Fall Means Leaves and More Leaves

 

Fall Sunrise on #5 Farm Course

Fall Leaves

While the leaves started falling several weeks ago, going forward there will be days where they will blanket the courses.  For the next 6-8 weeks the staff on both courses will spend the vast majority of their time cleaning leaves from the playing areas in an effort to make the courses playable and to ensure everyone's round is more enjoyable.  There will be times when Mother Nature simply does not cooperate with our efforts, and we simply lose the short-term battle.  This week's cold front, where rain is in the forecast followed by winds blowing10-20 MPH, will be a good example of a time we will likely get well behind. This is a good time of the year for your group to consider a Leaf Rule before teeing off.  Most people utilize a leaf rule when a ball is seen going into an area heavy in leaves, and upon searching the area when the ball cannot be found, they are then allowed to take a free drop in that same area.  

Stately Tree Had to Come Down

#8 Irving Park Willow Oak Split

The large Willow Oak behind #8 green on the Irving Park course recently formed a huge split at the top of the primary trunk all the way to the base of the tree.  This was one of the bigger trees on the property with a canopy that stretched nearly 100 feet across.  Due to the immense canopy and the severity of the crack the tree posed a severe threat to anyone's safety that found themselves in close proximity to the damaged tree.  Once the split was identified the holes on that part of the course were closed and a tree service was called in the next day to remove the tree.  There is a large area beneath the now removed tree that was mulch and will be temporarily seeded for the winter months and will be sodded next spring.  We deferred sodding warm season grasses this time of the year because these types of grasses would be subject to winter damage as they will not have time to establish any type of root system. 

Farm Tough Day November 4 

One doesn't have to search the internet too hard to find some really creative Tough Day setups.  Some might even say hateful.  Our tough day is more focused on pure golf without any of the extra distractions.  Pins are guaranteed to be challenging, but playable.  The weather forecast on Saturday looks to be great, so for those of you who want a really good test of your skills be sure to sign up for this year's Tough Day on the Farm course.

A Not So Perfect Spring Transition

 WARM SEASON GRASS - SPRING TRANSITION UPDATE

Now that soil temperatures are starting to warm it is becoming apparent the short burst of cold air in late December has done some damage to certain areas of the two courses.  The Irving Park course has suffered the most damage, but the Farm course is not immune. As is the case with most years where we have experienced a measurable amount of winterkill or winter damage the areas affected are in the less-than-optimal growing areas.  These areas include wet areas, dry ridges on tops of mounds, dried out bunker surrounds, and the usual areas to include shady zones and north facing slopes. 

As is customary the Irving Park course has the most amount of damage with the majority of damage occurring in poorly drained areas, which we all know the drainage issues on the IP course are numerous. In the areas where there was only one underlying factor such as poor drainage the damage appears to be limited to the top 3/4 inches of the turf.  This means there are live healthy roots deeper in the soil that will eventually migrate to the surface, but the turf will be thin, and it will take an extended period of time and effort to get these areas to fill in.  Areas where there are multiple underlying growth limitations such as poorly drained soils in shady areas or compacted areas or north facing slopes the turf will be even slower to come back and will likely have to be replaced with new sod.  The reasoning is fairly simple.  Rooting systems in normally healthy growing locations are much denser than those with multiple limiting factors.  For example, a defined area of healthy turf may have 100 inches of root matter.  That same defined area of turf growing under multiple limitations may only have 30 inches of root material.  If you damage 50% of the root material the healthy area still has 50 inches of root material whereas the limited area know only has 15 inches and will not likely have enough root mass left over to regenerate a healthy stand of turf in an appropriate amount of time.

The Farm course will also see some hurdles to get it back to where the membership is accustomed to seeing it, but the fairways are Zoysia which is much more winter hardy, so the scale of damage is much lower. While Zoysia is much more winter hardy it does not tolerate poorly drained soils for extended periods of time, which often occur during the winter months.  When the course was renovated in 2008-2009 a significant amount of drainage was installed and the staff has been adding new drainage every year since then, but it's a big course and we still have some work to do.

WHAT'S THE PLAN AND WHAT SHOULD EVERYONE'S EXPECTATIONS BE?

Sod is in short supply this year.  Not so much due to winter damage because that is restricted to a very small area of northern and central counties in NC and parts of Virginia, and this is by no means a large event for most courses.  Rather there are a lot of new courses being built and several courses currently under renovation that has large acres of turf under contract.  With that said, we will find what we need to make the necessary repairs, but we will need to be patient as it will become much more available once we get more into the hotter growing months of June and July.

IRVING PARK

The IP course will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, April 24-25 to allow us an opportunity to cultivate as many of the damaged areas as possible and to start applying the first of many extra fertilizer applications.  We will repair 10,000 square of the worst areas that are in play and deemed to be too slow to come back during the first and second week of May.  From there we will continue our fertilization program and begin preparing the course for the McAlister Cup.  That will put us into the month of June where we will be better staffed, and sod will become more available.  I would expect by the late June or early July the course should be restored to its normal condition.

FARM COURSE    

We expect to have any areas in the fairways that will not recover in a timely fashion repaired by the second week of May.  There are other areas on the Farm course that are of concern, but they are more standard areas of repair that we deal with on an annual basis and as they present themselves more clearly, they will be dealt with in a timely manner.

Wet Swale

Wet Swale

Wet Swale

Dessicated Mound

Desiccated Bunker Edge

Farm Wet Swale Just Above Drainage
Line

ON A LIGHTER NOTE,

The pickleball patio and landscaping is nearly complete and we hope the membership finds this area pleasing and useful.

.

Spring's Right Around the Corner

 Irving Park Aerification - February 27-28

Our first aerification of the year is almost here on our Bentgrass greens on the Irving Park course.  This is a crucial procedure that serves to provide ideal growing conditions for the plant throughout the spring growing season.  Our aerification program consists of three timely spaced-out procedures that are carefully designed to remove excess organic matter and compaction for the overall long-term health of the greens.  The late winter aerification is the slowest of the three to recover due to cool soil temperatures and a corresponding slow plant growth rate.  As such, conditions typically return to normal conditions over a three-to-four-week period depending on temperatures in March.

Topdressing and the Differences Between Bent and Ultradwarf Management

With temperatures warming up, the initiation of our topdressing program on the Farm Ultradwarf greens is most likely right around the corner, so I wanted to touch on the topic of our topdressing program on the Farm greens and why it is so different than that of the Irving Park greens.

One of the main differences between Bentgrass putting greens and Ultradwarf bermudagrass putting greens is the way in which they grow. Compared to Bentgrass, Ultradwarf Bermudas grow much more aggressively both vertically and horizontally. This leads to a much denser canopy and more rapid buildup of old plant material, thatch, and grain.

In order to provide a good putting surface this dense canopy needs to be thinned out, removing old plant material, and encouraging a more upright growth habit. This is done through frequent, light verticutting, which is usually done at a depth ranging from 1/16 ” - 1/8” deep. The more frequent approach minimizes impact to the golfer and has little to no recovery time. Topdressing rates vary depending on the season and the growth rate of the grass, but simply put a typical application of sand should not result in significant sand harvesting in the first mow cycle following a topdressing application.  Judging the sand rate is not a perfect science but spread rates are based on clipping yields prior to mowing and expected growth rate following topdressing depending upon factors such as future weather forecasts, recent inputs such as fertilization, and timing of plant growth regulator applications.

Ideally topdressing is done with light and frequent topdressing, which accomplishes many things in Ultradwarf putting green management. It for one, fills in any inconsistencies in the putting surface, adds firmness, reduces the impact of grain, reduces algae, and most importantly dilutes the organic matter in the upper soil profile, leading to better water infiltration, more oxygen for roots, and disease prevention. Again, more frequent light applications of sand affect play less, and ensure that the most sand possible stays in the plant canopy and does not get picked up by mowers.

Wrapping Up a Busy Winter Season

The staff on both courses has spent the last several months working hard to get the courses ready for the 2023 golfing season.  Just a few of the things they have been working on include but are not limited to:

• Daily maintenance of mowing or rolling greens, changing pins, raking bunkers, blowing the course clean, etc.
• Copious amounts of leaf removals
• Refurnish numerous course accessories. 
• Tree and Stumps removals with just a few trees and stumps left on the list.
• Adjusting and adding sand to bunkers where needed.
• Select cart path repairs on the Irving Park course with a few more on the schedule when warmer weather returns for good.
• Replacing the 30-year fence surrounding the Irving Park maintenance shop.
• Winter weed control on break through weeds with more needed once soil temperatures warm.
• Trimmed back 1,000's of ornamental grasses on the Farm course.
• Surprisingly enough, the Farm greens have only been covered twice this year, but March always has the potential for colder weather that may include future covering events.
• Both courses are nearly complete with pre-emergent weed control applications for summer weeds.
• Replanted the damaged section of plant screening on the left side of #12 on the Farm course to screen off Horsepen Creek Road.

Future Work

• Aerify IP greens February 27-28
• Apply nearly 800 yards of hardwood mulch to each course. 
• Before you know it begin mowing warm season grasses on both courses.