Naperville Country Club Green Department: seed/sod

Showing posts with label seed/sod. Show all posts

Our big project this fall involves removing bentgrass from the bluegrass adjacent to the tee boxes. Large areas on 3 and 4 tees have already been completed. The other tees are in the process of being cut and cleaned now. New sod will be arriving next week to complete the project.

The bentgrass variety that is used on the tees has an aggressive growth habit. This is great for recovering from divots, but does cause problems at the edges. This bentgrass will invade the adjacent bluegrass and become unsightly and at time a maintenance issue.

While we are cutting the sod we are straightening tee lines and making sure the tee boxes stay square. This will give a much cleaner look to the tees next year.

One of the major sod projects we are working on this fall involves removing bentgrass from the bluegrass roughs on green and tee banks. Bentgrass from the greens and tees has made its way to the roughs and is unsightly when mowed at the height of the roughs. There are many ways that this can happen, but the easiest way to fix it is with new sod. The tee bank on 3 tee (left) was nearly all bentgrass. The entire bank was stripped and new sod installed.

Roughs immediately adjacent to the tee boxes are the most prominent areas of bentrgrass invasion. These areas will be done throughout the course this fall. When doing this, the tee box is measured and squared if it needs to be, and the edges straightened.

The tee bank on 4 tee had bentgrass on it, but it was also the victim of the bluegrass billbug larvae, and grubs.

Many of the tee edges will be done this fall, but these are the 2 largest areas of sod to be laid.

11 fairway is slowing beginning to look like it did before we began throwing soil with the trencher 4 weeks ago. 3 days of rain delayed work the second week into the project, and rain with Thanksgiving last week delayed more progress. Our original projection of 2 weeks turned into 4 weeks.

Other than the weather delays, the project did go as planned. We did add 2 more drainage basins to the originally planned 2 for a total of 4 basins on the main line of the drain pipe. All laterals went in as planned. One irrigation line was broken during the work, and that occurred while trying to dig around the pipe by hand - a notable accomplishment considering irrigation lines were crossed more that 30 times!

We are currently finishing up sodding the laterals, and anticipate having this project completed and ready for winter by the end of the week. We are already beginning to see the benefits of the drainage tile. This fairway was showing none of the usual signs of receiving 1.25" of rain this past weekend.

The new seed that was planted a couple of weeks ago is beginning to germinate. You can see the new seed popping up in lines in these areas. The new seed will continue to grow in through the fall, but we do not anticipate full recovery until the spring. The new seedlings are in the areas that were damaged by summer patch this year. (Disease In The Rough)

We have started to over seed areas in the fairways that thinned due to the hot and wet summer weather. We hope to be finished with the fairways areas today, then start on the areas in the rough that were damaged by summer patch.

The first step is using an aerator with solid tines to poke shallow holes into the soil to create more soil surface area for the seed to contact.

We are then running our seeder over the area. This seeded cuts shallow channels into the soil, then drops the seed into those channels. It will likely be 2 weeks before we will see noticeable seed coming into these areas.

The fairways were also fertilized yesterday to aid with the recovery process as well.

The following article recently appeared in the USGA Green Section Record. It was written by Ty McClellan. Ty is our USGA regional agronomist. We utilize his expertise on a regular basis; he visits Naperville CC regularly to evaluate course conditions. This is part of a program offered through the USGA Turfgrass Advisory Service. The article is very timely so I wanted to pass it along.

By Ty McClellan, agronomist, Mid-Continent Region
July 13, 2011


Randomly scattered divots (on the left) remove up to 50% more turf than practicing in a linear pattern (on the right) where each new shot is placed directly behind the previous divot.

Late July is usually the time when there is a lack of turf coverage on practice range tees established with cool-season turfgrasses, such as creeping bentgrass or Kentucky bluegrass. Heavy play removes divots faster than the turf can recover, and hot, dry summer conditions leave little opportunity for seedling establishment or regenerative growth of surrounding turf. Poor turf coverage that comes in mid-summer generally indicates that the practice tee is simply undersized for the amount of play received, i.e. there is not enough time for turf to recover before tee stalls are returned to previous locations. It also indicates that tee stall rotations need to be reviewed for efficiency and that synthetic turf options should be considered at the rear of the tee to provide the additional time needed for turf recovery.

With the exception of an efficient tee stall rotation, enlarging the tee(s) and adding synthetic turf are improvements typically left for the off-season when time and funds become available. So, until then, what can be done? The solution resides with golfers. Since randomly scattering divots can quickly destroy a practice range tee, the better approach is to shrink one’s divots by removing them in a pattern just like the professionals. More specifically, this includes placing each shot directly behind the previous divot. This can easily be repeated for up to 10 shots resulting in much less turf being removed.

Let’s take a look at a practical example that was provided by Golf Course Superintendent Chris Pekarek at The Village Links of Glen Ellyn in Illinois. Mr. Pekarek estimates more than 2 million shots are taken annually from the 1.25-acre Kentucky bluegrass practice tee and that 1.5 million of the shots result in turf removal. Although divots come in all sizes, the average iron shot is believed to remove a divot 3 inches wide by 6.5 inches long for a total of 19.5 square inches. After just 30 shots, or a small bucket of balls, 4.1 square feet of turf are removed, given a typical practice routine (30 shots x 19.5 in² = 585 in² / 144 in²= 4.1 ft²). Therefore, after an entire season, 205,000 square feet of divots are removed from the tee. That's more than 4.6 acres of turf from their 1.25-acre surface.

If instead each shot is played directly behind the previous divot, subsequent divots are reduced to an average size of 3 inches wide by 3 inches long, or 9 square inches. After 30 shots, this pattern removes only 2.1 square feet of turf. (As the first divot removes 19.5 square inches and the subsequent 9 divots remove 9 square inches each for a total of 81 square inches, a total of 100.5 square inches is removed for every 10 shots, which is typical for this linear pattern. For 30 shots or a small bucket of balls, 3 x 100.5 = 301.5 in² / 144 in² = 2.1ft²are removed.) If everyone adopted this method, the annual number of divots removed would be reduced from 205,000 square feet to just 105,000 square feet. That’s nearly a 50% reduction in the amount of turf removed.

Implementing this simple divot pattern into your practice regime has significant season-long implications at your facility. So, rather than voice a complaint about the turf during oppressive conditions in July and August, do the turf a favor and practice like a pro!

A refresher on divot repair from the club's Divot Digest.

Seed and soil boxes.

Seed and soil boxes are located on the par 3 holes. They are filled with a mixture of sand, peat, and T-1 bentgrass seed.

If your divot is intact, it is best to replace the divot. If the divot explodes then it should be filled with the sand/seed mixture.

There is no need to overfill your divot, simply fill the divot about half-full that then tamp it down firmly.

A properly filled divot will avoid damage to the mowers and allow the new seedlings to grow slightly before they are subject to their first mowing.

Properly filled divot.

Divots that are over filled will be slower to heal because the mowers continuously scalp the young turf.

The mix in the seed and soil boxes should only be used on the tees. Use of the divot mix outside of the tee surface will result in bentgrass contamination.

At NCC we have moved away from the use of seed and soil bottles on golf carts. There are several different types of grass on the golf course. It is important that the proper seed be used in the correct area. This also minimizes waste; seed will germinate if it is exposed to moisture. When you are done filling a divot please make sure to close the lid on the seed and soil box to keep the seed dry. The maintenance crew fills tee divots on a daily basis and fairway divots are filled weekly. It is more efficient for our crew to fill the divots directly, than to spend labor servicing seed and soil bottles.

Always replace your divot.

Always replace your divot - whether the replaced divot will survive is for the maintenance crew to evaluate. Replacing a divot is proper golf etiquette, and guarantees the best course condition for members and guests who play later in the day.

If replacing a tee or fairway divot, replace it in the same direction that it was removed.

Tamp the divot down firmly so that a mower will not pull it out, and so that the severed root are placed back in contact with the soil. This provides the best opportunity for the divot to survive.

Tamp the divot.

A correctly replaced divot may not always grow back, but it will insure a reasonable lie in the rare instance that a ball comes to rest in the divot.

Divots that do not survive will be removed by the maintenance crew, and the void will be filled with the seed and soil mix during the course of routine maintenance.

The membership of NCC is linked by their pride in the unique piece of property that is Naperville Country Club. Members of NCC consider it an extension of their home. While playing the course, the membership takes great pride in caring for the course and leaving it in better condition than they found it. This is manifested through proper golf etiquette of ballmark repair, divot repair ad proper cart usage.

This is obviously a different divot situation that should not even need to be addressed - a divot off of the fifth green this past weekend.

Much of this week was spent sodding or mulching flower beds and trees. Most of the sod was laid on the hill left of 3 green with the rest of it being used in various spots across the course. The hill at 3 will be roped off for a period of time. We ask that you do not play from the new sod. It will be marked as ground under repair until further notice.

Another drink station has been added near the driving range tee. This will be convenient for before the round and walking from 9 green to 10 tee.

Porfirio and Joel digging out for the stones under the drink station.

The course is beginning to shape up!

A change that began last fall is almost complete. There had been a growing concern about the area left of the green as it relates to playability and the rules of golf. The area has had several different projects done to it over the years but nothing since the project. The hill was left to grow as it wanted and had a combination of grass, shrubs, brush and a couple of trees. This left the golfers vulnerable to losing a ball from a shot that was not that far off line.

This is what the area started as in the fall. We began by clearing the brush off the ground to make it easier to find a ball that might find its way into the area. After some of the brush was removed, we mowed the area and left it over the winter.

This is what it looked like early this spring after more brush removal. At this point we had decided to remove all the undergrowth and replace sod in this area. We hope the sod will still stop a ball before it makes its way down to the fence and the golfer will be able to find their ball and play a recovery shot. Here is a series of photos of some of the work:

Each winter we spend time evaluating the prior year so that we can better prepare ourselves for the challenges that lie ahead. By all accounts the summer of 2010 was a difficult year. Courses throughout Chicago and across the eastern United States lost turf as the deadly combination of high heat and excessive rain caused cool season turf to collapse. To understand the origin of the problem you actually have to go back to the winter of 2009-2010. The summer of 2010 was preceded by the 5^th longest winter on record in the Chicago area. By March of 2010 we had already experienced 97 days where the daytime high temperature failed to reach 50 degrees. Plant photosynthesis is very temperature dependant; it is greatly diminished at both high and low temperatures. A long winter means the plant has a very shallow root system and that reserves are extremely depleted. During the spring period the plant works to recover from winter damage, store carbohydrates, and develop the root system that it will need to carry it through the summer stress period.

When summer did arrive it arrived with a bang. In 2009 the Chicago area posted only 6 days where the high temperature broke the 90 degree mark. In 2010 that number was quadrupled with 26 days breaking the 90 degree mark. This is consistent with Chicago’s trend of really hot summers occurring about once every 12 – 14 years. The summers of 1983, 1995 and 2010 are etched in the minds of local superintendents as difficult years to keep turf alive. To compound things, in 2010 the heat was combined with excessive rain that caused flooding and water logged soils. Hot, humid, and wet is a deadly combination for cool season turf grasses. Root zone oxygen is displaced as soil pore space fills with water. Water logged soils retain heat at a rate 10 times greater than that of oxygenated soils. Saturated soils that heat up during the day retain heat overnight, never cooling down. When air temperatures climb above 85 degrees the plants ability to undergo photosynthesis begins to diminish. As a result the plant rapidly uses up all of its stored carbohydrate reserves, (reserves that were deficient to start with due to the prolonged winter) and is left to starve to death as its shallow root system boils in a primordial stew.

In this weakened condition the plant is easy prey for opportunistic fungal diseases. While fungi are always present, they are normally held in check by environmental conditions and the plants natural ability to fend them off. Physiological decline of the grass plant leaves it vulnerable to a myriad of plant pathogens including: brown patch, waitea patch, summer patch, take-all patch, localized dry spot, fairy ring, dollar spot, anthracnose and pythium blight. The relationship between the plant, the environment, and the fungi is typically referred to as the “Disease Triangle”. In 2010 there is no doubt that the “Disease Triangle” was out of balance and the fungi had the upper hand. Dr. Derek Settle is the plant pathologist employed by the CDGA; he is stationed at the Midwest Golf House. As part of his service Derek makes site visits to local Chicago courses to help diagnose turfgrass related problems. In 2009 Derek did site visits at 50 local courses. In 2010 Derek received calls for site visits from 136 courses (we had Derek out a couple of times last year); this is the most calls that Derek has received dating back to 2006 when he was hired by the CDGA.

Granted, not all courses experienced turf loss, so this begs the question – why? Typically the answer has to do with course micro climates. You need not compare one course to another to find microclimates; you can identify microclimates within NCC. The left edge of #5 fairway was hard hit by an outbreak of pythium, yet the 18^th fairway was undamaged – why? The truth is that there is a micro climate that exists on the left side of #5 fairway. It is a low area that sits wet longer following rain events. The dew burns off slower on the left side of #5 contributing to leaf wetness and disease pressure. In the winter time the tree line along the fence on #5 shades the left half of the fairway causing prolonged snow and ice cover, this means the turf on that side of the fairway is weaker coming out of winter. The combination of the tree line on the left and the hillside on the right reduce air flow over the fairway. Stagnant humid air reduces the ability of the grass plant to undergo evapotranspiration (ET). This is the plants cooling mechanism; it is very similar to how we cool ourselves through the process of perspiration. Think about what happens if you sit in a hot humid steam room for too long. Once you have had all you can take you leave the sauna and find relief in the cool air outside the sauna. The turf does not have the ability “leave the sauna” and seek out the air conditioning and a cool beverage. It has to survive long enough for relief to come in the form of a drop in night time temperatures. As the air and soil temperatures cool down the plant finds relief. If the temperature doesn’t drop, or is the soils are saturated with water and are retaining heat, then the relief does not come. A surprise thunderstorm on a 90 degree summer night can be a superintendent’s worst nightmare.

So how do we build on this for 2011. Sound agronomic practices are the key to surviving periods of stress. Aerification, thatch management, proper fertility, proper irrigation, good drainage, proper air exchange within the root zone, good air movement over the turf, proper exposure to sun, good mowing techniques, proper stress management, adequate topdressing, the use of proper grass varieties, and plant protectant programs are all part of developing a successful turfgrass management program. Each winter we evaluate and refine our program.

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