Tee Aerification

       Over the past two weeks we have taken the opportunity given the dry weather to aerify the tee boxes.  Aerification is an important process in all turf management because it helps to add pore space to the soil profile, reduce the thatch build up which accumulates all year long, and even out the surface of the grass to make it smooth.  When we do this tee box aerification we punch half inch diameter holes in the turf and remove a plug.  Once the plugs are cleaned off the tee we topdress heavily with sand to fill the holes and improve uneven areas on the tee box surface.  The sand will be brushed into the holes to ensure the even distribution.  The last step in the aerification process is to add amendments and fertilizer to the tee boxes to enhance the nutrient levels of the soil profile.  This fertilizer also helps to speed up the recovery process by encouraging rapid growth.  Here are a few pictures to help illustrate exactly how we do the aerification:

Here is a picture showing the before and after of the aerification.  On the right side of the picture is the tee surface before being punched with holes.  The left side of the picture shows all the plugs removed sitting on top of the surface.

This close up picture shows the plugs a little better as they come out of the machine.  We will blow the plugs off the tees and pick them up behind the aerifier before topdressing with sand.  This helps to ensure the holes are open and ready for the sand to fill them up!

Here is an up close look at the"aerification tines" as they are called.  These tines are hollow at the bottom and have one side missing because the are "side-eject" tines, or shoot the little plugs of grass out the sides.  Each time the machine punches them into the grounds, the new plug pushes the rest of the material left in the tine out and onto the ground. 

Here is the view of the tee surface looking straight down after a week of recovery.  The bermuda grass is growing very rapidly right now and makes for a very short recovery.  Within 3 weeks it will be hard to see we did anything to the tees, but the benefit to the soil profile will be felt for a long time by the turf!

Looking at the tees overall it is easy to see some sand that still remains, but for only 1 week after punching holes we have seen a very quick recovery!

Removing Dead Trees

As the trees are now fully leafed out and green for the summer one thing has been easy to spot around the golf course and that is dead trees!  We have had a few large trees not green up or grow any leaves this year for some reason, so we cut them down to ensure they do not fall down unwanted and injure anyone.  This past Monday we took advantage of the golf course being closed to take down these dead trees.  I will show you in pictures some of the trees and what happened when we cut them down:

Large Red Oak on #1 was dead

Here is a look at the tree on #1 once we got it on the ground, there is not a leaf on the entire tree.  It was alive last year, but did not survive the wet winter.

Maple on hole #16 with leaves had just turned brown

Large Black Tupelo tree on #8 left side of fairway.  This was a beautiful tree in the fall, but unfortunately it is no longer with us.

This tree on #5 was a large hickory tree that died behind the green.  It looks like the bottom of the tree is still alive, but that is just a smaller tree growing directly behind it.

Here is a closer look at the bottom of the dead tree.  The large trunk is the dead tree, and the little one growing out of the bottom is still alive.  The tree company also had to be careful to not damage the storm shelter directly beneath the dead tree!

Here is what the tree looked like behind #5 green after we dropped it on the ground.  The top of the tree was so rotten that it just exploded into a million pieces once it fell.  It made it a little easier to clean up that way, but also shows the danger of how unstable those branches are when suspended in the air on a dead tree.  

Venting the Greens!

This Tuesday our staff did a process to the bentgrass putting greens which helps greatly to survive the summer stress.  We use a 1/4 inch solid tine to punch holes in the greens surface about 4 inches deep.  This process is called venting, and it greatly improves the availability of oxygen and water to infiltrate the root zone.  We typically try to vent the greens every 3-4 weeks in the summer depending on the weather.  After the holes are punched, we use our roller to smooth the green and restore a smooth putting surface.  The putting quality is minimally affected and after a few days the holes are hardly noticeable.  Venting, water management, and disease control are all critical during the hot summer months.     

Concrete Cart Path Improvements

Over the past few weeks we took time to replace some broken and uneven cart paths on the golf course.  If you have ridden in a golf cart around the course lately you can tell there are some rough areas to navigate.  Many of the rough spots we see in the cart path come from tree roots growing under the concrete panels.  As the tree roots get larger, they push the panels up and create uneven seams in the concrete.  Some areas are also the original concrete cart path from when the course was built in 1989-1990.  The old concrete is starting to chip away at the surface and has cracked over time.

Here is some of the old cart path at #7.  The sections in the foreground are ok and not removed, but the sections to the right and far away in the picture will be removed.  The area on the right is a connection to the old cart path which is not used any more, and will be turned to grass.

It is hard to see in the shade, but this old turn around in the cart path will be removed and turned to grass.  This area is right behind #6 green and comes into play to golfers quite often.  There is also old broken curbing and cracked concrete which is unsightly.

This turn around will be removed and turned to grass.

The concrete company removes the old panels of concrete and prepares the area with a light coating of sand to prepare a base.

Using a modified Chevy S-10 pickup truck, they haul in concrete 1 yard at a time.  The truck will dump the concrete for the team to start spreading out and smoothing.

This machine is also used to haul the wet concrete and pour to speed up the process.

Once all the concrete is poured and finished, it is time for the dirty work.  Our staff will go in with fresh soil and pack the edges to fill in the gaps.  It is a slow process and takes time to get it right, with tamping and raking a large part of the process.  

The machine is sitting on top of what was the concrete turn around, which will be sodded to grass.  This should help give a few golfers a more forgiving lie than on the cart path!

Here is the finished product!  Looks much cleaner, and drives very smooth!  It is almost hard to tell anything even happened.

We also took the chance to fix this area behind #3 green.  This area was very broken up and uneven, and also did not drain properly at all.  The new concrete sends all the water to the drain and it works great!

This area next to #9 tee was very bumpy and was badly damaged from tree roots.  With the new concrete it is now very smooth for years to come!

Fertilizer Truck!

Monday the fertilizer truck stopped by to help spread the entire property with fertilizer for the upcoming growing season.  This fertilizer truck is a service provided by the company we purchase the fertilizer from, Bulloch Fertilizer.  The productivity of the truck is unmatched, as it can fertilize all 150 acres of turf in about 6 hours.  This year we designed a fertilizer with an analysis of 25-0-6, which should help give the turf a green up boost right now, as well as feed the grass all summer long. 

Dredging #13

The time has come once again to dredge the silt on hole #13.  We try to dredge this area near the forebay at least twice a year.  Due to the above average rainfall this winter, silt levels were at an all time high!  Take a look at the pictures below to see the dredging process.

Here is a look at our excavator as we prepare to dig.  Look closely just under the tracks of the machine and you will see all the silt.  There is even a log under the water if you look closely!  It is incredible what the water brings down the creek in a heavy rain storm!

This picture shows the 4 inch pump we rent to help us do the dredging.  The pump allows us to remove most of the water so we can see what we are digging and not just scooping muddy water.

The water is starting to really drop down, exposing even more and more silt!

As we start to dig it is obvious there is a lot more silt than expected!  We start at the wall and move upstream to help keep the water pumped down at the wall.  On average we removed about 3 to 4 feet of silt along the entire creek bottom!

Here is a good look at the sand bar that had developed in the middle of he creek. 

Making progress!  

This is the method we use to remove all the silt.  Each trailer hold approximately 2 yards of material when full.  Over the 3 days we worked we hauled out 65 trailer loads of silt and debris!!!  All of that material would have been in the pond if we did not have this dam to slow the water down.

Here is a good look at the other side of the creek.  The pump helps to pull the water down so we can really see the silt we need to dig.

The completed project looks much better!  Now there is several feet of water all along the creek from the bridge to the dam.  No doubt the silt will return, and we will have plenty of capacity to catch it and remove again someday.

The water is clear after all the silt is removed!

 Here is a good look from the dam at the clean creek.  Some of the boulders placed along the creek bank have fallen in over time, so we will work to replace them this Spring.  When dealing with water features on the golf course there is always some maintenance to do.  We hope this removal of silt will help protect the pond and continue to improve the looks of the creek!

Greens recovering nicely from Aerification

Almost 3 weeks have passed since aerification and the greens are really healing up quickly.  Last week with low temperatures around 25 for a few nights really slowed the growth, but the holes are getting smaller every day.  We have been mowing daily for the past week, working on lowering the cutting height of the greens.  The mowers were set at .120" before the aerification.  After adding heavy sand at aerification, we take a week or so off from mowing to let the sand work into the holes and let the grass grow.  Once we started mowing again, we raised the height of cut to .160".  This does not seem like a big difference, but it is actually increasing the grass height by close to 30%.  By beginning to mow at a higher height, we will reduce scalping and injury to the turf.  By next weekend we should be back down to our standard height of cut at .120", and will look to go a bit lower to help increase green speeds this Spring!  With more sunshine and warmer temperatures forecast in the next few days the holes will be gone in no time!