The sand man

We have been fortunate here at Fox Meadow this season to be trying out a few new pieces of gear. We are in the hunt for a new topdressor and a new greens roller. It's funny how life is in the sense that you don't realize how many accommodations you made for using something inferior until you use some superior. Case in point with both our roller and topdressor. We have been using units that are roughly 6-7 years old, and they are a combination of worn out and outdated. I'm not usually one to jump on to something new just because it's new (read iphone 1,2,3,4,5...) but sometimes switching to a newer unit makes both sense in terms of efficiency and with regards to economics.
 In the roller department we have demoed the Tru Turf, the Greensiron, and the Salso units. All have their strength and weaknesses, much like buying a new car (they almost cost that much also...). With the topdressors we have tried both the Dakota 410 and the Propass 200. These two units both preformed well and we will hopefully be making a decision in the next couple of weeks.
 So what does these purchases mean to you as a golfer? Well it all comes down to the efficiency. We will be able to roll and topdress on a more regular basis, without the fear of breakdowns and lost productivity. For the course that means more consistent playing conditions. We tend to focus a great deal of our attention on the greens and these two units will give us the ability to produce a top quality product.
 As an example here is a quick run through of our topdressing procedure yesterday...

The first step is to apply the sand. We use approximately 12 cubic feet of sand per green. Last season with our old unit we would apply the same amount, but the spread was not even. We would end up with thin areas, coupled with windrows of sand along the edges. With the Propass 200 we were able to put down the same amount of sand, but much more evenly. This made all the difference with the next step...

This is a picture of Paul Howard brushing in the sand. This is the money shot. Last season he would have to deal with the a fore mentioned windrows and brush the green 3-4 times (very hard on the green...picture rubbing your arm with sandpaper). Yesterday Paul managed to work the sand into the canopy with one lap...huge plus for the leaf tissue of the plants and great for efficiency.

Topdressing protocol differs from course to course, but here at the Meadow our next step is to roll. With our old roller, it was all about dependability. We could hum along for 12 holes, only to have the unit conk out unexpectedly. With a new, more efficient and dependable unit, that would become a non issue. (Keith N is    rolling with a Tru Turf unit)

 Then we turn on the water for about 10 minutes. I know that is not a picture of a green watering (its actually # 8 fwy), but I did not get a shot of a green watering yesterday.

 So like I mentioned earlier, its all about productivity and quality. We only have so many resources to work with here at The Meadow, so sometimes the best option is to make a wise purchase in order to make the best use of our time.

Thanks so much for reading
paul m

Aerifying need not be terrifying

As mentioned in the previous post, the course is progressing nicely for the second week of May. We will be starting into our overseeding plan next week on approaches & fairways, and I plan to update you on that procedure next week.
 Today's topic is the condition of the greens. I have had a couple of conversations with some regarding the "bumpiness" of the greens surfaces, and just questions about when things will get into playing shape. Well I was thinking all week as to how to tackle this question, and I think that a little turf 101 might be helpful. We are going to discuss the basics of one of the more important cultural practices we do here at Fox Meadow, and hopefully it will give you a bit more insight into the current condition of the greens.
 Aerification in it's most basic sense is opening up the surface, somehow. There are a few different ways to do this and we will go through them. But first...why do we do it at all?

Here are a few  biggest reason...

                                                                            Thatch

 Thatch is the layer of organic matter that forms between the actual turf canopy and the soil. It is a very natural process and in most normal lawns it is not an issue. It is formed by the decaying leaf tissue and roots that comes from the turf. Different types of turf have varying levels of thatch production, fescue and bluegrass are low producers, but bentgrasses are relatively high producers. Our tees and fairways are a mixture of a lot of different species of turf, and as a result thatch production is not really an issue. Our greens on the other hand are 70-80% bentgrass, so thatch control is an ongoing issue.
 As I mentioned, thatch production in turfgrass is a very natural process, and a certain level of thatch provides an essential cushion for the traffic that golf course turf deals with daily. It only becomes problematic when the levels exceed approximately 3/4" to 1".  You can keep the thatch levels in greens in check via regular topdressing (we will cover this topic in a future post), deep verticutting, judicious use of water and fertilizer, and aerification. Today we will stick with aerification.  


  There are different types aerification that we employ at Fox Meadow. They are solid tining (or venting) and coring. Solid tining is a practice that we do monthly in conjunction with topdressing. We use smaller tines and basically poke a hole in the greens. This hole increases oxygen movement and allows the surface to receive water properly. By rolling after venting you would hardly know we were there.

                                                              These are venting tines
                            

 Core aerification is the process by which we physically remove a core of turf/thatch from the surface. How does core aerification help with thatch control? The most simple way to say it is that when we aerify we physically remove the thatch. We use a machine called a Procore 648 to achieve this.

 For the past two seasons we have used 5/8 tines (there are 60 of them on the unit) and pulled out quite a bit of material...

After we pull the cores we then fill in the open holes with clean topdressing sand. We use just under 100 tons of sand to fill the holes. The sand gets placed via a topdressing unit. The picture below is not us but it gives you an idea of how the process goes...

                           This is the topdressing unit (actually topdressing a green at TPC Sawgrass)

                                  The sand then gets brushed into the holes and the healing begins
                         (again you will notice that this is not our crew...but they are working hard!)

 So as you can see it's quite a process, but the results are worth it. A proper aerification program that includes both solid tining and core aerifying goes a long way to creating healthy greens...

This aerification procedure is part of an overall plan to reduce our thatch production, and it is working. I will go into a bit more detail at a later date regarding the other practices we are employing to help with the thatch control.

  So bottom line, how does this affect the putting quality in the spring of the year? Well it all comes down to timing. Obviously this kind of practice disrupts the surface quite a bit, and it takes time to heal. In order to heal, the greens need proper growing conditions. These conditions generally don't fall between the days we  aerify, around the 22nd of Oct. and now. Once the soil temperatures rise, the bentgrass will wake up and begin to grow naturally. It's really a matter of when you want to put up with the disruption, in the fall, or in the spring.
 People have asked what we are planning to do to heal them faster. Well the answer is basically, wait. We did spray a plant enhancing product called Civitas early this week, and it has actually helped quite a bit. People have also mentioned topdressing or fertilizer. Well, as we mentioned earlier, there is lots of sand on the greens... we would have a hard time fitting any more in. Fertilizer is a dangerous tool this time of year, because of the soil temperatures. If the soil is not ready to facilitate growth naturally, then dumping fertilizer on now does not help. The nutrients will sit in the soil until it wakes up and then, boom, you are bailing hay for a couple of weeks (if you were paying attention you would also chime in, saying that improper fertilizer usage creates thatch...which necessitates more aerification) Not what we want.
 Patience is a virtue and nowhere is it more true than when you are maintaining greens. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is nothing...but that is often the best thing to do.

Comings and Goings

Well it's been a busy start to the season, and things are going well. It has yet to warm up yet, but that's pretty typical for this time of year on PEI. The turf department has been hard at work, here are a few of shots of the efforts...

Bunkers

                                                               #3 greenside complete

                                 #2 greenside (used to be one oddly shaped bunker, but now its two!)

                    #13 greenside bunker - We removed the old sand, cleaned up the drainage
                            and put brand new sand in. Now she drains like a bunker should!


Tees

                                                        #6 whites, another few days...

                                                        #4 whites, maybe a week...

 The plan is to continue with the renovations of the white decks on #1, #3, #5, #11, #13, #14, #15 though the summer and into the fall. We probably won't get all of them complete, but hopefully over the next couple of seasons they will all be done. The plan is then to treat the white decks almost like greens (fertilizing, aerating, topdressing) in the future in order to keep them viable longer. They receive about 90% of the play here at the Meadow.

                                     The new practice tee is roughed in and awaiting finish work.
                                     This tee will be completed within about a week, and then
                                     seeded out. It will probably be ready for use by the fall.

                                          The Fox Meadow range tees will hopefully be ready
                                          to go by this coming Monday. We aerified, topdressed,
                                          and fertilized it today, so over time it will start to look
                                          like a tee deck.

Flags


  A few people have been inquiring about the yellow flags around the course. I should have made it into a contest of some sort and had people email me what they thought their purpose was ( Don Chandler was they only one who guessed right). They actually mark out areas that we are going to let grow up into native grasses. With the fescue here at Fox Meadow we have been trying to let grass grow where it does not impede play, and mow it down where it causes hardship. Allowing the fescue areas to grow and a nice texture to the look of the course, and it also saves on mowing time.

                                                                 The swale on # 4

                                          These flags on #7 delineate an area that will grow up
                                          into fescue. The real purpose here is to slow down the
                                          flow of water coming down the hill, in the hopes that it
                                          can absorb more of the nitrates before they get to the
                                          pond. It is part of our ongoing strategy to combat the
                                          algae problem in the irrigation pond.

How to annoy your Greenkeeper #1

 

  Our job as a Turf Department is to present the golf course in the best possible condition within the means we have to work with. We strive everyday to make Fox Meadow a fun and enjoyable place to play golf. It is so frustrating and disappointing when we come upon situations like the one pictured above. Now we are used to fixing damage...it goes with the job and most times its simply a mistake made by somebody. But in this case it's simply disrespect. How could missing a put, in the rain, during the first week of May justify this type of response??? How can missing a put ever justify this kind of behavior???
 Think about how all of the fellow golfers that came behind you felt about your little tantrum. Imagine how you would have felt if you had played #6 like a violin and ended up missing a birdie or eagle put because of this scar...you would be none too pleased. So please, if you find yourself in this situation again, pause and think before swinging your putter and scarring the green. Also if you ever see a playing partner doing something like this, let him know that we don't tolerate this type of thing at Fox Meadow.
 If I ever come over the hill and catch someone doing this type of damage, it will be a long time before they play at Fox Meadow again.

Another poa problem

 If you got a chance to hit some balls on the Fox Meadow range in the last couple of weeks you may have noticed two unsightly pancakes in the middle of the range. They are the target greens for the 100 & 150 yds distances, and they are dead. They were pretty much the purest stands of poa annua grass we had on the course. As mentioned in an earlier post, poa does not like the winter much, and it really does not like ice. These two targets were covered in ice for just over a month and they did not hold up well. Thankfully these were not greens!

                                                           A close up of the carnage...

 Well this is just another illustration of why we are trying to move away from managing poa here at Fox Meadow. Depending on this turf for playing surfaces here in Eastern Canada is getting harder to do. We have experienced a lot more fluctuation in our winter temperatures, making ice development a bigger problem. Where as 20 years ago we would simply have a big snowstorm, nowadays its just not that simple. Snowstorms turn into rain events, and back to snow at the drop of a hat. This all adds up to damage to turf, and poa in particular.

                                                                 not bad for April 26

 So that's why we are pushing bentgrass. As you can see from the above photo, the bent wintered well and is already started to develop it healthy root system for the upcoming season. It's important to encourage roots as much as possible because it provides the turf with a lot more resiliency over the entire summer.

Finishscapers

 Pictured above is the unofficial 13th member of our Turf Crew so far this season, Lyle Robinson. He and his posse from his company, Finishscapers, have been helping us knock off a few early season projects. Lyle is a friend from way back in our Glasgow Hills days, and after a stint out west with architect Les Furber (Glasgow Hills, Links at Penn Hills), he returned to the Island to start his own boutique construction outfit. He does just about anything, but loves getting out and working on golf courses whenever he can. You can see some of his shaping work at the new 9 holes at Countryview Golf Course. We have used Lyle over the past couple of years for a few odds and ends, but hopefully will be partnering a bit more in the future so we can work our way through refinishing a lot of the tee surfaces.

 You may have also noticed the practice bunker that used to sit beside the driving range tees is being filled in. Late last fall we hired another company, Island Grown Sod, to come in and renovate the range decks. After 10 plus years of punishment it was high time to resurface the decks and Rodney Chappell and his crew did a great job.

                                         The finished product. The bunker above was filled in
                                         using the spoils from this project.

   This was the bunker this week. Lyle came back in and regraded the old chipping area, along with the old bunker to form a new tee deck for the range. It will be finished up in a couple of weeks when the weather warms up and we can seed. It will be in play sometime late in the season.

                                         Another shaping shot. The rough grade is now complete
                                         and Lyle will come back to do the finish grade and
                                         surrounds seeding when the soil temps warm up.


 It's really great to be able to get out early this season and make these improvements to the course. Golf courses are organic entities that continue to grow and change constantly. Part of our job as a Turf Department is to identify issues that develop over time, and find efficient ways to fix them. It is an ongoing process that keeps our work fresh and fun.