Winter Topics ....... Douglas Lowe, CGCS

Bunker Sand Replenishment

The Farm course bunkers were constructed in 2009 to a specified depth of six inches.  That six inches was designed to naturally compact to a depth of four inches per USGA recommendations.  The naturally compacted depth of four inches generally provides an ideal playing surface that should provide for the top inch to be dry with the subsurface retaining some moisture.  Assuming the angularity of the sand meets USGA specs this should provide the golfer with an ideal hitting surface, which provides them with the best opportunity to make a quick recovery.
While the actual specifications and quality of sand has proven to be more than adequate we have seen a combination of factors that have resulted in the need to add a substantial amount of new sand to the bunkers in an effort to maintain the same outstanding playing characteristics that existed on opening day.  The first factor is related to natural compaction, which was expected.  The second factor is sand that is lost to outside influences such as wind, blowers and golfers all lead to a small amount of sand leaving the bunker, which adds up over time to a measurable level.  Losses from the above factors are generally budgeted for every year in the standard operating budget.
But what we have experienced at the Farm is a combination of  both expected sand loss and the original four inch depth not draining properly due to the sub-drainage system used in these bunkers.  The Farm bunkers were constructed with a top of line construction method known as Billy Bunker construction.  These bunkers are basically a scaled down version of the greens with extensive tile drains and a layer of gravel across the entire floor of the bunker.  On top of the gravel a layer of geo-textile fabric was installed to prevent the sand from migrating into the gravel layer.  This particular interface appears to be slowing down the natural water flow into the drainage area creating a wetter playing surface than is desired in the lowest points of the bunker.  In order for the water to properly flush through the sand profile we have found a slightly deeper sand zone is required to create enough head pressure to force the water into the gravel zone.  Over the past few years we have found that a 7-8 inch depth that compacts to six inches creates a large enough column of water for ideal drainage.
So what does all that mean?  It means to get the bunkers to "Best in Class" we are adding 2-3 inches to all the bunkers on the course.  We began this project one year ago and we have accelerated the work this year. By the end of this year we will have added nearly 400 tons of new sand to the bunkers.  This will result in getting all the bunkers on the course, with the exception of a few fairway bunkers on the back nine, to what we have determined to be the proper depth for maximum playability.  But no matter how good we get the bunkers never lose sight of the fact that these areas are hazards, so your best bet is to avoid them if you can.



Turf Paint - What's That All About?

#13 Irving Park

As many of the members have recently noticed we are experimenting with painting certain areas of the course to determine whether or not this practice might work for Greensboro Country Club.  This is a new trend spreading rapidly throughout the southern portions of the United States.  There are several reasons a Golf Course Superintendent would want to paint his turf but here are a few basic ones:

• To reduce inputs such as water, fertilizer, and fuel as an alternative for those courses that must consider an overseeding program on their warm season turf.
• Painting does save money compared to traditional overseeding.
• Painting provides golfers with a green color they enjoy when bermudagrass on golf courses is dormant and brown. 

This trend most likely started with courses painting their ultra dwarf bermuda greens in an effort to alleviate overseeding, which is a relatively low cost application. Now that ultra dwarf greens are spreading throughout the southeast Superintendents began asking if it works on greens why not tees and fairways.  For those courses that are pressured into overseeding painting is a very viable alternative.  But what you are seeing now are courses who have long since stopped overseeding are now painting as just another way to improve the overall look of the property throughout the winter months.  While our efforts thus far have not produced the overall look we are trying to achieve it does not mean it can't be done.  I have visited a few courses in recent weeks and from what I have seen it not only can be done but it does look really good when done properly with the right products.  Below is an example of the proper color that can be achieved.

The question, now that I know more about the cost, the methods of applications and the types of products to use, becomes where do I think this application would apply to either one of our two courses?  At around $800 per acre it becomes a very expensive option for large turf areas such as fairways (~$20,000 for one season - still a lot cheaper than overseeding).  Where it may be more applicable is on tees and driving range target greens.  While we did not spend any money this year and funds for 2013 are all but gone it does not mean we won't continue playing with these products in 2014.  So be on the lookout for more on-going research and if we do move forward with more painting let us know what you think.

By the way I failed to mention where the majority of the highly tuned turf painting techniques have really come from, which is the sports turf industry.  Anybody remember this photo?  I wish I could forget it!

NCSU vs UNC
Infamous Our State Logo

GCC Fall Projects ..... Douglas Lowe, CGCS

November in the Carolinas to most Golf Course Superintendents equates to several things.  For those of us still hanging onto Bentgrass putting surfaces it means faster greens and less stress.  For those of that play, it usually means we can once again occasionally play to our handicaps.  To those who still head out at the break of dawn every morning it means some really cold rides to wherever your going.  Layering is the fashion style for this time of the year with a clean shop in the morning and jackets scattered everywhere in the afternoon.  Mowing grass this time of the year generally gives way to dealing with leaves, that on any given day, fall from the trees like a steady rain.  Few venture onto the course this time of the year without some sort of blower.  Backpacks, turbine pull behinds and PTO tractor mounted blowers are the standard pieces of equipment for this time of the year.

Turbines and Tractors hard at work

While both courses pose there fair share of problems with heavy deciduous tree populations the Irving Park course can be especially difficult at times.  As everyone knows this course is lined with public streets and very maintained lawns.  Nearly every leaf that drops from a tree on this property has to be blown into a pile or row to be collected.  Once collected they are temporarily dumped in a small holding area at the shop to be eventually hauled away to a local yard waste landfill.  By the end of the leaf season close to a one hundred truckloads of leaves are collected and removed from the property.

If you are fortunate enough not be on leaf detail that means you have been assigned to take on one of the many off season projects that take place this time of the year.  At the Farm that may mean cleaning up overgrown plant material on one of the many lake dams throughout the course.  Tree pruning and tree removals also begin to take place during this time of the year.  At the Farm we have switched gears from drainage work in the fairways to replenishing bunker sand in select bunkers where the sand is no longer at an optimal level.  We expect to add nearly three hundred tons of sand over the next few months to improve the overall playability and drainage characteristics of these bunkers.

A couple of our key staff members at the Irving Park course have spent every day for the last several weeks working on a patio enhancement project near the practice putting green.

In the recent membership survey the membership made clear they would like additional outdoor dining and entertainment areas. One initial result of that feedback was to create a small sitting and dining area by adding new outdoor furniture, blue stone pavers, a small brick sitting wall and quaint fire bowls. This project was a true collaborative effort with our new GM, Steve Matlaga and Board member Garson Rice offering some key direction and objectives for the area.  Staff members from both golf course maintenance, Greg Hopkins and Wes Proctor, worked side by side with the house maintenance team of Mark Hall and Jason Hall.  Despite the relatively small size of this area the project was very different from everyone's typical job and it couldn't of been done in-house without the multitude of talents all these guy's possess.

Building the Wall

Paver Base

Pavers In

Completed 1 week ahead of schedule

We certainly hope the membership takes advantage of this new outdoor space as the weather permits for this time of the year.  As noted this is leaf season and they fall hardest from mid-November to mid-December so please be patient with the staff as they work hard to get to all those fallen leaves. Lastly, this is also frost season so those of you signing up for those early morning tee times please make sure you check with the Pro Shop staff prior to your departure to the course if night time temperatures fall below 35 degrees.

Fall Nearly Upon Us ............ Douglas C. Lowe, CGCS

SHIFTING GEARS

Core Aerification

Heavy Rolling

Light Rolling

AERIFICATION
With the cooler weather settling in and the fear of 90 degree days becoming less likely the maintenance routine for the two courses begins to shift gears.  The cooler days of September not only brings stress and heat relief to the staff but the courses benefit greatly as well. The late summer/early fall season is the time of year to begin cultivating your cool season lawns through aerification, fertilization and sometimes reseeding. Our cool season Bentgrass greens are no different than many of the surrounding homeowner lawns in that we also take advantage of the cooler season to aid the plant in it's summer recovery.  Greens aerification, while very labor intensive, is well worth the effort.  Each green is core aerified.  The plugs are then removed and the green is then cleaned prior to filling the holes with topdressing sand.  The topdressing sand is then dragged across the green to fill in all the holes.  Excess sand is blown clear of the green and the rolling begins.  First we roll with a moderately heavy roller, which is followed up with daily rolling for the next 5-7 days.  Mowing generally begins 3-5 days out at slightly higher heights than normal.  Mowing heights are lowered over a two week period until we reach our standard mowing heights.  Finally, the greens usually take 3 weeks to fully recover.

Finished Product Up Close

 DRAINAGE WORK COMES TO AN END
The Farm maintenance staff began the laborious task of installing new drainage features throughout the course in early June.  To date they have installed nearly a half a mile of new drain lines and close to a dozen new storm inlets.  The last of this work will be concluded on Thursday as we lay new sod over all the most recently installed drain lines on holes 6,7, 11,16 and 17.

Protected Drain Lines Prior to New Sod

New Drain Basin on Hole #11

OTHER WORK LIST ITEMS

In additional to aerifying greens on both courses and wrapping up an extensive drainage project the staff has been busy preparing for the soon to be winter months.  While the grass has slowed down it is definitely still growing and everything is still being mowed on a regular basis.  Between the two courses we have applied preventative weed control products to over 200 acres of turf.  The Zoysia grass at each facility has been treated for Zoysia patch, which is a fall disease that causes unsightly and irregular patches throughout Zoysia grass  playing surface and if left unchecked can lead to severely thinned turf.  

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.

A Not So Good Start to President's Cup Week , Douglas Lowe, CGCS

Despite a nice little reprieve last week from the persistent rains we could be falling back into that very same weather pattern.  Last night (7/21) we had a storm that affected both our two courses.  The Farm recorded 1.6 inches of rainfall while the Irving Park course received a little over 3 inches.

Creek Inundated Bunker 

More Bunker Washing

Tree Damage

The Irving Park course was by far the most affected of the two courses with severely washed out bunkers and a significant amount of tree and creek debris for the staff to cleanup and remove.  The effect, especially at Irving Park, is the staff loses an entire day or more of mowing and conditioning to cleanup the damage left by this storm and to allow the course a chance to dry out.  While we hope this will be the last and only storm of the week the forecast does have higher than normal rain percentages for the next few days.  The real effect is we lose a lot of valuable manpower working on storm cleanup that we cannot makeup and all from a storm that will be long forgotten by the competitors of this weekend's event.