Plugging Bermuda grass

Spring dead spot is a difficult disease with which to deal. There are no surefire controls and no 100% guarantees. We have employed several strategies over the last few years that seem to be improving our defense against the disease and also our recovery from infection. You can read more about our spring dead spot control here and about one of our defense tactics here. Sometimes, however, the best remedy is to simply remove the poorly performing grass and replace it with healthy turf.

No matter what we do we will most likely never eradicate spring dead spot. We continue to strive for zero infection but we know that we will have to address some death each year. Most often, healthy Bermuda grass, from outside the infected area, will overtake the bad spot and cover it with healthy tissue early in the season. However, sometimes it just does not happen fast enough. Starting this past week we have been taking sod pieces from our Bermuda grass nursery and putting it into some very bad areas on the course. We select Bermuda grass that does not show any signs of past infections, and move it onto the fairways to replace areas that are not healing.

The light spots in the foreground are newly transplanted Bermuda grass.

By doing this sod work we hope to accomplish two things. First, in the short term, the bad areas are replaced by healthy turf. The dead spots are gone and, aesthetically, the fairway looks covered completely in grass. Also, we are minimizing the chances of a ball finding a dead spot and a golfer having to play from a poor lie. Secondly, long term, by removing the dead tissue as well as some of the soil beneath it, we hope to be removing at least some of the fungus that caused the spring dead spot in the first place. These spots that we transplant now may not be as severely infected or infected at all in the coming years.

Our plan is to continue to do this throughout the course until all of the most severe spring dead spot sites are removed. By completing this early in the season, the new sod will have time to take advantage of the summer to grow and thrive before fall and winter arrive.

Also, please note that all play will be using the alternate, over-the-water tee on #2 to better judge the importance and impact of this tee. Here is a copy of the email sent to the golf membership:

2nd Hole Alternate Tee

Dear Golf Member, The Green Committee and BWRC Management overseeing the re-building of the 2nd and 18th holes met with our course design architect Joel Weiman Tuesday afternoon to review the current plans as well as go over possible alternate options in the design. We discussed at length the alternate tee (over water) on #2 and the bunkering around the green.  Over the next few weeks we will be using the alternate tee (over water) to determine the preferences of the golf membership.  Additionally, we will be monitoring the pace of play using this tee on busy days. After a few weeks we will send out a brief survey regarding both the original (behind #1) and the alternate tee (over water).  This survey and its results are not to determine whether to abandon one of the tees, but to gauge the amount of investment in the development of this tee as well as the effect on the pace of play. The issue that we want to address: are these tees a big enough improvement to make a few minutes longer round worthwhile. The plan would be to lower the front of the tee and using that earth to raise the back of the tee to make the water more visible.  Shown below are the current view and a simulated view, showing a re-alignment/re-design of the tee that exposes the water feature as well as cleaning up the lake banks and surrounding area.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Golf carts must always remain on cart paths once past the green and white posts, through the next tee complex. This is not weather dependent!

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org