FALL AND WINTER PROJECTS

Fall weather creates the opportunity for the golf course maintenance staff to take on special projects to improve the golf courses.  For the last several months we have been concentrating on  maintaining the golf courses.  Cooler weather has slowed the growth of the grasses on the golf courses and we no longer have mowing grass as our dominant activity.  We now have time fix all the troublesome areas on the golf courses with drainage and new construction. This is our chance to do the things which will make the golf courses better next year.

During this past year we were able to plant a herb garden outside the kitchen.  We also worked on bunker drainage and rock removal from the bunkers.  We created a new chipping green area with Miniverde Ultradwarf Bermuda.  We converted another green in a residential area to Champion Ultradwarf Bermuda. We removed asphalt cart paths which had been compromised by tree roots and replaced the asphalt with sand.  We eliminated seven out of play wastebunkers. We leveled tees.

repairing cart paths

herb garden

new chipping green

leveling tee on 2 South

 

 new champion green just after sprigging

 

Already this fall we have several projects underway.  We enlarged and renovated the putting green on Wellington Drive.  We regraded and enlarged the  back tee on 18 South and resodded it with Zeon Zoysia. We have undertaken a program to level and improve drainage on the left driving range tee.  We have begun drainage improvements in the bunkers on the North

 

 

drainage 9 North

 

drainage 9 North

 

renovated tee 18 south

renovated putting green on Wellington

.

We have many other projects planned, including a new access path to the back of the driving range and enhancements to that "back of the range" practice area.  We plan to continue removing asphalt cart paths and improving the sand paths with more sand and drainage. We want to remove tress which are causing agronomic problems.  Repairs to our cart bridges with new decking and railings is in the planning stage.  We will run out of winter before we run out of projects.

 

COLORING FAIRWAYS

One of the trends in  the southeastern United States among Bermuda grass golf courses is the coloring of dormant turf with a turf colorant instead of overseeding with ryegrass. This trend began with the coloring of Bermuda grass greens as they were going dormant. Instead of overseeding them with bentgrass or poa trivialis, a colorant was applied. This trend has been carried over from its use on greens with success. This coloring is now common on Bermuda grass fairways and tees.  It is an undeniable fact that ryegrass overseed competes with the Bermuda grass into which it has been overseeded. This creates a weakened Bermuda grass plant at transition time and the Bermuda grass will then spend the summer recovering from this competition. Another issue with overseeding is that it needs to happen in October when our weather and playing conditions are usually excellent. It is necessary to water heavily during overseed establishment which then creates unsatisfactory wet playing conditions. Cart traffic must then be restricted to cart paths during the establishment of the overseed.  This is never a popular decision.

This year at Forest Creek we decided to not overseed either golf course.  We have also decided  to color the fairways, tees, and  approaches on the South Golf course.  We are using Endurant turf colorant from Geoponics. This is a high quality product designed to be used on turf.  The golf course industry has responded to this trend  of coloring turf by developing better products for this practice..  These products are formulated to adhere to the grass plant while causing no injury to the plant. They are considered to be perfectly safe for both the plant and the golfer.  We applied the Endurant colorant to the front nine on Wednesday and the back nine on Thursday. The ladies golf group played the first round of golf on this newly colored turf on Thursday and the comments were very positive.  We anticipate that we will do at least two more applications throughout the dormant season to maintain a satisfactory color.

This process has been studied at the university level and the USGA has several articles which examine this process.
"Instant overseeding: coming to a fairway near you", by Patrick O'Brien, USGA Green Section Record Vol. 50 (14), July 6,2012
"Switching from traditional overseeding to liquid overseeding", by Todd Lowe, USGA Green Section Record Vol. 51 (22), November 1, 2013

7 Fairway South after coloring

8 Green and Approach after coloring

THE CHANGING SEASONS

One of the joys of being a "greenskeeper" is experiencing your profession through and with the changing seasons on the golf course. The tasks we perform will vary throughout the year and we gladly anticipate the changing weather as a part of our job.  The jobs that "Old Tom Morris" performed at Saint Andrews varied throughout his seasons. The modern farmer focuses his effort on his crop by preparing the soil and planting in the spring and harvesting his crop in the fall. The modern golf course superintendent changes  his cultural practices throughout the year based on the seasons and the changing weather. In many ways the profession of greenskeeping links the game of golf to  the land where the game is played.  A farmer is linked to his land the same way a golf course superintendent is linked to his golf course.

15 North

At Forest Creek our activities and applications have changed throughout September and October as we wind down our growing season and prepare for fall and winter. We apply different herbicides at different times of the year for different weeds based upon their time of germination. In the fall we target poa annua but in the spring we target crabgrass and goosegrass. The height at which we cut our grasses will vary with the seasons.  We raise the height of cut for bentgrass in the summer to relieve stress on this cool season grass and then lower the height of cut in the fall when the weather cools down. Bermuda grass is a warm season grass so we raise the height of the Bermuda in the fall getting ready for freezing temperatures and possible winter injury. To avoid the potential for winter cold temperature injury to the Bermuda grass we apply potassium which promotes winter hardiness.
The likelihood of bentgrass suffering fungal diseases diminishes with cold temperatures and rises with warm temperatures.  The frequency of our fungicide applications to the greens is highest in the summer and lowest in the winter. We do not usually apply fungicides to the Bermuda grass but we will treat for "spring dead spot" in the Bermuda grass in both fall and winter.This is a devastating disease which is difficult to control.  We base our spray timing on when the soil temperature reaches 55 degrees. We almost always welcome a change in the weather and the seasons.



3 South

Most of these cultural practices have been going on at Forest Creek this fall. We have raised the height of cut of the Bermuda grass fairways  from 0.45 inches to 0.55 inches and our rough from 1.75 inches to 2.0 inches. The height of cut of the greens was lowered from .135 inches to .105 inches gradually through September.  We have applied one pound of potassium per thousand square feet to the tees,  fairways, and rough along with a chelated iron supplement to enhance the green color of the turf. We have applied tebuconazole to the south golf course and propoconazole to the north golf course for "spring dead spot" control.

16 South

Historically at Forest Creek we have always overseeded our golf courses with ryegrass in the fall and our cultural practices would switch to maintaining this cool season turf at this time.  This year, the decision was made not to overseed for agronomic reasons.  The continual competition of the ryegrass and the Bermuda grass is hard on the Bermuda.and skipping overseeding will give the Bermuda grass an entire growing season with no competition.  We have overseeded the clubhouse grounds, practice areas and par three tees.

Old Tom Morris

While the modern superintendent has many more tools available to him than "Old Tom Morris" had available to him, we share a common bond and heritage.  We both have cared for a piece of land where the game of golf is played and the quality of the turfgrass on that piece of land makes the game of golf a better game.  "Old Tom Morris " is considered the founder of the profession of greenskeeping.  He managed the Old Course at Saint Andrews from 1864 to 1903 and is credited with the first efforts to improve golf course conditions by topdressing and adding compost to greens.  He was also the first greenkeeper to perform bunker maintenance and to irrigate turf.

Although Old Tom Morris never left Scotland, many men who trained under him came to America as golf professionals, greenskeepers and golf course designers. Old Tom Morris was a champion professional golfer as well as a clubmaker and a greens keeper.  In the early years in America these jobs were usually joined as well.  But as the job of greenskeeping became more involved and as it came to involve more modern scientific  agronomy, the jobs were gradually separated.  Most modern superintendents have college degrees in agronomy or horticulture.  Nevertheless, for all of us, no matter how we were educated or trained, we are linked to the land by the game of golf and the changing of the seasons.

Donald Ross in Pinehurst

Here in Pinehurst, we are linked to Scotland and Old Tom Morris by Donald Ross. Ross trained under Old Tom and made his mark in America as one of the greatest golf course architects in history. 
Donald Ross once said;  "a sandy loam is by far, the very best golfing soil."  That sandy loam is what makes Pinehurst so special for turf conditions.  It brought Donald Ross here and it brings all of us to Pinehurst and Forest Creek for golf.