First cut of native areas

May is usually a great month for plants. Trees, flowers, grasses- even Bermuda grass- start really ramping up their growth. Additionally, the grasses in our low-maintenance, native areas start to fill out as well. Early May is when we start our maintenance in these native areas to prepare them for the season.

Just like most aspects of grounds maintenance at Bretton Woods, the native areas are managed on a program. That program has taken several years to develop to the level it is at now, and we likely are not done tweaking it, but at least right now, the native area process starts in May. As mentioned, everything starts to grow about as vigorously as it will all season in May. This makes it a good time to cut the tall grass down, including cutting back any weeds that have started. Waiting too much longer and the grass- and weeds- will get too tall and the mower will struggle to cut. Last week we worked through this first cut using our Ventrac tractor. It takes about 3 and half days to complete everything but it is a smooth process.

Mowing is the main part of our native-area maintenance program. Next, we’ll apply herbicide to control any broadleaf weeds. The grass will quickly rebound from this trim and mature nicely for the season, leaving the native areas ready for another summer.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please enter and exit all bunkers on the low side. While this may result in slightly more distance to rake, it will keep the sod on the face of the bunker from tearing. It is also much safer! Thank you.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Tee flowers and shrubs

Remembering that we manage the entire property can get lost sometimes when we focus so much on turf health and playability. Taking time to beautify the surrounding areas can go a long way in enhancing the member experience. We recently added some new greenery around the course.

Bretton Woods is more of a natural landscape than a perfectly planted garden. We do have some shrubs and ornamental trees, but they are limited in diversity and scope. We need plants that are very low maintenance, deer resistant, and hardy. We don’t have a high landscape budget or dedicated staff, so low input species are important. Nevertheless, we did recognize that we had some gaps in our landscape, especially on the course, that needed something installed. So, over the last few weeks we have been working on introducing some new plants in specific locations.

A key point for us to make this work is to start small. Planting hundreds of new plants and then not being able to keep up with watering and having some suffer defeats the purpose. We also are trying out several different species to see what might work better in our microenvironment and withstand the deer population. If we find that a couple of our choices are not the right fit, then we don’t have too many to replace because we started smaller in scale. Lastly, we made a few of our selections based on what was available at local nurseries in the area. For this round of planting, we chose a mix of both small and larger flowering shrubs, as well as some small trees to place in several mulch areas around the course:

                Crape myrtles- 1 each near #1 red tee and #3 red tee

                Swamp rose mallow- near #16 tee

                Black lace elderberry- #15 tee

                Virginia sweet spire- #1 black/blue tee

                Ninebark- #11 tee

                Northern bush honeysuckle- #8 tee

                Wrinkle leaf goldenrod- #17 tee

 

Our only setback thus far has been the very cold night we endured last week, which killed all the young leaves on the crape myrtles. The swamp rose mallow wasn’t damaged, but it is also a heat loving plant, which has been absent thus far and so it has been slow to get going.

 

So far, the plants look good, and we are excited to watch them mature.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please enter and exit all bunkers on the low side. While this may result in slightly more distance to rake, it will keep the sod on the face of the bunker from tearing. It is also much safer! Thank you.

 

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Bermuda grass green up

It seems like the last several blogs have all started with a recap of how changeable the weather has been. And that changeable weather has played tricks on the Bermuda grass some more. Overall, the Bermuda grass is very healthy and will get its green color back, but last week’s cold night (26 degrees!) postponed any quick start to its growing season.

Breaking dormancy for any turf is a process that can’t be rushed. More importantly, it can’t really be controlled either. We have a few tactics that we employ, more so in the fall than in the spring, to help aid the Bermuda grass, but Mother Nature is in charge and we must adapt.

Watching the Bermuda grass green up each season can be fast and slow at the same time! Sometimes it feels like the fairways and tees will never be in mid-summer form when enduring spring days of 50-degree highs and mid 30’s overnight. Then suddenly, just like this year, we hit a few upper 70 or higher degree days and- boom- the Bermuda grass seems to fill in overnight. Recently, the USGA published a short time-lapse video of Bermuda grass greening up in spring in North Carolina and it helps to illustrate the process the turf goes through and that it is not always a linear process. You can watch the video here: https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/64/issue-07/spring-greenup--a-turfgrass-transformation.html

After watching the video, there were a couple of things that stood out to us. First, high traffic areas don’t green up nearly as fast as other spots. Especially areas just off greens where foot traffic concentrates walking on and off greens. There are a couple of areas that aren’t even fully green within the timeframe of the video, even in a considerably warmer climate than ours. This is very similar to several of our trouble spots- like 3, 14, and 15 approaches. While traffic isn’t the only issue, it is clear from this video that it is a significant factor.

A photo looking back down 10 fairway

The second key detail we noticed from the video relates to drainage, which we got a glimpse of from the rainstorms that occurred during the video. Areas where water puddled or was slower to drain or move off the surface are places where green up was slow again. In the video, some of the same areas that had concentrated wear were also slow to drain. This relates to compaction stemming from the increased traffic. We can draw similarities from the course in the video to Bretton Woods again relating to drainage. The same trouble areas in the approaches are areas where water has been slow to drain. Even if the area is sloped, the soil is poor enough that it becomes waterlogged and can’t dry down. This is especially bad during the winter months, when freezing temperatures can kill overly hydrated Bermuda grass.

Over the last several years, we have worked to install drainage in these specific locations- 3 approach was done a few years ago, 14 approach 2 years ago, and 15 approach was completed this past fall. Although the drains haven’t solved the issue- we still have repair work to do in all these areas- it has improved our chances of Bermuda grass survival. We have also started a deep aeration program aimed at these spots in particular using our vertical aerating machine  which will help open the soil down much deeper than regular aeration. The Verti-quake is literally a very slow machine- we must drive just under 1 mph- but it is also a slow process to change soil structure, so it doesn’t cure conditions overnight, but coupled with our compost program , we are on the right track. (Note- the blog post discussed the Shockwave, but we purchased an identical machine from a different manufacturer called the Verti-quake)

Although the Bermuda grass has a yellow hue right now, it won’t last all season. As daytime temperatures and soil temperatures climb up to their summer peaks, the turf will naturally regain its color. And we will be working alongside making sure we are helping in any way possible.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please keep carts on cart paths for the entirety of par 3 holes.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Upcoming compost application

Spring is progressing in a typical up and down fashion. Some way above normal temperatures last week, followed by closer to normal, and this week will start with a night below freezing. This can wreak havoc on the Bermuda grass. One of our core strategies to help the Bermuda grass deal with all this stress it faces is with compost. The spring application is next week.

Through the years we have bounced around to different suppliers of material, but the idea has stayed the same: improve the overall health of the soil, and therefore the health of the Bermuda grass. The Bermuda grass is out of its comfort zone in our area- shoulder seasons and winter are too cold, and the growing season is a little too short. So, the turf is always at a slight disadvantage. There are some main tools we employ to give the grass a fighting chance- our Spring Dead Spot applications, closely monitoring mowing heights in the fall and spring, and compost.

Compost focuses on soil health more than the other strategies we use for the Bermuda grass. It is very difficult to grow anything on poor soil, but especially fine turfgrass, and even more difficult if that turf is out of its element. Compost improves the soil in a variety of ways including: improving soil structure, water and nutrient holding capacity, increasing beneficial microorganisms, providing nutrients, and helping suppress pests. For us, the biggest benefits are from the improvement to soil structure and helping to suppress pests, specifically the fungus that causes Spring Dead Spot (SDS).

Good soil structure allows for good gas exchange, allowing oxygen down into the soil. In some areas on the course, we have very tight clay soils that are difficult for water to penetrate as well as roots. We aerate these areas regularly, and will continue to do so, but adding the compost also helps to increase the porosity. As the soil improves, the Bermuda grass can root better and thus be stronger through the season.

The compost also helps to suppress harmful pathogens in the soil by directly killing them, overcrowding them and reducing the population, or by secreting antagonistic compounds into the soil that irritate the harmful microorganisms. While we don’t know which combination of these is working for us, we do know that in concert with an improved pesticide program we have seen a tremendous reduction in SDS infections over time.

Overall, we have seen the Bermuda grass steadily get stronger and healthier each year, even after winters of varying severity. The compost is a big part of the program that has led to these improvements.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please keep carts on cart paths for the entirety of par 3 holes.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Pool work

The temperature swings of the Mid-Atlantic continue. Last week we had a morning that dropped to 27 degrees (and walloped the Bermuda grass) and this week we will have multiple days reach 90+. Despite those ups and downs, our recent labor has been spent at the pool facility. In no time, Memorial Day will be here, and the pool needs to be ready.

Even though we are well over a month away from opening the pool, because it isn’t touched all winter, there is a lot of cleanup to do. Over the winter leaves, sticks, and other debris accumulates. Before we can do anything else, all of that must be cleaned up first. The second step in our process, and main reason that we start weeks before opening day, is to replace several thousand square feet of sod that doesn’t survive the summer. This timing also works well with balancing labor between the golf course and pool. The pool work takes nearly our entire staff to accomplish, but we are still just early enough in the season to be able to send the manpower up to the pool and not allow anything to suffer on the course.

Between long stretches without rain, no irrigation, and tremendous amounts of pool patron traffic, some grass areas at the pool are decimated by the end of summer. So, each spring, we replace those specific areas with new sod. Removing the old sod and laying new sod doesn’t take too long, and we have our routine down pat, but we’ve learned over time that the earlier in the season we can lay the new grass, the better it survives the summer. Allowing the grass to establish a strong root system and acclimate to its new environment prepares the turf to better withstand the stress of summer. Early April fits in our schedule and is a good window for laying the sod at the pool, so it has been our program for several years now.

Our initial cleanup process is complete, and we will start laying new grass this week. This first shot of summer heat does not like it will last too long so the sod will be fine. We will finish the sod work quickly and be ready to focus back on the golf course as the Bermuda grass starts to kick into gear.

Maintaining the pool grounds is a good challenge, another piece of the large Bretton Woods campus that we manage. Timing the work correctly is key, and we have found that now is the best time to get this work done.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please keep carts on cart paths for the entirety of par 3 holes.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org