Tree-mendous Challenges

It appears the drought is finally over and we’re getting an early dose of November rain.  We received a total of 1.4 inches last week with more expected early next week. Ironically, we had only received 1.4 inches within the previous 66 days during the drought.

In the past month we have encountered multiple challenges due to trees. The constant leaf litter, sticks and limbs are one topic, but it has actually been the roots wreaking havoc.  Trees are important to the identity of BHCC and they are constant work.  There is a lot of various tree maintenance on tap this winter.

Distinct border line of yellowed turf in the root zone of trees during the drought.  Trees are more efficient at pulling  nutrients and moisture out of the soil than turf.

An irrigation leak caused by tree roots pushing and moving an irrigation pipe.

The best for last...

Cypress tree root knots surfacing in #14 green! They were cut out and turf replaced. We will be root pruning behind this green this winter.

Shutting Down

Cold temperatures continue as we encounter our first frost of the year already!  Sustained below normal temperatures has all of our zoysia surfaces shutting down.  Tees, fairways and collars are going into dormancy and are not growing anymore.  They have all been cut for the last time this season. The turf has been left a little taller and will be a little fuzzy to start the offseason. 

Unfortunately  due to the cooler temperatures and the added cart traffic from Covid single passenger cart use we are restricting cart traffic this week.  Starting Tuesday the 6th all cart traffic will be restricted to the cart path until next season.  This is a very difficult decision to make but is in the best of interest of BHCC and will help preserve premium playing conditions.  Thanks for your understanding!

Cart traffic marks are becoming visible in the fairways which is a sign of plants entering dormancy.

In other news, we are prepped and ready for concrete on Monday, and we also have seedlings germinating in over seeded rough areas!

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.

The Hangover

Over the weekend mother nature threw a little party and things got out of control. We received over 2 inches of rainfall starting Saturday night ending early afternoon Sunday. The bunkers got trashed and we were forced to clean up the mess on Monday.  The crew worked really hard and had the bunkers put back together after a combined effort of nearly 60 man hours.  The good news is our bunker liner system we installed throughout the renovations continue to save us from silt contamination during washouts. This will prolong the life of the sand and save us labor and money in the long run!  The bad news is on a different subject, we were unable to mow any rough today.  This will put us behind for the week, but we will catch up as soon as possible.  Thanks for understanding!

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.

Project Update

Last week we completed more project work.  While working on projects please understand some of the usual detail work and raking of bunkers get done less frequently.  

Rough over-seeding was completed.  Most areas seeded were around greens or cart traffic areas.

#10 fairway and cart path was changed up.  The poor area of fairway was converted to rough.  An awkward parking area was removed near the green to provide more playing surface area.

Tree stump areas were sodded as well.  The practice green bunker was removed.  Final grading and seed or sod completion will happen this week.

Big Bang

A long 4th of July weekend brought a bunch of bangs, booms and blow ups, and I’m not talking about fireworks!  High heat and humidity boiled up some thunderheads Wednesday thru Friday resulting in a total of 2.25 inches of rain.  Friday’s boomer dumped 1.3 inches in less than 2 hours causing bunker washouts once again.

Not all was a lost though, many golf rounds were still played and I enjoyed seeing all the red, white and blue on our Independence Day!

Big thunder head blowing up in the background.

Textbook brown patch disease flared up in our roughs.  High heat and humidity with added rain is a perfect combination for fungal outbreak.  The turf has been treated and will recover.

Week In Review

We saw all fours seasons last week with a frost and some light snow flakes on Monday!  That gave way to a 50 degree temperature change in 36 hours with temps in the mid 80s on Tuesday.  Spring rain and mist by Thursday with a chilly autumn feel on Friday.  Gotta love Missouri!  All this just means we were forced to get creative throughout the week to get tasks completed and present good playing conditions on the nice days.

A side note and moving back further than a week, I had the privilege to attend The Masters for the first time and it didn’t disappoint!  What a wonderful experience and motivator to start off the season!

A heavy topdressing of sand on greens before the 1.1” rain Thursday will aid in the final push for holes to close up the rest of the way!  We are really close to dropping the hammer on putting greens and dialing them in for the season!

Finally, the team really out did themselves on Friday. That 1.1” rain total from Wednesday night  tallied up in only 3 hours which resulted in some minor washouts.  They worked hard and got all the bunkers back into playable condition in one day!  This also pays tribute to the result of our bunker renovation!  Our old bunkers would have demanded at least two days of work, pumping standing water and pushing up sand from major washouts!  Kudos to the club for their commitment to improve the golf course!

And... can I get a LGB?!?!

Heating Up

Wow, the weather has been fantastic for multiple days now!  Temperatures have been warming up and the golf course has been greening up! Today we started mowing rough and yesterday we mowed greens for the first time since our aerification process.  They are recovering from the process rapidly.  At this rate they should be completely grown-in soon!  Zoysia fairways are greening up rapidly too!  Cart restrictions will soon be fading away as the dormant yellow fades to green.  The season is here and were excited to see all of our BHCC members filtering in!

Sod work from the bunker project is a few rolls of sod away from final completion!  Putting some finishing touches on #5 today.

Beautiful Mess

If you golfed in the last few days it’s certain you saw areas of the rough that were a mess.  We overseeded these areas with a fescue bluegrass blend.  The machine used cut slits into the ground and tilled the Bermuda grass up at the same time.  We should have germination sometime next week!

Caution! Danger! Keep Out! ☠️☠️☠️

If the warmest May on record wasn’t a calling card for summer well I guess the Memoria Day Weekend made it official.  While the roughs are thick enough to consistently swallow up a missed hit tee shot, it’s time to start protecting against the long battle known as summer.  Soon the typical hot and dry will set in causing the roughs to start thinning.  Most members will probably accept this with open arms, but we still want to try to preserve this surface.  

In pursuit of keeping our golf course consistent and having playable roughs throughout the season we ask to keep cart traffic on paths and on fairways only.  The current rule is to enter the fairway from the cart path at 90 degrees to your golf ball.  Proceed to play out the hole by keeping your cart in the fairway.  Finally please exit the fairway at the blue stake.  There has been some confusion on whether you can pass the stake and circle back to it when exiting.  It is highly recommended to exit at the stake.  At no time at all should any cart be within 40 yards of the green.

Carts leaving the fairway and returning to the cart path at the designated blue stake!  

Snowing in September

Bermuda grass suppression continues at BHCC.  This time it's the roughs that we are taking aim at.  Bermuda in the roughs blend in with other cool season turf during the summer.  In spring and late fall this grass lays dormant leaving poor golf lies and easy access for weed encroachment.  

We are making a trial we hope will allow us to transform areas of Bermuda into fescue and bluegrass. Green surrounds on hole numbers 2,3 and 8 have been treated for Bermuda.  This product bleaches the leaf blades turning them white.  The white will slowly fade to brown, thinning the Bermudas dense coverage.  We have seeded these areas at the same time.  So as the Bermuda thins it will allow new seedlings to emerge and be established.

Bermuda grass is shown bleached while desirable cool season grasses are unaffected.

A close up view of new fescue and bluegrass seedlings emerging amongst the thinning Bermuda.

Trying To Catch Up

After an extended amount of time since the last blog it's time to catch up.  This is the same theme on the golf course.  The start of the school year claimed almost half of our staff and it has been difficult finding help to finish out the season.  We're getting a little behind on the details but the golf course is still in great shape!  

So anyways... we have done a few things behind the scenes worth mentioning.  The mild August allowed for a vertical mowing of putting greens last week.  This helps thin out the canopy and encourage vertical growth.  

A couple weeks ago we made another Bermuda suppression application to our zoysia collars.  Areas with too much contamination will have to be sodded out this fall or next spring.  This will be an ungoing battle every year.

Finally, this week we started our fall management practices to our roughs.  High traffic and weak areas were aerated, similar to fairway Aeration.  This practice has been completed already.  The next process has been started and will be finished next Tuesday.  This practice is the over-seeding of our roughs.  Newer, stronger varieties of fescue and bluegrass are being used.  Continuing this process each year will result in a thicker, more uniform rough with minimal bare areas.

Sand, Paint, Mulch and Much Mow

Early last week a heavy top dressing of sand was applied to the putting greens.  This helped cap off aeration holes that settled from heavy rains.

Mulching of landscape beds are underway and will be complete next week.  A lot of new color will be arranged through the property.

 

The season start has brought our daily practice of painting holes to each of the putting greens.  Notice aeration holes are closing in a hurry!  Greens will be rolling fast and smooth really soon!

 

Finally, mow mow mow our rough... every single day!!!  The time of the season when the roughs grow out of control, we are doing our best to keep up.  Fairways and tees have already been mowed too!  These warm season turf surfaces are a couple weeks ahead of schedule.  Things are really starting to look good!

 

Game 4, let's hope we kiss the wild goodbye!