Divot Mix...

 

The course is covered in snow and frozen solid. Temperatures have remained well below average the entire week. Storms have moved through the area leaving accumulations of ice and snow in their wake… Yet, despite these challenges, your Maintenance Team has remained productive this week.

The highest priority for the Team during weather events is keeping the club open. You’ll see the Maintenance Team out early, shoveling the sidewalks and parking lots—making certain those areas are safe and passable. Next we’ll check the course to be certain no major issues have arisen.

After spending the morning out in the cold, there is plenty of “indoor” work to keep the Team busy. Above, Hernan is blending divot mix. He’s using a cement mixer to make a 100 pound batch. He blends sand, fertilizer, wetting agent, seed and green dye together.

Over the winter, the Team will blend about 20 tons of divot mix. All of the containers that hold the divot mix were constructed at the Maintenance Facility; each bin holds one ton of divot mix---which is the rated capacity of our front-end loader tractor. This ensures the process for moving and storing divot mix is as efficient as it can be.

 

Winter Projects...

 

The verdict is in and the decision is unanimous: Mother Nature won the battle this week. According to local news reports, our area experienced the coldest weather in the last twenty years. The course was covered in snow and frozen solid.

That doesn’t mean the Maintenance Team was unproductive however. There are always projects for our multi-talented staff to complete. This week, for example, the team sanded and re-painted many of our tee markers.

 

 

Before and After

 

 

Hopefully we'll see improvement in the weather next week and the staff will again be able to get out on the course to change cups, roll greens and work on other winter “outdoor” projects.

 Rest assured however that, whatever the weather, the Maintenance Team, always has a plan to remain productive and work toward the betterment of your golf course.

 

Cartpath improvement.

Dominion Valley has an excellent cart path system. It forms a continuous trail around the course that is eight feet wide and widens to ten feet at all tee and green complexes. In a perfect world, every part of the course--including the turf adjacent the cart paths--would receive equal use and wear and tear would be distributed accordingly. Invariably however, some areas nearest the paths receive more than their fair share of use and require extra attention from the maintenance team.

Where carts enter and exit to the fairway, or near the greens, for example, turf alongside the path can suffer. Historically, we've stripped and sodded these areas in the off-season. This year however, we're trying something new: we've purchased cobblestone pavers and are placing them in some of the high-traffic areas.

The process is straight-forward: The area to be covered is marked and excavated; a base of crushed stone is added and compacted; and the cobblestones are installed and top-dressed with stone dust.

When completed, damage to high-traffic areas should be less noticeable and the look of the course should be more pleasing.

Tee it Forward...

 

 

#6 Tee

 

 

Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate and allows us the opportunity to get out and enjoy the golf course this winter. If so, it’s important to remember that the grass has stopped growing until spring. This means that any damage to the course will remain until spring when growing conditions will again allow for recovery.

With this thought in mind, we’ve decided to move the tee markers forward on the tee boxes for the winter and leave them there. This will confine wear and tear to the front of the tee box and protect the majority of the teeing areas.

In the spring, we’ll develop a plan to get the tee fronts back into shape. Most likely, we’ll need to strip and sod some forward areas; but some combination of fertilizer, seed, sod and good growing weather is really all that will be needed.

So, until spring… Get out and enjoy the course.

 

 

 

 

 

Golf Course Superintendent

It's Cultural: Verticutting Fairways

Verticut blades

Verticutting or vertical-mowing is a cultural practice that uses a series of vertical blades to slice into the soil surface(or just above) to cut lateral leaf tissue and reduce organic matter.  The removal of this material provides a faster playing surface, makes the plant stand upright for a better cut/lie and allows water to better penetrate the soil.  Over time, an over accumulation of organic material(otherwise known as thatch) can be detrimental to playing conditions and plant health.  A single verticutting can reduce the organic matter by up to 15%, making this simple non-invasive practice a valuable tool in maintaining quality turgrass.

The finished product.

As with all the cultural practices we preform, timing is extremely important.  Weather dictates how aggressive we can be while verticutting.  Typically, the spring and the fall are ideal for verticutting into the soil.  During periods of extreme heat and humidity; grooming(just into the canopy of the plant) is the best choice.  Grooming is used to get the plant upright for a better cut, thin the canopy and remove old growth; not for thatch removal.  

Please let us know if you have any questions about verticutting or any other post on our site.      

Bunker Renovation: #3 Regency

Without question, the third hole on Regency has one the most talked about bunkers on the golf course; the rear green-side bunker.  With the steep slope behind the green and poor visibility from the tee, the playability was far from "par-fect". We decided it was finally time for a renovation.  There are many options available when renovating or constructing a bunker and it's important to select one that fits the course.  In this particular situation the bunker was getting a tremendous amount of surface water from the surrounding slopes.  With that, we inspected the areas around the bunker and looked for options to redirect the surface water.  One big improvement would be the addition of a curb on the cart path.  The curb would connect two existing sections and extend it to the bottom of the hill behind the green.  We hope to add this curbing very soon.

In the bunker, the old sand and drainage was removed.  The outflow pipe had to be inspected to ensure excess water would flow out of the bunker.  This portion of the project is very important, if any problems exist, they must be addressed before progressing.  In our case the pipe was functioning perfectly, so its on to the next step.

Not only was this bunker one of the most problematic, but it's the smallest on the course.  The existing single section of drain pipe in the bunker floor would've been sufficient, but we added a small section towards the top to slow water flow to the base of the bunker.

With the drainage complete, it was time to address the bunker floor.  We graded the base and added a product called "Sand daM".  This product is designed to prevent sand particle movement in bunkers from rainfall and irrigation.  It's made from non-biodegradable polyester and synthetic binders from 3/4" to 1".  The idea was to prevent as many washouts as possible and eliminate at least one source of sand contamination.  This porous mat will also prevent rocks and other debris from migrating up into the sand.  The addition of the Sand daM will make a big difference in the long term maintenance and aesthetics of the bunker.

It was then topped off with six inches of sand and is ready for play.  Please let us know if you have any questions about this bunker or any other post on the site.  Enjoy!