Greens conditions

This past Monday, the Grounds staff verticut and topdressed the greens with sand.  This process really helped in smoothing out the greens.  The verticutting helped by taking out some of the poa annua seedheads that are prevalent this time of year and the sand helped by filling in the old aerification holes.  As we topdress more frequently and as the poa stops seeding, you should really see a turn around in the quality of the greens.

Topdressing sand

We have made a change in topdressing sands.  The sand that we were using was a good sand, but it wasn't a great sand.  Why?  The old sand was very uniform in particle sizes, meaning most of the sand particles were around the same size.  The new sand is less uniform.  It contains small, medium and large size particles.  Why does this matter?  With different particle sizes, the sand fits together better, the small particles will fill in the cracks left by the larger particles.  In doing this, the sand is more stable and less shifty.  You will notice in the long term through years of topdressing that the greens will get firmer.

Double click on the pictures to get a closer view.

Old sand

New sand

Dandelions



This time of year is dandelion season.  They are finally finishing their flowering stage and will no longer be as much of an eye sore as they have been.  If you have noticed the prevalence of the dandelions you may have asked "Can't they spray for that?" The answer is yes we can, but is it worth the cost at this point in time.  When dandelions, or any perennial weed, is in the flowering stage, they put all of their energy and nutrients into making the flower in hopes of reproducing.  When you spray a herbicide at this stage the active ingredient goes straight to the flower.  The flower then withers and dies off.  You may think you have success at this point only to find later that the root of the plant was unaffected and the plant regenerates.  You then have to apply a herbicide again to kill the plant off.  You just did twice the work and doubled your cost. 

That is why if you can handle the look of a few yellow flowers, wait until they are done flowering before you apply the herbicide, it will be much more effective.  The best time of year to apply a herbicide is in September/October on a sunny day.  This is when the plant is gearing up for winter and storing all its food in its roots.  Any herbicide applied at this time will do straight to the roots and kill the plant instead of just the flower.

Here at FCC, we will be spraying for weeds in May as needed, but most of our herbicide applications will be in the fall.  Each spring the weeds will less and less prevalent.

Rope and stake

While we don't get huge amounts of play here at FCC, the play that we do get and the cart traffic that comes with it can do damage to the turf if not kept in check.  If carts are allowed to roam as they please, inevitably they take the shortest path and stay as close to the greens and tees as possible.  It is because of this that we put up sections of rope and stake to funnel carts to the areas where we want them to go and keep them out of areas where we don't want them.  Most of the rope and stake is located around the greens.  This keeps the carts off of the approaches and greens surround allowing the turf to have the best growing environment.

Sod project

The grounds crew has finished sodding the stump holes of the trees that were taken out this past winter.  We have sodded the stumps that were located near the greens - 5, 12, 13, 15.  All of the other stump holes are being seeded.  We should see grass germinate out of these areas in a couple of weeks.

Sodding the back of #12 green bank

Back of #12 green

Red lines

You may have noticed the small red hash marks located near the approaches in the intermediate cut.  These hash marks are there to give the Grounds Staff a definite mark as to where the fairway mower stops and the approach mower begins.  This prevents too much or to little overlap of the machines.

Good attitude

 

Fed, I'm glad you stopped shivering long enough for me to take the photo.  I hope you can continue to find the good out of everything (even when it rains).

Approaches

A few cart signs have gone back up.  I am beginning to see some discoloration in the approaches.  Most of this has to do with compaction of the soil due to cart traffic.  We will be aerifying some of the approaches as needed to alleviate the compaction, along with applying more fertilizer to encourage faster recovery.  Please stay off the approaches with your carts, thank you.

Frost

We have had multiple frost delays in the last few weeks.  I want to thank everyone for their patience and understanding of the later tee times.  Those that have never seen the damage that traffic on frost can do may not understand why the delay.  Grass is made up of mostly water.  When the dew freezes on the ground (frost) the water in the plant also freezes.  When you step on a frozen plant, the ice crystals will puncture the cell walls of the plant and injure or kill the plant.  This can be seen the next day by purple colored grass anywhere frost damage has occurred.  To prevent injury to the golf course, delays are necessary.

Frost Damage (not at FCC)

This is the average amount of footsteps taken by a foursome on one green.  You can imagine the damage that could be done by a few groups playing in the frost.



If you show up to the Club for your regularly scheduled tee time and find that your tee time has been pushed back, you may look out the window and notice the frost is gone but nobody is golfing.  Remember that the Grounds staff still has to prepare the course for the day.  We can not get out until the frost is gone either.  That is why we don't allow tee times until 1-2 hours after the frost is gone.

Project update

With the growth of the grass actually starting to slow down from what it was in mid-March and with the help of more staff members coming back for the year, we are able to get some projects done.  The first priority on our list is cleaning, filling, seeding and sodding the stump holes from the trees that were removed this past winter.  Once this is accomplished we will turn our attention to edging all the mulch beds on the property and putting down a fresh layer of mulch.  After the mulch will come the edging of bunkers and the reseeding of #18 fairway.

Fallen tree

Last week Monday, the Cherry Tree near #11 approach fell to the ground.  The grounds crew was aerifying #11 green at the time and watched it go down.  One crew member being only 10 yards away.

We have been watching the tree closely.  Those of you that take notice of such things saw the large crack that was running up the base of the tree.  This crack was getting longer and wider.  Considering this tree was also leaning heavily in one direction, we new it wouldn't last long.  I put rope and stake around the tree on Saturday, not wanting anyone to get hurt when it did come down, and planned to take it down the following week.  We never had the chance to take it down.  Some say that a tree like this can stand for quite some time yet.  Yes they can, but why take the chance?  I'm glad no one got hurt.

Before

After