Back to Bunker Basics

As a reminder, when coming in and out of bunkers, they should be entered and exited only from the low side.  For example, on the bunker in front of #2 green, the bunker should be accessed from the side closer to the tee, not the green side.

We have been instructing the maintenance staff to place rakes on the low side, however it seems that every morning, a few rakes have magically migrated back to the high side.

This rake is now between the green and bunker--not where golfers should be entering or exiting.

While the picture below doesn't do justice to the severity of the slope, at 33 degrees, this is a steep face.  Repeatedly entering and exiting the bunker on this slope will obviously move sand, eventually destroy the sod lip, and is potentially dangerous to the player.

Of course, seeing unraked footprints on a bunker face is like adding insult to injury.  We have spent an enormous amount of time and effort this year to improve the condition of the bunkers.  Your help in properly maintaining them is appreciated!

Back to Basics: Ball Mark Repair

Unfortunately, we continue to see a good number of unrepaired ball marks on the greens, or ball marks which were not properly repaired.   The picture below gives step by step directions for how to properly repair a ball mark:

Further instruction can be found by watching this brief USGA video:
USGA Course Care Ball Mark Repair

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask a member of the Pro Shop staff.  Your help in keeping the greens smooth, will be appreciated by all who play behind you!

Tired of Talking Take-All

As we discussed last month (The Patch is Back), we've been monitoring this year's Take-All patch closely.  Like many turf diseases, this pathogen operates in a fairly narrow soil temperature range.

The good news is that this past week's heat wave and record-breaking temperatures appear to have gotten us out of the "sweet spot" for Take-All to continue damaging the Bentgrass roots.

2" soil temperatures spiked to 81 degrees last week.

The bad news with this sudden burst of heat was that many of the areas which were damaged by Take-All quickly showed up when having to deal with heat stress--no roots and 96 degrees is not easy for a plant to survive.

Back to the good news. We kept the tees and fairways well hydrated throughout the week, and by Saturday it looked like we were starting to see some recovery, which is encouraging.

Again, this disease is somewhat random in when and where it appears, however we do see some patterns.   While it's not something we can graph in a straight line, there is a correlation between the amount of organic matter in an area, and the prevalence of  the disease.  The picture below shows that the forward tee on #3 got hit hard with Take-All, whereas the main teeing area, which was stripped and reseeded a few years ago, has little disease.

Going forward, we will continue to work to prevent Take-All,  This fall and winter there are a number  of different treatment protocols we will be looking at that will include different levels of fertility, applications of different trace minerals, as well as preventative fungicide applications.

Member-Guest Week

Each year, a good deal of planning and preparation goes into getting the course ready for our Member-Guest tournament.  So, how can you tell when it's Member-Guest week?  Well, from the perspective of the Grounds Staff, here are a few giveaways:

The regular 4:25 a.m. wake up time is starting to look really good.

There's a whole lot of double mowing...

...but not a whole lot of clippings to show for it.

After the mowing comes the rolling.

The divot mix boxes are getting Armor All.

A patch of brown grass gets painted green.

You've hit your daily step goal by 7:00 a.m.

  
This year we were fortunate to have great weather for the event.  When you combined this with a team of employees who focused on the details, the resulting course conditions seemed easy--almost...

Hydraulic Leak: A Success Story

Did you see the 100 yard long hydraulic leak we had on #9 fairway?  More than likely, the answer to this question is no, and we're happy we can say that with confidence.  Two weeks after it occurred, you will have to really look hard to see the remnants of the leak.

Even up close, you may have difficulty seeing the oil line parallel to the sprinkler and quick coupler valve.

In an ideal world, we would never have to deal with issues like hydraulic leaks.  However, even when following manufacturer's best management practices for preventative maintenance on equipment, sooner or later a leak will occur.  In this particular case, it was not a hose, but a seal on one of the mower's hydraulic motors that failed.

The pictures above don't do justice to this leak either.  When we initially saw it, this looked like it had the potential to leave a solid dead strip of grass up to 2" wide.  So, how did we minimize the damage and not have, "...some splainin' to do?"

Well, for the same reasons that most of us keep a fire extinguisher in the house, "just in case," we keep a spill response kit in the maintenance facility, to address hydraulic leaks.  In this instance, we were able to quickly grab the remediation products, and get on the spill within a couple of minutes.

It's not often that we would ever consider putting the phrases, "hydraulic leak" and "success story" anywhere near each other, and truthfully, good fortune was on our side.

The incident took place very close to the maintenance facility, the operator notified us immediately, and the turf wasn't stressed prior to the leak.  So, while we can't guarantee the same results every time, we are very grateful that solid planning and a bit of luck led to a happy ending in this situation.

Repurposed

Often times, when we receive bulk deliveries of liquid fertilizer or wetting agents, they are packaged in large totes.  Typically, the  companies who sell the goods are not interested in getting these totes back.  So, what do we do with these containers?

Well, for years we have been using large concrete mortar pans to hold the divot mix we make.  These metal pans cost a few hundred dollars, and eventually rust out. 

In trying to come up with a good replacement for these, a light bulb went off, and after a quick zip with a reciprocating saw, we now have a new divot mix storage container. 

As the saying goes, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."  Whether you call it recycling or repurposing, we now have a good divot mix container which won't rust, and the price was right!  An added bonus is that this can easily be moved with a pallet jack or loader forks.

The Patch is Back

After dealing with Take All Patch  throughout much of the spring of 2016, it was a real bummer to see the signs of it once again a few weeks ago.  This disappointment was compounded by the fact that following last year's battle with Take All, we had taken a more proactive approach to handling this disease, and made preventative fungicide treatments last fall, using three different treatment protocols.

Take All Patch on #7 approach.

As with many root-borne turf diseases, once you see the damage to the foliage from Take All Patch, it's often too late to do anything, as the plant's root system has already been compromised.

Whenever we make any treatment to the course, we try to leave check plots to see if the treatment was effective, or not.  However, this disease is seemingly so random in nature that it's difficult to quantify what impact the fall fungicide treatments may have had.  As General Manager, Joel, pointed out, maybe the treatments actually worked well, and we'd be in a whole lot worse shape now without them.

While prevention is the key to this pathogen, we are testing a curative approach this spring, using a liquid fertilizer and wetting agent program.  We marked a small patch on #7 approach, so we can easily track whether the disease is getting worse, or if the spray has stopped it, and we start to see recovery in the Bentgrass.

Like most turf diseases, Take All Patch is only active in a fairly narrow temperature range.  Its appearance in 2017 was later into the spring than in 2016, leaving us hopeful that it will be gone sooner rather than later this summer.