Water, Water, Water

  Today, as I stared out the window watching the rain come down, I thought it might be a good time to continue our series on what makes greens great. The next chapter is going to focus on water; how we use it, how it can help, and how we get rid of to much of it.

 Irrigation

  We would not be able to produce the conditions day in and day out without irrigation. It can mean the difference between grass flourishing or checking out. Luckily we live in a very temperate maritime climate, so irrigation is not a matter of life or death for our turf...but it is very important.
  The nerve center of any solid irrigation system is the pump house. It is where the pump station is located (ours is below the back tee deck on #8). We are very fortunate to have a top quality system

                                           This is a fairly standard pump station set up

that is both dependable and reliable. Trust me when I say that old school irrigation set ups can be a bit of a nightmare...

 The next part of the system is piping, wiring, and the heads. The system runs hole by hole buried roughly 2' under the turf.

       This map is called an as built. It shows where the heads, piping, wiring, and valves are located.

Here is a good shot of the heads, attached to swing joints, which are in turn attached to the pipe. Also included in the photo is the wiring.

  The final component is the computer software that controls the system. This system sets up the schedules we use and controls when the water comes on. These systems are at the point where you can connect them to your smart phone and control things in the palm of your hand.

    We have dedicated staff that take care of the system on a regular basis. The two biggest jobs are usually priming the system in the spring and blowing it out in the fall. Quality control during both helps to ensure proper operations in the summer.

                  That's Paul and Keith fixing a particularly troublesome head on #17 last week

    With all this technology at your fingertips, the hardest thing for us is not using it. The easy answer to many problems is to throw some water on it. Funny thing is that watering to much only causes bigger problems in the long run. Over watering may make the golf course green, but it leaves it soft, lush, and susceptible to any number of turf maladies.
   Here at Fox Meadow we strive to use as little water as possible. Not only because it is the right thing to do environmentally, but because it leads to healthier turf in the long run. We use a practice called 'deep and infrequent watering' to encourage deep rooting, dry surfaces, less poa annua, and higher quality conditions. It basically is what it sounds like, we will water for about an hour the first night, then monitor the moisture levels and push them as long as we cal before watering again. This time frame can last anywhere from 4 days to 2 weeks depending on the time of year.

 Here is a shot from #7 green in June of last season. The deep watering forces the roots to chase the water deep in the soil profile.

 

     This is the tool we use to measure the moisture content in the greens. It is called the TDR 300.

  So as you can see, watering is not quite as simple as it seems. It is a complex procedure that depends on a lot of different factors to work out properly. The maintenance of the system along with the constant monitoring of the soil moisture is definitely one of the most important jobs we do here at Fox Meadow. So the next time you see Paul or Keith with their heads stuck in a hole, stop and say thanks, because without them things just would not be the same.

                Still one of the coolest sites on a golf course...the system working as it should

Range Behavior 2013 Edition

I stumbled across another great post by a superintendent friend of mine, Chris Tritabaugh, superintendent at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota. It has to do with proper divot patterns  when hitting on the range. The pattern you choose has a dramatic effect on how well the divots heal. I borrowed a few of Chris's images to better illustrate the point.

 

As Superintendents, we would always prefer the patterns on the left and right.

This is the middle pattern growing in. It takes quite a bit longer to grow from seed, and usually leaves the surface of the tee uneven.

This is the strip pattern growing in. Notice you get the seed germination as well as the filling in of the existing turf from the sides. Much faster to heal and leaves a lot more of the tee in tact.

  Our range is quite busy and takes a pounding throughout the year. We spend a great deal of time tending it and making sure it's in the best possible condition for those who use it. As a golfer you can do a couple of things to help out :
1. Choose the proper divot pattern
2. If it is a simple bucket of balls for practice (no game to follow), choose the Fox Academy range. It will help spread the wear and give the Fox Meadow range more time to heal.

Thanks for reading
paul m