Clearing behind #4 Green

The staff has been busy clearing the brush, vines and overgrowth behind #4 Green.

Winter is here!

Drill and Fill

The Greens are having a process called "Drill and Fill" starting today and finishing on Friday.
This process is basically a machine that drills holes using a .75 inch bit on 5 inch centers to a depth of 10 – 12 inches and fills the holes with sand.  The newer drill bits that are used today are much less disruptive than in the past and leave a better finished product. Actually most Clubs in the Metropolitan area do this annually to their Greens.  In combination with our routine cultural practices this process would help the Greens drain better, enhance root growth, and create a firmer playing surface.

 During the process the Green being worked on will have a temporary pin.

Thank-you for your patience!

Four inches of rain, all the bunkers washed out, branches all over, and a full field on a Saturday.
Thanks for your patience as we cleaned up the course this morning.

Why has #7 Fairway been closed to Cart Traffic?

It has been closed to carts since we aerified and seeded back in August.  It will be re-opened soon.  In the picture you can see the seedlings that we were trying to protect from carts until they matured.

Letter to Membership

Dear Member:

If you have followed my online blog (whippoorwillgrounds@blogspot.com) you have seen the updates not only from the USGA, but even a Wall Street Journal article on the record breaking weather and wide spread turf loss up and down the east coast.  While Whippoorwill has fared better than many we still have gotten “dinged up” in certain areas.

The Grounds staff has started the process of renovating and seeding areas that have fallen victim to drought stress, disease and heat stress.

    The fairways have been solid tine aerified and seeded with Bentgrass.  Areas that consist of mostly Poa, and that have suffered most from the heat, will be core aerified and will receive additional seed.

    Collars and approaches have been aerified seeded and fertilized.

    Tees will be aerified and seeded starting next week.

    Areas through out the rough have been or will be aerovated, seeded, and fertilized.  This will be an ongoing process over the next several weeks.

On maintenance days, because of the high temperatures, we had to be less aggressive with our practices.  The Greens were needle tined, (a venting process using quarter inch tines which penetrate about six inches deep) topdressed lightly and rolled.  The tentative plan is to do our regular Core Aeration along with a Drill and Fill (outside contractors using the drill & fill machine with which soil is removed and filled with sand to a depth of twelve inches) after closing day at the end of October.

I would like to thank the Membership for their patience especially on the weekends.  When the soil temperatures get as high as they have this summer one of the most critical aspects of the operation is water management.  Hand watering is done multiple times throughout the day to relieve heat stress and to syringe the Turf.  This is done lightly multiple times because too much moisture can lead to disease and turf failure.  On some of the extremely hot low humidity days the staff frantically tries to keep the Greens alive and play does get disrupted for a few minutes while staff members syringe a green.

Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate with the work being done and a great Fall Season of Golf will be had by all.  If you should have any questions I can be reached in the shop (914) 273-3755 or via email pgntr@verizon.net.

Sincerely,

Paul Gonzalez, CGCS

USGA Update

Link

Ball Mark Repair

Each white dot in the picture is a ball mark that has been plugged out and filled with a sand and seed mixture.

Fairway Aerification

The Fairways were Aerified this week by an outside contractor.  The fairways will be seeded using a drop spreader borrowed from Rolling Hills CC and fertilized. 

Wall Street Journal Article

The Ugly Summer of 2010
LINK

USGA Update

ANNUAL Bluegrass…A Fitting Name, Unfortunately

By Adam Moeller, Agronomist
July 30, 2010




Annual bluegrass turf, particularly on putting greens, is hanging on for dear life at golf courses across the Northeast Region, and at many courses it has given up.  Anthracnose, summerpatch,annual bluegrass weevils, parasitic nematodes, heat and/or drought stress, wet wilt, scald, etc. are all responsible, and no doubt 2010 will be burned in the memories of many turf managers for a long time to come.  June and July could be the hottest on record in some locations, and when high temperatures are combined with humid conditions and sporadic thunderstorms, turf decline can be difficult or impossible to control.  Annual bluegrass turf, which has very poor stress tolerance compared to creeping bentgrass, is caving in first, but even bentgrass is failing in some situations.  It feels as though the equator shifted north by a couple hundred miles this year, and our grasses are simply not equipped to deal with the added stress the weather is producing.

Just about all turfgrass diseases are exacerbated in stressful weather, and many are causing damage this year.  Anthracnose and summer patch are destructive diseases of annual bluegrass putting greens and have been seen on all over the region.  However, root Pythium, nematodes, and bacterial infections are causing damage, too.  Even courses with sound cultural programs and excellent fungicide selection, timing, rates, and application intervals are experiencing disease breakthrough.  Why?  Fungicides do not kill pathogens -- they suppress them.  The term fungistatic more accurately describes most materials, and the effectiveness of most fungicides can be reduced if disease pressure is high enough.  

General decline from heat stress has occurred on many golf course putting greens as well.  Imagine trying to run a marathon when it’s 95^o F and humid without having access to water.  This is essentially what has happened to many annual bluegrass putting greens.  Turf plants are losing energy rapidly and are under so much stress that they can’t cool themselves fast enough.  Unfortunately, a lot of grass isn’t going to finish the race.  Low mowing heights, low soil oxygen caused by poorly draining greens, concentrated traffic, and poor microclimates with shade and air flow problems are the most common issues that have pushed turf into severe decline.  However, even the best programs have had problems this year. 
  
Most courses have lost grass; some are just worse off than others.  Microclimates, grasses, rootzone drainage, labor and maintenance resources, and expectations are unique at every golf course, and these factors explain the level of injury.  At some point the weather is going to break, but it might be awhile.  Attempting to alleviate plant stress is something all turf managers in the region have already done.  Reduce putting green stress by raising the height of cut, reducing mowing frequency, rolling instead of mowing, switching to solid front rollers on greens mowers, avoiding mowing wet greens, regular applications of soluble nitrogen and fungicides, periodic venting to improve rootzone gas exchange, and irrigating and syringing the turf as accurately as possible.  Even with all these practices, in some instances, decline has still occurred.  Closing a green also may be necessary to allow for recovery.  At this point, golfers need to realize that most putting greens are just barely hanging on, and turf loss is extremely difficult to prevent in a summer like 2010.

Update

To say that it has been a tough summer would be an understatement.  This Summer is poised to be a record breaker because of the heat. A quick count gives us ~ 30 days at or above 90 degrees since April 1st.  The staff has done a phenomenal job of keeping as much Turf Alive as possible.  I know some have complained about the staff hand watering greens on the weekends, but try to remember they are just trying to keep the greens alive for you, the membership.

The Turf is tired.  When soil temperatures get over 80 degrees, cool season turf starts to shut down, and in the case of Poa wilt away and die. Drought stress, heat stress, Pythium root and crown rot, Anthracnose, Summer Patch, Fairy Ring, Hyperodes, etc., are just some of the issues that the staff has been battling over the past several weeks.

Hopefully August will be kinder to us and Maintenance days are just around the corner.

USGA Update and Article

 Here is the latest regional update from the USGA Green Section.
Regional Update

USGA How to Repair a Ball Mark

Repairing Ball Marks

MUCH NEEDED RAIN!

As I type this we have received ~.85 inches of rain since yesterday afternoon.
There will be irrigation repairs being done on the course #1,18,14.
These repairs had been put on hold because they require large sections of the golf course to be shut down for a couple of days.  This much needed rain gives us that opportunity.

#18 Fairway

USGA on Rough

Please check out an update on rough throughout the region.
Link - http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/midatlantic/Spring-Rough-Is-Rough!---June-2010/

Blue Birds Nesting #18

Laying Eggs on #14

Turtle making itself at home in the left hand side bunker #14 Green.

Natural Area #4 Green

It is taking along time for the bare spots to fill in on hole #4.

Looking closely you can see the Fine Fescue seedlings emerging ever so slowly.

Although it is taking longer than desired we do not want to over plant the area, so that when it does fill in it is not too thick and unplayable.

THE ROUGH IS TOO HIGH!!!

If I pull out any of my daily journals from the past eighteen years of being a Golf Course Superintendent this time of year there is always complaints about the rough.

During the spring flush of growth, we start cutting the rough on Monday, finish on Wednesday, then we start all over and cut the rough again.

The spring flush of growth should slow down in the next couple of weeks.

New Tees

You will notice the newly constructed Tees being off color.

• They have been treated for a disease called Leaf Spot, which causes brown lesions on the leaves
• They are also acclimating to the new cutting hieghts as we lower the height of cut.

Cool Weather Diseases

While making all of those 30 foot putts, you may have noticed the yellow rings on the putting surface.
This time of year Cool Season Diseases become an aesthetic nuisance.  Cool weather brown patch (shown in picture), Fusarium, and Brown ring patch are a few that are present now.
The good news is that as undesirable as they appear, they will not affect the playability of the putting surface.

Why are they digging on Hole #9?

The power wire that feeds the irrigation for Holes 7 - 9 had a short.
The picture shows the burnt wire which was under Whippoorwill road.
A new piece of wire was spliced in, and we are back up and running.

Bunkers,Bunkers,Bunkers!

It took the staff two weeks and ~75 tons of sand to get the Bunkers back into playable condition.

The Bunkers were edged, weeded, rocks removed, depth of sand checked, and raked.
Where the sand was too deep it was removed, and where it was too shallow, new sand was added.

XGD Greens Drainage on #5 and #10

XGD™ System (Existing Greens Drainage) is a procedure developed by TDI Golf in which a subsurface drainage system is installed to remove surface water more rapidly and lower the water table in the green, thereby improving turf growth. The procedure has gained a lot of recognition and popularity in the turf industry. The XGD™ system is an excellent method of improving the subsurface drainage of an existing green - without rebuilding the green.
The XGD™ system is a permanent solution to poorly drained and compacted greens, leading to increased aeration and the removal of excess moisture. The result is a revived green without the need for expensive and disruptive reconstruction. No other system minimizes the disruption to the green as XGD™ does, which ensures the surface is back in play as soon as possible.
For more in formation on the process or a list of Golf Courses in our area that have also completed internal drainage, please go to the XGD website www.greensdrainage.com

New Tees Sodded 4/19/10

All of the newly constructed tees have been sodded as of April 20th.
As soon as the rooting is adequate to safely support traffic, the tees will be open for play.

Aerification

It is that time of year again!On April 5 the Greens were aerified, deep verticut, and topdressed heavy.

Elm Tree Stump

 

 The Elm Tree stump on number nine was removed using a large excavator with a rock hammer.  After the stump was removed the Rock Outcropping was highlighted by cleaning up the surrounding soil.

 

Wet #2 Fairway

The above normal rainfall during the end of March left several Fairways extremely wet.  Number two Fairway was probably the most extreme, causing the entire hole to be roped off.  The first cut had to be done with a Triplex Mower.

Testing, First Blog

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