Fairway seeding and upcoming maintenance

Fairway Seeding

This summer was very hot and extremely dry; our fine turf areas did very well despite the weather.  However there are a couple of exceptions on some small areas of our fairways where some turf thinned out and died. This week we slit-seeded these areas with bentgrass, topdressed with sand, and used covers to quicken the germination process.   These areas are small and are found on #1, #6, #9, #14, and #18. The picture below shows the final product.  Please do not hit off of the covers, they are marked as ground under repair. Thanks.

#1 after it has been
seeded, fertilized, topdressed,
and covered.

Chipping Green

With the chipping green closed for the season we took the opportunity to aggressively verti-cut, seed, topdress, water, and cover the entire complex to allow for faster recovery.  We will keep these covers on all fall and most likely when we open next spring.


Range Tee

Next week we will be working on the range tee so it can be ready for next season. We close the range tee this time year to allow it to heal in for next year’s play.  If we continued to hit off of the tee, most of the divots generated in October and November would not recover until late next spring. 

Next week we will be deep-tining, heavily over seeding, fertilizing, topdresssing and covering the range tee so that it will be in good shape for next season.

#13

The large depressions behind and to the south of #13 will be filled in with soil and seeded in the upcoming weeks.  Since we have a shortage of soil on the property, we will use plugs from our fairway aerification.

Depression on #13
Filled with plugs from aerification.

Naturalized Areas

In the closing weeks of the 2012 golf season we will be mowing down the natural “fescue” areas found throughout the course.  By mowing these areas we keep out larger weeds, shrubs and trees from taking over the fescue grass that was planted.  These areas have come a long way and should be greatly improved next season.  Natural areas while not maintenance free, do cut down on rough mowing and add texture to the golfing landscape.

Natural Area on #12


 
Small Improvements



In the coming weeks we will be adding some more mulch to bare areas just at the end of cart paths.  So far this has worked well and looks much nicer than it did previously.  Also we will be adding some more rock barriers to the edges of our cart paths to keep traffic from trampling turf.  We have recieved some nice comments on the rocks and we hope to slowly incorporate more from now until next season.    











Fairway Aerification Update

So far tee and fairway aerfication has been great!  The nice dry weather has allowed us to get a lot accomplished. To date almost all of the fairways and tees are completed except #2 and all par 3 holes.  The holes that are completed look very clean and in most cases almost completely healed in already.  If the weather cooperates and our equipment continues to hold up we should get done by early next week.  



Taken from #3 fwy
day of aerification



#12 Fwy one week after aerification.











 

Reminders

Chipping Green

Today September 19th, the chipping green is closing for the season to let the green and approach heal in for next year.  The green has many design flaws but we hope to make it more playable for next season.  We are going to overseed and topdress this area so it is imperative that we keep people off so seed can germinate effectively. 

Driving Range Tee

October 2nd the grass portion of the range tee will be closing for the season. The driving range will still be open but hitting off mats only. Keeping people off of the grass portion will allow the tee to heal in for next year's practice.

Core Aeration of Fairways and Tees

Starting September 24th fairways and tees will be core aerated.  We will be aerating one hole at a time to minimize its affect on play.  Winter rules are in effect on fairways that are or have been aerated. Thanks!

Upcoming Events

September 10th

Next Monday September 10th, we will be deep needle tining, topdressing and overseeding greens.  Deep needle tining has been done 5 times already this year with little affect on playability.  If you come out to play next Monday you can expect some inconsistencies in the greens, because each green will be in different stages of completion.  Please be patient while we finish this important process and greens should be back to normal by Tuesday.

What can I expect the greens conditions to be like after Monday?  The greens should be good other than the obvious small holes and maybe some sand. Ball roll and smoothness should be fine because the holes are only 0.18" in diameter and heal in very quickly. The first couple of times this process was done it went unnoticed by golfers.

Why are we deep needle tining and what are the benefits?  This process has shown to greatly improve the health of our greens.  This entire summer season we had roots over 8-10" in ALL of our greens despite one of the hottest summers on record.  With warm September soil temperatures we aim to enhance our root structure even further.  Enhanced root structure is not the only benefit to deep needle tining, water infiltration and compaction relief are just a couple of other side benefits to this process.


September 24th-??

We will begin core aerification of our fairways and tees on Monday September 24th.  This process will be the same as last year with one fairway done at a time.  Once a fairway has been cored, picked up and blown we will move on to the next hole.  This will minimize the amount of disturbance to one hole at any given time.  Last year this process took 17 days.  We hope to stay around this number this year but that will depend entirely on weather and any mechanical issues. Please play winter rules on fairways that have been or are in the process of being aerified.

Fall Fling September 8th

It's never too late to sign up for the fall fling, it is a fun format and we hope to see you this Saturday.  

Range Tee

An area of focus in the coming days is on the range tee. The picture below shows some areas of the tee that need some significant healing.  The hot, dry June and July has made seed germination difficult thus healing has not taken place. The turf is still very thin and crabgrass has started to germinate in some areas of the tee. 



Middle of the range tee.


Our plan of action involves a few small steps: i.) spray for weeds ii.) fertilize to encourage more vigorous growth. iii.) over seed the tee surface iv.) apply more water to encourage seed germination v.) repeat these steps as necessary in the upcoming months.

In the future, there is a way members can help us improve the range tee that involves how they practice.  The picture above shows random divots and large circular patches, these areas take longer to heal.  From now on, we would ask that you to follow the diagram below as a way to help make the practice tee the best it can be! Thanks!   

Bentgrass vs. Poa Revisited

Earlier in the year, I talked about the benefits of promoting hearty grasses like bentgrass over weaker grasses like Poa.  Right now, we sit in the middle of the golf season and I thought it would be a good time to update our progress. 

When I came to Ridgeway in 2010, our putting surfaces were 70%-100% Poa.  As we look at our putting surfaces today, almost all the greens with the exception of maybe 2,4, and the putting green have over 50% bentgrass.  Some greens like 1, 3, 7, 12, 14, 16, 17, and 18 have over 70% bentgrass populations. With greens like 1 and 12 having 90+% Poa just a couple of years ago, this is a remarkable turnaround.   

The results are staggering to say the least, and many of you have made positive comments on the progress. It just goes to show how making and following through with a plan to improve the long-term health of the greens at Ridgeway can be achieved with just a few key decisions.    

There are many factors that have benefited this proliferation of bentgrass; a few are: i.) improving sunlight around greens by selective tree removal, thus improving carbohydrate reserves, ii.) keeping the plant drier with more conservative watering practices, iii.)  changing  the fertility rates, type and timing, iv.) increased use of greens rollers and reduced mowing, v.) frequent deep-tine aeration, and vi.) XGD drainage.  Other factors like the weather have actually helped our cause this year.  Hot, dry weather has helped promote our bentgrass populations in harmony with our long-range, nutritional, and cultural practices.  

We will continue to promote bentgrass and hopefully will continue to see results, but there are a few long-range items that must not be overlooked.  Ridgeway has been dry all season, but once heavy rains come again like in 2010-11, bentgrass and Poa will be unhealthy.  The cure is simply identifying which greens are good candidates for either internal (XGD) or surface drainage.  Long-term drainage solutions in conjunction with our ongoing cultural and nutritional practices will go a long way in continuing the trend of making Ridgeway's greens healthy, consistent and playable.

Below are some pictures taken from earlier this year and some pictures showing the contrast between Poa and bentgrass roots.  It is astonishing to see the difference in root depth between the two grasses but it is also great to see such good roots after one of the hottest summers on record.




Picture of Poa roots 2-3" down
Taken July 2012



Bentgrass roots growing 9-10+" down.

Taken July 2012














#1 green taken April 2012
Notice how dense the lime green
Poa is on the left of the picture.



#1 green in the same as the picture
left in July 2012 almost
 100% bentgrass.