Aeration notice

It is aeration time again. No person particularly likes this time of season, but it is essential for the continued health of the turfgrass.

This week, the front 9 and putting green will be closed on Monday, with play available on the back 9. Then, Tuesday, the back 9 and chipping green are closed, and play is available on the front 9.

It is not uncommon to hear of courses skipping aeration, or “my home course only aerates one time per year, in the off-season and it doesn’t bother anyone.” While these may be true stories, there is no sustainability to either program. Eventually the down sides of skipping or under-performing aeration will catch up and the turfgrass will suffer. Once that time arrives, catch up is very difficult to nearly impossible without major renovations.

We continue to adjust our aeration program to get the most out of each aspect. We will again be aerating the greens with a combination of solid and hollow tines, which we have done for several years. The roots of the putting greens are at there shortest of the year. Using a full set of hollow tines would cause more upheaval and damage than anything. However, continuing to remove thatch is still a need; therefore, we find a balance by alternating tine styles.

The Bermuda grass also is aerated at this time of year. The Bermuda grass is growing as aggressively as it will all season. Giving it some much need oxygen will increase its growth and should help us heal the last few remaining damaged areas. We will be using solid tines, like last year, in order to minimize injury to new sod and seeded areas.

We also apply our compost during aeration, which is another aspect of our aeration program that we have been performing for several years. While we have had Bermuda grass death the last couple of years, the problem has been less and less related to Spring dead spot. We believe this is in part due to the continued applications of compost. It gives the soil a needed organic component and a long-term food source for microbes.

Thank you for your patience during this time. Disruption now leads to better quality playing surfaces, not only for the remainder of this year, but for years to come.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to keep your cart on the cart path when we are “Cart Path Only.”

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Big Cup Sunday

Yesterday was Big Cup Sunday. The course featured 8” cups on all greens. It was an initiative to get new golfers, families, and other people out on the course to have some fun.

We don’t know yet what the response will be to the big cups, especially since it was forecast to be the hottest day of the year, but the work behind the scenes was interesting, nonetheless. It took 2 Grounds staff members, working in tandem, roughly 12-15 minutes per hole to cut the large cups. That contrasts with 7-9 minutes per cup for a traditional hole, for a single person.

Grounds staff installing the big cup with
the specialized cup cutter.

Golf course supply companies manufacture am 8” cup cutter. This larger tool actually works very similar to the regular cup cutters but takes much more effort to get into the green. Much more care must be taken with the plug as well.

Since these big cups were just introduced to the greens, there was no “previous hole” in which to put the plug. Therefore, we had to transport all the plugs back to the maintenance facility and store them for the day. We will be placing them back into the greens tomorrow. They were watered upon removal from the green and will most likely be watered again this afternoon, like the greens themselves.

The plugs taken out of the greens.

The regulation cup with the cover in place.

The regulation hole that is currently in each green was covered with a green cap. These are actually manufactured for this purpose, for any reason a facility may have to cover their cups. This allows the big cup to be the sole cup on the green as well as the traditional cup to remain in play without interrupting anyone.

We hope everyone who came out enjoyed the fun day. There is no date yet for another big cup day, but if there is a desire to do it again, the Grounds staff will be ready.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to keep your cart on the cart path when we are “Cart Path Only.”

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Storms

Last Monday we endured some eventful storms. We received 4.25” of rain, 3.75” of those fell in 1 hour and 23 minutes. We also had a close call with lightning in a second storm.

When we receive that amount of rain in a short period of time, there are a few things that always occur. First, all the bunker sand washes down off the edges and dirt collects in the sand. Second, the creek that runs through the property, down at the bottom of the hill near tennis, overflows its banks. Both issues were on display again with this storm.

The creek was so bloated and powerful that it made the road impassable. It knocked over the fence near the playground, moved a great deal of mulch, and flooded the tennis bubble.

The creek flowing through the
playground.

Another shot of the creek going
through the playground. The damaged fence
can be seen here.

On the far side are the dumpsters at the
Maintenance facility. 

The creek coming right up to the
tennis bubble.

The bunkers on the course were all washed out. We spent an entire day just removing silt that contaminated the sand, and then pushing the sand back to where it was supposed to be.

A picture of #2 pond overflowing and a
contaminated bunker in the foreground.

A better view of the contaminated bunkers.

A picture of #9 pond overflowing its banks.

Far in the background, #15 fairway is covered in water.

Water flowing near #2 tee.

Another view of water near #2 tee.

We also had a great deal of flooding on lower soccer field again, eerily reminiscent of last year. We will again be spending a great deal of time on cleanup down at soccer

The creek flooding the lower soccer field. The
water covered over half of the field.

A view of the creek leaving is banks
and moving across the soccer field.

Overall, the course held up well. Grass faced bunkers, and ample drainage have paid off. However, one of the results of the storm is our inability to mow. We are still trying to catch up, even a week later. When things are too wet, they can’t be cut at all. Once we resume mowing, we must start somewhere, so something else must wait, meaning some things continue to get longer, even after we manage to get back on the course. Please be patient as we try to get back to our normal routine.

Lastly, though not part of the heavy rain producing storm, we did have a lightning strike on the course as part of another storm a few days later. There was some obvious damage to the immediate turf as well as some damage to our irrigation system. It appears the current hopped onto our irrigation control wires, short-circuited a few individual sprinklers, started a small fire in one of our irrigation satellite boxes (the gray boxes), and damaged a hardware component in the satellite as well. Despite all of this, we are back to 99 percent operating capacity. It could have been much worse. This also is a good reminder to head inside when our lightning detection system blows the horn.

Location of lightning strike on #7 fairway.

Up-close view of the fire damage in one
of the irrigation control boxes.

The Grounds staff has done a great job tackling the work. We keep rolling with the punches that Mother Nature throws, but some hit us harder than others!

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to keep your cart on the cart path when we are “Cart Path Only.”

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Weekly roundup

Here are a few topics of interest this week:

So far in 2019 we are 2.5” of rain under last year’s pace, which was a record, and 1” under average through June. June itself was dry though, nearly 2” under normal. Evidence of this can be seen in the deep, non-irrigated rough and under trees. The tree roots out-compete the turf, and the grass goes dormant and turns brown. Nevertheless, being that close to last year’s record rainfall means that there are still lots of hurdles to cross from now until the end of the year.

The aforementioned rainfall- mostly afternoon thunderstorms- plus heat and humidity, contribute to the highest levels of stress for the turf. It is the time of year when we must play defense against Mother Nature. Throw in the associated diseases and insects and the table is set for the toughest stretch of the year. Therefore, we try and give the grass, especially the greens, as much help as possible to combat the elements. So, we will be raising the mowing height on greens this week, probably thru the next month, right into aeration. We have been mowing the greens at .115” and we will be raising them to .125”. Raising the height by one hundredth of an inch may seem minuscule, but not to the turf. This is nearly a 9 percent increase in leaf tissue. For turfgrass, more leaf tissue means more food production and more roots, which leads to healthier plants. We will employ other strategies to maintain speeds. Overall though, our goal is to have healthy grass remaining at the end of the year, not the fastest greens possible in July.

Divot on #8 green. At least they tried to
replace the chunks.

There also was a divot taken on #8 green recently. Unfortunately, this was the 4^th divot taken on a green so far this year. Though we usually don’t even make a mention of them, we just repair it and keep going, and most golfers probably never know it happens, we felt this was a good time to at least let people know that it is occurring. While we are nearly certain that the readers of this blog are not the likely culprit, we still hope to get the message out. We take great pride in the entire golf course, as do our members, especially the greens. We also spend a great deal of time, effort and money to make sure the greens are as good as possible and taking a chunk out of the green undermines that effort. Not to mention that the divot was taken near the cup, so players behind this person would have possibly had to contend with a divot in the line of their putt.

Broken flagstick on #16 green

Speaking of frustration- someone also snapped a flag stick in half last week. Again, most golfers were never aware, because we discovered it (though no one told us they had done it) and we were able to replace it with a new stick before more than a couple of groups played through. 

Tree work has been paused due to the rain. While we were drier than normal in June, two storms- the first bringing 1.25” and the second .75”- still deterred us from taking heavy equipment on the course. We will be back on track as soon as possible to clean up the logs remaining and continue the previously discussed trimming and removals.

Thank you

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to keep your cart on the cart path when we are “Cart Path Only.”

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

More tree work and seeding recap

Last week we discussed seeding and tree work. Well, this week we are discussing it again. The first round of seeding is complete. We will also be getting more tree maintenance completed.

As of last Thursday, our initial seeding effort was finished. We seeded all the bad areas on each fairway and approach from the 17^th-27^th of June. We are already seeing some very early germination of the seed and there are a few seedlings popping up. Bermuda grass can be seeded at most any time that the soil temperatures are warm enough. However, we have seen from the past that it can be difficult to get good establishment early in the summer. Therefore, we will continue to add more seed every few weeks as needed to promote as much new growth as possible. 

We will also continue to regularly fertilize these weak areas to promote growth from healthy grass in towards the center of the bad areas. These areas are marked with a green and white stake and we are working to make the spots smaller, and to have fewer and fewer stakes out there.

We also have more tree work coming up this week. 2 silver maples near #15 tee will be trimmed, and all the dead material will be removed. We also have one more dead oak tree to take out between #3 and #15 fairways before we move on.

Once that is complete, we will shift work over to the area of #5, #7, #11 fairways for removal of more dead trees. The number of trees removed will depend on how long the work on #3 and #15 takes, but there are plenty of dead trees to keep the contractor busy. We will plan an attack based on removing the higher priority trees first and move to lower priority if time allows.

Having several days dedicated to tree maintenance will help tremendously in the long run. We will eventually catch up on removals and that will allow us to better identify the areas of need around the property. This, in turn, allows us to economically and efficiently follow through with our tree planting program.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to keep your cart on the cart path when we are “Cart Path Only.”

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

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org