After a winter that seemed that it would never end, the sun is finally out and shining, and the course is coming back into shape, albeit about a month later than we are used to. The extended cold temperatures and excessive rainfall that we experienced in the months of March and April delayed the green up of the bermudagrass and have caused the delay in some of our maintenance practices that we would normally have performed by now.
The delay in the normal springtime temperatures has caused delays in the green up of a few areas on the course and we have been asked about these, why they occurred, what we could do about them, and how long will they be this way. Dr. Jim Brosnan, Associate Professor University of Tennessee, recently wrote an article about the delayed greenup that we are experiencing in the transition zone and I thought I would pass along his excellent explanation.
To be honest a few weeks ago, as I examined the golf course, I was fearful we would have to sod several areas on the course. Since the weather has taken a turn for the better in the past week, with full days of warm sun and little to no rain, the turfgrass has also taken a turn, and one for the better. We are seeing substantial growth and recovery in these areas and will be doing a few cultural practices over the next few weeks to help the turf along. The first practice, which started this morning will be to vertical mow the weak areas to remove any crusting of thatch and algae and expose the underlying turfgrass to the warmth and benefit of the sun.
The next practice will be to use our Aerway shattertine slicer to solid tine aerify the weak areas to allow a void for any water that falls or is applied to be removed from the surface as to not drown the new plants as they grow or allow any algae to reform and to allow oxygen into the soil to promote root growth and recovery. We will follow the solid tine venting with mowing of the fairways to smooth out the surface. Following this we will apply some extra fertility to these areas to give them a little boost.
Your agronomy staff has worked very hard over the years to provide the high quality conditions that you have come to expect. We understand questions arise when things look out of place and we will do everything we can to answer those questions and concerns. The golf course is quickly coming back to form, now that Spring has finally decided to show up, and we are confident these weak areas will be filled in shortly. As always if you have any questions, concerns, or comments about the course or any practices we perform on the course please don't hesitate to let us know. We will do our best to answer them.
As you probably know the golf course was closed this past week so the agronomy staff could perform the necessary cultural practices on the course needed to have a high performing and well conditioned golf course. We realize that this closure is not a desirable event to many golfers but it is vital to the long term playability of the course. We have done our best to limit our cultural practices to this one week out of the year as to not impact your round and we thank you for your understanding and commitment to our course.
During summer closure week we try to accomplish as many tasks as possible to relieve the compaction and wear the course receives during the year as well as make improvements that we feel the course needs and will improve our guests experience. Usually I try and post photos of the activities but this year the agronomy staff completed so many tasks in such a short time I thought you might like a video of the week.
So what did we accomplish this week??
Over 18 MILLION new holes were created in the putting greens relieving the compaction from the past year, removing a years worth of thatch growth, and providing channels for new, stronger plants and roots to develop.
4 acres of teeing surfaces were solid tine aerified
10 acres of tee and green surrounds were scalped down for better play
32 acres of fairways were sliced with our Aerway shattertine aerifier to improve fairway health.
Around 150 tons of sand were applied to the golf course turf including greens, tees, and greens surrounds to help firm up the playing surfaces, fill in aerification holes, and provide a smoother playing surface.
and many other smaller activities.
One of the improvements to the course that we hope you will quickly notice and enjoy is the lowering of the height of cut of the turfgrass directly surrounding the greens. For years we have been maintaining this turfgrass close to 1/2" which resulted in balls getting caught on slopes and not running onto the greens surface or limiting the options golfers had to play their shot onto the green. The turf surround the greens was scalped down to 1/4" and topdressed with sand to help firm up the turf and provide a smoother surface allowing the golf ball to hopefully roll onto the putting surface easier and also allow golfers the option to putt their ball from off the green if they choose which in the past would not have rally been an option. We will continue to work these areas and improve them over the remainder of the year and we hope you find the new maintenance practice pleasing to your game.
Our golf course has made considerable improvements over the years and it is all due to the hard work and dedication of the agronomy staff. I would be remise if I did not recognize and commend these individuals for their commitment to the betterment of Harrison Bay.
Thank you to each member of our agronomy staff for making The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay all it can be, not only this week, but every week.
It took us several weeks with all the tournaments and outings that we had during the month of May (21 to be exact) but we finally finished up the solid tine aerification of all the tees and the back nine approaches. We will continue with the front nine as time allows. This practice has really helped out the growth of the turfgrass on the tees but more than that we have had several golfers comment on how much it has helped them be able to place their tees into the ground without needing a hammer to do so. We will continue to do this non disruptive cultural practice as time and manpower allows to continue to improve the playability of the course.
To help out the fairways we have gotten access to an AerWay Sportstine Aerifier that will allow us to slice the fairways quickly and to a depth of up to 6" with little to no disruption of the playing surface. You may have seen us on #15 fairway last week trying the machine out and it did a great job. Just a quick mow with the fairway units following the practice and the slits were rolled down but the result will last for several months. This is a very quick operation and we should be able to do six to nine holes per day and have them mowed back out before play even gets to the hole. Strong roots=Strong plants. And that is what we are going for.
Here is a great slow motion video of the AerWay Sportstine aerifier in action.
