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December 6, 2011

Slowly but surely, the water recedes... Dan Salois, Highland Meadows Golf Club, Swanton, OH: "After a record rain capping a record November for precipitation, the course remains flooded for the third straight day. The creek has certainly crested, but all bridges are more or less impassable yet, and it will be at least a day or more before we can really see what's left behind. Below are pictures from today. If there is a positive note to take away from this flood event, I would say that all of our recent infrastructure upgrades to bridges, approaches, and stream banks are holding up great. As you can see from the pictures below, many areas that were destroyed from the 2008 floods of similar proportion have survived in great shape." 10 bridge somewhat above water. The rock protection, new bridge timbers and concrete approach on 10 held up great! The new concrete approach and rock on 10 holding fast. The new concrete path installed on #2 experienced no erosion. the 2008 floods completely wiped out the previous asphalt path. Visit Dan's blog at hmgcmaintenance.blogspot.com.

Water Quality Testing... David Phipps, Stone Creek Golf Club, Oregon City, OR: "As an ongoing part of Stone Creek's Environmental Stewardship Program we test the water at the golf course on an annual basis. We began testing in 2001 on a twice a year basis. After 7 years we had established a strong baseline and now test only once a year, alternating spring and fall. This year the test fell in the fall so we just completed it last week. We utilize Envirologic Resources, Inc. to collect samples from points where surface water enters and exits the property as well as locations where management practices may affect the water body. This includes Beaver Creek, where it enters the property at Hwy 213 and where it exits the property below the 11th green. We also check the lake on number 6 as well as "Stone Creek" which flows under the bridge on the twelfth hole. The water collected at the entry of Beaver Creek serves to establish a baseline to determine the influence of golf management practice on water quality. It also allows us to determine if there are any influences from upstream. The samples actually go through a battery of tests. As we dip the sample we first measure the temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and make a visual determination of clarity. Next we collect four bottles, two small plastic and two large brown glass bottles. The small plastic bottles are sent to a lab to be tested for orthophosphates and nitrates and the large brown bottles are sent to a different lab and are tested for all chemicals that have been applied to the golf course in the previous six months. The testing is not cheap but as part of our Stewardship Program, we feel that it is an integral part of how we operate here at Stone Creek. For a more complete description of our Environmental Stewardship Program please refer to the Oregon Golf Course Superintendent's Environmental Stewardship Guidelines by clicking HERE. You will find a complete description of the water quality monitoring program that Stone Creek is modeled after." Visit David's blog at stonecreeksuper.blogspot.com.

Royal Melbourne... Michael Stachowicz, Dedham Country and Polo Club, Dedham, MA: "Royal Melbourne's greens were the talk of the golf community during the President's Cup. They were touting what is called 'Sutton's Mix', the bent grass mix that Royal Melbourne was seeded to over 100 years ago. Sutton's Mix is very similar to South German Mix which Dedham's greens were seeded to. They both are a mix of colonial bentgrass (browntop), creeping bentgrass, and velvet bentgrass. This mix leads to a patchy appearance and the infiltration of poa leads to a spotty appearance. Here at Dedham we have been working to reduce the spotty appearance by steering our practices to encourage bent over poa. Some of our best greens have pretty much completed that transformation like 4, 7, 9, 12, 15 and 17. We are also doing this for health... sustainable health. About 10 years ago Royal Melbourne was all poa... a fertilizer- and water-loving grass that is very disease prone. Nothing is better than a poa surface to putt on when it is good, but when it seeds or gets disease or winter kill, it is a disaster. Poa is a very weak plant that cannot provide consistent conditioning. Then Australia went through a major drought in the mid-aughts and poa was no longer a viable turf. Royal Melbourne tried some of the new varieties of creeping bent. When they did not perform at the level that was good for them, they pulled samples of Sutton's Mix bents from some small patches that remained in their other greens, grew them out until they seeded, and harvested the seed. After a few years, this generated enough seed and seed bearing plants to seed their greens back to Sutton's Mix. "Now, that doesn't explain the purplish appearance of the greens; the fertility program does..." Now, that doesn't explain the purplish appearance of the greens; the fertility program does. Royal Melbourne is so committed to keeping poa out, having consistent roll, and good firmness that they have adopted a fertility program that turns their greens this color. The color is mostly generated by high rate applications of iron sulfate. This is part of a program that lowers the pH of the soil to inhibit weed infiltration, including poa, and changes the growth habit of the actual turf blade making it thinner, more bristly. Here at Dedham, we have been using acidic fertilizers for the same purpose, just not at the extreme they are. We have successfully used this approach to rid the fairways of poa, and we have reduced the spottiness on the greens from poa. We are progressing more slowly so as not to disrupt the course. All of this falls under the heading 'All that is old is new again'... Acid theory and South German bent varieties are part of greenkeeping history and have value today." Visit Michael's blog at mstachowicz.wordpress.com.

Leaf Patrol David Smith, Fawn Lake Country Club, Spotsylvania, VA: "The main priority at the moment is leaf pick up. This involves frequent blowing while the vacuum moves slowly around the property trying to catch up. Security has been called on occassion by angry homeowners claiming that we're blowing the leaves onto their property. We DO NOT blow leaves off the course property. Just because the leaves are being moved TOWARDS your property does not mean we are putting them ON your property. We'll continue to do the best we can and hope to have most of the leaves cleared out by Christmas. " Visit David's blog at flccturfcare.blogspot.com

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