Making Hay While the Sun Shines

The five day weather forecast is calling for a moderately dry or I should say, relatively drier stretch of weather early next week so we have decided to move forward with our annual spring aerification on the greens during this time.  The course will be closed as usual on Monday as well as this coming Tuesday and Wednesday.  I mentioned in my recent post about tee aerification, it is crucial that we do not get significant rainfall during the sanding process in order to be able to fill the open holes with sand.  Thank you in advance for your patience while we perform this very important cultural practice.  Here is a quick video from the USGA that explains the process if you would like a refresher on what we are doing and why we are doing it.

Thank you Steve!

Today is a sad day for myself as well as the club as we bid our Head Golf Professional, Steve Bowles adieu.  As many of you know, his last day was today as he is moving on to pursue a fantastic opportunity to work with the Boeing Classic.

Steve, thank you for your tireless service to the club these past five years, your contributions have brought incredible talent and enthusiasm to our operation over the years.  I know that I echo the sentiment of many when I say it was a pleasure to work with you and you will be greatly missed by many.  Good luck and don't be a stranger!

                      

Punching Season Kickoff

Punching season is a love/hate relationship for the maintenance staff and golfers alike.  We all know that it makes the golf course better in the long run through improved turf health and quality, but the process is a little bit painful sometimes for two completely different sets of reasons.  With that said, I am happy to report that we have now checked one box off the checklist as of yesterday:  tee aerification!  The entire process went smoothly thanks to the weather, the diligent advance work by our head mechanic that went into preparing the equipment ahead of time, the extra-long hours put in by our greens crew and most importantly, the flexibility and understanding of our golfers as they played around the process.

Moving forward, we plan to aerify our approaches and par 3 fairways next Monday if the weather holds.  After that, we will be picking and choosing a few fairways here and there to aerify as we move through the rest of this month and early next month until we are done.  The decision of when and where to aerify will be based off of weather conditions (shooting for dry weather) as well as doing our best to balance what other things are on our plate at a given time (what else needs to be mowed, course conditioning, etc).  Greens are scheduled to be punched in April, the week will depend on which ends up having the driest weather.  By the way, a quick note: as of today, our current rainfall total for the month of March now stands at 11.23 inches so I am hoping the second half of the month is much drier than the first half was!

In regards to specifics on the tee aerification, we started the process on the black, gold and blue tee decks in what was a very small window of dry weather last Wednesday and Thursday.  We finished the white and red tees along with the driving range tees yesterday while the course was closed.  The dry conditions allowed us to pull a better plug and apply a good amount of topdressing sand to fill the holes behind the clean up crew.

When it is wet or raining, it is much more challenging to keep the process clean and tidy, slowing down the entire process significantly which in turn, increases the potential impact on play and overall course conditions.  The plugs get sticky in the rain, clog our core harvester and have a tendency to smear and mash down on the turf.  Not to mention, we need dry weather in order to get any sand into the aerification holes to maximize the amount of sand we can get into the holes.

While aerifying the tee decks, we were able also able to aerify the rough in the walk-on/walk-off areas on our tee surrounds which will relive compaction and improve the quality of the turf in these high traffic areas this summer.  Also, as I mentioned earlier, following the aerification clean up, a healthy dose of sand was applied to our black, gold and blue tee decks which tend to be a little spongier than the white and red tee decks due to the reduced amount of play they receive compared to the other decks as well as the type of club used on these decks (more woods versus irons).  Here are a few pictures of the tee aerification process as we went along.  

Getting the process started on #1 tee early Wednesday morning.

We also aerified the walk/on- walk/off areas adjacent to the tee decks to relieve compaction in these high traffic areas.

#9 Tees pulling a beautiful plug!

7/8" tines were used to maximize the amount of thatch removed.

Tomas, our expert core harvester operator.  

Isidro was our "stick man", pushing plugs out of the way as they came off the conveyor belt.

#10 Tees with a bed of dried sand from sitting in the sun, ready to be brushed in.

                           

The icing on the cake was brushing in the sand once it had dried.

                           

Traffic Control on #14 Green

As many of you probably already suspect, March has been very generous with it's contribution to our rainfall totals. The month to-date measurable rainfall total currently stands at 8.39 inches and the jaw-dropper is that we still have 21 days left in what is known as a very rainy month.  I have a feeling that it won't be too long before March one-ups February's 9.16 inches which by the way, put last month in the top 10 wettest Februarys on record.  The good news is that we are in for a treat over the next few days with a forecast of sunny skies and temperatures nearing the high 50's and low 60's.

The effects of last week's warm rain have already had a strong green-up effect on the golf course which means turf is finally growing!  This has allowed us to remove the temporary green on #14 and put the regular green it back into play.  You will notice that we have erected a few traffic control stakes with some rope woven through them to help direct our foot traffic away from the right edge of the green.  Most of our traffic onto and through the green follows the right edge of the green.  

Part of this tatic relates to human psychology.  Most people when given a choice of whether to veer right or left will opt for the right side.  Think about it, when you get on a bus or airplane, most people will subconsciously gravitate to the right side.  Take this concept and put it in the context of typical traffic patterns through our 14th green.  Most players (walking or riding) will approach the 14th green from the fairway, walk right on the right edge of the green above the greenside bunker, place their bag in the rough on the back right, walk back onto the green from the right side, putt then exit the green from the right side.  That's a lot of foot  traffic that the right side of the green has to sustain under low light conditions.  

So, in the meantime, this rope and stake system is here to give all of our golfers a visual of what areas of the green we need to avoid walking through and we ask that you try to find alternate patterns on, off and through the green for the time-being.  If your ball ends up in this area, don't be afraid to play it as it lies and move a stake or two out of the way if necessary, but please put them back the way that you found them before you leave the green.  We plan to leave the rope and stakes up for a week or so then we will revert to a simpler setup once everybody has had a chance to see and learn the areas that we need to re-route our traffic around.

Rope and stakes on #14.

                            

Old Man Winter

The weather extremes that we have experienced this winter seem to resemble your typical Costco variety pack- two very very dry and cold snaps (temperatures in the teens and low 20's) in early December and early February and everything in between has been filled with torrential rains (over 8 inches in February, beating the average by about 5") followed by a string of bluebird days lasting two or three days before reverting back to either the cold or rain, another cold snap or just a plain old gray Seattle day.

The point being, from the standpoint of growing conditions for Poa annua, we have been all over the board with a little bit of really good weather and some really bad weather.  Most of our Poa seems to be handling these extremes changes just fine.  However, the turf that experiences any form of shade from surrounding trees and houses or has a North-facing exposure has thinned out to the point where they are quite fragile.  

As I have discussed in previous posts, Poa is a fantastic grass to grow in this part of the country and it is possible to do so due to our moderate climate.  However, we do experience weather extremes that are outside the comfort zone of Poa (very cold and very hot) once in a while and it is natural that we will see the consequences of that.  The cold snaps we experienced this year have been a little different than past years being that we got so cold without any sort of insulation from a snow cover which we usually have when when we drop to these kind of temperatures.  The high winds we experienced during the two cold snaps didn't help either as the wind and cold temperatures work together to suck out all available moisture in the plants due to the exposure.  

The good news is that we are now entering the time of the year that has the weather which defines our region as a breeding ground for Poa annua which is moderate everything.  Moderate amounts of rainfall, moderate temperatures (40's and 50's) and improved sun angle and photo-period (longer days vs December/January).  We have been treating thinned areas with care and judicious traffic control (as you currently see on #6 and #11 with stakes and the temporary green on #14).  You as a golfer can also help by carefully choosing your paths as you walk on, off and through our greens.  Try to avoid any thin areas, choosing the thicker, healthier turf for your pathway.  

On top of our careful traffic management tactics, we have been implementing a few key cultural practices known to promote vegetative growth of Poa annua and overall plant health.  With these practices in place, we expect to see turf recovery progress a lot faster over the next few months compared to earlier this year because the weather will start working more and more in our favor as time goes on.  

Here are some pictures taken last week of the 14th green which is currently on a temporary green.  This green has a primarily Northern exposure, meaning during the winter months when the sun angle is low, it gets an extremely limited amount of sunlight and heavily filtered morning sun due to the trees surrounding the green.  Additionally, when morning sun is limited, the area is slower to rise in air and soil temperatures, slowing growth and prolonging the exposure of turf to frost and cold snaps.  As you can see from these pictures, the turf on this green does not get much help from Mother Nature during the winter.  This alone, sets this green well behind most of our other greens in terms of turf health and recovery from winter induced stress.

Early morning sun being filtered by the trees behind the green.

This picture shows how drastic the shade is on this green.  Looking across Bear Canyon, you can see that the tees and fairways are being bathed in the sunlight while the green is quite the opposite.

Another shot that shows the expanse of the shade line that extends well into the fairway from surrounding trees.

                             

Meanwhile, we continued to work on adding more drainage to chronically wet areas around the golf course.  The latest project was completed last week on the 15th hole.  We tackled the wet area just right before the last set of fairway bunkers on the right as you approach the green.  

Location of the most recent project, just right before the last set of fairway bunkers on the right.

Drainage expert extraordinaire, Derek Costa.

We put 560 linear feet of pipe in near mostly at the interface of the fairway and rough line and up into the rough.  This brings our overall installation total for winter 2014 to 1,740 linear feet so far.  We do not plan on stopping the drainage projects just yet- as we still have a lot of winter left before we have to shift gears back to the mow and go routine.  Today we started a quick little project on the south end practice area just to firm up the new approach a bit and the surrounding mounds near the chipping green.  

In the home stretch, last trench being dug!

One of the rare sunny days we had in February.  It is amazing how much more can be accomplished when the sun provides a little motivation for the crew.

This particular area had quite a bit of woody pulp under the sand cap.  Decomposing wood naturally absorbs water and most likely contributed to the extra saturated conditions found in this area.

Course Thaw

Finally. . . the freezing cold weather we experienced last week that closed the course has finally come to an end.  The weather forecast for the next week or so has replaced the below-freezing temperatures with lots and lots of rain.  So, what does this mean for the golf course and it goes without saying that the million dollar question is, is when will the golf course be open again?  

The answer to that is, it depends.  Over the next few days, we will be watching the impact of the rain and warmer temperatures on the greens.  These two things combined, will slowly thaw the permafrost that formed below the surface during last week's freezing temperatures.  What is going to happen over the next few days is, the greens (and all other surfaces) will thaw from the top down as the warm rain softens up the soil, eating away at the permafrost as it moves through.  Going forward while this process is occurring, we have to be careful not to put any traffic on the greens until they are all the way thawed.  

Sheeting water on greens due to frozen surfaces.

Until the permafrost is completely gone, it will act like a back-board inhibiting any type of drainage through the profile making the greens very squishy.  Moreover, any traffic on top of this backboard will essentially squeeze out any existing pore space which would have a very detrimental effect on the turf health.  The grass depends on this pore space for proper gas/oxygen exchange and root growth.  This is why we need to be judicious about when we allow play to resume on the greens.

As of this morning, I could only get my ice pick into most greens about a  quarter of an inch.  It might take a couple of days depending on how warm it gets.  

Ice pick hit permafrost at 1/4".

What have we been up to?

 My last post discussed the drainage addition that we completed on hole #3 and since then, the agronomy crew has been very busy with projects on the golf course.  I wanted to take a moment and quickly walk through the list beginning with what most of you noticed, the massive drainage installation on the 15th fairway pictured below.  We were able to install 565 linear feet of pipe right around the 100 yard marker.  We are especially excited about this improvement as this area had been chronically wet through all four seasons and had become a maintenance nightmare not to mention that it was right in the middle of the second landing zone on this fairway.

Drainage installation on 15th fairway.

After we wrapped up this project and got all the sod back in place, we were able to knock out an additional 200 linear feet to the right of the green.  This last project increased our grand total of installed drainage pipe up to 1,180 linear feet so far this winter.

Crew member, Derek Costa took over as our backhoe operator this winter and has
quickly become an expert, knocking out the trenches in no time.

This area was in dire need of additional drainage.  Notice all the water already
moving through the trenches.  The playability of this area will be much better now.

During the same stretch of dry weather that we installed the drainage pipe on hole 15, our silica bunker sand dried out so much that we were able to bust out a machine that we own called a Z-Screen which is essentially a vibrating sieve.  We used it to sift rocks and gravel that had worked their way up through the sand from the subsurface.  This machine only works well when there is no moisture in the sand otherwise the sand sticks and clogs the screens, making it impossible to sift.  We made quick work of this, focusing on green side bunkers that had the worst contamination, namely, to the left of #3 green, all bunkers around #4 green and the right side of #12 green.  Unfortunately, we got about 2.16 inches of rain a few days after we began this project, making the sand wet again.  We hope to continue this practice on a few more bunkers once the sand dries out again.

Tate and Sam sifting sand on #4.  

The trough at the bottom catches all the rocks and gravel while the sand
falls straight through the bottom of both screens.

Unfortunately, our golf course is built on a soil type known as glacial till which essentially means lots and lots of rocks and gravel.  With the heavy winter rains that we experience in Snoqualmie plus the lack of bunker liners, we are constantly subject to bunker washouts which exposes the glacial till soil.  This exposure compounded with rainfall makes the sand extremely prone to contamination.  The picture below shows what a typical washout can look like.

Notice all the rocks and gravel.  Not good for keeping the sand clean.

Speaking of bunkers, we have been able to restore and resurface the two pot bunkers in front of #1 green.  Over the years the bunker sand inside the bunkers makes its way into the surrounding turf through a variety of means including wind, foot traffic and golf clubs splashing sand onto the face.  Multiply this by a number of years and the surrounding turf can grow up to an astonishing foot or two, depending on the bunker.  Usually the areas between bunkers and greens are the worst due to the higher volume of play.  Here are some pictures that show the buildup and restoration.

The back side of the middle bunker on #1 had about 5 inches of bunker sand
buildup.  The darker colored soil shows the original grade.

Re-grading.  This eliminated the volcano-like shape of the outside of the
bunker and restored it to a sloping crater like grade.

The area between the middle bunker and green had about 8 inches of bunker
sand buildup.  

Finished product.  The visibility of the green from inside the bunker is
much better and the size of the bunker expanded once all the sand
buildup was removed from the edges.  

Original grade of the bunker on the right side of the green.  Notice the
inverted lip.

Stripping away the turf and bunker sand for re-grading.  We removed about
a foot of sand buildup between the green and bunker on this one.

Bunker all-re shaped and sodded.  Ready to redistribute the sand.

Finished product.  Visibility of the green from inside the bunker
is much better here too.  The volcano like edges are also gone.

We also have a few brush clearing projects that we have been working on that I am excited about but I will save details on that for another post.  In the meantime, our temperatures are forecasted to take a nosedive and remain in the teens/20's for the rest of this week so I expect that we will get a lot more brush clearning accomplished this week.  I will leave you with a gorgeous shot I captured of our pond on the 9th hole during the last cold snap in December.  I have a feeling I will be able to capture quite a few more similar photos this week!

#9 Irrigation Pond