I need your help

This has certainly been an interesting year so far. In this earlier post "tree work" I showed pictures of the right side of three green where we removed a few trees trying to improve the growing environment and playability of the hole. I discussed removing the emotion of trees trying to temper peoples reaction to some tree removal. Then we had 4 nor'easters come through in just a few weeks and the devastation was severe on this hole. From the back of the 3 green to the 2nd green we lost approximately 30 trees. Some were uprooted as earlier posts showed. The clean up has all been done and the repairs have been made to the course. We now need to give the sod and seed a chance to establish to ensure its longevity. Seedlings and new sod have this in common: they both fail under traffic. In fact, most grass fails under intense traffic. This is where I need your help. Eventually we will have to figure out the best way to get carts and walkers from the short turf to the path and next tees. For now it is a temporary path well short of the old path. This is so we can establish grass where it was basically woods.

"Seedlings and new sod have this in common: they both fail under traffic"

Concentrated traffic equals dead grass and a path. Whether drive carts all exiting a fairway in the same spot or push/pull carts all walking on a collar. The grass doesn't know the difference. The ropes on the course are for both. The "ALL CARTS" signs are for both. The "NO PULL CARTS" signs are for push carts also. We have once again put green stakes at the edge of the tall rough to remind carts to stay out of there. I also placed them on the right of 3 to keep carts out of the short rough. This section of rough has never been good from the lack of sunlight, tree competition etc. It took a real beating from all the tree company trucks this spring. It has been given some attention and seeded so hopefully with a break from cart traffic the grass there will bounce back and the seed will germinate. The right woods has also been seeded to repair from all the tree removal and the ensuing damage. Please take care while searching for errant balls. Once this area heals it will be a completely different hole. Below is a picture showing the green area and the traffic pattern.

3 during construction looking down old path to bobcat

3 now mowing week old sod. crazy

looking back towards tee. new bunker

looking back towards tee old bunker during tree work 

spiking rough on 3/ Topsoil being spread on 2 and logs being removed

It has been a busy few weeks trying to get all these projects wrapped up. The weather has been cold but a we are seeing more players every week. The grass is starting to grow and regular maintenance is demanding our attention. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we recover from the storm damage and please help us give you the best course conditions by staying off the damaged areas as best as you can.

Tree work. Removing the emotion

My Twitter feed is full of pictures and videos of trees coming down. This is all over the country but mostly in cold climates since it is the off-season. This is not a coincidence. It is always interesting to me that we superintendents get labeled as tree haters. I can only speak for myself but I think most of my peers are of a similar mind. We love trees. Who doesn't have fond memories as a child climbing a tree and each year getting just a little bit higher? Who doesn't enjoy the shade of a big tree on a hot summer day? Who has not played in a giant pile of leaves in the fall? The issue is that our livelihood is to grow quality turfgrass and trees and grass are in direct competition. We all hate trees in bad places. Does anybody who has a pool love the tree that is too close and always dropping stuff into it? It adds to the cost of maintaining the pool. If you are the one cleaning it you know it adds a lot of time. The same goes for bunkers. Our 3rd and 4th greens had this issue. We filled in the one on 4 a couple of years ago and I do not miss having to clean it out all the time. This past week we made a dent in removing the trees over the bunker on 3. The area is a site to behold, in my opinion, and pictures do not do it justice. The approach to this green was choked so heavily by trees that once removed it is nothing short of dramatic. It has allowed some sunlight to reach the green but we still need a few more to come down to have any real impact in that department. I cannot wait to fill the stump holes and regrade the area.

3 Before

3 After

When I stood on the path and looked around taking in the entire area from a players perspective the first thought that came to me was I need to shrink this path. Before there was no shot to the green from this area so it did not make a difference. Now the right side is completely different and the path seems to be out in the playing area. It is weird how the perspective is so different with such a simple change. I say simple but if you put emotion into every tree decision it can be a monumental task to even remove one tree. As superintendents we have to temper that emotion and through experiences similar to this we know how much improvement can be gained by removing trees. As I said above we have not gained the needed the sunlight benefits and more need to come down but the goal of playability improvement has been accomplished.

9th hole looking towards tee

9th hole towards green

Not all trees require saws and chippers. The landowner project on nine a few years ago removed several pines on the hillside for their water view enhancement. It improved the playability immensely. Before, any shots left would rattle around in the trees and you had to punch out, usually sideways from behind pine trees. Now you can not only see the green but actually try to make a shot to it. We will save the discussion of the old 150 yard cedar in the picture for another day. Well, these invasive black pines are trying to colonize this grassy hillside once more. Brush cutting and some chemical sprays have not really slowed them down. It is a steep bank to spray or mow and I think you know my feelings about chemical use. Yesterday I looked at the area for the hundredth time trying to figure out what to do and decided to see if pulling them by hand would work. Not the easiest job but in a couple of hours I put a good dent. Next will be dealing with the little bluestem invasion. The last thing we need is thick clumps of bluestem on this hill so you cannot find or play your ball. Last year I tried spraying roundup on a few clumps and simply killing them. Risky since it might kill any other grass as well but other chemical attempts have not been very successful. Spot spraying uses a lot less chemical and is safer. The goal is to have a tall grass area where the ball may roll out on its own but if not, easily found and played. A holy grail perhaps but all tall rough areas are a challenge and balancing act for playability.

Fall Update

We survived the tropical storm OK. It was very windy and wet with boats not running for more than a day which always makes things interesting. We lost a few limbs and trees and lots of twigs and leaves but the crew did a fabulous job cleaning the course. Some areas were cleaned several times before the wind stopped. We had our last tourney of the season the Bass Ackwards. Always a fun event. Greens were aerified this week and came out very well. They should be back to 100% soon. They are putting fine this morning as they still grow through the sand topdressing and heal from the procedure. As they get longer and require mowing they will get slow but this is a good thing since it means they are healing.

Jonah & Kelly did a great job on signs this year!!

This week we made some more headway on solving our salt water intrusion issue. We selected two locations within the range allowed for replacement wells and drilled several test wells. Each location had soil samples taken at intervals so we could get an idea of what the structure was and they also help set the screen size for the eventual production wells. Each location had two wells so during the pump testing measurements could be taken. We also drilled an observation well at the pump house so we had data there in case we needed a third production well and also how the pumping on either side influenced that area. All the tests showed positive results. Having multiple wells at more shallow depths than current wells should give us enough water and clean water.

soil cores, well screens, setting second well, well rig

 Another milestone since the last post was Bert had his 10th birthday. He has definitely slowed down since his arrival at 7 months old but he still loves to be on the course and the beach.

Bert turns 10

Short Summer?

Am I the only one who feels as if the summer is flying by? For me I think it is the weather. The lack of heat does not make it feel like summer and I love it. Reminds me of the summers we had when I first came here lo those many years ago. You remember, when we did not need air conditioning except for a few days in august.

I scrolled through my phone pics to see what I should share with you and discovered I had not covered the painting of the pesticide storage building. This metal building was installed in my first Spring 1996. It has been a bear to keep paint on as you can imagine a metal building near the water would. I prepped and painted it first with a rust inhibitor (2 coats) then paint. Next was a sign which I had our resident artist Kelly design and paint. When I discovered the metal roof had a few small holes due to the accumulation of water and rust I had to figure out a solution. Having a retired contractor on payroll is nice. Rusty and I devised a plan to build a simple shed roof utilizng the tabs welded to the roof that the crane used to set the building. My son Josh was around for a short stay so he was given the task to build this roof and attach a rubber membrane.

before, during and after

Artists at work

 Say what you will about the weather. It may not have been perfect for the beach but it sure was for the flowering hydrangea. People have told me from all over the island this is the best they have seen.

Banner year

As we come to the end of July we are in the middle of our Men's and Women's Member-guest tourney's. The ladies had a great day yesterday and hopefully the weather holds out for the men. Both events are a great way to show off your club to your friends. Not that the Mink is not fun to play everyday because it is, but the respective parties try to make these events extra special. And my crew steps it up a notch to be sure the course is as good as it can be. If you have never played in one you should think about it for next year.

Member Guest season

Vote for Bert! Some rock play and oh yeah first mowing too

I was going to write a post about a visit Chris and I made to the Island Grown Initiative this week but I will save that for next week. We have had a very busy and interesting week. We mowed greens and collars today so that is always exciting and a sign of Spring. I aerified the 9th and 1st fairways with our new machine. We can get deeper with this machine than our old one. The old one always seemed to tear up huge chunks of grass so I gave up using it many years ago. We did not tear up much turf but we did bend a bunch of tines. I went out to investigate each spot so I could remove the obstacle so we would not bend tines next time. Interesting results.

OUCH!!

About a 1/2 dozen holes

Notice the white roots on bottom of left piece of sod. All rock there.

First mowing under a Full Moon I entered Me and Bert in a contest Bayer is having. I need you all to vote on every device you have every day until it ends so my local chapter can win $2K and I can win some free plant medicine. Click the link and follow simple directions. VOTE FOR BERT Georgie White took this when Bert joined us for our last hole in a tournament last year

Update

Another busy week here with construction. The tees are basically done except for a few touch up items. The filling in of four green side bunker is complete. The face was sodded with the existing sod that came off it and the rest will be here Monday. We had more rain this week which will help all the new sod to survive. The leaves are becoming a pain and with both rough mowers going down it has been a challenge to keep up. The 40 mph winds have not helped either. We did manage to get the drain at the beginning of 4 fairway fixed this week also. A few hours on the roads filling potholes was long over due so maybe a blessing we did not have mowers to mulch leaves or sod to wrap up the open projects. Until next time...

4 bunker is no more

we sodded the face with stuff we saved when stripping it. Rest is on order

new forward tee on 9 complete except for edges

expanded tee on 8 complete

New forward tee on 8 

improved drain 4 fairway. 9 feet deep

drain 4 fairway

almost had enough left over sod from tee tops

Fall construction update

It has been a very busy and productive two weeks since returning from vacation. The pictures below show three new forward tees ready for tee top sod. The first is on number 9 at the bottom of the cart path. This will be the new red tee and allow those players to have variation from front to back. The next is the old red tee on 8 which has been expanded in size. This will now be the red/white and green tee. The last is a new forward tee on 8 which will become the front nine red tee. The old back nine tee just off the cart path where we had red/white, green and green/white markers will now only have green/white markers. Should make a big difference for all those players.

new 9 tee

Expanded forward tee on 8

New forward tee on 8

The sod for all the tee banks was used from either the expansion of the tee on 8 or the stripping of the bunker on 4. We purchased the tee top sod and it will arrive Monday. Speaking of the 4th green side bunker it has needed a face lift for a couple of seasons. The sand gets blasted up onto the face and then the face grows and eventually a lip is created as you can see in the picture. We will not, however, be doing a face lift or repair but actually an elimination of this bunker. It has already created mixed feelings as some will not miss it and some will. I work as directed and will do my best to create a nice feature here. Although since I have never done this before I cannot say exactly what it will look like.

right green side bunker on 4

4 bunker almost stripped

4 bunker ready to be filled in

Aerification week

We survived another one. I truly was dumbfounded by some of the questions/comments surrounding this process. "Doing them early this year?!" Uh no I have aerified greens the day after Labor Day since 1996. "You do them more than once?" Yes we traditionally do a full blown aerification and topdressing three times per season. Once in the Spring and twice in the Fall. The deep tine one that is contracted out (because we do not have that equipment) has moved all over from Spring and late Fall to this date. These comments/questions were not from new people mind you but ones that have been here since before the 90's. This year was actually special because it was such a cold miserable Winter last year that the early November aerification holes did not heal until April or May. It seemed silly to poke holes in them again right after they healed. Luckily for me the weather was mild this Summer so the decision to skip the Spring aerification did not come back to bite me. The timing of aerification is best if done while the plant is actively growing. This will give you the best and fastest healing and return to normalcy. This latest process is proof positive. The weather was crazy hot.The demands to get the job done in one day were extreme, but the staff stepped up and persevered and the results are that the holes are almost completely gone in three days. I mowed them for the first time today and they look great and are playing well. I will start to back off the water and let them firm up a bit but would love it if everyone would fix ball marks while they are still soft from this process.

Nursery was actually done twice. Cores pulled and then solid deep tined

aerified Tuesday and looked like this on Friday

I was looking over and updating some of the weather data that I keep. It is no surprise that we are behind in rainfall. The course shows that we need rain really bad, but you might be curious to see how the numbers show the story. The image below is a capture of a portion of a spreadsheet which is my own personal rain data so not to be confused with the accuracy of a government station. The biggest detail as I see it is the bottom numbers where it shows April thru September. We are low this year in April, May, June and August compared to the averages for those months. You could pick the lowest total from this sheet in the Ap-Sept row and it would show we are down at least 4 inches. So what does that mean? If you believe that nature tends to average things out my guess would be we are in for a wet September. Maybe we will get it all in one or two storms but my guess is that the monthly total will be in the 3-5" range. You heard it here first.

numbers don't lie

Irrigation blowout 4/5 rough

low flying Coast Guard plane searching 

4 and 20 blackbirds

update and a tree remembered

It has been a busy two weeks since my last post. We have accomplished many things: we hydro seeded the weak areas of the bunker faces, re-furbished the right green side bunker on 5, fertilized the greens and sprayed the tees and fairways for crabgrass to mention a few. I would be remiss not to mention that we removed the defunct 150 cedar tree on the right side of number 4. This has proven to be a very controversial move as the tree had become what we call in the industry a "sacred cow". I have been trying for years to correct the mistake I made by leaving the tree when we constructed the bunker. 20 yards to the right and we could have lived with the tree but to be in a bunker behind a tree is overly penal and an example of bad architecture. The fairway also slopes towards the right side so as you avoid the left bunker you get a kick to the right and then you would be behind a tree. You could then hit a cut around the tree and find yourself short of the green on the right side behind yet another tree. Too much trickery and not something our original creator would have had in mind. The sight lines, from the right side and also the tee for that matter, are nothing short of stunning. You can actually see the green from the tee now. It was an improvement to the hole and I would like to publicly thank the Board for allowing me to correct this mistake made at the very beginning of my career. It should have been done as soon as the bunker was put in and then the green moved back so it wasn't even at 150 any longer. The property is changing as our mature trees die off (oak on 8 green, pine on 2 fairway) and will continue to evolve. Change is hard sometimes but a golf course is a living landscape and forever changing and adapting.

gone but not forgotten 

hydro seeding of 7 bunker

As the fertilizer kicked in the greens became more uniform in color. It also stimulated some seed head production from the annual bluegrass. We were seeing very good control from our chemical application but any fertilizer offsets that process. Nothing is ever perfect when tinkering with nature but the alternative of putting on unregulated greens is not an option. The fairways are pure white with seed heads right now and if the greens were allowed to seed that much the putting would be worse than after an aerification. This will subside as the weather continues to improve and the plant gets this flush out of its system.

5 green looking towards 4 fwy

5 green expansion creating false front

The above pictures show the expansion of the 5th green a couple of years ago quite clearly. This may not be as noticeable now since we fertilized and everything is greening up and getting more uniform. At the time of these pictures the turf was very lean and it was clearly visible so I thought I would discuss it with you. I expanded several greens to create a false front. These are visual tricks to make you think the edge of the green is somewhere else. Once you know the property intimately you know you need to reach the plateau  or the ball will roll off but as we all know "doing is different than knowing". People always think staff have an advantage because we work the course and know every bump and roll but the reality is you still have to execute the shot. The main reason for the disparity in color is simply the difference between decades of maintenance as a green at that height versus collar at a different height. It will blend in a little more each year and eventually disappear completely.

9 green sunrise

Mink Meadows pond sunrise

Between the holidays and Blackie "boo" found a home

Missed my update last week as I was enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday in Vermont with family. Still seems odd to me even though my sister has been up there for close to three decades now that my son Josh is living there as well and we tend to be going up more than ever. It is a nice place to visit but this time of year not necessarily preferred over here or other warmer locations. We avoided all the traffic on both legs so it was a pleasant commute at least and no snow yet. The temperature was a shock though being in the teens and 20's at night. Sis had a town newsletter floating around that had a Halloween theme and discussed a few haunted houses and the old cemetery. She had not read it yet and when I discussed it with her she said "Oh that is right over there we will have to go check it out" One part of the story was trying to figure out why there was a big gap with no stones in the center. Theory was several (15-20) members of the same family were moved to the new cemetery which was closer to their homes. Some interesting stones see below:

East Thetford VT cemetery

 While I was away JC Murphy abducted Blackie. It was a cold stretch and according to JC the cat has acclimated to living with him and his wife Pat. They had recently lost their beloved cat Watson who lived a healthy 22 years. JC swore the black cat had the spirit of Watson and it was meant to go home with him. I was concerned it might try to return to the property having been feral for a couple of years. Will Warner said Pat posted on facebook the day they took it that she thought the cat may be pregnant. Chris Welch said when the cat was on his lap on the porch it had a nice belly so maybe that would explain the sudden personality change and desire to move indoors. JC told me "boo" (as he calls her because she disappears when her eyes are closed and then when she pops them open it is as if to say boo) has no interest in going outside and sleeps on top of him. He said she is a marvel in that she allows him to brush her and even lays on her back to have her belly brushed or petted, not standard for cats, apparently. So the Black cat who has roamed the property is now a house cat in West Tisbury and actually comes when JC snaps his fingers. good for her.

cotton candy? Nope foam from sprayer with non-toxic antifreeze

after final spray and before on bottom We use a dye to green them up for winter

 The course continues to be prepped for Winter. Once the final preventative fungicide spray is put out we can winterize the sprayer, mix load pad, and water source. Another box checked in the preparations for a cold climate. The prep of most things toilets, sprayers, pumps etc involves draining as much water as possible and then adding non-toxic antifreeze. While running the foam marker on the sprayer to get as much liquid out as possible I had these huge piles of foam and they looked cool when the red antifreeze came out with a pink hue. We tried the antifreeze in the ball washers for a spell but they froze once already so they are in for the season and will be painted up for next year. Pleas use the few old style trash receptacles we have put out for the rest of the Winter.

hydrophobic soil on left

aerifying the brown patches on a few fairways

We have recovered from the damage we received this summer except for a few brown patches here and there. These spots are referred to as localized dry spots. The soil becomes hydrophobic (water repelling) and needs special attention to break the barrier in the soil to allow water to penetrate. The use of wetting agents help but often the best way is to fracture the soil by mechanical means such as aerifying. I pulled cores on 3-5 fairways in these areas and then picked up the cores with Chris. He then filled them back in with divot mix and seed. the picture of the two soil cores shows a dry plug (lighter in color) and a moist one. This was after two inches of rain a few days before and a rather wet month. You could water these spots with a hose and not get the water to penetrate. We have stepped up our use of wetting agents for next season on fairways to address this problem. The picture showing all the cores pulled looks mostly dark but there was no easy way to do just the bad spots. and if you look closely on the left side you can see lighter patches.

happy dog

There was an astronomical high tide this week so Bert and I went to check it out. He was just a little excited running back to me as if to say hurry up can you believe we are at the BEACH!!! He loves the beach and I really need to get him there more often. Maybe an early resolution?