Course Notes, 4/24/18

It has been quite the busy couple of weeks here at Elcona.  Mornings like the one pictured above are very pretty to stand and admire, and one of the many reasons why I love working in this 340 acre office.  These frosty mornings also cause delays in the start of your round.  I wrote an article explaining why we delay for frost, which you can read here.  

These mornings (and those late April days that the highs stay in the 30's with snow showers) are also not the best growing conditions for turf here in Northern Indiana.  This is the reason why many areas are so thin, like fairways and green surrounds.  It is also the main reason why we have not mowed fine playing surfaces as often as the meat of our season.  Rolling greens has been a great tool for us to maintain putting surfaces while limiting traffic and wear on the turf.  With weather finally returning to a more average Indiana spring, the growth and vigor of the turfgrass will return as well and conditions will improve.

Aerification has been completed on greens, tees, fairways, and green surrounds.  in case you have never seen an aerifier in action, below is a video showing our aerifier on #9 green, and how the machine creates the holes using 1/4" solid tines.

Soil temperatures also have finally warmed enough to make now a great time for applying our pre-emergent herbicides that prevent the development of grassy weeds, like crabgrass.  If you take care of your lawn at home, this is a great time for you to do the same.  Green surrounds will also receive their spring nutrition to promote more consistent playing conditions. 

The pool landscape project continues to move towards its completion.  We have re-aligned the paver walkway to meet up with the shift in the new concrete stairs that were poured in February.  We have also begun adding topsoil to prepare the lower areas for the plants that will be adding color along the wall stone.  One of my favorite parts of the project has started as well, installing the cap stones that sit on top of the wall.  This involves cutting many angles to make the top a seamless course.  With my love for woodworking, this part of the project is right up my alley. 

The club entrance will finally start receiving its final transformation as well this week.  On Thursday, sod will be delivered and laid over the areas where the dying spruce trees once stood.  The entrance columns will also be installed in the next couple of weeks. 

If you have any questions, please email me at ryan@elconacc.com.  Have a great week, and I will see you on the golf course!

Ryan

Greens Aerification update, 10/6/17

We successfully aerified the front 9 greens yesterday with what turned out to be a gorgeous day weather wise.  Below are some pictures of the process we are using this year. 

Plugs are chopped up with our verticutting machine, and the resulting soil is brushed back into the holes.

The grass left over is blown and removed by staff

A heavy application of topdressing sand is applied and brushed into the holes

The blower aids the sand into the holes and is the final step in the clean up process before the greens are rolled

The resulting product on #8

With the current muggy, cloudy conditions and the increasing chances of rain in the forecast for today, we will be postponing back 9 greens aerification.  We will perform this necessary practice on Monday, October 9th, which is a closed day for the golf course.  Fairway aerification will start the following day, with all 18 holes open during that process. 

Cores removed from aerification must be completely dry for us to remove them successfully without making a muddy mess.  The topdressing and brushing process also needs complete dryness for a successful result.  It is my opinion that we will not have an adequate drying window today.

For the weekend, the front 9 greens will be rolled daily.  The back 9 greens will be mowed and rolled as they would be normally.  Any additional sand that is necessary will be applied when weather allows. 

Thanks for your understanding!

Ryan

Course Notes, 9/29/17

September has been a topsy turvy month weather wise.  Quite cool the first 2 weeks, and July-like temperatures the 2nd half of the month.  The heat that has been in our area has produced some high growth rates in our greens, tees, and fairways.  We have verticut all of these areas within the last 10 days to reduce the amount of leaf matter and applied additional growth regulator, which will return these surfaces to more normal playing conditions.  Besides cutting lateral growing turf and removing thatch, the verticut helps stand the turf up for regular mowers to achieve a more consistent playing surface. 

2 fairway after a verticut

6 fairway after verticut and regular mowing

One constant throughout the month has been the lack of rainfall.  Only on September 19th did we have a rain event producing greater than .10” of rainfall.  Needless to say, it is dry out there, which you can see by what the grass looks in some non-irrigated areas.  Here’s to October bringing our area a good soaking rain!

Of course, that good soaking rain needs to avoid our aerification dates!  Tees were aerified on September 6th, and as you can see to the left, we removed a lot of thatch from them!  With the warm temperatures we had, the holes have already healed in for the most part.  Greens will be aerified on October 5th (Front 9 and the Large practice green) and 6th (Back 9 and Small practice green) using a 3/8” tine.  The cores that we bring up with these tines will be

verticut and the soil will be re-introduced into the profile.  The greens will then be topped off with new sand to finish filling the holes.  Fairways will be aerified the week of October 9th, using a solid ½” tine.  There will be no plugs being brought up, which is how we aerify them in the spring.  While a short term inconvenience to ball roll and playability, aerification is the foundation of proper soil and turf health and a critical component of any agronomic program.  Thank you for your patience and understanding during this busy and quite necessary time in our maintenance schedule!


Some other notes….

7 fairway bunker on a Saturday morning

The picture on the right is unfortunately becoming more evident each morning when we are raking bunkers.  This was noticed on a Saturday morning, footprints right next to a bunker rake.  Out of respect for your fellow members, please rake the bunkers after you hit out of them.  Thank you for your cooperation. 

Jorge raking 11 greenside bunker

Our staff has been expanding the Aussie ring around the bunkers in a further attempt to increase playability.  For the most part we have received positive feedback with this short term change in maintenance, and will be utilizing the plate compactor method I wrote about here in all greenside bunkers next spring.

Skunk digging has been evident is some green surrounds, like this area to the left of 3 green.  The skunks are looking for a tasty meal of grubs.  These areas are repaired, seeded, and a curative insecticide is applied to take care of any white grubs that are present.  These areas are considered ground under repair, and the digging usually subsides later this month. 

In an attempt to better warn anyone on the course of potential weather, we have moved the weather siren from the halfway house to behind 12 black tee.  This siren was having issues receiving its signal from the clubhouse.  It is also solar powered, which was a fun afternoon electrical engineering project (a great use of my Purdue education!)

The milkweed we left in the native areas was well utilized by the visiting Monarch butterflies last month.  Milkweed is the sole host plant for the monarch caterpillar and is critical for completing their life cycle.  Creating additional habitats such as this one right of 16 fairway is a simple way we can help these pollinating insects thrive and contribute to the benefit of our local ecosystem. 

If you have any questions, please contact me at ryan@elconacc.com.  Thank you, and I’ll see you out on the golf course!

Ryan

Course Notes, 10/9/16

The staff and I have had quite a busy September and early October.  The final days of the season had beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures, capped off with a successful Hole in One Stag tournament.  We are currently in the middle of our fall aerification.

Green tines vs. fairway tines

3/8" vs 5/8" tines

 For greens aerification this year, I decided to go with a slightly smaller tine size, for a number of reasons.  Each year, I look at many factors in deciding what is best for Elcona's greens, mainly our annual soil test results, current soil structure and rooting, and the amount of traffic the greens have received over the course of the year.  I also look at the amount of surface area impacted annually.  The USGA recommends that 20% of a putting green's surface area be removed or effected by an annual aerification program.  With our frequent venting (solid 1/4" tines) we performed this year coupled with our current soil structure and results, we went with a 3/8" coring tine instead of the traditional 5/8" tine, at a 1"x 2" spacing.  For your information, in 2016 the greens will have a total of 25.13% of surface area impacted by 6 ventings, one core aerification, and one solid deep tine in November.

Green surface after pulling cores

Each golf course is different in respect to soil structure and turf needs, so what is best for Elcona may be different that what would be best for other courses.  What is best for our greens can and may change year to year, so while these smaller tines are good for this year, we may have to go back to larger tines in future years if organic matter or thatch levels change dramatically.

After the cores dried on the surface, we verticut the soil from the thatch and turf, and dragged the material back into the holes while the staff cleaned the thatch up by hand.  Fresh sand was then added to fill the holes as best as possible.

While we were overall successful in this fall's aerification, we did have a few belt issues on a couple greens that caused a rippling effect on the turf.  We will be out repairing these areas over the course of the next week, as well as adding an additional application of topdressing to further fill any open holes.  Mowing and rolling will be done on an as needed basis to allow the turf to grow through the sand layer and create a more smooth surface in time, and would be done in the afternoon to create a dry cut that is best for the turf and limit the mess wet sand would leave.

Staff blowing sand into holes and thatch into a pile

Fairway aerification will be starting Monday, using 5/8" coring tines.  It looks like we will have fantastic weather for this process, and hopefully be complete be the end of the week.  Please be on the look out for our staff when you are out enjoying your golf course this week, as we will be busy coring and cleaning up in the afternoons.

The final product!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at ryan@elconacc.com.  There is still plenty of great weather, changing colors, and great golf ahead in 2016, so I hope to see you out on the golf course!

Ryan

Course Notes,10/1/15

Oak tree left of 1 green succumbed to oak wilt

I am sure most of you have noticed the oak tree near 1 green that has rapidly defoliated over the last two months.  I have had a couple of outside experts look at this tree in the last couple of weeks and their consensus is that the tree succumbed to Oak Wilt.   Oak wilt is a fungal disease that affects the vascular system of the tree, and is spread via insects and by root grafts (or conjoined roots of two oak trees) in the soil.  We will be removing this tree when the ground freezes as part of our annual tree work and monitor the surrounding oaks for potential infection.

The staff and I have begun the process of preparing the turf for winter.  We have aerified tees and are in the process of aerifying cart path entrance and exit points, which help alleviate the strain that turf takes from in-season play.

As a reminder, greens aerification will take place on October 8th and 9th, weather permitting.  The first day we will be working on the front 9 greens and the large practice green, with the other 10 greens aerified the following day.  If there are any changes due to weather, I will communicate those to you via the blog.  Fairways will be aerified the week of October 12th, again weather permitting.  The staff and I appreciate your patience and understanding during this necessary agronomic procedure.  If you would like more information on the benefits of aerification, please click here for a great video from the USGA that identify the methods and reasoning behind aerification.

Fall is the best time to apply fertilizer to any turf, whether it be your lawn, or the turf out on the golf course.  Applications have already taken place to tees and green surrounds.  Greens and fairways will be receiving additional feeding through our sprayers as the month progresses to help build carbohydrate storage in the plant for winter.

If you have any questions, please email me at ryan@elconacc.com.

Ryan

Aerification Update and Day 1 of 18 Green Renovation

Crew clearing plugs off of 10

 

A huge thank you to my staff on their hard work completing back 9 greens aerification today.  We had great weather and a successful day.  All greens (except for 18) will be available and open for play tomorrow.  As the week progresses, we will continually be brushing, rolling and mowing the greens as needed to further their healing. 

 

 



Oliphant Golf began removing sod off of #18 green today as well.  As the pictures below show, the sod was placed on pallets and moved to the south end of the range tee, where it will be spread over the tee.  The plan for tomorrow is to finish sod removal, stripping the topsoil/sand mix on the top 8-10" of the complex, and begin roughing in the new green.  A great start to this project.  I will have another update tomorrow.  Have a great night!

Ryan

Stripping the green perimeter first

Oliphant's crew discussing strategy

Day 1's progress

Sod on pallets and spread on range tee

Aerification and 18 Green Update

Due to a pop up storm around 1:30 p.m., we are currently in a holding pattern in finishing our aerification on the front 9 greens.  To clean and fill the holes as best as possible, we need the sand to be absolutely dry.  We will do our best to have the front 9 cleaned and filled as soon as the weather dictates, and those holes will be closed for play until we can achieve this.  It is a frustrating feeling for everyone when this happens. 

Also, with the bad weather last Friday and Saturday, our contractor for the 18 green project got held up on his job last week in Chicago, and his start at Elcona will be later Tuesday or possible Wednesday.  I will provide updates on the progress on these two projects throughout the week.  Thanks for your understanding!

Ryan

Course and 18 Green Update

Our tee aerification that was postponed by rain on September 10th has been rescheduled for Monday the 22nd.  The clubhouse and course are closed that day.  Greens aerification is still on schedule for Thursday, October 2nd, and Friday, October 3rd.  We will have 9 holes each day closed for play. 

With the gradual improvement in the playability of the green surrounds, I have decided to hold off on an aggressive verticut.  The fertilizer we applied late July has promoted growth of new leaf tissue that has, in most spots, provided a more consistent lie for any shots and I feel that I would be doing more harm than good at this time in the year by aggressively cutting the older stems off.  We will be aerifying the green surrounds within the next two weeks in between play to further promote turf health.  I will continue to monitor these conditions and communicate any practices that may be needed if they deteriorate again. 

Finally, I wanted to provide an update on the 18 green project.  Beginning on October 6th, the hole will be closed for play for the rest of the season.  Two holes will be cut on #9 green, as was practice during the initial construction.  Greg and I have been in communication with Shawn Smith, who is the principal architect with Hills and Forrest on the above schematic and the timeline for the project.  Hills and Forrest also has secured Oliphant Golf as the contractor for the project, which has been performing great work at Oakland Hills in Michigan.  Myself, Greg, and Shawn will be overseeing their work on this project.  Mr. Hills has also expressed an interest

Oliphant's crew will begin mobilizing on the 5th to begin early morning on the 6th.  The existing sod will be removed, and saved so as much as possible can be re-layed on the new green.  Then, grade work will be performed in accordance with the above plan.  Soil amendments will be added for turf health when the final grade has been achieved, and then the green and any surrounding turf affected will be sodded.  Weather permitting, the project should take about 10 days. 

As was the case in 2011, both Arthur Hills and Oliphant Golf have requested that there be NO interference from the membership or other individuals during the project.  This includes being on the construction site while work is being performed, giving personal opinions of how the green should look when completed, interfering with the crew while working etc.  They are very good at what they do and have a solid plan for improving #18.  This is also for your safety as well!

I will be providing daily updates via the blog to keep you up to speed.  This is an exciting project for Elcona and  I cannot wait to start!  If you have any questions on 18 green or anything else, please contact me at ryan@elconacc.com, or at 574-295-6374.  Thanks, and have a great week! 

Ryan

Aerification Update

Unfortunately, sometimes plans don't always work as originally hoped. Yesterday the weather looked like it was going to cooperate, so I gambled and decided to aerify the Back 9 greens. As soon as we began the cleaning process, we were met with about 20 minutes of a light, misty rain which brought the process to a grinding halt. Once the plugs are pulled, it doesn't take much moisture to really create a mess and this is exactly what happened yesterday (Monday).

Because of this minor set-back, we will now be finishing the Back 9 greens today (Tuesday) have been forced to move the aerification of the Front 9 green to tomorrow.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

Greens Aerification Update

Aerification hole completely filled with sand

We were originally scheduled to aerify greens this week (10/3 and 10/4), but due to the poor weather forecasted, we have elected to postpone this process until Monday and Tuesday of next week (10/7 and 10/8).  This will allow you to enjoy the greens for another weekend. Come on out and enjoy!

Fairway Aerification

Just a reminder that we will be aerifying fairways this week. The course will be closed on Tuesday and we will have either the front 9 or back 9 open for play on Wednesday through Friday. The weather looks great and our hope is to get this completed as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience and remember, this is a short term sacrifice for a long term gain. Have a great week!

Course Changes

As a follow-up to the mass email that I sent to the entire membership earlier this week, here is the blog post, as promised, with some more detailed information about some of the changes we are making to the golf course this spring.

The first photo below shows what the ridge on the 18th green will look like for a while.  As stated in the email,  Arthur Hills, architect of the green, made a return visit to check on the green and to evaluate some minor scalping issues we were having at the crown of the ridge that runs between the two tiers.  Under his recommendation, we will be aerifying the ridge 3-4 times with the hope that the ridge will soften over time and that the scalping will be eliminated. The holes will not be filled in order to encourage the soil to settle more rapidly. It's a little difficult to visualize based on this photo, but hopefully you get the idea.

Aerifying the ridge on #18 green

Another change that was implemented during last season, was the narrowing of the collars around the greens from two mower widths to a single mower width.  This has been a long process of multiple aerifications and mowing at gradually lower levels in order to achieve the final result, but I believe we are finally there.  This next photo shows the appearance after what should be the last aerification of the collars.  During the visit from Mr. Hills, he specifically commented on how much he liked this change and felt it helped establish better definition around the greens.

Finally made it! Successful transition to a narrow collar.

An additional change that Mr. Hills strongly recommended was to eliminate the Intermediate or "step" cut around the greens.  He felt this would help accentuate the change to the collar, create even more definition and be a better architectural fit for the type of club that we have. He also felt the intermediate was far too forgiving since many people could actually putt from this area. This change was discussed at the last meeting of the Green Committee and was approved unanimously.  Below is an edited picture to help summarize the changes that have been made. I encourage you to click on the photo for a larger view.

Summarized Photo

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to ask.  If you haven't subscribed to the blog, simply enter your email address on the right side of this page where it says "Follow by Email" and you will be automatically notified whenever I publish a new post. Like I wrote in the email, your information will not be shared.

Course Update

Slow progress is still progress. At least that is what I am trying to convince myself right now.  This has been an unbelievably slow start to the season, especially when making comparisons to last year.  After looking back at our log book from last year, we continue to be every bit of 4-5 weeks behind.  Although last year was certainly an anomaly when it comes to early springs, it’s still frustrating knowing that the weather is not cooperating at a time when everyone is ready to get out and enjoy the golf course.

The weather is equally as frustrating for me as well. This is the time of year when we want to accomplish so many important agronomic tasks and we just can’t get to them right now. Spring fertilizer applications where they are needed, pre and post-emergent weed control and regular mowing schedules are all items we would like to get done, but we must show patience and wait for Mother Nature to tell us when the right time is.  If you maintain your own lawn, this applies to you as well. See me if you have any questions.

On the positive side, aerification of the greens, tees and fairways is complete and we have made our first of three applications to reduce seedheads on the greens. Notice I said “reduce”, not eliminate.  This application will not keep all seedheads from forming, but help to minimize the amount of them. Historically, we have had very good results and my hope is that this year is no different. As in year’s past, I have placed several 4’x4’ check plots (untreated areas) on some of the greens to help me better judge the results we obtain from this application.  If you would like more information on why we use check plots, look along the right side of this screen under “Popular Posts”.  The third one is titled “What Can You Learn from 16 sq. ft.” and will give you a greater insight.

Check Plot from a previous year

Several of you have asked me about the new, white labels on some of the trees on the golf course.  These labels serve the same purpose as the colored ribbons that were put out last fall. They are simply there to help me identify trees that have been diagnosed with varying degrees of damage from the herbicide Imprelis. These labels DO NOT necessarily mean that the tree is going to die or need to be removed; they just make it easier for me to obtain information without having to constantly look them up in spreadsheets.  To date, we have not finalized anything with DuPont as far as a settlement is concerned. As soon as we have the appropriate information, I will be sure to pass it along.

New Imprelis Tree Labels

With that being said, it’s spring so get out here and enjoy your club.  Even if it’s a little cold and rainy outside, there are plenty of activities going on inside the club for you to take advantage of. I look forward to seeing all of you and have a great month.

Opening Day!

It's now official, the golf course will open for the season on Friday, 3/29 at Noon.  The weather looks like it will cooperate for a few days so make your tee time and enjoy the course. Looking at the nighttime temperatures, I would not plan on having any tee times available prior to 11:00 am or Noon until we really see a warm up.

As far as maintenance on the course is concerned, all greens have been rolled and they will be mown either today or Friday before play goes out. Due to a limited staff and the fact that the turf is not growing much right now, we will only mow as necessary.

Aerification of the fairways will begin next week and we will be using solid tines to enable us to work around the weather and not create a mess.  The aerification of the greens has been pushed back to April 10,11 with the hope that they will be growing consistently.

Collar Adjustments

Ball resting against green/collar transition

Last year it was decided to begin taking an aggressive approach toward eliminating the drastic transition from the green to the collar surrounding the green. It was also decided to reduce the width of the collar from two mower passes down to a single pass. Over the last several years, the sand that has been used for topdressing the greens has begun to build-up the collars in such a way that there is now a drastic transition from the green to the collar.  The reason for this is that the collars are mown at a higher height of cut as compared to the greens making it easier for the sand particles to work their way through the leaf canopy leading to less removal from the mowers. On the greens, since they are mown at a much lower height, a higher percentage of sand is removed during mowing leading to less build-up over time.  This transition between the green and collar has now led to a playability issue where it can actually be difficult to putt a ball that is on the green if it is resting against the collar.

Our initial thought last fall was to gradually lower the mowing height of the collar to transition it to greens height, therefore making each green slightly larger and the collar more narrow.  As we began lowering the mowing height on the inside portion of the collar, it became very evident that scalping was going to be a major issue and that a different approach was necessary.

A few weeks ago we began trying a couple different methods to minimize the transition which will allow us to begin reducing the width of the collar. (click on pictures for larger view)

Test #1: Strip Sod

This method will provide immediate results and decent playability but will take a significant amount of time and labor. The process involves stripping all of the collar, removing excess material (soil) to help the new soil level match the level of the green, re-laying the sod, tamping, watering and rolling.  It took three individuals approximately 3 hrs. to complete the process on only half of the big putting green by #1 tee.

Strip existing collar

Remove material to lower the level
of the collar

Re-lay sod in its previous
 location and tamp

Finished product after watering
and rolling

Test #2: Aggressively Aerify the Collar

This method will take a little longer to achieve the desired results, but the process itself is very fast and is expected to take less time and labor to complete.  The process involves 2-3 aggressive aerifications of the collar within a month or two, removing the cores, heavily watering the collar to soften it then driving over the saturated collar with a tractor to lower the level of the collar to the level of the green.  It took two individuals approximately 30 minutes to complete the process on the other half of the big putting green by #1 tee.  Keep in mind that this is not the final result we are wanting to achieve.  This process will need to be done 1-2 more times to get it to the point where it matches the current condition of the collar that was done with the other process.

Drive over saturated collar to begin
lowing soil level

Aerify the collar and a small
portion of the gree

Finished product with holes
remaining open

A couple of points to consider:

Test #1: This is not a perfect process.  Sod seams will be visible and there may be some inconsistencies  with evenness until the sod fully matures (this process is similar to the stripping and re-laying of the sod on #18 green).

Test #2: Holes will be visible for a period of time as we want to encourage the soil to fill the holes leading to additional settling of the collar.  If the minimal amount of holes on the green itself is a concern, we will need to fill them with sand, lengthening the amount of time it will take to achieve our goal.