White Wing Greens Update May 2014

White Wing Greens

Just a reminder that the Putting Green and Short Game greens at White Wing are closed until further notice.

The temporary greens are now open at WW and the recovery program on the regular greens is well under way. On Monday we verti-cut, aerified and flushed the greens them with a product called gypsum. We applied a fungicide on Tuesday to cure the leaf spot disease that was affecting the green and fertilizer applications will take place twice this week both granularly and sprayed.

The temporary greens have been mowed for a week now and we have them just under a quarter inch in height. They have been topdressed and rolled numerous times and should provide a decent role. We have painted new yardages to the temporary greens next to the old yardage stones on the tee boxes and in the fairways.

Attached are the new yardages measured to the center of the temporary greens.

Greens Conditions May 2014

White Wing Greens

With the current problems that we are having on the greens at White Wing we have decided, with the support of the Golf Committee, to go to temporary greens starting Tuesday, May 6, 2014. We feel that it will be more beneficial to alleviate foot traffic stress now and perform the necessary maintenance to reestablish the turf quickly, rather than keep the greens open and have sub-standard putting conditions for a longer period of time. Once the turf is healthy again and meets our playability standards we will resume play on them at that time. The progress of each green will vary and so the greens will open back up at different intervals. Progress will be posted in the communicator and the maintenance Blog so that all of our residents are up to date on the progress. Recently we have seen signs of increased growth since the temperatures have gone up and we are on a very aggressive fertility program. Moving forward we will use the time line provided below.

April 29^th – May 5^th

Prepare the temporary greens by mowing out an area in the fairway just short of the original greens. The temporary greens will be mowed and topdressed just as a normal green would be so that it will play with some consistency. Temporarily switch to a solid flag color rather than red, white, blue (front, middle, back) and keep the pins located in healthy areas of turf and away from high traffic walk up areas until we go on the temporary greens.

May 5^th

Aerify, verti-cut, fertilize, topdress and flush the original greens

May 6^th

Open temporary greens for play

Continue on fertility and cultural plan

Legacy Hills Greens

May 5^th

Legacy Hills only having a few greens that are weak we are going to temporarily switch to a solid flag color rather than red, white, blue (front, middle, back) and keep the pins located in healthy areas of turf and away from high traffic walk up areas. This will continue until the weak areas are healed. Just as a reminder, all of our flagsticks have prisms built in them for the use of range finders.

Cowan Creek Greens

The greens at Cowan Creek were aerified this past Monday and should be completely healed up in the next seven to ten days. They will be rolled and topdressed during this time to insure that we still have a smooth putting surface.   

SCTX Greens Conditions April 2014

As we all know this winter has been one of the coldest we've had on record in many years. When we have cold temperatures like this there is a chance for winter kill and turf desiccation.

Bermudagrass is a warm season turfgrass that enters a dormant state after the first hard frost of the year. Although the top of the plant (the leaves) are brown and appear dead, the underground portions of the turf (stolons, rhizomes, and roots) are alive. The turf will return to active growth when warmer temperatures return in the spring. The soil serves as a buffer to protect healthy bermudagrass, but when temperatures drop to well below freezing or are sustained over many days, even the underground plant parts can freeze and die.

The severity of the kill depends on many factors, including the health of the turf going into the winter, the amount of traffic the area receives, shade (which results in lower temperatures), and the height that the turf is mowed. As a general rule, the lower the height of cut, the greater the likelihood of damage. This is why greens are more susceptible than other areas of the golf course.

Although the grass is greening up it has not reached the temperatures necessary to start actively growing. The temperatures need to be a combined 150 for the turf to really get going. The greens especially need the warmer temperatures to start growing and filling in from the winter months when they had little growth at all.

We are experiencing Winter Kill at Legacy Hills and White Wing this spring and to add to the problem we are also dealing with various diseases such as Spring Dead Spot, Leaf Spot and Bermudagrass Decline. Cowan Creek has fared much better than the other two courses this winter but it too is suffering from some disease pressure. (Bermudagrass Decline)   
Why has Cowan Creek not suffered the winter damage like the other two courses? The soil structure at Cowan is very different than the other two courses, there are no shade issues to deal with, it has better air movement and we have been on a much more aggressive aerification plan at Cowan over the past two years.


I have spoken with other Superintendents and Fertilizer vendors in the area and this is not just a Sun City problem. From Austin to San Antonio many of the golf courses are suffering from the extremely cold winter that we've had.


So what's next? How do we recover?
We have already applied the fungicides necessary to eliminate the diseases that we have and we've already seen signs of recuperation on the greens. The next part of our recovery program will be an aggressive fertility program, solid tine aerifications and frequent, light topdressings. Our goal will not only be to get them healthy again but to keep them as smooth as possible while we go through the recovery process.


How long will it take to recover?
Depending on the weather, we could be looking at a 8 week time frame. If it does not reach the 150 combined temperature that I mentioned earlier it could be a couple of weeks longer than that. Be assured we will be using everything at our disposal to get the greens healthy again as quickly as possible.


Attached below are the Lab Reports for the three golf courses:




Lab Report For:      Legacy Hills Golf Club

      

Date of Analysis:      4/2/2014

            Diagnosis:                  Leaf Spot

                  Sample Location                                                                                  Disease Severity

                                                                                                                          0--1--2--3--4--5

                  #1 Green                                                                                            |||||||||||||||||

            

              Notes: Avoid high N.

            Diagnosis:                  Winter Injury

                  Sample Location                                                                                  Disease Severity

                                                                                                                         0--1--2--3--4--5

                  #1 Green                                                                                            ||||||||||||||||||||||

                 

Wednesday, April 02, 2014                                                                                                                                  

Lab Report For:      White Wing

Date of Analysis:      4/2/2014

            Diagnosis:                  Leaf Spot

                  Sample Location                                                                                  Disease Severity

                                                                                                                         0--1--2--3--4--5

                  WW #18 Green                                                                                    |||||||||||||||||

                

              Notes: Avoid high N.

            Diagnosis:                  Spring Dead Spot

                  Sample Location                                                                                  Disease Severity

                                                                                                                         0--1--2--3--4--5

                  WW #18 Green                                                                                    |||||||||||||||||

      

Wednesday, April 02, 2014                                                                      

              Diagnosis:                  Winter Injury

                  Sample Location                                                                                  Disease Severity

                                                                                                                         0--1--2--3--4--5

                  WW #18 Green                                                                                    ||||||||||||    

  Lab Report For:    Cowan Creek Golf Club

  Date of Analysis:      4/2/2014

            Diagnosis:                  Bermudagrass Decline

                  Sample Location                                                                                  Disease Severity

                                                                                                                         0--1--2--3--4--5

                  # 7 Putting Green                                                                                  ||||||||||||||||||||||

    

There are many variables that influence the art and science of the diagnosis of turf disease.  Turf Diagnostics Inc. (TDI) will attempt to provide the most accurate diagnosis.  It is important to realize that TDI is giving you a "most probable cause" and that many times there is not an exact answer.  Use the diagnosis with an open mind and remember that the better the health of the plant the better it can withstand any adversarial  attack.                 

Disease severity is a qualitative measurement and NOT quantitative. The scale is based on 1-5 with one being the least disease and five being the most disease.

Thank you for using Turf Diagnostics Inc.

Course Conditions Update

Course Conditions

All three courses are doing well and we hope to have a good transition this year starting next month depending on the temperatures. The big negative that we continue to deal with has been the ryegrass and poa annua on the White Wing greens. In particular the practice greens and the first few greens on the back nine. Unfortunately the post emergent, selective herbicides that we have been applying have not been as effective as usual due to the low temperatures and from what we are hearing from the USGA poa annua’s ability to build up a tolerance to certain herbicides. We have made additional applications since the weather has warmed up and we are now starting to see wilting and yellowing of the winter weeds. We have to be careful during this time of year even when using selective herbicides because they can still “sting” the sensitive Bermuda grass greens that are trying to come out of dormancy. As the temperatures start to get warmer and stay warmer over the next couple of months the poa annua will start to go away due to its intolerance of the hotter weather and the Bermuda’s aggressive growth.

White Wing Greenside Bunkers

We have started to fill the bunkers on the front nine and will complete all of the greenside bunkers in the next couple of weeks. Our goal is to have everything done prior to the member-member at the end of the month. Most of the bunkers have been completed on the front nine and we are moving on to the back nine. The best way to decide if the bunker should be played at this time is that if it has SAND and RAKES in the bunker it is open for play.  

White Wing Bunker Update

The greenside bunkers at White Wing have been a hot topic for some time. Since the installation of the new bunker liners and replacement of the old sand we have been experiencing less than desirable results and maintenance issues with the renovated traps. After laboratory tests we found that it has a low pentrometer rating for use as bunker sand. A pentrometer tests the firmness of the sand which translates to how likely the ball will bury or have a “fried egg” lie.  The USGA recommends that the number be close to a 2.5 or higher. The sand that was tested by the lab came back with a lower number than what is recommended. We tried to incorporate other sand in an attempt to bring this number up. Also we removed sand as it was too deep in some areas with little to no luck.  In late 2013, the decision was made to shell out, or remove, this undesirable sand and begin searching for something that would be firmer, allowing for better bunker performance. Also during this time we were able to address any liner issues that we were having and make repairs to some of the bunker edges as needed. We have since made the decision to go with sand from Osburn Materials based in San Antonio. This same sand is being used in the bunkers at TPC San Antonio with positive feedback. Director of Maintenance Gary Wilson paid a visit to that location to see this sand in place, talk to the Director of Maintenance there about the sand and even hit some balls out of the bunker for a true test. At this time we are putting the new sand in the front nine bunkers and will continue to monitor the sand depth as they compact and are used. The old sand is being saved and can be used for numerous other projects such as filling rough areas on the driving ranges and topdressing greens and fairways this summer. The plan is to have this project completed by the end of March.

February 2014 Course Conditions

Course Conditions

All three courses are doing well and we hope to have a good transition this year starting next month depending on the temperatures. The only negative that we have really been dealing with has been the ryegrass and poa annua on the White Wing greens. In particular the practice greens and the first few greens on the back nine. Unfortunately the post emergent herbicides that we have been applying have not been as effective as usual due to the low temperatures and from what we are hearing from the USGA poa annua’s ability to build up a tolerance to certain herbicides. We have made additional applications since the weather has warmed up and we are now starting to see wilting and yellowing of the winter weeds. As the temperatures start to get warmer and stay warmer over the next couple of months the poa annua will start to go away due to its intolerance of the hotter weather.

White Wing Greenside Bunkers

The White Wing Greenside Bunkers are still being worked on and we have almost completed removing all of the old sand out of the bunkers. We have started to fill the bunkers on the front nine and will be closed the next two Mondays to help expedite the process.

Audubon

Currently working on submitting a site map that displays our natural areas throughout each course and the surrounding areas.

GCSAA Certification

Continue to work on case studies and Supt. portfolios.

2014 Golf Industry Show

The first week of February Craig, Jonathan and I attended the GCSAA Golf Industry Show in Orlando, Fl.  We each took different classes and attended the Trade Show on Wednesday. The Supts.and I are working on a summary of our attendance and will have it available for the next GC meeting. Next year the GIS is in San Antonio.   

Cowan Creek Drainage Project #1 Fairway

Submitted by Brad Sladek, Assistant Golf Course Superintendent, Cowan Creek

  In response to a few issues with #1 fairway drainage laid out by the Playability Sub-Committee our staff addressed the following:

• Wet area from middle of fairway down towards the creek at 125 yards on #1 fairway
• Wet area on the left side of the fairway and rough to the creek at 85 and 50 yards on #1
• Exposed large drain pipe in left rough #1
   
  Our staff utilized the scheduled closed day on Monday, January 27, 2014 to work on these issues.   We used our new John Deere skid steer with a trenching attachment to excavate the trenches (Figure 1).  This machine allowed us to move through the digging portion of the project much more quickly and efficiently.  Only a small amount of hand excavation was necessary to obtain a satisfactory sub-grade for our drainage lines. 
  

  
  
   
  

  Trenching Attachment

  

  Trench

  A large contributor to why we had standing wet areas on the course was the fact that the lower 20 to 40 feet of the fairway and rough was not capped with sand to specifications.  This area contained essentially no sand and lots of heavy clay and rock.  Not only did this area not drain, but it kept the areas above it from draining as well (Figure 2).
  
  
  
   
  Figure 3 shows the cross section of the drainage installation we used, utilizing four inch corrugated pipe, pea gravel, a sand capped layer, finished with the sod.  Some of the clay-like soil and rock we excavated was used to cover the large, exposed drain pipe in the left rough on #1.
  With help from White Wing and Legacy Hills crew members we were able to move quickly through the process, completing the entire project in one day.  All three areas are marked as Ground Under Repair (GUR) with white paint.  Our staff has plans to continue to improve the drainage on holes #3, 6, 9, and 12 in the future.

January 2014 Course Conditions Update

Course Conditions

This month has been primarily about getting the bunkers done at White Wing, which is still an ongoing project. The individual courses have also been spraying post emergent for any ryegrass or poa annua that has germinated on the greens and/or surrounds. All three courses are very clean in terms of weed pressure and we will start our spring pre-emerge applicationsnext month. Something new that we are going to be trying next month is an Organic colorant for the greens. Recently we had a company come out and use the product on the Cowan Creek putting green as a free trial. We liked the product and the results, this will make the greens a natural green color similar to what they look like in the summer. Not only does this make them look more appealing to the golfers but the darkness of the green helps attract heat and in turn heat up the soil temperatures. This product is very inexpensive compared to the other products out there today and the results are better as well. 

As you can see, there is a dramatic difference in appearance.  

Staffing Levels

Staffing has been a problem over the past month but recently we have started getting some new employees in and staffing levels are slowly increasing back up to where they need to be.

 

White Wing Greenside Bunkers

The White Wing Greenside Bunkers are still being worked on and we have almost completed removing all of the old sand out of the bunkers on the front nine. Currently we have filled the greenside bunker on #1 and would like some feedback from the committee on the new sand. The sand that we have switched to is the same sand used at the TPC San Antonio course and they have been very pleased with its playability.

Initially we thought we would have moved more quickly through this process but due to a reduction in staff over the past month it has taken more time than we expected. This is the highest thing on our priority list and we will continue to work hard to have this completed before March. Since this project has been so time consuming we have decided to alter our original plan of having all of the greenside bunkers as GUR and will now only play the bunkers that are marked GUR on the front nine at White Wing as ground under repair (GUR). We will send out update when we have completed the front nine and inform everyone when we are moving to the back nine to begin work. We would like to thank you all for your patience and understanding during this major project, we look forward to its completion.

Audubon

Currently working on submitting a site map that displays our natural areas throughout each course and the surrounding areas.

GCSAA Certification

Continue to work on case studies and Supt. portfolios.

2014 Golf Industry Show

The first week of February Craig, Jonathan and I will be attending the GCSAA Golf Industry Show in Orlando, Fl.  While attending we will be taking numerous classes that we will report on at the Feb. GC meeting.

White Wing Greenside Bunker Update

The White Wing Greenside Bunkers are still being worked on and we have almost completed removing all of the old sand out of the bunkers on the front nine. In the next week we will start installing the new sand on the front nine. Initially we thought we would have moved more quickly through this process but due to a reduction in staff over the past month it has taken more time than we expected. This is the highest thing on our priority list and we will continue to work hard to have this completed before March. Since this project has been so time consuming we have decided to alter our original plan of having all of the greenside bunkers as GUR and will now only play the bunkers that are marked GUR on the front nine at White Wing as ground under repair (GUR). We will send out update when we have completed the front nine and inform everyone when we are moving to the back nine to begin work. We would like to thank you all for your patience and understanding during this major project, we look forward to it's completion.