The USGA recently published a great article that outlines the importance of greens aeration that serves to explain just why this is still a necessary part of a good greens maintenance program. Each year we try to get more and more out of our putting greens while reducing the inputs that can temporarily disrupt play such as aeration. This article explains why we can't cut back on this necessary program.
http://turf.lib.msu.edu/gsr/article/bevard-putting-3-4-11.pdf
Scott
Showing posts with label Greens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greens. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Snow and Ice Management
In an effort to prevent the damages that we experienced in 2009-2010, my Assistant Nate and I have been spending quite a bit of time on the course monitoring the greens specifically and taking preventative and corrective measures to minimize the possibility of damage like what we experienced last year.
Starting on November 19, with the help of two assistants from the Merit Club we were able to get non-permeable covers installed on greens 10 and 12. These covers began in Minnesota where numerous people install hockey rinks in their yards and the cover was used to prevent the death of the yard under 4" of ice. From there they grew into successful covers for greens throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin where large ice accumulation can occur.
The photo at the left shows the final stakes being put in place to hold the cover in place for the winter. This is a big process which requires a lot of manpower to get accomplished not only due to the size and weight of the covers but also the foam matting that goes underneath the cover. Before the cover goes down, we first have to unroll 9 foot wide rolls of packing foam across the entire green before the main cover goes down. This is to allow some cushioning and allow for gas exchange underneath the cover. On top of the foam layer, we ran a flat vent tube with holes every 3 feet that we can attach to a blower and circulate air under the cover.
Up until the end of December, the year had been going along almost exactly and we would prefer with cold temperatures and frozen ground underneath a blanket of snow. December 29, 30, and 31 brought us a new challenge however when the temperatures warmed enough to melt nearly all of the snow that had fallen to that point in the year. On December 31, Nate and I spent the day going from green to green to squeegee water off that had been left behind from the melting snow. The day was going well until we reached number 5 green and found snow cover with approximately 1" of water right at the surface of the green... we knew this would freeze by the next morning if we didn't remove it now.
The picture at left shows the water logged center section of the green which we were able to push off with the squeegee, the rest of the snow we had to push off with shovels in order to assure that further melting didn't cause ice problems.
After we cleared nearly all of #5 green of snow and water it was beginning to rain so we hurried to #4 which is suspected may be in similar condition with snow and water covering the surface, unfortunately I was right. Below are photos of # 4 green from December 31 and then from January 5 and you can see the benefit that clearing the snow and water had, on the right side of the green there is no ice accumulation, unfortunately as you can see there is a bit on the left side from the rain that fell later in the evening on December 31.
At this point on the last day of January, we appear to be well ahead of the position we were in a year ago. There is a small amount of ice on #4 and 5 greens which we have attempted to melt and remove and ultimately we resorted to puncturing the layer of ice so the Carbon Dioxide can escape. Now we hope that the snow that is on the way doesn't melt and refreeze anytime before March and we should have a much better start to the 2011 season.
Scott
Starting on November 19, with the help of two assistants from the Merit Club we were able to get non-permeable covers installed on greens 10 and 12. These covers began in Minnesota where numerous people install hockey rinks in their yards and the cover was used to prevent the death of the yard under 4" of ice. From there they grew into successful covers for greens throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin where large ice accumulation can occur.
The photo at the left shows the final stakes being put in place to hold the cover in place for the winter. This is a big process which requires a lot of manpower to get accomplished not only due to the size and weight of the covers but also the foam matting that goes underneath the cover. Before the cover goes down, we first have to unroll 9 foot wide rolls of packing foam across the entire green before the main cover goes down. This is to allow some cushioning and allow for gas exchange underneath the cover. On top of the foam layer, we ran a flat vent tube with holes every 3 feet that we can attach to a blower and circulate air under the cover.
Up until the end of December, the year had been going along almost exactly and we would prefer with cold temperatures and frozen ground underneath a blanket of snow. December 29, 30, and 31 brought us a new challenge however when the temperatures warmed enough to melt nearly all of the snow that had fallen to that point in the year. On December 31, Nate and I spent the day going from green to green to squeegee water off that had been left behind from the melting snow. The day was going well until we reached number 5 green and found snow cover with approximately 1" of water right at the surface of the green... we knew this would freeze by the next morning if we didn't remove it now.
The picture at left shows the water logged center section of the green which we were able to push off with the squeegee, the rest of the snow we had to push off with shovels in order to assure that further melting didn't cause ice problems.
After we cleared nearly all of #5 green of snow and water it was beginning to rain so we hurried to #4 which is suspected may be in similar condition with snow and water covering the surface, unfortunately I was right. Below are photos of # 4 green from December 31 and then from January 5 and you can see the benefit that clearing the snow and water had, on the right side of the green there is no ice accumulation, unfortunately as you can see there is a bit on the left side from the rain that fell later in the evening on December 31.
At this point on the last day of January, we appear to be well ahead of the position we were in a year ago. There is a small amount of ice on #4 and 5 greens which we have attempted to melt and remove and ultimately we resorted to puncturing the layer of ice so the Carbon Dioxide can escape. Now we hope that the snow that is on the way doesn't melt and refreeze anytime before March and we should have a much better start to the 2011 season.
Scott
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Snow, not ice... this is a good thing!
I receive questions nearly every week asking how the current weather is affecting the greens. In determining the health of the greens, it is important to understand the different forces that can impact the grass negatively and understand what the ideal situation is. For us, the best thing that can happen is to experience a period of time with below 32 degrees to allow the ground to fully freeze then follow that up with a blanket of snow for insulation. In this scenario the snow acts as a blanket against the extreme cold that we experience here in the upper Midwest.
One of the difficulties in determining the health of the plant is that we are dealing with a living breathing organism and it is difficult for me to say exactly what is happening. I can only answer based upon what scientific data shows along with my instincts and experience. What I can tell you right now is that we are not currently experiencing any ice cover on the greens here at Kenosha Country Club, there was a small amount on the front right portion of #9 green but that has since been removed. Most of the greens have at least 70% snow cover and many are entirely blanketed which is a beneficial, natural insulation.
The snow that we are currently experiencing (December 21, 2010) has covered the golf course and we will have to wait a few days to determine if it is all good or if some has formed into ice.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Roots say: "AAAHHHHHH We can BREATH!"
A handful of times throughout the year I have utilized comparisons between the human body and the grass plant to better explain the goals that we have as turf managers. The crown of the plant is the brain and the roots are the vital organs. The blades of grass serve similar function to peoples skin, it utilizes sunlight to absorb nutrients, protects the plant, and can also be cut and allow pathogens and infections into the plant. This being the case, we can have a putting green that looks good but in fact isn't nearly as healthy as it appears, just as a 25 year old person can look great but isn't nearly as healthy as they appear because that person doesn't exercise, smokes, drinks too much, and has a poor diet. My goal as a turf manager is to get the plant as healthy and that means growing the roots, the past two days we have taken the biggest step to getting truly healthy roots.... Deep Tine Aeration.The machine we are using this time is a Toro ProCore SR54-S, it is mounted on the back of a tractor and it punches a hole into the ground 1/2" in diameter and goes 8" into the soil profile. What this is going to do for us is to create a channel down into the profile that will allow for water and oxygen exchange and give those roots a place to grow unobstructed. Longer roots means that we will have a stronger plant, a stronger plant means it will be better suited to handle the stress of the summer. This process will be happening again in the spring when the roots are most actively growing and really give us an advantage going into the summer that these greens haven't seen in 5 or 6 years. Our greens have now started their cardio workout in preparation for running the marathon that is a golf season in the Midwest.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Beginning the Recovery Process
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This week some of you may have noticed that we have begun the recovery process to get newer and better grass to fill in where the winter had taken it's toll. The reason that I stress NEWER and BETTER grass is because as with most things, technology is helping develop grass varieties that can withstand stress better. They are more disease resistant, require less fertilizer, and can handle extremes in temperature better which leads to less winter damage. The greens here at Kenosha Country Club are mostly poa Annua or Annual Bluegrass, this is a very opportunistic plant that has an amazing ability to fill a void in weak or dead turf. Nobody did anything wrong that resulted in the course being comprised of mostly poa Annua, it is just what happens over time and until very recently there was no real way to get rid of it short of killing the green and starting from scratch. Now there are chemicals as well as fertility programs that will encourage the stronger bentgrass while discouraging the weaker poa Annua. A newer course like Strawberry Creek is able to take advantage of this and along with the newer chemical technology can virtually guarantee that the weaker grass (poa Annua) will never intrude into the pure bentgrass stand. The other way to accomplish this is like Westmoor CC did and shut down for a number of months to kill the greens and start over.
Starting now with the practices that we are taking on, my goal is to increase the population of bentgrass to the point where our winter injury is minimized because there is a stronger plant there. We will be doing a number of things to accomplish this and the first step started a week ago with spike seeding and continues with slit seeding on Monday April 19.
This image shows the small holes left by a small hand seeder, the process was to spike the area, spread some seed, then spike the area again to work the seed into as many holes as possible.
This shows the vertical mowing or verticutting that was done on Monday. This is the best option for wide area seeding at this point in time because it allows the turf to remain smooth while creating channels for the seed to drop into.
All of this is to start a seed bank that will be ready to go when the soil temperature gets up to the necessary 55 degrees. The trick is that just hitting the magic 55 number isn't the all, we need that to sustain over a period of a week or more for the seed to remain viable. Given this, we will continue to seed these areas as frequently as once a week until the greens are fully recovered and at that point we can get into our standard maintenance practices and work toward perfect putting surfaces. Until then rest assured that we will do all we can to maintain smooth surfaces until the greens have recovered.
Keep your fingers crossed that the weather warms up, the faster that happens the sooner the golf course will be pristine.
Scott
This week some of you may have noticed that we have begun the recovery process to get newer and better grass to fill in where the winter had taken it's toll. The reason that I stress NEWER and BETTER grass is because as with most things, technology is helping develop grass varieties that can withstand stress better. They are more disease resistant, require less fertilizer, and can handle extremes in temperature better which leads to less winter damage. The greens here at Kenosha Country Club are mostly poa Annua or Annual Bluegrass, this is a very opportunistic plant that has an amazing ability to fill a void in weak or dead turf. Nobody did anything wrong that resulted in the course being comprised of mostly poa Annua, it is just what happens over time and until very recently there was no real way to get rid of it short of killing the green and starting from scratch. Now there are chemicals as well as fertility programs that will encourage the stronger bentgrass while discouraging the weaker poa Annua. A newer course like Strawberry Creek is able to take advantage of this and along with the newer chemical technology can virtually guarantee that the weaker grass (poa Annua) will never intrude into the pure bentgrass stand. The other way to accomplish this is like Westmoor CC did and shut down for a number of months to kill the greens and start over.
Starting now with the practices that we are taking on, my goal is to increase the population of bentgrass to the point where our winter injury is minimized because there is a stronger plant there. We will be doing a number of things to accomplish this and the first step started a week ago with spike seeding and continues with slit seeding on Monday April 19.
This image shows the small holes left by a small hand seeder, the process was to spike the area, spread some seed, then spike the area again to work the seed into as many holes as possible.
This shows the vertical mowing or verticutting that was done on Monday. This is the best option for wide area seeding at this point in time because it allows the turf to remain smooth while creating channels for the seed to drop into.
All of this is to start a seed bank that will be ready to go when the soil temperature gets up to the necessary 55 degrees. The trick is that just hitting the magic 55 number isn't the all, we need that to sustain over a period of a week or more for the seed to remain viable. Given this, we will continue to seed these areas as frequently as once a week until the greens are fully recovered and at that point we can get into our standard maintenance practices and work toward perfect putting surfaces. Until then rest assured that we will do all we can to maintain smooth surfaces until the greens have recovered.
Keep your fingers crossed that the weather warms up, the faster that happens the sooner the golf course will be pristine.
Scott
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