental impact.  Fortunately, that view is slowly changing, and few can argue that the diversity of wildlife on a golf course is amazing.  One of Laurel Creek's often seen residents is this nesting hawk:  

While the bald eagle may have been removed from the federal government's endangered species list in 2007, it has remained on New Jersey's.  40 years ago, there was only one nesting pair of eagles remaining in the state.  With the current estimate of nesting pairs heading towards 270, New Jersey is now also proposing to remove the eagle from their endangered species list.  This is progress.

As we approach July 4, the eagle may rightfully come to mind as a symbol of our nation.  Having them here, also shows that golf courses can be part of the solution, not part of the problem.