When It Rains, It Pours

After going on a 24 day drought we have received nearly 4 inches of rain in 4 days! Naturally the change took place during “The Heritage” as it has done in previous years. The maintenance squad is really bummed we weren’t able to put on the type of event we hoped.  We were dialed-in during Thursday’s practice rounds with every playing surface cut perfectly and greens rolling an 11 on the stimp!

The calm before the storm 

We fought through the weather over the weekend and are thankful the tournament was still played all the way out to the end! Congrats to the winners! 

Mowers were replaced by squeegees, bunker rakes, and a pump.

Monday, we vented greens to try and influence gas exchange and dry down, but more storms keep the greens completely saturated with cups full of water. Greens are extremely wet, so we are taking precautions to not sand topdress with heavy equipment or roll greens until we get some dry down.  Thanks for your cooperation and understanding while greens speed is on the slower side. Hoping to dodge a bullet to get fairways mowed on Wednesday. 

Creating airflow with venting and using a powerful blower to try and dry down #15 green.

Maintenance Mayhem

Wow! After a 3 day holiday weekend the club was closed on Tuesday. The golf course maintenance gang went to town with a wide open golf course. Numerous important tasks were completed while taking advantage of no golfers.

The ongoing  task of Bermuda suppression was done around our greens in the zoysia collars.  This is an extremely important task to have ample time for the product to dry on the leaf before having foot traffic walk through it and walk on the green as it would harm our  bentgrass greens. For this reason, this practice is a challenge for us to do during play days so Tuesday was perfect!

Tree work was also on the hit list. We removed a pine tree next to the cart barn that was causing debris issues in the cart barn drain. A dead elm tree at the maintenance facility was removed as well. Last but not least the famous Oak tree on hole number 18 was limbed up significantly and shaped a little bit. 

Bunkers made the cut too! We are experimenting with some rubber based paint to color our black liners white so when exposed they are much easier on the eyes. The bunker behind 6 and a few bunkers at 12 green were done this time. We plan on continuing this process when time allows, but this is another hard task to get done during play days. I have been waiting on transportation of white bunker Sand to maintain proper Sand depths in bunkers. After four weeks we are supposed to receive a load this Friday, so we will be addressing bunkers very soon.

Putting greens were also vented. Once again this process helps exchange gases within the soil and promote root growth at this time before summer sets in. We followed up with a smooth roller and a light top dressing on Wednesday. Our sanding rate was a little heavier than I would’ve liked but greens will be great for the weekend.

Finally, on Tuesday we started sod prep to repair poor areas in fairways. Prep was finished on Wednesday and sod was completed today on Thursday! Please avoid driving through these areas or walking through them. They will be pretty soggy for the next week or so to get the turf rooted in.

Our landscape bed rehab at the bogey hills clock near the practice green is complete! Great work by our horticulturist, Jeny, planting a variety of plants for a new upgraded look!

Jacket Weather

Wow! It has been unseasonably cold, I’m still busting out my carhart coat in the mornings. What this translates to is I keep pushing back the opening of the turf on the range tee. Luckily we have a really nice mat system that you are all enjoying! We will need temperatures steady in the 70s before I feel comfortable opening the tee. This is a good time to remind you all that I am allowing carts to drive in the roughs because the fairways really aren’t growing yet. Here’s a picture of our golf course indicator board. The cart ruling of 90° with no restrictions means you CAN drive in the rough!!!  I actually would prefer to see members driving in the rough as opposed to fairways currently.

We finally are gaining staff members after a shorthanded spring. There is a lot going on on the golf course and I’m really excited about this weeks work already! On Monday we planted almost 20 trees in Strategic locations. The two main areas were next to #2 tee complex and more trees added behind the back left of #8 green.

Monday we also vented greens for the first time this season. This process is a light aerification with a small solid tine. The holes are so small they really don’t disrupt play, but each one of these holes are nearly 4 inches deep into the soil profile which will allow for roots to dive in and grow rapidly. This stimulation of roots will help us later down the road when summer starts stressing out the turf.

Jeny and other staff members have been working really hard at getting our annual flowers in the ground! We also hit the reset button on one of the flowerbeds near #4 Green. We are waiting on a piece of equipment to arrive so we can attack our clock bed near the practice green.

Finally, we are two weeks into our weekly practice of light sand top dressing greens. Top dress Tuesdays is what we call it!! This process helps keep greens firm and rolling true and smooth!

Tons of Fun

Lots of little projects in cool weather has been a fun change to the golf seasons regular grind. Greens are about healed up after last weeks fertilizer application.  A heavy top dress on Tuesday will finish the surface. Greens will be rolling smooth and quick next week!

Our four Bent grass tees were aerated and sanded on Monday.

Numerous dead limbs were removed from multiple trees on Monday as well. Limbs from an overhanging tree on #11 Fairway line were removed and overhanging limbs on the right side of practice faculty too.

The stump from the fallen pine tree behind number 16 green was removed and a mound was shaped and sodded.. A tree replacement is currently being discussed.

Finally, we started the prep work for the installation of a new mat system on the practice facility tee.  Concrete will be poured Monday and the new mats installed same week. Unfortunately the practice facility will be closed on Tuesday the 6th, and Wednesday the 7th for the project.

This is going to be a very impressive improvement to BHCC! Stay tuned in to see the progress!!!

Enlarged #5 red tee with recycled sod from mat system project.  Here’s how we map it out!

Moving Forward

Hello!  Time to dust of my blogger app!  It’s turned into a really busy year and the past month has been jamming with both golf and maintenance events!

I’m going to start with a really cool video that has been going around about the golf course maintenance crews preparation for this past weeks US Open. This video really demonstrates the same thinking, planning and work we do at BHCC, just on a slightly smaller scale. Take a look! 👀 

Behind The Greens Winged Foot

Now back to Bogey!  We successfully completed the aerification of greens for this fall season! Technically we actually did them twice.(shhhhhh)🤔🤫 

A week ago we pulled a 1/2”core, cleaned the surface, sanded, brushed, blow excess sand, roll, water and everything else under the moon during a couple long days.  This week we snuck in a 1/2” solid deep tine at a 6” depth! The trick is that the solid tine leaves a smaller affected hole in the surface than a 1/2” hollow tine used the week previous.  The result is NO added recovery time!  Tomorrow we are fertilizing greens which will help finish closing in the holes by the end of next week hopefully.  Please note we dislike the aerification process as much as the members dislike the putting surface during the healing time.  I enjoy looking at a perfect and tight putting surface and it kills me to look at bumpy holes but we know this is the necessary process to allow us to provide premium putting greens throughout the golf season! Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Picture after pulling 1/2” core a week ago

Picture after 1/2” solid this week

We have also made a mess out of the roughs while over-seeding a fescue/bluegrass mix.  Most seeding was concentrated around greens and fairway entrances and exits.

Finally, last week we also treated fairways for Bermuda contamination for the last time this year.  With this application and the unseasonably cooler weather, fairways have really yellowed off quick.  Unfortunately that means the change over to carts on paths is looming in the near future.

Going Vertical

Today we vertical moved some fairways. This is a cultural practice that helps reduce the thatch layer and promotes new growth.  We do the same practice to our greens during the cooler seasons.  Both varieties of turf on greens and fairways spread Laterally by stolons and rhizomes which is the turfs way of “branching” out.  This can cause an undesirable thatch later during seasons of vigorous growth. Vertical mowing trims these branches and causes the plant to produce newer and tighter growth to the originating plant.

In the pictures you can see the vertical mowing unit with multiple blades for slicing. The process was simple, first vertical mowing, followed by blowing of debris. We completed about 2/3 of the fairways today and hope to complete tomorrow before the rain. 

Caught Up To Speed

A quick update to get everyone up to speed.  We have been busy punching holes in our warm season surfaces.  In the past two weeks we have solid tined all of our collars, pulled a core on selective tee boxes and attempted to pull a core in fairways.  We received a surprise storm the night before the scheduled fairway aerification and decided it was too wet after starting #17 fairway.  We are looking to possibly reschedule fairway aerification for July 27th.  During this span of time we have also vented greens with needle tines and continue to do so on a biweekly basis.

We have also made applications to fairways, collars and tees for Bermuda suppression.  Current bronzing in collars are an indication of hurt Bermuda grass.

Last but not least, damaged areas in fairways and a few small spots in collars were repaired with zoysia sod.  We have a few more small areas left to complete.

Quick Update

Last week we completed the renovation around number one green. It turned out really well including a new collection area similar to number seven Green. There will be a row of Burning bushes planted along the top of the berm to further protect players on number two tee. 

A lot of annual flowers were planted last week both in the club parking lot as well as on the golf course. We will continue planting flowers and ornamentals for the next week or so. As temperatures warm up these flowers will really start to come to life.

Our first venting event on putting greens was completed in preparation for what had appeared to be a lot of rain this week. The small holes allow for oxygen exchange and a cavity for stimulated root growth.

We also top dressed greens for the first time since aerification  earlier in spring. We will continue to make frequent light applications of sand which helps protect the crowns of the plant as well as making a true putting surface.

The Big One!

Have a lot of information included in this one, but the first topic I want to discuss is the one that’s most exciting! The cart ruling has changed for the season and we are now allowing carts off the path! At this time we are going with a “no restrictions” ruling which allows members to drive in both the fairways and the roughs. Please still enter at 90° to your ball and exit the fairway and rough at the blue exit stake.  We have also initiated our hole location rotation on putting greens for the season.

Last week we completed greens aerifiaction during a two day event. The event was extremely successful and the greens were left in very good shape upon completion.  Greens were left with a moderate sand top dressing layer to help with the smoothing process. We then also vertical mowed the greens on Thursday, thinning out the canopy and continuing the smoothing process. The greens are already rolling great and should be filled in within another week or so.

In other news, we have been keeping bunkers raked and started mowing areas of rough but will start mowing in its entirety this week. Fairways and tees are starting to green up but probably won’t see their first mow for another week or two. Compost has been flying into beds and flowers will be on order soon to start providing color around the property.  The area behind number eight green has received grass seed and straw. More plants will be installed this spring in the area. A lot is going on but we are rocking and rolling on the golf course.