Catching Up

The month of May is always a busy month for golf course maintenance in the northern climates. Optimum temperatures along with timely rain usually cause an explosion of growth on our grassed playing surfaces. Our rough mower is usually playing catch-up all month, even when we add an additional mower to the process.

To counter this excessive growth, we use Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs) on greens, tees and fairways. These products cause the plant to slow its top growth and put that energy into roots and lateral growth. This makes for a healthier bentgrass plant and much reduced clippings on the fairways.

The particular PGR we use favors bentgrass while putting the hurt on annual bluegrass (poa annua). We have a substantial population of  'poa' in our playing surfaces that established during grow-in. From an agronomic point of view, it is in our best interests to limit the spread of this weed and, over time, reduce the populations.



The yellow grass on one of our tee surfaces is PGR stunted poa annua.

This spring, we upgraded our Toro 300 gallon sprayer with a GPS computer controller and a higher capacity pump. The golf industry is a little late to the party as the Ag Industry has used GPS technology for many years. How does GPS control improve spray applications on the golf course?

In simplified terms, the GPS controller mounted on the sprayer uses satellites orbiting the Earth to determine its exact (sub-meter accuracy) location on the ground. The margins of the fairways to be sprayed are entered into the computer. This allows the controller to determine what to spray and what not to spray. The sprayer operator simply drives over fairways back and forth and the controller turns the individual boom nozzles on and off as the fairway margins are crossed.

This system saves 10-15% product by eliminating overlaps and over sprays into the rough. In addition, the sprayer can now spray at 8-9 mph, twice as fast as the old system! Isn't technology great?

Asst. Superintendent Brett Wenzel at the wheel of the newly upgraded Toro 5700 sprayer.

Nozzles can operate in single or dual mode depending on demand call from the computer.

 

GPS computer screen shows what has been sprayed (white) and what is unsprayed (green).

                           

 

 

 

 

 

2015 Recap

Keller GC is a busy place and 2015 was no exception. In addition to 32,000 golfing rounds, a variety of visitors descended upon the property to learn about our environmental programming. I know some of you reading this have witnessed a long string of golf cars traversing about the course and wondered, "what's going on?" Below are a few of the groups that visited.

The "2015 Clean Water Tour" was organized by the Ramsey Conservation District (RCD). This tour included RCD staff, state legislators, county commissioners and other agency officials. This stop was the shoreline restoration on the 15th hole.

This large tour of 50 participants was the "Exceptional LEAP Tour" (Landscape Ecology Awards Program) organized by the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District. Most participants were Ramsey County residents with more than a few Master Gardeners thrown in for good measure. It was by far and away our most popular and well-received tour to date.

 

 

 

Bill Bartodjiez and Simba Blood of the RWMWD speaking to the LEAP tour.

 

 

Last fall we hosted a biodiversity class from the University of Minnesota.

One of our resident red-tail hawks on the lookout for dinner. Our 26 acres of restored habitat on the property are home to a HUGE population of rodents. This would explain the increased raptor traffic we have witnessed in the past year.

The underside of a piece of sod from the edge of a fairway. Note the white healthy roots emerging from that aerification hole in the soil. Oxygen is the key to healthy roots and healthy turfgrass. Ongoing aerification is full speed ahead in 2016.

Food For Thought

This is a repost of an article written by golf course architect Jim Urbina - The 5 Myths About Sand Bunkers. He says we no longer understand their true purpose. What do you think?

1) Bunkers are there to penalize golfers
Nothing could be further from the truth. The great old-time architects said a hazard isn’t just for punishment but to make the game more interesting. Golfers take bunkers personally: Those of us in the design business see them in the exact opposite way. Robert Hunter wrote, “Without hazards, golf would be a dull sport.”
2) You should be able to advance the ball from a bunker
Why? Sometimes golf, like life, isn’t fair. The original bunkers were totally natural, which meant sometimes it was impossible to move the ball forward from them. We’ve since made our own rules and now demand the ability to hit out of a bunker all the way to the green. But that wasn’t always the original purpose.
3) Maintaining them is important
We spend too much time and money maintaining bunkers. Due to expensive sands and labor costs, what should be among the cheapest parts of a course to maintain are the most expensive. They’re hazards, not gardens, and don’t need to be beautiful let alone neat and tidy.
4) They should not be in the middle of a fairway
If you hit a great shot down the middle and it finds a bunker then it wasn’t a great shot. A hazard is often placed for strategy, and one in the fairway is telling you that’s not the best place for hitting to the green. The game requires thought and skill, and sometimes the right play isn’t the obvious one. Same with bunker placement.
5) What you see is what you get
C.B. Macdonald said it can take years to discover and appreciate the hidden qualities of a bunker. Take the time to study the bunker—where it is, how it’s shaped and looks—over and over again. A good bunker makes you think and, as all the greats said, makes a course more interesting.

Walkers Rejoice!

What a fall we've had! The weather has been phenomenal up to the middle of November and then it started raining and raining and raining. Needless to say, there will be plenty of moisture in the ground going into winter freeze up.

We have several projects underway that began after we closed for the season on November 8. The walking path from the 13th black/blue tee to the green is being restored. As you may recall, a large section of the path was washed out by the heavy rains we experienced during construction and grow-in and the path has been closed since we re-opened. Our contractor, Urban Companies, hauled and placed many loads of fill on the steep, wooded site. The sub-base beneath the path is now restored. Asphalt repairs will most likely have to wait until next spring at which point the path will be open.



Initial stages of collapse.



 Skid loader using the plywood path used to protect the turf, irrigation system
 and native plant restoration along the woodland edge.

Work site is very steep, requiring a careful equipment operator and some
manual labor.

Temporary erosion control blankets in place.



Path subgrade restored.

Our second project underway is the expansion of our drainage infiltration basin located east of the second hole. More than 50% of surface-drained water from the golf course ends up here. After re-opening the golf course and experiencing several heavy, torrential rain events, it was obvious that we needed to increase the capacity of this drainage area. The basin would fill up, resulting in the drainage system backing up onto the golf course and flooding certain holes.

We applied for and received a cost-share grant of $37,000 from the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District for this project. This grant will cover 75% of the project cost with Ramsey County and the City of Maplewood picking up the remaining amount. I will post additional photos as the project wraps up in early December, providing the snow stays away.



This is the site to the east of the second hole after tree clearing was completed.
Most of the removed trees were Siberian Elm, an invasive tree of little ecological
value. At some point we will replant with oaks and hackberry.

The fill generated from this dig is to be dumped and graded out on the back end
of the driving range. The disturbed basin area and surrounds will be seeded to
short grass prairie and short sedge meadow species.

Dog Days of Summer

Staff is currently working on rectifying drainage issues post-renovation. Many of our drainage basins stay wet for days after a substantial rain event (we are again experiencing numerous heavy rain events this summer). We are excavating the problematic basins and backfilling with sand to assist with lateral, subsurface water movement. We will be adding additional tile lines and drains to the 16th fairway to improve the wet conditions, especially along the right side. During construction, a dump truck buried itself in that area, requiring multiple vehicles to extract it. Needless to say, there is a great deal of water moving beneath the surface in that area.

Drilling holes in a solid basin standpipe prior to wrapping with a geotextile fabric and backfilling with sand.

Approximately four holes of rough remain to be treated for broadleaf weeds. That operation will resume when the weather cools down. Our bentgrass fairways do contain a fair population of a broadleaf weed known as plantain. It is fairly easy to remove but we will wait until this fall to avoid damaging the bentgrass or any seedlings emerging in seeded areas with a herbicide.




Typical plantain currently found in our fairways.

 



As the weather cools, we will begin sodding some of our more problematic areas in the collars surrounding the greens. We will use sod from our nursery area that is cut at collar height. First we have to get the localized dry spot under control that currently plagues our nursery turf.

 

 

Some areas on 18 collar to be sodded in the near future.

Nursery turf  showing LDS (Localized Dry Spot).

   

Orange-colored areas indicate areas of LDS and highly compacted soils. We have been spraying a water infiltration product this season, but its effectiveness is no longer satisfactory with the onset of warm summer temperatures.

LDS is quite prevalent in our fairways right now. It is caused by soil particles and/or organic matter becoming hydrophobic and actually repelling water. Soil compaction definitely contributes to this condition and we have plenty of that. As temperatures begin to cool in the fall, aggressive aerification will begin. Hopefully, by then, we will have acquired a new deep-tine aerifier capable of creating 8.5 inch holes and shattering the soil profile at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strip Your Divots, Please

Our new practice facility is getting a pretty good workout this year. Word must be getting out that our "hidden" facility offers a quality practice experience at a competitive rate. The increased use does have a down side - increased wear and tear.

Our bentgrass teeing surface is just under an acre in size. We split our tee surface into an east half and a west half and only use one side at a time, allowing the opposite side time to recover. The two sides of the tee rotate approximately every 4-5 weeks.

In order to provide our practicing golfers a quality surface to hit from, we need your assistance. To speed up recovery, there is a right way and a wrong way when it comes to your divot patterns. The first two photos below were taken this year and show divot patterns from our practice tee. From a recovery perspective, this is the absolute worst pattern and I will explain why.

The beauty of creeping bentgrass, besides being a great playing surface, is its ability to creep. It has the ability to fill in voids by growing laterally using plant parts called stolons.  In the photos above, the healthy grass on the perimeter of the voids has a long way to grow to repair this blemish. Therefore, it makes sense to leave strips of healthy turf between the divots. This scenario allows the healthy strips of grass to fill in the divots within that 4-5 week window we have for recovery. We have several signs posted around our facility that illustrate this method that produces the quickest recovery.

I know when you see professional golfers on television practicing on the range, most are creating huge craters with their divots. Tournament golf at that level is totally different in all respects from public, daily fee golf. And, let's face it, 99.99% of us are not professional golfers. So please do your part and remember to "Strip Your Divots!" The next person to practice thanks you!

Algal Mat Blues

This spring we have seen the return of the floating algal mats in our "new" irrigation pond on the 12th hole. Though totally natural, these mats are ugly and surely compromise the aesthetics of the green and tee complexes in the vicinity. The local watershed district wrote an article on these algal mats in 2014 that offers more information on the topic.

 

12 pond in May, 2015

So why is this pond that is replenished with low-nutrient ground water affected? The obvious culprit is direct runoff from surrounding areas. This may be a contributing factor but the main source of phosphorous can be found on the bottom of this water feature. During construction, the liner membrane was covered with one to two feet of soil to hold it down in place and protect it from UV sunlight. These soils are most likely releasing phosphorous into the water column causing the algae to flourish.

What are our options to get this visual eyesore under control? We can physically attempt to remove it but that will require many man hours of messy work. More importantly, this is only a short term fix as the plants will return. Aquatic herbicides and algaecides are a chemical option but, remember, this is the water with which we irrigate the golf course and these herbicides can cause problems with the grasses on the golf course. In addition, many native plants are being established in the shoreline area and herbicides could be detrimental to their survival.

Bill Bartodziej, District Biologist with the local watershed district, began experimenting with another chemical option last week. Because the algal mats are generally restricted to the littoral shelf of the pond, Bill began spraying alum (aluminum sulfate) from the shore on a localized basis.

 

Shoreline alum application below 13 tee. Note flocculation clouds in the water. The pH of the water was checked during and after application to assure the safety of all pond life.

 

Alum product

 

How does the alum work and what does it do? The alum chemically binds or flocculates the phosphorous and very fine sediments in the water column and these "flocs" settle to the bottom. On the bottom, this material is inert and no longer available as a nutrient source for plant growth. The cost to completely treat all 4+ million gallons of water in this 1.5 acre pond is cost prohibitive for our current budget cycle. The effectiveness of this localized treatment remains to be seen.