Leveling low spots in the fairways

One task that has been on the list for many years is to level low spots in the fairways. There can be many reasons why there are low spots: old drain lines, irrigation lines, settling of past repairs, or even simply uneven ground. We are not looking to make the fairways tabletop flat, some natural undulation is welcome, but we do want to eliminate the unnatural dips and low areas as best as we can.

These low areas can be handled in different ways, but we are choosing to add sand over the top of the turf and slowly raise the low section to match the surrounding soil. The other most common way to handle low areas would be to cut the turf off the top, add soil beneath, and level the spots in that manner.

Cutting into the turf and leveling the soil below would be very time consuming. Hand digging each low spot, some being long drain lines would take a lot of labor and would involve tearing into the fairways amongst play. And anytime you disturb the soil, you risk settling unevenly afterward. Lastly, ensuring the grass is level at the surface is difficult too, and to be done correctly also takes time and patience.  

You can see sand added to low spots in the 
foreground and background. The most sand is
added to the lowest point and then leveled. The Bermuda
grass will quickly grow through this sand and raise the
low point up.

Adding sand over the top eliminates several of those issues. We don’t have issues with freshly displaced soil settling after we finish. And the turf is never removed so there are no problems with it being replaced uniformly. Although we can add sand fast and work through the course quickly, results are slow. But the results are also more consistent, and finer adjustments can be made.

Our goal is to make it around the course twice in the last few weeks of good Bermuda grass growth weather. We don’t want the Bermuda grass growing too slowly to move over the top of freshly added sand and have it sit at the surface for weeks on end. Then we will pick up the work again next year and continue until we are satisfied with all necessary low areas being raised to an acceptable level for the surrounding grade.

 

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please do not drive carts into the tall grass native areas. Because the carts are low to the ground, grass gets caught in the front bumper and then falls off back out on the course. 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

Green surround sod

As we near the end of summer, the course always has a few scars from the stress of the season. Fortunately, this year the playing surfaces have weathered the heat and humidity of summer very well. Nevertheless, we do have some recovery work to do, and last week we started repairing some green surround areas.

The location at #10 green sod was needed

Poa annua, the main turf species on our greens, can be a great turfgrass in some situations (like on our greens) or it can be a terrible turfgrass (like areas in our rough). The greens receive enough attention to prevent major issues with the poa succumbing to summer stress. However, in the rough, while it does receive care, the stresses placed on the green surround turf can overwhelm the poa, which is what happened in the few places that we made repairs.

We placed new sod in green surround spots at the putting green, 10, and #17. In each of these spots there were multiple reasons for the turfgrass decline- high traffic concentration, poor irrigation coverage, poor soil conditions, and more. But each of these locations also had higher than average poa infestations. Because of this, when the poa died through the summer, large bare areas were the result. There are some other bare areas scattered around the course, but most are much smaller and more spread apart, and those will be much easier to reseed in a couple of weeks. Trying to keep very small patches of new sod alive is very hard and we don’t want to remove large areas of healthy grass just to replace a small area of dead grass. So, we focused on the 3 areas mentioned above because they were much larger areas that could be easily corrected with new sod.

#17 green after sod was completed

We typically make these types of repairs to the green surrounds at this time of year. We have had seasons where we are doing multiple locations using several pallets of sod because they year had been so stressful and significant amounts of turf had died. Luckily that was not the case this year, and with the sod laid and starting to grow in, we are ready to head into late summer and fall in good condition.

 

 

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please do not drive carts into the tall grass native areas. Because the carts are low to the ground, grass gets caught in the front bumper and then falls off back out on the course. 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

Accomplishing other tasks

Today we have a local USGA Mid-Am qualifier at Bretton Woods. Many players will take up the entire course for most of the day. The Grounds staff expertly prepares the course for the event, but then it’s too busy to continue regular work, so what do we do? We use events like this as opportunities to accomplish other goals around the property.

Having such a large property- about 200 acres of varying levels of maintained space- some areas don’t always get the attention they may need. On days when the course is extremely busy and trying to work around golfers becomes pointless, we direct our labor to these outlying areas.

Up on the hill, towards the front of the property is a walking trail. Throughout the season, the grass creeps in over the edges of the path. Busy golf course days are a perfect time to edge and clean this walk path. We can use most of our s
taff and tackle a large chunk of the path all at once. Across several golf course outing days, we can trim the entire length of the trail.

There are a tremendous number of trees on the property. Many of them are along the perimeter of the property and we do not spend much time attending those. However, there are still plenty of trees in open areas that need the grass trimmed around their trunk, as well as regular pruning to maintain a healthy tree. When the golf course is occupied, we can head out around the entrance, tennis, pool, and open spaces out front to work on this tree maintenance and care.

We also use events like this qualifier to work on the soccer fields. Starting in mid-August, the upper soccer field closes for 4-5 weeks for annual maintenance. We repair worn out turf, aerate, apply compost, and fertilize the field. All of that takes time and labor, which we often can’t afford during a regular day. But having to stay off the course presents a great opportunity to work on the soccer field and finish most of our goals all at once.

Even though the course is extremely busy, having such an expansive property makes our list of work never-ending. Using our full staff allows us to cross several things off that list quickly.

 

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please do not drive carts into the tall grass native areas. Because the carts are low to the ground, grass gets caught in the front bumper and then falls off back out on the course. 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

More information on aeration

We are on the other side of course aeration now. The operation was smooth, but the weather didn’t perfectly cooperate. Being closed Monday through Thursday can seem like an inconvenience, but it gives us the time to accomplish our work in the correct sequence with the right amount of delay between each task.

One of the biggest keys for aeration is having 4 days scheduled for closure. When things go exactly right and the weather cooperates, we can finish all the course in 3 days, allowing us to give back the 4^th day. However, when our plans get scrambled, like this year, we can use that 4^th day to finish without having to completely alter a tee sheet that has already been booked. We received rain the night before aeration, Monday during our first day, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoon. This forced us to pause our work on Wednesday and then finish Thursday.

During aeration this year we poked solid tine holes in the fairways, approaches and greens and removed cores on tees. We have a contractor help us on the fairways because we don’t have the labor or machines necessary to finish in a timely manner. Our staff handles greens and tees in house.

Greens- we mow the greens first; this helps dry the surface so we can apply dry sand. The sand is spread before the aeration begins because research has shown it will actually get into the holes better when applied first. Then the aerator traverses the green with a brush attached on the back that moves most of the sand into the hole automatically. We then drag the remaining sand into the holes, roll the green smooth, and water if necessary. Now that we don’t remove any material, the whole process is smoother and much less labor intensive.

Tees- this is the first time in 12 years that we have pulled a core out of the tee surfaces. That is a very long time to go without removing material, but each year we monitored and solid tines continued to be a good choice. Up until now there was not enough thatch to necessitate removal, and the tees were not healthy enough to withstand the stress. This year we finally reached the point where thatch needed to be controlled, so we pulled a small core out of the tees. We allowed the core to dry on the surface and then dragged it until the soil broke away from the thatch. After the drag, we then blew the thatch off the tee.

Fairways- As mentioned, fairways and approaches were done by a contractor using solid tines. Using our verticutting program to control thatch in the fairways is working really well. So, we will continue to use solid tines on the fairways until it is necessary to pull a core.

Compost- we also use this time to apply compost to all of the Bermuda grass. This is a great way to build healthy soil and help the plants be stronger naturally.

 

Having the time to accomplish all this work is key, because without aeration, the turf would begin to suffer and playability would decrease.

 

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please do not drive carts into the tall grass native areas. Because the carts are low to the ground, grass gets caught in the front bumper and then falls off back out on the course. 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

USGA explains aeration

We are starting our annual course aeration this week. The course and practice greens will be closed today thru at least Wednesday. We have Thursday scheduled as a closed day as well, but if our work progresses according to plan, we should finish on Wednesday and be able to reopen on Thursday.

Despite the disruption and inconvenience, aeration is crucial to the health of the course. Rather than explaining all the details again, here is a short video from the USGA explaining aeration and the benefits:

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/60/16/why-do-golf-courses-aerate-putting-greens-.html

 

We understand that the course is healthy, so it seems contradictory to tear it up right now. However, the course is healthy right now, because we tear it up each year at this time. Without this aeration program, the turf would decline and conditions would suffer. Then, playability would be affected for an entire season, instead of just a few days.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please do not drive carts into the tall grass native areas. Because the carts are low to the ground, grass gets caught in the front bumper and then falls off back out on the course. 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