Greens Drain Blowouts

July was a very hot, wet month for us.  It showed us many of the problems we have here on the golf course, specifically our drainage or lack thereof.  The biggest problem that faces us is the Greens drainage.

With every Green being lined by a thick piece of plastic, the only way for water to exit the Green cavity is through the drain tiles underneath.  If that water isn't able to exit, it can increase soil temperatures to lethal levels for Bentgrass as well as promote several other issues like Wet Wilt.  We have found most of these drain tile exits buried in the forest and uncovered.  However, now we know most of them to be clogged either by plant material growing up inside of them or animals making nests.  Here is a picture of one of the drain tile exits we found on Hole #12. 

No matter what is blocking the drain pipes we do have the ability to clear the blockage through the Greens drain blowouts.  Each Green has 1 to 3 blowouts but finding them can be very tricky.  During installation these blowouts were buried underground.  In the picture you can see one we found on Hole #14 and luckily it is only a few inches under the surface.  However, some of them have been as deep as 7"!  Finding them is a very slow process.  Some of the blowouts have a wire at the exit we are able to trace.  However many of them have no wire and it involves being extremely lucky by hitting the 4" cap with a probe somewhere around the Green.

Once we find the blowouts we are able to use a hose from our irrigation system to blast 125 PSI of fresh water through the line.  This has helped removed all the blockages so far.  We are using fresh, clear water into the blowout but what comes out isn't so pretty, or good smelling.  Its been a slow process but we've been able to clean out several of our more problematic Greens.  This will really help our Greens drain.

Wet Wilt

Some may have noticed a few of our Greens looking a little rough.  Unfortunately the 1" of rain we had on Monday when heat index's have been over 100 degrees has created some problems.  The Greens surrounded by trees, mostly on the back nine suffered Wet Wilt and are looking a little thin.  It may appear these areas are "dry" or even have some disease but unfortunately neither of these are the case.  Wet Wilt occurs when the plant is unable to release the excess water inside due to high temperatures and the water boils and burst the plant cells from within.  The damage is most noticeable where the collar and Green meet, as well as on Greens with no air circulation.


Here is a picture of #14 Green and you can see the Wet Wilt damage running along a drain line of the Green. This Green is surrounded by trees and has a lower elevation than the rest of the property providing almost no air movement.  Luckily for us most of the Wet Wilt areas are small and surrounded by healthy turf.  When the weather breaks and we get out of the 90's we should see these areas recover nicely.

Cicada Killer Wasps

Most people see the wasps on #6 and #7 Greens and run in fear.  Well don't be scared, these wasps are actually not harmful to humans.  These monstrous wasps are Eastern Cicada Killers.  They look more menacing than they really are.  Unfortunately they create giant mounds of sand in the collars of our Greens so you may see some kids with tennis racquets taking care of these pests.

Vandalism

Unfortunately we had a group of golfers get a little too drunk over the weekend and did some major damage to the golf course.  Not only were they disruptive to other golfers, threw trash all over the course, they also did a significant amount of damage. We are repairing all their havoc and appreciate all your patience during this process.

We were able to call the Elkton police who did a great job responding right away to confront these vandals. Thank you for all those who witnessed it and did something about it.

Venting

Today some of the early golfers may have seen us running our Toro aerifier on Greens.  The perception is we are "aerifying" Greens, however a closer look shows what we are actually accomplishing.  These solid tines are 5" long and much smaller diameter than a coring tine. They are going 4" deep to allow oxygen into the soil. It is also alleviating compaction and creating channels through the organic matter layer. This lets the roots breathe, helps water get deeper into the soil to the roots, and loosens up high trafficked areas. With so many benefits it is easy to see why we do it.


The great advantage to using these small tines to vent the Greens is once the roller goes over it, you cant even tell we did anything.  Heres a photo of the roller smoothing out the holes. You can see the non-rolled Green on the right just after we vented it. The ball putts nice and smooth on the section on the left where the cup is.




















With 10+ days of 90+ degree weather later this week, its important to take advantage of this cooler weather.

Mechanical Damage

Most damage to a golf course is caused from things you would not expect.  Mechanical damage is one of the biggest problems and we strive to keep the damage minimal.  It is impossible to prevent completely and accidents do happen.

You might notice some brown lines on our #2 Fairway up near the Green.  This was caused by a hydraulic leak on one of our Fairway mowers.  Luckily our operator noticed the leak right away which prevented much more damage. Our mechanic was able to fix the problem the same day, but  unfortunately some damage was done.  The fluid burns and kills the grass so we will have a little blemish until the grass grows in over it.







The biggest problem lately has been the mis-application of fertilizer a few weeks ago.  We are glad to see most of the overlaps did not result in any turf loss, but a few greens did get damaged.  We experienced a rare problem called "Etiolated Tiller Syndrome" (ETS) in those overlaps which can cause turf loss in high traffic areas.  Our #8, 10, 12, 14, and Practice Greens have a few trouble areas.  It seems the effects of the fertilizer are finally starting to stop, the ETS is going away, and we can start addressing those problem areas on those Greens.

Unfortunately a continued problem which hurts us most is golfers taking divots on our Greens.  At least once a week we have to repair a divot on our Greens.  If you know of anyone, or see anyone taking a divot on a Green please notify the Pro Shop.  This is an act of vandalism and it would be nice to see this damage go away.







Damage to turf can come in a number of ways, but damage from machines and people always seems to be the biggest problem.

Staffing

With colleges entering summer break, we are finally fully staffed. We take great pride in looking professional while enjoying our job here at Patriots Glen National Golf Club. We also keep our equipment nice and clean while Eddie keeps it all running.

Bring out the brushes

Our verticutter breaking after 4 holes earlier this year has really left us in a bind.  We finally got word that there is no fixing it, the machine is wore out from old age.  This presented a big problem for our Greens.  The variety of Bentgrass on our Greens is very thatchy and with all of the laid down grass it has been hard to get Green speeds up.

With any problem, there is a solution.  Today we started standing the laid down grass blades upright using brushes.  We first mowed the Green with an old walk mower fitted with a brush out front.  It isn't fancy but it gets the job done.  We were able to remove three times the amount of grass from the Green than from normal mowing.

Next we put sand down on top of the Green and used our roller with brushes to push the sand down in between the blades of grass now standing upright.  In the photo you can see what the Green looks like with the topdressing on the left and what it looks like after brushing on the right.

Then we use a light irrigation cycle to push the sand even deeper into the canopy of the Grass.  The result you can see is a very good looking, much faster Green.

Fertilizer Burn

We had a little fertilizer spreader malfunction on our #12 Green.  Its a little ugly looking now but it will be fine in the long run.  Its just a little too much fertilizer put into a small area.

 

Fairway Aerification

We started an aerification program on Fairways last year.  To continue it this Spring we are using a deep-tine aerifier.  This machine helps "frac" the soil around the holes to really alleviate compaction.  This process is very slow and is the major drawback to the procedure.  However, we have almost all Fairways and Approaches completed after two weeks.  Heres a picture of the tines we are using and the machine operating it.  You might have seen or will see it running out there so thank you for your patience.

Aerification

Aerification is crucial to our success at Patriots Glen National Golf Club.  With years of neglect, we need to help alleviate compaction, which helps get oxygen into the soil pore space, allows water to drain from the surface easier, and gives the roots room to grow deeper.

We started with the Greens this week.  We used small tines so the holes would close faster, however we used a greater number of tines to make up for the smaller size.  We pulled a core from the Green to remove Organic Matter which makes the Greens "spongier." Heres a photo of the aerifier pulling a core from the Green.







Some golfers get upset about aerification because it makes the putt "bouncy."  They don't realize the amount of work that goes into aerification.  If it were not so vital to the health of our golf course we would gladly not do it.

Here are some pictures of the work we did over two days to get all 19 Greens aerified.  After the Green is aerified we push the cores into piles and collect them into our Utility vehicles.  We pushed and collect over 30 tons of cores from the Greens!

After the cores are collected, we are left with just tiny holes.  We then put sand on the Greens and brush it into the holes using our Roller.  This helps smooth out of the surface of the Green while also filling each hole with fresh sand.  Its similar to how we topdress the Greens.

Heres photos of the holes open, holes filled with sand, and then the holes after two days.  I use my multi-tool as a reference which is 4" long.

Greens Drains

The rain we have had last week is a good time to finish our Greens drain exit project.  A benefit of the type of construction of our Greens is they drain water well.  We are able to apply the water we want to keep the plant alive.  This translates to firm Greens for the golfer and healthy grass for us.  For our Greens to function properly the drains need to be functional and the exits clear. 

Almost all the exits of our drains for our Greens had been either buried or clogged from years of neglect.  Last season we were able to find and open them up.  We were pulling roots and plant material that had grown up into the drains like the one picture to the right.  Some of these were more than 8 feet long!

This is a picture of our practice Green drain exit that was not only buried but also clogged with plant material.  We were able to dig around the pipe to expose the exit.  We then had to remove the roots that had grown up into it.  This released a huge amount of water that was trapped in the drain.

This season we are placing stone around the drains and marking them so we can keep them clear of any clogs.  This will ensure the drains function properly from now on.

White Dots

Some may have noticed the white dots painted around the Greens. These white dots are used by our mowers to outline the edge of our Green surface.  Throughout the season last year our mowers slowly push the edge of the Green farther and farther out from the original area.  In the Spring we mark the original Green edge with white dots so the area can grow back in.

You can see here where the edge of the Green is already growing back in from last year to the original area.  With soil conditions different between the Greens area and the collar it is important to keep the Green within its original space.

Golf Course Vandalism

Unfortunately a problem I have faced more than I would expect has been golf course vandalism.  Its to be expected that a small number of people would not be patient and understanding as you work to restore a golf course back to acceptable conditions.  We have made huge steps each season and now have a nice playable golf course.  With the Greens completely grown in and rolling nice I was shocked to see someone take a divot on #14 Green like last season.  It just goes to show that no matter what you do some people just dont care.

Having the support of the community around the golf course has been very crucial to our success.  It has been nice to build a strong relationship with those who live around the golf course.  I really feel like everyone wants to see the golf course succeed.

Recently we have had some kids playing soccer on our #6 and #7 Green. Although its easy to think the cleats are helping us aerify Greens, the holes put into the Green make putting very difficult.  You can also see the sliding of the cleat has scarred the Green pretty badly.  Lets keep the soccer matches on the pitch which has the correct grass type and height of cut. Thanks.

Fertilizer on Greens

Today you might have noticed some lines going across all of the Greens. This is from our Fertilizer Push Spreader. The grass on the Greens just like all living things needs food. Today we gave the grass a little bit of food to help it wake up. We can expect this to really jumpstart the grass and really start growing soon.


This is a picture of #8 after fertilizer has been applied to it.

Topdressing

Many may have noticed the Greens being covered in sand last week, this is called Topdressing the Greens with sand.  With all of the rounds we had over the winter a heavy topdressing helps fill in ball marks and helps firm up the Greens, among many more benefits to the plant itself.  Before the Topdressing Greens were very spongy.  Now after the Tropdressing, Greens are much more firm and speeds have picked up.

Heres a picture of the Green after the sand has been put down. We went a little heavier to help fill in ball marks. With 1.5" of rain coming it will help really wash the sand down into the canopy of the plant.

We brushed and rolled the sand to help evenly distribute it around the Green. This moved the sand into the ball marks and also sped the Greens up after the sand was put down.

You can see after everything we did, along with mother nature you can't even tell we put down any sand.  

Warm Weather Spell

With the latest warm temperature spell we were able to get out and mow Greens, Tees, and change cups this week. The tee boxes are not too beat up even after all the play we had this winter.

Greens are looking very nice coming out of the winter. With soil temperatures in the 50's on Greens we can expect grass to begin to come out of dormancy.

Cart Path Only

The golf course has been primarily "Cart Path Only" since November. With the uncharacteristically warm winter we have had so far this year, there has been a lot of play on the course. This is great to see and as an avid golfer its nice to swing the sticks during a time when you usually are only watching golf on TV.

Unfortunately, we have had a lot of cart damage on the course, despite the fact it has been "Cart Path Only." As a golfer I understand the hassle of the Cart Path Only rule but it's there to protect the golf course. A small inconvenience now will keep the course playing well for a long time.

Here is some damage that occurred over this past nice weekend. This is a photo from the front of #9 Fairway. I don't think any golfer would like to have their ball end up in this mess. This rut probably only a few seconds to make, however we will spend hours of labor, plus seed and sand to repair. If we can get this spot to heal in by summer it would almost be a miracle.

Here is a photo from #5 Fairway. With our course being tree lined it takes a considerable amount of time before the frost lifts. I often will let golfers out before the frost is gone but ask for Cart Path Only. Carts do a significant amount of damage when driven through a frosted area. Here you can see where carts drove through frost and notice the amount of wear near the path.

I please ask that when the Cart Path Only rule is effect, please do not drive the carts off the path. It requires a significant amount of time, money, and labor to repair the damage caused from a few seconds.

Thank you.

Irrigation Office update

The irrigation room was a cold weather project that needed to be done.  It is one of the most important rooms in the shop and needed some updating.  The holes in the wall were patched, a new coat of paint was put on the walls, and the room was carpeted.








A much needed task was to make it easier for us to view our irrigation maps. Our irrigation maps were folded up in a milk crate and difficult to sort through. Using a couple 1.25" dowel rods from HD we were able to make map holders and bracket for our irrigation room.  Now going through the maps is easy and also easily stores out of the way.












A look at the finished project.