Reflection

Winter is officially here. With the recent dump of snow and arctic like temperatures, Mother Nature wasted no time this year. But this also leaves me with some time to reflect on just how the season went. Reflection is an important tool for making improvements. Looking back on what worked and what didn't work is important in any profession, especially one where your product can potentially dictate your success or failure.

18th Hole, November 18th 2013

When I initially accepted the job of  Interim Superintendent here at Kamloops Golf Club I was a little skeptical of my abilities to perform the job. Having graduated from turf school only 2 years prior and having been an Assistant for only one year, I was pretty green to say the least. What I did know is that I learned first hand from a few outstanding mentors and had the internal drive to succeed on the job. Whatever I didn't know I would figure things out as I went, (or at least try my best to). Jumping in with both feet seemed like a good way to learn quickly.

After a great winter, the course came out in great shape and we were off to the races. As the season started up I found myself dealing with all sorts of new responsibilities. From water licenses, to ordering fertilizer, calculating application rates, interviewing and hiring staff, troubleshooting irrigation pumps in the middle of the night and trying to keep a life outside of work. The only thing  I could do was take it all in stride.

Managing people is something that I had done on a day to day basis as an Assistant, but now it was all day every day. I knew I would be a hands on Superintendent so leading by example was an easy way to motivate and see what was really going on out on the course. Part of the challenge of being a 26 year old boss is that some of your staff have been doing their job longer than you have been alive. Thankfully the staff on our Turf Care team were absolutely awesome and didn't miss a beat when I took the wheel. The long time staff were the least of my worries as they are able to get things done to a high level without much direction. The new staff require much more guidance, and after that it's sink or swim. We had a few great additions this year including our Intern from the Kwantlen Turf Management program, Sam Smith, who was a great asset for me personally. Taking over many spraying and irrigation duties as I was busy being a Superintendent.

When I started the year we set a few goals in terms of issues on the course. This included:

• Spraying fungicides preventatively to avoid another Take-All Patch outbreak on the greens
• Firming up the greens through heavier and more frequent sand topdressing and less frequent irrigation.
• Completing a light solid tine spring aeration to prove we are able to aerate with out doing damage.
• Growing a root-mass in the greens, capable of supporting the turf through the summer.
• Cultivating and re-seeding weak and bare fairway areas that we have had trouble with since the renovation.

Roots in July 2013

Looking back on these goals we identified as the most important, I believe we achieved most of them. We didn't lose any turf on our greens, leading one to believe the fungicide applications worked, or at least the right conditions for the disease were not present this year. Our greens were definitely firmer, but still have room for improvement. Our solid tine aeration was a success and paved the way for us to complete 2 hollow tine aerations in the fall, which we think will put us that much further ahead for next year. Of course the goal all three of these practices were working towards was growing the root mass. In the previous year Take-All patch crippled our root system, making it impossible to dry out the greens and aerate without doing damage. Without a root system you have to baby the greens with light frequent irrigation, pushing them with dryness is just not an option.

The fairway areas turned out fairly well. Some areas where we cultivated and added amendments grew in nicely, while other still struggled. We found that modifying the surround irrigation heads through adding more or changing nozzles made a great deal of difference. Part of the trouble is you can never tell overnight if the changes have helped, a great deal of patience is required for these things, something that many golfers do not seem to understand. Sometimes it just took leveling an irrigation head or pruning tree branches that were blocking the water from reaching its target. Some of these things that just get overlooked or left out when you have such a small staff to work with. Another thing that helped was using the GUR stakes and traffic signs to try and keep people (including our mowers) off the seeded areas. While some of these areas are still a work in progress, we will continue to work on them as we move forward.

13th Hole, Sunshine open 2013

Sure, there is always room for improvement. I wish we were able to fix all the fairway areas and have the best greens in town. Although some people said that we did, its hard to believe them when it is your job to see all the things wrong out there. We could have added a few more irrigation heads than we did and probably should have renovated a few bunkers. But when funds are tight and staff is short, sometimes you just have to work with what you've got. I made a few rookie mistakes along the way but I guess that's part of gaining experience.

When all is said and done for this year, I feel we did a good job with what we had to work with. I am forever indebted to my senior staff, intern and and especially, mechanic, Quinton. Without Quinton there is no question my job would have been 100 times harder, and that would have been evident in the condition of the course this year. His knowledge and experience were very valuable tools for our turf care team this year, and I certainly owe him, big time.

14th Hole, Sunshine Open 2013

As we hunker down through the chill we are looking forward to warmer temperatures this week. All the fungicides were applied successfully and the course was put to bed just in time for Mother Nature to cool things out. An update on my last post about Sam the dog, she has since been reinstated at her position of goose control/ golf course greeter. It turns out there was a rule in the Club rules that says "no dogs on the the golf course" which has now been re-worded to state that the Superintendent may have his dog on the course for wildlife control purposes. Here is a video of Sam in action.

We are already gearing up for next year's big tournament... The 2014 BC Women's Amateur Championship, July 7 - 11. We are looking forward to the Challenge and getting the course prepared between now and then. Bring on the Ladies!...Haha, see you all in 2014.

This Place Has Gone To The Dogs

Taking a dog to work is a privilege that many Superintendents around the world have embraced. Since the game of golf as we know it was forged in St. Andrews, it has always been encouraged to keep dogs on the course.

Greenkeepers and their dog at the Old Course, St. Andrews. 1880's

Dogs provide a number of very beneficial additions to any golf course. Warding off wildlife including geese, deer, marmots and bears; providing protection for the course. A well trained friendly dog provides a happy wagging greeting to golfers who may need a break from the struggles that the game can often present us. Perhaps most importantly from a superintendents perspective is: helping to keep his (or her) sanity. Man's best friend can naturally provide uplifting spirits, through goofyness, respect and courage; I guess that's where the moniker comes from.

Meet Sam, she is a 3 year old Coon Hound/ Boxer mix who I adopted a year and a half ago. Sam is a happy go lucky dog who when at full flight is often confused for a greyhound. Her athleticism is an excellent tool to chase off geese and other wildlife that cause damage to the course or danger to the people on it. She is a golf course dog in training but has already figured out that she is not allowed on greens or in bunkers. Sam responds very well to voice commands, especially if treats are involved. She has learned not to approach golfers unless they approach her or call her over.

In the two weeks Sam has been working at the course the geese have vacated to the farmers field adjacent to the clubs property. She has made friends with many of the golfers who somehow knew to carry doggy treats in their bags. If Sam has one weakness, it is food. Being part Coon Hound does not help as she has a very keen sense of smell and can be drawn to someones bag, looking for a tasty snack

Unfortunately for Sam, it is often the displeased minority and not the pleased majority who speak out. One person recently wrote a complaint, saying a golf course is no place for a dog and that there are bylaws that prevent this. I am fairly certain that there are no such bylaws as they suggest, at least none that I could find on any City or Regional website.

For the past 10 years the former Superintendent and former Assistant have had their dogs on the course here at Kamloops G&CC. There was just recently a front page article published in the Kamloops This Week newspaper about a local colleague and his golf course dog. http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com. I also recently came across an article in the New York Times, yes the New York Times! talking about dogs on the golf course.http://www.nytimes.com Here is a blog by another colleague, entirely dedicated to his golf course dog. http://viewfromthecart.blogspot.ca/

I don't think I need to go any further in providing evidence that Superintendents bringing their well trained dog onto the golf course is common place. But for the time being I have been asked by the powers to be, to leave Sam at home unless the geese return to the course. If you feel that a golf course is a great place for a friendly well trained dog, please take the time to voice this opinion. Whether to the powers to be, or just a discussion amongst your group. I know Sam would certainly appreciate it.


In other news on the course, we are planning to keep the course open up to and including November 11, weather permitting. We have again been blessed with some nice weather, although creating frost delays for both golfers and workers in the mornings, warm sunny afternoons make the Kamloops Golf Club a great place to be. The Turf Care Team has been busy preparing the course for winter and we will only be busier now as our staff has been reduced to 3 people while the leaves are really starting to fall.

While picking up the leaves will carry on, we have just received our fall fungicide and will be spraying the Greens, Tees, and Fairways once the course is closed. Another major year end task is a heavy topdressing of the greens to protect the crowns, (or growing point of the turf) from winter dessication. We are also planning so cover some of our high and dry fairway areas with our old permeable greens tarps, helping to provide protection and give us a head start on keeping these areas healthy in the spring. We will be blowing out our irrigation system next Monday, October 28th. You can expect tee times to be delayed until at least 11am, and watch out for irrigation heads that may still be getting blown out while you play your round. Rescheduling your Monday round would be advisable!

We are excited to see that the Club has signed up over 65 new members and counting so far this year. Our team has worked extremely hard this year, and had some help with some nice weather. We feel humbled to see so many new people wanting to play our product and be a part of the Club. We strive towards continuing this trend, and hope to see more new faces in the coming months. So maybe I am wrong in saying "this place has gone to the dogs."

Greens Aeration

As we approach the end of the golf season the Turf Care Team has successfully undertaken another Greens Aeration. Using 1/4 inch side eject, carbide tipped aeration tines on a 2.5 inch spacing we removed cores and filled them with topdressing sand. The procedure is labour intensive and our crew puts a great deal of hard work into disrupting golf as little as possible.

Core Aeration, 4th Green

Brushing Topdressing Sand into Aeration holes, Proshop Putter

Brushing and Rolling remaining sand, 4th Green

Why do you have to punch the greens?

Aeration is perhaps the most important cultural practice to perform on a turf putting surface for a number of reasons:

1) Water infiltration
2) Nutrient absorption
3) Gas exchange
4) Improving plant health
5) Improving the putting surface

Aeration on the Kamloops Golf and Country Club Greens is even more important now than it has ever been. In 2010/2011 the Greens were completely replaced during the Renovation. In order to have the course open in time for the summer a choice was made to use sod, not seed to turf the putting surface. The sod company purposely grows a thatch/orgainic layer in the turf so they are able to remove and transport the turf to its new site. After the grassing of the greens is complete aeration is important to remove the thatch layer as much as possible and help blend the turf onto its new soil, the turf soil interface. Aerating shortly after the Grand Opening was not an option, the Club needed the greens to be open, so aeration was delayed

In the fall of 2011 the greens were able to be successfully aerated and the thatch layer was reduced.

In 2012 the greens sustained an outbreak of the disease known as Take All Patch which devastated many areas of the greens, aerating was again out of the question. The green's rootmass was destroyed by the disease and too fragile to sustain the mechanical stress caused by aeration. Under these circumstances the thatch layer has been able to grow and grow, making it more important than ever to aerate.

Now in 2013 we have disease under control and have been able to establish a rootmass. We are able to aerate, and aerate we shall! We preformed a light solid tine aeration in the spring, a moderate core aeration at the begging of September and we are preparing for another moderate aeration for the end of September. Aerating has already helped improve our greens, and continuing with this cultural practice we will continue to attain the following:

Physically removing portions of the thatch layer. 

This layer of organic material produced by the turfs regeneration holds water at the surface making it hard for water and nutrients to penetrate down into the root zone, the plant's primary source for nutrient and water absorption. This thatch layer causes the putting surface to remain wet and soft after watering as the water is being held at the surface instead of the rootzone beneath.

Replacing the thatch layer with topdressing sand.

By replacing the thatch layer with sand we can provide channels where water and nutrients are able to easily travel through and provide the rootzone with accessible oxygen, while releasing carbon dioxide. (AKA gas exchange). The sand channels with keep the surface dry and firm as the water is able to penetrate the surface and reach the rootzone.

Aeration: removing thatch, replacing with sand. (displacement.) Proshop Putter

It has been said that this year the Greens at Kamloops are amongst the best in town, if we want them to continue to improve and become the best, then we must continue to aerate and topdress, even if more golf is disrupted. As mentioned before, we plan and work hard to minimize the disruption of golf, but it is inevitable that people will have to putt on greens with aeration holes.

During a wet period at the end of August, a number of disease patches were evident of the fairways and parts of the greens. Although disease/ fungus is always present in the soil, it requires wet and warm conditions to reproduce to a level in which it can cause damage. A small amount of fungicide was purchased to control Yellow Tuft and Pythium Blight, the two diseases suspected of being active. To save money, only the areas with visible disease activity were targeted with fungicide, instead of  doing a blanket spray of the entire fairway, saving the club approximately $5000. All of the greens were sprayed, the more expensive (yet more effective) fungicide was used on the greens with the most disease activity, while others were sprayed with a less expensive but still relatively effective alternative, again saving money.

Disease symptoms, recovering, post fungicide

As we transition into the fall season the Turf Care team is currently aerating fairway and rough areas, and has plans for aeration of tees and greens again in the coming weeks. As a team we always look forward to performing tasks to make improvements for next year.

The 2013 Sunshine Open

The 2013 Sunshine Open kicked off on a windy Saturday August 17th with the course looking beautiful and the playing conditions fast and firm. Our Turf Care Team worked tirelessly to prepare the course for the big event, and was rewarded by seeing the fruits of their labour.

The 12th Green, August 17th

The tournament went smoothly, nothing out of the ordinary, oh except for when that horse ran across the 17th green right in the middle of play! Fortunately it stayed away from the pin placement, allowing us to plug out most of the worst damage between groups.

17th Green/Corral

Hoof damage

The 17th green has really taken a beating in the last few weeks, we also had a hydraulic hose break, leaving a stripe of oil across the green. It was small enough that we were able to cut it out and push the turf back together, similar to how you would fix a ball mark. After the horse trampled the green in nearly the same spot, I responded with, "well at least people wont notice the oil leak anymore."

17th Green Hydraulic Leak

New Toro Triflex

We had many compliments on the course during the tournament, the greens were stimping at about 11 ft and rolling true. I must admit, while plugging the hoof marks on the 17th, I enjoyed watching players blow the ball by the hole after barely moving their putter. We were able to utilize our new Toro Triflex greens mower before rolling the greens and were very pleased with the results.


The weeks leading into the Sunshine Open are when our Turf Care Team really put the pedal to the floor as we ramp things up for the Tournament. This year with our short staff we really pushed hard to prepare the course. A big thanks goes out to the Turf Care Team who made this all possible.

2013 Sunshine Open Turf Care Team left to right: Back Row: Quinton Harasemchuk, Cam Carnegie, Greg Hill, Travis Olson, Mike Lundin, Sam Smith. Front Row: Bianca Mirabelli, Sarah Schwauren, Kenyan Nagy, Kayley Pilon. Missing from photo (playing in Sunshine Open) Dino Porco, Audi Ferretti

Irrigation Addition between the 13th and 14th fwy

As we start winding down the golf season we will be caring out many course improvements including: adding additional irrigation heads in selected areas, aerating /topdressing Greens, Tees, and Fairway areas. Verticutting fairways and fertilizing as needed. We will still be spraying fungicides for TakeAll Patch and continuing on our cultural practices program.

Lets hope for some more good weather this fall to help us continue improving the course. It looks like the leaves on the trees are already starting to turn.

The Dog Days Have Begun

It has been quite a while since the last blog post, which reflects just how busy we have been so far this year. I do enjoy writing these posts, but as the season is ramping up it is hard to find time to sit down and go through the writing process when there are more important things to take care of on the course. In this entry I would like to talk about some of the issues we have had over the past few months.

Feeling the Heat

With a recent heat wave sweeping through the southern part of our Province, the course is showing the weak spots of irrigation coverage. The system has literally been running beyond capacity in the last few weeks, we have had to turn on our backup pump system to try and keep up with the course's demand for water. You may notice some dry areas and some wet areas. The dry areas are a result of poor irrigation coverage, while the wet areas are a symptom of trying to keep the dry areas near them alive. Keep in mind that although we have a new irrigation system there were many areas that were cut back during the Renovation, and that even with our old irrigation system we were still adding sprinkler heads and making adjustments for 30 years after it was installed and right up to the new one was started. Our new system is much better than the old one but it will take time and money to continue improving it.

Another problem we face with our irrigation system is our dependance on the City Effluent/Waste Water. The effluent is great because we did not have to put in a new pump house with pumps during the Renovation, saving the Club a great deal of money, but now the new system is designed around using the Effluent as our main source. The effluent can often become "dirty" with debris and sediment from the reservoir, which makes its way into our system, clogging up our sprinkler heads. Clogged sprinkler heads give us a 'head'-ache. Haha, bad joke.

The debris also gets caught in the sprinkler valves, causing them to stay on until we arrive in the morning and shut them off manually.We have been in conversation with the city about installing a filter on the effluent line and will see where that goes.

We have also had a problem with some of the sprinkler valves leaking and creating small puddles around the sprinkler head. Yes, we know they are there and we are planning to fix them. One of these valves costs $70 which can get quite costly, we are looking at getting some on warrenty.

The 5th tee was accidentally turned off when a sprinkler head on the 5th fairway (puddle shown above) was stuck on and was manually turned off, then fixed. When the fifth fairway was turned back on, the person fixing it did not know the tee had also been turned off by mistake. It was not noticed for a few days, and in 36 degree heat... the result was a burnt tee complex. However, yesterday we pulled out all the tricks in the book to get it back as soon as possible. This includes Verticutting, Aerating, and topdressing with divot mix, followed by manually brushing it into the holes. Hopefully mother natures lets up on the heat a little and the tee's should come back quite quickly.


"It's a Bunker, not a sand box"

One of the few complaints we have heard this year is about the lack of sand in the bunkers. We realize that it is not fun to hit a shot out of a bunker to find that there is almost no sand underneath your ball. However, there is nowhere in the rulebook of golf that says bunkers, or any hazard for that matter should be consistent. After all, a bunker is in fact a hazard and a player should be penalized for being in there.

Despite using this excuse, we actually do want to make the bunkers consistent and add sand or move sand around to the places that need them. Our main issue with this is our small staff. With a staff of 8 people plus 2 part timers, we have to prioritize our tasks. I hope to get the bunkers more consistent by the Sunshine Open, so please bare with us and do your part, raking bunkers after your shot, fixing ball marks, and filling divots, whether or not they are your footprints, marks or divots. We do our best with our short staff, but it is just not possible to do all of these things on a daily basis, especially when we start our shift at 5:30 and the first tee times start at 6:30.


Hydraulic Rupture

Some Members have also asked "What happened on the 12th fairway?" We had a fairway mower rupture a hydraulic hose, which can happen over time. The burning hot oil scalds the grass, usually killing it within minutes. We tried to wash it off and cool it down with irrigation water, but it was too late, the damage was done. Luckily our operator was quick to notice as soon as he turned around, stopped mowing and got off the fairway. One of my collegues from another course in the Vernon area just had a similar rupture on their fairway mower and the operator did not notice... so they now have burn marks up and down the entire fairway! Yikes! We pulled out all the tricks again, this time scalping it down with a greens mower to remove the oil stained grass, verticut, aerate, topdress and brush with divot mix. Hopefully we see it recover shortly.


Greens Mowers

Greens stimping

Another comment, not really a complaint that I have heard is "can we get the greens to roll faster?" The answer is No, at least not with our current greens mowers. My philosophy for the greens this year has always been health over speed. After last years disease outbreak we didn't want to push the greens too hard. We have been using sand topdressing to achieve speed, but the effects of this only last about a week before the sand is pushed down into the turf canopy. We have stimped the speed of the greens regularly, and our average speed is around 9.5 feet, which I feel is a good happy medium for our membership and the contour of our greens. I would like to get the a bit faster, pushing 10.5 or 11 for a tournament.


Now that summer is here and we have established a decent root mass in most areas, we can look at getting the greens a bit faster. With our current greens mowers we cannot cut lower with out scalping on mounds and contours. The cutting heads pivot 2 ways, side to side, and up and down length wise. The new Toro "Tri"flex pivots 3 ways, allowing the cutting heads to roll back or forward while going over contours and mounds.

Triflex Cutting head "Tri-flexing"

We have demoed a few new greens mowers, one from John Deer, one from Jacobsen to see some of the other technology out there. We liked the JD but thought our current mowers can do the job just as well. The Jacobsen has a great deal of interesting technology such as brushes that lift the grass before you cut, and an adjustable clip rate to cut more or less grass as desired, but we still feel our current Toro greens mowers were able to match the cut quality.

Toro Triflex 3400

We have recently worked out a deal with our Toro supplier to return our walk behind greens mowers,which we no longer use due to our short staff situation, and replace them with a new Toro Tri-flex riding greens mower, without changing our lease payments. We believe that with the new Tri-flex we will be able to cut lower with out scalping, and speed the greens up as needed. This issue is currently waiting approval from the Board of Directors, and should be official in the next week or two, should everything be approved financially.




 Thanks to the Staff and Members

The Turf Care staff would like to thank all the Members who came out to the Staff Appreciation Dinner to recognize the hard work the Club's staff has put in so far this year. The Pro-shop and Clubhouse staff have also been a big part of the Club's success this year and I thought it was good to get everyone together under one roof. A special thanks goes out to those members who volunteered to cook, serve and bartend during this event, we certainly felt welcome and it was great to see some Club spirit.




 

Let's go Roots, Let's Grow!

I apologize for the long break since our last post, as you can imagine it has been very busy around our Turf Care Center lately. In this entry we will cover some of our key practices to focus on root growth and combating Take-all patch.

It was around this time last year that we had a serious outbreak of the disease Take-all patch (Gaeumannomyces graminis) on our greens.

Take-All Patch, 1st Green, June 2012

Take-all Patch is a fungal disease of bentgrass roots that is difficult to detect until heat and drought stress make the symptoms become evident. By this time it is too late, the damage has been done. The plant's root system have been compromised, the plant is not able to absorb water and nutrients and therefore cannot cope with the stresses of heat and drought.

This year we have taken preventative measures to avoid another outbreak like the one we had last year. This plan involves spraying fungicides and focusing on doing everything possible to encourage root growth. This includes adjusting fertility, irrigation and cultural programs (topdressing, aerating, etc.) to favor the plant over the disease. In each one of these practices we have pointed everything towards root growth, you might even go as far as calling it an obsession. I might even name my first born child "Roots."


A brief outline of our root growth maintenance practices:
-Spraying fungicides when soil temperatures are in the optimum range for Take-all patch activity.
-Irrigating less frequently to dry out the greens, encouraging roots to drive down searching for water
-Lower nitrogen and higher phosphorus to encourage root growth over shoot growth
-Bi-weekly applications of foliar fertilizer products that stimulate root growth
-Application of sulphur to lower pH of soil to favor plant over disease
-Applications of manganese and magnesium (which are unavailable in the soil at high pH) to increase plants natural defenses against disease
- Placing hole locations in different areas to disperse traffic
-Topressing regularly to decrease thatch and increase firm/smooth putting surface
-Aeration to open rootzone for gas exchange, and create pathways for nutrients, chemicals, water and sand to penetrate thatch, while providing and easy route for roots to drive down.

Our Foreman Cam Carnegie operating the Aerator on the 16th Green

On May 15th and 16th the conditions were finally right to undertake our first aeration of the year. We did some testing and experimenting on one of the putting greens to play with different sized aeration tines, spacings, depth and speed. We decided to go with a 3/8 inch solid tine on 2.5 inch spacing going to a depth of about 3.5 inches. We felt that this less aggressive form of aeration would still allow us to achieve the desired effect without causing a lot of mechanical damage to the plant.

Tine Action

Aeration Tine Holes

Following the aeration we topdressed with sand and then brushed and rolled to help push the sand into the aeration holes. This will help keep the holes open for gas exchange (oxygen in, carbon dioxide out), and make penetration of water and chemicals such as fungicide and fertilizer much easier. This will also help to further dilute the organic thatch layer while providing a channel for better root growth . With the solid tines the greens were also ready for play immediately after, and many golfers were not able to tell we did an aeration!




While the aeration holes were still open, we followed with an application of fungicide to ensure we would get the chemical into the soil, where the Take-all patch pathogen is active. Soil temperatures were recorded at 15 degrees Celsius, right in the wheelhouse of Take-all.

In the weeks following aeration we have been taking many soil profile samples to monitor root growth.

Soil Profile, 3rd Green, Root Depth at least 4.5 inches

Thick white roots, 4 inches down

Aeration hole profile on 18th green, root growth in channel noted.

 So far we have been pleased with the results of our efforts to grow the roots and combat Take-all Patch, but however pleased we may be, we are still never satisfied.

We have noticed some Take-all activity, primarily in collars, where we may have missed during an application.

This spot has all the earmarks of take all patch. See how the small poa annua grass patches have survived, while the bentgrass has gone a brown, orange colour. The good news is that we can see small new bentgrass plants regenerating. We suspect this area had high activity of the pathogen, but was irradiated by our fungicide application, May 18th, following aeration. Signs like this help confirm that our practices are keeping the disease at bay and our root depth and plant health helps to reinforce this.

We must also give thanks where thanks is due. Our Turf Care Crew of 7 staff has done an absolutely amazing job in maintaining the course to its current conditions. Their experience and work ethic has been instrumental in our success so far this season.

Mother nature has also been very kind to us so far this year. From our mild winter with long, protective snow cover, to a warm and relatively dry April. But try as we might, as Turf Managers, we are always at the mercy of Mother Nature. Lately she has provided us with a very wet few last weeks. This has helped everything on the course get green, however, it has slowed our greens speed as the greens stay wetter from the rain, and more importantly, has restricted our ability to manipulate the moisture of our rootzone, possibly impairing root growth temporarily. The good news is the forecast for next week is looking much better, and we hope to be able to continue on with our root growth practices. Lets go roots, lets GROW!

Moar Sand Honeyman, moar sand.

Sand topdressing has been a staple in modern turfcare practices since the 1870's. This is thanks to a very fortunate accident when Old Tom Morris accidentally spilled a wheelbarrow full of sand on one of the greens at St. Andrews while renovating an adjacent bunker. To his surprise the turf in this area seemed to recover and do much better than any other spot on the Old Course. After this important accident Old Tom coined the phrase "Moar sand Honeyman, moar sand." (moar = more in Scottish tounge,and Honeyman being the nickname for his grounds assistant).

The primary objectives of topdressing include:

Smooth surface, finer textured turf, with tighter, more upright growth.

Uniform and consistent putting surfaces.

Thatch and compaction control for better shot holding characteristics.

Modification of the surface layer of soil.

Control of unwanted grain.

This year at Kamloops Golf Club our Turfcare Department has undertaken a much more aggressive topdressing program. This includes bi-weekly heavier topdressings followed by a greens roller, fitted with double brushes to help push the sand into the turf canopy and eventually into the soil profile. 

Topdressing with a broadcast topdresser incorporates gravity and depressions of the greens surface. As the sand falls and rolls into low spots, the surface is slowly built up and becomes more uniform over repeated applications. This is aided by our roller with brushes.

As you can see, the sand is sitting on top of the grass leaves and after the roller/brush passes over the sand is pushed down into the canopy. This will aid in dilution of the thatch layer, making for better water infiltration and a firmer putting surface. We also irrigate for 4-6 min afterwards to help push any remaining sand from the surface and alleviate wear on our mower reels and bedknives.

The roller is fitted with 2 double brushes to push the sand into voids such a ball marks and uneven surface undulations. This aids in creating a uniform, smooth putting surface. 

Since we have started on this cultural program we have found our greens to be much firmer, faster and smoother. This has been echoed by golfers on the course and we have heard many compliments, including some from our former long time Golf Pro, Mike Graas. 

Irrigation management has also been a part of our effort to firmer, smoother greens. Last week we went 6 days without watering our greens, and the week before we had 5 days, with some light rainfall in between. In doing this we have been dealing with some localized dry spots on the greens which have been lessened by handwatering with a wetting agent called Retain. 

Part of the problem we face with these isolated dry spots is that the thatch layer is preventing water from moving into the soil profile. Water is often seen beading and running off the greens during irrigation.

A short term solution we will be attempting this week is to apply a penetrant chemical to help water move through the thatch and soil profile. Long term solution is to continue on our topdressing program, and incorporate aeration once our turf has reached a healthy enough level.

Drying out the greens has also aided in driving root growth. As we closely monitor the root depth of the greens we have noticed the roots going deeper and deeper as they search for water further down in the soil profile. 

With a heavier topdressing program we have adopted the phrase "moar sand Honeyman, moar sand". We aim to create a firmer, smoother, faster putting surface while increasing water infiltration. This all in thanks to Old Tom Morris and his sand mishap. Thanks Tom!

Spring has sprung.. or has it?!

After a warm and sunny Easter weekend winter has decided to try and make a comeback. This week has been cold, windy and a little wet at the Kamloops Golf Club, but mother nature hasn't dampened our spirits or hindered our turfcare practices. In the last 2 weeks we have been able to complete many of the tasks we had planned to carry out so far this year.

We sprayed our first foliar fertilizer application on our greens March 28th. This application included 3 products to target root growth and plant health, two areas we want to focus on in our bout with Take-all Patch. On April 4 we applied a granular fertilizer with a 12-24-8 content, also designed to generate plant roots and spring green up. April 4th was also our first application of fungicide to target Take-all Patch and prevent another spring outbreak. We will be spraying again in 3 weeks time as we stay on a preventative program.

Today we also did our first sand topdressing of the year for our greens. We applied the sand at a higher rate then we have in the past, followed by a roller with 2 double brushes to help push the sand into the turf canopy. We also irrigate the greens following the rolling/brushing to help push any remaining sand down into the turf canopy. As we continue to topdress more frequently we will help dilute our thatch layer, making water infiltration into the soil profile much more efficient, while making our greens firmer and smoother.

We have also been working on tweaking our aerator to undertake a light solid tine aeration in the next few weeks. We have experimented with a few different tines and spacings on our putting green and think we have found a good combination that will eliminate turf lifting while still allowing us to open the surface to get water and nutrients to the roots, while the turf will get he gas exchange needed for photosynthesis and root growth.

We are hoping to get our effluent line from the City of Kamloops up and running by the end of next week. Up until that point we will continue using what is left of our pond reservoir and conservatively watering our greens and tees as needed. Once we get the effluent going we can get started on topdressing our weak/dry fairway areas with a mixture of sand, peat and natures gold. These areas have already been core aerated and once topdressed with this mixture we will overseed and water. Hopefully with the added water holding capacity and air porosity of the sand and peat we will see more growth in these areas then we have in the past.

Below is a picture of the 3rd green at Sunrise on Good Friday. Lets hope for more weather like this in the weeks to come, although a bit of rain is good for the course!

Start of a New Season

After a short frost delay we were off to complete our final preparations for opening the course... now trying to stay ahead of golfers! From the moment the frost ropes were removed, golfers were rushing to the first tee. No penalties were called, but I did tell one individual to keep his elbows down or he'll be in the box for 2... Just kidding. The weather cooperated and it turned into a beautiful sunny Kamloops day, perfect to open the course.

The past couple of days have kept us busy with preparations. Leading up to opening day we rolled our greens with Salsco Rollers fitted with brushes to help push our fall topdress into the turf canopy. The rolling also helped to remove frost heaving on the greens, as well as firming up the putting surface quite well. We followed rolling with a first cut with a Toro Triplex at .150" and then cut again opening morning at the same height.

16th Green

The greens are looking to be in very good shape for mid March, now it is our job to keep them healthy and happy. We plan to do a preventive fungicide application when the soil temperatures reach between 12 and 18 degrees Celsius, this will attack the Take-all Patch pathogen when it is most active. We will also be applying manganese sulphate to improve the plants resistance to disease, and magnesium sulphate to help adjust soil pH to favor the plant over the pathogen. Aeration and topdressing is also an important cultural practice to help combat this disease as it helps promote root growth and reduces thatch. This is very important when dealing with Take-all Patch as the root infecting disease prevents the plant from taking up water and nutrients, while the thatch layer prevents water and nutrients from reaching the soil, compounding the plants inability to take in water and nutrients. The thatch layer is also responsible for a soft and often wet putting surface. Water is not able to penetrate this heavy organic layer and gets caught up in the top inches of the profile. Water is prevented from percolating down into the soil, giving the putting surface a spongy wet feeling. Aeration creates pathways to bypass the thatch, allowing water and oxygen to reach the roots. While topdressing dilutes the organic thatch with sand, eventually allowing water to penetrate. It will also help to create a smoother, firmer putting surface.

Reviews from members and greens fee'ers on Opening Day were that the course was looking and playing great. When asked about the greens they commented that they were rolling smooth and true, but slow. Most of them are aware that it is only March 15th and understand that greens will be slower at this time of year as we slowing bring our height of cuts down to summer levels.

We are definitely off to a good start for this season and are looking forward to bringing the course into optimal playing conditions, while maintaining a healthy stand of turf.

18th Green approach

 

Looking Forward to March 15th

After a winter of heavy snow cover the course is looking to be in good shape as we approach spring. All the snow has melted from the course and recent winds have helped to start drying things out. Our fall fungicide application and heavy topdress have proven effective in protecting the Greens, Tees and Fairways and are all looking good to start the season. Our Rough areas however, have sustained a large amount of snow mold. (Our rough is not sprayed with fungicide as the cost would be far too high). The snow mold we are seeing is a result of the heavy snow cover which blanked the course from early December till late February. Combine this with the late leaf drop in the fall and you have a recipe for disease as the leaves decay underneath the snow. We expect the Rough to fill itself back in with-in 1 - 2 months of spring growing period. For the time being the Rough may be thinner and patchy in areas, but this is not something out of the ordinary for our Club, and I believe many other courses will see similar disease patterns in their Rough this spring.

The good news for everyone waiting to dust off the old sticks is that we are gearing up to open the course for Friday March 15th! As this date fast approaches we will be cleaning up the mess winter left behind. Blowing and sweeping up leaves for the Bunkers, Fairways and Rough. Mulching leaves and debris, clearing catch basins, removing snow fences and taking the course accessories out onto the course. We will also be charging our Irrigation system and beginning our Spring Fertility Program, as well as final servicing of our equipment.

We also have seeded our Chipping Green and Nursery last November and are already seeing some germination of the seedlings. We covered both of these areas with a permeable cover after seeding to protect them from the cold of winter and traffic from geese and other critters. Today we removed the cover from the Chipping green so we can apply irrigation to this newly seeded area. We plan to remove the Nursery cover in the coming days and may recover them if we predict the temperature to drop down below freezing. Below is a picture of the Chipping green after we pulled the cover off today.

We are looking forward to the start of this season and seeing everyone out enjoying the course. See you on the 15th!

Turf Care Blog up and Running

This blog has been created to help people stay informed with the operations of the Turf Care Department at Kamloops Golf Club. By using this form of social media we hope to stay connected with the membership and golf community as a whole. Please feel free to comment on any posts and explore the site as we build it.

-Kamloops Golf Club Turf Care Dept.