Moving Forward

As you may have seen 1 and 4 greens have been sodded. It was a long, tedious process that went very smooth. I have to hand it to my staff, they stepped up and did a phenominal job! Here is a step by step photo tour of what we did.

1.  We identified the areas to be sodded and removed the dead turf.

2.  After the sod was removed we utilized a laser level to map out the surface grade of the effected areas. These areas are notorious for holding water and was the main contributing factor to why the grass died. We regraded the areas to promote surface drainage. This was the most important step of the entire process to ensure the long term success of the greens. A big thanks to Frank Puccia at Irondequoit Country Club for letting us borrow his laser level! 

                                                   

3. Once the surface grade was established we started the meticulous process of laying the sod.  

                                               

4.  As the sections of sod were layed we hand tamped each peice and filled all the seams with topdressing sand. The sand will speed the healing process and help each piece to become one.

5.  After the sod was installed we watered the sod heavily to wash in any surface debris. Soon after the sod was rolled in serveral directions to begin smoothing the surface.

                                            

6.  Once the surface dryed we applied an extremely heavy layer of topdressing sand. The sand will be the key to smoothing the surface moving forward.  Many more applications similar to this will be applied.

7.  Here is a before and after of 1 green.

As the sod begins to root, we will be installing smaller round 2" plugs and larger hexagon plugs to some areas on these two greens. There are still several areas that are thin, but did not warrant sod. By installing these plugs, along with some seed and sand, it will help speed recovery. We will also be utilizing plugs on some of the other greens that were damaged such as 6,7 and 17.  My hope is to have all the plugs installed in the next 7-10 days. Once we are finished with all the repair work we will reestablish the south practice green. My hope is to begin mowing the new sod at weeks end. We will follow that with more rolling, topdressing and aerations. It is going to take time for these areas to behave like the greens you are use to. Once the sod roots we can start talking about opening the greens for play. My hope is 2-3 weeks from today. I will keep you posted. 

I want to thank you for your continued support and understanding. This has been a tough spring to say least. Nothing has gone as planned for anyone in the industry so far, including us. The mantra has been adapt and move forward. I feel we are doing that and taking things one day at a time. I want to leave you with some light reading. Here are a few links to some industry articles from the past few weeks.

USGA Regional Update:

http://ow.ly/xh7R8

Detroit Metro News:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140524/METRO08/305240018/Rough-time-Detroit-area-s-golf-courses

Turfnet Recovery Article:

http://bit.ly/1h9wYnW

Michigan State University

http://msuturf.blogspot.com/2014/05/winterkill-recovery-slow-and-steady.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&m=1

Change in Plans

Today we have made the decision to sod the winter kill areas on 1 and 4 greens.  We have been trying hard to get seed established, but have not been successful. There has been a little germination and recovery, but not at the speed we need to get the greens open in a timely fashion. As part of the process we are going to regrade the fronts of the green, collar and rough to eliminate our "bird baths".  This will allow for proper surface drainage and hopefully prevent future winter kill. We will be taking the sod from the practice green on the south side of the clubhouse. This grass is identical to what is on the greens currently and will blend in extermely well. At a later date we will renovate the practice green and restablish the turf. Closing the practice green is a small price to pay in order to get the greens on the course open. The hope is to have the two greens open and playable in roughly 3 weeks. This should give the sod ample time to root and able to withstand traffic. After the sod is established we will be performing mulitple core aerations and topdressings to get the sod to blend seamlessly into the green. I will go into further detail in a future post.  The hope is to get 4 green completed tomorrow and 1 green on Wednesday. Stay tuned for pictures and descriptions of the process.

Slow and steady

It's been awhile since my last post. Things have been extremely busy and time for writing has taken a back seat. I wanted to take a moment to update you on our recovery progress so far. We have finally got the warm weather we have been looking for. Soils have warmed and turf recovery is progressing. Here is a comparison taken over the last 3 months of 1 green.

            1 green -- A prime example of how shade and poor drainage equals winter kill 

As you can see things have come along way. There has been substantial seed germination on 5 green along with parts of 1 and 4. The larger areas on 1 and 4 have seen some recovery, but not what we are looking for. Germination has been very slow and the process is taking a lot longer than anticipated. I met with ownership and have come up with a plan. We are giving the greens until Monday to see if we get some substantial germination from our latest seeding last week. If we don't get the catch we are looking for then we are going to sod the large areas on 1 and 4. We will harvest the sod from the practice green on the south side of the clubhouse. This will insure the sod will match perfectly with the existing grass. Prior to installing the sod we will regrade portions of the rough, collars and green to promote surface drainage. This will help prevent water from sitting in these areas and help to avoid damage in the future. As for the practice green, we will restablish it with seed and aeration plugs. The price of closing this practice green to in order to get the greens back into shape is a small one. I will let you know next week which way we decide proceed. If we sod, a realistic time table to open the greens would be three weeks from the time of sodding. This gives the sod a chance to root and be able to with stand foot traffic. 

Those of you who have been following the blog, you have learned that winter kill has been a hot topic thoughout the industry. Here are two more great articles explaining how the recovery efforts are going around the region and what to expect moving forward.

http://www.golfcourseindustry.com/gci0514-winterkill-impact.aspx

http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/northeast/And-Recovery-Continues%E2%80%A6-At-A-Snail%E2%80%99s-Pace---May-2014/

As for the rest of the course.....

We had perfect weather to aerate greens the other week. With warm weather and timely rains, it helped the greens to heal extremely quick. We are starting to return to our normal mowing schedule and height. Green speeds and smoothness will follow soon after. As part of our agronomic program, each spring we make an application to prevent poa seed heads on greens. This application has a tendency to slow the plants growth. With the greens in the condition they are I decided not to make the application. We are solely focused on promoting recovery right now. This application would have hindered our progress. If you see the white seed heads out there and the greens are a bit bumpier, that is why.

We are making progress filling stump holes. More than half of the holes have been filled to date. The holes have been seeded, fertilized and covered around 6 green. We should start seeing grass popping very soon. The large area to the right of 6 green has also been sodded.  With the recent rains the sod should root very quickly and be ready for play.

All and all things are starting to come together. I estimate we are about 3 weeks behind a normal season. We are doing things now that should have been weeks ago. It has been a tough spring to say the least. The flooding rains today haven't done us any favors. All we can do is put our heads down and continue moving forward. As always I'm here to answer any questions you may have.

  

Where's Spring?

Cool, wet and cloudy conditions have dominated the weather this spring.  More days have been spent below normal than above.  The calendar might say May, but it sure feels like early April. This pattern has lead to an extremely slow start to the growing season.  Trees and flowers are just starting to wake up and the same goes for the grass.  Soil temperatures have been hovering either side of 50 for most of the month with only a few days spent in the 60's.  For grass to get going we need soil temperatures to be consistently in the upper 50's, with 60's being ideal.  This will only be achieved by a shift towards a warmer and sunnier weather pattern.  

So where does this leave us with our recovery efforts?  It's not hard to understand this pattern is not conducive for growth and recovery.  Despite the weather hampering our seeding efforts we have seen some positive results.  Seed germination, along with recovery from existing plants, has been observed on 5 and 8 greens.  1 and 4 greens have a tiny bit of germination along with some great recovery in spots.  That being said there is along way to go.  If the weather pattern beings to turn warm I envision 5 and 8 greens opening in the coming weeks.  Due to the extent of the damage on 1 and 4, these two are going to take longer to recover.  Only time and weather will dictate when the greens will open for play. As for the other greens, numbers 6,7 and 17 look better each day.  Once the weather warms and the greens are aerated these spots will quickly begin to go away.

There has been a lot of chatter thought out our industry concerning winter injury recovery over the past few weeks.  I thought I would share some of the important highlights with you. I assure you we are not alone.  A great number of courses in the northern region are dealing with winter injury just like us.

  

• @AdamMoeller: @golfwerkz @OntarioGSA The damaged I've observed has been most severe in S. Ontario. Upstate NY and New England also damaged badly

                 Adam Moeller, USGA Argonomist, Twitter post

• @AdamMoeller: Recovery from winter injury has been very slow so far. Soil and air temperatures have been far from ideal; limiting recovery significantly.

                Adam Moeller, USGA Argonomist, Twitter post

• @AdamMoeller: Temporary greens are never fun but they will dramatically improve recovery from winter injury. Many courses will have them this spring!

                Adam Moeller, USGA Argonomist, Twitter post

• @AdamMoeller: @TheGolfCanada @OntarioGSA Be patient. Understand that temp greens in the spring are better than bad greens in the summer.

                Adam Moeller, USGA Argonomist, Twitter post

• USGA Green Section, East Regional Update:  http://shar.es/SrPYL

• News story out of Boston, MA:  http://boston.cbslocal.com/video/10114566-golf-courses-hit-hard-by-snowy-winter/#.U2LKV4oqKBI.email

• @wnywxguy: Frigid fact: Our avg temp for the 1st 4 months in #ROC is 28.9°. That makes it the coldest start to ANY year since 1940! That yr: 28.3°.

                  Josh Nicols, 10 NBC Meterologist 

That being said we are doing everything we possibly can to promote recovery.  Top of the line radiant greens covers are in place to help warm the soil.  Seed and fertilizer have been applied waiting for the proper temperatures to grow.  I ask for your continued patience as we work though and continue the recovery process. 

The cool spring has also set us back on a lot of tasks that need to be completed.  Greens aeration originally scheduled for early April had to be postponed, since conditions where not ideal.  We are planning on aerating greens this coming Monday and Tuesday May 5th and 6th. The front nine will be completed Monday and the back nine on Tuesday.  Temporary greens will be in place if you wish to play the nine we will be working on.  The weather looks great early next week so we should have no problem finishing by Tuesday.  This aeration, as in seasons past, will set our greens up for success this season and help promote continued recovery. Along with aeration we also have a lot of loose ends to tie up.  Stump holes on 6 green have been prepared for seed and sod.  We are waiting for the area to dry so they can be installed. The rest the stump holes on the course will be filled and seeded in the coming weeks. Drainage projects at the clubhouse and 1 rough will be cleaned up and seeded as soon as the areas dry. New drainage installation around the course and cart path work will commence as soon as the above is complete.

All and all, for the hand we have been dealt,  things are coming together.  Despite the weather I am pleased with our progress so far.  The course is starting to take shape and soon this recovery talk will be a distant memory.  Please feel free to contact me with your questions and concerns.

Course Update -- 4/24/14

It has been five days since we over-seeded the damaged greens.  It was a multiple step process that took place last Friday.  First the greens were verti-cut in three different directions, which created a 1/3" deep silt in the turf.  Next the greens were aerated with a 1/4" tine that went down less than an inch.  Following aeration we spiked the areas.  These processes made a perfect bed for the seed.  Next the seed was applied, spiked once again and lightly topdressed with green sand.  The green tint to the sand will help attract heat and hopefully speed seed germination.  Lastly a starter fertilizer was applied, the area watered and then covered.  Below are a few pictures of the processes we performed on 1,4,5 and 8 greens.

Spiking

           

         Verticutting

Seeding 

The covers are a vital piece to the recovery puzzle this spring. This week we have experienced some unseasonably cool weather and the forecast is calling for much of the same into early May.  This cool weather is not ideal for recovery.  By utilizing covers we will be able to create a mini greenhouse on our greens.  This will help keep soil temperatures where we need them even during cold weather.  We have utilized some make shift covers over the last week and they have helped a little.  After speaking with ownership and looking at the long term forecast we have decided to purchase top of the line covers for our greens.  The covers are green in color and have a special radiant layer that will maximize the amount of heat we can trap under them.  Here is a link to their website and a description of the covers, Greens Covers.

As you can see I am utilizing all the tools possible to help push this recovery process along.  This process is a marathon, not a sprint.  You have to think of these greens as a new born baby.  A baby needs proper care, attention and nutrition to build a healthy body.  Same goes for the grass plant. Only the proper amount of care will give us the results we are looking for.  Here is a great link to a blog post from a fellow superintendent in the Detroit area.  He does a great job explaining this process, The 5th Season.

In the meantime we will be creating a true temporary green in front of the affected greens.  We will mow a lower cut circle, paint a white circle and place the flag in the center.  Sean is in the process of taking with the RDGA about getting a temporary rating for the affected holes so you can properly post scores.  We will also be posting the yardages for these holes for your convenience.  Look for these temporary greens in the coming days.

On a positive note I am very pleased on how the rest of the course is coming along.  We have seen significant greening on all areas of the course.  Some other damaged areas on 6,7 and 17 greens are slowing starting to bounce back.  As these areas continue to recover, we will be keeping the flag away from them to minimize traffic and hasten recovery.  As of today, we are planning a course wide greens aeration the week of May 5th.  Traditionally this is performed in early April.  Due to unfavorable conditions we have been forced to delay the aeration until now.  The process will take a full two days to complete.  This aeration will aid in the recovery of the areas on 6, 7 and 17 and set us up for a successful summer.  I will update you as we get closer to that week as to what days we will be aerating.

As you can see there are a lot of moving parts right now.  I ask you for your continued patience as we work through this recovery process.  We just need some time and good weather to get us where we need to be.  I will continue to update you as needed.  As always I am here to answer your questions.

Good with the Bad

As I sit here and write this update it is pouring rain and there is snow on our doorstep.  It is a far cry from the 80 degree temperatures we saw over the weekend!  I guess we have to take some good with the bad.  As the weather has been up and down over the past week, so is the condition of the course coming out of winter. The warm weather brought significant greening to the golf course.  The grass is starting to wake up from winter and is beginning to grow.  We have mowed the greens, rolled them and sprayed them with a dose of fertilizer.  The improved weather also brought some significant drying days.  Many areas firmed up allowing us to get much needed equipment onto the course.  As of yesterday a majority of the debris on the front nine has been cleaned up.  We made great strides over the past week and I am very pleased with what was accomplished.  Once this "winter" weather passes we will get back on the course and continue with the clean-up process on the back nine.

Besides cleaning up the course, there are many other things we will be doing over the coming weeks.

• Stump holes from last fall's tree removals will be filled and seed once our topsoil pile is accessible. 
• Drainage work will be completed and cleaned up on numbers 1, 12 and the Putting Green.  
• The pump-house will be put back on line and the irrigation system charged.  
• We will utilize the new mini excavator and rehab many of the chronically bad cart paths.  
• On top of that we have our normal mowing, aeration and cultural practices to perform to get the course ready for the season. 

As you can see spring is a busy time of year!

For those of you that played over the weekend you know we have some temporary greens on the front nine. Over the weekend there was some significant greening and recovery in some, but not all of the damaged areas. Any of the grass that is still a deep whitish brown color and will not be recovering. The greens hit hardest are 1, 4, 5 and 8.  My hope is to begin the recovery process on Friday.  We will be aggressively verti-cutting and aerating the damage in order to create a seed bed.  We will then overseed the areas with bentgrass, topdress with sand, fertilize and cover.  With the covers in place and some seasonable weather we should see some germination fairly quickly.  That being said these new seedlings are going need time to mature and develop.  During this developmental process we are going to need to keep the greens closed. Any added traffic or stress introduced to the seedlings will inhibit their development and prolong the recovery process. You are probably wondering how long these greens are going to be closed for?  As of right now I truthfully don't know the answer.  It will all depend on mother nature.  The warmer the weather the quicker the recovery.  Luckily the damage on 5 and 8 is fairly localized.  I envision these two greens opening sooner than the other two. On numbers 1 and 4 the damage is larger and will take more time to heal.  Here is a link to a good USGA article that further explains the processes mentioned above, Spring Recovery.  Here is another great post from a fellow superintendent in the Chicago area, Winter Recovery Progress.  I contains some great links to more information on winter damage.  I also encourage you to check out my previous posts on winter injury, which will explain things further.

At this time I ask for your patience and understanding as we recovery from this damage.  It is never an ideal situation closing greens, but its one of necessity to facilitate recovery.  I am approaching this situation with a glass half full mentality.  All the areas that were damaged have a high population of Poa annua.  Poa does not have the winter hardiness like other varieties of grass.  This is a prime opportunity to introduced a stronger, more winter hardy stand of grass.  The inconvenience will be short term, but will pay dividends down the road.  I will continue to update you throughout the recovery process.  Before you know it summer will be here and this winter will be a distant memory.  As always I am here to answer any questions or concerns you may have.

Course Update -- April 8th 2014

I want to update you and elaborate upon by previous post about winter kill.  Here is a link to the post in case you missed it, Old Man Winter.

It has been close to three weeks since I first discovered some areas of concern on our greens.  1, 4, 5, 8 have sustained localized areas of winter kill from crown hydration.  As you can see from the pictures below they are a whitish brown color and are not looking as healthy as other parts of the green.

                                               5 Green                                                              4 Green

Traditionally these areas are know for holding water.  With the wild temperature swings we experienced over the winter, water from melting snow accumulated and froze almost instantly when the mercury dropped below freezing. This happened at least 5 different times over the course of the winter and has lead to the damage we are seeing.  We did our best to remove as much water as possible, but it's impossible to get every last drop.  I have pulled samples from these greens and brought them into the shop in an attempt to get them to grow.  It has been 5 days since the latest samples were pulled and the pictures show the results.

                                      Sample from 8 Green

4 and 5 greens are showing little to no growth.  There are a few little shoots of grass popping up, but nothing encouraging yet.  8 green is showing some promise.  There is a bunch of new growth on top and some more below the grass surface waiting to emerge.  As for number 1, I have not been able to pull a sample due to the area being extremely wet.  At this point the area in the very front of the green looks very similar to number 4.  Along with the areas listed above the Putting Green, 3, 6, 7 also have some "questionable" areas that may have sustained some minor damage.  I am confident with some warm weather and fertility, these areas will recover on there own.

5 Green with covers

With that being said where do we go from here? Currently the worst areas have been covered with a permeable blanket to help warm the soil and promote recovery.  As soon as the weather becomes consistently warmer we will have a better idea of the full extent of injury.  The way it looks now we will be reseeding 4 and 5 greens and taking a wait and see approach with the others.  That means the damaged greens will most likely be taken out of play to let them recover.  Here is a great article from the USGA explaining proper techniques for recovering from winter injury, With Spring Comes Patience.  The article does a great job explaining why patience is going to be the key to our success and recovery moving forward.  We have not experienced a winter like this in a very long time.  The grass is in a weak and fragile state. Adding any unnecessary stress to the damaged areas will dramatically increase recovery time.

We are not the only ones dealing with winter kill this spring.  There are multiple reports from coaluges in the Rochester area who have similar or even worse winter kill than we have.  I want to share this blog post from a fellow superintendent in Michigan who has experienced winter kill this year, Greens Recovery.  It does a great job explaining the steps it takes to recover from the damage.  We will be implementing many of the same practices to our damaged areas.

As for the rest of the course, I am very pleased how we made it though.  Fairways, greens and tees are relatively snow mold free and healthy.  We are currently in a holding pattern, waiting for mother nature to allow us on the course.  We have a good head start on course clean-up thanks in part to the member clean-up day.  My staff is slowly beginning to return and we are doing some limited work on the course.  It started drying out over the weekend, but got set back to square one thanks to the .9" of rain we received Monday afternoon.  It is extremely wet everywhere and flooded in the normal areas.  I know many of you have been asking about when the course is going to open.  At this point I can honestly say I don't know.  The weather looks very encouraging headed into the coming weekend.  We desperately need several warm, rain free days to dry things out and allow us to get the proper equipment out there to open the course.  I am hopeful we can get the non-damaged greens open at some point this coming weekend, but I can't promise anything. As the week progresses I will have a better idea of where we stand and will pass that information along to you.

This is not an ideal situation for anyone.  I ask for your patience and understanding as we work to repair the affected greens.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me and I will be more than happy to answer them.  I will update you as soon as we start the recovery process and I know more.