Fairway Aerification

We aerified all of the fairways today.  We use a different machine on the fairways than we use on the greens.  This machine is pulled behind a tractor and is ground speed driven (it pokes the same amount of holes wether you go 1 mph or 10 mph) and is a lot wider than our greens aerifier.  Fairway aerification is a lengthy process.  We start by pulling the cores from the fairway.  After they have been aerified, we drag the plugs.  This breaks up the plugs and makes them a little more manageable.  Once they have been broken up, we blow the fairways off with the tractor blower.  The last thing we do is mow the fairways.  This helps smooth out the tufts of grass left from the tines.  Over the next few days, we will mow them in different directions to help smooth them even more.
You may ask why we pull a core instead of just using a solid tine.  Pulling a core is a lot messier and a lot more work to clean up, but if we are going to aerify, pulling material out is the only way to go in my book.  If you use a solid tine, all you are doing is causing more compaction between the tines as the soil is just pushed tighter together.  If you remove the material by pulling a core, you are relieving compaction and also removing thatch and organic material.  This is the same wether you are aerifying a golf course, sports field, or a home lawn.

Here is Alex using the aerifier

Here is a close up of the machine and what the plugs and holes look like just after being pulled.

Andrew hard at work dragging the plugs with the steel drag

This is Mike using the tractor blower cleaning the debris left from the drag mat

And we finally mow the fairways to finish up the process

Here is the finished product

Awesome Day

One year ago today was one of the absolute best days of my life.  My daughter Lily Deraney Brown was born.  So, that means we celebrated her first birthday today.  My wife planned the party for about 5 months and everything was absolutely perfect.  Lily was surrounded by friends and family and was absolutely spoiled for over 2 hours (some people say this is no different from any other day).  Days like this really make you sit back and think what is really important in life and make you grateful for everything you have.
I know this post was not related to the golf course in any way, but some people said they would like to see a little more personal side of me on the blog.  Today was one of those days that I just wanted to share.  I am a VERY proud husband and father, so sorry if I go overboard on the pics on this one.  Thanks for reading.

Here is Lily at her party at nursery yesterday.

Mother and daughter. ( My wife Chastity)

Lily checking out the incoming guests.

Checking out the balloons  

Lily thought I could use some cake.

Help Stop The Vandalism

Last night between 6:30 and 8:00 someone took a cart from the clubhouse and drove on the green on #5. They did some donuts on the green and then did even worse damage in the approach. After this, they drove in the bunker and got stuck on the way out. We have some information from the cart staff on duty and also have some video of the kid(s) in the clubhouse prior to getting the cart. If you have any information, please contact me at (404) 925-9313. When something like this happens, we will find out who does it and they will be held responsible. Whether that means paying for damage or getting the police involved for the actual vandalism. This is your course, so please help us keep it nice. This is senseless and uncalled for.

New Divot Mix Containers

Today we put out divot mix containers on all of our par 3 tee boxes.  Each container has sand and a scoop in it and will be placed right behind the tee marker.  Please use these to fill and smooth your divots.  This will really help our tees grow back in smooth.  If the divots are not sanded, the grass will grow down into the divot causing an uneven tee.  This leads us to have less tee area to set up on. 
Hopefully the rain will hold off for the weekend and you all can take advantage of the nice temperatures.  Hope to see you out on the course.

Here is the container on #17 white tee

Ant Control

This is the time of year when everyone loves to come out and play golf. Unfortunately it is also the time of year when ants like to build their mounds. This is very irritating and very unattractive for the course. Since we are starting to see the ant mounds popping up, we decided to treat all low cut areas with a product that will kill any existing ants and prevent any more from building mounds throughout the season. Since we maintain 100+ acres of turf, we can't justify treating it all. We have about 28 acres of low cut turf (tees, fairways, collars, approaches, and greens) that we will treat. We will spot treat the other 70+ acres as needed when we see mounds. We will also be treating proactively around all bunkers to be sure no mounds are built on the edge of a bunker because this will cause the red mound to contaminate the white bunker sand.
Thanks for your support and enjoy this terrific golfing weather.

Mow, Mow, Mow

If you haven't been to the golf course in a week or so, you are in for a surprise. It looks like summer time. With the soil temps getting into the 70's, everything has really taken off. Last week, we mowed all of the tees, collars, approaches, fairways, and rough. This was the first time we have sent the mowers out and actually mowed any grass. Now that we have started mowing, you will be seeing us out there a lot more. We try to get out ahead of the golfers, but because of our crew size we can't always stay ahead of everyone on everything. The rough takes us the longest because there is more rough than anything else. We mow rough 5 days a week and can make it around the entire course about one and a half times a week. We mow fairways, tees, collars, and approaches twice a week usually (depending on need). We are still mowing greens 7 days a week and we roll them as needed.
Hope to see you out there soon.

Busting Out

When we came in to work yesterday, we were greeted with what seemed like a brand new course. With the warm week last week and the two rain events, the Bermuda grass went crazy. It seems like everything greened up. There are some areas that are slow to green up. Most of these areas are in the shaded areas and are heavily traveled with cart traffic. We try to corral cart traffic by a few different methods. We use ropes, signs, and our traffic posts. We will continue to ask you to not drive over the same areas when leaving or returning to the cart paths. Please try to avoid any areas that are beat down or thin and try to use our traffic posts to guide your travels. We will be re-sodding some of these areas throughout the spring and summer, so please watch for new sod and definitely stay off of it.
With the greening up of the course, we will be out more and more on mowers. Our guys are trained that all golfers have the right of way and they should pull off to the side as soon as they can when golf approaches. Please watch out for the guys and have a little patience because some of the machines are slow and may take a minute to move out of the way. Thanks for your understanding and we hope to see you out on the course more often.

Masters Week 2013

It's that time of year again. Time for the best golfers in the world to make the ride down I-20 to Augusta. The time of year when every person who has ever thought about golf tunes in to check out Augusta National Golf Club. Some people watch to see the beautiful green grass and amazing blooming azaleas and dogwood trees. Some tune in to see their favorite golfer have a chance to win a green jacket.
Some people who have lived their entire life under a rock may ask what makes The Masters such a special tournament. It is the only major championship that is played at the same place every year. Augusta National Golf Club is always in seemingly perfect condition. Some people just watch to see what the big deal is. Whatever reason people watch, the fact is that people watch. And when people see golf at that level on a course that beautiful, they come out and play. This is a wonderful time for golf course owners and managers. This is one of the best weeks every year to help grow the game.
But watching on television can never compare to going to the tournament and walking the grounds. Whether it be on a practice round watching guys skip balls across the water on 16 or the Par 3 tourney on Wed. or a tournament day, there is no place better. I get goosebumps when I think back to some of the years when I have been in the past and have heard the roars and watched the scoreboards to see what the roar was from. You quickly learn the difference from a birdie roar or an eagle roar. There is no beating a hole in one roar. It is truly an unforgettable experience. If you have never been, I suggest you put it on your bucket list.

I took this from #16 tee the year I volunteered. 

 This was taken the week before the tournament in 2009.

Fungicide Application

Yesterday we applied two fungicides to the greens.  With the soil temperatures on the rise, we have to start getting preventative for the summer diseases.  We closely monitor the soil temperature and when the 4" soil temperature reaches the 55-65 degree range for over a five day period it is time to start our preventative program.  The first disease we targeted is Fairy Ring.  This appears in the summer, but the fungicide is applied now.  It is a two time application with the first app going out yesterday and the second app coming 21 days later. 
The second disease we started targeting yesterday is Pythium Root Dysfunction.  Pythium is one of the scariest diseases for bentgrass in the summer.  It can completely kill a green in hours.  All forms of Pythium are what we plan for most in our preventative fungicide plan.  We started our rotation of chemicals yesterday and we will continue every two weeks until after our fall aerification.

New Turf Breeze Fans

Over the last few days, we have been in the process of adding 2 new fans.  We got these fans from one of our courses that is converting their greens to Bermuda.  We installed one of these off the back left corner of #18 green.  The other one was put up off the back right corner of #12 green.  This gives us an electric fan on the greens on holes 4, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, & 18.  We also have our 3 gasoline powered fans that we will use this year, so we will have a fan on over half of our greens. 
There are several benefits of these large Turf Breeze fans.  They allow air movement over greens at a speed of up to 4 mph up to 150'.  Usually this is on a green that otherwise would not have any air movement.  This helps by cutting down on disease pressure. They will also cool the surface of the green up to 10 degrees.  That 10 degrees can be the difference in life and death for the greens late in the summer.  The fans also help dry the surface a little faster after a rain event which also helps in alleviating disease pressure.
I think the impact of the fans we have installed on the greens in the past two years speaks for its self.  Two years ago we installed fans on #4 and #11 green.  Those were two of our worst greens and after the fans, they were two of our best.  Last year we installed an electric fan on #13 and parked a gas fan on #5.  These greens performed better than they ever have last year.  We are excited to have these two new weapons in our arsenal to help in the battle this summer.

The first step is to use an auger to dig a hole for the mounting pole. 

The pole is installed about 5' deep and concrete is poured around the pole for support.

The fans are very heavy.  We had to use a backhoe to place the fan on the mounting plate.

Once the fan is lowered onto the ground pole, the bolts are tightened down.  Now the fan is ready for the power to be hooked up.  We will be trenching for the power next week and the fans will be ready for the summer months.

Here is the new fan on #12

Here is the new fan on #18

Vertical Mowing Greens

Today we verticut our greens.  This is the practice of vertically mowing the greens with blades that slice into the surface of the green.  We did not get aggressive today.  We like to call what we did today a little tickle. 

Vertical mowing has a number of benefits for our greens.

1. Reduce thatch in the top layer of the green. Thatch is a combination of living and dying plant material which accumulates in the top mat layer of the green. Most greens should have approximately 1/2" of thatch(mat) which help protect the turf from injury and impact from golf balls.
2. Incorporates sand into the thatch layer which helps with oxygen exchange and protects the crowns(growth center) of the plant. Oxygen allows the microbes to thrive in this layer which help in keeping the thatch layer broken down. This allows for water penetration and the release of nutrients into the roots of the plant. Greens that have too much thatch have a tendency to feel spongy when you walk on them and will ball mark rather severely.
3. Bentgrass by its very nature will prefer to lay over to the side. Turf that is laid over will become long creating more surface area for the ball to roll upon which then creates drag on the golf ball.  We want the turf to stand up straight so it will be cut cleanly and consistently. Topdressing sand will be able to be worked around the upright grass blades which reduces friction on the ball which increases speed.
4.  The slicing action that the verticutter uses to do its work causes bentgrass to rejuvenate and promotes new growth. This will help in recovery from aerification.

This is a close up of the mower blades. 

Here is Alex using the vertical mowing reels on a riding tri-plex mower on the greens.

Here is a view after the green was mowed.  The lines are barely noticeable right after the mowing and they will not be seen after a mow and roll the next day.

Dead Tree Down

We had to have a dead pine tree removed from the side of the cart path on #7 today. The tree cracked at the bottom and was leaning toward a home. We had to get a tree company to come in and do the work. It was too dangerous for our guys to deal with.