Thatch Master & Upcoming Meeting

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

The last couple of days we have been able to get the thatch master out on the golf course and breakup the organic layer on the surface of the bare areas that has been causing us issues with having the runners "tack" down ... by tacking I mean where the stolons extend roots into the ground.

These organic areas are not like the organic matter that you place into your potted plants to aid in their growth; this organic matter has NOT decomposed yet and creates a layer the is hydrophobic (difficult to wet) and dries too quickly during the days we have in the desert.  Thus, as the stolons try to root into these areas those roots have difficultly finding available water.

As you can tell by the picture above this layer is on average about 1.5 - 2.0" thick in the areas where it found.  It is a combination of under-decomposed dead ryegrass and root mass mainly.  This is the main objective of the aerification around the course ... to remove cores of this material, providing a route for the roots to make "true" soil contact and become viable, and lastly to allow water & air movement.  In addition, the ryegrass has to be removed soon as possible to allow the bermudagrass to fill in these areas in the first place.

The picture above shows the area sprayed out compared to the area not sprayed.  The lighter green "corner" is the bermudagrass that without competition's is filling in the area while the darker non sprayed areas contains so much ryegrass that the "specks" of light green bermudagrass has not filled back in ... and yes that ryegrass will die on its own as shown in the pictures at the top of this article.

There is a meeting with the personnel of JC Resorts from San Diego, the JC Resorts personnel here such as Brandon, Shaun and myself, and the members on the upcoming Tuesday.  Please attend and ask questions.

The Well Shaft on 6 & Upcoming Timelines

We never did discover the cause of the sever damage to six sections of the well shaft due to the fact that the damage was so bad no cause could be gleaned.  The good news is that even though it was slightly over a year since its installation the company who installed the well and did the recent repair did so as a warranty job ... no cost to Avondale.

Starting next week we will be starting the Primo applications in the fairways to promote further side to side grow in.  See timeline below for the projected.

Timelines:

a.      Upcoming Week:

a)            Aug 1^st foliar fertilizing greens including Primo.

b)            Aug 2^nd Primo fairways & tees.

c)            Aug 2^nd verticutting greens

d)            Aug 3^rd topdressing greens.

e)            Aug 4^th finishing Primo of the fairways & tees.

f)             Aug 4^th verticutting greens.

g)            Aug 5^th aerifying small PG, nurseries and CGs in prep.

b.      In Next Week After:

a)            Aug 8^th maybe starting aerification of the roughs.

b)            Aug 8^th fertilizing the greens 21-0-0.

c)            Aug 9^th verticutting the greens.

d)            Aug 11^th verticutting the greens.

e)            Aug 12^th 21-0-0 greens.

c.       In Near Future:

a)            Aug 15 – 17^th golf course closed (aerification).

b)            Aug 17^th K-Mag, Gypsum & 21-0-0 greens.

c)            Aug 18^th front nine open, back nine closed.

d)            Aug 19^th back nine open, front nine closed.

e)            Aug 19^th spraying Cascade, X-Sodis & Merit on greens.

f)             Aug 20^th entire course open.

g)            Weekend of Aug 20^th limited crew due to aerification.

h)            Aug 22^nd 21-0-0 greens.

i)              Aug 23^rd Primo fairways & tees.

j)              Aug 25^th Primo fairways & tees.

k)            Aug 30^th verticutting greens.

Well, Transition, Sodding

I have just returned from a week's vacation and I am very much pleased with the results from the green surrounds sodding project.  Last week the team finished out the areas that I had marked for them the those areas look great.  We will be leveling these area during this week.

Before, During & After Front of 5's Green

With the hotter temperatures and the higher humidity the grass has been growing overtime and filling in any weak areas that are left.  I should note that the areas under the drip lines of the trees (the rootzone) will fill in very slowly if at all since the tree roots out compete the grass.

The well on 6 was replaced on Thursday of last week and has been performing perfectly since.  So far what we know is the six sections of the shaft were severely damaged -- cause unknown.  Luckily, last week was slightly cooler and the humidity was high so we did not experience as many hot spots as expected.

Well on 6

As those that are here saw today we are having the well on 6 being pulled to find out what has caused the its failure to pump water.  As of now, the answer is unsure but for the next few days we are having to greatly reduce the irrigation at night to conserve water and make sure that we can still irrigate until the issue has been resolved.  This may lead to some hot spots and slower transition for a bit but once repaired we will be back on course.

Sodding around the greens started today and will continue until complete.  In addition, we are still repairing a few bad spot on the greens and we will be filling the holes missed by sand by the drill & fill process.

Greens Mystery Solved!!

This year we notice some issues on greens and areas that historically do not exhibit issues during transition such as 1, 6, 5 & 8.

Knowing that this wasn't the norm we pulled a sample to be tested in the lab to find out what it is so we could treat the area.  Fungicides are an expensive application we wanted to know exactly what we we attacking before any application.  While we were waiting for the results we began the repairs on the greens knowing these areas would not return on their own or recovery quite slowly.  Today the results came in.

It appears that that during the spring or early spring we have been attacked by bermudagrass decline (BGD) in which the treatment is to replace the infected area and treat the infected greens.  The replacement program is still going strong and we will spray fungicides this week.

We should see improvement quite quickly and for next year we will be better prepared before transition.

Aerification is Finished!!

We have finished up the aerification of the fairways and tees today thus there will not be any more aerifications until mid-August.  Enjoy the month off from maintenance.  In addition, we have just finished the drilling & filling of the greens and by week's end should be close to having the greens at 100% again.  Once all of the minor repairs have been completed we will be starting to working on green speed.  I should note the recovery time from the August aerification is very quick.

Starting tomorrow we will start the sod repairs around the greens in those areas we believe would not normally recover this year.  I have been asked about what is going on in select roughs which it is the transition of the areas we did not chemically treat.  They (meaning the roughs) will continue throughout the summer transitioning since they still have ryegrass in them.  The good news is the tees, fairways and greens will be completely transitioned within the month.  Presently, the fairways are 85 - 90% transitioned and in some cases over 95%.

I am very pleased on how well the transition has gone this year ... much quicker than I thought given the weather conditions in June.  It is a time hated by all but good for the overall health of the golf course ... and every golf course I was told was much better (i.e. Desert Springs, Indian Wells CC, Lakes, Bermuda Dunes, etc.) were either in the same condition as us or going to be soon since now of those courses had chemically removed their ryegrass ... thus their transitions are still coming.

Drill & Fill, and Well on 6

Drill & fill went great today with us completing 12 greens.  In addition, we were able to finish aerifying the fairways and tees of 12 - 18, 5 & 8.  The front nine tees have been completely finished and we should be almost finished tomorrow.  Tomorrow, the drilling order will be 4, 3, 11, 10, PG, CGs, 1, 2 and finishing with the small PG next to 3's tee.

Tomorrow you will see a crane working on the well on 6.  This morning the well stopped producing water and we are unsure the cause.  All simple potential issues have been addressed now it is time to look at the pump and bowl assembly themselves.

Drill & Fill Starts Today

This morning in a couple of minutes we will be starting the drilling of the greens.  Our plan is slightly changed where we are going to start on 4, then 8, then 13, 12, 14, 15, 17, 16, 18, 9, 6, etc.  Along with drilling the greens we will be attempting to also aerify the fairways and remaining tees so we will disrupt play as little as possible.  Since this is the first time we have tried this it may not work as planned.

Bermudagrass Runners

I was asked yesterday about "what was the stringy grass that was growing in the fairways and around the course?"  See picture below - double click to enlarge.

These "stringy runners" are actually called stolons that are produced by the bermudagrass plant which is the part that fills in the weaker areas.  In addition to the stolons there are rhizomes which grow under the soil line thus further aid in the filling in of these weak spots.  They are the number one reason we kill the ryegrass so these runners have a place to grow without completion and thus producing a healthier turf in the fairways.

Blue Lines Around the Greens

On the Large PG and the front nine greens you may have noticed some blue line boxes.  These boxes are areas starting on the 13th of July that we are going to sod cut and then re-sod with 328 bermudagrass.  Since this is the first year that we have chemically removed the ryegrass around the green there is a chance that we can get the bermuda to establish before the overseeding season.  These areas will be considered grounds under repair until the roots tack down.  Once the front nine is finish we will be starting the back nine, thus before the last week of July all repairs will be completed.

Rough Aerification Today, Tees & Fairways Tomorrow

Today we should be finishing the aerification of the roughs (round two) and starting in the afternoon tomorrow we will be starting select tees & fairways.  Since in July we do not close the golf course for this process it takes us longer to complete the aerification than normal.  Ideal situation we will be done by mid-week of next week and will start the the touch up sodding around the greens where hopefully we can glean some long term repair.  I should note that the sodded areas will be considered grounds under repair; however, you must ask the pro shop for a local ruling about the aerification plugs and holes.  The rules of golf do not cover the issue about aerification.

Least Than Month & Transition is Progressing Well

When we started the transition on 6-15-11 during the first aerficaition we knew that with the cooler weather than transition this year was going to be an ugly one.  As with other golf courses around the Valley that are lucky enough to have common bermudagrass instead of those easier transitioning turfs such as 328, Tifsport and 419 Tifway transition is always for us at first an ugly process.  But as with the other bermudagrasses we will and do catch back up to their level in about a month ... and we are here too.

                                           6-10-11 (5's Fairway Before Transition)

At first due to the weather being cooler the fairways that were chemically treated looked quite ugly and appeared to only have 40% turfgrass coverage (See picture 6-20-11) but this is not the reality ...

                                           6-20-11 (5's Fairway Just Starting Transition)

the ryegree starts to die giving the fairways a "browning" color and then the bermudagrass which is under the ryegrass is given a chance to grow back though ... but this doesn't happen overnight and for two weeks actually becomes worst looking until all the ryegrass finally dies.

                                                  6-30-11 (Finish Ryegrass Death)
Once that happens the bermudagrass fills back in (such as what we are seeing right now) and is given a chance to grow for the 100 days required to to continue to have healthier turf for the rest of the

                                          7-4-11 (5's Fairway Filling in with Bermudagrass)
summer and for the future.  Currently, 19 days into this transition process we on average have 75%+ recovery of our fairways and 95% recovery of our greens.  Once we get through next week's drill and fill of the greens we will start the process of speeding them back up for the remainder of the summer.  All of this is in just over ONE month ... not the entire summer.

Aerification / Drill & Fill

I know it hard to believe but we are starting the rough aerification today for the second round.  Due to the holiday next week and our efforts to save the Club monies in payroll we will be limited staff; however, we still will be working on the aerification of the roughs and select tees & fairways.  The drill & fill of the greens (no aerification this month) will start the week following the holiday week -- July 11th.  During this process we will not be closing the golf course but we will be closing certain holes that are being worked on at the time.