We have completed all of our large core
aerifications of the year on greens and are looking forward to excellent greens
conditions throughout the remainder of the growing season moving into fall. The
biggest challenge that we have right now are the Cowan Creek fairways and
getting them back in shape and returning to 90 degrees. Below is a summary of
everything we have done since losing our water supply due to the non-potable
water line break under Sun City Blvd.
Cowan Creek
Recovery Maintenance Plan
As
you may know, the broken pipe that fed White Wing and Cowan Creek’s irrigation
pond has taken its toll on the Cowan Creek fairway’s and rough. Both courses went 10 full days without
irrigation on all areas except greens and tees.
The following paragraphs will hopefully answer some common questions,
including what we’ve been doing and what is planned to achieve full recovery.
Timeline:
- 7/17/15
– Pipe broken, water shut off
- 7/21/15
– sprayed green surrounds with a wetting agent and micronutrient
fertilizer
- 7/27/15
– Pipe repaired, irrigation turned back on
- 7/28/15
– sprayed wetting agent on fairways, roughs, green surrounds
- 8/1-8/5
– watered maximum flow (1800 gpm) throughout course, 18 hours per day
- 8/3/15
– fertilized fairways with Helena Fairway Program (Coron 25-0-0, Nucleus
0-0-25, Axilo Magnesium, Axilo Micronutrients)
- 8/8,
8/9, 8/11-8/13/15 – watered maximum flow in needed areas, using local
control boxes on individual holes
- 8/12/15
– fertilized fairways with Helena Fairway Program (Coron 25-0-0, Nucleus
0-0-25, Axilo Magnesium, Axilo Micronutrients)
- 8/13/15
– began fertilizing fairways with granular HydraHume organic fertilizer
(humic acid)
- 8/19/15 – fertilized weak areas with 21-0-0 ammonium sulfate
The
wetting agents we use aid in water retention in the soil. The fertilizer program we implemented should
increase recovery time, as well as load the soil with nutrients for the
long-term. Maximum flow refers to the
amount of water we can put out at one time without losing pressure. For Cowan Creek, 1800 gallons per minute is
generally the maximum amount of flow, which ranges from 60-90 irrigation heads
at a time.
Why did
White Wing recover so much faster?
There
is a vast difference in soil types between Cowan Creek and White Wing (in
fairways and rough). Cowan Creek was
built on straight sand and hasn’t had enough time to mature and build up
organic matter within the soil. This
causes the soil to dry out much faster than more mature, clay or silt-based
soil. White Wing’s soil is more
clay-based, which has a much greater ability to retain moisture over long
periods of time.
When will it
not be “Cart Path Only” at Cowan?
Every hole has shown improvement over the past three weeks under the
current irrigation and fertility program.
However, there are currently only a few holes that are almost completely
covered. Over the next week and moving
forward we will assess individual holes to see if they are ready for cart
traffic, but we don’t plan on allowing access to areas that are still
recovering. One of the most helpful
factors to recovery this time of year is keeping traffic off our weak areas.
Why is it
taking so long?
A
majority of the areas in the fairways and rough that dried out and lost their
color went into summer dormancy. Similar
to the winter months, the plant shuts down and focuses its energy on storing
carbohydrates in the roots. When we
began watering again, this triggered the plant to “wake up” and focus its
energy back to growth. However, some of
the areas on the course went beyond dormancy, and there are some areas on the
golf course where the grass completely died.
What is the
plan to recover these areas?
We are treating these areas as a “grow in”, which will require more
time and a lot of effort to grow new grass where there is little. Higher fertility, ample water, and
aerifications (to open up pore space) will factor in on how quickly they
recover. This will be an ongoing process
as the growing season continues and ends, at which point we will know what our
plan of attack will be for the spring.
With
the current fertility, irrigation, and cultural programs we’ve implemented to
expedite recovery, time is still the greatest factor on the road to
recovery. The photos below will display
what recovery we have achieved over time.
Over time, the healthy grass bordering areas of dead grass will grow
laterally and reduce the size of the dead areas until they are completely gone.
Bunkers
The following procedures began Wednesday, July
29, 2015. The greenside bunkers being the main priority.
· The bunkers are inspected
every morning by the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent at each
course.
· We have ordered new trap
rakes that will be delivered prior to Aug. 21st 2015 and this will
help with any grooves left in the sand.
· Each Course will have a
staff member assigned to working on bunkers throughout each day. Their job will
be to check depths, repair or remove liners and insure proper raking. This
staff member will start after their first job assignment has been completed
each morning. They will have rakes, shovels and all necessary equipment with
them to address any deficiencies in bunker maintenance. This will take place daily
until further notice.
We are reviewing and revising our training of
equipment operators in proper bunker care and educating as to what is the
acceptable standards required.
Cowan Creek – The fairway bunkers
still have the original bunker liners that have been failing over the past two
– three years. They are slowly being addressed by staff but the majority of the
bunker refurbishment will be done this fall.
White Wing – We will continue to
distribute one load of sand (22 tons) to the green side bunkers every week
moving forward until we feel all adequate depths are being reached.
Legacy
Hills –
We are on the same daily schedule as the other two courses.
USGA
Tracking
The tracking is going well and we’ve
completed the first round at White Wing and Legacy Hills. Below are screen shot
photos taken from hole #4 at White Wing to give you an idea of what the tracks
look like once they are laid over Google Earth Pro.
