Sunday, July 26, 2015

Weekly Schedule for July 27-August 2, 2015

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

-Needle tine collars on Monday
-Apply soil amendments to greens on Monday
-Weedeat golf course
-Spot spray weeds in roughs

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Hot Spots on Greens

With temps in the 90's and high humidity the past few days we have developed some hot spots in our greens. They are purple in color which is a sign from the turf that it is stressed. During periods of high humidity we have to be careful with our irrigation practices to not overwater. If we do the roots may literally cook in the hot rootzone. While a bit unsightly the turf is not dead, just off-color and will recover quickly. In a week it will not be noticeable.

Here's a good article on heat stress in turf for review:

University of Tennessee Heat Stress Article

Monday, July 20, 2015

Weekly Schedule for July 20-26, 2015

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

-Needle tine greens on Monday
-Dusting of sand on greens Tuesday
-Tuesday we will be applying a fungicide and wetting agent to control Fairy Ring (dark green circles) on greens
-Mow bunker surrounds

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Secondary Rough

Would like to do a quick update on the status of our secondary rough. Original posts may be found at these links:

Secondary Rough

Secondary Rough Seeding

Last Fall we had good germination on #3, #6, #7 and #10. The areas that we seeded late and/or had steep slopes such as #13, #14 hillside near green and #18 did not come out as well. We will re-seed this area in the late summer most likely using hyrdoseed to get better establishment on the steep slopes.

Our herbicide schedule for controlling weeds in these areas called for us to make a second application about June 1. However with the June rains and the hundreds of hours spent fixing bunkers this did not happen. So last week and this week we are playing catch up and making sure these areas will be weed free shortly. Of course the weeds got a good head start on us and will take longer to die out.

Much of these areas need to be sprayed by hand and takes an enormous amount of labor hours. About 90 actually. Of course with normal maintenance duties this is not completed all at once and can take 2-3 weeks. We have obtained different spray guns to try and make this process faster and more efficient.



Monday, July 13, 2015

Weekly Schedule for July 13-19, 2015

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

-Mow and spray secondary rough
-Detail prep work for Men's Invitational

Reminder to please DO NOT apply bug spray on the turf.





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Thursday, July 9, 2015

Bunkers

With over 12 inches of rain in June alone we have spent a lot of time repairing bunkers. How much time? Almost 600 man hours!!!!

Repairing a bunker after a heavy rainstorm involves shoveling the sand that has washed from the face to the bottom of the bunker back to the face.



As can be seen in the above photo the water is not draining in the bottom of this bunker. Silt, rocks and other material which are located below the sand are washed to the bottom of the bunker causing the stoppage of water from moving through the sand to the drain lines underneath.  This material then needs to be scooped up and hauled away as part of the bunker repair process. Including practice areas we have over 100 bunkers at Fieldstone. Needless to say a lot of time is spent on an area of the course that is considered a hazard by the Rules of Golf.

A newer, different type of bunker drainage system was installed in the recently constructed practice fairway bunker. The entire bottom is installed with gravel then a polymer is sprayed on top of the gravel that allows water through but the sand to stay on top and the silt, rocks, etc to not come up into the sand from below.

Here are pictures after the last heavy rainfall with this bunker drainage system.




Only some minor washouts that can be fixed in a matter of minutes with zero contamination. This system is called the Better Billy Bunker and is guaranteed for 10 years. Compared to the average bunker lifespan of 5-7 years.


Monday, July 6, 2015

Weekly Schedule for July 6-12, 2015

Weather and unforeseen conditions can/will change the schedule.

-Apply wetting agent to tees, fairways and greens
-Weed control in secondary roughs
-Detail work in preparation for Men's Invitational
-Determine cause and repair recirculating pump at stream