Drought Buster?

If you can remember back to the weekend of October 11 and 12, we were dealing with a tropical storm off the coast, whose impact lasted through Tuesday.  While this may have led to four straight "bad hair" days, the total precipitation of 0.28" from this event was underwhelming, and did little to help our current rain deficit.

This is becoming an eerily familiar and spooky fall weather pattern, after we recorded a record-setting 0.00" of rainfall in October, 2024.  This year, through October 19, we are doing just slightly better with a total of 0.55" for the month.

A look at the low water level on #7 tells a tale.  Fortunately, this is a time of year when we aren't losing nearly as much moisture as during the heat of the summer.  However with turf growth starting to slow, this definitely isn't enough precipitation to jump start any thin areas and help them to recover from the sizzling summer.

Banishing "Bird Baths"

Standing water on a green isn't good for playability or turf health.  In theory, if the water is able to freely flow off, we should never have bird baths on a putting surface.  However, over time a combination of bunker sand, topdressing sand, and organic matter accumulates on the perimeters of greens, which can act like a dam.  

In order to address this, we need to do some targeted aerification on the small areas which are preventing the water from leaving the green.

This clearly isn't a one and done procedure, but takes an on-going effort to prevent these areas from getting worse.  And in some extreme cases we will break out the sod cutter and shave these spots down slightly to alleviate the issue.

So if you happen upon some holes in the collars and surrounds, you now know why they are there.

Why mats?

With damp, dreary conditions last Thursday, we chose to move the practice tee hitting from grass to the mats for the day.  If some question whether this was necessary or not--and one person clearly did--a quick look at this picture may explain why we made the call:

We had aerified and overseeded the tees on Monday, and as you can see, whoever opted not to stay on the mats, caused as much damage from their feet as they did with their club.  

While we may not always get things right, there is generally a sound basis for the decisions the Pro Shop and Grounds staff make when it comes to protecting the golf course.

Reducing the Risk

Most everyone who has worked on a golf course for any length of time has had to deal with a dreaded four letter word:  Leak.  

While irrigation leaks aren't any fun, the other kind of leak--hydraulic--can cause long-lasting problems.  In an effort to minimize the risk of turf loss due to hydraulic leaks on the putting surfaces, we recently acquired a hybrid riding greensmower.  (This was another mower we had ordered in 2023.)

Unlike a traditional triplex mower (which uses hydraulics for steering, driving wheel motors, raising and lowering the cutting units, as well as turning the reels) the new machine has no hydraulics at all.  Is this mower 100% risk free?  No, it does have a small gasoline engine to power the generator.  Of course, so do the walking handmowers we use, and they are considered to be very low risk machines.   

As to the price of this machine, there's an old saying, "Whatever you think it costs, add a zero if it's built for golf."  So, yes, you could drive this nice looking mower, or you could drive a very well-appointed Audi A6 for the same price.

A good start to the week!

Just when we thought it might be 2026 (Knocking Down Nasty Natives, and Head-Scratching Supply Chain Issues) before we received the equipment ordered back in 2023, we were greeted by a truck carrying our two long-awaited mowers. 

Yes, 27 months to the day after ordering them, they finally arrived.  While neither of these are used for mowing the Native areas, they will help to free up our Ventrac for that job, as we will once again have a dedicated machine for trimming tee and green surrounds.

Knocking Down Nasty Natives, and Head-Scratching Supply Chain Issues

As you may notice when playing the course, we have begun the process of mowing down the Native areas.  This year's heavy spring rains, followed by a whole lot of summer heat led to a wonderful growing environment for weeds.  Our pre-emergent herbicide applications lost their efficacy more rapidly, and keeping up with the plethora of weeds was nearly impossible.  Coincidentally, the USGA just released an article that addresses this issue:  Why Are the Naturalized Areas So…Natural?

The native mound separating #6 and #13 has been cut down.

Unfortunately, due to lingering supply chain issues, we won't be able to get this mowing process completed quickly.  Our versatile Ventrac, which is used for mowing down the Natives has been forced to work double-duty this year.  For most of the week we have to use this machine with a different mowing deck for trimming around green and tee complexes.  Therefore, there is only a day or two that we can work on cutting down the high grass.

Why do we need to use the Ventrac around the tees and greens?  Well, we ordered a replacement trim mower for use in these areas on June 15, 2023.  Prior to ordering we asked about the lead time and were told, "You're looking at 8 to 10 months, that may change as supply chain issues ease..."  

Change it did, but not in the way we were hoping for.  Had that timeframe been accurate, our existing trim mower would have lasted until its replacement arrived.  However, that was off just a bit (sarcasm intended), as we are now at 27 months--three times the estimate--and still don't have that piece of equipment (in addition to another mower that was ordered at the same time).  The old trim mower's frame is broken in half, rendering it unusable, thus making the Ventrac the only option we have.    

Still waiting for your replacement...

Until that new trim mower arrives, we will continue picking away at the Native areas as time allows.

Bentgrass Bounce Back

If you recall, last week we were staring at some fairways that had gotten pretty banged-up from aerification.  As a reminder, here's what #5 looked like at the time:

While the irrigation system allows us to get by for a while, there is no substitute for the uniformity we got from the steady rain earlier in the week.  Additionally, going from high temperatures in the 90s, to the 70s makes a world of difference in turf recovery.  #5 fairway looks just a little different now than it did a week prior:

Looking ahead, there are no days forecast to be in the 90s.  This summer was just plain tough on the turf, so let's hope the weather prognosticators are correct!

This actually helps the turf?

In looking at the fairways immediately following this past week's aerification, it certainly doesn't appear that we were trying to improve course conditions and turf health.  By the time we got to #5 on Monday, the 90+ degree temperature and low humidity that day had things drying out extremely fast, causing turf to wilt.

You can see that the small skips between aerifier passes actually look much healthier than the surfaces where plugs were pulled.  So why do we put these low mow turf areas through such torture--you have to wonder, is the juice really worth the squeeze?

It's during times like this that you need to take a step back and keep in mind that aerification is like major surgery to a person.  The long-term benefits--in this case decreased organic matter and compaction, increased pore space and percolation rate--far outweigh the short-term stress that this procedure causes.

Would this aerification be advisable under all circumstances? Probably not, but fortunately Laurel Creek's 35 year old fairways are still virtually Poa annua free, and the Bentgrass will bounce back.  Had this been a stand of Poa, we very well may have been ordering a few bags of seed or pallets of sod to restore these areas.

Looking at the low...

While we are now back in the oven with temperatures in the 90s during heat wave number six, last week provided a welcomed respite from this tough summer weather.   Most of us focus on these daily high temperatures, however the nighttime lows can be equally important to the turf.  

Below is a chart showing the temperatures of #1 green at a 2" soil depth from the end of July through the first week of August.  Suffice it to say that when the "coolest" the rootzone gets is 80 degrees at night, there is pretty much zero chance of any recovery from the daytime heat.

In contrast to the end of July, the beginning of August actually had some daytime high soil temps peak at around 80 degrees, accompanied by much cooler nighttime low temperatures in the 60s.  This may have been just a quick break for the turf, but we will take it.

Lesson learned...

July is already the hottest month of the year, so when you have 21 days in that month that are above average, it shouldn't come as a surprise that our cool-season grass isn't going to be happy.  The green which has seen the most thinning turf over this stretch has been the practice green at #1 tee. 

For decades the USGA has said that building a new green without changing the environmental conditions is not a recipe for success.  In the case of the driving range putting green, not only have the growing conditions not improved, but they have actually taken a couple of steps backwards.  

As you may recall, we had a permanent fan for the old green, and with additional wetlands growth every year, there is even less air movement and morning sunlight than we used to have a few years ago.  In hindsight, it was probably naive to think that just constructing a larger green would lead to healthy turf without the benefits that its predecessor enjoyed. 

For now we are using our portable fan to provide air movement on the green, and have closed a portion of the green to help facilitate recovery.  In the long run we clearly need to install the dedicated fan for this green, as well as try to do some selective pruning. 

Divot Repair

There is often confusion as to when a divot should be replaced, and when the sand mix should be used.  In an effort to clear things up, let's keep it simple:

If your divot doesn't explode, and has some bit of soil with it, please replace it.

There are many variables that come into play in determining if the divot will live or not.  This obviously includes the weather, and the location (slope vs swale).  However, even in the summer, there's a decent chance that a replaced divot will survive.

Below you can see the divot on the right was replaced and has already knitted back in nicely.  In contrast, the divot on the left is, to be kind, a real head-scratcher.

So save that sand mix for the times when your divot can't be replaced. And please don't get too fancy--we've seen well intentioned players make a sandwich with a sprinkle of divot mix, the divot itself, and a bit more mix on top for good measure.  Remember, more isn't always better.

The heat is up and the speed is down...

We've mentioned the subject of green speed in mid-summer in the past, but with a notable recent example of some significant swings in weather (and speed), it warrants revisiting.  

If you can remember back to July 4, it was an unusually cool, crisp morning for this time of year.  In checking the green speed that particular day, the greens were over a foot faster than they had been on July 3.  

So, you may wonder what we changed in our daily preparation of the putting surfaces, and the answer is absolutely nothing.  We used the same mowers, set at the same height, and the same roller.  The only difference was going from a hot, humid day on the 3rd, to a (relatively) cool day on the 4th.

The bottom line is that when you're feeling sticky, so is the turf!

Not Fairy Ring again...

It's been four years since we have seen any Fairy Ring on the greens (Rings Are Back), and they are never welcome.  In fact, since 2012, this is only the fourth time we have had to deal with this disease, so it definitely isn't something you can set your watch by.

Despite some very wet conditions this past week, we made a fungicide + wetting agent application and watered the greens afterwards, in order to move the products down into the rootzone where Fairy Ring activity is taking place.

As we are already dealing with the anticipated cool-season turf roots shortening during the heat of the summer, getting blindsided by Mother Nature with these rings just isn't any fun at all.  However, we are not alone.  If you happened to catch any of the Scottish Open this past weekend, you likely would have noticed some pretty spectacular Fairy Rings there.

Connecting the dots

The heat and summer stress has much of the Poa in the greens looking more yellow than green.  Poa is technically a winter annual, and the intense daily workout it is subjected to between our maintenance, players' feet, and the weather can take its toll.

What's telling, is where the healthier Poa can be found.  The straight lines of green dots are last fall's aerification holes--confirmation of the importance of this cultural practice.   

The Heat is On

Between some potential winter injury, and the second half of May being unusually cool, the Bermudagrass on the practice tees has been slow to break dormancy this year.  Fortunately, just as the cool-season turf is starting to feel some stress from last week's brutal heat, the Bermuda has woken up and is now growing aggressively. 

Bermudagrass is quickly filling this divoted area.

For many years, there was little turf left on the tees to hit from by August.  Installing a grass that thrives in the heat has proven to be a real game-changer in allowing us to provide a good surface to practice from even when we are dealing with triple digit temperatures!

A Success Story

In the past, golf courses were portrayed as having a negative impact on the environment.  Fortunately, a good deal of time, effort, and scientific research have been spent to debunk this myth.  Given the abundance of flora and fauna, it certainly would be challenging for anyone who frequented Laurel Creek to believe this fallacy.

In contrast to what we see today, prior to the construction of the golf course, much of the property was being mined for clay and gravel, and had a post-apocalyptic appearance:

Following a recent site visit by an Audubon International staff member, we received our recertification as an Audubon International Certified Cooperative Sanctuary.  Laurel Creek has maintained this status since 2002--additional evidence that golf and environmental stewardship can coexist.

Tips and Tricks

It is always interesting to see how other courses deal with common issues that arise in golf course maintenance.  A while back, we saw this trick on Turfnet for dealing with high plugs on the green, and finally had a chance to try it ourselves:

Basically this is an aerification tine mounted to a metal handle.  By removing a core from a high plug, you can kneed the area together and get it flush with the surrounding putting surface.  Our Equipment Technician, Don Robel, fabricated this beauty:

While we don't expect to be wearing out the aerification tine on the end anytime soon, Don built this tool so that it can be equipped with a variety of tine sizes:

This tool checks all of the boxes--it is both simple and very effective.

A First, and the Worst...

#14 green was in good shape when we left last Tuesday afternoon, but things changed dramatically between then and Wednesday morning, when we were greeted by a large area of turf that had clearly died very quickly.  While nobody ever wants to see this, with our Member-Guest event starting the next day, the timing couldn't have been worse.

After a few minutes of head-shaking, the grass-growers' instincts kicked in, and we wanted to start surgery on the damaged turf immediately.  However, some patience was required.  While it may look pretty darned bad, the potential impact on ball roll is likely to be greater with an area that has been repaired through plugging and seeding than with the dead grass.  Therefore, the decision was made to hold off on repairs until this week.  

The next thought was trying to determine what was the source of the liquid that killed so quickly.  Could this have been caused by a piece of maintenance equipment?  While anything is possible, some clues lead us to believe that this was not the cause:

• Not in a straight line, so not a mower, roller or sprayer
• Completely dry with no oily residue, so not motor oil or hydraulic oil
• No odor, so probably not two cycle gasoline
• The pattern doesn't match the splatter of someone walking with a backpack blower, and... 
• Unlike a backpack blower with no gas cap, this had a distinct start and stop point on the green with nothing trailing off the green

To be honest, the pattern looks as if someone was walking with a cup and either poured or spilled the contents on the green.  Whether it was done purposefully or accidentally, we may never know.  

The Grounds team works hard day in and day out, and takes pride in providing great putting surfaces for our members and their guests.  To say this was disheartening is an understatement.  This was a first for us, but will hopefully also be the last time we ever have to deal with such a situation.

Time for Take-All

There are currently patches of discolored Bentgrass on some of the fairways.  So, does that mean the soil is dry?  While off-color turf certainly may be dry, there are several other possible causes as well.  This would include dormancy, insect damage, or a turf disease. 

This last option is the cause of what we're presently seeing on the Bentgrass.  Specifically, this is a root-borne pathogen called Take-All Patch.  While we've had this disease show up to some extent each spring, this year there appears to be a larger area affected than in the past.  As with most turf diseases, Take-All Patch thrives in a relatively narrow temperature range--when it's really cold or really hot, you typically won't see any damage.   

It's a little frustrating to see this disease show up, since we have made preventative fungicide applications in the fall the last few years.  The good news is that while Take-All Patch may temporarily discolor the turf, it rarely lives up to its name.  Most years, the symptoms are gone by July 4.


Fine Fescue

In late April we treated over 28 acres of Fescue for a number of uninvited guests.  This included products to control grassy weeds, broadleaf weeds, insect pests, as well as a plant growth regulator to limit the plant density.

Several years ago, it was believed that golf courses could reduce costs by adding additional acres of these "low maintenance" areas.  Perhaps this is true if it is a truly out of play area allowed to go through the stages of ecological succession.  

However, if the goal is to keep these areas playable (allowing a ball to be found and advanced), and relatively weed free, it is now being stated that they actually require greater resources than mowing them once or twice per week as we do in the primary rough.  The time and expense of our latest multi-product application certainly helps to confirm this view.

So would removing all of the Fescue be a good idea?  Probably not, since it provides wildlife habitat and slows runoff.  Additionally, for a links style course, these areas are important aesthetically, as they help to frame the hole.  

The bottom line is that you can call this eye-catching turf outer rough, native areas, naturalized areas, or the Fescue area, just please do not refer to it as a low maintenance area... 

I should have made a left at Albuquerque...

Just when you think you've seen it all on a golf course, you're greeted by something jaw-dropping. Such was the case when the team arrived at 5:00 on Sunday morning and discovered a vehicle--with the driver still inside--in one of the greenside bunkers on #8.

In looking at our security cameras, we found that the car arrived shortly before 1:00 a.m., so you can only speculate as to whether or not a festive Saturday night led to some incredibly poor navigating skills.  

Fortunately the driver was unharmed, and there was no damage to the course.  We may never know the exact reason why the individual thought they were on a road, but perhaps some additional signage might be helpful:

  

The finishing touch

We always appreciate member feedback on how we may possibly improve the golf experience at the Club.  A good example of this was when someone had seen logoed cups at another venue and asked if we might be able to do the same.

After a quick check, we had the answer:  Yes we can.  

What made this idea even better was that it was inexpensive and very easy to implement.

The Importance of Check Plots

Spring is when we find Poa producing seeds like crazy, potentially making the greens bumpy.  In order to reduce the seeds' impact on ball roll, multiple applications of two plant growth regulators are made on the greens.  So how do we know if these preventative treatments really worked?  

With many plant protectant applications, we try to leave an untreated check plot, which serves a couple of purposes.  First, it allows us to see how effective our treatments were.  In this case, if there is little difference from a treated to an untreated area, perhaps we need to revisit our plan for controlling Poa seeds.  

Secondly, it shows us if the specific inputs to the turf are really needed.  For example, if we are spraying preventatively for Take-All Patch on fairways, a check plot (which may be an acre of untreated fairway) helps us to know if we need to continue making these applications, or not.  That is, if both the treated and untreated areas don't have Take-All, then is there really a need to continue making treatments in the future?

Having the greens covered throughout the winter and into March adds another variable which we need to account for when timing these Poa seed applications.  Obviously the tarps capture heat and create a much different growing environment than a green without a cover is experiencing.  This will change the timing of Poa seed production.  While far from perfect, it does look like our treatments have worked fairly well this year.

Welcome back!

This is the third year that we have participated in the H-2B Visa program.  With  a limited number of visas available each year, a lottery system is used to determine what group you fall into.  We were extremely fortunate to receive a "Group C" assignment this year, allowing the guys to get here much earlier than the prior two years.

What this means is now having the manpower to hand mow greens every day, knock out projects such as tee aerification without missing a beat, and devote additional resources to bunker maintenance.

Javier and his twin brother, Gabriel.

Our six employees for 2025 are the same great guys who were all here last year, so when they landed, they were prepared to hit the ground running.  Arriving late Saturday afternoon, they were ready to work on Sunday morning.

Progress protecting property

While the golf course maintenance facility is still far better than a barn, after 30 years our operation has outgrown it, and the structure is now undersized.  One of the consequences of this has been the need to store equipment outside.  

We are always mindful of protecting the Club's assets, and with a rough mower costing $100,000, having equipment exposed to the elements year round is definitely not ideal.  In order to limit the potential damage, we recently installed a carport.

Nobody enjoys climbing onto a tractor in the morning and sitting on a soaked seat.  The carport isn't 100% weather-proof, but it definitely is an improvement.

Play it as it lies?

 As most players know, geese on a golf course are not a great combination.  With 16 ponds and 40 acres of wetlands at Laurel Creek, it is an ongoing battle to prevent the goose population from exploding.  

If you do happen to get near one of their nests, you will find the geese acting like most parents, actively protecting their offspring--or potential offspring.  Interestingly, in some cases not everything that they are honking and flapping their wings about is likely to produce goslings:

Yes, not one, but two of the current nests on the course contain golf balls (along with a duck egg in one of them).  While not quite a fried-egg lie, it is undoubtedly a birds-nest lie, and the winged spectators won't approve of playing the ball as it lies here.  Should you find yourself in this situation, your best option may be to reference Rule 16.1b and take free relief.

Patchwork or prudent use of resources?

We are slowly making our way around the course, repairing and replacing cart paths, based on need.  While some paths have significant issues throughout, many of them only have a few cracks that make your clubs rattle when you drive over them.

As a trial, on #5 tee path, instead of resurfacing the entire run, we had the contractor mill and repave only the bad cracks.  We chose #5 tee, since it had a large number of areas to address within a short distance of each other--thus this is something of an extreme example when compared to other cart paths needing repair.    

This work was done for a fraction of what repaving the entire path costs.  However, aesthetically it certainly doesn't have the uniform look of a new cart path.  

So as you play the course, does this jump out at you?  Please feel free to share your thoughts with the Green Committee members.

Worth the wait?

Due to the harsh winter, we delayed greens cover removal by six days this year (when compared to 2024).  With little growth during the entire winter, you might not expect that an extra week would make much of a difference.  

However you need to remember that this wasn't an extra six days during January, it was in March.  The Sun's angle and warmer temperatures now are somewhat magnified compared to mid-winter, and the extra few days under cover made a tremendous difference in the greens' healing.

The greens looked appropriate for a St. Patrick's Day cover removal.

Some members have asked what would happen if we did a late season aerification but did not cover the greens.  A couple of  check plots were left uncovered throughout the winter to provide an answer to this question.  

The difference in recovery between the covered and uncovered sections is easily seen on the back of #2 green:  

So when you're on the course during the next couple of weeks, take a moment to check these side by side covered/uncovered areas and decide for yourself whether covering is worth it.

An Early Push

After a long, hot summer, fall is typically the time when the turf can start to recover.  However, the fall of 2024 did us no favors as far as turf health goes.  If you recall, we received less than one inch of rain in September, followed by a record-breaking 0" of rain in October.  Any area with less than perfect irrigation coverage saw no recovery at all during this time and went into winter in a weakened condition.

Currently, we are still on the line between a moderate and severe drought:

Because of this, we are entering the 2025 season with some thin, tired looking turf, particularly in the heavily trafficked primary rough.  The team has already been out, making a fertilizer application to try and jump start some spring growth.  

A dense healthy stand of turf provides the best defense against weed encroachment.  The goal is to get the grass growing and fill things in, prior to the emergence of Crabgrass and Goosegrass this spring. 

Trying to Catch Up

The winter of 2024-2025 wasn't the best for getting projects done on the course.  Among other things, the frozen soils prevented us from sodding.  This past week we were finally able to get out and work on releveling the Champion tee on #1.  The team did a fantastic job of stripping the tee, bringing in mix to raise the outside, grading, and reinstalling the sod.

Installing sod in early March doesn't provide much time for rooting prior to being pounded by play (particularly in any area that will be dealing with cart traffic).  The Champion tee will be shut down for a few weeks, but we hope to have it open at some point in April.

It's not always grass...

While the Grounds team doesn't specialize in construction projects, we are always willing to lend a hand.  Such was the case when a light pole needed to be replaced outside of the Clubhouse.

The guys poured a new concrete base with mounting bolts and conduit for the wire at our shop.  After removing the old pole and base, the new base was installed.

The replacement pole was was then mounted and leveled.  Not too bad for some grass-growers. 

An actual winter?

It's been a few years since we have had a memorable winter, but 2025 sure started off with some bone-chilling temperatures.  Keep in mind that January is already the coldest month, and this year we averaged almost four degrees below normal for the entire month.  

As you can see above, we only had 11 out of 31 days that were above average, and 20 that were below average.  However, despite the cold and some snow, we were actually well below normal in precipitation, with only 1/2" for the month.

You know it's cold when the local residents start showing up at the front door, looking for handouts:

While these conditions will likely have little long-term impact on the golf course, there are a number of projects we need to get working on.  Hopefully February will allow us to get caught up, and perhaps provide a few good days of golf!