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 

The Benefits Of Sand TopdressingDECEMBER 02, 2015By Todd Lowe, agronomist, Southeast Region

There are a variety of maintenance practices used to provide desirable playing conditions on golf course putting greens, with sand topdressing being one of the more common practices. Sand topdressing also is one of the more misunderstood practices among golfers, who feel that sanded greens play poorly. Understanding the benefits of sand topdressing may help reduce golfer frustration when they see the “silver sheen” on greens during their next round of golf. The benefits of topdressing include:

• Improved Smoothness – Voids exist within the turf canopy between turfgrass leaves and stems, causing inconsistent ball roll. Sand topdressing helps fill these voids to provide smoother and truer putts.
• Thatch Dilution – The layer of organic debris, stems, crowns and roots in the upper rootzone – i.e., thatch – can become concentrated and encourage mower scalping and localized dry spots. Thatch should be diluted with sand through practices like verticutting and sand topdressing to maintain good turf quality.
• Improved Turf Recovery – Occasional turf thinning can occur on putting greens. Sand helps cushion leaf tips and crowns and reduces algae.
• Increased Firmness – Turf produces organic matter in the upper rootzone that creates soft, spongy playing conditions. Regular sand topdressing, along with core aeration, improves surface firmness and resiliency.
• Improved Rootzone – Sand drains well and resists soil compaction. The accumulation of sand from multiple topdressings over many years can improve soil physical properties.

 

The amount of sand applied depends on the time of year and growth rate of the turfgrass. At courses with bermudagrass putting greens, more sand is applied during summer when the turf is actively growing; however, lighter rates of sand also may be applied during cooler months. Putting greens in the Deep South are topdressed with sand all year but generally are only “dusted” with lighter sand rates when turf growth slows as soil temperatures decrease.

Source: Todd Lowe (tlowe@usga.org)

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

December 29, 2015

So far, December 2015 is the warmest on record (57.3F)… just nosing out 1889 (57.2F) (Justin Farmer, WSB, Twitter). It also included 7.5” inches of rain with 1-2” inches expected on Wednesday the 30^th. These heavy rains coupled with the record breaking heat, has our MiniVerde greens breaking dormancy (UNREAL!). Typically, we only mow once or twice per month in December and we are currently attempting (rain depending) to mow daily. The rains have saturated the soils/turf surrounding the greens and this past weekend in attempting to mow and roll the greens for increased playablity, some equipment got stuck in the wet turf. A majority of what you saw was cosmetic and with some light tamping and rains, the visible ruts have disappeared. We learned a lesson this weekend, sometimes it just too wet to get equipment on the greens!

As the turf begins to dry over the upcoming week, you will see the Maintenance Team out attacking the weeds that have exploded on property. The warm and wet weather has been an ideal growing environment for the annual winter weeds. Our plan is to begin hand spraying until the turf dries enough to have our big spray rigs out. At that point we will apply our “wall to wall” Pre/Post emergent herbicide application.     

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

These are the clippings from #1 green this morning. This is from a single cut at .160