Rain Persist into Championship Week ....Douglas Lowe, CGCS

For the Five Day Period 8/17 - 8/21

• Farm Rain Totals - 4.9 inches  /  Irving Park Totals - 3.6 inches

Unlike what was described in an earlier post concerning Member-Member week where we faced heavy rains on the prior weekend but were optimistic the courses could dry out, it is clear now that we will not dry out enough this week to get out and mow anything substantial other than greens.  While the cool weather, cloudy days and chemical applications of growth retardents have the warm season grasses growth rate slowed down the conditions going into the weekend will be far less than desirable.  Beyond the problems we currently face with tournament conditioning the long and persistent rainy periods this year have resulted in a few noticeable issues I want to briefly address.

Algae

Algae Development on Bermuda Fairway

While Algae is not all that uncommon on our green's surfaces it is rarely a problem on our higher mowed areas such as fairways.  The higher heights of cut and the more aggressive growth rate of warm season grasses usually does a good job in itself fending off the algae.  What we are seeing this year is that because areas are staying wet for so long the turf is thinning and algae is thriving.  This is nearly opposite of what we see in a normal year, which would result in the warm season grasses being at their highest level of thickness and health during the month of August. When conditions dry we will attempt to break up the algae and apply fertilizer in an effort to thicken and fill out some of these areas before the end of the growing season.

Earthworm Castings

Earthworm Castings on Zoysia Fairway

The earthworm problem is unlike I have ever seen. The soft moist soil provides ideal conditions for earthworm populations to explode.  Worm castings are the organic material that has been digested by worms.  Generally worm castings are very beneficial for the surrounding plants and the soil itself.  I have always viewed them as a nuisance that should be worked around if at all possible. This year is completely different in that the castings are so thick they completely cover the playing surface and even dull our mowers.  The staff has been working hard to go out and rake as many of the areas as possible and a few select treatments have been made to these areas to slow down their growth.

Zoysia and it's Low Tolerance for Poorly Drained Areas 

Poorly Drained Section of Zoysia on #11 Fairway

The picture to the right is an example of where we have been pushing excess water and silty thatch off the low areas in the Farm fairways.  The excess water in these areas has painted an otherwise pristine playing surface into a series of small black and browned out streaks.  When you consider everything we been through thus far this year the hardest thing to swallow has definitely been having to look at the low swales that stream through several of the Farm course fairways.  These areas were designed or contoured to funnel storm water quickly off the fairways.  While we knew these areas would need additional drainage over the next many years that time table was greatly speed up with this year's monsoon like rains.  The thick and thatchy nature of the Zoysia that makes it such a great surface to play off of is the same characteristic that retains moisture for longer periods of time.  As long as the grass has a reasonable number of drying cycles between rains it has shown it can fair very well. But there have been very few times this entire summer where the soils have completely dried.  In fact we have only watered fairways due to dry soils 5 times all year (5 growing months) using less than a million gallons of water. Compare that to a normal year where that number would be closer to 50 watering cycles and 15 million gallons of water. The good news is all the drainage we have installed this year is working great and once we get through the Club Championship we plan to continue adding new drainage to several more areas, which in fact will include the area shown above on hole #11.

Greens

#13 Green

Despite some of the problems we are dealing with on our warm season grasses our cool season greens are in very good shape for this time of the year.  Green speeds just taken off the Irving Park greens at 4:00 p.m. were right at 11 feet on the stimpmeter.  While there is little we can do to significantly improve the firmness of the surfaces due all the rains we have been able to lower mowing heights and roll as needed to get to proper tournament speeds. 

Tournament Conditions - Why Only for Tournaments? .....Douglas Lowe, CGCS

I recently overheard a member's comment during his Member-Member round on the Irving Park course and it went a little something like "Why can't course conditions be like this more often?  If they were I would play here a lot more."

Of course, from a Superintendent's perspective there are a lot different things going on in a such a statement. Without reading too many things into it I most definitively agree that conditions are better during tournaments as compared to general play.  For that matter conditions are generally better on weekends than during weekdays. In fact our Conditioning Standards clearly spell out higher levels of conditioning for tournament play as compared to general play.  It should really surprise no one that such is the case.  While our major events are not groomed anywhere near the conditions of a PGA or USGA event the facilities that host those events, no matter how nice they are, all step it up a notch for all those big type of tournaments.  But at the club level, I think people not only expect better conditions during a significant event but I hope those same "higher" level of conditions are also what attracts certain golfers to play in those events.

Of course in the end it all boils down to resources and infrastructure.  As the member's comment was made during his round at Irving Park, the whole issue of infrastructure definitely comes into play.  This year everyone knows we have experienced unusually high amounts of rainfall and as such the Irving Park fairways have been extremely wet and at times almost unplayable.  The bunkers which are not built to today's standards have also experienced an inordinate number of washouts leaving them in poor shape more often than normal.  The newly renovated Farm course with all it's new infrastructure has fared much better but even the drainage on this course has shown the need for additional work to be done. Despite heavy rainfall early in the week prior to the Member-Member both courses had an opportunity to dry out by the time the weekend rolled around.  So, we can't take much credit for that.  Rather we were just grateful the rains held off Tuesday through Saturday morning, which allowed us to present the membership with a fairly dry and firm Irving Park course setup.

The second part of the equation is fairly straight forward.  Starting about 10 days prior to the event we begin ramping up overtime.  Maybe just a few extra hours a day the week prior but the week of the event we typically work 12 hour days.  All that overtime equates to about 600 hours of time and a half pay.  In addition to overtime for the regular staff we also hire temporary help.  For the Member-Member we brought in 3 men at each course.  That equated to an additional 240 hours of temp paid labor that comes at a premium.  Of course all this is budgeted every year and it only occurs to this extent for a few key events such as the Ladies and Men's Member-Guest, Member-Member and Club Championship.

So, if we ultimately spend anywhere from $7,500 to $15,000 extra to create improved tournament conditions per event what would it take to try and create those conditions every week, maybe just during certain seasons, or maybe just weekends?  The answer is pretty simple.  It just takes money but unfortunately a lot of it. Statements like the one mentioned in the beginning of this article are not perceived as negative but rather more along the lines of common sense.  Everyone enjoys playing golf under good conditions.  Most enjoy it even more under great conditions.  For me it all goes back to our Conditioning Standards that attempt to define member expectations in a measurable fashion.  Those same standards also help us define what type of budget is needed to meet those expectations. Once a budget and a new set of standards are approved each year we do everything possible to live up to those standards.

Today being the day before the first round of the Wyndham Championship, I am sure a lot of our members will be making a visit to Sedgefield.  Hopefully for Sedgefield, the tour players, tournament sponsors as well as all of Greensboro the course will be in immaculate condition.  But just imagine, even with all their volunteers, if we spend $10,000 for a Member-Member what is being spent for the Wyndham.  My guess is a lot more than an additional $10,000 goes into to course conditioning for those four days of golf?

Back to Business as Usual - Douglas Lowe, CGCS

Leading up to the President's Cup was definitely a busy few weeks.  The staff should be commended for their hard work to repair whatever damage Mother nature threw their way and in turn getting the two courses in a very presentable condition.  A few things worth mentioning prior to President's Cup would include:

Building a new walkway for the bridge on #13 at Irving Park

Old Walkway

Old Walkway

The old stone walkway had more than outlived it's usefulness and had been allowed to fall well below a satisfactory level.  As such, it was decided that this area needed to be renovated and it needed to be finished before the President' Cup.

The work was hard but the idea was simple.  Get rid of as much of the unattractive and unnecessary landscaping as possible and go back with a set of simple wooden / brick steps and walkway.  Much of the landscaping was replaced with grass and the usable pieces of plant material were reintegrated into the new design.  The brick pavers were left over from the recent driving range project so the overall cost was less than a $1,000 when everything was finished.

We also continued our work on installing new drainage on the Farm course and as of this week we have installed nearly a 1,000 feet of additional french drainage and storm basins throughout the Farm fairways. The sod has been re-installed on the first set of drain lines on holes #2, #7 and #10 and new drainage has started on hole #6.

New Drainage Drawn out on #6

We had to get innovative with our pond management of hole #6 in order for it to be presentable for the President's Cup.  Algae, grass clippings, other dead plant material  and a lot of silt from the recent storms had it in pretty bad shape going into the week.  Without any help from pond aerators or fountains we found ourselves having to find a way to aerate the water and push everything to one side for removal.  Our Assistant Kyle Gentry came up with the great idea to use our turf blowers to churn the water and push everything to one side.  The idea work ed great and the pond was beautiful for the tournament.

But now that the President's Cup tournament is behind us it's time to shift gears back to standard maintenance mode with a few projects to work in before our next big tournament, which will be the Club Championship on August 24-25. The primary thing we will be working on will include additional drainage projects at the Farm for the next two weeks.  This style of drainage work is very labor intensive so we get as much done as we can between tournaments and once another major tournament approaches we shift gear and go back into conditioning mode.