PC Closed Day

       The Players Club was closed Tuesday afternoon and all day on Wednesday. The main reason for closing was to apply a soil fumigant to the greens. This application targeted the parasitic nematodes that are abundantly present in our greens soil. The fumigant application was applied Tuesday afternoon and required a 24 entry restriction. We used this closed time to complete other time consuming tasks as well.
        Tuesday afternoon, following LGA, we began the Curfew application. This product was applied by Southern Soils via Harrell's LLC. We will post a detailed description of Curfew and its effects next week. Here are some pictures of the application in progress.

The applicator is attached to the rear of the tractor. It is injected into the soil as a liquid. It then volatilizes as a gas and moves throughout the soil and kills the nematodes on contact.

You can see the slits being cut into the soil. This is the site where the liquid is injected. We roll and water immediately after to ensure the slits are sealed.

       The pictures illustrate the application process. Our actions immediately following the application are what guarantee the success of the fumigant.

Associate Juan Diaz Garcia rolling the surfaces.

      Immediately following the application we rolled the greens. The rolling helps to reseal the slits made by the applicator. We then irrigate the greens with a moderate amount of water, roughly one-tenth of an inch. These processes aid in sealing the slits and keeping the gases at the target site. We then continue to water frequently for the next 24 hours. Once play resumes on the course, the active ingredient has mostly dissipated and it has already moved throughout the soil profile. 

      On top of fumigating the greens we were also able to tackle some other management practices during our closed period. 

      The most labor intensive area on our golf courses are the bunkers. Daily raking, mowing the faces, edging and redistributing sand are extremely arduous tasks. Coupled with active golfers, the amount of time to complete these jobs can be tripled. We took advantage of our "golfer free" course to mow the faces, edge and clean all the traps on the property. This took our staff half of the day Tuesday and all day Wednesday. This process is typically done once a month. 

       We fertilized the rough with ammonium sulfate fertilizer Wednesday morning. This will help to jump start the turf to aid in filling in some weak areas. We use 21-0-0 because of the rapid response and cost effectiveness. You should begin to notice the results within three to five days. 

      Wednesday afternoon we sprayed all the broad leaf weeds on the golf course. Broad leaf weeds can be an eyesore to any golf course, especially in the spring while the bermudagrass is returning from dormancy. We completed the spraying of 40+ acres in three hours. A task that can take four to five afternoons was finished with ease while we were closed.

       And last but not least we topdressed the greens with a medium coating of 100% sand. Because of our weak greens in April we have been fertilizing regularly. This causes flushes of growth. The growth leads to more leaf surface, which in turn will lead to a "thatchy surface". The topdressing sand helps to dilute the thatch and provide a smoother ball roll. Topdressing is an integral part of managing a good putting surface.

      As you can see, we accomplished a lot during our closed period. We understand the closing takes away from the golf schedule. We also understand that our membership loves to golf. We cannot state enough how appreciative we are to have closed periods during the growing season. This helps us complete work more effectively and efficiently. The result is a quieter and better looking golf course. Again, we appreciate your patience and understanding when we close our golf courses.

       

       

Bunker Repair

       The front green side bunker on #15 at the Players Club has slowly eroded of the past few seasons. The erosion has negatively affected playability and created a maintenance nightmare. This week we removed the sand and misplaced gravel and refilled the bunker with new, higher quality sand. Here are some pictures of our work.

Here is a picture of the stones that are hit out of the bunker onto the green. Everyday we have to blow the stones before we can mow the green. This adds unnecessary maintenance time and creates poor putting surface quality.

Here is a slightly better picture of the stones on the turf.

The first step was to remove all of the existing sand from the bunker. The picture shows the sub layer of sand just above the drainage tiles.

Here is a photo of the bunker face after sand removal.

The finished product.

       This project took three days and 100 man hours to complete. We intend to repair the green side bunker on #17 next. We understand these bunkers are difficult to play from and we appreciate your patience while we work to restore them.

Reserve Club - Aerification week

      This past week the Reserve Club was closed for aerification and overseeding. This is the most anticipated week of the year for the bentgrass guys. This week is a sign of another successful summer completed. Aerification week also allows us time complete projects that have been put on the back burner in order to tend to the greens. Here is a rundown of the events that took place at the Reserve Club this past week.

• Aerified the greens.

      We aerified the greens on Tuesday, our first closed day. This will allow maximum healing time for the surfaces. The greens were cored, cleaned, rolled and topdressed. This was all completed on Tuesday.

• Overseeded the fairways, tees and green's surrounds.

      Technically, we started the overseeding process last week. We apply a growth regulator to the bermudagrass fairways to slow growth and reduce the competition towards the ryegrass.
      Wednesday we officially overseeded the fairways, tees and approaches. The fairways are overseeded with a tractor and spreader in the centers. The edges are seeded with a drop spreader. This helps us to maintain our straight line edges.
      The tees and approaches are seeded in the same fashion, however on a smaller scale. We use rotary push spreaders through the centers and push drop spreaders on the edges.
      The next step is to define our overseeded edges. We do this with a pre-emergent herbicide. The Pre-M herbicide prohibits the seed from germinating. We make this application directly to the edge of the overseeded turf. This step, along with the drop spreading, provides the clean and crisp edges to the overseed.
     

• Added sand to bunkers on 4 and 5.

      The bunkers near the greens on 4 and 5 lacked the sufficient depth required by the USGA. We simply added more sand to these bunkers to provide better playability.

• Bunker renovation on number 2.

      The bunker on number 2 has been a maintenance and playability issue since initial construction. The sand constantly washed out into the adjacent pond. This left insufficient sand in the trap on a regular basis.
      We have taken steps this past week to correct this issue for the future. As you can see in the picture below, we have installed a mound to buffer the bunker from the pond. This mound will prevent future erosion from the bunker.

       The next step was to add the four inch layer of sand to the bunker. Below is a picture of the beginning of the process.

      Here you can see the bunker after competition.  You can see the newly installed mound on the left. We sodded this mound to further prevent the bunker from washing out. We are confident these steps will drastically improve the playability of this bunker.

• Removed bermudagrass encroachment from #6 green.

      Below is a picture of the bermudagrass encroachment on # 6 green at the Reserve. Here is an post on bermudagrass encroachment from last winter.
      We took a different approach to removal this time around. The difference was the application
 of Round Up herbicide prior to aerification.
       We planned to physically remove the bermudagrass initially, however it is difficult to ensure 100% removal. Our plan was to kill the entire plant with the herbicide application and then plug the bare spots afterward. Here is a picture of the putting surface after aerification.



      On Wednesday we began the plugging process. We used 150 six inch hexagon plugs. Below you can see our associates sweeping the sand from the completed area. These areas ranged in size from one to four square feet and were dispersed throughout the green.

      We completed all of our goals that we set for our closed week. Mother nature's cooperation certainly helps when we try to squeeze so many projects into a seven day window. And again we are extremely appreciative for the ability to close each course to accomplish these tasks.

PC Conversion Update - 8/12

      Less than 24 hours and the Players Club is open again. It's been a grueling, but rewarding summer. We are very excited to finally unveil the new greens to the membership. The greens rolled (9'4") on the stimpmeter on Saturday morning. We anticipate a (9.5') roll on Monday. Here are some pictures of the surface on Saturday.

      Here are two pictures from five weeks ago, only one week removed from planting.

     The photos illustrate just how far we have progressed in a short period of time. On Monday you will be able to experience for yourself the quality of the new putting surfaces.
    
     In our final week of preparation mother nature decided not to cooperate. The inconvenient rain events pushed our work schedules into the evenings on Friday and Saturday to accomplish everything we wanted by Monday. Here is a rundown of the final tasks leading up to opening day.

Last Week 8/5 - 8/11

• Monday - We mowed the greens at (.140") today. The staff continued their bunker work (mow, edge, redistribute sand). We also started our edging work today (cart paths, yard markers, etc..).

      Another project that began today was the edging of the green surfaces. This task is new to the Players Club this year. The goal with edging the greens is to prevent encroachment from the collar turf. The collars consist of 419 bermudagrass. In years past there has been a major encroachment problem at the Players Club. We feel strongly that regular edging will prevent any future issues associated with edge contamination.

Associate Ricardo Hehua edging the green.

After the green edging.

• Tuesday - Mother Nature washed us out on Tuesday. She dropped nearly three inches of rain over the course.
• Wednesday - Today brought some more rain onto the Players Club. The course was completely saturated thus limiting the amount of work done for the second straight day.
• Thursday - The greens were cut at (.130") today. The average golf course green is mowed at (.125). Our target height is (.120) for opening day. Thursday also allowed us to resume our bunker and edging work.  

       We were able to make our first growth regulator application to the greens. The growth regulator helps to maintain green speeds throughout the day. Without regulation the surfaces would grow, unrestricted. The result is fast surface in the morning and a slower ball roll in the afternoon. There are many agronomic benefits to growth regulation as well. However none more important than ball roll consistency.
       We topdressed the greens as well Thursday. Instead of using our sand/peat mix we switched over to straight sand. This sand was designed specifically for MiniVerde greens. The sand is of fine texture. This texture allows it to work into the tight MiniVerde canopy. This sand will help the greens to maintain smoothness and correct imperfections on the surface.

• Friday - We dropped our height of cut to our target of (.120") today. We saw some increased scalping and discoloration. These signs our normal when mowing this low for the first time. Increased frequency, growth regulation, topdressing and rolling will correct this issue over the next few days.

      We applied insecticide to the course perimeters today. Our target pest is armyworms. Armyworms our very small pets that feed on the leaves of bermudagrass. They overwinter in forested areas. Upon hatching they move into grassed areas to feed. Armyworms get their name from their feeding characteristics. Literally thousands of worm can be seen feeding on leaves at any one time. From a distance the turf may appear to be moving as you approach the affected area. These pests can be devastating to turf if left untreated. Typically, one to two applications are necessary per year to reduce the damage done by armyworms. Here is a fact sheet with more information on armyworms.

• Saturday - Today we made a wetting agent application to the greens. This particular wetting agent is designed to help move water through  the soil. The increased movement will help to dry the green and provide a firmer putting surface.

      Saturday could be categorized as cramming for the big exam. We set up all the golf course hardware, cleaned debris and wrapped up all ongoing projects. This was our final full working day before opening. We will be hosting a small group of players on Sunday and we wanted to present the entire course in the best condition possible. Tomorrow we will set up the course as usual and watch as our hard work this summer can finally be enjoyed.

      This post will wrap up the Players Club conversion series. Stay tuned throughout the remainder of the summer and fall for more news from the St. James agronomy team. We will continue to use this blog as a tool to communicate our operations and projects to the membership.
     

PC Conversion Update - 8/5

      Only eight days remain until the Players Club reopens. We have now shifted into full course preparation mode. The coming week will see us wrap up any ongoing projects and prepare the course for play. The greens are in excellent shape and will be 100% ready for golf on August 13th. Below is a picture of the Players Club practice green on Friday.

      You can see that the green's have come a long way in six weeks. We will shift our focus next week from growing to grooming the greens. The grooming will help to increase speed and maximize playability. Here is last week's recap and a look ahead to next week.

Last Week 7/29-8/4

• Monday - Today we mowed the greens. We cut at (.150"). This height allows us to benefit from the increased leaf tissue. We will rapidly decrease the height next week to prep for play.

      We fertilized the greens today with (22-0-22) fertilizer. This fertilizer will help restore potassium levels and keep the turf green and vigorous.
      On Monday we also began to prep the bunkers. We started mowing the banks, edging and redistributing the sand. Redistributing the sand is a job done on a biannual basis. The sand gradually works itself to the lowest points of the trap. This results in increased sand on the low side and virtually no sand on the high sides. There is plenty of sand in the bunker, however it has worked itself to the low points. Our job is to move the sand from areas where there is too much back to where there is too little. We strive for a depth of four inches throughout the bunker.

• Tuesday - We dropped the height on our mowers today. We mowed the greens at a height of (.140). We will remain at this height until next week. At that time we will drop the heights to an acceptable playability level.

      We aggressively groomed the greens today. We verticut the greens at 1/8". This means that we sliced the surface at a 1/8" depth. This will promote lateral growth and better assist the surfaces to fill in.
      Today we spread lime over the entire golf course. Lime (CaCO3) helps to raise the pH of the soil. the increased pH level will help in increasing the availability of certain nutrients to the turf. Here is a website explaining the benefits of lime in turf.

• Wednesday - Today mother nature did our work for us. Six inches of rain dropped on the plantation. Although we lost a work day, the rain was much needed and greatly appreciated.
• Thursday - We mowed the greens today at (.140"). As stated we will remain at this height until next week.

      The rain and ensuing humid conditions increase the chance for disease and algae. Today we applied a contact and systemic fungicide to help prevent the onset of any diseases.
      Today we also continued to work on the bunkers and make some more progress on our sight line projects.

• Friday - Mowed greens at (.140"). We also topdressed the greens today with a light layer of sand/peat mix. The topdressing will help to fill any remaining voids on the surfaces. The peat will help to keep the moisture at the surface. The retained moisture will encourage new plants to fill these sand voids.

Next Week 8/5-8/11

• Continue bunker work. (edge, mow, redistribute sand).
• Edge cart paths, sprinkler heads, and yardage markers.
• Verticut the greens.
• Groom greens with mower attachment.
• Roll greens.
• Mow out the entire course.
• Apply growth regulator to the entire course.
• Continue fertilization of weak areas throughout the course.

      The coming week will be our busiest and most enjoyable so far. Nobody is more excited to unveil the new and improved Players Club than the maintenance staff. We will all be working Monday to Monday to ensure that we provide the best playing conditions possible on the 13th.
      Remember to follow the blog for updates on everthing St. James agronomy.