Collar Renovation

I don't think I've ever had a more important topic to share with the membership.  This project is going to be very aggressive and will take some understanding from you, the golfer.  Next week, the course will be closed for fall maintenance.  One of the many projects planned during this period is the overseeding of the paspalum collars.

This year, we will use a sod cutter to remove all the leaf tissue and some thatch of the paspalum, exposing the underlying soil.  This will allow the seed to be sown directly to the soil.  We also will correct the height difference between the paspalum and the greens to improve playability and surface drainage.

The photo to the left is an example of previous attempts which was aerification followed by a vibratory plate, or wacker.  This worked in some locations, but our new strategy will be much faster and more effective.  However, it will be a bit shocking for the first week or so.

This method of overseeding comes with proven results.  The seed gets direct contact with the soil and germinates quickly to produce a good stand of ryegrass for the winter months.  As temperatures warm in the spring, the paspalum's stolons and rhizomes will begin to grow, overtaking the ryegrass and giving us our summer turf.  Sounds good, right?  First, it will get a little ugly.

To the right is our trial on the nursery.  We sod cut at a very shallow depth to remove the top, but preserve the stolons and rhizomes.  We then veritcut, topdressed with sand, leveled the surface, and mixed in the seed.  Just four days later the seed was beginning to show(lower pic).

The course reopens on Saturday and some collars will be seeded just two days prior to opening.  We ask that you minimize the traffic on the collars, do not stand on them and do not play on them.  You get relief from these locations and a little understanding will go a long way.  The result will be improved playability, healthier greens and collars, and a beautiful dark ring of ryegrass that will border the greens all the way to spring.  I'll have many more updates on this renovation including some video clips of the actual process.  I want everyone to know about this so it's not a surprise when you return to the course.  Tell your friends and playing partners and do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

UC Riverside Field Day

Last week, BHCC General Manager, Mike Spayd and I attended the University of California Riverside Field Day to see first hand where the turf research in California was headed.  We spent a very hot afternoon looking at drought trials, disease studies, traffic tests, and sodium experiments that directly relate to our work at the club.

I'm a big fan of the work of Dr. Jim Baird and the staff at UCR and to show my support, I serve on the California Turf and Landscape Foundation.  The newly formed foundation raises money for turf research throughout the state.  Golf course maintenance is constantly changing with new innovations, expanding regulations, and new pests and diseases.  To stay ahead of the curve and produce the best possible course conditions, it is vital that superintendents stay up to date on and on the ball.  The additional time requirement and homework is well worth the effort.  I sincerely appreciate working for a club that supports my involvement in these programs.  

At the end of this day, I was also very happy to work at a club that is in San Diego and not Riverside, CA.  It was HOT!!!!   Good place to study turf problems, but I'll stay down here where it is cool and comfortable.

Let's rebuild this tee

That was the beginning of our morning meeting last Monday.  It occurred to me that our two larger tee boxes were healing rapidly and the lower one could be skipped for the next month.  That's the perfect time to undertake an in-house project that will cost little but do so much.

Monday morning we ripped the sod off this tee and reused whatever would hold together to patch up thin spots on the range and on the course.  Most of the sod would shred to pieces as soon as we tried to move it.  So we brought in Oso (on the tractor) and he did an amazing job scraping the sod off the tee without a single gouge.  I have zero talent when it comes to grading soil, so I was thrilled to watch him work.  Today, I borrowed a box blade for our tractor and Oso and Santiago, our mechanic, will get back to work next Monday, prepping the tee for seed.






This project will be completed in a month's time.  It
certainly will not take a month's worth of work, but we only can make progress when the tee is closed, on Mondays and our upcoming 'closed week.'  The final product will be a level surface with a 1-1.5% slope.  The tee top will be twice the size of the existing tee and will be a solid stand of ryegrass.  In the subsoil, we will incorporate plenty of bermuda parts which will return next summer.  If you ever tried to rid your garden, yard, or sidewalk cracks of bermuda, you know that this stuff is good at coming back.

Thanks for reading. More updates coming soon, tell your playing partners to check out the blog.

Fairway verticut

This contraption is called a Big Vac and is used to verticut fairways.  It is composed of a drum with some dangling metal blades that spin quickly to cut through our bermuda fairways and thatch.  Another drum fit with very stiff bristles, spins back toward the tractor and a vacuum pulls the debris into the hopper.  The result is fairly clean surface with grooves all the way to the soil.  You might think the process is damaging and counterproductive, but it actually will improve the fairways in many ways.

Thatchy bermuda has the tendency to scalp during mowing.  The damaged bermuda turns brown and can require more than a week to recover.  Verticutting removes some of the thatch, smooths the surface, reduces that spongy feeling, and greatly reduces scalping potential.  Also, when bermuda is cut like this, a natural defense response sends out new shoots of fresh bermuda that is stronger than the old stuff we just ripped out. Other benefits include better drainage, improved ball roll, firmer footing, less disease pressure, and a increase in density.

The photo on the left is #8 fairway, just after the Big Vac finished up.  We mowed before the process and return afterwards for two more cuts in opposite directions.  Some of the brown lines are from thatch showing through the canopy and other lines are from an abundance of clippings.  This fairway is nearly 100% bermuda and will only improve after this process is complete.  Full recovery will take a couple of weeks, but the benefits are well worth the discoloration.

We'll take a closer look at verticutting greens in an upcoming post.  Our new blades are working very well and accomplish one of the critical processes towards achieving an excellent surface.

Pushing Bermuda

We are making progress with this ugly period called transition.  As we move towards a solid stand of bermudagrass, the cool season turf types need to fade away.  In some areas, we had no choice on keeping this grass as sodium, warm temperatures, and grub damage wiped out the ryegrass and poa annua in rapid fashion.  We are left with clumps of rye and shoots of bermuda and many, many bad lies.  Don't worry, we can fix it.

The pictures above are from some rough between a sand bunker and the fairway on the 11th hole.  In locations with good bermudagrass populations, we can fertilize, apply wetting agents, and work to lower the sodium.  The effect is shown in the closeup to the right.  The bermudagrass is filling in and is doing so quickly.

The fairways are progressing even faster with many approaching full coverage.  Stop wishing for cooler temperatures because these warm days and nights are the driving force of recovery.  Below, on the 18th fairway, the bermuda is closing in and the dark spots, mostly ryegrass, have nowhere to hide.  I'm excited about where we're heading and the thought of a full summer of 2013 with little "transition" to be had.

Paspalum control

The collars at Bernardo Heights CC are sea spray paspalum and have been creeping into the greens at a reasonable pace.  In the last six weeks, we've edged the the collars three times and filled the gap with a little sand.  This process uses a walking edger, the same type a homeowner could use to edge their sidewalks.  In some locations, the paspalum is already 10 inches into the green and well rooted.  We recently applied a herbicide to control this encroachment and the results were very good.  Sometimes when you see something that looks dead, it is, and we did it on purpose.

Abel, our spray tech, applied the herbicide with a paint roller for an exact application.  The bentgrass was unharmed and we found our new control strategy.  The brown areas will fill in with healthy bent grass and we may topdress and seed to move along the recovery process.

New Tools: Needle Tines

In the New Tool segment, I will showcase some of the contraptions that are not necessarily new to golf course maintenance, but are new to Bernardo Heights CC.  I love new gadgets, tools, toys, and technology, so this is my show-and-tell portion of the blog.  First up, is one of my favorites and should be one of yours too.  These are called needle tines.


We were able to outfit our Ryan aerifier with these tines for a small investment and hope to use them on a frequent basis.  Golfers are usually surprised to see the aerifier in use without any damage to the greens.  That's the beauty of these tines.  The surface opens up for water, roots, and all important oxygen, but the ball never knows.  In fact, the greens are usually smoother and faster after this process because we follow it with the roller.

Finally, here is a close up of the mounting block and the simple 3mm shafts of metal.  Simple, yet effective.

Sand Topdressing

You've probably noticed the recent, light applications of sand to the greens.  We are topdressing the greens on a bi-weekly basis to smooth out the surface and prevent scalping when we mow.  In this picture of #3 green, notice the deep cuts, now white with sand, at the left edge of the green.

Assistant Superintendent, Ramiro
Arroyo topdressing #18

When a mower scalps the grass like this, it becomes weak and susceptible to disease.  The sand insulates the groaning points of the turf and keeps the mower blades at a safe distance.  This is good for the grass and good for the golfer.  Light topdressings firm the surface, speed ball roll, and improves consistency.  Just one of many practices we use to keep the greens at their best.