Memorial Day

For many people, Memorial Day is the unofficial start to summer. High schools have only a few more weeks of classes and some colleges and universities may already be done. Soon, many families will be headed to Bretton Woods for the pool. Because of this, the Grounds department spends much of the last two weeks of April and the beginning of May working at the club house and pool planting flowers, cleaning landscapes, mulching and prepping for the busy season that doesn’t involve the golf course.

Attention must always be paid to the golf course first, or conditions would deteriorate quickly. Mowing must always be done and certain basic setup procedures must always be performed. However, during this time of year, we spend our first few hours of the day on the golf course and then turn our attention, for the majority of the day, to other areas of the facility. While we strive to never let anything slip or drop below our expectations on the course, prepping the pool does take our entire staff 4-6 hours a day for over a month. This time commitment does not allow for much else beyond our basic maintenance practices to be done.

We begin by doing a thorough cleaning of the whole pool facility. Blowing leaves, picking up sticks, and cleaning other debris left over from the winter. This year, we also trimmed all of the trees in the parking lot and inside the pool grounds. This has opened the area tremendously. More light reaches the turf around the pool, which will make for nicer areas for families to lounge. In the parking lot, low hanging branches that were impacting parking have been removed.

Because of the high volume of people that come and go at the pool, there are several areas of grass that get trampled throughout the season. Therefore, each spring we freshly sod 4,000-6,000 square feet of new turf. Areas in the front entrance, as well as behind the office, and down closer to the pool all get sodded annually.

Between all of the sod and flowers that are planted each year at the pool, we also must do a lot of watering. While we generally receive enough rain at this time of year to help with the watering of all the new plant material, the new sod and flowers require constant attention. Two to three days without water for a freshly planted flower or new sod can mean death. We have to be diligent so money is not wasted on replacing plants that become dehydrated.

Finally, once all of the annual prep work is finished, we have to meld regular maintenance of the pool facility into our weekly routine. Mowing, trimming, blowing and general cleaning of the facility is done at least once a week. We coordinate with the pool staff and take care of our aspect of work every Thursday morning. The pool requires the time of two Grounds staffers for 2.5-3 hours each time.

Bretton Woods is unique for many different reasons. For the Grounds department, the differences are seen by where and when we devote our time and efforts. Spreading our labor across the 200 or so acres that we maintain creates many challenges, but also keeps things fresh for our staff.

Happy Memorial Day!

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Aeration healing and seed head control

“Why aren’t greens healing completely from aeration? That was two months ago.” This is a question we have heard and it is a valid one. The answer is simple: we have not allowed the greens to grow.

One of the biggest complaints coming from golfers who play on Poa annua, or annual bluegrass, greens (like ours) is seed heads in the spring. Seed heads are unattractive and make putting miserable. Check out our past blog post from April 2014 for more in depth information regarding seed heads. For this post, though, we are more concerned about how the Grounds department prevents seed heads and what that does to the growth of the greens.

As the post regarding seed head production mentions, preventing seed heads is all about timing. We begin our treatment the exact same time that we aerate greens, towards the end of March, depending on weather. So, at the very same time we are asking the greens to grow, heal, and awaken from winter, we are also purposefully making them unable to grow and heal. We use several different chemicals, all specifically timed, to prevent seeds from ever forming. Using these plant growth regulators, or PGR’s, works exceptionally well. However, most of what these chemicals do to the plant is reduce the amount of new tissue that grows. So, the greens growth is stunted and healing is very slow. In fact, the greens grow so little during this time of regulation and seed head control, that we will regularly go more than a week without mowing. This is in sharp contrast to later in the summer or fall, when we are no longer trying to control seed heads, and we have to mow every day or every other day. We do different things to ensure that the putting surface is still very acceptable during this time though. Rolling frequently provides a very smooth surface. While the holes from aeration may be visible and appear to be affecting putts, the roller makes the green actually play very true.

This all begs the question: “Why don’t we aerate at a different time?” First, there are several weather factors like soil temperatures, air temperatures, frost/frozen ground, rain, and more that all must be factored in before aeration can take place. So, aerating earlier in the year is difficult, especially with the last two winters that have stretched well into March. We also cannot move the time much later in the year because we begin to impact both club tournaments and outside events. Participation drops in tournaments because of course conditions and outings cancel or never book once they hear our aeration timing. This directly impacts the bottom line, which everyone understands.

The battle is tough between wanting the greens to grow and also actively preventing them from doing so. We dislike having the open wounds of aeration as much as the golfers, but we believe that everyone would choose this rather than having seed heads across all of the greens.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Fairway work

This week’s blog was written by our Assistant superintendent Tyler Brunk:

This week has been the best week yet weather-wise for getting the Bermuda grass really growing. The sunny 80 degree days and warm 60 degree nights have helped a lot. This week we wanted to accomplish spraying, verticutting, and fertilizing the fairways because we had perfect growing weather for the Bermuda grass. These procedures are done each spring to provide healthy year round playing conditions.

This past week the fairways were sprayed with Negate. Negate is a herbicide that is labeled for controlling ryegrass, annual bluegrass, other cool season grasses, and tough-to-control broad-leaf weeds. While the weeds have been a problem all spring, we have waited because the Bermuda grass can’t be sprayed until it is actively growing and mature. Bermuda grass is tolerant of the herbicide but young or weak turf may be injured. Also, driving a heavy sprayer on wet fairways will cause too much collateral damage. These warm, sunny days also help the Negate provide quicker results because the weeds are actively growing and therefore take the herbicide into their system very quickly.

All of the fairways have been verticut this week to help increase density, promote better plant health, and provide a better playing surface. Verticutting is different from regular mowing because instead of cutting horizontally, the mower blades are cutting vertically and cutting the stolons and shallow rhizomes instead of the leaf blades. Cutting vertically removes dead plant material and allows oxygen and water easier access to the roots. This helps the Bermuda grass become denser because instead of growing long and skinny stems, the turf can grow many more shoots that are short and thick with an upright growth habit. Having more shoots that are short, thick, and upright will provide a better ball lie.

The fairways received a recommended amount of ammonium sulfate fertilizer. The reason for this application after the verticut was because the stolons and rhizomes were cut in the process of verticutting, which in turn will become new leaf shoots. The nitrogen applied will help with quick growth to the new shoots. Also, this application will help the fairways grow more uniform, help heal spring dead spot, and get into prime condition for the summer.

After a lot of work on the fairways this week, they will get a short break until the growth regulator spray. This spray will also help produce short and thick shoots providing better ball lies. Not only will this growth regulator spray help with ball lie, but it will also help us reduce mowing frequency. If we did not spray growth regulator on the fairways, we would have to mow twice as much. Therefore, we are saving a lot of time and labor that can then be spent elsewhere on the property.

We accomplished many things needed to be done to the fairways before the growing season really starts. Many of these tasks are very time consuming because of the acreage of fairways, but are a necessity for providing healthy turfgrass and the best possible playing conditions.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Etiquette revisited

Just like a good spring cleaning every year, golfers can use a gentle reminder about some simple golf course etiquette. Here is a post from last year that we may turn into a springtime tradition:

Since the earliest history of golf, the game has been about fairness, honesty, and sportsmanship. The game is played alongside fellow competitors but more importantly played against the course. Raking the bunker behind oneself, fixing ball marks, and replacing divots are all things that each player can do to make the course enjoyable for everyone to follow and allow each person to play against a fair course.

The technology and style of golf nowadays is nothing like years past. Everyone hits the ball farther, courses are longer and harder, and design concepts have changed as well. However, there are some things that have not changed. No matter how long the course is or how far a person hits the ball, eventually they will take a shot at the green. When a person hits a green with their shot on the fly the ball will produce a ball mark or pitch mark. This mark is the “crater” that the ball creates when it impacts the green. There are several reasons it is important to fix the mark. First, the pitch mark will impact how well the ball rolls on the green. Because the pitch mark makes a dent in the green the surface becomes uneven. Any person following who may putt through that line will be negatively affected by an unfixed ball mark because the ball will not roll smoothly. Second, when the green is mowed next, the mower will gouge into the raised portion of the ball mark rather than gliding across it, causing damage to the green. That unfixed ball mark will now look unsightly and take several weeks to heal properly. Fixing the ball mark only takes a few seconds but can make a huge difference.

Another good habit for every golfer is raking the bunker following a shot. The first person to play out of a bunker each day has a well raked bunker that hasn't been used by anyone. That first person has the responsibility to leave that bunker as near as to how they found it as possible. By raking the bunker carefully, the first golfer ensures that the next person who hits in that bunker will not be penalized by the bunker AND any footprints that still remain. Raking the bunker behind you also is a benefit to the Grounds Department. If no one raked the bunker, eventually the sand would be so displaced and such a hole created that the work to fix that bunker would be greatly increased.

Replacing and filling divots is another small thing that golfers can do that benefits fellow golfers as well as the Grounds Department. The divot is the chunk of turf and soil that is taken out by the golf club when a shot is taken from a tee or fairway. When the divot is taken in the fairway it is best to retrieve the divot and fit it back into the space from which it came. Replacing the divot makes a better playing surface for the next golfer. If the divot is not replaced and the next golfer hits his or her shot into the void from a divot then their next shot must be played from a horrible lie. In contrast, the replaced divot may not be exactly the same as undisturbed fairway, but it is much better than a hole. Replacing the divot also saves the machines that mow the fairways. The cutting portion of the mower is designed to cut grass not soil. So when divots are not replaced the mower cuts through the soil attached to the turf and the mower becomes dull very quickly. This adds labor time and money to the maintenance of the machine but it also affects how well the fairways are cut. The playability of a poorly cut fairway is not nearly as good as it should be. Divots can also be taken from tee boxes as well. Tee divots are not as commonly replaced as they are filled with sand that is provided at the tee box. Most commonly tee divots are taken on par three or short par four holes. On the par three holes there is a green container of sand. This sand is used to put into the void from the divot instead of putting the actual piece of turf back. Sometimes, fairway divots shred into tiny pieces that are not able to be replaced and sand is used in that case as well. One important thing golfers need to remember when filling the divot with sand either on a tee or in the fairway is to make sure and smooth the sand down. Leaving a pile of sand is no different than not replacing the divot in the fairway; the mower will grind right through the sand and dull the blades.

Once these tasks become routine for all the golfers on the course, all players will have a level playing field.  Each player should strive to leave the course better than you found which will make the experience for everyone that follows that much more enjoyable.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org