What Is the Blue Stuff Around the Trees?

I have been asked this question a few times, so here is the answer!  We have so many trees at OCGC and it is very labor intensive to keep trimming them.  To keep things looking neat, we spray the trees and some other areas with a mixture of RoundUp and Barricade.  The RoundUp kills the grass and weeds, the Barricade keeps it from coming back for a few months.   Our operators sometimes get a little too aggressive with the indicator dye.  The dye is useful for indicating which trees have been done.  We use the same dye on the greens and a foam marker for fairways.  The indicators help keep our cost down and assure an even, proper application of pesticide.

Rainfall Deficit!

Believe it or not, we have a significant rainfall deficit.  As of May 1, we are about 6 inches BELOW normal.  It is great for firm golf conditions.  It is also great to grow the roots of the greens and fairways.  It has also allowed an unexpected bonus...we are mowing the fairways lower on Newport, to encourage the bermudagrass.  I have withheld irrigation on these fairways to try to kill some of the poa annua, so the bermuda will gain the growing advantage.  The only negative to lack of natural rainfall is we have to watch the sodium build up in the greens and flush them with water from time to time.  A funny aside...I spoke to a longtime friend in Western PA last night and he told me the had 4 sunny days in April and over 10 inches of rainfall.  Here at OCGC, we recorded under 2 inches.  Amazing for 350 miles difference.

Topdressing Greens and Using the Cocoa Shell Drag

We topdressed the Seaside greens today with straight sand.  We will be doing Newport next week.  The sand will firm and smooth the surface.  The end result is better ball roll.  After applying the sand and allowing it some time to dry, we drug the greens with a new cocoa shell drag mat.  The mat is made of cocoa fibers (no it is not edible).  The fibers gently brush in the sand, so it does not have any effect on play.

Wiring Project on 18 Completed!

As  we stated before, there have been irrigation wiring problems for the last ten years with the 18th hole on Newport.  We had an independent contractor come in and assess the situation.  We determined there were too many splices and broken wires and wires falling into the Bay to make this a reliable operating irrigation system.  Any time you make a bunch of splices by different people, it leads to loss of electrical conductivity and corrosion.  Rather than have one laborer manually turn heads on and off, we chose to rewire the hole and run it by our Site Pro Central Computer..   The wire was pulled with a vibratory plow.  We ran the new wire in a conduit UNDER the rocks and bridge, so we did not have to cut the cart path.  We ran the new wire to 18 tees through a conduit and attached it to the cart bridge.  I am very confident turf conditions will be better because of this project.  A total of 45 wires were run.

What Are the Blue Spots on Newport Greens?

We treat the greens at OCGC twice a month with a soil surfactant. This helps lessen the surface tension of water applied and allows it to penetrate the sandy soil rather than bead up and run off. It helps keep the greens firm.  Sometimes chronic areas dry out and this is known as a localized dry spot. We hand treat those areas with a water retaining agent to retain moisture and turf health, especially on the windswept sand greens of Newport.  Today our applicatior was a little generous with the indicator dye.  This requires only 16 ounces of material to treat Newport.  We will see improvement over time of these areas.

Critters

You may have seen some of these bugs on the surface of the greens this week.  They are Black Turfgrass Aetinius or BTAs.  We try to reduce the adult populations before they lay eggs.  It is when the eggs hatch and the tiny larvae eat the roots of the grass plants.  We treated them with an insecticide made from chrysanthemums!

Rough Clumps

In our first month here, we observed the rough looking uneven and unkept, even with regular mowing.  We discovered problems with the large Progressive unit.  The decks were set at all different heights.  We did a LOT of work to repair and correct the situation.  The decks are now all set within 1/4" of each other.  We are mowing roughs now at 2 1/2".  Now that the height issues are taken care of, there will be some clumping of grass for the next week or so.  Hopefully it won't be too bad, but the upside isa more playable rough for our members and guests.