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.