Aerification Spring 2015

Spring is the time for us as Turfgrass Managers, to start thinking of the new season that will be upon us in just a few short months. It is an important time to prepare the turf for the stresses of the summer heat, and relentless pest pressure. To prepare the turf, we use a combination of cultural practices including the most important one, aerification.

The turf grows in a unique environment, getting nutrients and life support from the soil. An ideal soil system is 50% insoluble material, while the other 50% is made up of 25% water, and 25% oxygen. If you noticed, I mentioned “ideal.” Over the winter months the soil has become saturated with water, and since the insoluble material cannot be displaced, oxygen is pushed from the soil system as well as the plant respiration which adds carbon dioxide to the profile. This leaves the turf in a less than desirable situation.

With that being said, as turf managers, we make the decision to core aerify the turf. The goal is to balance the soil’s three part system, while also removing unwanted thatch created by the natural attrition of the shoots, roots, and stems. The process also enhances nutrient uptake while the plant begins the root driving process. We remove about 10% of the turf’s surface. To offset thatch buildup, removal of 20% of the surface per year is recommended by the USGA. That gives us the reasoning behind the need of twice per year. Click here for the recommendations of the USGA.

Aerification is a disruptive process. Playing conditions will be affected for up to four weeks, depending upon weather. An application of fertilizer, one week before aerification day, will get the plant growing rapidly. Expect reduced green speeds coming into aerification. The day of aerification, after we have filled the holes completely with sand, we will apply another application of fertilizer. The purpose of increased fertility during this process is to speed up the healing process and give the plant the nutrition it needs to grow roots.

Later this month and in April, we will finish the teeing areas and aerify nine holes of fairways. We have had bad luck with the weather which has slowed our process, but we are still moving along fairly well considering the hangups.  We will be applying fertilizer to the fairways and begin our summer fertility program as the weather continues to improve.  I look forward to this coming season.  It will be a great year to get out there and play some golf.

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Small Putter Repair

The last aerification cycle we harvested some of the plugs to replace some of our small putting green.  If you have been around the practice area lately you probably have noticed this area.  We currently have it roped off and it will not be usable until spring.

Thanks for your patience.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Fall Aerification

The leaves are falling and the temperature is dropping.  I didn't think it was going to warm up today.

A couple weeks ago we aerified the greens with quad tines.  We typically do the quad tines in the fall and the larger, longer tines in the Spring.  I like to vary the depth and size each year.  This fall the project went well with very few hiccups.  We timed the weather nearly perfect as we had as much rain over the next few days as we did all summer.  The rain helped wash all the sand into the canopy.  Unfortunately the weather has been a little cooler than my liking.  It is making the healing process a little slower than normal although the greens are nearly 100% now.  We topdressed this week to help smooth out any left over bumps, but the greens have done fairly well given the cooler weather.

One week ago

Couple days ago

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Organic Fertilizer

This year we've been trying a new organic fertilizer. The fertilizer comes from the water treatment plant at Chambers Creek. It seems like the fertilizer is doing a good job because the grass is greener this year than it was last year. The turf is holding up well to the heat of the summer.

If you have any questions about the organic fertilizer please contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
Justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Divot party

I'd like to thank all the members that helped us out with the divot party this year. We had an amazing turnout of over 60 members. It took us a little over two hours to finish the hole golf course. The members not only fixed divots in the fairways, but they also fixed ball marks on the greens.

Thank you,

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
Justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Clean Up

If  you have been out on the putting green lately you probably have noticed the blackberries growing tall enough to block the view of the wetland.

We have done some clean up to remove a lot of the blackberries and open up a better view of the beautiful wetland that the back nine surrounds.

Thank you for your comments out on the course this summer.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Waterfalls

It has been a while, but the waterfalls on #3 and #8 are working again.  Last season for a short time we had the pump in working order.  A power failure took the pump offline and it became a warranty item.  Recently the work was completed and we installed the pump.

The waterfall pump on #2 is still in disrepair.  It is currently in the shop but on hold until we can figure out what the best mode of action might be to have the waterfall operating again.  The pump has been rebuilt several times and rebuilding it an additional time might not be the best way to go about the issue.  We have had an engineer look at the waterfall and he will draft up a plan to install a larger pipe to achieve better flow and less wear and tear on the pump.


If you have any questions about the water features please contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Grinders

It has been a long time coming, but we finally have purchased grinders for our course.  What does this mean you might ask?  Well, having our own grinders gives us the ability to grind our reels more consistently to provide the course with a better cut on a daily basis.  In the past we were stuck taking our reels to Hawks Prairie to sharpen the reels.

We already had a grinding room in the shop and now it is being used for grinding.  Sharp reels reduce plant injury.  The best analogy that i can think of is cutting a piece of paper with a pair of scissors gives you a clean cut while hitting a piece of paper with a hammer will cut the paper in half but does a lot of excess damage and takes a lot of effort.  It is the same with the mowers.  Dull reels cause problems for turf and the machinery.

If you have any questions about our new grinders please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Training Day

Last week, Dan the Assistant Golf Course Superintendent held a training day for the staff.  He brought the crew out to the putting green to teach them all how to mow and roll the greens.  After he felt everyone was well versed with the walk mowers and roller he headed to the eighteenth fairway for fairway unit training.


The training day was great for the guys to not only learn and teach each other how they mow the greens, but it also brought the guys together to have a little fun a share some camaraderie.

It was a great way to kick off the summer with the new guys.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Chipping Green Construction Update

The chipping green project is coming along nicely. We started the project last fall during aerification.  We used the plugs that we harvested from the greens to create a new chipping green.  My vision was to have the green represent the golf course much better and also give our members many more options to practice their short game.

The small chipping green is now roughly double the size.  It has three distinct tiers that flags can be placed on the green.  Many more shots can be played around the green by either running it up the tier or having a shot that might land on one tier and filter down to the next.  I wanted to exercise the imaginations of the golfers. If you want to increase your short game imagination, Steven, Sam and Brandon can show you some very unique shots that will not only impress your friends, but might save you a couple strokes as well.

We are still in the process of coming down to the final height of cut that will match the greens on the course.  The green will provide a true comparison to the golf course.

If you have any questions about the new chipping green or want to add some ideas to the practice center
improvement plan, please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Greenhouse Installation

This winter has been busy for us on the turf team.  We have started and finished many projects and are still trying to tie up more projects before the grass begins to grow too fast.
Another project that we have been working on this winter was the installation of a greenhouse in our maintenance area.  The greenhouse will give us the ability to grow our own annual plants for color in the summer months.

We spend a few thousand dollars every year to purchase annual color for the clubhouse and around the course.  Our greenhouse project has cost a fraction of the price and I expect that we can cut our costs in half if not more by growing our annual plants from seed.

I will post more pictures as we begin to assemble the new greenhouse and start planting our new annuals.  I am hoping to grow some perennial plants as well to either replace, add to or create new landscaped areas that will help add some finishing touches to the golf course.  The greenhouse will give us the ability to have more control on when we want to install our annuals and how healthy they are coming into the season.

I have to thank our new mechanic Geoff Adams.  This has been his project and he originally tossed the idea onto the table as a way to become more self sufficient and be able to utilize our composted green waste.  He has been a great addition to the staff and he has done wonders to our shop as well.

If you would like to check out the behind the scenes action at Indian Summer. Please feel free to contact me and I would love to show you our progress.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com  

Drainage #15

It has been a busy winter.  We have been trying to get a few projects done this winter to prepare the course for the spring and summer season.  One of the projects that I had been talking about was drainage.  We got one section of drainage done on #15.  It was right in the landing area where golfers were having a lot of trouble during the wet months of the year.

The project took us a little longer than expected because just as we were wrapping up the pipe installation we had a two week cold snap.  This kept the area frozen and hard to work with.  Once the freeze lifted we were able to put the project to bed and start working on other areas of the course.


The picture on the left is the final look after we laid the sod back.  The area has already begin to dry up and the drainage has been working well.

If you have and questions or comments please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG
justinr@indiansummergolf.com

Bunker Repair

Over the years the bunkers have been replenished with new sand as it has sloughed off of the sides. This has left quite a bit of sand at the bottom of the bunkers. We have been spending the last few weeks pushing the sand back up on to the sides of the bunkers.

As we push the sand back up to the sides of the bunkers it leaves a pretty fluffy surface for a little while. The fluffy sides can lead to a few more plugged balls if they fly into the side of the bunkers. It also leaves for a little more firm bottom since some of the sand is removed and that will go away as week get the bunker rake through these bunkers a few more times.

This process will get the bunkers back to the original look. Sand back onto the sides will make them a little more visible during an approach shot or tee shot. As we work through the summer we are trying to restore many parts of the golf course back to the way it was designed. Over the next few posts I will show some of the other projects that we are doing to help with our summer restoration project.

if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

justinr@indiansummergolf.com

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Drainage Drilling

We are trying to do some drainage work over the summer months to help out during the winter months. I was able to borrow a tractor mounted auger that we are using to dig drainage holes in the low lying areas on the golf course. We are going to fill some of the holes with straight sand while the other more noticeabley wet areas we will install a drainage box and fill these holes with pea gravel. We are hoping to at least help the water get beneath the compacted upper portion of the soil profile and into the well drained soil underneath.

This process is a preliminary less invasive procedure. If these areas are not satisfactory in the wetter months of the year we will proceed with full scale drainage tile installation that will connect to existing internal drainage areas.

If you have any questions or comments about our process for drainage please feel free to contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

Justinr@indiansummergolf.com