Water management

It’s Memorial Day and the temperatures are starting to rise, slowly. With the increase in warmth comes the need to water the turf and there is no formula for determining the needs of the plant. But advances in technology and experience can help get the water where it is needed most.

Water management is one of the most important and difficult tasks that confronts a superintendent. Use too much water and we increase insects, disease, and the possibility of death of the plant. Use too little water and we increase stress on the plant and also likely death. The balance is crucial and very difficult to achieve.

Too much of anything is a bad thing right? Well, when it comes to water on turf, it is definitely true. Too much water can bring about many problems. Insect pests of turf grass rely on water just as do all other living things. Many of these pests thrive in wet conditions. So when the turf is overwatered or even just saturated naturally, the pest populations can skyrocket. Similarly, the fungi that attack turf grass rely on a moist environment. When the soil is over saturated the plant can be deprived of oxygen causing it to weaken and become susceptible to attack from a pathogen. Another problem caused by over watering is environmental. The public has a perception of golf courses as abusers of natural resources. Nothing is further from the truth. We use many sophisticated tools to ensure that we use only the amount of watered specifically needed by the plant and only in a specific location.  Moisture meters are one such tool. There are several different types of moisture meters but we use the TDR 300. The TDR works by sticking two probes into the ground, sending an electrical signal between the two probes and then measuring the time it takes for that signal to travel from one probe to the other. Water is a good conductor of electricity, so in wetter soils the time is shorter and this is represented by a higher water content percentage number displayed on a screen. As one becomes more familiar with each area of the golf course, a base number can be identified below which the plant will show signs of wilt. By measuring in the morning and adding water if necessary, we can set the plant up to handle the days stress with precisely the amount of water it will need.

A hose is another tool that enables proper water management. Although it is a little less sophisticated, it is no less important. Hand watering provides water to the plants that need supplemental watering and only to the plants that need this additional water. For example, if the right half of a green gets afternoon shade then it will lose less water out of its system than the left side which is in full sun. Now, if we need to add water to only the left side than running the sprinklers on the entire green is wasteful and potentially harmful to the right side that does not need the water. So instead we use a hose and only water the left side of the green.

A hose is perfect for small areas that need additional water. But often times there are larger areas that need water and using a hose across the entire space would not work. Advances in irrigation technology have helped with this issue. Radio controlled irrigation heads can be turned on by using a hand-held radio. By punching the specific code for a certain area, we can turn on the sprinklers only in that area. For example, if we need to water only #7 tee, we can punch in the code for that tee box and water only there rather than running water on all the tees. We can run half of a fairway or only the left or right side of an entire hole. We can even turn on only one single sprinkler if needed. This level of control gives a superintendent great flexibility in the management of water.

Each of these tools helps with water management. By measuring water content, we can keep the moisture level just above what the plant needs, but not high enough to increase pest populations. Using a hose or radio controlled sprinklers, site-specific watering reduces water use and increases efficiency. By managing the water in a more site-specific manner, conditions are kept more consistent across the course and the golfers and turf benefit.

Happy Memorial Day!

 See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Rain

We will regret saying this later, but we have had enough rain to last us for a long time. It would be more useful to spread some of the larger totals out over a period of time, but there is no arguing with Mother Nature.

Since the start of May, we have received 12.25” of rain! This has made scheduling maintenance practices a very difficult process. Two separate rainstorms accounted for more than four inches each in 24-36 hour time frames. When this amount of water falls in a short period, the ground cannot accept it and it stays along the surface and sits in low areas. Bunkers wash, mulch runs, sticks and debris clog drains, and ponds and creeks overflow their banks. We cannot do much to stop the water, instead we wait for it to recede and then begin the cleanup process. What has been difficult is that about the time we catch up from the previous rain, the next storm is upon us.

This cycle has affected several noticeable things on the course. First, the rough has not been cut as often as we would like or at all depending on how wet the area is. This has caused trouble for the golfers because long, wet rough means lost balls, frustration, and slow play. Using lighter equipment, such as push mowers and smaller machines has enabled us to manage most of the rough, but there are some spots we just cannot get to. Also, when cutting long wet grass, clippings remain. Clippings look bad and make for poor playing conditions, so they must be blown. This extra task adds more man hours to maintaining the rough.

Bunkers are also troublesome with this much rain. Unfortunately, bunkers are one of the aforementioned low areas in which the water sits. It takes several hours to pump all the water out of the bunkers, even with a large trash pump. Also, the sand washes down off the faces and is then contaminated with soil. We would like to add new sand to all the bunkers and give them a fresh white facelift, but spending time on making the bunkers playable after the rain has limited our ability to add the new sand.

Lastly, other areas of the property are affected by the rain as well. The creek near the maintenance facility has twice overflowed its banks and caused several issues. For example, in the most recent storm, water from the creek ran into the tennis bubble and created a great deal of cleanup. Also, the culvert that runs under the road gets clogged with sticks and leaves and sends even more water up and over the road.

The rain now has been a nuisance and made some things more difficult and added more tasks to our regular maintenance routine. Once summer hits, some of this rain would be useful, but by that time Mother Nature may have a different plan.

 

 

 See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Bermudagrass recovery and weed control

The Bermuda grass in the fairways can be beautiful or unsightly depending on the time of year. But the worst is when it is transitioning out of winter and it is BOTH beautiful and unsightly at the same time.

We are in the middle of this transition period right now. In fact, in the last few days, with temperatures in the mid-80’s, we have actually gained a lot of green tissue in the fairways. All the green tissue in the world does not hide the brown spots that are still prevalent though. Spring dead spot is the lesser of the two problems in the fairways right now. Winter kill has actually caused more damage and set the Bermuda grass back more than the diseased areas. This coming week is going to be a warm week and there are several cultural practices that will be taking place in the fairways to get them to improve quickly.

First, a chemical application will be made to kill the weeds. If you have been on the course at all this spring then I do not need to tell you about the weed problem. Several weather related issues have caused what seems like an extreme infestation. When the course is as consistently wet as it has been there is no opportunity to get a sprayer out without causing more damage than it is worth. Think of it like this: If a 500 pound golf cart can’t be let off the paths because it is too wet, then imagine the harm a 2,500 pound sprayer filled with another 2,500 pounds of water would cause! Now it seems the time is right to get out there and spray the weeds. This will make an immediate difference in the appearance of the Bermuda grass in the fairways. When there is a mono-stand of turf grass to see, it will make the Bermuda grass look better. Plus, removing all competition from other plants allows only the Bermuda grass to thrive. Secondly, as part of this application, fertilizer will be applied as well. This fertilizer is targeted at the youngest plants that are trying to fill in the brown patches. By giving those plants some added energy, along with the forecasted temperatures, the recovery should be swift.

Most of the fairways have been allowed to come out of dormancy with very little competition from other grasses. However, the portion of #15 fairway that was over seeded last fall is another story. This Bermuda grass has been in a battle with the annual ryegrass that was planted for the winter. Because of the cool, wet spring the Bermuda grass is very far behind in its growth and development. This is going to become very apparent once the aforementioned chemical application is made. The chemical will kill the annual ryegrass and allow the only the Bermuda grass to remain. The half of #15 fairway that was over seeded is going to look the worst of any portion of fairway on the course during this transition. The annual ryegrass is going to turn brown and die and the Bermuda grass is going to be slow to grow and fill in.

Once the weeds are removed, the fairways will be verticut. Verticutting is a practice in which the blades of the machine slice down into the canopy of the turf grass and cut the stems. For Bermuda grass, this slicing will cut stolons and actually create new plants at each cut. Again, this is going to aid in the recovery of the winter kill areas by forcing the healthy plants on the edges to form new plants and move into the brown areas.

By encouraging the encroachment of grass along edges and giving energy to the young plants within, the brown areas should rapidly shrink. The appearance of the fairways is going to improve greatly in the next week. Although it has been painful to wait this long for the fairways to be green and lush, in the near future, improvement will be seen.


See you on the course!
Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Bunkers

Bunkers are a hazard. However, in today’s game, bunkers have become more and more manicured and maintained. Now, golfers expect the bunkers to be as neatly trimmed and groomed as greens, tees, and fairways. Due to this demand, many hours are spent taking care of the bunkers on the course. Several practices are done regularly to maintain the bunkers.

One of the most crucial aspects of routine bunker maintenance is sand depth. No golfer likes when the take a bunker shot and their club hits liner or subsoil beneath the sand. Through regular play, maintenance, wind erosion, water erosion, and other factors the sand in a bunker shifts dramatically. There are common areas that a ball ends up after a shot. The golfer then plays his bunker shot, as he should, by “splashing” sand out with his ball. Repeated shots of this nature move and remove sand from that spot. Similarly, through regular raking both by players and maintenance staff, sand is shifted in different directions. Over time, sand accumulates on edges and away from where the most play occurs and this is when the unlucky golfer hits his shot into that spot and there is only a dusting of sand over the base material. To combat the natural movement of the sand, several times throughout the year my staff will go through every bunker and check the depth of the sand throughout. Areas of too much and too little sand are identified and the sand is rearranged accordingly.

Another problem that occurs with the bunkers here at Bretton Woods is erosion by water and puddles in the bunkers. After a heavy rain, similar to the one we had just a few days ago, the water running through the bunker will move the sand and the water that can’t escape the bunker will sit. This again is a very laborious problem to fix. Each bunker must be pumped dry and then the sand in each bunker must be pushed, shoveled, and thrown back up to its original location. Depending on the slope of the face of the bunker, half the sand may be at the complete opposite end.

The sand also becomes contaminated with silt and clay when it is eroded by water. So we also will be adding new bunker sand over the next couple of weeks trying to replace any sand that has been lost and to give each bunker a fresh white look. We do not add much depth with the new sand, only a cover, but it really enhances the aesthetics of the bunker.

Bunkers are a very labor intensive aspect of golf course maintenance. A well-manicured bunker is great to look at but most importantly they are better to play from and that is the key.

 See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org