#7 Update.

Today we seeded the area at #7 and tomorrow we will have mulch sprayed on the area. This area is roped off and will be ground under repair for a while. Tomorrow morning we will move all the tees forward to help keep stray shots out of the seeded area. Please avoid walking in the area if you can, especially if it's wet because you will make a mess of your shoes.

Mark running the seeder.

After it was mulched this morning (Saturday 9/20)

Thanks a lot for your cooperation.

Ian

Last update on aerification

We are two weeks removed from aerifying greens and, except for a few small areas, we are completely healed in. Now, if you look at just the right angle you can still see all the holes but that is simply because the new growth is a different color than the old. We had some good luck with the rain right after we finished aerifying and, despite the cooler weather, the results on greens are great. Most importantly though they are getting faster every day.

This is a picture from today.

All we have left to aerify are the tees on holes two through eight. Today we were able to get six tee complexes aerified and cleaned up and we'll be able to get out sometime this week or next and finish up on the front.

After the great success we had seeding the short rough around greens, we decided to seed some other areas, mainly the short rough around fairways and any thin or weak rough areas around the course. So if you notice a whole lot of slits in the rough or short rough, we are simply out seeding. It really shouldn't affect the way the course plays, but it may look odd to you. We are putting in a new cultivar of Kentucky Bluegrass that grows more aggressively and has improved heat, disease, insect and wear tolerance, so it doesn't thin out in the summer.  Doing this should give us a better stand of grass around greens that looks and plays more consistent and also reduce the chemical and water use in those areas.

Where we ran the seeder on the back of #1 green.

Ian

Aerification timing.

It was pointed out to me that I should explain why we close the course to aerify right at the end of summer when the weather is beautiful and the course is in great shape. To give you a more complete answer I will give a bit of background first, and then cover why we aerify when we do.

First off, the goal of aerification is to reduce the layer of organic matter(thatch) by physically removing it through the process of coring the greens. Thatch is the layer of organic matter above the soil and below the green tissue of the living canopy (Christians). This accumulates through the growing season, the more the grass grows, the more the thatch layer grows.If you have healthy, well maintained greens you will have thatch. Now, there are some benefits to thatch: it's a good media for beneficial macro and microorganisms, serves as a natural filter to reduce the movement of pesticides into the groundwater and it can moderate the effects of summer heat stress (Christians). However, too much thatch can cause problems as well, such as: being a good media for turf pathogens and insects that attack turf, causing a green to be puffy, resulting in scalping, and it acts as a barrier to water and air movement, increasing disease pressure and causing the playing surface to be wet (Christians). So, we need to maintain a small amount of thatch, but doing that requires cultural practices to reduce excess organic matter.

Before I cover our aerification process, I should tell you that we have putting greens that are built to the United States Golf Association's (USGA) specifications. This means that below the grass there is a 12" layer of sand on top of 4" of gravel below. Underneath this gravel is 4" drain pipe bedded in gravel. By using sand, water can move freely through the sub-grade, which means that once the sand below the green is saturated, any excess water will flush into the 4" gravel layer and eventually into the drainage. USGA greens drain far better than "push up" greens, which are grown on whatever native soil is present. Because we have sand based greens when we aerify the goal is simply to remove the thatch between the grass and the sand below; we do not need to pull the sand out as it is the desired growing media. This is slightly different when aerifying "push up" greens because often these greens are built on poor soil, so you want to pull out as much of the old soil with the thatch and add good, quality sand in its place.

Things we do to control the amount of thatch in greens include: use of plant growth regulators (PGRs), sand topdressing, vertical mowing, solid tine aerification and core aerification. Core aerification is the most disruptive process and the one that we do the week after Labor Day. As I covered in an earlier post, our core aerification consists of; pulling plugs from the greens, collecting the plugs, topdressing with sand, and then dragging the sand into the holes. Aerification opens the thatch layer and allows moisture and oxygen in, which increases microbial activity that is responsible for thatch breakdown. Filling the holes with topdressing sand firms and smooths the playing surface and also speeds recovery (Christians). Along with all the plant health benefits, this is also an integral step to keep greens firm and fast all year long.

Because aerifying is such a stressful process we wait until after the heat of summer to minimize any mechanical damage we may cause. However, a sufficient amount of time should be allowed for recovery from fall aerification before winter dormancy and by aerifying while the grass is still actively growing the greens are able to quickly heal in (Christians). This means that the ideal time is early September. While this does seem early, keep in mind that we are in northern Ohio and cool temperatures can quickly set in by late September or early October. Furthermore, the later we get in the year the shorter the growing days and that coupled with dropping temperatures slows down plant growth as it prepares for winter. We are 13 days removed from aerifying greens and are almost completely healed in. Sunday morning it was 37 degrees at the course and we already are having cooler than average temperatures, I wouldn't have wanted to wait a day longer with the way this summer has gone already.

I hope this answers most of your questions but if you have any more, please feel free to ask! Thanks.

All the citations are from: Fundamentals of Turfgrass Management. Second Edition. Nick Christians.

Ian

#7 Project

Last Wednesday we started a project on #7 with the intent of removing the fescue bunkers and adding a tee to lengthen the hole. We had a construction company come in to do a majority of the work as we were busy with aerification. After the bunkers were removed, the area was regraded, catch basins were added and we will seed the area soon. The area will be part bluegrass at rough height and part fescue at the taller length that we normally grow it at. If you haven't seen it yet, the area already looks better and will look great once we have the grass grown in.

Before.

Zinni Construction brought a bulldozer in and started removing bunkers.

They added a tee behind the cart path on the right side of the hole.

After they removed everything.

After a lot of tilling and grade work it looks like this.

Current view from the new black tee.

We didn't seed today because of the chance of heavy rains tonight which, if heavy enough, could wash away most of the seed and make us re-seed. So we will let the storms roll through and get it seeded as soon as possible. Finally, I'd like to point out that while the construction company did a nice job, they did had a lot of help from Norm Wells' grandson Charlie on the bulldozer. As you can see below, he was getting the tee shaped in nicely and giving out some bulldozing advice.

This is just a quick overview of the process and if any of you have any questions about, or want to see more pictures of the project, feel free to contact me or Mark.

Ian

Aerification update

Last week the weather cooperated with us and we were able to get all the greens finished and most of the fairways. Then on Friday night we got a whole lot of rain to wash all the sand into the holes, which is perfect. On Monday, we finished fairways and started aerifying tees. We couldn't have asked for a better result. As of today we have mowed the fairways and greens twice since aerifying them. They are healing in very nicely and the more times we mow them the better they'll look.

This is what the holes look like today. You can see they are filling in well and if you look at the picture below, you can see how much sand was washed in by the rain.

To refresh your memory this is what they looked like the day we aerified them. You can see all the sand that was sitting on the top of the canopy has since been washed in by the heavy rain.

Also, if you noticed the white paint that is on the greens, that is for the guys who are mowing greens. Over the course of the year there are always spots where the collars get scalped by the green mowers. While it may only be a quarter of an inch at a time, over a few months it can turn into a foot or more. So we painted these lines to make sure that the crew knows where we want them to mow to. The green height grass will grow up to collar height and even the width of the collars back to where we want them.

We were very happy with how smoothly aerification went and I think by late next week most of those holes should be filled in.

Ian 

Aerification week

For those that aren't sure what aerification is, it is the physical removal of thatch from the soil profile. Thatch is the organic matter that builds up at the base of the grass during the year as the plant grows and sheds its old leaves and roots. This acts like a sponge, holding water and restricting air flow. After we remove the thatch, we add sand in order to increase air flow, water movement and firm the playing surface. This is a very labor intensive process, but it is essential to maintain healthy grass and firm, consistent playing surfaces. 

Every year the course is closed the week after Labor Day so that we can get aerification done. If the weather cooperates, we are able to get all the greens and fairways done in four days. However, we got a bit of rain yesterday which delayed our start, but we will have all the greens done by tomorrow and should have more than half of the fairways done by the end of the week. This is a great start for us and we will be able to get the rest of the fairways and all the tees done in the next week or two, ideally without disrupting play too much. For those interested I've included pictures of the process.

Aerifyer pulling 1/2" plugs. 

Plugs. 

Clean up with TC125 vacuum. These make life very easy for us. The alternative is shoveling them by hand. 

Green topdressed with sand. 

After the sand is dragged into the holes. Theses holes should be healed in 10-14 days. 

We know that this isn't ideal for you guys, as the weather is great and you probably would rather be playing than letting us aerify. But this is an essential process and the health and play-ability of the course would quickly decline if you didn't give us this week to aerify. Thank you!

Ian