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

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 Renovation Update

The chipping green at the practice facility was not a good representation of the golf course this last year. We decided to make use of our aerification plugs from the greens to renovate the small chipping green.

We redesigned the chipping green to have three separate tiers and nearly double the square footage. The reason for the larger size was to give us the ability to use a portion for a nursery if we needed. We also wanted to make it possible to practice a variety of different shots around the green.

The green is coming along really well and we are planning our first cut very soon. If you have any comments or questions about the renovated chipping green, please contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

justinr@indiansummergolf.com

 

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Practice Area Upgrade

If you have been to the practice area lately, you have probably noticed the chipping green has been renovated. For quite some time the chipping green has been lackluster to say the least. The green was not a good representation of the golf course.

A few weeks ago we stripped the old sod off of the chipping green and re-graded the sand underneath. We enlarged the green in hopes to make use of some of the area on the course if needed. We are also trying to create more of a variety of chip and pitch shots to practice.

This season we also tried to make the driving range a little more interesting with better targets. We mowed out several areas that were most likely previously used for target greens. We also added some flags at short intervals to hone in your wedges. I think this has worked since the amount of debris left on the range tee has increased quite a bit since we mowed out these areas.

Stay tuned for more improvements over the winter and next spring. We have a laundry list of things to do. Don't forget to talk up the club to your friends. It is a pretty exciting time to join the club.

Also, don't forget to fill out your survey. The survey is important to help get your opinion heard on what you like about the club and what we can do to make your membership more valuable.

If you have any question please contact me.

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

justinr@indiansummergolf.com

 

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2012 Member Guest

Today was the first day of the Men's Member Guest. The maintenance team has had a tough week getting the course prepared for the tournament.

We started the week with many of the staff sick. Short staffed and a number of events lined up for the week we were scrambling to get the normal mowing completed before the big day. To put the cherry on top our sidewinder rough unit broke down before the tournament started today but we were able to get the course ready for our members and their guest for the first round afternoon shotgun.

This evening the skills challenge took place on the practice area. We help set up the different stations and added some flare to the challenge.

Here is a picture of this year's logo. Last year, I painted the logo as the target for the pitch shot. This year I painted the logo for the teeing ground of the pitch shot.

I enjoy all the great comments this summer and during the tournament. We have completed a lot of projects this year. We are moving in the right direction and I am glad that members have been noticing the new changes.

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

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

justinr@indiansummergolf.com

 

 

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Club Entrance part 2

We have completed one side of the entrance to the club. Here are some pictures of the work we have been doing to the entrance over te past few weeks.

 

The project is nearly done with minor detail work to give it a more polished look. Thank you for your patients during this project. The entrance was quite a mess for a while.

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

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

justinr@indiansummergolf.com

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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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The Club Entrance

The club entrance has been an eye sore since I started in February of last year. Last year we tried to maintain the landscape to the best of our ability, but the landscape has been in disrepair for some time. The euonymus plants were thinned out from irrigation problems that needed to be fixed and weeds that had taken over the landscape.This year we tried our best to get the entrance of the club to pop. We want to be able to catch the attention of our members and their guests as they pull into the club. We did some changes to the islands going up to the club. Adding turf with a mix of flowers has gotten high praise from a lot of the members.

We have now started the main entrance to the club that has been such an eye sore. We have removed all the landscaping near the road and plan to replace this area with the same motif, turf and flowers. This will help increase the curb appeal of the club.

if you have any questions or concerns about the work happening at the entrance feel free to contact me,

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

justinr@indiansummergolf.com

 

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Lake Management

Recently I took the exam for the aquatic pesticide license category to be able to control the aquatic weeds in our lakes. The weeds have gotten out of control over the years and the lakes have lost their luster.

The weeds begin to reduce visibility from a players standpoint. A good example is off the first tee. The lake in the right has become so overgrown that you can no longer see where the lake starts and where the lake ends. My hope is to control the weeds and also bring the lakes back to their original size.

Yes, original size. The size of the lakes have gotten smaller. The lake on 14 is a prime example of how the lake has slowly reduced in size. There is an overflow near the lake that keeps the lake at a certain level. As the banks have encroached into the water, the water level was adjusted to be a little lower. To date the lake is roughly 6" lower than when it was originally constructed. If we can succeed in restoring the banks back to the original height the lake will look completely different. A six inch lift will make the green look like it is that much closer to the water. Another benefit from the restoration will help save time and money. If the bank is not in the water anymore we will be able to get our rough unit around it so we will not have to spend weeks weed eating the longer grass down. It will be saving roughly 350 hours of labor if we can reduce that weedeating job.

If you have any questions or comments please contact me,

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

justinr@indiansummergolf.com

 

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Latest News

Recently I was interviewed by BASFTurf Talk on the challenges that I expect to face this summer and what I do to beat those challenges. If you would like to read the article please click the link.

Guest blogger superintendent Justin Ruiz

If you have any question please contact me,

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

justinr@indiansummergolf.com

 

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Divot Party

The divot repair party was a huge success. The members had a great time on the golf course and helped our staff by filling in all the divots on the fairways and tees.

I have had quite a few members ask me if I prefer that divots are filled with sand or to replace the pelt. It is a great question and I always answer it the same.a I feel that repairing the divot is best done with sand and seed.

 

A divot that has the pelt replaced is prone to failing unless it is a large enough piece of sod to stay in the hole. The fairway mowers will most likely pull the replaced turf out of its hole. The blower will also blow replaced divots out of their hole as well. Sand and seed performs best in both situations.

 

I would also like to address the driving range divots. I have sen a few blog posts from other superintendents showing divot patterns that they have requested at their golf courses for quicker healing. Taking divots in rows or strips will help the grass fill in quicker. Below are a couple of pictures to show you the difference.

 

The top picture show a strip of divots. Then the next strip was started yet leaving some grass between the two strips. This has a much quicker healing time. The bottom picture shows a more traditional pattern. It makes for a long recover time when a large area like this is removed. The grass has a long way to go to get to the middle of that area and seed has less protection from the elements and mowers.

 

If you can please try to take divots in strips this would help with the recovery time and help us utilize our range more efficiently.

 

If you have any questions about the divot party or the range divot patterns please contact me.

 

Justinr@indiansummergolf.com

 

 

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