JULY - A MONTH TO REMEMBER!

Many of us enjoy summer and all it has to offer.....holiday's, swimming parties, cookouts, family get-togethers and warm weather.   These are all great reasons to enjoy the summer, but for highly maintained turf grass, the extreme heat and humidity can and will take a toll on its health and appearance.  Cool season grasses (i.e. bentgrass/annual bluegrass) become stressed and at temperatures above 86 degrees will expend more energy to stay alive than it will produce.  Over time this will lead to the gradual decline in plant health.  Short periods of high temperatures usually do not cause widespread damage, however, prolonged periods of heat like we have seen the past two summers may result in some turf loss.

After looking back at past weather records for the golf course, I have compiled some interesting information about the excess heat we've had lately.

                              July 2009                            July 2010                           July 2011
days over 85                 2                                         18                                      28
days over 90                 0                                         13                                      21
days under 80               11                                        1                                       0
ave. high temp               79.8                                     88.7                                  90.9

For a golf course in Northwest Ohio to average 90 degrees for an entire month is simply unheard of!  Throw in some humidity and we have totalled 11 days with heat index's of 100 degrees or higher!  This recipe offers an environment for turf grass diseases to thrive.  Summer Patch, Brown Patch, Anthracnose and Pythium are very active and if not treated preventatively will take out turf at a rapid pace!  Be careful to not overwater, as this may enhance disease activity, and fertility.......well excess nitrogen can increase the severity of Brown Patch and Pythium alike.   As you can see there are many things to consider when caring for turf in these conditions. 

Maintenance practices like topdressing and brushing may have to take a back seat until the weather becomes more cooperative.  These practices would be an added stress to an already stressed plant and could lead to further turfgrass decline.  For these reasons we have not topdressed in a while, but looking ahead to next week, the weather looks to be more favorable for a greens topdressing.  We were able to complete a solid tine aerification a few weeks back and this helped to increase the gas exchange in the root zone which greatly benefits the plants.

Soil tests were also completed back in mid-July and will aid us with our fertility during the remainder of this year and will also help us to put together a detailed fertility plan for next season.

In summary, not a whole lot of "new" things are taking place on the golf course.  We are trying to keep our moisture levels appropriate by moving roller basins along fairways, selective use of wetting agents, and hand watering greens to prevent wilt.  Our fertility consists of spoon feeding at low rates of nitrogen to avoid both growth flushes and an increase disease severity.  Plant protectants are used to keep the spread of disease to a minimum and plant growth regulators are also used to enhance overall plant health.

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer as well as the golf course!


Stone Ridge Maintenace Staff
 

Severe Weather

Well, another round of mother nature pounded her way through the golf course again.  Dumping another 2 plus inches of rain last night with more on the way this afternoon!  Enough already!  Here are some pictures of number 7 fairway and number 17 approach from this morning, May 26th.

We are currently pumping off as much of the standing water as we can.  With temperatures approaching 90 by early next week we need to dry the course as much as possible.  With water warming up much faster than soil,  turf under water can quickly die if the water gets too hot. 

One way we have been protecting the greens is by solid tine aerification.  This practice opens pore space to help remove excess water and allow oxygen to the root zone.  We have already solid tine aerified 3 times this year because of the extreme moisture!  Immediately after aerifying we roll the greens to help smooth out the turf.  There is very little disruption to golf after this maintenance practice.

Most of the flower beds have been cleaned and mulched.   Some areas around the clubhouse have many new plants installed and will give us a variety of colors throughout the summer and into fall.  Here are some pics of the flower beds on #4 tee before and after.

We will have many pictures of the clubhouse on the next blog.

The new irrigation pumps have been installed and are ready to go......whenever the rain stops!

 Look at the difference between the old and new pumps!

This is the crane that lifted the pumps from the flat bed trailer and lowered them into the pump house.

 Once lowered into the pump house they continued down into the wet well, from there they were bolted down and connected to the existing pipe that exits the pump house.  The new pumps will provide the course with improved irrigation coverage along with a more consistent volume of water being distributed.

With the upcoming holiday and forcasted sunshine we hope to see you all out on the course!  Have a great holiday weekend and enjoy some family time!  I know my daughter will!  haha







Storms and rain continue

With over 5 inches of rain already this month, the course is very saturated and we may have to consider renting out boats instead of golf carts.  Despite the poor golfing weather the maintenance staff is out working in the elements.  We have finished a few projects here within the past couple of weeks and they include bunker drainage, catch basin repair, split-rail fence repair and our second solid tine aerification. 

Solid tine aerification helps to keep thatch and organic matter from building up, aides in gas exchange in the root zone and also improves drainage to help keep the surface of the green firmer.  There is minimal disruption in play with this process compared to pulling plugs and actually doing a core aerification.

Last week we had a line of severe weather pass through the area that contained high winds.  This line of storms actually took out a portion of split-rail fencing that is surrounding the course.  Here is a picture of the downed fence on #18. 

Another catch basin on the right side of #14 has been repaired as well.  There was a gap in the tile about 4 feet below the surface that was the cause of the washout.  As you can see below, the gap was large enough to put your hand into.  This has been repaired wtih concrete to patch the hole and the surrounding area was then backfilled with pea gravel.

We have been working on an extensive drainage project on the fairway bunker on hole #2.  This bunker has not been draining properly for quite some time and has hindered playability.  We began by uncovering all the existing drainage to see what was actually in the bunker.  This allowed us to see which areas needed additional drainage and also allowed us to measure the slope of the tile to see if it was draining properly.

By uncovering the tile we also found an area that was damaged and were able to repair it immediately.  Here is a picture of the damaged tile.  Having a hole like this allows for sand to be washed away during heavy rains and if left unrepaired can actually clog up and/or reduce drainage itself.

After the tile was exposed we then marked out where new drainage would be added and trenched in a new line with a pull behind trencher.

Once the new line was trenched, we cleaned it out and laid in the new tile.  The tile is dual walled for stability and strength, and lined with a "sleeve."  The sleeve helps to keep larger material out of the tile itself.  Once in the ground we then shot the slope of the tile with a transit to make sure water would flow out of the bunker properly.  Once the tile was set to grade it was then backfilled with pea gravel.  In all, we added about 150 feet of new drainage.

As of today, April 25th, the drainage is complete and about 40 tons of new bunker sand has been added.  Much of the bunker had less than one inch of sand in it, 3-4 inches is recommended on the bottoms and 2-3 inches is recommended for the faces.  I currently do not have any photos of the new sand that was added today because my phone is not waterproof! 

I hope all of you had a great easter and we are looking forward to warmer and drier weather!

  

Spring Work

Well spring is finally here and there is plenty to do on the golf course.  This is typically the busiest time of year for the maintenance staff as we are getting the course set up with tee markers, bunker rakes, benches, hauling stone to cart paths and hauling sand to bunkers just to name a few.  If you pulled in to the parking lot earlier this week you probable notice a 50 ton pile of sand!  This was used to fill in some bunkers on the driving range as well as on holes #4 and #6.

Over time, the wind, rain and normal play/maintenance can move sand to undesirable places and will need to be replaced.   This year the driving range and only a few holes on the course are in need of new sand.  Here are some pictures of a driving range bunker before, during and after we added new sand.

We also have done some bunker work on hole #5.  A good portion of the bunker face had to be resodded as well as the edge of the bunker where our sand pro enters and exits the site.  It is common for sand to settle in the lower area of the bunker due to a variety of factors.  Below are pictures showing the bunker face before, during and after our renovation.

The area where our sand pro enters and exits the bunker will accumulate more sand than desired and has to be re-leveled from time to time.  This picture shows the "mounding effect" from sand building up over time.  Notice the 3-4" crown that we took out and re-leveled. 



Most of the bunkers have been edged and cleaned out, however, since our edger broke down we still have 6 holes left to do.  The holes that are done look really good and will be maintained on a regular basis throughout the year.  Here is a bunker from a week or so ago after it had been edged and cleaned.

We have also been repairing some catch basins that have "wash outs" around them.  This is a before and after pic of a catch basin on hole #3.  These repairs are made by digging down to where the hole is in the tile and if bad enough, we replace the tile.  If it is a small hole, then we will patch it with some concrete to seal it up.  Finally, new sod is laid and marked with white paint until it has rooted down.

There has been plenty of fertilizing this spring, including a pre-emergent for crabgrass and other weeds.  This picture is from back in march and was our first application of the year for fairways. 

Last but not least, our finishing touches of some winter work.  We have replaced the brushes on our sweeper that we use to collect divots from the driving range.  The sweeper is also used during aerification in the fall to sweep up aerification plugs.

Our benches that are located on the par 3 holes have a new look to them as well.  Gone are the green painted boards!  With the help of Dick Marten we have new boards that have been stained and polyurethaned.  These look a lot better! 

We have enjoyed seeing some of you already out golfing and look forward to seeing many more in the near future!  









Wet well cleaning

This past Thursday, April 7, a dive team from Solomon diving came out to clean our wet well, intake line and screen before our new pumps arrive.  The process involved a four-man team, high-tech communication equipment and a ton of rigging gear.  Our goal was to remove the silt, sand and debris that had accumulated at the point of water draw (the screen where water is pulled into the intake line), the intake line itself and everything that had settled at the bottom of our wet well.  This will help to protect our investment in the new pumps by allowing us to run clean water through them after they are installed.  If the well was not cleaned out then all of the sand, silt and debris would immediately go through the pumps and out into the golf course.  This material would damage the new equipment and eventually clog up sceens and nozzles in the irrigation heads themselves.  Here are some pictures of the divers unloading their rigging gear and preparing to set up.  The red hose is the discharge line where the material leaves the cleaning site.

The yellow and black roll of rigging gear below is a backup gear for the diver.  The other two rolls of gear are what is in use when the diver is in water.  The bundles include an oxygen line, communication line and warm water line.   Yes, warm water is pumped into the divers wet suit at 100-105 degrees.  This means that the diver was the warmest guy out there!  

Once the dive team had their gear all set and ready to go they began discussing their plan of action so everyone was on the same page.  Here is the diver going over some plans with the man he will be communicating with.

While in the water, the diver was giving constant detailed feedback as to what he was seeing down below and the man on the other end was taking detailed notes that will be later put into a report for the golf course.  This gives us baseline information that we can use later on down the road.  If a dive team needs to come back, we will know how much sediment and debris has built up over a certain time period.  The condition of the well itself can be monitored as well.  Here is the man at the communication table and the diver in the water.

The last pics are of the diver finishing up his work coming out of the water and part of the pile of debris that had been removed.  

In summary, the team removed 9-12 inches of material at the bottom of the well and it is now completely clean.  The 22 inch diameter intake line had been about half full of silt and a large area around the screen itself had been vaccumed out.  The area around the screen had an average depth of 24 inches of muck built up that would have been drawn in the line once the new pumps were charged up.  The pond is now back at its original depth in the areas that have been cleaned.  We are currently awaiting the arrival of the new pumps so we can charge up our irrigation system.