Putting Greens Are Now Painted!

The putting greens at the Ford Plantation were painted last week. Painting greens adds aesthetic beauty and contrast to the golf course when the bermudagrass goes dormant. This is the first year all the greens have been painted.  Last year we experimented with painting #17 green and were very happy with the results. After the success of #17 green last year we decided to paint all the greens this year. It took two days to complete all 21 greens.

Jared Nemitz paints #7 green, feathering in the edges ensuring even distribution as he moves across the green.

 Figure 1. Greens were painted from one side of the green to another requiring two people.

Figure 2. Left: Painted green; Right, Green before painting

While painting greens provides an aesthetic enhancement it also proves to be agronomically beneficial. Research conducted at Clemson University (Figure 3) showed that painting greens raised soil temperatures three degrees compared to an unpainted green, a significant difference. Obtaining warmer soil conditions for the putting greens during winter months is something we are always striving for. Similar to covering our front nine putting greens, painting our greens helps keep soil temperatures warmer.

Figure 3. Soil temperatures taken at a depth of 3 inches on March 25, 2007. Left, painted; Middle, overseeded; and Right, no overseeding or painting (Courtesy of Clemson University).

Hope you enjoy the newly painted greens and the look it adds to the golf course.

The Pete Dye Internship Program to New Heights!

For the last two years, The Ford Plantation Golf Maintenance Department has been operating The Pete Dye Agronomic Scholarship program. This is a developmental internship program for young professionals with a passion for golf course maintenance. 

 

Figure 1-2. Interns take part in all facets of golf course maintenance including irrigation break repairs and chemical applications.

In December The Ford Plantation and the Savannah Community Foundation have teamed up to make the newly named Pete Dye Internship a 501(c)(3) tax deductible donation.  Professors from leading turfgrass universities (Georgia, Penn State, Purdue, Clemson, North Carolina State and Florida) will submit up to two nominees for the internship/scholarship program.  Nelson Caron and CW Canfield will submit these names to the Pete Dye Scholarship Committee comprised of Mike Killian, Steve Rabinowitz and Dr. Bill Thompson.  Selected golf course interns will receive a scholarship to be used for educational expenses.  Along with this scholarship they will also receive an hourly wage for the duration of the 3 month internship. Free housing, competitive wages and scholarship makes the Pete Dye Internship one of the most sought after internships in the country.

This program has been met with enthusiastic support from the members of our club and universities.  Dr. Bill Thompson, Green Committee Chair, has graciously allowed interns to stay in his guest house, free of rent, during the summer months.  “The financial support we get for this program from our members is astounding. Without their help this program would not exist.” says Director of Golf Course Maintenance Nelson Caron.

In 2009 we accepted two interns from Purdue, Brent Seyer and David Cooper.  Brent graduated from Purdue in January 10’ and is now working full-time at Augusta National Golf Club.  David Cooper will be graduating this fall and intends to join Valhalla Golf Club in KY full-time. This past summer we had two more interns from Purdue University, Dane Alexander and Kurt Hockemeyer. Dane will be interning at another golf club this upcoming summer.  Kurt is considering pursuing a Masters Degree from Purdue University when he graduates in spring.  The capstone of the internship program is when each intern gets to run the golf maintenance crew for 3-4 days at the end of the summer. David Cooper commented, “Running the crew for a week was the highlight of my summer. This is not something all interns get to do at other clubs.”

Figure 3.The highlight for most interns is managing the crew for 4 days at the end of the summer.

Figure 4. Last summer interns had an opportunity to spend a day with golf course architect Tim Liddy and engineer Ray Pittman.

The Pete Dye Internship Committee is currently accepting nominations for the upcoming 2011 summer.  If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to the scholarship fund please contact CW Canfield (cwcanfield@fordplantation.com) or Nelson Caron (ncaron@fordplantation.com).

Frost Delay Video

This helpful video explains why we must delay golf during frosty mornings.

Putting Green Covers Help Prevent Winter Injury

It's that time of year again when putting green covers will be deployed. Covering greens is a common practice done on ultradwarf putting greens during the winter months. This process helps our greens hold heat in the soil profile, prevents plant desiccation and protects turfgrass plants against extreme cold temperatures and wind. Covers will only be deployed on the front nine greens and practice green where shade and air pockets are a constant challenge to turfgrass health.

We will deploy covers at 3:00 PM in the afternoon prior to overnight temperatures forecasted to be below 40 F. If you plan on playing an afternoon round of golf, we suggest checking the overnight forecast before teeing off so you are not disrupted by the covering process. We will remove the covers after the frost has lifted the following morning.

We will communicate with the pro shop when we do cover the front nine greens. In the afternoon, the back nine greens will be available for play during the course of turf blanket deployment.

Please contact the pro shop with any questions you may have.

Figure 1. It takes approximately 1 hour to cover all of the front nine greens.

Figure 2. Once greens are covered they are fastened to the ground using fabricated tent stakes.

Figure 3. The covering process traps heat in the soil and helps maintain a healthier turfgrass plant.

Aeration of the Greens is Complete and Healing Fast!

After the holes have been punched the men push broom sand into open aeration holes. This is the process used to dilute organic matter in the upper root zone.

Before and after sand topdressing.

Greens healing.

The interns and and Assistant Superintendent Ray applying additional topdressing to smooth the surface.

Below, a quick aeration video. The process that we use here at Ford is unique to our department. I don't know of any other courses in the country using our method to clean cores. Basically, we clean cores directly behind the aerator and really limit the mess and labor involved in cleaning cores. Furthermore, we find that the process is much less abrasive on the putting green grass, a real plus in accelerating healing time. Take a look. This process was invented by our own Assistant Superintendent, Ray. In the video is Assistant Jared operating the aerator and Assistant Matt leading the crew.

Fans Deployed at Greens Sites with Poor Air Circulation

A few week ago, as you all know, our irrigation pump station failed. As a result, many of the greens went through a stress period and got thin in several areas. Not surprisingly, the areas that were most hurt were in the worst growing environments (pocket greens, with limited sunlight and limited air flow). To attempt to encourage these areas to grow back more quickly we have deployed fans powered by a generator at the "weak" sites. The increased air circulation should help eliminate or reduce some limiting factors of turfgrass growth in these areas. We will continue this process and monitor the areas for improvement remarking on the fact if air movement is as large as a limiting factor to turf health as suspected. This process is very common on bentgrass greens and totally overlooked on bermuda greens for reasons I do not understand. This test should be educational.

We simply point the fans in the direction of the weak grass areas to promote healthy air circulation.

Upcoming Major Agronomic Maintenance Practices

The 2nd Fairway Aeration... July 26-30, 2010

The course will remain open but machines will be out operating

The boom truck arrives at Ford.




The roof of the pump house is removed.

Straps are fastened to the pump.
Pump begins to be extracted.

Pump being lifted out of structure.





The trouble... large cracks in the pump itself.

A closer look at the cracks in the pump.

Divers preparing to dive to inspect pumps.

The divers found our basket filter for the pumps in terrible condition. They are suppose to have a screen around them to prevent debris and trash from getting in the pumps and causing damage.
This is the type of screening material that should be installed on the baskets. This material is made of stainless steel.

Here you can see that the metal mesh material made of galvanized screening is completely dissolved... rendering this filter useless.

Notice here, the original hardware used to fasten the basket filter to the pump was made of stainless steel and is in great shape. The club most likely saved $300 on basket filters years ago by not having them constructed in stainless steel.

Some examples of bulkhead damage.

#2 bulkhead damage.

#7 bulkhead damage. You can see here the turf just collapses in a hole.

#7 bulkhead damage.

An example of suffering turfgrass from having the irrigation system down.

No irrigation + hot weather = bad grass.

The Ford Plantation Agronomy Blog

Welcome to The Ford Plantation Agronomy Blog Spot presented by Director of Golf Course Maintenance, Nelson Caron. Feel free to navigate the blog and get caught up on the most current golf course maintenance practices and latest course conditions.

Major Scheduled Maintenance:

May 17-21, 2010...

Front 9 Greens Core Aeration

Front 9 Greens Soil Profile Amendment Rehabilitation Project

May 24-28, 2010...

Back 9 Greens Core Aeration

May 31-June 4, 2010...

Detailed attention to growing aeration holes on greens "back-in". Also to include greens topdressing to promote a smoother surface over aeration holes.

June 7-11, 2010...

Fairway Aeration

Tim Liddy, Golf Course Architect, from Pete Dye Designs here at Ford to meet with T&H Engineering Firm

Rough Scalping and Topdressing

Above: A quick aeration video

Current Course Conditions

Greens:

The greens aeration is complete on the front nine and back nine. So we now start the healing process of the aeration holes. I expect the greens to recover with in the next 2 weeks and reestablish smooth fast putting surfaces you all are accustom to by day 17. We can expect the front 9 greens to heal faster since they were aerated before the back nine.

Rest of course: fairways, tees and rough:

The fairways, tees and rough are playing very well right now. The bermudagrass is really enjoying this warm weather. The course is playing firm and fast due to the lack of rainfall this month. Tee balls hit with the driver are rolling a long way out...

Areas of Concern:
Due to the lack of rainfall, Lake Dye (the irrigation lake) is low. Therefore, to compensate we have reduced or completely eliminated watering large areas of turfgrass to conserve water. If the turfgrass becomes endangered of going through insurmountable stress, we will irrigate as necessary to keep the grass alive. So far, there is absolutely no danger of losing too much water or turf for that matter, but we will be cautious. It is summer time here in Savannah, so evening rain storms are inevitable... we just hope to get hit a few times to fill the lakes. This is the complete opposite of the wet winter we just went through.

Upcoming Golf Events Calendar

June 25, 2010...


American Cancer Society Tournament


June 29, 2010...


GA Golf Association Golf Tournament
Recent Project Update: Front 9 Greens Soil Amendment Rehabilitation Project


Before my arrival here at Ford, major turfgrass loss on the front 9 putting greens was experienced due to the turfgrass disease known as "Fairy-ring". Fairy-ring is a very troubling turf disease and occurs all over the country, especially here in the southeast. Once golf course putting greens get infected with Fairy-ring (FR) it is difficult to rid the putting surfaces of them.

After experiencing total turf death on portions of the front 9 greens the staff in 2007 decided to resod the infected areas. Today, the FR is under control in these areas but we still suffer turf decline in the exact same spots. After further investigation, it was clear why. When the 2007 staff replaced the sod on the greens they placed a bunker sand under the sod to level it with the rest of the existing green. This caused an immediate layering issue in the soil profile... a big problem when considering a sand based green composition and water infiltration. In short, the sand that was placed under the sod for leveling was not ideal for turf growth being mowed at putting green height... therefore we experienced decline.
The solution was then a simple decision, although a difficult labor intensive one. My staff had to excavate the unwanted material (the bunker sand under the existing sod) and replace it with a proper greens profile sand mix suitable for turf growth at putting green mowing heights. This was a big project and we are finally finished. The end results are encouraging and my staff will focus on establishing and growing these areas to the high putting greens standards our members have grown to enjoy. Here are some pictures of the project:









Pictured here is a perfect example of the layering issue caused by using 2 different types of sand in the greens profile. Notice the white bunker sand in the middle of this soil core.










Pictured here is a soil core sample taken from a green that was not patched with sod. This is what it should look like. Notice the grass growing on top of nice diluted greens mix.











Here we see the men and equipment needed to remove the front of # 6 green.











Notice in this slide, the white bunker sand on the left after the old sod has been removed and the bunker sand exposed. Also notice the original desired greens mix (yellow) on the right.





















Here the men apply a new desirable mix after removing the contaminated mix. We used a certified soil laboratory in the Northeast to verify that our local sand producer could blend a sand that matched our original greens mix as close as possible.








The next step was to blend the new mix with the old not encounter any layering. We used a rotto-tiller and the result was desirable. Here we see the old and new on its way to being blended.






A great deal of skill and care is required to lay the new putting green sod.












The finish product. It will take several months for this new grass to establish. We are hopeful that these areas will no longer decline and that we can provide the membership with best putting surfaces possible.