End of April Bermuda update

Since Bermuda grass takes up the greatest acreage of playing surfaces on our property, it is always a hot topic in the spring- when will it green up? How bad was Spring dead spot (SDS)? Are there winter kill areas that need sod? We begin spring with these same questions and work hard to get the Bermuda grass ready as soon as possible. So, the following is an update on the status of the Bermuda grass, as well as our upcoming strategies for a successful summer.

The Bermuda grass started its initial dormancy break back in early March. Two very cold nights- 23 degrees and 25 degrees- back-to-back, stunted any progress made and put the Bermuda grass in a holding pattern. Green-up commenced again in early April, and we have been off to the races ever since. Nearly all the tissue looks healthy across the course. Our Spring dead spot chemical control last fall seems to have been good. Although the winter was wet, we drained enough so the plants were not saturated, and the little bits of snow we did receive came at opportune times to help insulate against harsh cold. All in all, we have started the season with above average Bermuda grass health.

Last week, we completed our application of post-emergent herbicide to kill any remaining weeds in the Bermuda grass. This chemical kills cool-season grasses and
broadleaf weeds, but the Bermuda grass and other warm-season grasses can metabolize the active ingredient and are unharmed. Those weeds will die out over the next couple of weeks and the Bermuda grass will be able to grow unencumbered by competition.

Next, is our annual compost application, which starts today. Compost provides a very slowly available food source for the Bermuda grass, but it has two other more important benefits. First, it also provides a food source for soil microbes. These microbes are what keep the soil well-balanced and healthy, but they also eat pathogenic fungi in the soil, including the fungus that causes Spring dead spot. So, keeping the microbes happy and healthy is critical. The second important benefit from compost is that it helps to improve our soil texture and structure. Although our fairway soils are good, they are slightly higher in clay than ideal, which is partly why we had some drainage issues in the past. However, compost helps to break apart the heavy clay and increases pore space for air and water within the soil. Strong soil leads to strong plants, and the compost we have been adding for many years is building stronger soil for us.

Our third goal in the coming weeks is to slice the Bermuda grass. Again, this is something we have been accomplishing for several years in a row and we are happy with the results. We slice down into the Bermuda grass, cutting its growing points. End encouraging new, lateral growth. This aids in filling in any gaps that are still present from winter, as well as increasing the density of the existing turf.

Over the next several weeks, the work we do to the Bermuda grass will help set the turf up for a successful summer. With cooperation from the weather, the Bermuda grass should be healthy and ready for the season.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

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 new trees

It is the time of year again when our annual tree planting takes place. We have been on a regular schedule of planting trees across the property for the last 10 years, and another 13 new trees were just added.

Our tree management program is extensive. We work throughout the season to keep our trees in shape. Over the winter we prune, clean, and remove trees. Especially over the last few years, we have worked hard to remove trees that are negatively impacting the Bermuda grass, and this has shown great results. We remove dead trees, and clean and prune others.

During the summer, we spend time almost daily, limbing up all the trees around the property. Sometimes branches break, or sag, and need to be removed to allow for proper air movement or allow a line of play for a golf shot. Other times branches are taken off to allow golf carts or mowers to more easily and safely fit underneath a particular tree.

But to balance the removals that we make, every spring we also plant many new trees. The keys to our program are proper species selection, but most importantly, proper location. Many of the trees that we must remove were improperly located at planting. It is difficult to imagine a tree 20, 30, or 40 years down the road and visualize how it will impact the turf. Not to mention that when a lot of the old trees were planted, the course looked very different, and those trees may not have affected the turf in the same way they do now. But moving forward, our goal is to always make sure that when we plant a tree, it will not need to be removed because it is in the wrong location.

 

This year we planted new trees on holes 5, 8, and 17. We planted 3 dogwoods and 1 red-horse chestnut on the right side of #5 fairway. We removed some trees very near the new planting location that were casting too much shade on the Bermuda grass. But these new trees are set much further back from the fairway, as well as being much smaller, and less shade producing species.

To the right of #8 fairway, we planted 5 dawn redwoods. At about the mid-point of 8 fairway, on the right side, 2 dawn redwoods were already in place, and the new trees fall right in line and create a great shape to the hole. In this case, these new trees were replacing dead or dying pines that were no longer useful.

On the left side of #17 fairway, we planted 4 new trees as well. 3 sweetbay magnolias and 1 ginkgo were added, starting just after the fairway bunker and working towards the green. In the last couple of years, a few trees have been removed from this location- 1 pine tree was dead, another pine tree broke in half and fell, leaving an unstable piece that needed to be removed, and a large silver maple that was shading the Bermuda grass. The new trees are suited to the location, and crucially, won’t negatively affect the Bermuda grass.

We are excited to plant new trees on the property- introducing new species to the grounds and picking just the right location is fun. The newest additions continue the commitment we have made to planting new trees at Bretton Woods.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

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 bridge work

Although we don’t use the alternate tee on #2 very often, when we do, we still want to present the best conditions possible. This goes for the bridge to the tee complex also. We recently made another improvement.

Two years ago, we spent considerable time updating the bridge . It had been several years since any work had been done and it was overdue. Overall, the work we did has held up very well. The bridge is in good condition and looks good as well.

As one could expect, the one aspect that did not fair as well over time was the tread laid down on the bridge, with all the foot traffic walking across the bridge. Bare wood can be slippery, especially when wet, even in golf shoes. Our initial attempt to so
lve these issues was with anti-slip tape. The adhesive on the tape didn’t stick to the wood as great as we hoped, so we also put some tacks in to help hold it in place. The tape also didn’t withstand the elements very good either and it started to tear. The tape really started to deteriorate over this last winter so we knew it would need replacing to start this season.

After laying many rolls of the Traq Matz- a heavy duty, rubber matting- we wondered if a similar product would be a useful as tread across the bridge. We were able to find a product made from recycled tires that checked all the boxes- good traction, heavy duty, tolerant of foot traffic and weather. So, we laid the new mat earlier this spring.

As temperatures continue to rise and the Bermuda grass resumes full growth, we will begin rotating onto the alternate tee and the new mat will be put to the test. We expect it perform better than the old tread and last much longer.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

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

Bunker sand additions

It is hard to believe that the first round of holes completed for the Master Plan are already 10 years old, and the most recently completed are 6 years old. Of all the work done, bunkers are the feature that can age, deteriorate and change the most, and must be properly maintained at a much more frequent interval.

We have already been around the entire course and renovated every bunker since each was built during the Master Plan timeframe. We remove all the old sod, scrape any accumulated sand along the edges, redefine the original shape, and lay fresh sod. You can read and see the process here. We have 69 bunkers on the course, and all have been through this process over the last 10 years, some more than once already.

Part of the issue that forces these renovations is the escape of sand from inside the bunker to the outside. Wind, water, golfers, and the Grounds staff all contribute to sand being lost from the bunker. These are all unavoidable results of bunkers maturing and being used. We replace the sod and reshape the edges to maintain the integrity of the bunker, but we also must work to replace the sand within the bunker itself. This too is an ongoing process- we replace sand every year- more so in greenside bunkers than in fairways. However, with the increased play we have seen over the last few years, as well as the age of the bunkers, we are more aggressively refilling fairway bunkers this season.

Starting last fall, we began working to get the depth of sand back up to a consistent standard across all the fairway bunkers. 2-3 times per year we check all the bunker sand depth in every bunker and adjust accordingly- moving sand around from where there is too much to where more is needed. But we also must simply add more new sand into the entire bunker. This is what we are working on now. Depending on the size of the bunker, we are adding 10-20 cart loads of sand each. It has taken us several months, and 6 truckloads of sand thus far, but we are down to our last handful of bunkers, and last two or three truckloads of sand.

Unfortunately, new sand is never the same firmness as the old sand. The old sand has matured in place, been compacted by equipment and settled over time, and has small amounts of finer material mixed in. So, the fresh sand on top can feel very loose, and can even seem like completely different sand. However, we are using the same sand as what is existing in the bunkers, and the softness is temporary. With time, and more compacting to come from the Grounds department, the new sand will firm up and match the existing sand.

Bunkers have a lifespan. Reshaping and adding sand are two key aspects of maintaining bunkers and making sure that they don’t deteriorate to the point of having to be rebuilt sooner than expected.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

 

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

Spring time

We have had our usual up and down spring season thus far. The golf course is slowly waking up, but we are still in waiting mode for regular maintenance. However, there are several key jobs that must be accomplished over the next few weeks for us to have a successful season. So, despite the lack of regular maintenance, the upcoming weeks are no less busy or important.

During the spring we must treat the greens extensively with plant growth regulators (PGR’s) to prevent seed heads. We also make our initial pesticide application for Annual bluegrass weevils (ABW’s). Our preemergent weed control will be applied to all rough and Bermuda grass. We will also make an herbicide application to the Bermuda grass and rough that will eliminate any remaining weeds from over the winter. Timing is key for all these tasks and without them, the entire season would be an uphill battle to maintain quality conditions.

PGR applications have been ongoing for a few weeks now, but we are entering the most crucial time. Annual bluegrass, the predominant grass type on our greens, will be setting seed over soon, and without the use of PGR’s, these seedheads can adversely affect playing conditions.

Another grass-specific pest that we must deal with is the Annual bluegrass weevil. As the name suggests, this weevil particularly likes to eat Annual bluegrass. Adults hibernate over the winter and in spring move towards shorter cut turf to mate and lay eggs. Targeting these adults as the migrate out is the surest way to lower populations for each successive generation, but missing the timing can lead to infestations throughout the season.

Weeds are a part of our property simply because we have so much area and no need or desire to treat everywhere. However, we do focus on the main playing surfaces of the golf course to keep weed-free. Timing is key again, and just like with everything else, getting the material out now is important. The products we use are pre-emergent, meaning they must be in place before the weeds emerge or they are useless. We will be covering the main sections of rough- about 25-30 yards around fairways, greens, and tees, as well as all the Bermuda grass.

One of the last things we will do is to spray herbicides to kill any weeds that were already present before the pre-emergent applications. These are the “clean-up” applications. We will spray the Bermuda grass as well as the rough, with separate products, that will kill anything that survived the winter, and that we don’t want to still be alive. Eliminating the competition will allow whichever grass we are supporting to grow and thrive through the season.

Even though we aren’t regularly sending out mowers or in full maintenance mode yet, without the above-mentioned tasks taking place, we would be playing catch up all year. Getting spring right allows everything to fall into place.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please leave bunker rakes inside the bunker once you are finished.

 

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