You Did What??? Are You Crazy???

The first picture is of #10 fairway Newport.  We treated this fairway with the herbicide Revolver late last spring.  Note how clean the fairway is.  The next picture is of #8.  We did NOT treat with Revolver.  We were unsure of the bermudagrass populations on #8.  Now that I know the populations, part of our winter maintenance of the Midlawn Bermudagrass on Newport is treating with RoundUp while the bermuda is dormant.  RoundUp at low levels (24-32 oz per acre) controls the cool season grasses and poa annua.  We applied a poa preemergent last September.  The third photo shows poa annua germinating in a divot.  the RoundUp controls the poa and ryegrass without harming the bermuda.  I used a green dye to prevent overlaps and skips. The RoundUp was dry and safe to play on in about two hours.  I have extensive experience with this type of maintenance.  It is part of our effort to improve fairway conditions on Newport.  With the lowest possible use rate (24 oz/acre), we should see some results in 2-4 weeks.  The RoundUp absorbs slower into the plants during even this mild winter.  The efforts done now, will pay huge dividends this season!

What Are the Blue Rings AAround the Bunkers on Newport?

We have treated the bunker faces on Newport with RoundUp.  We mixed a 1/4% solution (half the lightest label rate) with some colorant and hand sprayed the zoysiagrass around the bunkers.  We are trying to kill all the winter and perennial weeds and cool season grass in the zoysia.  It is perfectly safe, I have done this before.  We are also trying to preserve and recreate the nice clean edge that was present when Newport was redesigned in 1998. 

Stay tuned...tomorrow we are spraying RoundUp on the Newport fairways..............WHAAAAAAT you say?  Stay tuned.

New Portajohns on the Way!

We are seriously upgrading the golf course portajohns.  We have acquired a better unit for a better price.  The new portajohns will feature a sink with water, hand sanitizer, a towel dispenser and a flush mechanism.  Unless we experience really bad weather next winter, the idea is to have a better unit in place for year round use.  The on course restroom by #9 Newport will continue to be winterized and closed each winter.  These units are scheduled for a February 1 delivery.

How Will the Abnormal Weather Affect the Golf Course?

The weather pattern sure has been crazy, with some of the warmest conditions through the end of the year I have ever seen.  Usually I have observed the grass stops growing completely about a week after the time change in November.  This year, we are still observing some top growth!  The danger from my standpoint is if you continue to mow greens regularly and it turns cold, you lose some of your protection to foot traffic and those mower wounds use up energy from the roots to "harden off" again.  The process of hardening off can be seen on the greens now.  They have a bronze cast to them and some of the bentgrasses turn purple.  With the freezing and thawing of the ground, we are substituting rolling weekly to keep the greens smooth. 

A plus of the nice weather is the season for growing roots has been extended and this could help out next summer.  The nice weather has also allowed for a lot of on course work to be completed.  More about that in another post.  A couple minuses are traffic and wear damage occurs when the grass on the fairways and rough arent growing, so the plants have little defense against the extra traffic.  Another negative has been some of the wierd late season disease activity.  The above picture is of some stubborn Waitea Patch on the Chipping Green.  I had this analyzed by a plant pathologist to confirm this pathogen.  Generally Waitea this time of the year appears to be cosmetic and seems tostop when temperatures become cold.

Long term weather outlook is all over the place.  I hope this gives some insight as to my recent observations.

Trees and Turf

While OCGC has several nice, well kept mature trees, a few things need to be noted.  Trees and shrubs DO have sertain life spans.  Some of the trees have exceeded their useful lifespan.  The pictures are a few examples: picture 1 is of a dead Scrub Pine and a leaning pine.  Picture 2 shows an oak tree with a mossy scale disease and is in the process of declining.  Picture 3 is a canker beginning to split on a gum tree.  Picture 4 is of the dead pine at the corner of the dogleg on Seaside #17.

Trees can have an effect on turf quality.  The turf thinning on 14 green Seaside and 5 Newport are perfect examples.  Trees are an enemy to older varieties of bermudagrass (like our Midlawn).  Examples can easily be seen on 5, 8 and 11 Newport.  Some thinning will be required to bring these fairways up to the standard of the others.  Every tree will be analyzed as to its health and how it affects playability.  I had a professional arborist in last week and he brought a lot of these maladies to my attention.  Right now Dogwoods and Pines are really susceptibe to diseases. 

As the USGA so nicely puts it "if there is competition between a small (grass) and large plant (tree)...the larger plant wins everytime!"

Bunker Drainage!

I have discovered that many bunkers at OCGC do not drain well, or at all.  It took two men and a large pump to pump water out of the bunkers after a rain event.  Then the bunker has to dry out and firm up before it can be power raked.  I also purchased a Honda pump which can be handled by one man.  This seemed like a waste of efficiency and manpower.  It was decided we would correct the worst offenders.  What I discovered was drains installed that "drained" uphill, crushed pipe, drains that were contaminated. The first picture was crushed pipe from 11 Newport fairway bunker.  The second picture is the repaired couping.  The third picture is a crushed drain from 3 green Newport.  The last picture is a project we completed on 15 Newport.  The front of the green suffered from wet wilt last summer, along with the approach.  As we hand dug into the gravel laver of the green, water seeped out and down the trench.  We tied the new drain intothe existing bunker drain that runs into 16's pond.  The result will be improved, consistent conditions.  My hope is the bunkers will become more consistent and better playability.

What's Next For the Newport Bermudagrass?

The first picture is one of the bermudagrass fairways this past spring.  With the help of the USGA, we began to clean them up and promote bermudagrass as the primary fairway turf.  We aggressively sprayed all the fairways except part of 5,8,9,11,17 and 18 with Revolver herbicide.  The Revolver selectively removes ALL cool season grasses and weeds, promoting the bermudagrass.  We lowered the mowing height and very aggressively fertilized three times a month.  The end result was an overwhelming success.  Where do we go from here now that the bermudagrass is pretty much dormant?  Picture 2 is of the 18th fairway that was NOT sprayed.  We also sprayed the herbicide Barricade on all the fairways on Newport around the end of August.  The Barricade is applied to prohibit the germination of poa annua and other winter annual weeds.  Our goal is to reduce the poa populations by 75%.  Anywhere a divot is taken (picture 3) poa annua can germinate...much the same as crabgrass germinating in divots in the summertime. 

The areas of perennial ryegrass that is actively growing now, are not areas we sprayed.  I purposely stayed far away from approaches and fairway edges, so we could properly evaluate how much bermudagrass we actually had.  Going forward, the next step we will take is in February, we will spray RoundUp on the fairways.  Yes RoundUp!  It does not harm the bermudagrass when it is dormant, when sprayed at a rate of 22-32 oz/acre.  The RoundUp will clean up all the perennial ryegrass, poa annua and other weeds.  This will allow the fairways to play better, look better and become even better in 2012.  At this time, I do not anticipate spraying the right of 5, far left of 8, any of 11 or 17.  We will take a calculated approach to converting those fairways to all bermudagrass.  This includes tree removal and patching sod into these areas.