2013 Deer Ridge Turf Maintenance Video

A big thanks to Nelson Manning who spent his own time coming up with the concept and completion of this video that shows some of the day to day operations in the grounds department.  Great job Nelson!

Click on the web address below to view the turf maintenance video and see more of Nelsons work.

www.tangentorbit.com

Green Speeds and Collar Decline

Green Speeds

Why have the greens been slower and inconsistent over the past eleven days?  There are many variables that have an impact on the day to day management of turfgrass.  Turfgrass requires a significant amount of input throughout the season (fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, wetting agents, insecticides, herbicides) as well as a variety of cultural practices (aerification, topdressing, venting, verticutting, brushing, grooming).  Greens can be slower or inconsistent for many reasons which include the moisture content of the green, windspeed, humidity, growth rate of the turf, amount of topdressing, single cut, double cut and/or rolled or not.  The focus since the Member Guest has been on the application of a variety of fertilizers and secondary nutrients to continue to provide the necessary supplements for healthy turf.  One of the main reasons for the slower greens lately is that these fertilizers are now allowing the turf to actively grow and the consistent rains have not allowed us to apply the necessary growth regulators to the greens.  Primo Maxx (trinexapac ethyl 14.3%) is a growth regulator that interrupts the cell elongation in the plant responsible for growth.  This product is typically applied to control excessive growth and allow greens speeds to be quicker and maintain those speeds throughout the day.  Without the application of these regulators, greens can be inconsistent when growth is active.  Primo Maxx was sprayed on Sunday July 7th and will again be sprayed when the weather permits.  Reasons that restrict spraying include rain,  rain that is forecast prior to drying of the product being applied, winds in excess of 11 km/hr.  Our goal is to provide the most consistent playing conditions as possible but this is not possible without some cooperation with the weather.  Since the Member Guest 11 days ago, we have recieved precipitation on June 28th, 29th, 30th, July 1, July 2, July 6 and 7th. 

Topdressing is also an important part of maintaining greens, however there will be a decrease in green speed for a few days after this is done.  The greens were topdressed and fertilized the evening of July 2nd and not cut the following day as the damage to mowers from the sand is significant and also picking up the fertilizer is counter productive.  The greens height of cut was raised .010" (.254 mm) or from .115" (2.92 mm) to .125" (3.17 mm)

Collar Decline

As many of you have noticed, our collars have not been handling the moisture and traffic very well the past couple of weeks.  In an attempt to relieve the stresses on the collars, our department has adopted several new strategies that include; reduced mowing (two times per week vs. normal three times per week) increased fertilization, needle tine aerification, no roller on the collars, light weight floating head mowers and overseeding.  Starting Tuesday, the greens mowing team will be using turning boards that will be placed on the collars to further relieve the mechanical stresses that these mowers have on collars. 

 

Turning Boards to minimize and alleviate stress on collars

Ropes and stakes have been placed around many areas showing stress and I would ask that players stay away from these areas.  Foot traffic and pull cart traffic should be concentrated on the short cut bluegrass intermediate cut of turf, not collars and approaches.  Our collars are very narrow (21") and bentgrass collars typically don't have the significant rooting found in bentgrass greens.  Therefore they can be less tolerant of mechanical stresses which has been exacerbated with the constant moisture that we have been receiving.

I would ask that everyone help out by not walking on or pushing pull carts on the collars or approaches.  Please travel on the short cut bluegrass intermediate around the greens.

Short Game Practice Facility

The short game area continues to be a popular spot to practice and has been well received.  Please be reminded to repair all ballmarks, divots with bottles provided and rake the bunkers after your practice session.  Those who have practiced from the bunkers will have noticed the bunker boards used to stabilize the new turf edge.  These boards will stay in place for up to a year to ensure that the bluegrass has established a strong root system to continue to hold the edge of the bunker.  Entering and exiting any bunker should always be done on the lowest and flattest part of the bunker so as not to displace sand from the high slopes and less chance of slipping or falling if the turf is wet. 

Heavy Rains

Rainfall totals as of 3:15 on Friday June 28 were 2.25"(57.1 mm) with more in the forecast.  The golf course has been closed for the day and may be closed on Saturday if the rain continues as the ground is not able to receive any more water.  With the exception of the greens, there is standing water on all other playing surfaces.  The new greens and bunkers were well constructed with adequate drainage to allow for rapid draining and are handling the excessive moisture.  With the exception of a few bunkers, some will require minor replacement of the sand that has been washed from the bunker edges exposing the bunker liner.  The maintenance crew will be working to repair any damage to these areas first thing Saturday June 29th.

The collars on a few greens are showing weakness and turf decline due to high traffic in concentrated areas.  The following areas are stressed due to traffic (#3 front of green, #5 front right collar, #6 front left collar,  #9 approach, #10 front left collar, #11 front left collar, #12 front right collar, #14 front right collar, #15 front left collar, #17 approach)  These areas are the shortest path to the next tee and would ask that players avoid these areas.  Ropes and stakes have been placed around the weak collars to deflect foot and pull cart traffic so that these areas can recover.  If ropes or stakes are going to interfere with your shot, remove the stake and then return the stakes to there original position.

And finally, thanks again to all those that came out to the Member Divot Party on Sunday June 23rd.  Our goal of filling all divots on tees and fairways was a huge success and completed in under 2 hours.  Burgers and drinks were enjoyed on the patio afterwards and look forward to our next member maintenance event. 

Deer Ridge - US Open Rough

Not quite like the US Open.....but the perfect cool and wet weather conditions....and a little fertilizer has our rough as thick and uniform as it has been in a long time.  Don't worry....the growth will slow down and we are doing our best to keep it cut at least twice per week.  The greens continue to be healthy with lots of turf/root growth and are rolling well.  Our focus for the next few weeks will be cleaning up the peripheral areas (fescue weeding, mulch beds, etc.) to the line of play and detail work as we head into the summer.

The work done by Evansgolf at the Short Game Area is now complete and waiting for drier weather to allow the new sod to begin rooting and firm up the soil beneath  There will be a settling period that will take several weeks to allow subsurface water to find its way into both the drainage and create its own natural pathway through the soil.  The tentative date for opening the new area is June 25th but may change should the weather not cooperate.  The new greens will be considerably slower for most of the season as reducing the mowing height too quickly may cause them to decline as we move into the heat of summer.  Aerification and topdressing will be very important for these new greens to help smooth them out and minimize any potential layering associated with new sod.  Our crew will be working up until the opening of the Short Game Area finishing off any loose ends and tidying up scarring from the construction.




      View from the bunker green looking towards #1


 The new gardens at 17 are now being planted and will complement the gardens between 9 and 10.  Over time, the turf around the gardens will improve now that irrigation has been added and mulch will be added to the gardens once the plantings are complete.

I am looking forward to the member divot party this Sunday June 23rd and would like to thank all of those who are attending in advance.  This participation from our members is an incredible show of commitment to help keep Deer Ridge in amazing shape and allow us to showcase our course at the upcoming Member Guest Event on June 26th
 



I have attached the link to the USGA Green Section usgagreensectionrecord@usga.chtah.com for those interested in reading anything turf.  The link has a great library of pictures from the maintenance department showing the preparation involved in hosting this years US Open event at Merion.

Enjoy the Open

 

Grounds Update for May 15th

Now that the season is underway, I am going to attempt to provide regular bi-weekly updates on what is happening on the golf course and any other important information on conditions or specialty maintenance items.

The greens are very healthy this spring and very dense with bentgrass turf.  Green speeds will gradually increase over the next couple of weeks as mowing heights are lowered and sand topdressing is applied.  The greens are becoming firm and smoother each day.

Ball marks

We've all felt the excitement of hitting a great golf shot (and I've seen many here at DR) and rushing to our ball to line up that birdie putt.  Often though, that excitement keeps us from remembering that the shot has left an unsightly ball mark somewhere on the green.  Fixing ball marks and helping those who have forgotten to fix theirs, will go a long way in helping the green heal.  Ball marks fixed immediately and properly will heal in 2-3 days while poorly or improperly repaired ball marks may take up to 2-3 weeks before they recover fully.  Probably the most important part of fixing a ball mark properly and quickly, is to help prevent the invasion of Poa Annua into these perfect pockets in the green.  With Poa making up a large percentage of the grass in our fairways, any Poa seed that is tracked onto the putting surface by shoes and mowing equipment will quickly take hold in these voids and begin growing in these areas.  So........ please take the time to repair your ball mark and those of others to help keep our playing surfaces pristine. 

As far as managing Poa, our staff has been trained to identify and properly remove Poa from our greens and are now mandated that each greensmower takes the time to remove a minimum of 20 plants per green on a daily basis which will be the main defence against future invasion from this plant species. 

Short Game Practice Facility

The Short Game Area is taking shape quickly with drainage and irrigation now installed.  Although the wet spring delayed the start of the project by a couple of weeks, the construction is progressing well and is getting close to having the final grading/shaping being done.  This practice area has been designed to capture a variety of golf shots that are found on the golf course and features both shallow and deep sand bunkers along with deep bluegrass hollows and mounding.  There are significant bentgrass runoffs similar to those found on holes 4,6,11 and 18 and approximately 7,500 square feet of  subtle putting surface to practice long putts.  The sand for the greens is being imported this week and topsoil should be spread around by early next week with sodding to follow shortly thereafter.  If the weather continues to cooperate, sodding should be completed by Friday May 24th with an estimated opening date somewhere between the middle to end of June.


Miscellaneous Projects

The spring has provided some challenges in completing some projects along with balancing many of our routine spring maintenance items.  We are working diligently to try and wrap up some pressing areas prior to the beginning of the event season.

Putting Green

  With the trees removed around the upper putting green to improve sunlight, much of the remaining turf around the green was unsightly with Poa Annua, Perennial Ryegrass and Kentucky Bluegrass equally making up the turf rough.  It has now been sodded with 100% Kentucky Bluegrass and has greatly improved the appearance of our putting green area.

#17/18 Garden

Irrigation has been installed and planting soil is scheduled to be placed in these gardens within the next week with planting and mulching to follow.  This area once mature, will be similar to the planting gardens between 9 green and 10 tee and create a small visual barrier between these two holes.  Garden plantings will be sparse at first but will be splitting plants from around the property to help fill in these areas throughout the season.

Old Cartpaths

The old cartpath areas have been redone with topsoil and seeded with a turf that is better able to handle dry conditions as many of these areas are outside of our irrigation coverage.  These areas will remain roped off until the seed has been established and should not be used for cart traffic.

Wrap up

Finally I should thank Jeremy Hubbard (foreman/spray technician/ipm manager) for getting this blog page up and running and appreciate his efforts in developing this forum for communication.

I look forward to more seasonal weather and seeing everyone out enjoying the course.

Jason Winter, AGS

Spring Aerification

Some nice weather is finally upon us. The turf department has been taking full advantage of the sunshine and warm temperatures. On April 15/16 the greens were aerified with 1/2 inch, hollow tines at a depth of 1 inch. The spring time is a good opportunity to complete an aerification process because it can be done without interrupting play. In conjunction with pulling cores from the greens, a verticut was also done. Verticutting is a procedure in which the blades of the machine spin vertically to "slice" into the putting surface. This encourages new growth, removes excess organic matter (thatch) that lies beneath the turf. The final step in this process will be to topdress the greens with sand to fill in our aeration holes and to smooth out and any winter blemishes.

Intern Jake Martin, aerating #3 green

Spring is Here

Spring time is upon us and as you all know the snow has come and gone. Over the last couple weeks, the maintenance staff have been working diligently to clean up the golf course from any debris collected over the winter months. The greens have over wintered very well and are showing slight signs of growth as the soil temperatures continue to rise. We received a significant amount of rainfall in early April but the course has begun to dry up quite nicely. Last year by this time, the club was in full swing and many of you had played several rounds of golf. In March 2012, the average temperature was 6.1 degrees Celsius while this year, the average for March was -1.7 degrees Celsius. According to Environment Canada, the "normal" temperature average for our region during March is -0.9 degrees Celsius. Therefore this this year is much closer to the climate normals than last year. The two graphs below compare daily average temperatures for March 2012 and 2013.

Winter Tree Work

Peter Bassin removing a dead tree on #9

During the last three months, extensive tree work has been completed throughout the entire golf course. The creek which divides the primary and secondary fairway on #1 has been cleaned up. Small undesirable shrubbery was removed to allow water to flow more freely through the ditch while improving the creek's appearance, playability and drainage attributes.

Eight poplars of poor form and varying degrees of health were removed to the right of #4 green allowing this area to be maintained as rough instead of the fescue  previously in this area.

Clean up was also done between the tee deck's of #5 and #12 where several trees were brought down during the windstorms of 2011. This winter provided the best opportunity to clean up the broken Willows, uprooted Manitoba Maples, decling Ash trees as well as remove most of the Buckthorn .  These areas will fill in with native vegetation and still provide suitable areas for wildlife that is on the property.

The area along the left of #9 contained many dangerous, downed and rotten damaged trees which needed to be removed to both clean the area up, but more importantly to increase airflow from the west to the green at 9. Increased airflow and sunlight corridors will help the greens situated in less than ideal growing environments be much healthier. Buckthorm along with selected undergrowth of undesirable species will allow the larger dominant native trees to thrive and also improve the health of the trees in that area. A very large Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum) and Ash (Fraxinus spp.) tree behind #9 were also removed which will greatly improve morning sunlight to this green. This decision was made as part of a tree management plan to improve sunlight exposure on certain putting greens and based off of numerous past reports from the USGA and SJM Aboriculture Services defining problem areas. Sunlight is a key ingredient in the photosynthesis process and will encourage healthy turfgrass. Similar work was done to the right and left of #17 fairway and to the left of #18 fairway. The thinning of small underbrush and removal of trees which have been uprooted, will improve airflow. It will also aid in playability as more shots can potentially be played from these wooded areas helping pace of play.
White pines to the immediate right of #12 green have been removed also as they were negatively impacting the green due to reduced sunlight.  Low growing multi-stem Serviceberries (Amelanchier Canadensis), Ornamental Pear  and Eastern Redbuds (Cercis Canadensis) will be planted in this area and will provide a stunning visual backdrop with no impact to morning sunlight. The photo below paints a good picture as to why these pine trees were disrupting sunlight exposure to #12 green. 

This photo was taken standing on #12 green using the Sun Seeker App . It illustrates where the sun will be at a certain time and date. In this case we chose July 15, 2013 at 11:55am.  The image indicates where the sun will be at 6am, 7am, 8am and 9am. As you can see, this portion of the green does not receive sunlight until after 9am. In the summer time the turf deals with a lot of stress, especially on putting greens and morning sunlight is a must for creeping bentgrass to succeed! Providing the opportunity for maximum sunlight will allow the plant to maximize to its full "photosynthesis potential." A plant photosynthesizing at 7 am will be much healthier and able to withstand stresses than a plant that does not begin the photosyntesis process until 9am or later


White Pines (Pinus Strobus) were selectively removed from behind #13 green also in the attempt to improve sunlight as these trees have also been identified as causing shade and having detrimental affects on turf quality.  Flowering dogwoods and Eastern Redbuds will planted here also as flowering understory trees.   All tree removals were completed in compliance with the tree management plan and completed under a "good forestry practices" permit issued from the City of Kitchener



Graham removing declining ash tree

Another obvious change in scenery is the putting green. Six ash trees were removed from the area surrounding the green. To the left is a photo of the ash tree being removed that once stood to the north east of the putting green. During the summer of 2012, the putting green did not perform to Deer Ridge Golf Club's standards. The lack of sunlight did not allow the turf to reach its full "photosynthesis potential" and therefore the green could not thrive. The removal of these ash trees will allow for maximum morning sunlight to reach the putting green. Not only was this tree shading the green, it was also rotten within, as you can see in the picture to the left.

We look forward to seeing everyone on the course very soon. 

Welcome to our new turf maintenance blog!