As Hot As It Gets

After 17 straight days with temperatures in the 90’s, the forecast is not showing any signs of improvement. This year is currently the fourth driest on record and if weather patterns remain the same, this will go down as the driest year on record.

The previous record for consecutive days 90 or above is 18 days, which was set back in 1874. This record is likely to be passed by without blinking.

With all the talk of how hot and dry it is, the golf course continues to be in great playing condition. We picked a great year to allow for brown being an acceptable color on the golf course in efforts to improve playability. This year especially, the shortcomings of the irrigation system are on full display for all to see. The outer lying rough areas are under great stress while the core of the course remains green while not being overly wet.

The Bentgrass fairways have not been phased one bit by the heat and are actually thriving under these conditions. The fairways have been treated all season long with PGR’s for Poa Annua control and they are hands down out competing the Poa. As the Poa is weekend by the effects of chemical suppression and the heat, the Bentgrass is moving laterally and taking over in the fairways.

Making Holes

Last fall we constructed several new tees in addition to leveling some of the more uneven tees on holes #11 and #18. Each of these projects involved sodding of the surface in order to get the tees open for play as soon as possible. Sod is great from an instant gratification standpoint, but from an agronomic stand point it presents several challenges.

Aerifing Sodded Tees

Cleaning Up Of Cores

The most significant problem occurs when the new sod comes in with an overly established thatch layer that impedes water and fertilizer infiltration. In order to correct this situation an aggressive aerification program needs to be established to help physically remove the excess thatch. Once the thatch levels have been reduced, better water and fertilizer movement will occur into the rootzone allowing for a stronger root system to develop.

The reclaimed green surface on hole #18 also was aerified in efforts to help with establishment. Overall the sod has done ok with the exception of a few spots that have been plugged out.

Aerifing Sodded Area Under Close Supervision

Additionally several high traffic areas on the golf course were also aerified such as the bottleneck in the second fairway on hole #5. This is an area where excessive cart traffic occurs due to this being the primary location of the approach shot into the green.

Bottleneck Area On #5

These newly sodded areas will be aerified on an as needed basis that will be determined based on the overall health and quality of the turf.

The Big Dig

You first saw the area in question from my posting on Sunday, now you can see the cause of the “turf blisters” as I like to call them. A summer mainline tee had a crack form on the back side of the tee, causing the slow leak. If this was not repaired, the hairline crack would have grown and ultimately broken causing a full on leak.

Unfortunately, the fitting that failed was right in the middle of the fairway and required a backhoe to dig it up due to the pipe being located six feet deep. These are exactly the types of repairs we are trying to avoid by replacing the entire irrigation system. After 23 years, the system is failing at a very rapid rate and every day will be a struggle until it is ultimately decommissioned.

Going Old School

Yesterday morning my central computer that controls the irrigation system went down for the count. Not the greatest news when we have just had our fourteenth consecutive day of temperatures in the 90’s.

Without the central computer working, the irrigation system can not be operated automatically. The only way to start the irrigation for the night was to manually go to each of the 89 satellite controllers and start each one of them. Hydraulically it is not the best way to do it, but it is better than no water at all going out.

Sunday Surprise

Once again this morning I was greeted by another irrigation break. This one is a mainline break that is located in the middle of #13 fairway. It has not fully broken yet, but the pin hole leak has created an interesting bubble that floats like a waterbed.

We have gated down the entire hole during the day and will turn the water back on for the evening watering. The repairs will be made tomorrow due to the time it will take to excavate and refit the pipe and fittings.

Behind The Scenes

The Cliffhanger is nearly over and the amount of work that has taken place without anyone knowing is amazing. Each of the last two days my staff has been working split shifts so we are not interfering with play.

Each morning starts out with the entire course being mowed before play. This includes; greens, tees, approaches, fairways, cups changed, bunkers raked and all hand watering. In order to accomplish all of these tasks before play we have been starting at 5:00am and complete the prep of the course by 8:30am well ahead of play.

The second half of the split is not nearly as packed full of activity, but many important tasks that affect the playability of the course are done. This would include mowing of greens again, ballmark repairs, divots filled, additional hand watering and general cleanup and small detail work.

Without my hard working, dedicated staff it would not be possible to achieve the high quality condition found on the golf course on a daily basis. I would like to thank them all for there additional efforts that make this tournament special for both the members and their guests alike.

Misconceptions

Since the announcement was made that the irrigation system is going to be replaced, I have heard a lot of misinformation spreading around the membership. The item I keep hearing is the fact that we are going to close the entire golf course during the irrigation renovation. This is completely untrue! In fact we will be doing everything possible to minimize the disturbance to the membership during this process.

There will be times that one or two holes might be closed at any given time, but that would be the extent of any closures. The mainline installation will be taking place in the rough directly adjacent to the fairway line and for the most part will be out of play. The lateral installation will go directly through the fairways and this will likely be the times that any given hole or holes are closed.

Keep in mind this is an enormous project and there will be times of disruption, but the short term pain that is caused will be worth it in the long run when the installation is complete.

Cliffhanger Prep

It is Cliffhanger week (Member/Guest) and final preparations have been made to the course so that it shows and plays well for the participants. The golf course is not really setup any differently than for normal daily play other than the greens speed being up a little.

On a daily basis the greens are rolling consistently between 10’ to 11’ on the Stimpmeter, for the tournament we will bring them up into the low 11’s. Anything above that and we begin to loose hole locations and pace of play becomes an issue.

I personally select the hole location for all major club events, so that a fair but challenging setup is achieved. For the tournament hole locations are marked daily with paint, so that my staff can easily find the proper location.

Turf ID

Why Does Identifying Turfgrasses Matter?

Proper management of a turf area requires correct identification of the turfgrasses on a particular site in order to determine appropriate management practices like: proper mowing height and frequency, fertilization needs, irrigation, and if needed pesticides. Often the turfgrass species that are present are not necessarily what was originally planted but are reflective of the cultural practices and prevailing growing environment. Together these two factors influence shifts in the turfgrass community of one species over another, which may affect management practices.

Identifying a Turfgrass:
Identifying turfgrasses is much like solving a puzzle. Several pieces or identifying characteristics are viewed, their exact nature determined and the species identified. Unfortunately, no single characteristic or feature alone is sufficient to determine with complete certainty a particular turfgrass species. Grasses have their leaves arranged in ranks of two (see photo/diagram), and a ligule is often present.
Determining Vernation:
The newest leaf of a turfgrass plant always arises from the center of the shoot and can be located in the newly expanding bud leaf/shoot. The orientation of newly emerging leaf is called Vernation. This characteristic is difficult to determine on older leaves because they are located on the outside of the shoot and have expanded making Vernation difficult to determine. For most turfgrasses, the Vernation will either be rolled or folded.
Observing the Leaf :
The leaf consists of a lower sheath, which surrounds the stem or crown above the node from which it originates. There are four very important features located where the leaf blade and the leaf sheath join. The most commonly visible feature in this region is called a ligule. If present, it will appear a small piece of membranous (nearly clear cells) tissue or other appendages like hairs that project upward. These ligule characteristics are important identifying characteristics. The next key feature to look for are auricles, ear-like appendages that if present will clearly project from either side of the collar. Like the ligule, auricles will either be absent, barely visible, termed “rudimentary”, or very prominent, termed “claw-like”. The third feature to study is called, the collar, a thickened zone of yellow-green colored tissue located on the backside of the leaf where the blade and sheath join. Of the three identifying features, the collar is one of the most variable and least reliable identifying characteristics. The last feature is called the sheath, located between the crown of the grass plant and blade. The sheath may be split-open, split, with overlapping margins or completely closed.
The Leaf Tip:
The appearance of the leaf blade itself holds many clues as to which turfgrass you may be identifying. The leaf tip and upper and lower leaf surfaces can also be very helpful. Leaf tips may be pointed, rounded or boat-shaped. On the back side of the leaf blade a mid-rib may be present and the leaf blade may be glossy or shiny or dull.
The Seedhead:
Since most turfgrasses do not produce seedheads throughout much of the year and regular mowing removes seedheads this characteristic is not normally used for identification. Should the seedhead be present it will normally appear as a raceme, spike or panicle. Like with the leaf-tip, the seedhead may help narrow a grass down to certain families
Growth Habits:
One of the last features growth habit, requires a relatively mature turfgrass to determine. Turfgrasses will either be bunch-type or spreading. Spreading grasses have lateral creeping stems that if above-ground, called stolons or underground, called rhizomes.

The Nitrogen Cycle

Most nitrogen is found in the atmosphere. The nitrogen cycle is the process by which atmospheric nitrogen is converted to ammonia or nitrates.
Nitrogen is essential to all living systems. To become a part of an organism, nitrogen must first be fixed or combined with oxygen or hydrogen. Nitrogen is removed from the atmosphere by lightening and nitrogen fixing bacteria. During electrical storms, large amounts of nitrogen are oxidized and united with water to produce an acid which is carried to the earth in rain producing nitrates. Nitrates are taken up by plants and are converted to proteins.

Then the nitrogen passes through the food chain from plants to herbivores to carnivores. When plants and animals eventually die, the nitrogen compounds are broken down giving ammonia (ammonification). Some of the ammonia is taken up by the plants; some is dissolved in water or held in the soil where bacteria convert it to nitrates (nitrification). Nitrates may be stored in humus or leached from the soil and carried to lakes and streams. It may also be converted to free nitrogen (denitrification) and returned to the atmosphere.


www.cst.cmich.edu/centers/mwrc/nitrogen.htm

Noxious Weeds

What are noxious weeds?

The term of “noxious” in this description means non-native and invasive species. Most of the noxious weeds species in Colorado were unintentionally introduced from Asia and Europe as a containment in crop seed or transported on farming equipment. Some were intentionally introduced as ornamental plants, forage, erosion control and wind breaks.

In Douglas Country there are specific weeds that are considered noxious they are as follows:

Dalmatian Toadflax, Diffuse and Spotted knapweed, Hoary Cress, Leafy spurge, Musk Thistle , Canada Thistle, Scotch Thistle, Orange Hawkweed, Perennial Pepperweed, Purple Loosestrife, Salt Cedar, Yellow Toadflax and Myrtle Spurge.

Due to the large native grass areas on and round the golf course we are extremely active in controlling these noxious weeds. The weed that are particularly problematic for us are: Bull Thistle, Canadian Thistle, Diffuse Knapweed, Perennial Pepperweed and Leafy Spurge. Controlling these weeds is a fulltime job that takes up an incredible amount of man hours. I have often said that the it requires more manpower to properly maintain the “native grass areas” versus the manicured rough throughout the golf course.

Bull Thistle


Canada Thistle

Diffuse Knapweed

Leafy Spurge

Perennial Pepperweed

There are four types of control measures: cultural, mechanical, biological and chemical.

Cultural Methods: like prevention, promote the growth of desirable plants. Fertilization,
irrigation, and planting high quality desirable plants, allows plants to out compete
noxious weeds.

Mechanical Control: are the oldest control methods. Mechanical measures
involve disrupting weed growth by mowing, pulling, hoeing and burning.

Biological Controls: involve the introduction of host specific predators from the weed’s native country and the use of animals such as sheep and goats to reduce the vegetative growth of weeds.

Chemical Control: methods use herbicides to kill weeds. Herbicides are most effective when used in conjunction with other management techniques. Always read and follow label instructions with applying herbicides. A good weed management system integrates two or more of these methods into a plan of operation.

We Have Germination!

In an earlier post I mentioned that we were expanding our Bentgrass fairway nursery that is located at the far eastern end of the driving range. After several weeks of prep work that went into getting it ready for seed we are beginning to see the fruits of our labor.

The nursery area was seeded last Friday with Seaside II Bentgrass, which is the same variety that is found on the fairways. We achieved germination of the seed in only five days, which is pretty good for Bentgrass under the environmental conditions we have been experiencing.

Over the next several weeks we will begin to aggressively fertilize the seedlings once we are physically able to walk onto the area. At that time any areas that have not had good germination will be reseeded and encouraged to catch up with the rest of the new babies. Once the seedlings are tall enough, we will begin regular mowing and topdressing to help with a rapid establishment. Even though we are off to a fast start, actual sod will not be able to be cut until next spring.

Is This What We’re Doing?

I have been preaching about course care and etiquette all year and apparently it is falling on deaf ears. Imagine the horror of finding a huge divot right next to the pin on #15 green first thing in the morning. To say the least, it is rather disheartening that this could take place at a club like this. I expect to see something like this at some muni, but certainly not a club like The Country Club at Castle Pines.

Please take pride in your club and do your part to help make the club a better place for all of the members and guest alike. Respect the course.

Lending a Helping Hand

In the mornings prior to play, my staff is helping with ballmark repairs from the previous days play. The greens mowers are equipped with ball mark repair tools and they are instructed to repair the marks when they see them. Unfortunately, there is not enough time each morning to properly fix all of the un-repaired ballmarks and stay ahead of play.

Recently we have begun to send out a couple of guys in the mornings with their sole job being fixing un-repaired ballmarks. This is especially helpful following a busy day of play on the golf course, which seems like every day.

The Light At The End of The Tunnel

Last evening the Board approved a motion to move forward with the installation of a new irrigation system. The installation will begin this coming September and work will completed by mid June of next year.

Throughout the renovation there will be times that certain holes will be closed or altered, so that play can still take place with out interfering with construction. It is in everybody’s best interest to leave the contractor (Tanto Irrigation) with as few interruptions as possible, so that the installation can take place in a timely manor. These closures will be handled in the same manor as when the bunker renovation project was taking place two seasons ago.

The replacement of the current irrigation system is long overdue and the benefits from a new system will become very quickly apparent, with more consistent golf course conditions.

Dollar Spot

Over the last several years, I have gradually seen an increase in the amount of Dollar Spot activity on the golf course. Having been in Colorado for nearly 20 years Dollar spot was virtually non existent, but as the local climate has changed so to has the occurrence of the disease.

We primarily see the Dollar Spot activity on the tees and also some select approach areas. It seems as if each year the number of infected areas grows and we now have to actually chemically treat some of the areas. In the past I have always been able to wait out the weather conditions that favor the development of fungal activity with out spraying, but that is no longer an option.

Symptoms and Signs
On closely mowed turf, this disease appears as white or tan spots of dead turf about the size of a silver dollar. Hence the name dollar spot. These spots may run together, producing large areas of dead turf. Affected leaves initially show yellow-green blotches, which progress to a light straw color with a reddish-brown margin. Occasionally, white mycelium can be seen covering affected leaves in early morning on dew-covered grass. Dollar spot symptoms occur anytime from early to late summer. The disease usually reaches peak activity when air temperatures are in the 80° F range and under high humidity.

Disease Cycle
The fungus, Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, survives unfavorable periods as dormant mycelium in infected plants, therefore, fungal movement is brought about by equipment, people, animals, wind or water. When daytime temperatures reach 16°C to 27°C (60°F to 80°F) , the dormant mycelium resumes growth from the infected leaves to nearby healthy leaves, causing new infections. If night-time conditions become cool and dry soon after infection has occurred, or if control measures are exercised quickly, infection may not progress beyond scattered leaf lesions. If the grass is growing rapidly, the problems may disappear after one or two mowings. If favorable weather persists after infection such as warm nights, with dew forming on leaves, and if control is not achieved, entire grass plants may be killed and typical "dollar spots" may appear on the turf.

Cultural Control
Late spring nitrogen-fertilizer applications can help to minimize dollar spot severity, since growth will be stimulated during the period (early summer) when dollar spot infection begins. Irrigate deeply, infrequently, and early in the morning to minimize moisture accumulation on leaves. Dew control on the leaf is a key agronomic technique that will help with the reduction in disease activity. This can be done with applications of wetting agents, removal dew by early morning mowing or by use of dew whips or squeegees.

Tree Planting

Several Ponderosa Pines were planted along the eastern side of hole #1. These trees were planted to help with screening of homes that have been constructed adjacent to the golf course. Now that the trees are in place, the berm they were planted on will be final graded and seeded to a native grass to complete the area.

Seed Germination

The germination of seed is dependent on both internal and external conditions. The most important external factors include: temperature, water, oxygen and light.

The germination process begins when waters is absorbed (imbibed) by the seed. This activates an enzyme, respiration increases and plant cells are duplicated. Soon the embryo becomes too large, the seed coat bursts open and the growing plant emerges. The tip of the root (radicle) is the thing to emerge and it's first for good reason. It will anchor the seed in place, and allow the embryo to absorb water and nutrients from the surrounding soil. The coleoptile is a translucent (non-photosynthesizing) protective tissue through which the first leaf emerges.

Irrigation Blues

Go figure as the heat begins to steadily increase, so too have the number of recent irrigation breaks. In the last week and a half we have had a total of nine breaks. Two of the breaks have been mainline and the other seven were lateral breaks. Not only do the breaks disrupt the play areas they occur in, but they also waste water due to the fact that many of them occur at night. The breaks are at times not discovered until the following morning and who knows how long break has been running and how much water goes down the drain.


In additional to the multiple breaks taking place, there are many areas throughout the course that the wear and tear of the irrigation system is clearly showing. When looking at the golf course, virtually any imperfection or discoloration is directly related to the failing components of the irrigation system. Recently I have been told by my local distributor that the replacement parts I need are no longer made. This becomes is a huge problem, because now rather than only replacing at $20 dollar part on a sprinkler I now have to purchase an entirely new head at the cost of $118.

What is Soil?

Putting it in simple terms the quality of turf or any other plant material that is grown is as only as good as the soil below. Yes, there are a lot of things that can be done to create the illusion of healthy turf or plants, but true success or failure depends on the quality and management of the soil.

If soil components were drawn in a pie chart it would consist of four sections: minerals, water, air and organic mater. All four of these components need to be in the right proportion combined with adequate sunlight to make plant growth possible. When taking about soils one of the most common terms used to describe soil is called texture. Soil texture is generally described by one of five different classifications, they are as follows:

Coarse Sand:
Gritty and loose, even when wet. Contains mostly sand particles of larger sizes.

Sandy Loam:
Will hold water together slightly when wet, but crumbles easily. Sand is about half of the content and silt and clay equally combined to make up the other half.

Clay Loam:
Feels heavy and hold together when wet. Contains equal portions of sand, silt and clay.

Silt Loam:
Clumps together easily, but will break apart when rolled in the hand. Contains little sand or clay.

Clay:
Forms extremely hard clumps when dry and feels sticky or plastic when wet. May contain very little sand or silt.

You can generally determine what type of soil you have without the use of laboratory testing, just by simply feeling the soil in your hands. Use the above descriptions of soil textures to help you figure out what you have.

Nursery Construction

You can see it in the distance while hitting balls from the driving range tees, but probably don’t know what it is. We are in the process of expanding our turf nursery that supplies grass for the different areas on the course. Each area has specific requirements for things such as grass type, height of cut and soil medium it is grown on.

Greens and tees require a sod that is grown on a sand / peat growing medium that is the same in particle size as the rootzone used for original construction of the golf course. If the sand that the new sod is grown is not compatible with the existing rootzone mix, an interface issue will occur therefore not allowing the new sod to ever become fully rooted. This interface issue also occurs with sod that is used on the fairway and rough areas that is also not grown on a similar soil.

Over the years that I have brought in sod from an outside grower it never matches up or reacts the same as something that is grown and established onsite. It is for this reason that I prefer to use sod, which I have grown whenever possible.

Finally Some Relief

After 30 days without any meaningful precipitation, Sunday afternoon we received an averaged total of .23” of rain. Throughout the golf course there are five different rain gauges that record our totals. We have multiple gauges due to the fact that the course consistently receives varied amounts of precipitation when it occurs. The gauge that is located on hole #5 collected .42”, while the gauge on hole #15 only collected .08” of precipitation.

To better understand what I am talking about, think about the golf course and where the Ponderosa Pines are located. Trees do not grow unless there is ample water for them to become established and ultimately thrive. On the front nine holes #4 and #5 consistently receive the highest amount of precipitation, meanwhile holes #13, #14 and #15 receive the least.

Having this information helps me with irrigation scheduling, allowing know which areas on the course will dry out first due to the differences in precipitation received.

Solid Dew Pattern As a Result Of Natural Precipitation

Worn Down

As the summer progresses so does that amount of wear and tear that the golf course receives. We are now into our busiest months as far as play goes with round totals nearing 4000 players per month. That is a lot of golf going through a golf course that was not designed with that amount of play in mind.

The above picture shows the exit point from #9 fairway to the cart path. This area is the single most trafficked area on the golf course. This type of wear is the reason that the carts are limited on this hole to three days a week. Great efforts are made to give this area a chance at survival, such as additional fertility and aerification to the rough leading to the cart path.

The green committee at our last meeting looked at this area and how traffic and pace of play could be improved. After much discussion the concept of re-installing the old cart path finger that was at the northeastern end of the fairway was given consideration. This path was removed fifteen years ago, because the exit point was not properly managed and created a large dead area extending into the fairway. We as a committee will be pursuing this idea at the next several meetings.

Stay tuned.

Dodged a Bullet

Last night at 3:51am the power to the northern portion of Castle Pines Village went down and has just recently been restored. Unfortunately the irrigation pump house is located in the area where the outage occurred. The good new is that the irrigation cycle was completed an hour before the outage shut down the pumps.

We were very lucky to have had the water go out on the course after a day in which the temperatures reached 96 degrees.

Seeing is Believing

Several days ago I had the opportunity to visit two golf courses back in New Jersey that are currently going through an irrigation renovation. The purpose of the trip was to see the quality of the work being done by one of the contractors we are currently considering for the irrigation renovation here at the club.

Tanto Irrigation is the name of the contractor we are currently looking at and they have a resume with that includes work on twenty four of the top 100 golf courses in America.

A project of the scale that we are hoping to undertake requires a highly skilled contractor that is capable of working on an extremely difficult site with a short time frame to do it. I was truly amazed at how seamless the process can be, even though a completely new system is being installed while the old system is still active while the course open for play. The installation takes place in a sequence where the entire mainline is installed first on all of the holes and then coming back and pulling in the laterals that supply the individual heads.

Anytime there is construction on the golf course some disruption occurs, but without the irrigation system being replaced the level of disruption from breaks will only increase. On Tuesday alone we had a total of five irrigation breaks, one mainline and four laterals. Just another day at the office.

Excavating For Mainline
Wire Racks
Wire Bundles
Backfilling and Compacting Trench
Final Grading and Sod Laying
Clean Up Of Debris
Rolling Sod
Watering Sod


These pictures were taken at Echo Lake CC.

Poking Holes

In the last 45 days we have had on .68” of precipitation and the short comings of the irrigation system are in full view. Not only have there been numerous component failures, but the sprinkler coverage is far less than perfect. Many localized dry spots have shown up in the fairways and they are incredibly hard to re-wet once the thatch layer has dried out. We have been using wetting agents drenches in spots to penetrate with moderate success levels and have recently begun spiking fairway areas.

View Of Spiker / Seeder

We have a needle tine drum seeder that works great to create surface holes the size of a pencil tip that penetrates the turf surface. The tines will go down to a depth of 1.5inches with a spacing of one inch. These surface holes now allow for easier water penetration into these problematic fairway areas.

Close Up Of Holes In Fairway

Spottiness

If you look at the approaches throughout the course you will see many areas with spots of discolored turf. These areas are beginning to show signs of significant drought stress due to a reduction in water applied.

Localized Dry Spots

This is part of the overall shift in course maintenance that now emphasizes playability over lush green conditions.

The approach areas have been modified over several years of intense aerification and topdressing that allows them to better handle the current conditions they are under. In many ways the approaches are now maintained as an extension of the greens surface in order to achieve the necessary firmness required.

What’s That Smell?

It occurs every 30 days, you can smell it but you can’t see it so what could it be? The earthy odor that you smell is a DPW (dried poultry waste) organic fertilizer. A local company called Organix Supply does all my custom blending allowing me to tailor the fertilizer blends to match my soil conditions.

You are only as good as your soil. There is no truer statement when it comes to growing quality plants, whether it's corn, wheat or turfgrass. We rely on organic fertilizers to help rebuild the soils that have been destroyed due to years of synthetic fertilizer use and poor irrigation water quality. The organic fertilizer is one of the keys to replenishing the depleted soils by boosting the microbial populations, so that nutrient cycling can once again take place.

Appling DPW To The Tees