New trees

Our tree program consists of maintain the trees we have, removing trees that are dead or inhibiting the health of the turfgrass, and planting new trees. This past week thirteen new trees were planted on the course.

Removing trees is a necessary part of our maintenance program. Often times, the trees we remove are dead or dying. We have also made an effort to remove some trees that are negatively impacting the health of the Bermuda grass. But we also make a priority of adding trees back onto the property. And we have control over species selection, but most importantly, location.

Working with Golf Committee, we have prioritized several locations on the course that need new trees. In collaboration with our landscape contractor, we select appropriate species. Then the key is that we place these new trees with future growth in mind. From the outset, we make sure that even many years down the road, the trees should not negatively affect the Bermuda grass or any other aspect of the course.

This year we planted trees in the following locations:

    Behind 18 green: 3 Japanese persimmons along the cart path from the clubhouse to the driving range; and 1 golden rain tree in the small flower bed directly behind 18 green

    

    Between 8/10 fairways: 3 dawn redwoods in the most open area between 10 fairway and 8 red tee

    
    Between 12/13 fairways: 2 crape myrtles towards the 12 green end; 3 dawn redwoods more towards the 13 green end.

The trees we planted between 12 and 13 fairways are part of a two-year plan for the space. Next year, the goal is to add approximately five more trees along the same corridor between the two fairways.

Lastly, one new tree was planted in the redesigned landscape at miniature golf. This will be covered more in depth in a future post.

Adding new trees to the course is very exciting. Planting an appropriate species of tree in the right location that adds to the aesthetics without taking away from the turf is even better.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the path

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

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Chipping green renovation

The practice bunker at the chipping green is a busy place. Lots of people take advantage to practice their greenside bunker shots. The only problem is the amount of sand that is hit out of the bunker smothered some of the green.

It is easy to see where the excess
bunker sand was smothering the turf.

Splashing sand out of a bunker is a common occurrence. The sand builds up on the edge of the bunker. Each bunker on the course may only have a few golfers in it each day so the sand accumulation is slow. However, the chipping green bunker sees many people per day, all hitting in the same exact place. In this case, the sand is blasted out much faster and onto the same spot every time. So, the sand did not just build up on the edge of the bunker, but also on the chipping green itself. Here are some pictures from the last time we stripped the edge of the chipping green bunker and removed the excess sand. In that same link, you can also see that we had to scrape sand from under the green sod. Our goal was to not have to do that again because it is very hard and time consuming.

Removal of the trash turfgrass

The amassed sand on the green smothered the turf. The sand was being added from golf shots faster than the grass could outgrow it. The turf was very week, thin, or non-existent. All this sand was also wreaking havoc on our mower blades. We decided to remove a portion of the green and replace it with rough grass. We chose to transition to rough because it will be able to handle the sand better, but more importantly, it is much easier to replace each time there is too much sand.

First, we removed the grass that we would be trashing. Next, we carefully transplanted the collar from where it had been, in along the new edge of the green. Finally, we laid fresh rough sod down where the old green sod had been. We were lucky enough to have a cool, rainy day to work and we were able to finish in just the one day.

Moving the collar sod in towards the new
green edge

All in all, we lost about 400 square feet of putting green surface, but in the long run, everything will be easier to maintain. Our mower blades will not cut through so much sand and renovating the bunker will be much easier going forward.

 

Final prep just before the new rough sod
was laid

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the path

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

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Annual Bermuda grass update

It is that time of the year when all attention is on the Bermuda grass. When will it green up and start to grow? Unfortunately, there is no concrete timetable. It is too dependent on the weather, and so far this spring the weather has not been helpful.

Last week we discussed the upcoming weed spray on the Bermuda grass. It was postponed due to rain but will be completed today. Now attention turns to air and soil temperatures. For the Bermuda grass to begin vigorous growth, the daytime temperatures need to rise, but most importantly, the soil temperatures need to climb also.

Since the new growth of each season starts from rhizomes and stolons down at the soil surface, or even blow it, the temperature of the soil is very important to the Bermuda grass plant. While the soil temperatures have climbed this spring (we are no longer dealing with frozen ground!), they are not quite at the consistent 50 degrees-plus that the Bermuda grass needs. The soil has reached 50 degrees or above for a few hit and miss days, but even as recently as last week, it was in the upper 30’s. The trend is moving up as the spring progresses, but we are still dealing with large swings, and it will take time for the Bermuda grass to respond.

With that being said, right now we do not see any concerns regarding winter kill on the Bermuda grass. The majority of tissue all looks healthy and green stems have started to emerge. The cold overnight air temperatures we are still experiencing (it is 27 degrees this morning!) will stunt this new growth, but the plants will rebound.

It can seem like an eternity waiting on the Bermuda grass to green up, but it always does. It is hard for the Grounds department to wait too, but we all must be patient and the grass will turn green.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the path

 

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

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Bermuda grass weed management

One of the most critical aspects of our Bermuda grass management program is weed control. Since the Bermuda grass is dormant or growing less vigorously than other plants for half of the year, the fairways and tees can be a great location for weeds to grow. We must stay diligent to keep the weeds at bay.

Weed management is a year-long battle. As soon as one treatment is wearing off, we are preparing the next. Our program consists of three different pre-emergent and two post-emergent weed control applications spread out through the season. We are gearing up to make one of these post-emergent applications very soon.

A pre-emergent application is made in early March that prevents any new weeds from growing. Once that barrier is in place we move on to this first post-emergent application. This will target any weeds that were already present before our March application, as well as any weeds that snuck in at the last minute before the barrier was established.

This is a picture of a tee that was
purposely not treated with any other
herbicides this season in order to test the
effectiveness of the new chemical we are trying

We are using a new herbicide this year to prevent some weeds from becoming resistant to any one chemical. Repeated use of the same chemical can create weeds that are no longer affected by that particular chemical. One of the main weeds we have in the Bermuda grass is Poa annua, which is actually the same grass that we purposely grow on the putting greens. However, in the Bermuda grass it is a weed. Poa annua is particularly adept at constantly, and rapidly evolving against herbicides and recurrent applications can lead to a population consisting of entirely resistant plants. We rotate different classes of chemicals to guard against this resistance.

Very soon we will be making this application with this new chemical. We will be clearing the Bermuda grass of weeds so that there is no competition once the Bermuda grass starts growing. We will also be ensuring that our herbicide applications continue to work in the future by attacking the weeds differently every year.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the path

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

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org