Topdressing the rough.

This week we have been trying a new type of topdressing sand in rough areas that are habitually wet. The sand we are using is made up of more coarse particles and the idea is that these bigger particle sizes will speed up the process of firming up the wet areas. We usually do all of our topdressing later in the year but theses areas are difficult to do in the fall because they are always so wet and we cannot run the tractor and Ty-Crop through without doing significant damage. However, those same areas are very firm this time of year and the grass is growing quickly enough that it can grow through the sand in a short amount of time. Also, while most of these areas are near play, they are generally out of the way and shouldn't really effect your round.

Beginning of 14 fairway where carts enter. Notice the sand plastered to the tree. 

Area between cart path and blue tee on #3. This area can be difficult to walk through in the spring and fall because it is so wet. 

Ian 

Milwaukee Organic Nitrogen

This is a great article about how Milorganite, an organic fertilizer that we use on the golf course, is made. Great conversation piece for the next hole-in-one happy hour!

Planet Air, localized dry spots and cart traffic.

This week we were able to run the PlanetAir on greens and on some of the dry fairway spots. This is a machine that vertically slices the playing surface, resulting in channels for increased air and water exchange leading to healthier grass and firmer playing surfaces. We haven't run this over greens for over a month so it was long overdue and should have a positive impact very quickly, especially considering the moisture issues we've had on the course. The best part about this process is how non-invasive it is. We ran it on Tuesday morning (and skipped mowing) and rolled behind and greens were actually faster than they were the day before when we mowed. It is a great tool to have in the shop.

PlanetAir on greens. I covered this in a post last year too.

One of the things that the PlanetAir helps with is water infiltration into localized dry spots. Mark went into what causes these in his post about water issues on the course. The water is able to overcome the hydrophobic soil and break up the dry spot by flowing through the channels that are created. It may seem counter intuitive to do damage to a stressed area, but it actually helps out a lot.

Localized dry spots are very bad on our tees. We are spot spraying wetting agent in these areas and hand watering. They will come back alright.

Finally, with all the dry weather you may notice that we have more of the green and white stakes out. We are trying to direct the cart traffic around some of the well worn rough areas. I know that sometimes these stakes are in places that cause you to take an indirect route and maybe even walk a bit farther but, if you could please work with us it will help out a lot. We move these every day and doing this helps rotate wear on the grass and keep it alive. Thanks a lot!

Grass that needs a day off!

Ian

Water, Water, Everywhere

I have been asked repeatedly about the wet conditions on the course, so I wanted to give an explanation as to why this has occurred.  First of all, I would like to say that August 15^th marked my 10 year anniversary as the golf course superintendent at Barrington.  I guess my reason for bringing that up is because these conditions have not been the norm over my tenure here.  There are many factors that are causing the wet conditions this year, it’s not as simple as just applying too much water.

As you remember, we had several months of near record rainfall this spring.  Normally, we apply a wetting agent to the fairways in the spring.  Basically, the wetting agent acts like a soap, allowing the water to soak in faster, as well as keeping it in the upper soil profile for a longer period of time.  The wetting agent we use lasts for three months, so once it is applied, it stays there, no way to get rid of it.  We didn’t apply the wetting agent this spring because it was raining almost every day.  It would have kept the course far too wet.  So, now that the rains have stopped, we are having problems with water infiltration into the soil.  Basically, the water beads up on the surface like a freshly waxed car, and runs into the low spots making them even wetter.  If we apply the wetting agent now it would help, but things will be too wet in September and October.

What we have occurring on the course are called isolated dry spots.  These are areas that are hydrophobic, meaning they repel water.  There can be a moist spot of soil literally within 6” of a spot that is so dry the sand will pour through your fingers.  Isolated dry spots occur because of a build-up of organic acids on the sand particles.  Fungi also cause isolated dry spots which are called fairy rings.  These are noticeable in the fairways as green circles about 6” to 12” around, with drought stricken centers caused by the fungal hyphae.  Isolated dry spots can be lessened by the application of fungicides and wetting agents, but both must be watered into the soil profile.   We have applied a special kind of wetting agent this week that is called a penetrant.   As the name suggests, a penetrant tries to break the surface tension of the water, allowing it to soak in.  It has no long lasting water holding capabilities.  These penetrants must be watered in immediately because they are alcohol based, which can easily burn the leaf blades, and it doesn’t work unless you wash it into the soil.

The third part of our perfect storm this year is the quality of our irrigation water.  The water has a very high pH and is full of salts and bicarbonates.  Bicarbonates are basically dissolved calcium in the water, which precipitates out as the water evaporates.  Again, this causes the soil to become hydrophobic.  We have a system attached to our irrigation pump station that injects acid into the water to help remove the bicarbonates and lower the pH.  This system has been operating, but it has had some issues, and has not kept up with the worsening water quality.  I think we have the problems with the system resolved, and we can keep the water around 6.5 pH from now on.

Believe it or not, the course is often the firmest immediately after a large rain event.  The steady rains flush the accumulated salts and bicarbonates right through the soil profile, giving things new start.

Finally, I would like to explain why you see my staff running sprinklers in the afternoon.  Contrary to popular belief, it is not to cause you frustration.  We can actually let the turf get drier if we cool off the wilting areas in the afternoon.  We are not watering at that time, we are running a sprinkler one revolution to cool off the stressed turf.  You will also see staff using hoses to hand water some areas that are not getting enough water because of poor sprinkler spacing.  Hand watering is the best method, because a person can apply the water only where it is needed, helping to alleviate sprinkler patterns.

Please understand that we are doing our best under these circumstances.  We are making a conscious effort to make the course play firm and fast every day, but sometimes there is a fine line between sustainability and playability.  I appreciate your comments about the course conditions, and I am trying to correct things as soon as possible.

Below is a photo of the isolated dry spots on #8 fairway.  Note the lack of dew in the drought stressed areas.

This is a closer look at the same area.  It’s a little hard to see , but the plug on the left is under drought stress, while the plug on the right has plenty of moisture.  These plugs are about 6” apart.

Mark 

Dry weather

What a difference a few weeks can make! We went from extremely wet to dry in a hurry. I'm sure you guys are all enjoying this as the course is quite firm and play-ability is much improved. We have been able to get a lot of work done with the drier weather and it is nice to feel like we're improving the course again, instead of just trying to get it back into playing condition after yet another rainfall. We finished planting trees, started topdressing rough areas and fixed some irrigation problems. 

When it rains everyday and the course is constantly wet it's tough to work on the irrigation system. It's difficult to find leaks when it's always raining because it's difficult to discern between an irrigation leak and a spot that is just wet because of rain. Once it quits raining and you still have a wet spot, then you likely have an irrigation leak. The same is true of irrigation heads. When it rains so much that we don't have to run the irrigation, we don't know what heads aren't working properly. So, when we start watering and notice dry spots by heads, we know that something is wrong. Either way a bit of simple trouble shooting usually gets us to the cause of the problem. So far we have found two leaks, about a dozen heads malfunctioning and some satellites not working properly. It's nice to get these things picked off. 

One example of a head not working properly. The head on the left was decapitated, likely by a mower, and as a result is more of a geyser than irrigation head. 

Irrigation leak at range. Fixing leaky Ts is the worst. 

I forgot to mention it last week in the prism post but, if you notice anything on the course that you feel needs addressed please let us know. You can email me or submit a comment on the blog. Though we try, we don't notice everything and it's easy for us to miss things like broken prisms or O.B. stakes that are out of place. So, please let us know and we'll be glad to take care of it. 

Ian