They often say be careful what you wish for, and that certainly sprung true earlier in the month when i was pleading for some rain. With the two new holes being sprigged late last month, rain was always going to be needed to ensure the initial grow in period went successfully. As it turned out we got some serious rain, with 113mm falling in a two week stretch that was probably a little more than I would have liked. Along with the excessive rain, we also saw extremely low temperatures during this period. These cold temperatures made it difficult for the turf on the new holes to grow at a time when quick growth was essential, but on the positive side, it made managing the rest of the course easier with the slower growth.
GREENS
I decided to to get a number of tests done on our greens which included both soil and root health examinations. Although soil tests are a very common practice on golf courses, root health tests are a little more rare. The benefit of root health tests is that it enables you to pick up any issues with the plants health before it is visible on the surface, therefor giving you more time to eradicate any deficiencies before they become a serious problem. What we found was a very high reading of Pythium in our roots, which is a disease that we have constantly fought over the summer months at our course. Pythium is caused by soils that have heavy compaction and an inability to drain water away effectively. This describes our soil type perfectly, as our heavy clay soil makes water drainage very difficult. When you add wet, humid and warm conditions, then this is the perfect breeding ground for pythium along with a whole host of other golf green diseases. We have since devised a fungicide program to limit the effect of these diseases (particulary pythium)
Overall, I believe our greens have been in good shape, with the density of the grass blades being particularly pleasing. Good density in your turf not only shows a healthy plant, but also helps with a smooth surface for the ball to roll on. The downside to a dense surface is that it usually means slower green speeds, but I will much sooner take a dense, healthy and slower green speed over a thin, weak and fast one.
As we now head into the summer months, its this time of year when our irrigation program goes into full force. As i discussed earlier, a number of tests were done which also included a water quality test of our irrigation. Since this would be our first year irrigating from our new dam, I thought it would be beneficial to see the quality of the water that was being irrigated onto our greens. What these tests showed was very high levels of sodium in our water, which can be detrimental to a plants health. Sodium is effectively salt, and just like humans if a plant absorbed too much salt it can become dry, dehydrated and struggle to absorb the nutrients it needs to stay healthy. High sodium also has an affect on PH levels, with high levels causing an Alkaline soil.
Extra nutrition with a key focus on calcium are the best ways to eradicate high levels of sodium in the soil.
FAIRWAYS
The fairways are now in full growth mode as we struggle to keep up with the aggressive growth that we see this time of year. We applied a growth regulator in the middle of the month to try and limit this issue. Not only does this allow for staff to focus on other jobs, but saves a significant amount in machine use and diesel costs by slowing the growth of the plant down. Growth regulators also helps the grass grow horizontally, which creates a denser and more uniformed playing surface.
As usual our santa ana fairways are now in wonderful shape, and with the significant rains that we have had early in the month, I am hopeful that they will continue to be of excellent quality throughout the entire summer. Im often surprised by members who are not aware that our fairways receive no irrigation, and for those still not aware, the only water that our fairways receive is when it rains.
BUNKERS
The summer months are generally the time when bunkers need topping up due to the dry conditions. Sand becomes very light due to lack of moisture and when we get windy/hot days, we often lose significant amounts of sand from our bunkers. Over the coming months you will notice a change in the sands colour when we top them up. Our sand provider explained that they are now collecting the sand from a different part of their quarry, and although the grading of the sand is exactly the same as the sand we have used in the past, the colour has now changed to a slightly darker (yellow) colour. I will admit that I was a little frustrated upon hearing this as it is likely to look a little funny with different colored sand throughout our bunkers. This was the sacrifice we had to make to ensure our bunkers will maintain a consistent texture throughout.
Continuing with bunkers, all that have played in the last week would have noticed the removal of the two fairway bunkers on the third hole. I approached the match committee to remove the bunkers for a number of reasons.
Firstly, when constructed there was very little drainage added, with only one single pipe down the middle of the base of each bunker. No gravel layer was added to improve drainage nor was bunker matting added to ensure the sand and clay didn't contaminate each other. As a result these two bunkers have been flooded with water for the majority of winter and had been GUR for six straight months prior to them being removed. That in itself meant something had to be done.
The design and shape of them was also not what I would recommend, with the face of each bunker facing the tee, not towards the green as it should be. This meant that if a ball landed in the right side of the bunkers, then you would not need to hit over the lip towards the green at all.
In regards to the tactical standpoint these bunkers did very little, with the majority of golfers not being able to reach the bunkers with their tee shot, and the second shot being aimed well away from the bunkers when heading towards the green. This meant that for a large majority of our members these bunkers almost never came into play. For the longer hitters that could reach them, they would often be aiming further to the right to take on the water hazard, therefor aiming well away from the bunkers.
Their positioning in regards to how the hole shapes was also not ideal, with the bunkers being on the outside of the dogleg. Although there are many examples of bunkers being on the outside of the dogleg, most bunkers are situated on the inside for tactical reasons. With the water hazard already on the right side, its my opinion that there was already a significant amount of challenge that the tee shot presented.
The state that the bunkers were in would have required a significant cost to fix properly (approx $15,000) and when you add the other reasons above, it became a "no brainer" for the match committee to decide to remove them.
Id like to thank one of our members in Matthew Guy (sure constructions) who took the time without any cost to the club to do the job for us.
NEW HOLES
As discussed earlier, the colder weather at the beginning of the month made progress slower than we would have hoped. We received the rain we desperately needed, but the lack of warmth kept soil temperatures down and therefor made fast growth difficult. With the excessive rain that we had in the first few weeks of November, a number of washouts occurred on the fairways and in the bunkers which was to be expected in the early stages. When we have a better coverage of turf we will be able to rectify these problems much easier. The excessive rain also caused a disease called "damping off" to occur on both greens. This disease is common in new turf when excessive amounts of water is applied, and very little could be done about it when four inches of rain falls in a fort night. The third green continues to struggle as a result of the ducks continuing to eat away at the new growth. We have tried placing snakes and owls to try and scare them away, but it would appear they are smarter than we hoped. Being that both greens are situated to a near bye wetlands, its likely that the ducks will be a constant issue on these greens. The second green has a much better coverage of growth, but the weeds that have been blown in from the paddocks and construction sites near bye are certainly an issue. With the growth still in its early stages, applying a herbicide to kill the weeds is still not an option. Hopefully within the next 4 weeks we can start to target these problem areas.
On a positive note, the early rain gave the fairway sprigs the springboard they needed to root in and develop strongly, and it this stage Im confident we can get the fairways growing nicely over the next few months. As Ive already mentioned, the weather gods play the key role in the establishment of these new holes, so I continue to hope for consistent light rain falls mixed with some warm sunshine.
As we now head into summer, this is normally a wonderful time of year to play golf, so I hope you are all getting out for a regular hit and enjoying everything the the DG&CC has to offer.
Ryan Hammond
DG&CC Course Superintendent
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