Coming Out of Winter

March 22--Thanks for the guesses from those who took a stab at the number of sprinklers on the course (see post below).  I am going to give it 3 more days so if you want a shot get your entry in soon.


Here is a picture of our greens for those of you who haven't been out this spring.  Despite the nice weather they are taking a long time to green up.  Every day that passes makes me more nervous.  When you look closely there are still live plants in the brown areas but there are also some plants that didn't make it.  We are still in the wait and see mode to determine how much damage there will ultimately be but it is apparent that there is some winterkill.  As stated earlier, most of the greens will be OK but there will be some thin spots on knobs etc.  I was asked about the condition of the course at the recent stockholder meeting and gave a long-winded "I don't know".  I was taught never to say "I don't know" because it will make you look uninformed or disinterested, but when it comes to winter damage "I don't know" really is the best answer.  Despite my repeated observations of brown grass through the winter months, it really is tough to determine how the plant is doing and what it will look like come spring.  It is really a guess, an educated one, but still a guess.  My best guess for what happened this year was the warmup in early February shot soil temperatures into the mid-40s (especially on greens which heat and cool more quickly than fairways)  prompting the plant to start coming out of dormancy.  Then we had -6 and -1 lows at the end of February which really shocked the greens and they are slowly emerging from that. So we are hoping for continued good weather and more green in the future. 

Below you see a picture of the left edge of 17 fairway along the fairway bunker.  Notice this turf is splotchy.  Why?  This area receives quite a bit of cart traffic as people tend to drive along this edge as they round the corner here.  Cart traffic leads to stress which often isn't seen until extreme conditions like heat, cold, drought come into play.  Then stressed plants are injured or killed.  Also ryegrass handles cart traffic better than bluegrass so it is more predominant in this spot but if you remember from last winter, ryegrass tends to be less winter hardy.  So you can see stressed ryegrass was hurt by the winter.  Luckily there is some bluegrass here and some more stressed rye will green up (albeit later).  This spot may need some seeding but probably will be able to "catch up" on its own given a month.  I point this out to show that there are lots of smaller microclimates and situations that affect the turf population and its health throughout the course.  There are a wide range of edaphic conditions that affect turf performance such as topography (hill vs. valley), soil texture (sandy vs. clay), exposure (south vs. north facing slopes), traffic, etc.  These differences are most easily recognized now as the turf first starts to green up.

Course Opening

March 18--Now I know how many people actually read this blog.  Only 1!! ( probably 2 because my mom reads this too!)  That is how many guesses I have received for the number of sprinklers on the course from last weeks entry (see below).  I hope there are more people reading and just not guessing. Come on you always need more golf balls-give a guess!  Going to give it another week and then reveal the winner and number.
Warm weather has hastened the green up of the fairways but the greens are lagging behind.  That is due to the prolonged exposure this winter with no snow cover to speak of.  The plant tissue was totally dessicated down to the crown.  So the plant has to regenerate a whole new leaf which takes more time until you start seeing the green leaf tip emerge.  It was another tough winter (although not as bad as last year) but you can see the cumulative effect of cold, dry exposure on the plant and its ability to get going in the spring.  For the most part the greens look like they will be OK but there will be a few knobs with some thinning.  It can be tough to assess just how much yet because some of the plants are just starting to emerge from the crown- a testament to how tough they really are but scary knowing just how precarious their situation is during the winter.

March 10-- The course is open for play and the weather is great for early March so dust off your clubs and come on out.  The turf is still very brown but is starting to darken up and with these nice temps should be looking a bit greener by the weekend.  We get lots of  "when are you going to mow the greens?" questions this time of year and that all depends on the weather.  The best guess is around March 25 which is our average first mowing,  but if it stays warm it could be earlier.  One reason we don't mow too early is that our reel mowers need moisture in the leaf to lubricate the blades and reduce heat buildup.  If there is only brown tissue with no moisture, damage can occur to our freshly sharpened blades-definitely not what we want.  Also, the sand topdressing from last fall  can exacerbate that issue so we like to wait until we have some green in our greens before we mow.

The irrigation system has been charged and we are in the process of auditing it to reveal any problems caused by the blowout.  Sprinklers are designed to run with water, not air, so winterization can potentially damage them.  So we check each head in the spring for problems like non-rotation, busted nozzles, etc. to ensure efficient irrigation for the season.  Trivia question is how many sprinkler heads are on the entire course (including clubhouse lawn, practice area, and range)?  Email (address below) your guesses and I will reward the closest guess with a sleeve of balls.
   

Golf Industry Show

February  27--The weather will prevent the course from opening on March 1.  Looking at the forecast leads me to believe it might be March 7 or 8 weekend.  Stay tuned for an update.  The cold weather we have had recently is definitely not ideal for turf.  I don't mind 6 below in January nearly as much as March 1st but still think our turf is doing better than last year.  Now it is wait and see once spring arrives.

I just returned from the Golf Industry Show in San Antonio put on by the Golf Course Superintendents of America and the National Golf Course Owners Association.  It is a good sized trade show ranking 75th in size of all trades shows with about 17,000 attendees.  It includes educational sessions and a product trade show that illustrate how large and worldly the golf industry is.  I was particularly pleased with my education sessions this year that included information ranging from the business of golf to turf fertility to cutting unit performance and more.  There is a great breadth of seminars available that encompass all facets of golf operations. It is always exciting and thought provoking to attend such conferences and really motivates me for the upcoming season.
  
Technology was present everywhere you went on the show floor from gps controlled sprayers to apps that track your maintenance inputs.  I have to admit I am not much of a techie but I always evaluate advances that might help us be more efficient.  The key is adopting technology that produces a significant effect and returns on our investment.
For example our new irrigation software definitely is able to put water where and when we want it better than before.  Also we are utilizing moisture meters to monitor soil conditions more than ever so we irrigate only as needed.  We have always tried to irrigate efficiently but these technological advances have helped us do it better.  
Many technological features are apps, data logging, or gps driven platforms (software), but there are still some old fashioned advances (hardware) that are exciting.  Cutting units continue to be fine-tuned to achieve a better quality cut at lower heights. When I say low height of cut that means .1 of an inch or lower.  Don't try that at home! You must be thinking "it's just mowing how complicated can it be"?   It is amazing how much design and setup considerations are accounted for to achieve great cutting quality.  The number of blades on a reel, the speed of the reel, ground speed of the mower, the angle of the blade and bedknife, the centerline of the reel in relationship to the bedknife, the metallurgy of the reel, the roller orientation to the reel, and how the cutting unit is carried on the mower are just a few things that influence our mowing.  Most of those things I mentioned don't mean anything to you but I relay them just so you can realize how technical "just mowing" is to us grass guys.  There continues to be advances in mowers that will help us cut better at the low heights necessary, and I am excited to get new greensmowers in a couple years that will highlight these advances.

Just like any industry golf course management continues to evolve and we try to keep up to maintain Wild Horse at a high level.  It was a great conference and show that has me excited for the golf season to arrive!

New this Year?

February 17--It seems like I get the "Are you doing anything new this year?" question as the season starts.  Most of the time the answer is "no, not really" which answers their question accurately because they are talking about anything new that they will instantly notice.  No new tees, filling in 16 bunkers, or cutting 10 inch holes are planned so it is true nothing new is in store this year that will drastically change the course.  That said though we continually look to tweak and improve our agronomic programs from year to year.  There are some minor changes that you probably won't notice but should help the course in the long term.  In actuality the most crucial part of our program is diligence and persistence whether it be pest control, cultivation, proper fertilization, etc.  So the key to keeping turf at its highest level is not a magic bullet or "something new" but a continued, consistent program.   That is why you see us doing many of the same things i.e. aeration, topdessing, etc. year after year.  The biggest mistake to be made is thinking our turf looks good so we can skip this or that.  So expect to see us doing many of the same practices but we hope to do them a little better and more efficiently each year.

We are excited about the upcoming season.   Some of the projects we have worked on the past few years should really show their benefits this season.  The greens surrounds transition to bluegrass and ryegrass although not fully complete is going well and should provide excellent playing conditions this summer.  Our sand traps have been much better in terms of playability and shape due to our continued focus on them during the fall.  We often reshape, excavate if necesssary, and refill bunkers as needed and they are much  better than 10 years ago.  No one is ever happy with bunker conditions but we have tried to make them penal (as was their design) but recoverable with a good shot.  Our irrigation controller upgrade last year went smoothly and this winter has given me time to fine-tune that program.  We expect to utilize it to its fullest potential this year and while it may be difficult for the golfer to discern we are able to irrigate more efficiently and use less water.  This should subtly lead to better overall turf conditions.  Another improvement over the years has been in the "wooga".  Our goal when we started burning on a regular basis was to reduce the bluegrass population, control unwanted weeds like sandburrs and ragweed, and make the rough more playable.  Although the playability of the rough can be an issue during high precipitation years we think we have accomplished most of those goals. Can it be better? Yes, but the health of the prairie in terms of plant diversity and the aesthetic value of the native flora is much better than when we first started banging balls around this pasture. 

Golf Course Rankings

January 12--Hopefully you all got a new putter or driver from Santa and have been carefully getting the feel for it in your living room or garage.  Perhaps you are lucky enough to travel to warmer climes to utilize your new gift.  There are lots of golf courses to choose when you travel and each golfer looks for a course that fits their golfing ideal for a variety of reasons.  Perhaps it is design, maintenance, or even access that determines where you play.   Combining those attributes usually makes a course a "must play".  That is what we try to accomplish here at Wild Horse and it has garnered attention from many golf publications, the latest of which is our inclusion into Golf Digest's Top 100 You Can Play list.  It is an honor to be included in such rankings and a validation for the hard work put in by all clubhouse and maintenance staff.  Whether Wild Horse is number 30 or 100 on the list really isn't that important as the differentation between the two is mere decimal places in most cases.  But being included in the list shows that our product is easily in the top 5% of all golf courses.   That in itself may not be a reason to play here but to those travelling golfers looking for a great experience such lists are a good source.  We at Wild Horse are extremely grateful for all of our guests that make the effort to come see us annually or even for a one-time stopover on a cross-country trip.  We cannot survive without these players which makes each "places to play list" so very valuable to us.  Anyway just wanted to congratulate Wild Horse for its accomplishments and thank all who have been a part of it and that includes our members and guests through the years!

The course received a nice rain in mid-December and it has been cold since with some snow cover.  To this point the winter has been much more favorable than last so we hope for the best for the rest of the winter.  

Early Winter Arrival

December 11--I thought that at the start of November the course was as green as it ever had been at that time, but by the end of November it was as brown as it had ever been.  It has been a dry, erratic start to the winter and we have already started to water greens with our deep line irrigation system.  It remains to be seen how the rest of the winter will go but some moisture from above would be welcome for sure.

First picture shows the cracking in the greens that is already occurring.  The second picture illustrates just how brown it is already.  Usually, this is what it looks like in February.  Hopefully we will get some snowcover soon.  
You can see the cover on the knob in the top right corner of the previous picture.  The cold weather froze up the greens before we could get covers out, but the recent warm spell has allowed us to get some of the covers out on our most exposed hills.

November 17--- I guess winter made its arrival early!  WOW!! it has been frigid.  Luckily we were able to blow out the irrigation system in a mad scramble just before the cold snap.  How this abrupt change in temps affect the turf remains to be seen.  Grasses have an amazing ability to physiologically ready themselves for winter and freezing temperatures.  Daylength and lower temperatures stimulate changes in the sugar content of the leaf making it more similar to the antifreeze found in your car's radiator.  Temperatures as radical as we just encountered will certainly test a plant's winter survival mechanisms!

October was a beautiful month and we were able to continue progress on the greens' surrounds transition to bluegrass/ryegrass.  There will be some small open voids of dead bentgrass come next spring but they should continue to fill quickly. Overall we are extremely pleased with the establishment of new turf species in the approaches.

Hope you all checked out the new aerial videos of the course.  We think it looks fantastic and are looking forward to next years golf season.

Tenacity

September 23--
Here are some pics illustrating the effect of Tenacity on the bentgrass in our greens surrounds.  The first picture is showing 17 colllar which has a very high population of bentgrass as is shown by the consistent white color throughout.  The green strip is where I ran a strip of Tenacity (2nd application) last year.  It shows much more blue/ryegrass as more bent was killed last year.

The second picture is around 18 green.  You can see the grass right around the green surface is much darker indicating more rye/blue and less bent.  Why would that be?  That area receives a tremendous amount of traffic due to mower turnarounds (both greens and collar mowers).  The ryegrass handles the extra traffic much better than the bent and is outcompeting it and becoming more dominant in the stand.  This started occuring when we began overseeding ryegrass 3 or 4 years ago but was hastened by last year's Tenacity application.

The last picture is a closeup of what is happening within the turf on the collars.  The darker lines are the overseeded bluegrass from last year.  In between those lines is the dying bentgrass.  Harder to see are the smaller seedlings from this years overseeding which will help fill the void of dead bentgrass.


2013 Tenacity Application

Here is that same area in the first picture above from the prior year.  Notice the stripe of ryegrass.






We have talked alot about the transition of grass types on our greens surrounds.  These two pictures illustrate how the chemical applications we made this fall are helping us accomplish that.  The dark stripe you see is where I took the spot sprayer and made a second application of Tenacity in a month.  What you see is a predominance of ryegrass where we removed more bentgrass with that second app.  As we have discussed before we wanted to do a second application this fall, but we didn't feel comfortable doing that on a large scale.  That stripe looks good but what you cant see is the ryegrass is pretty thin in that strip and would affect playability.  So we decided to go conservatively this year but can get more aggressive in future years.  The second picture shows a similar chemical application from last year.  Again you see the darker ryegrass dominating in that stripe.  While color is not the reason for choosing rye/bluegrass over bentgrass you can see it is an added benefit of switching grass types.

You surely have noticed the whitening of some areas of certain fairways if you have been out lately.  This is again the work of the chemical Tenacity.  On #14, 15, 16, and 17 fairways we sprayed some large areas of the fairway that had numerous bentgrass patches. You can also see several splotches throughout the course where we have targeted bentgrass by spot spraying isolated patches.  The applications made to  #1, 3, 10 and 18 are a bit different in their purpose.  We are always looking for new or better ways to keep our fairways pure and this is a test to see what rate and/or timing of Tenacity might be most effective on Poa and rough bluegrass.  Just as was the case with the surrounds, these areas will be pretty stark for awhile but will gradually green back up  and we can assess how much of the unwanted grass was removed.