The Summer Solstice at Granite Bay

"Summers Lease Hath All To Short A Date"   William Shakespeare

I'm not sure I agree with Mr. Shakespeare analysis of summer as we try to provide firm and somewhat fast  cool season turf grass playing surfaces alive in the Sacramento valley. Nonetheless this past Wednesday June  20, 2012  marked the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year and the beginning of the most stressful period for the turf at Granite Bay golf club. This 94 day period until the fall equinox on Saturday September 22, 2012 is when our "hemisphere receives more direct rays from the sun then the southern hemisphere where it is winter. In the winter, the suns energy hits the earth at oblique angles and thus less concentrated. During the spring and fall the earths axis is pointing sideways so both hemispheres have moderate weather as the rays of the sun are directly over the equator." Matt Rosenberg - About.com

As most of us are aware this is the  period in which the course is most at risk and can struggle. Our irrigation system  improvements over the past couple of years has made a big difference so far. Our hand watering regimen and continued focus on daily irrigation adjustments have paid off as well but the upcoming 94 days will really tell the tale. We have not received too much  really hot weather so far and will keep our fingers crossed, light a candle and say a prayer that the summer would be kind and our continued diligence steady. 

Summer Putting Surface Aeration / Spiking

This coming Monday June 25, 2012 we will be spiking the greens with 1/4" hollow tines and applying a very light topdressing of sand. The process will have a minimal if any effect on putting quality along with being very short lived. The benefits include removal of an additional 4% of thatch from the putting surfaces along with providing avenues for soil oxygen for plant transpiration or cooling down. Forcasted temperatures are supposed to be mild making this a great opportunity going into summer. 

Below is a video entitled Aeration: A breath of fresh air from Pace Turf. The principles and benefits described in the video apply to the aeration / spiking event we have planned for Monday  however we do not have an aggressive event planned and it is worth repeating will not effect putting quality for any length of time. 

Why Does Turf Die in the Summer?

Below is a interesting video that explains why cool season turf struggles and even dies in the hot summer weather. The video was done by PACE TURF which is a  turf grass consulting and information firm that conducts research and makes available its conclusions to its member clubs which includes Granite Bay.  Dr. Larry Stowell, a plant pathologist and his wife Dr. Wendy Gerlanter, an entomologist are based out of San Diego and  the principles who own and operate this widely respected and utilized service throughout the golf industry. 

The golf course maintenance department at Granite Bay has embraced many different strategies to mitigate the effects of heat and drought including those mentioned in the video above.  Strategies have included irrigation infrastructure additions and enhancements, utilization of hand watering and deficit irrigation scheduling including daily detailed adjustments to the automatic irrigation system. The total effect of all of these strategies have created some success in recent seasons and so far this season we are doing well with a minimum of soft and overly wet areas as well as the absence of total dry areas.

In our next course update I plan to go into detail on how Granite Bay is irrigated for those interested members who like the behind the scenes details. Additionally I hope to continue to add videos from PACE TURF from time to time and perhaps make some of our own. As always the GCM department thanks our members for their support as we strive to make this great course better one week at a time.

Traffic Control in Palce

As the seasons change different environmental stresses start to affect the playing surfaces her at Granite Bay and these stresses require different strategies to protect the turf. We can all agree that the stress level of the playing surfaces  at Granite Bay are more elevated  in the summer months then they are in the spring, fall or even winter. Golf cart traffic is one of those stresses that can really take it's toll in the summer months, and it is one that we can put some control measures in place to mitigate this stress. Of course golf carts are a way of life on most golf courses including Granite Bay, and can be attributed in part to the growth and success of  modern day golf by making the game accessible to more players. However uncontrolled cart traffic channeled into concentrated areas will wear turf down to a dirt path. We have all witnessed many examples here at Granite Bay of cart worn turf.

Traffic Control in place on #2

Protecting the turf is why we initiate traffic control measures by alternating wear patterns and alleviating traffic on entire holes giving that hole some relief. This proactive approach, which we initiate in the early spring, was at the behest of the Granite Bay Golf  Committee.  I was asked awhile back about traffic control on the course and if we had a actual plan and rotation that we follow. The answer is yes and no. As I mentioned above, golf cart traffic is more acute during the summer months then any other season of the year. In the spring and winter  if the course is too wet we restrict cart access to paths anyway so there is rarely a need to rope off a entire hole to control traffic. When it is dry enough for carts to travel on the turf during those months it is normally not hot enough to cause stress so we again do not need to rope off entire holes. In the late spring and summer months when high  turf stress periods begin,  we have certain holes that are prone to intense channeling of cart traffic. We have experienced very positive results by proactively relieving the traffic in these areas.

Cart Directional Sign

Hole #10 is the greatest example of this as most carts enter just beyond the ladies forward tee and then travel  in a direct route to the left side of the hole to the #11 tee. Another example of intense channeling of golf cart traffic is the exit area on #13 although course design is somewhat prohibitive for traffic control. The course was originally designed primarily as a walking course so only a few paths were part of the original concept. After some time, the concept changed and  continuous cart paths were installed. Starting the path up the right hand side of #13 would necessitate crossing the fairway at some point which is not desirable, so the path was installed left. Roping off this fairway would be difficult for many Members because they would have to navigate the steep hill above the path to get to their ball. This is the reason we do not rope #13 for proactive traffic control even though it has a traffic issue exiting the fairway.

Unsightly cart traffic on a drought stressed portion of turf.
Our goal in golf course maintenance is to prevent the majority
of these areas by hand watering  but there will always be some
to contend with. Players can help by identifying these areas
 which typically appear in summer afternoons and avoiding them
with golf carts.

So our traffic control rotation plan is somewhat fluid taking into consideration  above mentioned examples.  Starting in the late spring  we try to keep one hole on the front side and one hole on the back side roped off to relieve cart traffic. We typically keep the ropes in place for 2 to 3 weeks to give the hole a good rest. Par 5's are generally not roped off as they have numerous options for carts to enter or exit and fortunately do not have the traffic issues as other holes. We have not up to this point roped off  #13 because  of the above mentioned access issues along with perceived  pace of play and safety issues. If it seems like #10 is roped off more often on the backside, it is because it is due to its exhibiting the most traffic worn turf in the past. When we shift the ropes more often then not we are looking to see what hole could benefit the most from the relief. Course access flags are  available in the Golf Shop for Members that have physical limitations and we leave access points in the fairways when we rope them off.

90 Degree Rule vs. Carts Scatter

After observing golf cart activity and driving habits for awhile I have come to the conclusion that the 90 degree rule is rarely observed and can be counter productive as a traffic control measure.  First for the rule to be effective players would have to return to the cart path after playing their shot, drive forward on the path and take a 90 degree line to the next shot. Exiting the fairway cut of grass and driving up the rough line only compounds traffic issues encouraging concentrated traffic at the fairways edge which subsequently  causes worn out turf. Secondly it appears that  most golfers don't follow the rule anyway. The 90 degree rule's implied meaning to most of us is  that carts don't have to remain on the path.  Another observation, and I could be wrong, but if everyone followed the strict meaning of the  90 degree rule we might have a hard time maintaining the 4:13 pace of play that is part of our Granite Bay culture.  The only time that I am in favor of a strict interpretation of "90 degree rule" are times following a rainy period and we are allowing carts off the path and ask that a strict 90 degree back to the path or shells be followed.

90 degree rule. What does it really mean?

Therefore in most instances scattering traffic on the course is much better then 90 degrees back to the rough line. Naturally golfers riding carts should follow  directional signs and enter and exit at points that are designated by stakes and chains and or signs, keep carts away from greens and avoid stressed out areas particularly in the afternoon during the summer stress periods. These stressed out areas can be identified by the grey or brown hue that's highly visible in the afternoons. The "90 degree rule" is still the term that we all know and  there is no need to create confusion by changing terms especially because most players already scatter.

In a Nutshell

• Use cart paths or walnut shells whenever possible. 
• Scatter traffic up the fairway rather then taking a 90 degree line back to the roughs edge and wearing a path there.
• Avoid stressed out turf areas identifiable by a brown or smokey gray color particularly in the afternoon.

"Sand, More Sand"

Old Tom Morris

A story is often told of Old Tom Morris when asked what made his greens so good. His reply was "Sand, mare sand and the Sabbath" Most courses today are not blessed with the good sandy links land of St. Andrews, but greenskeepers like Old Tom understand the benefits of sand topdressing for golf playing surfaces. It's common throughout golf to utilize sand topdressing in varying amounts and frequencies for putting surfaces yet the investment to purchase and ship quantities enough to apply to fairways is prohibitive for most operations. 

Spreading sand on fairways at Granite Bay

Light sand topdressing on the practice green

However I am happy to report that Mitch has worked his magic with the powers that be at Club Corp. and secured funding for Granite Bay to start a topdressing program not just for this season but for seasons to come. The results with sand topdressing are cumulative so as the years go by and we continue to topdress, we will  see a progressive firming of our fairway surfaces.  Our plan for this season is to double up in landing areas and around drainage inlets in the fairways which when coupled with continued emphasis on irrigation management, should help produce firmer summer surfaces this year. This is a exciting addition to our maintenance program and  we are looking forward to these multiplying results. 

Core Aeration Progress

Last Wednesday 4/25/12 the weather forecast in the morning had changed from the previous day's forecast of 70% chance of rain to a 30% chance of rain according to the weather channel. A 30% chance of precipitation on many occasions has amounted to nothing and we wanted to get going and complete the core aeration of the rough so we decided to proceede. We  core aerated the rough on holes #1, #2 & half of #4 before it started to drizzle. This drizzle evolved into light showers which stalled our cleanup process. These light showers turned into actual rain during the evening producing 1/2" of precipitation on the extracted aeration cores rendering them impossible to pick up.

Core aerating rough last week.

We actually started the fairway topdressing this morning because of more forecast-ed  rain and I didn't want to make the same mistake twice in two weeks and continue with core aeration in the rough. It is a challenge to get all of this aeration done between weather and spring time golfing events but we'll keep at it and continue to keep you informed of progress and set-backs. Thankfully the crucial areas of fairways, green surrounds and greens are completed thanks to aforementioned alternating F9 & B9 closures.

Wet aeration cores from 1/2" of rain.
Impossible to clean up until dry.

Tee Leveling & Re-Surfacing

We have gotten to that time of the year that golfing events hinder our ability to complete tasks such as core aeration of the rough prior to morning shotgun tournaments so to remain productive this week and next we plan to get some tee leveling done. This work actually works out pretty well because the turf on the tees is in decent shape and we are able to remove it, level the sub grade and put a good portion of the sod back down on the newly leveled tee. We have identified four  tee areas that are in need immediate leveling namely Tournament and Granite on #18, Granite on #13 and the Pebble Tee on #11. We understand that         there are a few more that could use some help, however these are the four levels we will take care of this spring. 

Tournament and Granite Levels of #18 tee in the process of
leveling and re-surfacing

Both levels on #18 are in the process of being completed today, Thursday 5/3/12. We will have to take some hybrid bermuda sod from the rear of Granite #13 to complete them, but plan to completely strip this tee next  week move that sod to Pebble  #11 after leveling, and replace the sod on #13 with new the week of 5/14/12. While Granite #13 is bare players will get a variety of looks with the markers placed at the rear of the club level and the front of the Tournament level.

Weekly Course Update

Springtime is the time in golf course maintenance in which everything happens at once. last week at this time I was talking about rain and how it hurt or helped aeration along with cart path restrictions for the weekend. What a difference a week makes. The grass is growing faster then we can mow it, we are still finishing aeration, the to do list is growing faster then we can check off completed tasks and believe it or not we will be irrigating the entire course tonight. Typical spring. I have no complaints though, for I realize that not everyone gets to come to work at a place as beautiful as this.

Core aerating the surround of #9 green this morning. Of all the areas we
aerate the green surrounds are the most tedious and labor intensive
 in that they require the most hand work to process and remove the
extracted cores

Today we finished core aeration of the green surrounds that were remaining when it started to rain last week.  We started the aeration process this spring on Monday April 2nd and have completed greens, fairways and green surrounds in three weeks. And last week of course it rained and stalled progress. Next aeration event our goal is to complete these areas in two weeks, weather permitting. This would not have been possible if not for the alternating F9 / B9 closures. 

Putting surfaces have recovered nicely. We gave them a light topdressing of sand this week and the vast majority of  aeration holes are now covered. We will start using walking greens mowers on them tomorrow along with rolling through the weekend. Next week brushing and additional surface management along with growth regulator applications and we should be close to our desired speed of 11 feet or close to it. When we checked green speed this morning the surfaces rolled just under 10 feet. 

Close up of recovery progress on the greens
just this past Monday 4/16/12.

Close up of recovery progress 4 days later on Friday
4/20/12. 

For the next two weeks we plan on aerating rough. We will probably target a couple, three holes a day, alternate front and back nine starts to allow for aeration cores to dry. Look for daily course updated from the golf shop to keep you appraised of progress and where we are working. Additionally we are going to start topdressing fairways and approaches next week and I'll explain more about that next week. 

Jogi on core processor. This machine grinds up the cores
which are a mix of organic matter and native soil.
This machine will make short work of aerating
 the rough next week. 

Current Weather and Spring Aeration Progress

I have been asked on many occasions by members if rain will hurt us when it comes to turf aeration. There is no real short answer to that question except it depends on when it rains. The actual process requires dry conditions, so in that sense any rainfall either before or especially during an aeration process will hurt us. If it rains heavily, like it has this past week, we cannot proceed however the rain pounding on newly aerated putting surfaces can be beneficial. 

These type of conditions are difficult to play in much less
core aerate in. #12 fairway right after a downpour on Wednesday 4/11

Our current strategy for aeration greens is to punch 5/8" holes on a 1" X 2" pattern. This produces 48 holes per square foot and displaces close to 14% of the actual putting surface. This is considered an aggressive aeration by industry standards.  When the heavy rain we are currently experiencing subsides, all of those sand filled holes  will allow a tremendous amount of air to be "sucked" via  soil capillary forces into the root zone of the green. Air in the root zone is necessary for root growth and all plant functions so the more the merrier especially with a highly maintained putting surface. Another benefit with this heavy rain on the putting surfaces is the sand between the aeration holes will be driven into the turf canopy more effectively then it would if we were irrigating the green. Will the heavy rain help the greens recover sooner? The current storm has been warm and steady, so combined with the  above mentioned benefits along with the sunshine that will follow the storm, I think we could have a fairly rapid recovery.

This picture was taken this morning Friday 4/13/12 while it was
raining on our #2 green. Notice how there is no standing water and
no apparent sand or open aeration holes at least from this view.

The other side of the question does the rain hurt us during aeration has to do with progress. Because this process cannot be done when conditions are wet aeration progress is stalled. However we made great progress last week Monday 4/2/12 through Monday 4/9/12. We completed all putting surfaces, fairways and over half of the green surrounds, the areas that are difficult to do around member play. Additionally we were able to get the areas completed cleaned up much better on Tuesday after getting our vertical mowers up and running properly so at this point we are very happy with the progress on core aeration thus far, despite the weather. 

Close-up of #2 green taken at the same time as the picture above. The fuzzy yellow stuff is flowers from
the Oak Tree behind and to the right of the green. Notice again no standing water, and almost
covered aeration holes. 

Our plans for next week, Monday 4/16/12 through Friday 4/20/12 are as follows. We anticipate the soil still being too wet to continue core aeration on Monday but by Wednesday we should be good to go. On Wednesday we plan to have a normal front nine start and complete the green surrounds on #16 & #18. Thursday and Friday we plan to have back nine starts and to complete the green surrounds on hole #'s 4 through 9. The back nine starts will allow some drying so we can process the cores prior to the bulk of member play. I'll post another update next week with progress and plans for the following week. With any kind of luck we will have the entire property core aerated by the first part of May. 

Aeration Progress and Plans - Week of 4/2/12 - 4/6/12

Aeration progress for the week of Mon. 4/2 through Fri. 4/6 has had it high points along with some low spots which is par for the course with this process. As previously mentioned putting surfaces were completed in total on Tuesday 4/3, pretty much seamlessly.  Throughout the next couple of weeks we will apply more fertilizer and add some light topdressings of sand to the greens as they recover. We will actually start to mow them daily next week starting Tue. 4/10, a week out from the actual aeration process. Look for the aeration holes to be grown over completely by the week of Mon. 4/23 and putting speed to return shortly afterward.

Fairway aerators pulling cores on #8 Thursday 4/5 in the
mid morning.

The high points of the week was the amount of progress we were able to achieve. By the end of Mon. 4/9 we will have completed all of the putting surfaces, all of the fairways and close to half of the areas around the greens or green surrounds. That is more area covered in six working days then has ever been covered here at Granite Bay. This amount of progress would not have been possible if not for the alternating F9 / B9 closures that we secured. Thanks to all for your patience and understanding.

A vertical mower working the approach in front of #12 green

The low points of the process really can be traced to soil moisture and it associated problems. The golf course received 1-1/2" of rain the week of 3/26, directly ahead of aeration week and another .30" of rain the night of Tue. 4/3. This produced wetter then ideal conditions, not so much to core aerate, but to clean up afterwards despite having no member play and a few hours of drying weather prior to processing. The evidence are areas in the fairways that appear to have flattened soil which is actually an aeration core that did not extract properly and was smashed in by a tire from a piece of  processing equipment. Some of these smashed cores are inevitable during the process and we typically deal with them by using a vertical mower which lifts the smashed plugs from the turf canopy and chops them up. Unfortunately we had problems with that machine and now have several areas on the course that we need to catch up with this process.

Closeup of a vertical mowing cutting unit. The blades are vertical

to the horizontal shaft and slice down into the turf canopy dislodging

 smashed aeration cores and thinning the actual turf stand. 

Example of some tire tracks which
consist of in part smashed aeration
cores

So our goal for next week, the week of Mon.4/9 is to finish core aeration of all  green surrounds and get all fairways vertical mowed and cleaned up properly. The vertical mowing in the fairways  has to be done in the afternoon when it is dry so we will bounce around member play and get it done. The remaining core aeration around the surrounds can be achieved by some different front nine and back nine starts. If we acheive this goal we will core aerated as much area in two weeks as would have normally taken us four to five weeks. The goal is  achievable as long as we don't get more rain next week although some is forecasted.