Mudd Soup...

So Hollytree has been known to flood from time to time and the most recent event happened on April 6th when we received 3.75 inches of rain in about 2 hours.  Mudd creek overflowed onto the golf course and it left us a nice layer of silt, sand, and debris in the areas where the flood waters dispersed and slowed down. The below pictures were taken while picking up the silt that had already been scraped by a box blade. These areas were scraped by machine and hand numerous times before they were aerified and blown off.

Cleaning off these two fairways were only part of the cleanup.  Cart paths had to be cleared of silt and debris.  Limbs and trash had to be picked up by hand in ordered to cleanup silt and sand underneath them. Bunkers had to be pumped, scraped clean, pushed, and raked back.  Irrigation boxes had to be evaluated for damage and repaired.  Drain and valve box lids had to be found and replaced.  Bag stands from the driving range, rakes, and other items had to be retrieved from behind 5 green.  The below ground trash cans had to have the water removed from them.

And on top of all of the cleanup, the greens were scheduled to be aerified on Monday, April 7th.  We backed that up to Tuesday after a first run was made at cleaning up.  It actually worked out fairly well because it let the bottom layer of silt dry so it was a little easier to clean up.

1 Fairway from 150 out Monday April 7

1 Fairway Tuesday April 15

10 Fairway looking back to the tee on April 7

10 Fairway April 15

Reminder

Greens aerification will be April 7th.  We are using a 3/8's coring tine so the holes will be slightly larger than your average ink pin.  Hopefully with good weather the holes will heal in within a week and there will be no evidence of the aerification after two weeks.  This has been one of the roughest winters on record between cold temps, wet days, and the fluctuation of temperatures all winter so getting a quality aerification in early will be very important this year.

Spring Prep

Spring is upon us and grass is greening up on the golf course.  To help things green up we've started spiking and aerifying the course.  The fairways have already been spiked and roughs are currently under way.  Tees will be core aerified in the coming weeks and greens will be aerified on April 7th.  Aerification and spiking help removed old dead growth and make room for new growth for the upcoming season.

Changing Reels on Greens Mowers

This winter the golf course mechanic, Brett, has been doing preventative maintenance on all of our equipment.  Those tasks range from changing engine and hydraulic oil to changing bearings on cutting units. The mowing reels on the greens mowers are being replaced as well.  

Below is a picture of the old reel above and the new reel below.  There is a 1/4" difference in the diameter of the reel.  That doesn't sound like much but when you're talking about mowing heights below 1/8", that's a lot.  

One of the things this causes is for the old reels to become less aggressive.  Since the reel is smaller the bedknife it cuts against must be raised up to contact the reel.  This creates a more obtuse angle between the bedknive and the green, which makes the cut less aggressive.  A less aggressive cut can cause more thatch, more grain, and a lower quality of cut that lowers the putting quality of a green.

Each cutting unit cost around 330 dollars to replace and there are 3 sets of 3 cutting units. Around 3,000 dollars may seem a lot for blades on a mower but when it comes to the difference in putting quality, it's worth every penny.  We monitor the wear on each unit and rotate them to keep the units cutting consistent to the others.

Note the small cutting portion of the top units are worn off.  This affects the angle of cut as well as friction with the bedknife.

Tree removal on 6 green.

This coming Monday, 3 pine trees will be removed on the left side of 6 green.  These particular trees are causing morning and late afternoon shade on the left side of the green.  They are also causing long intervals of shade during the winter months when the sun travels at a lower angle (see pic below).  There are other trees along the left side of the green that are shading the green but we are going to start with the removal of three of the pines next to the bunker that cause the most shade.

This fall shade weakens the left side of the green, slows the late season growth, and doesn't allow it to store enough energy to make it through the winter.  That's why it always seems like we're starting over every year, because the bermudagrass doesn't make it to the next.

Picture taken at 1:00 pm in the first week of December

Along with removing these trees, the over hanging trunk of the pine closer to the tee box will be removed and a large oak limb to help clear the path on the left side for those golfers that fade the ball off the tee.

Covering Greens

Covering greens is a difficult task, but it is necessary on Ultradwarf Bermudagrass greens.  If temperatures are below freezing for over 24 hours or if an extreme low temperature is in our forecast we will cover greens.  The covers are made of a breathable cloth material that lets water and air exchange back and forth while helping to keep soil temperatures higher than the ambient air temperature.

Last weeks forecast...

Wind is usually our biggest enemy.  Once the covers get a little air under them they're very difficult to control.

8" sod staples are used about 3 feet apart to hold the covers down.

Winter Maintenance

Now that winter is in full swing the maintenance staff will begin some of our routine winter maintenance tasks. These projects range from removing alligator weed from the lakes to adding drainage in habitual wet spots. First up this winter will be spraying glyphosate (Roundup) in the roughs.  Since bermudagrass goes dormant during the winter in East Texas there is no risk of taking up glyphosate.  This makes it selective for only the weeds on the golf course that are green and growing.  It is a relatively cheap and very effective way to control weeds in the winter.  It also adds another herbicide chemistry to the products we already use, which helps reduce the risk of chemical resistance. A low rate of pre-emergent herbicide will be added to keep any weeds from germinating between our glyphosate application and our Spring pre-emerge application.  The process usually starts at the beginning of the year and will last anywhere from 4 to 7 weeks depending on weather.