Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

January 26, 2016

It has been busy over the past few days, despite the “Snow” storm that crippled Atlanta! The team was able to paint our greens/driving range tees/driving range targets, cut miscanthis on #4 and continue spraying our Pre/Post Emergent herbicide application. They accomplished all these tasks during breaks in the weather. The Pre/Post Emergent spray is approximately 75% completed and depending on the weather this week, we should easily have it wrapped up by next week. Once all the spray is completed and the grasses are trimmed up we have leaf removal and #12 creek dredging on our agenda. These jobs are a challenge as they require heavy equipment on the turf, so, it is absolutely necessary that we wait until the turf is dry before we start. The staff understands the importance for both leaf removal and creek dredging and the impacts to playability and aesthetics; therefore it is on the top of our priority list.

I have spoken a lot about the “why’s and when’s” in regards to greens covers. When deciding to pull covers, we study the forecast, network with peers and look at our current weather data.

Our typical rule of thumb is the following:

1)      25 degrees or colder for two consecutive nights

2)      Soil temps less than 40 degrees

3)      Daytime High less than 50 degrees

However, soil temperature duration is the most crucial element in dealing with greens covers. Our protocol is to check AM and PM soil temperatures daily; this allows us to know how soil temperature reacts to weather patterns. As an analogy, you would not expect a steak placed in the freezer for 10 minutes to become frozen solid because the duration of the exposure is too brief. We will always make the right call to protect our greatest asset, our MiniVerde Greens.

Rugby just turned 9 months and is a certified Goose Nut. He lives for chasing the geese and the money I spent training him “off leash” is paying dividends. On our morning ride, after checking on the staff, he is off to find any geese on property. It is a thrill to see how much he enjoys chasing them out of the pond at #7 Tee complex; I know he will have his work cut out for him this spring as he continues to remove all the unwanted geese from St Ives CC. Go Rugby!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at kmacdonald@valleycrest.com and for more information follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup and the Blog: http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/

See you on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A 

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

January 20, 2016

We are waiting on the weather to cooperate so we can begin to re-paint the Driving Range Tees and Targets, as well as, the first paint application on the greens. These applications provide definition from the surrounding dormant turf grass. Our Spray Technician, Fernando Plata, has spent the last two weeks spraying over 45 acres for Pre/Post emergent weed control. Personally, this has been an application that I have been chomping at the bit to apply. We will see great weed control out of this tank in the coming weeks and months.  Good bye Poa!

We also took advantage of the cold weather on Tuesday and Wednesday to repaint all the tee markers, entry/exit posts and pressure wash equipment. Due to the sub freezing weather, we removed all the ball washers from the course and will touch up the paint before returning to golf course, so keep a towel handy to clean your golf balls over the next 10-14 days.

Next time out, hopefully, you will notice the repairs to #5 and #15 cartpath. They turned out great and we will be detailing the edges shortly.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at kmacdonald@valleycrest.com and for more information follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup and the Blog: http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/

See you on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A 

Cover Refresher....

Forecast for pulling covers:

1)      25 degrees or cooler for two consecutive nights

2)      Soil temps less than 40 degrees

3)      Daytime High less than 50 degrees

As always when dealing with Mother Nature there will need to be some flexibility. We understand the greens are our most valuable asset and will make all our decisions based protecting our asset.

The forecast is trending for  pull on Monday afternoon and a removal on Wednesday. As always, temporary greens will be available for play on Tuesday, if necessary. 

Taking advantage of today's rain event to clean up the fleet of equipment. 

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

January 13, 2016

Winter has finally arrived! It is great to see the Bermuda grass going fully dormant; it felt like we had over-seeded fairways for a few weeks. Now that the grass has finally gone dormant, we will begin our wall to wall Pre/Post Emergent Herbicide application. This application is critical in preventing spring/early summer weeds from emerging and it will also clean up all the nuisance weeds that are growing on the course right now. The El Nino has provided prime growing conditions for the winter annual weeds.  

The maintenance team has been out this week edging bunkers and trimming native grasses. These are jobs that we typically attack while the course is frozen or frosted. We still have another week or two until all the grasses are trimmed and then we will begin cleaning up all the leaves that fell during autumn.

I have been traveling a little bit over the past two weeks; I went to Daytona for a ValleyCrest Agronomic planning session and spent the last few days at Reynolds Plantation for the Georgia GCSA BOD retreat. I learned a lot during both trips and I can’t wait to implement some of the Agronomic and Leadership strategies that were presented and discussed. It is always nice to get out of your comfort zone and be challenged. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at kmacdonald@valleycrest.com and for more information follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup and the Blog: http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/

See you on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A