Reel to Reel

 

 

 

 

Another productive week was achieved. Highlights included: bulked in hole 17 built new bunkers on holes 9 & 18 sodded greens expansions on holes 9 & 18 demolition of bunkers on hole 10 coring out and addition of greens mix on the green expansion on hole 10 flagged limits of disturbance on holes 11, 12, 13, 16 tilled driving range tee rerouted several irrigation lines on holes 9, 10, 18 tree removal on holes 8, 11, 14, 16, 18

It has been a great start to the project.  Highlights include: removal of bunker sand from holes 9-13, 17, 18 demolition of bunkers on holes 9 & 18 coring out of new green expansions on holes 9 & 18 stripped sod within the limits of disturbance on hole 10 removed sod from 17 green and fairway to repurpose on green expansions and low mow areas removal of irrigation and tilling of 17 flagged limits of disturbance on holes 11-13, 16 tree removal between holes 9/10, holes 9/18, east side of 10 and started tree work on hole 11

... when she quoted Ben Franklin, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Turfgrass management is no different than any other aspect of life, it is always better to be proactive as opposed to reactive.  As previously noted, annual bluegrass weevil (ABW) was discovered on property last year. This is a new pest to southeast Michigan as the first confirmed cases were documented in June of 2022. Last year, some collar damage on holes #3, #4, and #11 indicated this pest was at thresholds that could cause damage. Despite multiple insecticide applications, we were chasing this aggressive pest for the entire 2023 season. This year has been a different story. Knowing that we have ABW on property, this off-season we developed a comprehensive preventative program that has proven to hold up great. We identified several hot spots which included collars, tees and fairways thorough out the golf course. We were able to track the adult ABW migration through rigorous daily scouting ...

Our renovation project is starting to take shape. Frontier Golf has been on property all week receiving equipment, tools, and supplies. They will be staging their equipment out of our maintenance area. Starting Monday, they will be installing all of the erosion control measures required by the township.  Zinkand Golf Design was also on property yesterday. Dave and Owen were here painting and flagging areas of disturbance where Frontier Golf will be working. It was exciting to see the plans we have been looking at on paper for years finally laid out on the ground.

A successful event truly takes a team effort. Our team did a phenomenal job during Invitational week dealing with 2.6" of rain from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. We were able to pump off the standing water Thursday morning and had the golf course ready for play by mid-morning. A huge thanks to our staff this week for the tremendous effort.

Initial tree work was done this week in anticipation for the start of the renovation work that will commence in mid-July. Trees north and west of #17 green were removed as well as the spruce at the short range. 

Poa seedhead control is a difficult endeavor due to the hundreds of biotypes and environmental factors that effect seedhead production. Every year is so different from the last. What makes it even more challenging is that the different biotypes vary in timing and seed production. For the sake of comparison, let's look at the variance over the last several years: 2024 - seedhead emergence occurred 4/22/24 2022 - seedhead emergence occurred 5/10/22 2020 - seedhead emergence occurred 5/19/20 Needless to say, the bumpy nature of seedheads does not make for a desirable putting surface. Sixteen years ago, I developed a growing degree model that would better time our growth regulator applications. My hope was that it would help reduce some of the variabilities that oftentimes cause poor seedhead control. The model has certainly evolved over the years, as we learn a little more each season. Seedhead control does not mean we eliminate seedhead production, it simply means we are trying to su...

 Mother Nature often reminds us how special this property is.

The tees were verticut this week. Verticutting is the cultural practice that uses vertical blades to cut lateral growth. Removal of organic matter is an integral part our maintenance program to maintain healthy plants and firm conditions. 

 ... and mean what you say. In today's age of instant media and clickbait headlines, it is easy to throw around industry-specific buzz words, like "firm and fast", with little follow through. That is certainly not the case on this property. If you have followed this blog for any length of time, then you have read numerous posts about our efforts to create firm and fast conditions.  We have worked hard to tailor our maintenance practices towards this primary goal. Whether it is our fertility program, irrigation regiment, or cultural practices, they all work together to try and create the most consistent playing surfaces possible on any given day.  Fairway firmness and playability over the last four years have undoubtedly improved. We continue to make gains year after year as our cultural practices are honed and perfected. The Wiedenmann Super 600, a fairway verticutter which we purchased in 2020, has been a game changer. It has allowed us to efficiently remove the thatch t...

 ... into Big Fisher Pond.  A dive team was out last week to inspect our irrigation wet well and irrigation intake pipe. This was originally scheduled for late November, however weather conditions and unfortunate timing prohibited it from happening.  The team's inspection was similar to their 2016 visit. They dove inside the wet well (located inside the pumphouse) to check for any structural cracks or holes. They also dove out into the pond to inspect the intake pipe which takes water from the pond into the pumphouse. The intake pipe extends 40' out into the pond. They cleared out about 2' of sediment in a 20' radius around the intake pipe which will allow the irrigation system to operate more efficiently. 

 ... at least on this property. Not a day goes by without math permeating some facet of maintenance on the golf course. Whether it is measuring volumetric water content, calculating growing degree days, measuring clipping volume, or a host of other data we collect, math is built into what we do. Collecting and measuring data is a critical aspect of what we do to achieve precise turfgrass management. Some interesting math fun facts from aerification this week: We aerified at 2"x 2" spacing which equals 49 holes per square foot. That equals over 3.6 million holes created on all of the greens. We spread over 37,000 lbs of sand to fill those holes. To break this down on a smaller scale: #9 green is 3,005 square feet in size; therefore, 147,245 holes were created and 1,500 lbs of sand were used. #11 green is 5,777 square feet in size; therefore, 283,073 holes were created and 2,900 lbs of sand were used. This week, we also topdressed both nurseries at an extremely heavy rate to sm...

Unfavorable weather conditions forecasted for the remainder of the week made the decision to complete aerification yesterday an easy one. However, it was no small task as aerification is typically a two-day process. This would not have been possible but for the tremendous effort our experienced and veteran team put forth. These guys are the ultimate professionals; there were no complaints, just great attitudes working towards a common goal. As a staff, we talk lot about giving a perfect effort, and yesterday's work certainly exemplified that!

It has been a great week–an eclipse occurred and a few more seasonal staff member have started back. The golf course remains in great shape. The early start to the year has put us in a fantastic position. We also had a visit from our golf course architect Dave Zinkand and our golf contractor, Frontier Golf. The purpose of the visit was to give Jason Nau, from Frontier, a chance to see the property and formalize a plan moving forward during the renovation.