Many people have asked me why we have made the effort to aerify greens twice a year since our season is so short. Quite simply our greens need some long term modifying as it relates to organic matter, drainage, firmness, playability, etc. In the short-term after another record summer of high temperatures and rain our greens need this helpful process to improve plant health after this period of stress. Elongated roots, better soil oxygen, compaction relief, soil modification, and removal of unwanted organic matter are just some of the benefits of aerification.
I have a few helpful links that can further shed light on the subject. They relate to aerification and the need to aerify after the harsh weather we have experianced the past 2 seasons.
http://www.usga.org/Content.aspx?id=26535
http://www.usga.org/Content.aspx?id=25938
http://www.usga.org/Content.aspx?id=26162
http://http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/southeast/Aeration--Get-It-Done!---November-2009/
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Aerification Healing
Below are two pictures taken today from our 18th green. One is completely healed in and the other is almost completely healed. The heavy rains and a timely fertilizer application have helped the greens recover nicely. Today we are at day 12 and we are happy to say most of the greens have recovered or are close to healed in. This is surprising considering we went with 5/8" tines at the tightest spacing. Typically we have went with 1/4" or 1/2" tines, but the larger diameter tine was used to remove as much material as possible and allow for more root growth. The hot, rainy summer has greatly diminished our roots and this process will help greatly!
Overall the aerification went well except for a couple of mechanical problems that left blemishes on #2 and #16 greens. Both situations have been fixed and should blend in nicely over time. You may have noticed that we also aerified and topdressed approaches. This was done to allow for our approaches to mirror our greens in firmness, quality, and playability. Overtime with the same practice of aerifying with greens our approaches should firm up, drain better and produce more options around the greens.
Overall the aerification went well except for a couple of mechanical problems that left blemishes on #2 and #16 greens. Both situations have been fixed and should blend in nicely over time. You may have noticed that we also aerified and topdressed approaches. This was done to allow for our approaches to mirror our greens in firmness, quality, and playability. Overtime with the same practice of aerifying with greens our approaches should firm up, drain better and produce more options around the greens.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Labor Day Weekend
This morning we recieved more rain with more rain on the way. So far since yesterday morning we have recieved 2.5" of rain. Because we have recieved very little rain lately we are able to let carts out. However because our greens hold a lot of water we were unable to mow or roll greens this morning so expect greens to be slower. Hopefully we will get a break so we can mow and roll tommorrow.
Friday, September 2, 2011
High winds take down more trees!
This morning at around 9:30 we lost approximately 12 trees and some large branches. 70 + mph winds and heavy rain pelted the course leaving behind a large mess of debris. Most of the damaged trees where between #5, #13, and #14. Many white pines, ashes and silver maples where affected.
Currently we are cutting up the trees that are the most in play. Currently the greens are clear for play and tomorrow we will continue to blow tees and fairways. Also this weekend we will be working on the trees that are out of play to get them removed from the golf course. Tonight and tomorrow is calling for more rain and storms, hopefully without high winds. If we receive a lot rain in the next couple of days it may hinder removing the rest of the trees from the golf course in an efficient manner. Please be patient while we clean up the mess. Thanks.
For those who are curious, this is the 4th storm of the season that has taken trees from Ridgeway!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Weather, problems and solutions . . . oh my!
I haven't posted in awhile and I will make it a priority to keep the membership up to date on the relevant issues at Ridgeway Country Club.
Below is the July and early August high and low temperatures recorded here at Ridgeway CC. I put in the days where the high temperature was over 85 degrees or the low temperature was over 68 degrees. In many cases during this period, both the high and the low temperatures exceeded both marks. In fact, we had a 10 day stretch where the temperature was never lower than 68 degrees and as high as 96 degrees. As you may recall we had many days of high humidity and dew points in the upper 60's and low 70's. In this time frame we also experienced 8.2" of rain which only made the situation worse. Excessive heat both daytime/nighttime, high humidity, excessive rain events, little wind, and dew points in the 70's in not a good situation for turfgrasses. Keep in mind that turfgrass roots die-off at 70-72 degree soil temperatures. Rainfall and high humidity kept the soil oversaturated and on certain greens we saw some decline. The combination of all of these weather factors, our heavy clay soil profile, lack of ability to evacuate water after rain events, our grass types (mainly Poa annua), poor air circulation, and weakened areas from winterkill all are contributing factors to turf decline. #6, #9, #12, and #13 green thinned out in areas and we took a conservative approach to managing these greens. Skipping mowing, high heights of cut on these greens, decreased rolling all kept these greens healthier. By simply mowing #6 green from .140" to .160" we saw rapid recovery in the low areas of this green.
Here is the days of note from July 1st-August 3rd.
July 1st 92/75
2nd 88/68
3rd Nice
4th 87/60
5th 88/68
6th-7th Nice
8th 88/62
9th 87/64
10th Nice
11th 90/70
12th-15th Nice
16th 87/69
17th 93/71
18th 92/72
19th 92/70
20th 96/72
21st 81/71
22nd 88/69
23rd 86/72
24th 82/68
25th 85/62
26th- 28th Nice
29th 88/66
30th 91/65
31st 90/69
Aug 1st 86/72
2nd 84/74
3rd 83/71
What does this mean from the golfers perspective? It means you may have greens that are not mowed or rolled. Also some that are mowed, are cut higher than healthy greens, so some inconsistent speeds are to be expected. Overall the greens in these types of situations will be slower overall. The #1 priority is to maintain turf health, not green speed! Being as conservative as we have been, we still had areas of decline but luckily the areas were small.
The weather has been great lately and we have not had hot, rainy weather; so why have green speeds and firmness not reflected what we are used too despite the nicer weather? It would seem that once the weather gives way we could go back; pick up speed and firmness on the putting surfaces. But in reality, the roots we had at the end of June are nonexistent. In some cases we have roots that are less than 1" in depth. This means we still need to be conservative with greens heights and water more frequently than we would like too. A higher height of cut, in the long run, will equal deeper roots. The recent dry weather has been good but we must keep things wetter because the roots are at the surface. Last Sunday and Monday we core aerified greens and this process will bring much needed relief to Ridgeway's putting greens.
What are the solutions to our problems?
There are many solutions to the problems that plague Ridgeway's greens. The weather is one solution that is out of our hands. But there are many other long-term solutions that can help us combat turf decline in adverse weather situations. I break down good greens in 3 main categories: drainage, sunlight, and air flow. They include:
1.) Improve the internal drainage on our problem greens. Examples would be #4, #6, #9, #11, #12, and #13. Internal drainage on these greens would allow for the evacuation of water thus making them more like our other greens. They would be healthier because excess water would not be trapped at the surface and allow for greater root growth. The likelihood of scalping and higher/different height of cuts on these greens would be greatly diminished. Stay tuned for more details . . .
2.) Continue to core aerify, deep-tine, and frequent sand topdressing. These processes will diminish the presence of organic matter which holds water at its surface. Other benefits are deeper roots, increased soil oxygen, firmer greens, smoother greens, thatch dilution, and less overall water holding capacity. These processes are vital to good greens health and playability. They are however invasive to the playability of the course and the benefits of a consistent program are not realized till years down the road! But those who adhere to these practices are healthier and more playable. Skipping these practices means we revert back to shallower roots, poor soil oxygen, more organic matter, and we lose the ability to condition the golf course in a manner that people have come to expect at other clubs.
3.) Environment: Air Circulation and Sunlight. We have done a great job of changing the environments of some of our putting surfaces by selectively cutting down trees. That being said we could do a little more to improve air flow and sunlight on some of our problem greens (i.e. #12). Also the addition of fans in certain areas of the golf course would help tremendously.
4.) Sound water management. This means deep and infrequent watering supplemented by hand watering when necessary. By going deep and infrequent we allow roots to dig deeper to search for water. Deeper roots=equals healthier plants. Over watering causes shorter roots, soft conditions, slower greens, disease issues, poor soil oxygen, and an increase in organic matter.
If Ridgeway continues to have a consistent program of topdressing, aerifciation, and water management we can slowly improve turf health and playability. Drainage and selective tree management will help curb turf decline in periods of stress. Lastly a little luck from mother nature would be nice too!
Below is the July and early August high and low temperatures recorded here at Ridgeway CC. I put in the days where the high temperature was over 85 degrees or the low temperature was over 68 degrees. In many cases during this period, both the high and the low temperatures exceeded both marks. In fact, we had a 10 day stretch where the temperature was never lower than 68 degrees and as high as 96 degrees. As you may recall we had many days of high humidity and dew points in the upper 60's and low 70's. In this time frame we also experienced 8.2" of rain which only made the situation worse. Excessive heat both daytime/nighttime, high humidity, excessive rain events, little wind, and dew points in the 70's in not a good situation for turfgrasses. Keep in mind that turfgrass roots die-off at 70-72 degree soil temperatures. Rainfall and high humidity kept the soil oversaturated and on certain greens we saw some decline. The combination of all of these weather factors, our heavy clay soil profile, lack of ability to evacuate water after rain events, our grass types (mainly Poa annua), poor air circulation, and weakened areas from winterkill all are contributing factors to turf decline. #6, #9, #12, and #13 green thinned out in areas and we took a conservative approach to managing these greens. Skipping mowing, high heights of cut on these greens, decreased rolling all kept these greens healthier. By simply mowing #6 green from .140" to .160" we saw rapid recovery in the low areas of this green.
Here is the days of note from July 1st-August 3rd.
July 1st 92/75
2nd 88/68
3rd Nice
4th 87/60
5th 88/68
6th-7th Nice
8th 88/62
9th 87/64
10th Nice
11th 90/70
12th-15th Nice
16th 87/69
17th 93/71
18th 92/72
19th 92/70
20th 96/72
21st 81/71
22nd 88/69
23rd 86/72
24th 82/68
25th 85/62
26th- 28th Nice
29th 88/66
30th 91/65
31st 90/69
Aug 1st 86/72
2nd 84/74
3rd 83/71
What does this mean from the golfers perspective? It means you may have greens that are not mowed or rolled. Also some that are mowed, are cut higher than healthy greens, so some inconsistent speeds are to be expected. Overall the greens in these types of situations will be slower overall. The #1 priority is to maintain turf health, not green speed! Being as conservative as we have been, we still had areas of decline but luckily the areas were small.
The weather has been great lately and we have not had hot, rainy weather; so why have green speeds and firmness not reflected what we are used too despite the nicer weather? It would seem that once the weather gives way we could go back; pick up speed and firmness on the putting surfaces. But in reality, the roots we had at the end of June are nonexistent. In some cases we have roots that are less than 1" in depth. This means we still need to be conservative with greens heights and water more frequently than we would like too. A higher height of cut, in the long run, will equal deeper roots. The recent dry weather has been good but we must keep things wetter because the roots are at the surface. Last Sunday and Monday we core aerified greens and this process will bring much needed relief to Ridgeway's putting greens.
What are the solutions to our problems?
There are many solutions to the problems that plague Ridgeway's greens. The weather is one solution that is out of our hands. But there are many other long-term solutions that can help us combat turf decline in adverse weather situations. I break down good greens in 3 main categories: drainage, sunlight, and air flow. They include:
1.) Improve the internal drainage on our problem greens. Examples would be #4, #6, #9, #11, #12, and #13. Internal drainage on these greens would allow for the evacuation of water thus making them more like our other greens. They would be healthier because excess water would not be trapped at the surface and allow for greater root growth. The likelihood of scalping and higher/different height of cuts on these greens would be greatly diminished. Stay tuned for more details . . .
2.) Continue to core aerify, deep-tine, and frequent sand topdressing. These processes will diminish the presence of organic matter which holds water at its surface. Other benefits are deeper roots, increased soil oxygen, firmer greens, smoother greens, thatch dilution, and less overall water holding capacity. These processes are vital to good greens health and playability. They are however invasive to the playability of the course and the benefits of a consistent program are not realized till years down the road! But those who adhere to these practices are healthier and more playable. Skipping these practices means we revert back to shallower roots, poor soil oxygen, more organic matter, and we lose the ability to condition the golf course in a manner that people have come to expect at other clubs.
3.) Environment: Air Circulation and Sunlight. We have done a great job of changing the environments of some of our putting surfaces by selectively cutting down trees. That being said we could do a little more to improve air flow and sunlight on some of our problem greens (i.e. #12). Also the addition of fans in certain areas of the golf course would help tremendously.
4.) Sound water management. This means deep and infrequent watering supplemented by hand watering when necessary. By going deep and infrequent we allow roots to dig deeper to search for water. Deeper roots=equals healthier plants. Over watering causes shorter roots, soft conditions, slower greens, disease issues, poor soil oxygen, and an increase in organic matter.
If Ridgeway continues to have a consistent program of topdressing, aerifciation, and water management we can slowly improve turf health and playability. Drainage and selective tree management will help curb turf decline in periods of stress. Lastly a little luck from mother nature would be nice too!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wind Strom takes down trees …
Monday morning at 9 AM we experienced a severe storm that produced 70 MPH wind gusts that knocked down several of our trees, most notably the beautiful Hickory tree right of #1 fairway. With the hard work of my assistant’s and our seasonal crew we were able to clean up the trees Monday. We expect to remove the stumps in the near future… Thanks!
Weather related diseases
With the unusual hot and humid weather we are experiencing the past few days Ridgeway is very susceptible to a variety of turfgrass diseases. Most diseases are fairly common and can be treated very easily because they are cured with our regular spray regimen. However, Pythium Blight is a disease that is very severe and can cause major damage in the right environmental conditions. Pythium affects most turfgrasses and can kill plants in a matter of hours in the right situations. Abnormally hot humid weather, along with untimely rains make this disease flare up. The pathogen is always present but it needs the right environmental conditions to affect turfgrasses. Pythium Blight is a water borne pathogen and can move very rapidly by water, foot traffic and even cart tracks. By simply walking in the disease you can spread it to other parts of the golf course and once the grass gets the disease it is dead in a matter of hours if not minutes.
We have sprayed our tees, greens, fairways, and green banks for the disease however because of the enormous cost of spraying rough it has been left untreated. The past several mornings we have noticed Pythium in our roughs. If you plan on playing golf in the early morning hours (i.e. before 8 AM) you may experience delays because we are diligently scouting the golf course for the disease. Your patience is needed to allow us to better keep the golf course out of harm’s way. If ropes are on the golf course please abide by them and do NOT under any circumstances walk into that area. If you need a ball please ask Jason Hogue, Bill Verbrick or myself to rectify any lost ball. You patience and understanding is greatly appreciated!
We have sprayed our tees, greens, fairways, and green banks for the disease however because of the enormous cost of spraying rough it has been left untreated. The past several mornings we have noticed Pythium in our roughs. If you plan on playing golf in the early morning hours (i.e. before 8 AM) you may experience delays because we are diligently scouting the golf course for the disease. Your patience is needed to allow us to better keep the golf course out of harm’s way. If ropes are on the golf course please abide by them and do NOT under any circumstances walk into that area. If you need a ball please ask Jason Hogue, Bill Verbrick or myself to rectify any lost ball. You patience and understanding is greatly appreciated!
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